THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 V 
 
 \
 
 v Til rr.tr - I . . 
 irt. Louden. .\ .
 
 JAMES CALVERT 
 OF FIJI. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. STRINGER ROWE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 CHARLES H. KELLY, 2, CASTLE STREET, CITY ROAD, B.C. 
 
 AND 66, PATERNOSTEB Bow, B.C. 
 
 1893.
 
 PiinteU by Ilazell, Watson, & Yiney, Ld., London and Aylesbnry.
 
 OUR DEAR 
 
 ANNIE CALVERT (LAKAI) 
 
 THIS 
 
 IMPERFECT RECORD OP THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 HER BELOVED FATHER 
 
 IS INSCRIBED. 
 
 1732520
 
 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. By THOMAS 
 WILLIAMS. THE MISSION HISTOBY. By 
 JAMES CALVERT. Edited by G. STRINGEB 
 ROWE. Third Edition. Crown 8vo, 5*. 
 
 LIFE OP JOHN HUNT, Missionary to 
 the Cannibals of Fiji. By G. STRINGER 
 ROWE. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, Is. Qd 
 
 LIFE OF MARY CALVERT. By 
 
 G. STRINGER ROWE. Crown 8vo, 1*. 
 
 THE KING AND THE PEOPLE OF 
 FIJI. Containing a Life of Thakombau, 
 etc. By the Rev. JOSEPH WATERHOUSE. 
 Crown 8vo. [Out of Print. 
 
 JOEL BULU : The Autobiography of a 
 Native Minister in the South Seas. Trans- 
 lated by a Missionary. Ninth Thousand. 
 Foolscap 8vo, 1*. 
 
 LONDON: CHARLES IT. KELLY.
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 ~\T7"HEN the writing of this Memoir was under- 
 taken it was expected that there would be 
 material for a much larger book. Having regard 
 to the extended usefulness of the Biography, it is 
 hardly to be regretted that this expectation has 
 not been fulfilled. There is need, however, of 
 a word of explanation to show why the record 
 of so full and eventful a life has not been made 
 more ample. 
 
 It was hoped that an examination of my dear 
 old friend's journals and other private papers 
 would yield many particulars besides those which 
 he himself had made public at many times and 
 in many places. It was not so. With his know- 
 ledge and experiences, what a wonderful store of 
 observation and narrative he might have fur- 
 nished ! But he was so absolutely given up to 
 his one great work, that he seldom took account
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 of those things which lay outside of it. Moreover, 
 in his noble character there was very little 
 imagination. He was most admirably and most 
 provokingly matter-of-fact ; so that, in the years 
 of his greatest activity, he scarcely stayed to note 
 the picturesque features of scenes which must 
 have been strangely rich in the picturesque. His 
 journals of the eight years spent in South Africa 
 mention, for months together, only dates, places, 
 and engagements fulfilled. 
 
 The chief events of his Missionary History had 
 been already told in the published story of the 
 regeneration of Fiji, wherein, indeed, the chronicle 
 of his life is largely given. It has caused me some 
 little embarrassment that the account of the Fiji 
 Mission was, thirty-five years ago, either written or 
 put into form by my own hand. Thus, in re-telling 
 portions of it here, I have been sometimes obliged 
 to quote or to paraphrase my own words. 
 
 It is greatly to be desired that this Biography 
 may set many upon reading the History of the Fiji 
 Mission. It is easy of access; and the evidential 
 value of it on behalf of the Gospel cannot be over- 
 rated. It covers so large a ground as to be of 
 commanding importance: and it is so compact as
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 to present an argument and a witness which can 
 be seen, in their convincing evidence, at a glance. 
 
 All that I myself owe to the friendship of this 
 my friend, especially in my earlier life, cannot be 
 disclosed here. Nearly forty years of very close 
 and loving intimacy gave me to know him well ; 
 and that knowledge makes me greatly mistrust my 
 own power to do justice to my subject. Wherever, 
 in the following pages, it was possible, he has been 
 allowed to tell his own story. 
 
 If this presentment of him and his life's achieve- 
 ment should stir any to gain for themselves that 
 Divine Grace which made him the Christian hero 
 he was, and to give themselves to the high service 
 in which he fulfilled his course, such result would 
 recompense me most, as it is surely that which 
 would have pleased him best. 
 
 HEADIXGLEY COLLEGE, 
 February 1893.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 EARLY DAYS AND PREPARATION. 
 
 The Starting-point. Birth. Childhood. Schooling. 
 Apprenticeship. First Signs of Spiritual Life. Illness 
 and Decision. Conversion. Beginnings of Christian 
 Service. Beverley. Sickness. Colchester. Fuller 
 Blessing. Call to the Ministry. His Offer accepted. 
 Preparations. Appointed to Fiji. Marriage. Voyage. 
 Sydney. An Earnest of Success . . . pp. 3 20 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 
 
 How the Mission in Fiji was begun. Cross and Cargill. 
 Voyage from Sjdney. Visit to the Friendly Islands. 
 Arrival in Fiji. Settled at Lakemba. Trading with the 
 Natives. Language. Pilfering. Native Justice. First 
 Preaching and Printing. Wreck and Peril of Native 
 Christians. Voyaging in Fiji. Mbau. Tanoa. Viwa 
 and Namosimalua. Rewa. Narrow Escape at Moturiki. 
 The Firstborn. Namuka. Arrival of the Rev. R. B. 
 Lyth. Left Alone at Lakemba. Lomaloma. Encour- 
 agements, Self-sown Seed of the Kingdom . pp. 23 51
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 LAKEMBA AND 0X0. 
 
 Planting of the Gospel in Ono. Wai. A Strange Act of 
 Worship. Josiah. Isaac Ravuata. Progress. An 
 Appeal. Voyage to Ono. Vatoa. Work at Ono. Safe 
 Return. Correspondence with Hunt on Sanctification. 
 The Story of Tovo. Sickness and Depression. Visit of 
 Rev. John Waterhouse, and Arrival of Rev. Thomas 
 Williams. Ono Revisited. Faith in the Heathen Gods 
 failing. Oneata. Chapel Opening. Tangithi's Illness. 
 Lualala. Visit of King George of Tonga. Lomalomn. 
 Cannibal Scenes at Somosomo. Sickness. Confessions 
 of a Priest. A Bad Englishman. Great Work in Ono. 
 Success at Wathiwathi. First Parting with the 
 Children. Illness of Mrs. Calvert. Death of Hunt. 
 Farewell to Lakemba pp. 55 11(5 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 V1WA. 
 
 How the Lord Provided a Printer. Thakombau. War and 
 its Horrors. Heroism of Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Lyth. 
 Signs of Success. A Great Grief. Mediation to procure 
 Peace. Lakemba Revisited. Death of Tanoa. Horrible 
 Observances. State Visit of Tui Thakau. Hard 
 Struggle with Cannibalism. Elijah Verani. Thakombau 
 Lotus. A Great Joy. Narrow Escape at Moturiki. 
 Another Visit to Lakemba. Great Value of Lyth's 
 Training Work. Troublous Times. Mediation Work. 
 End of Cannibalism at Mbau. Visit of King George of 
 Tonga. A Voyage with the King. Establishment of 
 Peace, and Spread of Christianity. Leaving Fiji. Call 
 at Rotumah pp. 119 17.") 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 
 
 Arrival in England. Woodbridge and Bible Work. 
 Catholicity. Mission Advocacy. The Call to return to
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 Fiji. Voyage Out. Arrival at Lakemba. First Mis- 
 sionary Meetings at Mbau and Viwa. Settled at 
 Ovalau. Moturiki Revisited. Diplomatic Work. 
 Eevision and Blind Shem. Visit to Lakemba. Beginning 
 of the Jubilee Chapel. Presentation of Address. 
 Rejoicing on account of Great Success. School Feast 
 at Mbau. Training Institution on Kandavu. Another 
 Visit to Rotumah. Ordination of Native Ministers. 
 Farewell Services. Left Fiji . . . .pp. 179208 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 Busy Occupation in Australia. Voyage Home. Bromley. 
 Work for Fiji. For the Bible Society. Offer for Service 
 in South Africa. Appointment to Bloemfontein. 
 Arrival. Boers and Natives. Appointed to the Diamond 
 Fields. New Rush. The Native Problem. His Work 
 and its Circumstances. Removal to the Transvaal. 
 Potchefstroom. Return to Kimberley. Address and 
 Presentation on Leaving. England . . pp. 211 232 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE LATER YEARS. 
 
 Torquay. Death of Mrs. Calvert. Should Missionaries be 
 Married ? Penjerrick. Croydon. Gift to the Mission 
 Fund. Fijian Jubilee. Bible Pictures. Last Voyage 
 to Fiji. Journal. Tonga. Fiji. New Zealand. San 
 Francisco. Across America. New York. Home. 
 Speech at City Road Chapel. Sevenoaks. Missionary 
 Conference of 1888. Marriage. Hastings. Bible 
 Society. Work for Fiji. Conference at Nottingham. 
 Temperance. Failing Health. Services in Hastings. 
 Last Public Act. Last Letter. Last Scripture Reading. 
 Last Illness. Funeral Service. Testimony of the 
 Rev. John Walton. A Portraiture. Memorial Sketch 
 by the Rev. William Arthur . . . .pp. 235303
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY DAYS AND PEEPARATION.
 
 The Starting-point. Birth. Childhood. Schooling. Appren- 
 ticeship. First Signs of Spiritual Life. Illness and 
 Decision. Conversion. Beginnings of Christian Service. 
 Beverley. Sickness. Colchester. Fuller Blessing. Call to 
 the Ministry. His Offer accepted. Preparations. Appointed 
 to Fiji. Marriage. Voyage. Sydney. An Earnest of 
 Success.
 
 JAMES CALVEET 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY -DAYS AND PREPARATION. 
 
 " "TTTHEN, at eighteen years of age, it pleased the 
 Lord to have mercy upon me, to pardon 
 all my sins, and give me to know the reality and 
 blessedness of true religion, I felt that that religion 
 was the ' one thing needful ' for every soul of man. 
 I went and talked with my father about it, and my 
 brothers and sisters, and all with whom I was connected. 
 It, pleased God to direct me to go into the villages 
 to read the Scriptures to the people, and exhort 
 them to turn from sin, and believe in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ to the saving of their souls ; and ultimately 
 my way was made plain for going abroad to preach 
 the Gospel of Christ to the heathen." 
 
 About a year after his first return from Fiji, James 
 Calvert told, before a great assembly in London, 
 some of the wonderful story of the mission in which
 
 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 he had taken part, and the above words were his 
 preface to the history. Since then, how many 
 thousands in different parts of the world have been 
 thrilled and stirred by his narrative ! 'And those who 
 thus heard him recollect how, in most instances, his 
 opening words were after the manner of these here 
 quoted from his memorable Exeter Hall speech in 
 1857. In the history, as he surveyed it, of his 
 successful life, all things arranged themselves around 
 the central fact of his own conversion. Through all 
 his career he looked back to that fact as the starting- 
 point ; and from year to year, through a long life, all 
 the witness he bore and the work he wrought was 
 ever freshly quickened by the unfailing inspiration 
 of its remembrance. 
 
 The life of James Calvert the missionary begins 
 precisely where he dated it. Of all that happened 
 before concerning him there is really very little to tell. 
 When he was born at Pickering, on January 3rd, 
 1 813, the event acquired no importance from his pedi- 
 gree or family history. His parents removed a few 
 months afterwards, carrying their firstborn infant 
 with them, to Thorpe Basset, near Malton, where 
 his father became bailiff to George Parker, Esq., 
 of Sutton Grange, near Norton, of whom he after- 
 wards rented the farm on which he lived. Here 
 several other children were born to him. In this 
 village James passed his childhood, and was sent, in
 
 EARLY DATS AND PREPARATION. 5 
 
 due time, to its National School, where his attendance 
 was too frequently interrupted by the more urgent 
 necessity of going to search for a missing sheep, or 
 by employment in such work as a small boy could do 
 on the farm, where every hand was busy. 
 
 There must have been something winsome and 
 promising about the lad, for when he was eleven 
 years old Mr. Parker took him into his own house, 
 so that he might have the advantage of a good 
 school at Malton. He always spoke gratefully of the 
 kindness with which he was treated in this new 
 home, where he seems to have lived for two years, 
 and then his schooling came to an end. At the age 
 of fourteen he was apprenticed to a printer and 
 bookseller in Malton, becoming, at the same time, a 
 member of his master's household. 
 
 Of his parents he cherished a very loving and 
 reverent recollection. Judging from his portrait, 
 which Mr. Calvert prized as one of his home 
 treasures, the father was after the best type of a 
 Yorkshire tenant-farmer. That portrait an oil- 
 painting it may be mentioned here, was carried 
 about by the son in his far journeyings, and thus 
 came to be transported from the Wolds to a mission- 
 house in the South Seas, where it was the object of 
 the awed wonder of the natives, who gave it the 
 peculiar salute reserved for a chief, and, in some 
 instances, brought to it goods for barter. It never
 
 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 ceased to cause them an uneasy astonishment that 
 the eyes looked straight at them wherever they 
 themselves moved. 
 
 A few fragmentary notes written in after years are 
 almost the only record which remains of his youth ; 
 and these notes mark out just one line only, leading 
 up to the supreme event of his conversion. It is 
 known that he fulfilled his apprenticeship satis- 
 factorily, and was very diligent in perfecting himself 
 in each branch of his master's trade. At an early 
 part of this period he lost his mother, to whom he 
 was very closely attached. During her last illness 
 he walked the five miles out to Thorpe Basset every 
 night, and walked back to Malt on each morning in 
 time for his work. At this point there is the 
 first evidence of strong religious feeling. The lad 
 was intensely anxious for his mother's salvation ; 
 and those who were present never forgot how he fell 
 on his knees beside her death-bed, and pleaded with 
 God that she might know His pardoning love. 
 Thus, his love for his mother revealed an inner life 
 of conviction, which no thought on his own account 
 had yet brought him to acknowledge. 
 
 As a child he had been taken by his parents 
 to their parish church, but had also with them 
 occasionally attended the services in the nearest 
 Methodist chapel. After coming to Malton, he 
 seems to have gone to the latter more frequently.
 
 EARLY DATS AND PREPARATION. 7 
 
 Here, one Sunday evening, he heard the Kev. Joseph 
 Mortimer preach, and, as he says, was deeply con- 
 vinced of sin. He tells how he " wept and prayed, and 
 went into the prayer-meeting in the vestry, and 
 returned home in great trouble." But, having no 
 one to counsel and encourage him, and being 
 associated with sinful companions, he did not yield 
 to the conviction which had been so deep. Still it 
 never altogether left him ; and though he did not 
 wholly resist those who led him into evil, he suffered 
 frequent distress through the sharp conflict between 
 his quickened conscience and his habits of sin. 
 Things went on thus until he was seventeen, when 
 he had a very severe illness, so severe that he speaks 
 of being " threatened with death." Then, when he 
 had but little hope of recovery, he vowed that, if he 
 should return to life, he would give himself to the 
 service of God. He got better, and went back to his 
 work. Restrained by his vow, he refused again to 
 follow the old influences of evil which had led him 
 astray. But it was bondage and perpetual weariness to 
 him. His conscience coerced him, and the obedience 
 he tried to render was really an unwilling servitude. 
 He now was regular in his attendance at the Metho- 
 dist chapel, and, when eighteen, became a member 
 of the church which worshipped there. 
 
 Portions of a diary, copied in his later handwriting, 
 give in his own words the story of his deliverance.
 
 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 " April 8th, 1831. Of late I have been much cast 
 down, and feared for some time that I should not 
 obtain the pardon of my sins. And a very trying 
 time is near the races, lists for which we have to 
 print and much excitement is not easily avoided. 
 At the prayer-meeting this evening I prayed very 
 earnestly to the Lord all the time, beseeching Him 
 to forgive my sins, and save my soul. I have many 
 times been disappointed ; and now the enemy of my 
 soul insinuated that I could not obtain any proof of 
 God's mercy and pardon. But God's promise, ' Ask, 
 and ye shall receive,' was present to my mind, and 
 encouraged me. After the meeting I went with a 
 praying companion to visit an aged woman who was 
 confined to her room ; and while he was praying for 
 that devoted woman, I was pleading with God to 
 have mercy upon me, and save me. And that 
 evening, in that small room, I beheld Christ with 
 an eye of faith, as having loved me, and borne my 
 sins in His own body. I put my trust where God 
 had laid my only and all-sufficient help. Believing 
 on my Lord and Saviour, I felt ' my debt was paid, 
 my soul was free, and I was justified.' 
 
 ' The opening heavens around me shone 
 
 With beams of sacred bliss ; 
 For Jesus showed His mercy mine, 
 
 And whispered, I was His.' 
 
 I felt that this was what I had wanted all along ;
 
 EARLY DATS AND PREPARATION. 9 
 
 that this salvation fully met my case, and that 
 nothing else could have done." 
 
 Are there far away from all superstitious thinking 
 omens in the Christian's course ? In this dawn 
 of a long day of devoted service, was it not, at least, 
 beautifully fit, and a presage and promise of that 
 which was to come, that James Calvert's first know- 
 ledge of " the joy of the Lord " came to him while 
 he was ministering to that old bedridden saint ? In 
 loving ministration his Christian life began; and 
 thus it ran its course and ended. 
 
 The next paragraph was evidently written many 
 years afterwards. It adds to the record of that new 
 beginning the witness of a long life's hard testing 
 and manifold experience. 
 
 " That was THE EVENT in my life, and it is the 
 event in any one's life. All the help and mercy 
 and salvation and blessing required by guilty, de- 
 praved, helpless man, all are provided in the atone- 
 ment of Christ, and the gift of the Spirit all are 
 provided and offered and realised in the salvation 
 of the Gospel. "What a privilege and comfort to 
 offer this to any, to all ! 
 
 " October 25th. The Spirit has wrought mightily 
 in my soul for some time, convincing me of my need 
 of a further work of grace, and urging me to seek 
 full salvation. Keligion is sweet to me. Why not
 
 10 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 enjoy a fulness of blessing ? Shall I divide the rich 
 grace of God with any other thing ? I dare not. I 
 thank the Lord for this. Good Lord, help me to 
 press forward to attain all that it is my privilege 
 to enjoy. May the world not share my heart at all ; 
 but may I live to Thy glory, do all Thy will, be a 
 burning and shining light ! And do Thou be pleased 
 to convert my relatives and friends, and save us 
 all!" 
 
 That closing petition marks the first stirring in 
 this young heart of the impulse to communicate to 
 others the good with which he himself had been 
 richly blessed. From the beginning he obeyed that 
 impulse; and his way opened, step by step, until 
 his life passed on into a widening beneficence which 
 brought good to multitudes. How easily it might 
 have been otherwise ! In how many cases sad 
 to think it is far otherwise. That impulse of 
 loving zeal is not an occasional accident, but a very 
 instinct of the new life. Every child of God is 
 born with it. Alas for those who learn how to 
 resist and check it until it dies away ! And alas for 
 the kingdom of God, which is hindered in its progress 
 by the barren selfishness of their religion ! 
 
 Early in 1832, the young convert, having entered 
 his twentieth year, began to speak in public of the 
 grace and truth which had made so great a change
 
 EARLY DATS AND PREPARATION. 11 
 
 in his own life ; and shortly afterwards was placed 
 " on trial " as a local preacher. In the following 
 year his apprenticeship came to an end, and he 
 found employment at Beverley. Soon afterwards he 
 writes : 
 
 " Several times I have thought that I would not 
 go out as a preacher. Still I earnestly desire to do 
 what God wills concerning me. Some ministers and 
 local preachers at Malton and Beverley have advised 
 me to continue. The conviction that I ought to 
 give myself to the work of the ministry increases 
 upon me. Before any one asked me to preach I was 
 led to prepare a sort of sermon on ' Kepent ye, and 
 believe the Gospel.' Whenever I live to God the 
 impression of my duty to preach is deepest ; and I 
 have again and again felt Divine assistance in speak- 
 ing, and have had the consolations of the Holy 
 Spirit when doing, according to my ability, what I 
 knew to be my duty. I have to contend with 
 principalities and powers. The enemy would stop 
 me. May the Lord direct me, and cause me to do 
 His will ! " 
 
 After remaining a few months in Beverley, he 
 again became very ill, and was altogether laid aside 
 for a time. For several years his health had been 
 far from robust, and gave no promise of the vigorous 
 and prolonged life that was to follow. He went to
 
 12 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Bridlington to be under the care of the late 
 Dr. Sandwith. " While quite prostrate," he says, 
 " I was blessedly happy, and left myself entirely in 
 God's hands, desiring to glorify Him either by life 
 or death." During his convalescence he was the 
 guest, for a short time, of the Rev. Jabez Banks, Vicar 
 of Bempton, near Bridlington. He does not tell how 
 this visit came about ; and no information can now 
 be gleaned concerning it. The only link of con- 
 nection with young Calvert that can be traced is, 
 that Mr. Banks was a native of Thorpe Basset, and 
 thus knew the family there. He is still remembered 
 in Bempton as an earnest and godly minister. 
 Calvert says he was " a very devoted man, and 
 successful. My stay there I much enjoyed." 
 
 Having regained his health, he, for the first time, 
 left Yorkshire, and travelled southwards, engaging 
 himself to a printer at Colchester. Here he re- 
 mained for three years, working at his craft, and 
 on Sundays doing full service in the Essex villages 
 as a local preacher. The following record belongs 
 to this period, and marks, as he always reckoned it, 
 a memorable crisis in his history. 
 
 " After my conversion I was much harassed by the 
 remains of sin, not understanding how sin could 
 exist in a justified person, nor yet the method of 
 deliverance from what was such a trouble to me. I
 
 EARLY DATS AND PREPARATION. 13 
 
 read various works, and had conversation with 
 Christian friends, and at length felt my mind 
 settled on the subject, especially by reading care- 
 fully the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, who are 
 highly spoken of as having real Christian experience 
 in i. 1, 3, 4 : and in iv. 3, 1 read that God's will was 
 their sanctification ; and then the Apostle prayed 
 that they might be fully saved, and preserved blame- 
 less, in v. 23. Still the Lord gave me great trouble 
 about pride, unbelief, self, and various things that I 
 felt in my heart contrary to His love ; and I earnestly 
 sought to be delivered from all evil. While pleading 
 in my bedroom about a year ago I felt His sanctifying 
 influence in a special manner ; and I have been able 
 since that time to love God with all my heart. I trust 
 I shall live a life of faith on the Son of God, growing 
 daily in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ." 
 
 More than fifty years afterwards, one told, in a 
 meeting at Hastings, how, in his youth, he was 
 walking along a country road in Essex on a certain 
 Sunday, and fell in with a young local preacher, who 
 spoke to him lovingly and faithfully about his soul ; 
 " and," said he, " the straight talk of James Calvert 
 and his sermon that evening were made the means 
 of my conversion." 
 
 During his residence in Essex the conviction 
 deepened in his mind that he was to give himself
 
 14 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 wholly to the work of the Christian ministry ; and 
 the May of 1837 found him in the presence of the 
 London District Meeting as a candidate for this 
 office. He put himself absolutely at the disposal of 
 the Wesleyan-Methodist Conference, stating, how- 
 ever, that his sympathy had been specially quickened 
 on behalf of the heathen abroad. He pleaded ear- 
 nestly that he might enjoy the benefit of specific 
 training in the Theological Institution, which was 
 then in the third year of its existence in London, at 
 Hoxton, and that he might pass the years of his 
 ministerial probation at home, so as to become better 
 prepared for foreign service. 
 
 He took this step with the most solemn deliberation, 
 but, at the same time, and without any inconsistency, 
 with great gladness of heart. It caused him much 
 misgiving as to his own fitness, but not as to any- 
 thing else, except in one particular. It has already 
 been told that, as an apprentice, he did his best to 
 become a skilled craftsman. So afterwards, he liked 
 his work and therefore put his heart into it. He 
 was fond of a business life ; and his special calling 
 had given him a wide opportunity of gaining service- 
 able business knowledge. He had thus become 
 expert as a printer and as a bookbinder, and had 
 also learned the bookselling trade, to which had 
 been added the work of a branch post-office. Besides 
 all this, he had considerable experience in the sub-
 
 EARLY DAYS AND PREPARATION. 15 
 
 editing of a local newspaper. Now, he looked with 
 some dismayed questioning at the waste of all this 
 preparation for a career which he felt impelled to 
 abandon. He soon discovered that there was no 
 waste at all ; and, as the years passed on, he learned to 
 value all his business training as a specially ordained 
 part of his equipment for his life's higher service. 
 
 Already his thoughts were being drawn towards 
 the missions in which a great part of his life was to 
 be spent. Letters had recently been published from 
 the Friendly Islands, where the mission was push- 
 ing on with great vigour and much success. The 
 Eev. Peter Turner wrote from Samoa, in the neigh- 
 bouring group of Navigators' Islands. He had just 
 entered upon this mission, and was already greatly 
 encouraged. He urged that a printer, with a fully 
 furnished press, should be sent out immediately. 
 Having seen this appeal, the young candidate sug- 
 gested that his knowledge of the business might 
 make him serviceable where a printer was required. 
 
 He was so far committed in his own purpose to 
 the career to which he believed himself called, that 
 he had recently removed to London, and found 
 employment in the office of the well-known and 
 learned Methodist printer, James Nichols, and had 
 gained permission to attend some of the lectures and 
 classes at the Hoxton Institution. Being convinced 
 of the immense importance, if he should be sent
 
 16 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 abroad, of gaining some working knowledge of at 
 least the elements of medicine and surgery, he put 
 himself under the instruction of a well-qualified 
 man, who had the good sense not to attempt to 
 teach him too much ; and also accompanied a friend, 
 who was studying medicine, to a hospital, where 
 he got some general outlines of anatomical know- 
 ledge in the dissecting-room, and some valuable 
 practical principles of surgery in the operating 
 theatre. The information thus acquired was of 
 great service to him and to many others ; and, on 
 his return from Fiji, he insisted strongly upon the 
 necessity of giving some specific training of this 
 kind to all young missionaries. 
 
 At the Conference of 1837 he was accepted as a 
 candidate for the Ministry, and forthwith entered 
 Hoxton as a resident student. He had been here 
 but little more than six months when an importunate 
 appeal came for the immediate reinforcement of the 
 new mission to the Fijian Islands. This appeal was 
 widely circulated, and met with a very warm re- 
 sponse. The people at home sent in special contri- 
 butions, and strongly urged the Missionary Committee 
 to despatch the required help at once. The Com- 
 mittee decided to send two men and a printing press. 
 With devoted liberality, the widow of Robert Carr 
 Brackenbury, of Raithby Hall, Lincolnshire, offered 
 to bear the cost of outfit and passage of John Hunt,
 
 EARLY DATS AND PREPARATION. 17 
 
 a young Lincolnshire man, who had been studying 
 for more than two years at Hoxton, and, with Thomas 
 Jaggar, was now designated for Fiji. She further 
 offered to give 50 annually towards his support for 
 three years if a third man should be sent. The Com- 
 mittee consented ; and young Calvert was selected 
 for the post. Thus his college training came to an 
 untimely end; and throughout his life he greatly 
 deplored the loss. 
 
 Calvert's commission for Fiji reached him on 
 March 15th, 1838, with instructions to make all 
 necessary preparations to sail in a month from that 
 time. Amongst the most important of these pre- 
 parations was his marriage, in regard to which he 
 had not even entered into any formal engagement. 
 He had, a few months before, been introduced into 
 the home of his friend, Philip Fowler who was 
 himself shortly to enter the Wesleyan Ministry in 
 the village of Aston Clinton, in Buckinghamshire, 
 and had thus formed the acquaintance of Miss Mary 
 Fowler. Afterwards another visit had been paid, 
 but no apparent progress had been made towards a 
 closer intimacy. When, however, the missionary 
 summons compelled immediate action, and Calvert 
 hastened down to Aston Clinton to ask Mary Fowler 
 to become his wife, and to start in a few weeks 
 for the South Seas, it became evident that a very 
 important approach to a good understanding had 
 
 2
 
 18 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 already been tacitly effected. She gave her con- 
 sent ; and, a week later, they were married. 
 
 After giving himself to the Lord, James Calvert 
 never did a better thing for himself or for the 
 sacred service to which he was committed than 
 when he gained Mary Fowler for his wife. She was 
 an earnest Christian, and had devoted herself to 
 Christian work to the full measure of her oppor- 
 tunities. She had good health, a bright and in- 
 domitable spirit, singularly free from selfishness, and 
 quick with the warmest sympathies. She rejoiced 
 in enterprise, and held herself cheerfully ready to 
 undertake toil or incur danger as the call came. 
 Never once did she encumber her husband's work, 
 but, by her unsparing self-devotion, her tender 
 lovingkindness, joined with great natural sagacity 
 and shrewd good sense, was a source of strength and 
 joy to him through the greater part of his life. 
 
 A few days after the marriage, Mr. Calvert, with 
 his two companions in the mission, John Hunt, and 
 Thomas J. Jaggar, was ordained at Hackney ; and 
 the party embarked at Gravesend on April 28th, on 
 board the Despatch, Captain Wood, bound for 
 Sydney. The voyage, which lasted four months 
 all but five days, was a good one, and without re- 
 markable incident. They received a warm welcome 
 and generous hospitality in Sydney ; and the young 
 missionaries, during the two months they spent in the
 
 EARLY DATS AND PREPARATION. 19 
 
 colony, were fully employed in preaching and attend- 
 ing various meetings, and in getting stores together 
 for their further voyage and for use in the islands. 
 
 The following extract from Mrs. Calvert's Life* 
 belongs to this period, and shows how thoroughly 
 Mr. Calvert and his bride were one in the Master's 
 service, and how He gave them at the very outset of 
 their united life to taste together the blessedness of 
 success. In Sydney 
 
 " Mr. Calvert had to take an out-door service one 
 Sunday morning near the Haymarket. With a little 
 impatience of zeal, as it seemed to some, he began 
 before the appointed time, and found no congrega- 
 tion. His young wife accompanied him, and, as 
 she had often done at home, started the tune of the 
 opening hymn. Very soon the people gathered to 
 the sound, and the preacher went on with his work, 
 his faithful companion standing by and handing 
 tracts to those who would take them. The next 
 day a letter came from a gentleman, telling a 
 strange story. On the Saturday he had landed 
 from Tasmania, where he had been living a godless 
 life for many years. At his lodgings, when night 
 came, he made the discovery that his pocket had 
 been picked, and about forty pounds stolen. The 
 shock of finding himself thus penniless and friend- 
 
 * Memoir of Mary Calvert, London, 1882.
 
 20 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 less in a strange land excited and aggravated the 
 misery of a guilty conscience, and he fell into utter 
 despair ; insomuch that, in the course of a restless 
 night, he resolved to put an end to his life. In the 
 morning he sharpened his penknife, and went out 
 towards the churchyard, intending there to open an 
 artery in his neck. On his way, the clear, sweet 
 voice of a singer broke in upon his dark mood like 
 a holy spell, and he must needs turn aside to listen ; 
 and the thought formed itself that it would be well 
 to join in one act of worship before he died. As he 
 heard song, and prayer, and exhortation, long- 
 forgotten good came crowding back into his mind 
 the thought of a Methodist home far away in 
 London, and his mother, a good class-leader, who 
 died when he was a boy ; and, receiving a tract, as 
 he said, ' from the young lady,' he turned away to 
 face life once more. The reading of the tract 
 completed his decision to seek after God. When 
 told afterwards that the preacher he knew not why 
 had begun the service too soon, he wept, and said. 
 ' If you had not, I should have been a dead man.' " 
 
 It would appear that out-door preaching in those 
 days in Sydney was resented as an innovation ; and 
 gave rise to a newspaper controversy, in which the 
 young missionaries were roundly abused on one side, 
 and warmly defended on the other.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA.
 
 How the Mission in Fiji was begun. "Cross and Cargill. Voyage 
 from Sydney. Visit to the Friendly Islands. Arrival in 
 Fiji. Settled at Lakemba. Trading with the Natives. 
 Language. Pilfering. Native Justice. First Preaching and 
 Printing. Wreck and Peril of Native Christians. Voyaging 
 in Fiji. Mbau. Tanoa. Viwa and Namosimalua. Eewa. 
 Narrow Escape at Moturiki. The Firstborn. Namuka. 
 Arrival of the Eev. K. B. Lyth. Left Alone at Lakemba. 
 Lomaloma. Encouragements. Self-sown Seed of the 
 Kingdom.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMB A, 
 
 AT this point it i$ necessary to tell how things 
 stood with the new mission to Fiji in 1838. 
 It had been begun just three years before, and this 
 is how it came to pass. The important group of the 
 Friendly Islands, in the South Pacific, had been 
 occupied by the Wesleyan-Methodist Missionary 
 Society in 1826, and the work had advanced year 
 by year with marked success, so that, nine years 
 after the commencement, there were eight mission- 
 aries on the ground, and a church had been formed 
 of more than four thousand members. 
 
 The Tongans the name given to the Friendly 
 Islanders from one of the chief islands of this group 
 were always bold and skilful navigators, and 
 voyaged far on those great double canoes which 
 excited the admiration of Captain Cook, and would 
 carry nearly a hundred men, besides several tons of 
 freight. They had long traded with the larger group, 
 two hundred and fifty miles westward, named Viti,
 
 24 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 or as the Tongans called it, Fiji.* The missionaries 
 in Tonga thus got to hear much about Fiji and its 
 inhabitants ; and what they heard was about as 
 terrible a story as could be told of savagery grown to 
 hideous proportions among a strong, able, and in- 
 telligent people. Cannibalism, with all its attendant 
 horrors of murderous outrage, was an established 
 institution, having its exact code of rule and observ- 
 ance. Wars were frequent, and the strangling of 
 widows and destruction of infants were practices of 
 recognised custom. 
 
 To the little mission band, who had surmounted 
 the first difficulties of their work in Tonga, there 
 was nothing to attract in the forbidding picture thus 
 set before them, except the urgent claims of the 
 people's own immense want. This claim they 
 speedily acknowledged, never doubting that they 
 were called to challenge the hitherto undisturbed 
 rule of darkness in Fiji. The very significant fact, 
 however, must not be forgotten, that the first work 
 of the Gospel in Fiji, though feeble and imperfect, 
 was done by Tongan Christians. Of the many 
 Tongans who voyaged to the other group, and were 
 sometimes compelled by persistent adverse winds to 
 
 * It is now universally known by this name, although, 
 curiously enough, the sounds represented by the first and 
 third letters of the word do not exist in the language of the 
 Viti people themselves.
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 25 
 
 stay there for months together, some were converts ; 
 and they carried with them, and made known the 
 truth which had brought blessing to them and their 
 own land. By the help of these, on their return 
 home, and by intercourse with Fijian sailors, the 
 missionaries gained an elementary knowledge of the 
 language sufficient to eDable them to take the first 
 steps towards giving it a written form. Not only was 
 an alphabet thus provided, but a " First Book " of four 
 pages was printed, and a simple catechism prepared. 
 This provisional work, alphabet and all, had, of 
 course, to be revised afterwards in the light of 
 further knowledge. 
 
 The mission staff was all too small to meet the fast- 
 growing demands of the work in the Friendly Islands, 
 which had just been rapidly extended by a wonderful 
 visitation of power, followed by the conversion of 
 thousands, including the supreme chief, King George, 
 and his queen. At the close of 1834, the year of this 
 great revival, the District Meeting resolved to set 
 apart two missionaries at once to enter upon the 
 new mission to Fiji ; but it was not until October 
 of the following year that the Eev. William Cross 
 and the Kev. David Cargill, with their wives 
 and little children, landed at Lakemba, the island 
 nearest to Tonga, where, among the large number 
 of Tongan immigrants, and because of the fact that 
 the language of these was more or less familiar to
 
 26 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 many of the islanders, it was possible to begin work 
 at once. 
 
 The history of the first three years of the mission 
 is of thrilling interest. The leaders of it suffered 
 greatly from sickness and want. They endured at 
 times active persecution ; and certainly, to them, 
 increase of knowledge of their surroundings brought 
 increase of sorrow. The enormous difficulties of the 
 work seemed to them now far greater than when 
 they first took it up. But they never faltered ; and 
 such success was won that their hopes were larger 
 and more confident than ever. 
 
 This, then, was the state of affairs in 1838. Here 
 was an archipelago stretching about 300 miles from 
 north to south, and the same distance from east to 
 west, containing some 80 inhabited islands, for 
 the most part very small, but with two of considerable 
 size Viti Levu having an area of 4,112 square 
 miles, and Vanua Levu 2,432. The population of 
 the whole group was about 130,000. They seem 
 never to have been idolaters in the sense of 
 attempting to represent their gods in material 
 .form. Certain stones, however, and certain birds 
 and other animals were specially reverenced as, in 
 some vague way, enshrining deities. Most of their 
 gods were strictly local, and had temples where 
 offerings were presented, and priests who exercised 
 a very real power over the people. The system of
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 27 
 
 government was essentially feudal. The local chiefs, 
 holding well-defined grades of varying rank, were 
 tributary to certain greater chiefs or kings; and 
 at the time now described the supreme power was 
 being steadily gathered into the hands of one man, 
 Tanoa, whose son, the late Thakombau, ceded the 
 group to Great Britain in 1874. Near to the royal 
 town of this potentate, in the west or leeward part 
 of the group, Mr. Cross had gone to live, so that the 
 mission had two centres, one at Lakemba on the 
 east, and another about 200 miles to the west, at 
 Eewa, on the south-east of Viti Levu, or Great 
 Fiji. 
 
 Our missionary party in Sydney found that the 
 work of collecting and packing goods and articles 
 for barter was no light business, for it was impossible 
 to foresee when the next supplies would reach them, 
 as communication with the islands was very un- 
 certain. Their passage was taken on board a small 
 schooner, which proved to be a wretched craft, badly 
 found, and showing more capacity for pitching and 
 rolling, even when there was but little wind, than 
 for making headway when the weather was most 
 favourable. They had a good start, however; for 
 there was leaving Sydney, on the same day, the Kev. 
 John Williams, of the London Society, accompanied 
 by a band of nine missionaries. In little more than 
 a year afterwards this veteran was killed and eaten
 
 28 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 at Erromanga ; but no foreboding clouded the joy of 
 that day, when, on board the steamer which took 
 them down to the Sydney Heads, both companies 
 joined in praise and prayer, and cheerily bade one 
 another Godspeed. Then followed twenty-six days 
 of misery. Yet our party managed on each of the 
 three Sundays to hold religious services on board, 
 and all three missionaries preached in turn. 
 
 It was a wonderful refreshment and rest to get 
 ashore for a little while at Tonga, where they had 
 the warm welcome which, perhaps, only such 
 circumstances could occasion, from the mission band 
 in the islands. Here the young voyagers had their 
 first sight of Polynesian scenery and life; and 
 here, too, they were put in good heart by seeing 
 a great Christian victory already won a plentiful 
 harvest following twelve years of work and waiting. 
 The king's canoe was sent to bring the ladies ashore ; 
 and this was but one of many tokens telling how 
 great a change had come to pass. But, most 
 impressive of all, before they left the group, they 
 heard the king himself preach to a congregation of 
 his people. Not a word of the fluent and quietly 
 earnest sermon could they understand, but they 
 knew that his text was our Lord's saying, " No man 
 can serve two masters," with the following counsel : 
 "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for 
 your life," on to the end of the verse.
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 29 
 
 The stores which they had brought for the Tonga 
 mission were all landed ; and the captain of the 
 Letitia was anxious to complete his somewhat risky 
 voyage. But, detained by foul winds and calms, 
 they were yet three weeks before they got clear of 
 the Friendly Islands. On the fourth day after 
 leaving they had the first sight of Lakemba, the 
 easternmost of the larger islands of the group, about 
 which, for some months past, they had daily 
 thought, and talked, and prayed, imagining and 
 wondering many things concerning this the destined 
 scene of their life's work. Early on Saturday 
 afternoon, December 22nd, 1838, the Letitia came 
 to anchor. Mr. Cargill, in the little mission-house 
 on the western side of the island, knew nothing of 
 their arrival; and the three missionaries, leaving 
 their wives on board, went ashore in the ship's boat, 
 and walked across the island, thus bringing the 
 first news of their coming. When the news reached 
 him, Mr. Cargill was shaving ; and, in his eagerness, 
 suspended the operation, and appeared half shaven to 
 greet them. It need not be told with what warmth 
 of loving welcome they were received, nor how all 
 joined together in fervent praise to God. On the 
 next day, Sunday, the ladies disembarked, and the 
 united mission band, in that house " where prayer 
 was wont to be made," joined in Divine worship, Mr. 
 Hunt being the preacher. Then followed a busy
 
 30 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 week, getting ashore, and stowing away goods and 
 stores and the printing press and all its belongings. 
 A District Meeting was held, after which Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hunt left to join Mr. Cross at Kewa, in the far west 
 of the group. Houses also had to be prepared ; but 
 every one worked with a will, and such rapid progress 
 was made, that on the fourth day of the New Year 
 Mr. Calvert was able to write the brief entry in his 
 journal, " Commenced housekeeping." The residence 
 which he thus began was expected to be but long 
 enough to give him opportunity to gain some 
 command of the language, as he had consented, at 
 the request of his brethren, to open an entirely new 
 station, at Somosomo, a town of great importance 
 on an island on the north of the group. This 
 arrangement, however, was never carried out; and, 
 little as he expected it, he was to remain upon 
 Lakemba for nearly ten years. 
 
 The conditions of housekeeping in Fiji, in those 
 early days, were strange, and some of them very 
 troublesome to the young mission band. That all 
 payments were made in articles of barter was, at 
 first, not a little perplexing ; but it had its points 
 of interest, and, above all, it gave constant oppor- 
 tunities for very direct intercourse with the people, 
 and the daily gathering of words and phrases used in 
 common speech. In this process Mr. Calvert, from 
 the beginning, proved to be very expert. Some
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 31 
 
 members of the mission carefully built up a scien- 
 tific knowledge of the Fijian tongue ; but he, with- 
 out philosophic hesitation or questioning, caught 
 by ear the beautiful language, with its open syllables, 
 and wealth of rich, full vowels and picturesque ex- 
 pressions, direct from the lips of the people, and thus 
 gained very early the power of conversing with them, 
 and in a few years had a ready mastery of their 
 vernacular, in which he has never been excelled. 
 
 Another marked feature of the new life was far 
 less interesting; the people soon gave very un- 
 welcome evidence that, besides other virtues, they 
 sadly lacked honesty. The missionaries could not 
 but admire the wonderful skill with which men, 
 whose dress was an almost irreducible minimum, 
 succeeded in secreting and carrying away little 
 articles of no great value in themselves, but very im- 
 portant where it was impossible to replace them. But 
 the theft of their only two kettles, where no other 
 kettles could be obtained, was no small domestic 
 calamity. One night, a wall of one of the houses 
 a wall, it should be said, constructed in native fashion 
 of reeds was cut through, and a large number of 
 articles of clothing were stolen. The morning dis- 
 closed not only this serious loss, but a heap of stones 
 placed in readiness for an attack if the inmates had 
 been disturbed. When things came to this pass it 
 seemed time to appeal to the principal chief, or king,
 
 32 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Tui Nayau, who had promised that the persons and 
 property of the missionaries should be protected. 
 Mr. Cargill and Mr. Calvert, therefore, waited upon 
 him, and represented that their love to him and his 
 people was great, and their only wish in coming to 
 Lakemba and remaining in his dominions was to be 
 useful to him and his people, by teaching them the 
 commands of the true God, so that they might be 
 blessed here and hereafter. The king replied : " I 
 am ashamed because of the covetousness and dis- 
 honesty of my people ; they have acted very ill ; but be 
 of good mind, until I search for the stolen property ; 
 and if the very articles cannot be found I will cause 
 a recompense to be made for them." A few days 
 afterwards, the king's brother and several other chiefs 
 came, bringing back a very few of the things stolen, 
 and, as recompense for the rest, the top joints of four 
 little fingers, which, according to Fijian custom, had 
 been cut off, not from the culprits themselves, but 
 from their children ! When the missionaries ex- 
 pressed their deep regret at this cruelty, they were 
 told, "It is one of the ways in which we punish 
 criminals ; and we hope you will be of good mind, 
 that we may live together in peace." It need not be 
 said that this experience of the crooked severity of 
 native justice made the missionaries determine to 
 put up with a great deal of loss and trouble before 
 they again invoked its interference.
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKE MB A. 33 
 
 Mr. Calvert and his young wife set themselves to 
 teach the people, by example, forbearance, and a love 
 which refused to be provoked to any retaliation. At 
 first this altogether new thing was wholly misunder- 
 stood ; but kind offices readily rendered to the 
 suffering, and friendly visiting of the people in their 
 own houses, at last won their confidence, and slowly 
 awakened kindly feelings in return, so that, a few 
 months afterwards, Mr. Calvert wrote, perhaps too 
 hopefully, "We are now free from robberies and 
 insult, and live in great peace. Your missionaries 
 and cause are respected by the chiefs and natives, 
 so that the mission appears to have obtained a firm 
 and permanent establishment here." 
 
 During the first weeks of their residence, the new 
 missionaries had experience of another too frequent 
 peculiarity of life in Fiji. A fierce hurricane swept 
 over the island, and greatly damaged the houses of 
 the mission, carrying away altogether some of the 
 outbuildings. This made necessary immediate 
 repairs and rebuilding; and as a place had to be 
 provided for the printing-press, Mr. Calvert accom- 
 panied Mr. Cargill to obtain posts for building. 
 They applied to a chief of high rank who had some 
 ready cut, but were met by a direct refusal. He 
 told them that the posts were prepared for a temple, 
 and, as the gods had seen them, he dared not let 
 them go, for fear that the gods should eat him. 
 
 3
 
 84 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 It was but three months after his coming that 
 Calvert began to preach. No doubt his broken 
 Fijian sounded strange to his hearers ; but the very 
 earnestness of the man would not let him delay. 
 He was well content to suffer for a time the discredit 
 of speaking badly rather than not begin to speak 
 the great message of which his heart was full. So 
 he kept on, blundering much, but adding day by 
 day to his stock of words and phrases. In later 
 years, when he had opportunities of seeing mission 
 work elsewhere, he thankfully recognised how much 
 they owed of their success in Fiji to the fact that 
 at the beginning of their enterprise there was no 
 chance of their falling into the temptation to speak 
 through interpreters. 
 
 Calvert had fully reckoned upon being employed 
 in working the press. One of his colleagues, how- 
 ever, understood printing, and, after a good deal of 
 deliberation, it was decided that the press should be 
 set up at Rewa. The result fully justified this policy. 
 Kewa was near to Mbau, which was gaining more 
 and more of a metropolitan rank in the group ; and 
 it was found highly expedient to adopt the dialect of 
 the language spoken in that district as the literary 
 standard. Already Cross and Cargill, the latter 
 of whom was a man of good culture, had effected 
 some translations, which, however imperfect, were of 
 great service at the time; and as early as March
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 35 
 
 1839, 840 copies of a First Catechism were issued 
 from the mission press at Rewa, followed, soon after, 
 by the Gospel according to St. Mark. 
 
 About the same time a thing happened which 
 disclosed some important peculiarities of Fijian 
 custom. A chief and nine men, all Christians, were 
 wrecked, and, after swimming a great distance, 
 landed on an uninhabited island some two miles 
 away from Lakemba. Here their peril was by no 
 means at an end. They had no way of escape, 
 and they dreaded discovery; for custom prescribed 
 that all wrecked persons who came ashore should be 
 put to death and eaten. One of them, however, at 
 last ventured to swim across to Lakemba. Twice 
 he returned, overcome by fear of the fate which 
 threatened him. The third time he finished the 
 journey, and landed unobserved. Soon afterwards 
 he met some of the people, who, seeing his drenched 
 condition, questioned him. The poor fellow's terror 
 was too much for his newly awakened conscience, and 
 he invented some story of having put clay on his 
 head, and having gone into the sea to wash it off, 
 that this happened at a distant place, from which he 
 had swum all the way. As soon as he could, he told 
 into friendly ears the secret of his companions' 
 danger, and three canoes were forthwith sent off to 
 fetch them. But their rescue proved to be difficult ; 
 for, in their fear, they had cut for themselves clubs
 
 36 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 with an axe which one of them had saved, and had 
 then betaken themselves to the top of a hill for 
 safety. At last they recognised their friends, and 
 were brought to Lakemba. Their escape was, in all 
 respects, a wonderful event. It was no small thing 
 that, in the case of these Christians, a horrible usage 
 had not been carried out. Herein already was some 
 token of hope that the old savagery would yield to 
 the truth. But, besides this, the danger of the 
 saved men had been desperate. They were six 
 hours in the water, swimming and supporting them- 
 selves on pieces of wreckage. And it surely was a 
 beautiful thing, and a marvel in Fiji, that, during 
 those hours of peril and weariness, the sincerity of 
 their faith and love was shown in that nine times 
 they gathered all together as they floated, and 
 joined in prayer; and when one of their number 
 became exhausted they collected the pieces of wood 
 which supported them that he might rest upon 
 them. The seed of the Gospel was already be- 
 ginning to bring forth fruit after its kind. 
 
 Shortly after this Mr. Calvert had his first ex- 
 perience of voyaging amongst the islands. The 
 missionaries had been waiting some time to visit 
 the island of Ono, about one hundred and fifty miles 
 away, at the extreme south of the group. The 
 marvellous story of the coming and the spread of 
 the Gospel here will be told later on. It is sufficient
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 37 
 
 now to say that, without having seen a missionary, 
 nearly all the inhabitants had become Christians, 
 and earnestly begged for a visit that they might 
 receive the sacraments, and be married with religious 
 rites. At the beginning of May an opportunity 
 seemed to offer, in the arrival of a small schooner 
 belonging to some white people at Levuka. A 
 passage was engaged, but, the wind being unfavour- 
 able, it was resolved to sail to Kewa first, one 
 hundred and twenty miles westward, and visit the 
 brethren, Cross and Hunt, to consult with them 
 about future plans. Full particulars of this journey 
 of Cargill and Calvert are given as furnishing a 
 fair specimen of Fijian travel in those days and for 
 many years afterwards; and as introducing certain 
 important actors in the history of the time. 
 
 On the evening of the day after starting they 
 reached Nukulau, a little islet six miles off Rewa, 
 which is on the great island of Viti Levu, or Great 
 Fiji. They sent off a letter to the mission station, 
 and at midnight Mr. Hunt arrived in a small canoe, 
 in which they accompanied him to Rewa, getting 
 there about three in the morning. On that day, 
 Sunday, Mr. Cargill preached in a chief's house to 
 fifty people, and Mr. Calvert conducted an English 
 service with the members of the mission. On the 
 next morning they set out at three o'clock, in a 
 small and rickety canoe, to visit Mbau, a little
 
 38 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 island scarcely separated from the mainland of 
 Great Fiji, and containing what was virtually the 
 metropolis of Fiji. The journey of about twenty 
 miles was accomplished by 11 A.M. They were 
 received very kindly by the old king, Tanoa, the 
 highest chief in the entire group, whom Mr. Cargill 
 describes. It may be added here that this chief 
 lived and died a cannibal and a strict upholder of 
 the worst customs of the people, although acting, 
 for the most part, in a friendly way towards the 
 missionaries. 
 
 " Tanoa, the King of Mbau, appears to be on the 
 verge of seventy. He is tall and slender in his 
 person, and forbidding in his aspect. His eye still 
 retains considerable lustre and keenness. The hair 
 of his head is closely shaven ; his beard is bushy and 
 long. Age and infirmity have made them white, 
 but, through a desire to appear young, his head, face, 
 beard, and breast, are generally daubed with an earth 
 which produces a jet black colour. On the back of 
 his head, and near his right ear, are two fearful scars, 
 caused by the blows of a club which was wielded by 
 the arm of his brother, Naulivou, the late King of 
 Mbau, in an attempt to kill Tanoa. His conduct to 
 us was kind and respectful, and his conversation 
 cheerful. He presented us with a fine large hog. 
 His house is incomparably the largest and best that
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 39 
 
 I have ever seen in the South Sea Islands. The 
 workmanship displays great ingenuity. Its length 
 is one hundred and thirty-five feet, and its width 
 forty-two feet. His son, Sera [afterwards called 
 Thakombau], is not by any means prepossessing in 
 his appearance and manners. He will probably be 
 his father's successor in the government of Mbau. 
 "While in Tanoa's house, we met with the King and 
 Queen of Eewa. They are both of princely aspect 
 and agreeable manners." The site was visited which 
 the king had given to Mr. Cross for the mission, 
 with a promise to build a mission-house for them 
 a promise which remained long unfulfilled. Then 
 they set out for Viwa, another small island just 
 off the coast, about two miles away, and the chief 
 of which, Namosimalua, had become a Christian. 
 
 " Such a remarkable man as Namosimalua, the 
 Viwan chief, deserves more particular mention. In 
 all the Fijian wars of his time he had taken an 
 active part, and his great shrewdness and foresight 
 made him the very Ulysses of the conspirators in 
 the great rebellion. It was he who gave the counsel 
 to kill the old king's stripling son (Thakombau), 
 who afterwards proved the prudence of the advice 
 by crushing the whole revolt. When Tanoa fled, 
 Namosimalua was chosen to pursue him, receiving 
 as a reward Vatea, a young lady of rank, niece of
 
 40 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 the king, together with six whale's teeth. He, with 
 his party, reached the island of Koro, while Tanoa 
 was then on his flight to Somosomo. Namosi had a 
 plan of his own, and, instead of going at once where 
 he had reason to believe that the king was, landed 
 at another part of the island. While his people 
 were eager to carry on the pursuit, he delayed them 
 by preparing food, and assuring them that the next 
 day would be soon enough. In the meantime he 
 secretly sent a message to Tanoa, warning him of 
 his danger ; and when, in the morning, he and his 
 followers renewed the chase, they saw the king 
 sailing away out of their reach towards Somosomo, 
 where he would soon be safe among his relatives. 
 Keturning to Mbau with a show of great chagrin, 
 Namosi asked for a fleet in which he might at once 
 sail to Somosomo, and demand the person of the 
 fugitive king. With a large party he went, and, as 
 he fully expected, got nothing but a flat refusal. 
 He had, however, accomplished his own object. He 
 had convinced the other rebel chiefs of his devotion 
 to their cause, while he gained the friendship of the 
 king, which was to serve him well when matters 
 took a turn. When Thakombau overcame the re- 
 bellion and brought his father back, Namosi was 
 spared, while the other revolted chiefs fell; and 
 Tanoa would never consent to his death, much as it 
 was urged by Thakombau, who could not forget the
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKE MB A. 41 
 
 advice given that he himself should be slain. 
 Many, though astonished at Namosi's escape, re- 
 mained ignorant of the secret cause of Tanoa's 
 friendship for him. Thakombau never forgave him ; 
 and fifteen years afterwards Mr. Calvert had to 
 plead hard that the chiefs life might be spared. 
 When Namosimalua died, Thakombau exclaimed, 
 ' There ! you have escaped without the club falling 
 on your head ! ' ' (Fiji and the Fijians, p. 409.) 
 
 Such was the man, and such, in part, was his 
 record, who had declared to Mr. Cross his intention 
 to become Christian, for which step he had Tanoa's 
 full sanction. It is no wonder that, knowing the 
 character of the man for craftiness and deception, 
 Mr. Cross distrusted his proposal, suspecting motives 
 of very questionable policy. But, after a time, the 
 genuineness of the chief's reformation could be no 
 longer doubted ; and he continued to show great 
 earnestness in seeking and receiving religious in- 
 struction. His conduct remained blameless. Before 
 building his own house, he had set up a large and 
 beautiful chapel upon a hill in Viwa. 
 
 " His principal wife," says Mr. Cargill, " is a person 
 of very high rank, and is very interesting in her 
 appearance and manners. She has made consider- 
 able progress in reading. I had the pleasure of
 
 12 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 preaching in the new chapel to the young converts. 
 They listened with much attention. As Namosi- 
 malua was about to sail for another island, to transact 
 some business for Tanoa, he requested GO be favoured 
 with a teacher, who might accompany and instruct 
 him. This appeared to me a strong proof of his 
 sincerity. He is ' not ashamed of the Gospel of 
 Chrisf.' " 
 
 Mr. Calvert and his companion started in their 
 crazy little canoe for Rewa, a nearly twenty miles' 
 journey, with a strong contrary wind and a rough 
 sea. The men worked hard, and were all but ex- 
 hausted when, at midnight, they reached a point on 
 the Rewa river about eight miles from the town. 
 Here the missionaries landed to walk the rest of the 
 distance, " which," writes Mr. Calvert, " was even 
 more difficult than going in our canoe ; for the way 
 was very bad and slippery, and our guide was not 
 well acquainted with it. We fell down many times, 
 and at length got another man to accompany us 
 at a village through which we passed. We arrived 
 at Rewa about three o'clock." Here they remained 
 for two days in consultation about the affairs of the 
 mission, and spent another Sunday. On the Monday 
 they embarked once more on the schooner, and 
 during the next ten days attempted again and again 
 to get away, but were prevented by the weather.
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 43 
 
 At last the wind fell, and was fair for the journey to 
 Ono; but a few hours afterwards it changed and 
 rose, so that they were driven back. In the night 
 the gale became furious, and there seemed but 
 little chance of the vessel weathering it. Day broke, 
 and made their danger the more apparent. 
 
 " No land," wrote Mr. Cargill, " was in sight, and 
 the sailors did not know where we were. About 
 11 A.M. land appeared on the larboard side of the 
 vessel. We endeavoured to sail for it, but found 
 ourselves separated from it by an extensive reef. 
 The sailors, being apprehensive of not being able to 
 weather the reef, spoke of running the vessel upon 
 it, and keep it from swamping in deep water, and 
 thus, if possible, to save our lives. In a few minutes 
 another island appeared in sight, and, with the 
 blessing of God on the vigorous exertions of the 
 sailors, we succeeded in getting to the inside of the 
 reef which surrounds the island about 2 P.M. The 
 water in the inside of the reef was deep and com- 
 paratively smooth, so that we sailed in safety. The 
 name of the island is Moturiki ; it is in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of Ovalau, and is subject to Tanoa. We 
 sailed into a small bay in Moturiki, with the inten- 
 tion of casting anchor, and of remaining there until 
 the storm should abate ; but, the men not being 
 well acquainted with the bay, the vessel ran aground,
 
 44 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 and, with all our exertions, we could not succeed in 
 getting it into deep water. About four, the natives, 
 seeing her lying on the reef, came off to us, with 
 the intention, as we supposed, of plundering us ; for 
 it is a custom which prevails throughout Fiji, and is a 
 dictate of their religion, to plunder the shipwrecked. 
 They invited us to go and sleep in their houses, 
 stating that the vessel was in a very bad condition, 
 and would probably never float again. They pro- 
 posed to take all the property out of her, in order to 
 lighten her, and used every artifice to induce us to 
 abandon her. But, finding their efforts unavailing, 
 they at length reluctantly left us. About high- 
 water, after midnight, they returned in a canoe, and 
 maintained unbroken silence. They approached 
 very near to the vessel, but, finding it afloat, re- 
 turned without speaking a word. Thus Providence 
 watched over us, and rescued us from the designs of 
 avaricious and wicked men." 
 
 Fifteen years later, Mr. Calvert was in far greater 
 peril on that same shore of Moturiki, and was 
 wonderfully delivered. Now, after repairing the 
 rudder, which had been injured in running aground, 
 they once more got under way, the natives shouting 
 and beating the sand and water with their clubs. 
 On account of the heavy weather they kept within 
 the enclosure of the great reef, and came to anchor
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION-LAKEMBA. 45 
 
 in a bay of the island of Ovalau. Here they landed, 
 and, with ten of the crew and ten natives, walked 
 eight miles to the town of Levuka, the place where 
 the white settlers lived, and where the schooner had 
 been built. Here, being kindly treated by the 
 white men, they were kept by stress of weather for 
 thirteen days, after which they sailed for home, and, 
 early on the morning of the third day, landed once 
 more at Lakemba. Their long absence had been 
 altogether unexpected, and Mr. Calvert's anxiety on 
 account of his wife had been extreme. Good Mrs. 
 Cargill well understood his trouble, and before they 
 could get ashore called out to him the good news 
 that he was a father, and that all was going well at 
 the mission-house, where the whole mission party 
 forthwith assembled, to join in a service of grateful 
 praise. 
 
 On Sunday, June 23rd, Mr. Cal vert writes : 
 
 " Preached in English in our house this evening^ 
 Our dear child was baptised to-day. Her name is 
 Mary. She is only three weeks old this evening. 
 About forty Fijians and Tongans were baptised at 
 the same time. We held a Lovefeast in the after- 
 noon. We had a very good day. Seventy spoke. 
 
 " June 27th. Sailed for Nanuka, fifty miles dis- 
 tant, in a native canoe. The wind became contrary, 
 and we did not arrive until the following day.
 
 46 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 " June 30th. Baptised ten adults and six children, 
 and preached twice. The people are steady in their 
 profession of Christianity, but ignorant, having spent 
 their early days in heathenism. 
 
 " On visiting the heathen chief, who is the am- 
 bassador of this place to Lakemba, I found him 
 lying on a mat very ill. I talked to him some time 
 about Christianity. He said that it was very good, 
 and that he should become religious when the chief 
 of Lakemba did. I showed him the folly of deter- 
 mining to do wrong because others did, and urged 
 him not to delay, but to seek preparation for meet- 
 ing the King of kings, and Lord of lords. However, 
 my entreaties did not produce the desired effect ; 
 yet I trust that they will be as bread cast upon the 
 waters, found after many days. I offered to him some 
 medicine. He refused to take it, saying he was 
 afraid it would kill him. I told him that it would 
 have been easy for me to do injury in my own 
 country ; and it would, therefore, have been unwise 
 and unnecessary for me to leave all the blessings of 
 England, endure all the privations and sufferings of 
 a long sea voyage, and a residence in a heathen 
 land, for that purpose; that my only design in 
 coming to Fiji was to do good to the bodies and 
 souls of men. I at length prevailed upon him to 
 take some medicine. When I called upon him the 
 following day he was up, and was very thankful for
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 47 
 
 the benefit which he had received from the medicine, 
 and wished to have some more. He presented me 
 with a neat, good, and useful mat, as a token of love 
 and gratitude. On the next day, on returning to 
 the native house in which I was residing, I was 
 surprised to find that he had provided a feast for 
 me, and had sent a large quantity of cooked food." 
 
 . On his return to Lakemba Mr. Calvert found 
 that long-expected reinforcements had arrived. Mr. 
 Lyth and Mr. Spinney had been transferred from 
 the Friendly Islands ; but the latter was in such ill 
 health that it was evident that he must hasten to 
 New South Wales, where he died a few months later. 
 It thus became necessary to revise the plans which 
 had been made for the distribution of the mission 
 forces ; and it was decided that Mr. Calvert should 
 remain alone at Lakemba. "This," he says, 
 " appeared to me a very formidable undertaking, 
 that I, with only a partial knowledge of the language, 
 should be the only missionary at this station, which 
 is at least a hundred and twenty miles from 
 Somosomo, and more than that from Rewa and 
 Mbau. However, as it appeared to me that the 
 present cheering prospects of our mission in the 
 good openings here demanded such a sacrifice at 
 some person's hands, I was perfectly willing to make 
 that sacrifice if the District meeting should so
 
 48 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 resolve. May the Lord, whose I am, and whom I 
 serve, undertake for me and bless me in this great 
 work." 
 
 Two days later all the rest of the mission party 
 had left, and he writes, " We are left alone in this 
 land of heathenism and thieves." With all the 
 work of the mission on their hands the young 
 missionary and his wife had, just at this time, a 
 fresh tax on their time and strength in the 
 appearance of influenza among the people, brought, 
 it was believed, by an English vessel. Many were 
 ill, and much work was done in looking after them 
 and administering medicines. In the midst of this 
 came very welcome cheer in the arrival of a canoe 
 from Vavau, bringing ten Christian Tongans, with 
 their wives and children. These men had come to 
 help in the Fiji mission, and were at once despatched 
 to different places to begin their work. 
 
 Having heard that two persons had become 
 Christians at a town called Nasaugalu, Mr. Calvert 
 waited on the king and his brother to beg of them 
 that no hindrance should be put in the way of these 
 or of others in the Lakemba territories who should 
 become converts. He obtained a somewhat cold and 
 hesitating assent to his request ; but was pleased 
 when the king's brother, who was notoriously 
 opposed to Christianity, admitted that it was a very 
 good thing. The next day Calvert went to the place
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKE MB A. 49 
 
 and was greatly disappointed to find that one of 
 the reported converts was dead, and no other could 
 be heard of. On his way back he met two of the 
 king's wives, who were going with a message to the 
 people of Nasaugalu, that if they became Christians 
 they must find a home elsewhere. He records his 
 sorrow, and then plucks up courage again, as he 
 enters in his journal, " The Lord reigneth ; and 
 therefore, in the midst of opposition and dis- 
 couraging circumstances, we are glad." Two days 
 later, he writes : 
 
 " Preached at Nukunuku and Narathaki. Travel- 
 ling here is difficult. The roads if such they may 
 be called are very bad. I had to walk part of the 
 way barefoot. I suppose I have walked sixteen 
 miles. The congregations are very small. How- 
 ever, our business is to sow the seed. We have to 
 prepare the way for greater things, which, I doubt 
 not, will assuredly follow. Two persons embraced 
 Christianity in the morning. I had also several 
 opportunities of speaking to people whom I met, and 
 others whom I saw working. I trust that good will 
 thereby be effected. Some of the persons to whom I 
 spoke are from distant islands, and some from a 
 distant town on this island. By our residence here 
 the torrent of vice is stemmed, and a way prepared 
 for the waters of life to run through these lands. 
 
 4
 
 60 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Knowledge is increasing among the heathen and 
 those who are professedly Christian ; and we know 
 that the religion which we teach is mighty, and the 
 more it is opposed the deeper it takes root, and will 
 take root, and bring forth fruit, which shall be to the 
 praise and glory of Him at whose command we have 
 come into this wilderness. 
 
 "August llth. Eatu Bukarau, a chief from 
 Lomaloma, came here to-day, having heard that 
 some teachers had come from Tonga, desirous to 
 know whether some would go to his place. He has 
 maintained his profession of Christianity without 
 any person to instruct him. He was much pleased 
 at finding that two men would go to him when they 
 had obtained sufficient knowledge of the Fijian 
 language. His father, who is the principal chief on 
 that island, has desired him to desist, and many 
 others. The priests have said that there would not 
 be rain, and the ground would be scorched so as not 
 to produce food, on account of his having embraced 
 religion. Their craft is in danger. He asked where 
 the priests would go in the event of a famine." 
 
 Lomaloma is a larger island than Lakemba, and 
 about eighty miles distant. Only one teacher ap- 
 pears to have been sent, who was warmly welcomed 
 by the chief. He found ten of the people professing 
 Christianity, besides six belonging to other islands.
 
 ENTERING ON HIS MISSION LAKEMBA. 51 
 
 Katu Bukarau proved to be a very powerful chieftain, 
 and a man of great earnestness and courage. He 
 visited other chiefs, telling them all he knew of the 
 Christian faith, and strongly urging them to accept 
 it. Public service was held in his house, which 
 was crowded, while a great number stood listening 
 outside. 
 
 In this case there is an instance of that which was 
 one of the most striking and deeply interesting 
 features of the early days of the Gospel in Fiji. 
 In the most unerpected places, often far away from 
 any spot which the missionaries had reached, they 
 were surprised and made very glad to hear of a 
 growth of the truth which had sprung up from seed 
 carried and sown they could not tell how, until 
 afterwards the whole story came to be made known. 
 And let the full significance of the historical fact be 
 well noted, and its evidence weighed, that wherever 
 this growth appeared, the fruit which it bore, though 
 differing much in measure and in the ripeness of it, 
 was in all cases the same. Men not only quitted 
 one faith for another, but they set themselves to 
 escape from customary evils of their lives, while 
 they became possessed of a strange zeal to persuade 
 others to receive the newly discovered truth.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO.
 
 Planting of the Gospel in Ono. Wai. A Strange Act of Worship. 
 Josiah. Isaac Ravuata. Progress. An Appeal. Voyage 
 to Ono. Vatoa. Work at Ono. Safe Return. Correspond- 
 ence with Hunt on Sanctification. The Story of Tovo. 
 Sickness and Depression. Visit of Rev. John Waterhouse, 
 and Arrival of Rev. Thomas Williams. Ono Revisited. Faith 
 in the Heathen Gods failing. Oneata. Chapel Opening. 
 Tangithi's Illness. Lualala, Visit of King George of Tonga. 
 Lomaloma. Cannibal Scenes at Somosomo. Sickness. 
 Confessions of a Priest. A Bad Englishman. Great Work 
 in Ono. Success at Wathiwathi. First Parting with the 
 Children. Illness of Mrs. Calvert. Death of Hunt. Farewell 
 to Lakemba.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 
 
 rhas already been stated that soon after Mr. 
 Calvert's arrival, he set out with Mr. Cargill to 
 visit the island of Ono, one hundred and fifty miles 
 away, but was hindered by contrary winds from making 
 the voyage. The wonderful and beautiful story of 
 the planting of the Gospel in Ono must now be told. 
 In 1835, the year in which Cross and Cargill 
 landed in Fiji, there was great trouble in Ono, the 
 principal of a little cluster of islands forming the 
 southern outpost of the group, and tributary to 
 Lakemba. An epidemic sickness thinned the popu- 
 lation, and many of the men were killed in war. 
 All the prescribed forms of sacrifice and worship 
 were observed in order to propitiate the gods; but 
 no help came. The time had arrived for sending 
 tribute to Lakemba, and a chief named Wai was the 
 bearer of it. In Lakemba he met a Christian chief, 
 Takai, who had visited Sydney, Tahiti, and the 
 Friendly Islands, and from him heard for the first 
 time about the true God. He went home, carrying
 
 56 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 this new knowledge, which was about as scanty as it 
 could be. All he had to tell his people was that 
 there was one true God, named Jehovah, and that 
 He required one day in the seven to be set apart for 
 rest and for worship. Beyond this he could teach 
 them absolutely nothing. Discontented with their 
 own gods, who left them to suffer unaided, Wai and 
 a few of the islanders agreed that they would try 
 this new Deity, and began by keeping a Sabbath, for 
 which food was prepared; and the worshippers gathered 
 with their skins newly oiled, and wearing their best 
 head-dresses and waist-cloths. Now a grave dif- 
 ficulty met them. How should they approach the 
 great God ? The idea of prayer, as an act separate 
 from the mediation of a priest, was wholly unknown 
 to them. After consultation, they sent for one of 
 their own heathen priests to come and conduct their 
 worship ; and he, knowing that the old order was 
 just then in great disfavour, and, perhaps, fearing to 
 refuse, consented. Surely a stranger act of religious 
 worship never took place than that which followed. 
 Surely, if any harvest was to follow, a smaller seed 
 was never sown. When all were seated for to sit 
 was the token of the most reverent respect in Fiji 
 the priest, sitting amongst them, thus led their 
 devotions : " Lord, Jehovah ! Here are Thy people. 
 They worship Thee. I turn my back on Thee for 
 the present, and am on another tack, worshipping
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 57 
 
 another god. But do Thou bless these Thy people. 
 Keep them from harm, and do them good." This 
 service was repeated week by week ; but the people 
 longed to know more; and when a whaler, on her 
 way to the Friendly Islands, called at Ono for pro- 
 visions, they took a passage on her for two messengers, 
 who should lay their case before the missionaries in 
 Tonga, of whom Wai had heard. This mode of 
 communication, however, was long and uncertain, 
 and many months passed away. 
 
 But that curious, imperfect petition had in it so 
 much of the real essence of prayer, being, in all its 
 groping ignorance, a cry of want and real desire, that 
 it was heard, and help came in an altogether unex- 
 pected way. A canoe, manned by Christian Tongans, 
 on her return voyage from Lakemba, was driven by 
 foul winds out of her course, and came to Vatoa, a 
 little island about fifty miles from Ono. Hearing of 
 what was going on there, one of the Tongans, Josiah 
 by name, went thither, and was warmly welcomed by 
 the little band of seekers after God, to whom he 
 preached Christ. He remained among them, teach- 
 ing them, as far as he could, the truths of the Gospel. 
 Before long the company of worshippers grew to forty, 
 and a chapel was built, which would hold a hundred 
 persons. The two messengers reached Tonga, and 
 learned that missionaries had been sent to Fiji, and 
 that the application for help must be made to them.
 
 58 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 But again the aid was to be provided in a very un- 
 foreseen way. An Ono youth, of wild and restless 
 disposition, had found his way to Tonga, and there 
 first heard the Gospel. Thence he voyaged to 
 Lakemba, where he was converted, and became a 
 consistent member of the Church. Having remained 
 for some time under the care and instruction of 
 the missionaries, this Isaac Kavuata was, in 1838, 
 sent as a teacher to his own people. On reaching 
 Ono he found a hundred and twenty adults professing 
 Christianity, which meant, at least, that they had 
 wholly abandoned the old heathen faith and worship, 
 and were trying to follow, as far as they knew them, 
 the teachings of Christ. These listened to the new 
 teacher with much eagerness, and cheerfully supplied 
 him with food and clothing. He, having himself 
 learned to read, sent word back by the canoe to 
 Mr. Cargill to send him some books ; and, somehow, 
 the hard-worked missionary found time to write out 
 a few copies of a first catechism for his use. Before 
 the year was out another Tongan teacher was sent ; 
 and, after the setting up of the press in the year 
 following, two more were appointed, who carried with 
 them a further supply of catechisms. They found 
 that more than two hundred men and women had 
 declared themselves Christians. Three chapels had 
 been built, and were already insufficient for the 
 people who came to the services.
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 59 
 
 In September 1839 Mr. Calvert writes in his 
 journal : 
 
 " I received the following letter from two of the 
 teachers who have been stationed at Ono since 
 February 1838: 'This letter is from John Havea 
 and Isaac Ravuata. We love thee, Mr. Calvert. 
 We make known to thee the effect of the grace of 
 God since February 1838 to the present time. The 
 work of the Lord has sprung up greatly. Do thou 
 attend to us and the people who worship Jehovah. 
 The number of the men who worship God in Ono is 
 120, the women 113. We disclose to thee what we 
 have received for books a great number of mats, a 
 large quantity of yams, sinnet,* and native cloth. 
 We have heard of scarcity of food at Lakemba, and 
 desire to bring the goods to thee. The place of 
 worship in Ono is 50 feet in length and 25 in width, 
 but this is too small. Love from us and Lucy Havea 
 to thee and Mrs. Calvert.' The following I received 
 from two teachers whom I sent to a part of Ono : 
 ' The letter of Jeremiah Latu, Lazarus Ndrala, and 
 Agnes Latu. Great is our love to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Calvert. Great are the effects of the grace and love 
 of God in Ndoi [a small island off Ono]. Nearly all 
 the people of Ono have become worshippers of the 
 Lord. The numbers at Ndoi are 48 men and 47 
 
 * Braided cocoa-nut fibre, xised for cord of all sizes.
 
 60 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 women. Great are the riches [property contributed 
 by the people] here belonging to thee ; but we have 
 no canoe to bring the property to Lakemba. We 
 are dead in love to thee [a Fijian superlative], Mr. 
 Calvert, but have not a canoe to bring the food. 
 We beg of thee to send a canoe, and also a little ink. 
 The good report has sprung up in this land, Ono. 
 There are three houses of worship in Ono, one in 
 Ono Levu, one in Matakaua, and one in Ndoi. Great 
 is our love to thee and Mrs. Calvert.' 
 
 " The people from the canoe give an excellent report 
 of the progress of Christianity in the island. They 
 say that the chapels are crowded during Divine 
 worship, and that many have to remain outside. 
 They are most anxious to be taught, so that those 
 belonging to the canoe who could sing or teach the 
 catechism were not allowed to sleep during the 
 night, but were engaged in instructing the natives. 
 The people are very anxious for a visit from me 
 immediately, in order that they may be married and 
 baptised. 
 
 " On hearing these reports, Mrs. Calvert said, ' Do 
 you intend to go ? ' I replied, ' How can I ? ' 
 ' Why ? ' she asked. I answered, ' How can I leave 
 you alone ? ' She said, ' It would be much better to 
 leave me alone than to neglect so many people ; and 
 if you can arrange for the work to be carried on you 
 ought to go. "
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 61 
 
 Upheld by this saintly heroism of his young wife, 
 he made ready to go as soon as a suitable craft could 
 be found in which to make the long journey. His 
 reluctance to leave Mrs. Calvert and her baby alone 
 might well be increased by the news which came 
 just at this time of war on the other side of the 
 island on which they lived. Several, including two 
 chiefs, had been killed, and a good many wounded. 
 One side asked leave of the king to fight out their 
 quarrel. He gave his consent, telling them to fight 
 night and day until one party conquered, but that 
 the killed on either side were to be brought to the 
 principal town to be baked and eaten ; the reason 
 given being that there was a scarcity of food on the 
 island. Hearing this, Mr. Calvert hastened to the 
 king's house late at night, and found him in con- 
 sultation with his brother and other chiefs. He 
 presented a whale's tooth and a hatchet, according 
 to custom, and then begged him to put an end to 
 the war. After much talking the king promised 
 to do so, and Mr. Calvert got home at midnight. 
 Next day he found that the promise was not likely 
 to be kept, and went to see the king again. He 
 came away, however, much discouraged, and heard 
 that the king had said, " To-morrow is the day for 
 eating men." A few days after, the welcome news 
 came that the people themselves had made peace. 
 
 The rest of this first year of his mission life was
 
 62 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 spent in visiting the places on Lakemba and such 
 outlying islands as he could reach. He was also 
 working continually at the language, and was able 
 to preach without reading. In addition, he seriously 
 set himself to learn also the Tongan language, as 
 Lakemba was the chief port for the many Friendly 
 Islanders who voyaged to Fiji. He was also busy 
 preparing for the press, making copies of portions of 
 the New Testament which older missionaries had 
 translated. Once he started to visit Ono, but was 
 obliged to put back again ; and it was not until the 
 last day of the year that he could again secure a 
 passage. He then set out in a native canoe, carrying 
 in all eighty persons. 
 
 " December Slat. Sailed for Ono. At noon we 
 were off Komo, where Josiah wished to sleep ; but, 
 on my desiring him to proceed, we went to Ongea. 
 
 "January 1st, 1840. Sailed for Vatoa ; but during 
 the forenoon the sea became rough, and the wind 
 strong and contrary, so that we were obliged to 
 return. We reached Ongea again with difficulty. 
 The men worked well. 
 
 " January 3rd. Sailed again for Vatoa. The sea 
 was very rough, so that we were driven to leeward of 
 the island, and with great difficulty anchored at 
 dark. 
 
 " January 5th. Married eleven couples. On my
 
 LAKE MB A AND ONO. 63 
 
 telling the chief that the law of God forbade his 
 having two wives, and asking him what his mind 
 was about putting away one of the two he then lived 
 with, he said that his mind was truly fixed to follow 
 the Lord, and therefore His law ruled him to give up 
 one. He chose the aged one, the mother of his 
 children. Though a teacher has been at this place 
 only a month, the chief can read with ease in the 
 Gospel of St. Matthew. I baptised two who have 
 professed Christianity for some time. At this island 
 there are five members, and thirty-nine on trial. 
 The population, including the children, is seventy- 
 two, and of these only three are heathens. 
 
 " 'January 6th. Sailed to Ndoi, an island belonging 
 to Ono. Wrote the names of the persons to be 
 married and baptised. 1th. Married twenty couples, 
 and baptised seventy-four persons. I then sailed to 
 Ono Levu (Great Ono), when I met the people, and 
 wrote the names of the persons to be married. I 
 then married thirty-seven couples. I afterwards 
 wrote the names of those to be baptised. 8th. 
 Baptised a hundred and fifty-three persons, and ad- 
 dressed them. 9th. Preached at Ono Levu. Visited 
 the classes and schools, and met the teachers. 
 10th. Went to Vuthi. Preached, married a couple, 
 and baptised five. 12th. Preached at the three 
 places of worship. 15th. We have been detained 
 by contrary winds and the shattered state of the
 
 64 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 canoe. Sailed to-day, but the wind being very 
 strong, and the canoe rather heavily loaded, we 
 were obliged to remain at Ndoi. 19th. Preached 
 at Ono Levu and Ndoi. 20th. Sailed for Lakemba. 
 After being two nights at sea, we landed, through 
 the kind mercy of the Lord, at Lakemba, early in 
 the morning of the 22nd-, when I was pleased to 
 find my dear wife and child well, without having 
 been at all annoyed by the natives during my 
 absence." 
 
 Such are the bare notes of a most real and 
 memorable episcopal visitation. In writing to his 
 dear friend, Hunt, then at Somosomo, he tells 
 something of the joy with which he witnessed the 
 wonderful work of God. 
 
 " My visit to Ono was heart-refreshing though body- 
 tiring, and in some instances enough to make one 
 afraid. I suppose the distance is at least a hundred 
 and sixty miles, and it is a more than usually out of 
 the way place. The land is very superior. I have not 
 seen any island in Fiji equal to it. But the land is 
 not more beautiful in its appearance and fertile in its 
 productions than are the beauty and fruit of the 
 work of the Lord our God amongst the natives. 
 The inhabitants of Ono were proverbial for their 
 insolence and bad conduct towards those who 
 visited them. They even killed a Tui Nayau [a
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 65 
 
 king of Lakemba, their own suzerain] formerly. 
 But how altered their state, and how different the 
 fruits that proceed from such a change in their 
 views, feelings, enjoyments, and pursuits ! They are 
 truly renewed characters, and exemplify in their 
 conduct the transforming and powerful effects of 
 the pardoning and changing grace of God, received 
 by trusting in the atonement of Jesus. Seeing the 
 blessed effects of the grace of God, how could I be 
 otherwise than heartily glad, and exhort them all 
 with full purpose of heart still to cleave to the 
 Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and truth with all 
 their hearts ? I felt unusually blessed in my work, 
 though sometimes scarcely able to stand on account 
 of weakness of body. Yet I thank the Lord that I 
 was not prevented from completing my work, and 
 preaching regularly during my stay. In meeting 
 them in class I felt my soul quickened by hearing 
 their spiritual experience ; and what brightened my 
 pleasure and gratitude was, that God had brought 
 all this about by native instruments. Blessed be 
 His holy name, who triumphs gloriously, and works 
 mightily after the sovereign counsel of His own will, 
 making His name great among the Gentiles ! My 
 soul would swell on such a theme as this, but I 
 must close, and direct my mind and yours to 
 another scene, widely different in its origin and 
 probable results." 
 
 5
 
 66 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 .He then goes on to tell showing the sharp 
 contrasts in the mission life in those days that on 
 the Sunday morning after his return, as he was 
 preparing for public worship, a sudden disturbance 
 broke out, begun by some heathen people molesting 
 certain Tongan Christians, and swiftly spreading, so 
 as to threaten a violent conflict. Already, when he 
 hastened to the king's house, the men were flocking 
 together, armed and blackened as for war. In the 
 end the peril was averted. 
 
 In the earlier months of 1840 Calvert was in 
 bad health. This was, no doubt, largely owing to 
 the straits to which they were sometimes brought in 
 procuring suitable food. His predecessor had fared 
 even worse ; but things were now bad enough. The 
 communication with the outer world in those days 
 was infrequent and uncertain ; and when their 
 stores were exhausted, or their flour was spoiled, 
 they subsisted very largely on yams and taro. They 
 could generally get fish from the natives, but not 
 always. Poultry was a rare luxury in those days ; 
 and the only flesh-meat to be obtained was pork, 
 the most unsuitable of all for the climate. They 
 got heartily tired of it, and would sometimes practise 
 on their own imagination by serving the inevitable 
 pork with caper-sauce. Calvert was working very 
 hard, and the want of proper food made him ill. 
 With loss of strength he also lost something of
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 67 
 
 spirit, and became, at times, depressed; and thus, 
 while rejoicing in the successes gained elsewhere, 
 mourned because of the want of much direct fruit 
 of his own personal efforts. He showed all his soul 
 in writing to Hunt. The following extracts from 
 one of his letters are specially interesting as re- 
 vealing the native simplicity of his character, and as 
 containing the first mention of one important work 
 which Hunt was proposing to himself. He had 
 mentioned that he had some thought of writing 
 upon the Scriptural teaching concerning Christian 
 holiness. This design was afterwards carried out in 
 a series of letters written to Calvert, which have 
 been published, and form a most valuable system of 
 careful exposition of this doctrine.* 
 
 " Fefouary 29th. 1840. You will see from my 
 
 letter to my depression of soul on account of 
 
 our work in these lands, and because of my own 
 experience. Please, pray for me that I may have 
 the spirit of constant prayer. 
 
 " You do well to think and write about and seek 
 after entire sanctification. There is not anything 
 that will do as a substitute. Our enjoyment, safety, 
 
 Entire Sanctification : Its Nature, The Way of its A ttain- 
 ment, and Motives for its Pursuit, In Letters to a Friend.. By 
 the late, Rev. John Hunt. London.
 
 68 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 prosperity of soul, and usefulness depend upon our 
 living in the enjoyment of this common Christian 
 privilege, or pressing hard after it. We are safe 
 and prosperous as it is explained, defended, and 
 enforced by the preachers, and sought, obtained, and 
 practised by the people. But how shall we preach 
 it clearly and effectually if we do not enjoy it ? 
 Knowing, then, as we do, this Scripture doctrine, and 
 feeling that it is authoritatively pressed upon us, 
 how great our guilt in neglecting our duty and 
 abusing our privilege ! . . . All this and much more 
 I know and feel keenly. I confess that I am verily 
 guilty awfully guilty in this important matter. 
 May the Lord in mercy so make me feel it that I 
 may not rest until I find that rest from sin, which is 
 as well the privilege as the duty of all the people of 
 God. 
 
 " On commencing my letter it was not my intention 
 to make these observations at this time, as I designed 
 at some future period to have thought more on the 
 subject, and then to have laid before you my 
 thoughts. Not that I suppose that I shall be able 
 to render you any material assistance in your pro- 
 posed essay ; for my mind as you must know if you 
 think without prejudice is of a very common order, 
 and my knowledge very scanty and superficial. . . . 
 Go on, dear brother, and may the God of all grace 
 grant to you all the blessings which Paul desired for
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 69 
 
 the Ephesians, and prosper you in the great work to 
 which you have set your hand." 
 
 When Mr. Calvert visited Ono, he found among 
 the candidates for baptism a girl of the highest rank 
 in the island, named Tovo. 
 
 " She could read well, was very active in teaching, 
 both at the school and in private, and showed great 
 diligence in visiting the sick and doing all manner 
 of good. According to custom she had been be- 
 trothed in infancy ; and her future husband was the 
 old heathen king of Lakemba. This was well known 5 
 and Mr. Calvert declined to baptise her unless she 
 resolved that, at any cost, she would refuse to become 
 one of the thirty wives of Tui Nayau. Tovo declared 
 her firm purpose to die rather than fulfil her heathen 
 betrothal. The old chief, her father, and all the 
 Christians, resolved to suffer anything rather than 
 give her up. When this was made quite clear she 
 was baptised, taking the name of Jemima." 
 
 " On Mr. Cal vert's return from Ono, he immediately 
 informed the king of Tovo's baptism, and showed 
 him that she could not now become one of his many 
 wives. But the heathens at Ono saw the importance 
 of the crisis, and were quietly urging Tui Nayau and 
 his chiefs to demand Jemima. Whereupon the 
 king equipped a fleet of eleven canoes to go to 
 Ono, manning several of them with fighting men.
 
 70 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Hearing of this, the missionary went to him, and, 
 presenting a whale's tooth, said, ' You are preparing 
 to voyage to Ono. I understand that you intend to 
 compel Jemima to be brought to you. I beg you 
 will not do so, but allow her to remain at her own 
 island, a Christian.' ' No, I am going there only for 
 tribute sinnet, cloth, and pearl-shells/ ' If so, why 
 do you take your warriors with you ? I should have 
 thought that if you were going merely for tribute, 
 you would have taken sailors; but instead of that 
 you take a number of warriors.' ' Oh, they are good 
 sailors also. I shall manage very well with them.' 
 ' Tui Nayau, before I leave you, I warn you faith- 
 fully ; I love you, and therefore warn you. God's 
 people are as the apple of His eye. In thus fetch- 
 ing the girl you are fighting against God. You 
 will imperil your own safety if you go on such an 
 errand. Remember that on the sea, and on all the 
 islands between Lakemba and Ono, the Lord Jehovah 
 rules supreme, and can easily punish you if you are 
 found fighting against Him. Take care what you 
 are about.' ' Oh no ; I don't intend anything of the 
 kind. I am only just going to my own island to 
 fetch tribute, as I have done before.' 
 
 " Finding that he could get no acknowledgment 
 nor concession, Mr. Calvert said on parting : ' I hear 
 what your mouth says, but do not know what your 
 heart intends. I do not know what you really
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 71 
 
 purpose ; but forewarn you that you are risking 
 your own safety if you attempt to fetch Tovo from 
 Ono.' 
 
 " On the Sunday the king sailed with his warriors. 
 He had been requested to delay starting till the 
 Monday, as two of the canoes, on one of which was 
 his brother, were manned by Christian Tongans. He 
 refused, telling them to follow the next day. The 
 voyage went on prosperously, and the party stopped 
 night after night at the several islands lying in the 
 route, and at last reached Vatoa, within a short day's 
 sail of Ono. Here Tui Nayau threw off all disguise, 
 and, by his ill-treatment of the Vatoan Christians, 
 showed plainly what he purposed at Ono. Food and 
 property were wantonly destroyed ; and no one 
 might complain, as the people had committed the 
 great offence of having become Christians before 
 their king. Wishing to make very sure, the ex- 
 pedition waited several days for a fair wind. Four 
 canoes, carrying men of the sailor tribe, who lived 
 by piracy and pillage, were sent on at once to be 
 ready for any emergency, and to do the king's will 
 should any disturbance arise. These canoes, with 
 about a hundred souls on board, were never heard of 
 again. Either they went down at sea, or were cast 
 on some island, where they would, according to law, 
 be killed and eaten by the inhabitants. 
 
 " A fair wind came, and the king started with two
 
 72 JAMES CALVEBT OF FIJI. 
 
 canoes manned by heathen Tongans. But the wind 
 shifted ; and though they sighted Ono, they could 
 not lie up for it. The canoes were brought as near 
 to the wind as possible, and tried to beat ; but, do 
 what they would, they still drifted to leeward. 
 They saw the reef and the high land. Then the wind 
 freshened, and they were obliged to strike sail. 
 The masts were lowered, to let the canoes drift as 
 easily as possible, and all chance of making Ono 
 was gone. Things were now in a bad way with 
 them. The breeze got stronger and the sea very 
 rough, making the canoes pitch and labour terribly. 
 Then the canoe-house loosened, and the sailors were 
 in great fear. As the night closed over them the king 
 seemed to give up all hope of rescue. He thought 
 of the missionary's warning, and was Very fearful. 
 Making up his mind to die, he oiled himself, put on 
 his royal dress and a beautiful necklace, and awaited 
 his fate. He prayed to his god, promising great 
 offerings and the sacrifice of a large pig, fed by his 
 own hand, if he should return safely. Next morning 
 the two crews were delighted to find themselves in 
 sight of each other, and far away from islands at 
 which they could not have landed in safety. During 
 the day they got to Totoya, where the indirect 
 influence of Christianity had already made a change, 
 and where the king and the Tongans were known 
 and respected. After receiving, for several days, kind
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 73 
 
 treatment, for which the Totoyans would expect a 
 generous return on their next visit to Lakemba, the 
 wind became fair, and the two canoes started for 
 home. Immediately on their return the king 
 begged the missionary that his ' words of warning 
 might never follow him again.' He was very kind 
 to Mr. Calvert, and when the Tongan sailors were 
 expecting a feast on the great pig that was to be 
 sacrificed to the god, they heard, to their chagrin, 
 that it had been sent to the missionary, who had 
 already salted it down. Thus did the king declare 
 his conviction that he owed the preservation of his 
 life to the missionary's God." (Fiji and theFijians.) 
 
 It is not possible to give here even a sketch of the 
 Christian history of Ono up to the time when, after 
 much suffering and persecution, the truth prevailed, 
 and the whole population forsook heathenism. The 
 deeply interesting record is to be found in the book 
 from which the above extract is taken. As to Tovo, 
 her difficulties and danger were by no means at an 
 end ; but at last the king retired from his claim and 
 left her in peace. 
 
 Calvert was still in poor health ; and his letters at 
 this period sometimes show him in a dejected mood, 
 at least in regard of his own spiritual life. Thus he 
 writes to Hunt : " All my life, both as it regards my 
 spirit and motives and designs, is very far off ' the
 
 74 JANES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 exceeding broad command ' of trod. I abhor myself. 
 And yet I do not awake from my slumbers. I need 
 something to rouse me, and lead me afresh to the 
 God of mercy, through the all-efficacious blood of 
 the Saviour. I feel that I love the Lord Jehovah, 
 Jesus the Saviour, and the Holy Ghost, the Lord 
 and Giver of Life. I sometimes desire to seek a 
 ' full Divine conformity to all the Saviour's blessed 
 will.' But how short and faint my desires and 
 pursuit of the perfect love of God to fill and rule my 
 heart ! Pray for me. Pity me. Love me. Lest I 
 should be ill again to-day, I must conclude." 
 
 About two months after this was written, the 
 missionary ship Triton made her first voyage to Fiji, 
 bringing the Kev. John Waterhouse, the Genera] 
 Superintendent of the Australian and Polynesian 
 Missions. It is impossible to tell how important 
 and how welcome this event was to the young couple 
 at the lone mission-house at Lakemba, whose joy 
 was completed when the Kev. Thomas Williams, 
 who had come with Mr. Waterhouse, was left as 
 Mr. Calvert's colleague. 
 
 Already there were evidences that the faith of the 
 people in their gods was being shaken. Thus, one 
 day, turtles were being dragged to the temple for 
 sacrifice. The missionaries went to watch the 
 ceremony. Their presence very much disconcerted
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 75 
 
 the king, who, instead of entering the temple, 
 passed by, telling the people they were to present 
 the offering. They sat, however, silent in the 
 temple, when a message was brought from the king to 
 the same effect. Presently he returned, but, finding 
 that the offering had not been made, sat outside on 
 the steps. At last one man went and presented 
 food with the customary prayers, while the king left 
 without having entered the temple. Such a thing 
 had never happened before. 
 
 The relief afforded by having a companion in the 
 toils and anxieties of the work was unspeakable ; and, 
 early in 1841, we find Calvert writing to England : 
 " I am very well, and am getting quite stout. For 
 my improved state of health we are very thankful, 
 as we began to be somewhat fearful that I should not 
 be able to stand this climate." 
 
 During this year, Mr. Waterhouse visited Ono in 
 the Triton, and Mr. Calvert accompanied him. 
 They were greatly cheered by the progress which 
 had been made. The opposition of the heathen 
 party had been very violent, and had brought about 
 something like a state of war. But the strife had 
 come to an end, and the hostile minority had by 
 degrees joined with the people whom they had 
 persecuted, so that on the arrival of the missionaries 
 there was a large number of candidates for baptism. 
 Thus " all the people, except those women whose
 
 76 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 husbands were from home, abandoned heathenism." 
 Among those who received baptism was a priest. 
 In August the following incidents are recorded : 
 
 " A priest lately invoked the god at Mothe, on the 
 presentation of first-fruits of arrowroot. Holding up 
 a bunch of cocoa-nuts, he said, 'If the nuts fall 
 from the bunch, we shall have plenty of food. If 
 not, the bread-fruit will not bear, and we shall have 
 a famine.' The nuts remained on the bunch. He 
 shook in vain. It being a bad report, he feared the 
 people, and complained that they had brought a 
 bunch of nuts which were firm. The people were 
 displeased ; and some heathen Tongans said that he 
 was a false man. 
 
 " On preparing arrowroot, according to the Fijian 
 custom, to be offered to the gods at Oneata, the 
 heathens now first divided it, and sent a portion to 
 the Christians, and then took the remainder to the 
 heathen temple. The priest, who had been accus- 
 tomed to shout aloud when he pretended that the 
 god entered into him, merely coughed, and his 
 mouth being used, he affirmed, by the god said : 
 ' It will be well for you all to become Christians ; I 
 will go to my own land.' This priest is a very quick 
 and strong fellow. He has been much in earnest in 
 heathenism. I have lately had two conversations 
 with him, when I besought him not to deceive the
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 77 
 
 people, and warned him to flee from the wrath to 
 come. He did not appear to regard much what I 
 said. We have his grand-daughter living on the 
 mission premises. She is a very nice girl, and evi- 
 dently attached to the lotu."* 
 
 " September SQth. I have this day attended and 
 administered medicine to a wife of the third chief 
 in rank. She is seriously ill. About two hours after 
 I left her, I was surprised to hear the report of a 
 gun, which led me to believe that the priest had 
 been invoking the god of the chief, and that a gun 
 was fired, according to custom, on the god's depar- 
 ture, at his bidding, though the king says this is a 
 lie of the priest. I felt concerned about the woman, 
 and also about the result of my medicine, and had 
 therefore despatched a messenger to inquire about 
 the state of my patient. My messenger arrived just 
 after the invocation, while the priest was yet de- 
 livering his message from the god, the late father of 
 the chief. He said, ' It is good your living in the 
 world.' The chief, presenting a whale's tooth, re- 
 plied, ' Your coming to us is good. Thava, my 
 wife, a lady from Lomaloma, is very ill. If we were 
 to die here it would be right. But we should be 
 
 * Lotu is the Fijian word for religion ; and very early in 
 the history of the Mission was used distinctively for the 
 Christian religion. When a person quitted heathenism to 
 put himself under Christian instruction he was said to lotu.
 
 78 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 greatly ashamed if she were to die in this land. We 
 therefore beg you to be of a good mind, and save 
 her.' The lying lips of the priest, as the mouth 
 of the god, answered, ' True, I am vexed. There 
 are many things in which I am neglected in your 
 house. Many of your observances are done away 
 with. I therefore offered a whale's tooth to Tui 
 Vakanoa and Tui Lakemba [two other local deities], 
 that Thava might die. We are living separate in 
 the place of spirits. The foreign God is near to you. 
 You want to embrace Christianity. We shall keep 
 separate. I shall try to save Thava ; but you must 
 recollect that I am not a god.* I am a man like 
 you. I once lived with you. I speak in this way 
 only because I have had a different dwelling for 
 some time. Yet I will make an offering to Tui 
 Vakanoa and Tui Lakemba to save Thava.' A 
 bunch of cocoa-nuts was then brought to be shaken, 
 the priest saying that if all fell she would live. In 
 vain he tried to shake them off. One fatal nut 
 remained. After the ceremony was over, an old 
 man, belonging to another tribe of priests, filliped 
 the remaining nut, and said, ' There are plenty of 
 nice bota (ripe nuts, which fall readily) in Lakemba, 
 
 * Besides gods of supreme rank, the Fijians worshipped 
 a lower order who were mortals deified after death. The 
 reference above is to the latter class.
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 79 
 
 yet they have brought these young nuts.' The man 
 who had gathered them said, ' We were tired in 
 climbing nut trees for a bunch of old nuts, but could 
 not find one.' The following morning I called on 
 the woman, and found that the medicine had been 
 useful to her. I had some conversation with the 
 chief and the priest. They both appeared to be 
 ashamed. This is the only priest in the principal 
 settlement, and there are several settlements without 
 a priest. On the rebuilding of the heathen temple 
 no property was presented, as is usual." 
 
 Thus, in many ways, there came signs of a great 
 change. Ancient customs, growing out of the old 
 heathen faith, were falling into disuse. A priest on 
 the island of Mothe, forty miles from Lakemba, 
 had lately said, when professing to be possessed by 
 his god, that a new king meaning the Christians' 
 God was established in these days, and that the 
 gods had fled from Ono and Oneata ; and the gods 
 of Mothe would join them at Lakemba, and go in 
 company to search for fresh lands to the leeward. 
 Cannibalism had disappeared from Lakemba, so 
 that the missionaries now on that one island had 
 never witnessed its horrors, although it had been 
 practised quite recently on a large scale close to the 
 mission-house at Somosomo, and was still common 
 in other parts of the group.
 
 80 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 In a letter to England, Calvert wrote : 
 
 " I need not tell you that as heathenism gives 
 way Christianity advances. Neither need I say that 
 it is Christianity alone which has exposed their 
 refuges of lies. The cause of truth is prospering 
 greatly in Fiji, not as shown by many pardoned and 
 renewed Fijians though we are thankful to know 
 that there is a goodly number who are accepted in 
 the Beloved but by putting heathenism in dis- 
 repute, and by gaining approval for itself. 
 
 " I am well in health, and much stronger than I 
 have been for some years. I feel that the Lord is 
 my portion, and that I am His. I desire to love 
 Him with all my heart, and to serve Him fully with 
 a perfect heart and a willing mind. I mourn over 
 my unfaithfulness to God, and littleness of love. 
 May He quicken me according to His word. My 
 dear wife enjoys excellent health and spirits. She 
 is happy in her God and in her work. She has 
 taught a few to sew, and meets a class." 
 
 In the same letter he gossips pleasantly about 
 some experiences of Fijian travel, which must have 
 been anything but pleasant at the time. 
 
 " Before we reached the place [in the night] rain 
 poured upon us, so that we could not proceed. I 
 was exceedingly wet, and, not having change of 
 raiment, I had to dry my clothes by a poor fire
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 81 
 
 before I could rest. My pillow was a piece of native 
 cloth. I lay on a rough mat, and covered myself 
 with a finer one. When I was nearly asleep a land 
 crab laid hold of my toe. I was then obliged to get 
 upon my finer and larger mat, but could not sleep 
 for cold. I then covered myself with the native 
 cloth, and tried an old cocoa-nut for a pillow ; but it 
 did not fit my head. I then tried another, but it was 
 alike uneven. So I put my head on part of the 
 firewood which we had to warm us. It, also, was too 
 hard. At last I laid my head on the ground, and 
 was blessed with refreshing sleep." 
 
 During this year another child a son was born 
 at the mission-house. A great event also took place 
 in another visit from the General Superintendent, 
 accompanied by Messrs. Jaggar, Lyth, and Hunt, to 
 hold an adjourned District Meeting at Lakemba. 
 This intercourse with the brethren, and especially 
 with his much-loved friend, Hunt, was as a festival to 
 Calvert, and helped him greatly in his work. He 
 was frequently busy for the press, as the demand 
 for books, especially first reading books and cate- 
 chisms, was fast increasing ; and the publication of 
 portions of the New Testament was being pushed 
 forward as fast as much anxious correspondence 
 about the translation would allow. Then the number 
 increased of islands into which Christianity had 
 
 6
 
 82 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 been introduced, and the visitation of a missionary 
 became urgently needed. In the voyaging which 
 this visitation involved Mr. Calvert took a full 
 share. In the April of 1842 he went to Oneata, 
 where the people were just finishing the building of 
 a large chapel. He tells the story of his visit there : 
 
 " April 21th. In the afternoon I preached from 
 Acts x. 33. The people were very attentive. Their 
 singing is very bad, but I cannot help them, as I 
 know only one tune." 
 
 " 28th. I met the men and boys in the school 
 in the morning, and the women in the after- 
 noon. I was delighted to hear some young women 
 read, and to mark their diligence in instructing 
 those who are beginning to learn. After the school 
 I met a female class. Their experience is not very 
 clear or deep ; but they seem to be in earnest and 
 single-hearted. A canoe has gone to Lakemba to 
 bring an Oneata chief to the opening of the chapel. 
 I wrote to my dear wife, desiring her to come with 
 the old chief, that she might see the chapel, and 
 teach the people to sing." 
 
 " 29th. Busy to-day in directing the people 
 to make the floor and ground in front of the 
 chapel even, and to fetch sand and grass, and 
 floor the building. They stitched one narrow mat 
 down the middle of the chapel, which gives a neat
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 83 
 
 appearance to the floor, and serves as a division for 
 the sexes. The canoe from Lakemba was in sight 
 to-day. She had to put into an uninhabited island 
 for the night, the wind being contrary. Mrs. Calvert 
 and the children slept on the beach, as there was no 
 house on the island. I called upon a priest, who 
 still continues a heathen. He says that he is 
 very badly off for a dress, but that he shall lotu 
 before long. He sold me one of the conch shells 
 which are blown when he invokes his god, in ex- 
 change for a first reading-book, so that he may have 
 a book ready when he abandons heathenism." 
 
 " 30th. The people very busy in preparing 
 food for the opening of the chapel. Several pigs 
 were cooked, which, with ripe bananas, yams, sugar- 
 cane, and nuts, were piled in front of the chapel 
 about noon, and divided among the people ; one 
 large heap of food, with a pig, being given to the 
 people who brought me here. A similar heap was 
 left for the old chief, whose canoe was expected. 
 Seventy yams, a large pig uncooked, sugar-cane, 
 bananas, and nuts were given to me as my share ! 
 About four o'clock the canoe arrived, bringing Takai, 
 the old chief, and Mrs. Calvert and the two children. 
 A large piece of iron was beaten to call the people 
 together. They all assembled, and we entered the 
 beautiful new chapel, which is dedicated to the true 
 God. I preached from Acts xii. 24. After the service
 
 84 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 I married twelve couples. The chapel was comfort- 
 ably filled. I was opposed to its being so large (fifty- 
 eight feet long by twenty-six feet wide). However, 
 during the building of it, their number has been more 
 than doubled, by which increase they have been 
 assisted in the latter part of the building, and now 
 the chapel is just the size that it ought to be. It 
 was pleasing to see the people assemble in clean 
 and finely figured native cloth, beaten and printed 
 for the occasion. One piece was superior to any 
 native cloth that I have seen. My heart was deeply 
 affected by seeing so many who have given up their 
 false gods, and are seeking the true Grod. The word 
 of Grod still grows and multiplies. How powerful, 
 how certain an instrument ! The Lord will ever 
 confirm His truth with signs following. ' The glory 
 of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see 
 it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath 
 spoken it.'" 
 
 " Swiday, May 1st. At sunrise we met at the 
 prayer-meeting. In the forenoon I read the Ten 
 Commandments, and preached from Genesis xxxix. 2. 
 In the afternoon I preached from Luke xxiv. 46, 47. 
 It was a good day to our souls. I married thirteen 
 couples, and baptised five adults and five children." 
 
 " 2nd. I attended the schools, visited the people, 
 and met the teachers to-day. In the afternoon we 
 held a prayer-meeting, at which I gave an address on
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 85 
 
 prayer, directing them to have partitions in their 
 houses, so that they might retire for prayer and 
 reading." 
 
 " 3rd. In the morning I met the men, and 
 in the afternoon the women, and divided them into 
 classes. Mrs. Calvert has been fully employed in 
 teaching the people to sing, but they do not learn 
 the art readily. They are too much like me, I fear, 
 have not got an ear for music. Mrs. Calvert has 
 just taught a young man from Tonga I suppose not 
 less than twenty tunes in a few weeks." 
 
 " 4:th. We sailed to Lakemba." 
 
 Three weeks afterwards there took place an in- 
 cident which is thus related in Fiji and the 
 Fijians (p. 310). 
 
 " Tangithi, the daughter of the king, was very ill, 
 and seemed likely to die. She wished to be visited 
 by the missionary, who found her much worse, 
 being speechless, and apparently insensible. The 
 medicine he gave soon produced a favourable change; 
 but next day she refused to continue under Mr. 
 Calvert's treatment, as a priest had arrived during 
 the night from a distance, and, through him, the 
 god had declared that the illness of the princess was 
 in consequence of the ruinous state of the temples. 
 The king, being very fond of his daughter, was 
 anxious to appease the anger of the gods, and
 
 86 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 ordered large offerings of food to be prepared by all 
 the towns on the island. Toki, and the other 
 enemies of the Lotu, tried very hard to get this 
 order imposed on the Christians as well as the rest ; 
 but the king refused, saying that what the Christians 
 did in the matter would be useless, as they wor- 
 shipped another God. On being pressed, he added, 
 ' They shall not be asked to help. And if they 
 were, do you think they would do anything in this 
 matter, seeing that such work is unlawful to them ? ' 
 On this occasion, as on all others, care was taken by 
 the missionaries that, while the Christians stood 
 firmly to their principles, it should be done with as 
 little offence as possible ; so that they brought un- 
 bidden a supply of uncooked food as a present to 
 the king, who seemed pleased and satisfied. All 
 the heathens on the island joined in preparing the 
 offering for Tangithi's recovery. Many thousands 
 of taro-roots were baked and presented, with nine- 
 teen large puddings, made of the same material, 
 ground on the rough bark of the pandanus, and then 
 baked in leaves in portions about half the size of a 
 penny roll, to be afterwards all mixed together with 
 cocoa-nut and boiled sugar-cane juice, the whole mass 
 being neatly cased in a great number of banana 
 leaves. The largest pudding was twenty-one feet, 
 and the next nineteen feet in circumference. 
 
 " All these preparations occupied much time ; and
 
 LAKSMBA AND ONO. 87 
 
 before everything was ready Tangithi got worse, and 
 again Mr. Calvert was sent for. He found her 
 removed to the house of a late brother of the king, 
 who was now deified, and said to be specially present 
 in his own house. The missionary, knowing that 
 the priest was there about his incantations, and that 
 large offerings had been prepared, deemed this a 
 good opportunity for teaching. The king was much 
 excited, and said, ' The illness of my daughter is 
 very great ! ' 'Yes,' said the missionary, 'I know it; 
 and you are to be blamed for following useless 
 heathen worship instead of continuing the use of 
 medicine which proved beneficial.' He further 
 added that he was unwilling to treat the patient 
 while the heathen observances were going on, and 
 the priest was rubbing her body ; lest on his own 
 treatment succeeding, it should be said that the 
 recovery was the result of the incantations and 
 offerings, and thus the people should become con- 
 firmed in their errors. After a long talk, and a 
 lecture to the priest on his absurd deceptions, Mr. 
 Calvert at last consented to undertake the case. He 
 administered a stimulant, which revived her from 
 stupor, making her throw about her arms restlessly. 
 This frightened the king, who thought she was 
 dying, and cried out angrily, ' You have killed my 
 daughter ! ' The missionary was in no enviable 
 position. The attendants and people all round were
 
 88 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 very savage at his interference with the priest, and 
 only wanted a word to lead them to revenge. It 
 was late at night, and the mission-house was far off. 
 The place was full of enraged heathens, in the midst 
 of whom stood the stranger accused by the king of 
 murdering his favourite child. Nothing, however, 
 was to be gained by showing fear, so Mr. Calvert 
 snatched up his bottles, showing great indignation 
 at such a charge, after he had come at their earnest 
 request though served so badly by them before 
 and had given some of the medicine which had been 
 sent all the way from England for his own family. 
 Then, assuming a look of being greatly affronted, he 
 hurried away, glad enough to get safe home, where 
 he bolted all the doors, and kept an anxious look-out 
 next morning, until news arrived that Tangithi was 
 alive and somewhat better. During the morning a 
 message came from the king, begging for medicine 
 for another of his children, who was ill with dysen- 
 tery. Mr. Calvert sent word, ' Give my respects to 
 the king, and tell him that I do not wish to send 
 any more medicine for his children, having killed 
 his daughter last night ; and it is not lawful for a 
 missionary to kill two children of a king in so short 
 a time.' An apology soon came, and an entreaty 
 for forgiveness for words hastily spoken ; but the 
 medicine was not sent until another urgent request 
 was brought.
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 89 
 
 " For four weeks the priests tried all their incanta- 
 tions and sacrifices ; but the sick girl got no better, 
 so that at last the father's heart relented, and he 
 gave his consent that she should renounce heathen- 
 ism, and be removed, with her attendants, to the 
 mission-house. This was accordingly done ; and the 
 missionary's wife could never forget the toil and 
 inconvenience and annoyance of having so many 
 Fijian women in her house. The care, however, 
 was cheerfully borne ; and in a short time the 
 patient improved. Now that she had lost all trust 
 in the heathen remedies, she was perfectly sub- 
 missive to the directions of the missionary, and 
 soon recovered." 
 
 Tangithi became a genuine convert and a con- 
 sistent and useful member of the Church. Her 
 further history, which was very sad, may be found 
 in the book from which the above narrative is 
 taken. 
 
 During August of this year, 1842, the missionaries 
 met for conference in their District Meeting. The 
 Triton called at Lakemba, and took Calvert and 
 Williams to Somosomo, where the former preached, 
 and was much struck with the difference between 
 the people and the Lakembans. The king had been 
 ill, and announced his intention to become Christian 
 when he recovered. Eewa and Viwa were also
 
 90 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 visited. The tour occupied about three weeks, and 
 was, in all respects, a very good and useful interval. 
 
 On October 16th Mr. Calvert writes: "Preached 
 thrice in Fijian, and once in the Tongan language 
 to-day. In the afternoon I was much delighted in 
 listening to one of our members at Wathiwathi. He 
 told me that Sefanaia Lualala had talked much to 
 the people of Wathiwathi and Tarakua, urging them, 
 with tears, to abandon heathenism, and embrace the 
 truth." 
 
 This man was a Tongan of very high rank and 
 of great influence at Lakemba, his mother being the 
 king's sister. He had been active in promoting war 
 in Tonga, with the avowed object of opposing Chris- 
 tianity, and was guilty of treachery and cruel blood- 
 shed. He left the Friendly Islands, and his coming 
 to Fiji was accepted as a signal of war against the 
 Christians. But he found them so numerous and so 
 united that his violence was checked, though he lost 
 no opportunity of petty persecution. For some time 
 past he had abandoned his opposition, and gradually 
 yielded to the truth. Then came his baptism 
 followed by very marked evidence that his acceptance 
 of the Gospel was more than a mere form ; and he 
 became an earnest advocate of the religion which he 
 had formerly persecuted, and went from place to place 
 and island to island, entreating the people to accept 
 Christ.
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 91 
 
 In the latter part of this year a very interesting 
 and important event happened in the coming of 
 the Tongan king, with a fleet of canoes, on a visit to 
 Lakemba. King George Tubou, who, at the age 
 of ninety-eight, has just died, maintained, through- 
 out his long life, a high Christian character, and 
 was for many years an earnest and successful 
 preacher of the Gospel. He now came to Fiji to 
 use his influence in the settlement of very grave 
 complications which had arisen there, and were 
 threatening to cause war. Mr. Calvert heard him 
 preach several times during his visit, and speaks of 
 being " greatly pleased and profited " thereby. 
 
 In January, 1843, Mr. Calvert had an awkward 
 accident. He set out in a double canoe, with Mrs. 
 Calvert and the children, and Mrs. Williams, to go 
 to the opening of a new chapel at Waitambu. In 
 helping to work the canoe he fell into the sea, but 
 soon got on board again. He then waded to land, 
 and walked some distance on the beach to get dry. 
 Afterwards, on wading out again to the canoe, he 
 saw a large shark pass between him and the shore, 
 and was thankful enough that it did not turn in his 
 direction. 
 
 On February 21st there was a severe shock of an 
 earthquake in the night. Next morning Mr. Calvert 
 hastened to the king's house, hoping to turn the 
 alarm to good account. The king told him that
 
 92 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 some of them were drinking yanggona the native 
 grog together when the trembling of the earth 
 came. They remembered nothing like it. He then 
 went on to relate their traditions of a great flood, 
 and of an attempt to build a house to reach the sky. 
 He also gave the pedigree and history of their chief 
 local god, Tui Lakemba, and finished by saying, 
 "But since you came he has not been seen. He 
 has no priest. He has hidden himself, or is lost, or, 
 perhaps, is ;dead. Or, probably, he knows that you, 
 the true priest of the true Grod, have come to the 
 land. Do you pray for us that we die not. We 
 have no other priests, so do you influence God on 
 our behalf." 
 
 In April, Daniel, a teacher, came to Lakemba, 
 bringing very cheering reports of the work at Loma- 
 loma, where he had been put in charge. He told 
 how, some time before, a canoe of a priest sailed in 
 company with several canoes belonging to Christians. 
 The priest's canoe was disabled, and he and his crew 
 floated to land on the outrigger. The Christians 
 went after the derelict canoe, and found it still afloat 
 with all the property on board. They dried the 
 mats, and then, at the instigation of the teacher, 
 restored all the property to the priest. He refused 
 to take it, as the transaction was a violation of 
 Fijian law, which made all such things the property 
 of the sailors. Two heathens, who had got three
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 93 
 
 mats and a mosquito curtain each from the wreck, 
 refused to give them up. The priest, compelled to 
 take back his own, was deeply impressed by this new 
 morality, and returned to his own land carrying a 
 good report of the Lotu. Afterwards news came 
 that he had actually begun to wear dress, and to 
 profess Christianity, saying, "Where else can I 
 go ? I have no god with me. Since the arrival of 
 the Christian religion I have not known any god." 
 
 " The teacher reports that heathenism is tottering 
 in Lomaloma, where there are many more people 
 than in Lakemba. The priests seldom profess now 
 to be visited and inspired by their gods. Lately, 
 however, many pigs and much food were cooked for 
 the gods. The priests assembled, and sat in order, 
 and were supposed to be near shaking ; for they shake 
 their bodies terribly, and violently excite themselves 
 under the influence of the god. But before they 
 began the teacher made his appearance. They 
 stared at one another, while the people laughed and 
 looked at Daniel. The priests and people were 
 ashamed. At last one priest broke the silence, pro- 
 fessing to be inspired by a god. He urged the other 
 gods to speak, and to promise to be still with the 
 people. Growing tired of pleading without success, 
 he departed. One pig, with other food, was given to 
 the teacher. Daniel is a famous fellow, good-tern-
 
 94 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 pered, and very kind. The people love and respect 
 him." 
 
 Just at this time there came to Calvert a great 
 surprise. His colleagues in the mission acknow- 
 ledged what he himself had certainly not discovered 
 that his command of the language so far excelled 
 their own that they submitted to him their transla- 
 tions for his criticism and revision. There were 
 amongst them men of education and scholarship to 
 which he could lay no claim ; and in a family letter 
 he refers to their opinion of his proficiency with an 
 amusing perplexity of astonishment, but with very 
 evident satisfaction. He knew well the limitations 
 of his own powers and culture ; and this recognised 
 success certainly came to him as a great encourage- 
 ment. 
 
 In July he went to Somosomo in the Triton, to 
 attend the District Meeting, and remained there 
 while the vessel went to fetch the other missionaries. 
 One reason for his staying there was, that he had 
 been suffering from dysentery for two months, and 
 wished to be under the care of Mr. Lyth, who had 
 received a medical training. He found that the 
 drugs he had been diligently taking had lost their 
 virtue. He was now supplied with new, and soon 
 got better. 
 
 Just as he reached Somosomo thirty canoes arrived
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 95 
 
 on their return from a victorious attack upon enemies 
 on the mainland of Vanua Levu. They had killed 
 fourteen persons, one of whom had been eaten on the 
 spot ; the rest were brought to Somosomo. Calvert 
 writes : 
 
 " We walked into the town, and saw them cooking 
 human beings with perfect unconcern. One was 
 tied up by the foot, for convenience, I suppose, in 
 cutting up. I saw pieces of human flesh and bones 
 cut and cooked and scraped in all directions. 
 The people were dancing, and drumming, and shout- 
 ing all night. On the next day, we saw the men who 
 had killed their enemies in the fight, dressed with 
 new cloth, painted red, and each provided with a 
 club. They are not allowed to sleep in a house for 
 several nights. They walk about with their clubs 
 on their shoulders, which on other occasions is not 
 allowed." 
 
 At this District Meeting it was decided that 
 Mr. Williams must be removed to another part of 
 Fiji, as the number of missionaries had become 
 seriously reduced ; and thus Mr. Calvert was once 
 more left alone at Lakemba. He was convalescent, 
 but not yet strong. Writing to the missionaries at 
 the other side of the group, he says : 
 
 " First of all, and as the best thing you can do for 
 me, I beg your hearty, and constant, and believing,
 
 96 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 and effectual, and fervent prayers. I think you may 
 pray for my restoration and prolonged life ; but pray, 
 oh pray, for grace to suffer, and a full preparedness 
 for eternal joy ! I feel happy in the love of God, 
 but I desire and greatly need the fulness of God's 
 saving grace. 
 
 " Next, I beg your sympathy. I am nervous. Be 
 gentle with me. If Brother Hunt, after Mrs. Hunt's 
 complete restoration, should be able easily to visit 
 me during the year, I shall be exceedingly thankful. 
 Or if Brother Lyth could undertake such a voyage in 
 a few months, when Somosomo may be in a more 
 settled state, he would be of great service to me, 
 should I be spared to see him. 
 
 " However, Brethren, be not anxious. Help me 
 not to be anxious. The will of the Lord be done. 
 In what work or place should I wish to die ? If my 
 dust is to be left in Fiji, and my soul go to rest from 
 Fiji, what place and work so fitting as where I am ? " 
 
 He afterwards had a return of the disorder, and 
 Mr. Lyth came over from Somosomo, and remained a 
 week with him, after which he got better, so that, 
 before the year closed, he could record in his journal : 
 " I have recovered, through God's mercy and blessing, 
 from eight months' dysentery." 
 
 The following extracts from Mr. Calvert's journal 
 for the early part of 1844 represent some phases of
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 97 
 
 the mission work of great interest, showing both its 
 progress, and its difficulties and discouragements. 
 
 "February 8th.- We sailed with a strong wind 
 to Tuvutha, where all the natives are professedly 
 Christian." 
 
 "llth. I preached twice, and exercised the 
 people in the First Catechism. They had made 
 some progress in the verbal knowledge of it. I also 
 tried them with the Ten Commandments, which 
 they nearly know. I met the Society in class. 
 Their experience is exceedingly superficial, but 
 they hate their former belief and practices. After 
 service in the morning, the chief who accompanied 
 me desired Zephaniah to come to him. This man 
 was formerly priest of a god, Tui Vakanoa, equally 
 celebrated at Lakemba and other islands, and much 
 resorted to to procure fair winds. ' Tell me,' said the 
 chief, 'is the worship that you and I have long 
 adhered to true or false?' He replied, 'It is not 
 right for me, sir, to hide from you the truth. Our 
 worship is altogether false, sir.' ' Well, but 
 admitting that you were false on some occasions 
 when you invoked your god, let me ask you, were 
 you not sometimes inspired by your god when you 
 made reports to us ? ' ' If, sir, something besides 
 myself had spoken, then our worship would have 
 been true ; but I alone spoke.' ' And there was no 
 
 7
 
 98 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 god with you ? ' ' Not any, sir ; but I alone spoke.' 
 ' Then the words which you affirmed were the words 
 of Tui Vakanoa were only your own thoughts, which 
 were sometimes false, and sometimes true.' ' I 
 was called a priest, sir. Food, firewood, and property 
 were presented to me. I was ashamed to refuse to 
 invoke the god. I therefore thought what I should 
 say, which sometimes happened according to my 
 thoughts, but more frequently otherwise.' ' What 
 made your body shake ? ' 'I alone wished to make 
 it shake.' The chief then said in good humour, 
 ' You are a bad fellow. You have mocked us often. 
 Our backs have frequently bled with carrying to you 
 firewood as an offering for a favourable wind, and 
 you have only belied us. But the (rod you now 
 worship we heathens do really fear. When we sail 
 with Christians, we are not at all afraid of being 
 lost. We are now sailing about with contrary winds, 
 yet I have not the least fear. I wonder why many 
 who profess Christianity are not afraid of Him.' " 
 
 " 22nd. Having heard that an Englishman, who 
 lately came to live on their island, had taken 
 property to one of the king's brothers, begging 
 him to take a young girl from Ongea by force for 
 him, I waited on the chief this morning. He told 
 me that the report was true; that the man had 
 brought him a musket, and had promised him four 
 kegs of powder for a young woman from his island,
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 99 
 
 Ongea, and that he had engaged to take her and 
 bring her to the Englishman. I begged him not to 
 be tempted by property and promises, but to regard 
 what was right. He desired me to be good-minded, 
 and let him take the woman for the Englishman, 
 that he might get his powder. I replied, ' It is 
 true that the temptation is great, but do not let 
 your covetousness have the mastery over you.' He 
 said, ' We do as you say. But, in this case, an 
 Englishman asks me so to act, and we therefore 
 suppose it is right, and we want powder.' I said, 
 ' He is an idle Englishman, who acts inconsistently. 
 People are not bought and sold like pigs in England. 
 The girl is religious. She belongs to your island. 
 Do you love your people, and do not degrade yourself 
 and them by making her a slave.' At length he 
 said, ' Well, let it be as you please. There is the 
 musket. Will you take it to the mission premises, 
 and send for the man to your house, and tell him 
 that I shall not take the girl?' I said, 'If you 
 wish me, I will do so.' I accordingly took the 
 musket, and sent for the young man. He was 
 much chagrined, and said that he supposed I should 
 approve of what he had done, or he would not have 
 done it. I said, ' How could you suppose that I should 
 approve of your buying a woman as you would buy 
 a pig a woman who is a professing Christian, and 
 is already engaged to an Ongea man ? I know that
 
 100 JAMES CALVEET OF FIJI. 
 
 this is the way in which you foreigners act in other 
 parts of Fiji, but I hope that nothing of the kind 
 will have effect here.' He spoke humbly, but his 
 mortification was evident. I was much pleased 
 with the part which the old heathen chief acted in 
 this matter. Muskets and powder are greatly 
 desired by them." 
 
 This incident illustrates a very serious obstacle in 
 the way of Christian missions an obstacle which 
 afterwards, in Fiji, became more frequent, as the 
 number of white residents increased. It also furnishes 
 the true explanation of some very severe criticisms 
 of missionaries and their work. The girl involved in 
 the above transaction was afterwards married to the 
 man to whom she had been engaged. 
 
 The early white settlers in the group were men of, 
 at least, very questionable character, and of more 
 than questionable antecedents. They had been 
 dropped there by passing vessels, or had come, 
 people scarcely knew how, by the chances of the 
 sea. They conformed to the habits of the people, 
 to whom they made themselves useful in many 
 ways, married native women, and fell into all the 
 native vices. 
 
 This year the District Meeting was held at Viwa, 
 under the chairmanship of Hunt. It was a very 
 good meeting, made all the happier by the arrival
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 101 
 
 of two new missionaries. To Mr. Calvert it brought 
 most welcome help by appointing Mr. Lyth to join 
 him at Lakemba. 
 
 Not very long afterwards the king's brother died. 
 The missionaries met his principal wife, a fine, 
 healthy woman, returning from bathing preparatory 
 to being strangled. They went to the king, and 
 implored him to set aside the horrible custom, and 
 made presents by way of ransom. It was in vain. 
 That night she was strangled. 
 
 There is nothing of special importance to be told 
 of Cal vert's life in 1845, except another visit to Ono 
 in October, when he was witness to the wonderful 
 work of God which had taken place in that island. 
 He spent three days with them to his great joy and 
 refreshment. He found that, on the Sunday after 
 Whitsuntide, on Ndoi, a little island off the coast of 
 Ono, the preacher, Nathan Thataki a good and 
 faithful man hearing some of the people cry aloud 
 as he preached, was overwhelmed, and sank down to 
 the ground, unable to proceed. A message was sent 
 to Ono, begging the teacher, Silas, to come at once. 
 He came, and gathered the people together again 
 for worship ; but their emotion was so great that he 
 could not preach. They all betook themselves to 
 prayer, and the Holy Spirit fell upon them in great 
 power. Silas then got them to go across with him 
 to Ono, where they joined the people in holding
 
 102 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 prayer meetings in the different chapels. Writing 
 to Hunt about his visit, Calvert says : 
 
 " The work of the Holy Spirit was in every town. 
 Since that time great grace has rested upon them ; 
 and I suppose that at least two hundred persons have 
 obtained peace with God through believing. I met 
 them several times, and heard the experience of many. 
 Their testimonies were very explicit as to their re- 
 generation and adoption. Silas, I think, was equally 
 clear as to his being in the possession of full salva- 
 tion. I gave the sacrament to nearly three hundred. 
 On many occasions, while I was with them, I was 
 almost overpowered. I found my stay to be a time of 
 refreshing from the presence of the Lord. The turn- 
 ing from Satan to God has been general. All ages, and 
 all classes, have been equally blessed. One effect was, 
 that many desired to preach, stating their willing- 
 ness to go to the worst parts of Fiji. To my surprise 
 I found that eighty-one persons had been allowed to 
 preach. I feared lest I should damp the work, but 
 could not feel free to continue so many as preachers. 
 I put ten on trial as local preachers, brought five 
 married men with me, whom we have disposed of in 
 our circuit, and we have kept three single men for our 
 branch of the Training Institution. ... I am filled 
 with gratitude to Almighty God for this wonderful 
 display of His power and love in saving so many
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 103 
 
 Fijians for saving them so abundantly and mani- 
 festly. I never saw any revival so clear and extensive. 
 Praise the Lord ! 
 
 " Some of the testimonies given by the new converts 
 
 were very beautiful in their entire simplicity. One 
 
 said, ' I love the Lord ; I know He loves me, not 
 
 for anything in me, or anything I have done, but 
 
 for Christ's sake alone. I trust in Christ, and am 
 
 happy. I listen to God, that He may do with me 
 
 as He pleases. I am thankful to have lived until 
 
 the Lord's work has begun. I feel it in my heart. I 
 
 hold Jesus ! I am happy ! My heart is full of love 
 
 to God.' Another, ' I know that God has justified 
 
 me through the sacred blood of Jesus. I know 
 
 assuredly that I am reconciled to God. I know of 
 
 the work of God in my soul. The sacred Spirit 
 
 makes it clear to me. I wish to preach the Gospel, 
 
 that others also may know Jesus.' Silas Faone, a 
 
 Tongan, said, ' I possess a rejoicing heart ; I greatly 
 
 rejoice. When in Tonga I had the love of God, but 
 
 it was not complete. In Kewa I had it also. Now 
 
 in Ono, my love is perfected. It is full. I wish 
 
 only to live to God through Jesus.' " 
 
 Early in 1846 glad news came of many conver- 
 sions at the other side of the group where Hunt 
 was stationed. To him Calvert writes : 
 
 " What an omen for good ! Hundreds saved !
 
 104 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 The two places distant. Neither knew of the other. 
 In one the Lord saves by native instrumentality, in 
 the other by the missionary. One the head of a 
 circuit, the other the most distant branch. Bless 
 God ! we are here where He works and saves saves 
 Fijians, forgiving and changing even them, many 
 and black as their crimes are, and deeply as their 
 hearts are depraved. This one thing have I ardently 
 desired. I have ardently desired to see it here ; but 
 iny joy and gratitude overflow to see and hear that 
 the Lord has saved natives by natives, and natives 
 by you. I greatly glory." 
 
 That which he so longed for came to pass soon 
 afterwards. A very remarkable work began at a 
 place called Wathiwathi during a service conducted 
 by a native preacher ; and more than thirty persons 
 declared that they had found peace with God through 
 Jesus Christ. Mr. Calvert hastened to the place the 
 next day. 
 
 " August 27th. This forenoon I went to Wathi- 
 wathi. I assembled the people, and preached, and 
 held a prayer-meeting. The confusion was immense ; 
 the work of the Lord very considerable. I dismissed 
 the people, and then visited them in their own 
 houses. I found that many could rejoice in the love 
 of God, and others were desiring that unspeakable 
 blessedness. I directed the local preachers to hold
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 105 
 
 class-meetings, and visit the people at their homes, 
 and then returned home. What a blessed thing to 
 witness the powerful effects of the grace of God ! " 
 
 " 28th. Last night, several members from two 
 adjacent villages went to Wathiwathi, and were 
 much affected in the several houses of those who 
 had received good. 
 
 " This morning the wife of Zephaniah Lualala, the 
 chief of Wathiwathi, who is of very high rank in 
 Lakemba, came to the king [of Lakemba] her father. 
 On her arrival several persons were sitting with the 
 king. She sat down by his side, and said, ' Sire, I 
 have come to beg of you to abandon heathenism, 
 and embrace Christianity. Heathenism is false and 
 useless. Religion is good, and is a very great matter. 
 I now know that religion is good. The Lord has 
 wrought mightily in my soul. I now know the 
 excellency of religion, and have therefore come to 
 beseech you to turn from falsehood to truth.' She 
 wept much. The king said, 'Have you only just 
 now known that religion is good?' She replied, 
 ' I have known well about religion only a few days. 
 The Lord has changed my heart. Had I known 
 before I should have come to you. On finding the 
 power, I felt great love to you, and have now come 
 before you to beg you at once to decide.' He said, 
 ' You are right and true. Most of your own relations 
 and friends are on your side. I shall wait a little
 
 106 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 longer and then decide. I build no temples. I do 
 not attend to heathenism. There are only a few of 
 us left.' " 
 
 " 29th. The work of the Lord went on powerfully at 
 Wathiwathi yesterday. In the afternoon one of the 
 local preachers went to preach at Waitambu, a larger 
 village, two miles from Wathiwathi. In the evening, 
 a local preacher came to ask the Wathiwathi people 
 to go with him to Waitambu. They held a long 
 meeting, and the power of the Lord was present, 
 wounding very deeply, and healing some. It is said 
 that nearly the whole of the people of that village 
 also were under powerful impressions. To-day the 
 young men from Wathiwathi have appointed to hold 
 a prayer-meeting at Tarukua, a small village a mile 
 from us. We have also had some movement among 
 the Tongans here. May the Lord abundantly save all 
 the people in Fiji ! The pledge and foretaste are given. 
 "Late this evening our boys returned from Tarukua. 
 They report that the work of the Lord was powerful. 
 Several were convinced of sin, and prayed earnestly 
 for pardon. All who had continued heathen in that 
 village, except one woman, have embraced Chris- 
 tianity. Some of them were in great distress of 
 soul. In this report I exceedingly rejoice. Generally, 
 here, the people only formally renounce heathenism. 
 In their formal connection with Christianity we 
 rejoice, as it brings them to hear words whereby
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 107 
 
 they may be saved. But we much desire them to 
 turn under deep conviction of sin, earnestly seeking 
 redemption in the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of 
 sins. The morning of a brighter day, I trust, has 
 arisen on Fiji." 
 
 The work spread to several other places. Large 
 numbers lotued that is, renounced heathenism 
 and attended Christian worship and the schools. 
 Amongst these were many who became really con- 
 verted, and then, as Mr. Calvert says, were crying, 
 "0 taste and see that the Lord is good!" Two 
 came to him begging to be employed anywhere and 
 in any way to do good. 
 
 In October 1846, when the mission vessel called, 
 the long-dreaded suffering of parting with the 
 children began. It was impossible, on all grounds, 
 for them to be well brought up in the Islands ; and 
 now the eldest little boy was sent away to the care 
 of relatives in England. The father says, "I left 
 my dear boy on board. He wished to know if I 
 should again go to him. I gave him to God, who, 
 I trust, will be his Father." This was the sharpest 
 trial he had yet endured, and his tender heart was 
 greatly distressed. He declared that now, for the 
 first time, he began to know something of sacrifice, to 
 which the leaving of home and friends was as nothing. 
 
 Extracts from a letter written to the little fellow 

 
 108 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 some time afterwards, will serve to show how warm, 
 and strong, and gentle was the father's love. 
 
 "Very much-beloved boy, we often think about 
 you, and talk about you, and pray for you ; and now 
 I am going to talk to you. 
 
 " Four months ago we got the letter sent from New 
 Zealand to Fiji by an American ship. Mrs. "Wilson 
 told us that you were thirty-five days in sailing from 
 Fiji to New Zealand, and that you had very good 
 weather all the way. She also informed us that you 
 were a very good sailor, and that you were in good 
 health, and that all the people loved you much and 
 were very kind to you. All this good news pleased 
 us very much ; but we were much more delighted to 
 know that you feared God, and prayed to Him, and 
 that you gave your first shilling to the missionary- 
 box, ' because your father was a missionary.' Now 
 we hope you will always have these little goods 
 friends, and health, and food, and other temporal 
 blessings ; but we desire much more that you may 
 have great good too that you will fear, and love, 
 and serve the Lord from your youth. ... I am very 
 well now again. The Lord has restored me fully, 
 and I shall be happy in my work here. As you are 
 being taught in England, and as you are with my 
 very dear friend and brother, your uncle, you are 
 highly favoured. Your sisters are being brought up
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 109 
 
 in heathen, man-eating Fiji, whilst you are being 
 well instructed in England. Now, be very thankful 
 to God, my dear boy. He directed your way, and 
 caused you to be so privileged. And be sure that 
 you pray to God frequently with your heart. . . . 
 Now, mind this first of all, my boy. Get your soul 
 saved, and give yourself, as your father and mother 
 give you, to Almighty God. Give Him your heart 
 now fully and for ever. Obey your uncle in every- 
 thing, and love and obey those who teach you. Try 
 to understand what you are taught. Do not follow 
 others in bad words or deeds. Remember your 
 father is a missionary, and that he has given you to 
 God. I expect you will be a good boy, and earnestly 
 beseech you to be diligent to learn as much as you 
 can. Persevere; do not fear; be courageous; and 
 what appears difficult will become easy. Whatever 
 you see, try to understand it. Ask questions, and 
 think; and the Lord will help you, and bless you 
 very much if you pray heartily to Him." 
 
 The beginning of 1847 found Calvert suffering 
 another relapse of his old trouble; and evidently 
 much enfeebled and depressed, he thus writes to 
 Hunt : 
 
 " I frequently suffer exceedingly in my mind for 
 what appears to be idleness; but no sooner do I
 
 1JO JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 apply myself somewhat closely to study, or actively 
 to bodily exertion, than I am upset one way or 
 another. It really seems that I am incapable of 
 doing much. Should my life be spared long which 
 I hardly expect I am apprehensive that I shall 
 continue the same unprofitable servant that I have 
 hitherto been. I am, however, very thankful to my 
 Lord that I have occupied a station where, I trust, 
 my one talent has been needed and useful. I love 
 my Saviour. I love His service. I love souls. I 
 have a considerably increased desire to do good, and 
 should rejoice to see the translation of the Bible 
 completed, and all Fiji converted nominally, and 
 thousands really, and to get better prepared for the 
 solemn change, and strict and impartial judgment, 
 and the holy place. However, I can be easily spared; 
 and I humbly and heartily trust in the Almighty 
 Saviour for present and eternal salvation. The Lord 
 fully prepare me for all His righteous will." 
 
 Some months later, in better health, he could 
 write in a brighter strain. 
 
 " It will afford you pleasure to hear that I enjoy 
 uninterrupted health; and, what is far better, my 
 soul is very substantially happy. The Lord blesses 
 me with constant peace and joy through believing. 
 I trust that I am progressing, and that I shall do so 
 much more. I am under very powerful obligations
 
 LAKE MB A AND ONO. Ill 
 
 to love and serve God much more heartily and fully 
 than I have hitherto done. I have much delight in 
 the work of the Lord." 
 
 In January 1848 a great trouble came, in the 
 serious illness of Mrs. Calvert, whose health until 
 then had been almost uniformly good. She was 
 attacked by violent inflammation. Her husband 
 had added much to his slender medical knowledge 
 by extensive practice among the natives; but he 
 sorely felt the present exigency, while he resolutely 
 set himself to carry out what was then held to be the 
 right treatment bleeding her " very copiously four 
 times," and applying large blisters. Again and 
 again she seemed to be dying, and took farewell 
 of her loved ones, and committed them to God's 
 keeping. Mr. Calvert writes : " The Lord showed 
 Himself strong to save ; the inflammation gradually 
 became less, and she recovered." 
 
 In the course of the year, the greatest sorrow that 
 he had known fell upon him. In July he heard 
 that Hunt was ill, and wrote to him : 
 
 " My dear friend, love me ; love us in Fiji ; love 
 Fiji, and spare yourself. I stand tremblingly in 
 doubt of you. Why do you overset yourself, and 
 almost break my heart ? I can labour and endure 
 in the work ; but your doing more than God requires, 
 and wasting your energies, oppresses me and unmans
 
 112 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 me. I charge you, before God and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, whose we are, and before whom we shall soon 
 stand, to take care of your body as well as your soul." 
 
 A closer, tenderer friendship never was than that 
 which bound these two together. For some time 
 past Calvert had been greatly troubled by hearing 
 of the amount of work which Hunt was doing at and 
 from Viwa. He had already completed the transla- 
 tion of the New Testament, and had, without rest, 
 thrown all his energy into the translation of the 
 Old, which he hoped to complete in five or six years 
 more. He was chairman of the whole district, and 
 took the most active interest in the administration 
 of all its affairs. He travelled a great deal, exposed 
 to all sorts of weather in open canoes, and never 
 spared himself when there was opportunity to teach 
 and do good. Latterly he had been stimulated to 
 fresh exertions by most remarkable success. Now 
 the dreaded breakdown had come. 
 
 In September the District Meeting assembled in 
 Viwa; and thus the two, who were more than brothers 
 to each other, were together, when one was called away. 
 
 When the rumour spread that Hunt was likely to 
 die there was a great consternation among the 
 people. They came together into the chapel to 
 pray for him. One after another pleaded with 
 tears on his behalf; and Elijah Verani, their chief,
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 113 
 
 cried out, " Lord, we know we are very bad, 
 but spare Thy servant. If one must die, take me ! 
 Take ten of us ! But spare Thy servant to preach 
 Christ to the people ! " For a while the imminent 
 danger seemed to be removed, and there was great 
 thanksgiving. Katu David, a Christian Mbau chief, 
 said, in prayer, " We were in trouble ; we feared that 
 Thou wert about to take away the light, and leave 
 us in darkness on account of our sins that Thou 
 wert about to quench the light, and remove from us 
 him who had taught us the Word of life. But we 
 stayed Thy hands; we refused to let him go; and, for 
 Christ's sake, Thou didst hear the prayer of sinners." 
 After several quiet weeks there came a relapse, 
 and with it much mental conflict. The very inten- 
 sity of the dying missionary's zeal, and the wide 
 reach of his soul's purpose, suggested to him the 
 thought that his life had failed, had been, as he 
 moaned, "worthless and unprofitable worse than 
 useless." Then came into his troubled soul the 
 recollection of the success which had been won, and, 
 together with it, this word : " If I be not an apostle 
 to others, yet doubtless I am to you ; for the seal of 
 my apostleship are ye in the Lord " ; and so he had 
 victory. He now had with him his faithful and 
 much-loved friend Calvert. Few men ever knew 
 each other's secret souls with a more trustful in- 
 timacy than did these two. While one read the 
 
 8
 
 114 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Word and prayed, the dying man declared his rest 
 and joy in the Lord. Then he wept, at first silently, 
 afterwards with uncontrolled sobbing, until the 
 passion of his heart broke forth in the prayer, 
 "Lord, bless Fiji ! save Fiji ! Thou knowest my 
 soul has loved Fiji ; my heart has travailed in pain 
 for Fiji!" His friend said to him, "The Lord 
 knows you love Fiji. We know it. The Fijian 
 Christians know it, and the heathen of Fiji know 
 it. You have laboured hard for Fiji when you 
 were strong, now you are so weak you must be 
 silent. God will save Fiji ; He is saving Fiji." 
 Calmed for a time, he presently grasped Calvert 
 with one hand, and, lifting the other, cried out, " Oh, 
 let me pray once more for Fiji ! Lord, for Christ's 
 sake, bless Fiji, save Fiji ! save Thy servants, save 
 Thy people, save the heathen in Fiji ! " In the few 
 days that were left he spoke only of trust and peace 
 in Christ. When the last moments came, they 
 heard him say, " Now He is my joy ! I thought I 
 should have entered heaven singing, 'Jesus and 
 salvation ! ' Now I shall enter singing, ' Jesus, 
 salvation, and glory eternal glory ! ' ' Trying in 
 vain to raise himself, he exclaimed, " Hallelujah ! 
 Hallelujah ! " again and again, till his voice weakened 
 into silence. Having sent messages to the mission- 
 aries and their wives, to the native Christians, and the 
 chiefs especially to Thakombau and having com-
 
 LAKEMBA AND ONO. 115 
 
 mended his children, and, last of all, his devoted 
 wife, to God's loving keeping, he asked Calvert to 
 pray, and spoke no more. Presently he turned on 
 his side, and took hold on his friend, who put his arms 
 round him, and, as he held him, knew that the long, 
 close, dear brotherhood on earth had come to an end. 
 
 For a time Calvert seemed wholly stricken down 
 by the blow. He had rested and had exulted in the 
 love and the gifts of his friend, which supplied 
 very conscious wants of his own nature ; and there 
 is no doubt that in meeting the difficulties of the 
 years spent at Lakemba, often in much suffering 
 and weakness, and consequent depression, he was 
 greatly helped by the strong, faithful counsels and 
 Christian sympathy of Hunt's letters. 
 
 But the growing claims of the mission left no time 
 for inactive sorrow. There was more than ever now 
 to be done by those who were left. Calvert's 
 removal to Viwa had long been discussed, and now 
 it was determined that it should take place forth- 
 with. So urgent was the need of his immediate 
 help on this side of the group, that he was retained 
 at Viwa, and arrangements were made for the bringing 
 of Mrs. Calvert and the children. 
 
 After nearly ten years' life and work at Lakemba, 
 Mr. Calvert thus writes : 
 
 " I have lived in great peace in Lakemba, have
 
 116 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 been on friendly terms with all, and have been con- 
 nected with a most extensive spread of Christianity 
 in Lakemba and its dependencies. There by far the 
 best part of my life has been spent. I feel heartily 
 attached to the people and the place, and could 
 gladly spend there the residue of my days, were I 
 directed by God's all-wise providence to remain. 
 Lakemba is to me more than all the world besides. 
 Yet, where God commands and directs, I cheerfully 
 go. I only desire to be where He appears, and do 
 what He requires, for the few remaining days He 
 may employ me. . . . While I have endeavoured 
 to be faithful towards God and with men, I have to 
 mourn over much unfaithfulness, but thankfully 
 rejoice that the Lord has blessed me, and done all 
 things well. Lakemba, I love thee! Farewell! 
 From thee I cannot be separated ! My prayers, 
 thoughts, efforts, shall still be towards thee. I hope 
 many thence will be the crown of my rejoicing in 
 the day of the Lord Jesus. I fear I shall be witness 
 against many who perish after frequent and faithful 
 warning. I laboured diligently, I trust, to do the 
 people good, temporally and spiritually ; and God 
 accompanied many of my efforts with His blessing. 
 My five children born there are all alive. Praise the 
 Lord for all His goodness ! Lord, bless abundantly 
 and for ever Lakemba and all its dependencies ! "
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 VIWA. 
 
 in
 
 How the Lord provided a Printer. Thakombau. War and its 
 Horrors. Heroism of Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Lyth. Signs 
 of Success. A Great Grief. Mediation to procure Peace. 
 Lakemba revisited. Death of Tanoa. Horrible Observances 
 State Visit of TuiThakau. Hard Struggle with Cannibalism. 
 Elijah Verani. Thakombau Lotus. A Great Joy. Narrow 
 Escape at Moturiki. Another Visit to Lakemba. Great 
 Value of Lyth's Training Work. Troublous Times. Media- 
 tion Work. End of Cannibalism at Mbau. Visit of King 
 George of Tonga. A Voyage with the King. Establishment 
 of Peace, and Spread of Christianity. Leaving Fiji. Call at 
 Rotumah. 
 
 118
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 VIWA. 
 
 station at which Mr. Calvert now settled 
 was close to Mbau, the seat of the dominant 
 power in Fiji. This town, where the supreme chief 
 lived, stands upon an islet of the same name, barely 
 a mile broad, close to the south-eastern point of 
 Viti Levu Great Fiji an island ninety miles in 
 length, and having, it was then reckoned, a population 
 of fifty thousand. Mbau is almost joined to the 
 mainland by a flat of coral, which, at low water, is 
 nearly dry, and even at high water is fordable. Two 
 miles to the north of this, somewhat further from the 
 mainland, and, though a small island, yet much 
 larger than Mbau, is Viwa. It was a place of great 
 importance, ruled over by Namosimalua, a notable 
 chief, something of whose career we have already 
 related (p. 39). 
 
 Calvert had now the welcome advantage of having 
 Lyth as his colleague, whose medical skill gave him 
 great fame among the natives, and earned for him 
 the title of Matai ni mate, carpenter of illness. 
 
 119
 
 120 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Amongst the many instances in the history of this 
 mission, in which great emergencies were met by 
 special providence of the Head of the Church, none 
 was more remarkable than the supply, in the most 
 unexpected way, of help in the publishing work. 
 The press had been removed, nine years before, to 
 this part of the group, and was now at Viwa. The 
 missionary who had managed it had recently left ; 
 and Calvert, on removing to Viwa, was much con- 
 cerned about the business of this department, which 
 had greatly increased. He felt certain that he 
 could not undertake it and do justice to the rapidly 
 growing claims of the general mission work. He 
 was cheerfully willing to give it the oversight of his 
 skilled knowledge, but he could not enter upon the 
 labour of the printing and binding. Yet this was a 
 matter of very pressing importance. The demand 
 for Scriptures and other books was growing fast ; 
 and, as yet, there was no one in the Colonies, or in 
 England, with such a knowledge of the language as 
 to make it possible to get the printing done there. 
 Many years afterwards Mr. Calvert thus gave the 
 history of the crisis, and how the help was wonder- 
 fully provided : 
 
 " When our printer failed in that far-off and out- 
 of-the-way country, we were placed in great diffi- 
 culty, as a new edition of the New Testament and
 
 VIWA. 121 
 
 other books were urgently required. We ordered a 
 man from London, who would rough it, be content 
 with the poor fare and small pay and hard work we 
 were accustomed to ; but such a man was not found. 
 Then it came to pass that a French Count, an 
 infidel, who was wrecked in Fiji from an American 
 beche-de-mer vessel, was deeply awakened, and 
 sought and found mercy and saving grace. He was 
 completely reformed, and wished for employment 
 with us. I taught him printing and bookbinding, 
 which he quickly learnt ; and just then, when we 
 were in deepest need, he became a most efficient 
 labourer with us. He could make sails, splice a 
 rope, pull an oar, sail a schooner, floor a house, put 
 in windows, make a door, and fit it in. He became 
 a teacher in our school, and a good local preacher. 
 The people felt that he loved them, and would 
 cheerfully and heartily do anything for their 
 benefit; and the best of our converts from any 
 part of Fiji were very ready to settle down and 
 work for him ; so that we had a good staff of 
 energetic and cheap workers in our printing and 
 book-binding establishment. A new edition of the 
 New Testament and all the books we required were 
 well done, and quickly supplied, helping on the 
 work amazingly. A whole-hearted and capable man 
 like that was beyond all price. Had one been made 
 to order, on purpose for our needs and work, he
 
 122 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 could not have been better adapted. And this 
 event proved to us the all-sufficiency of God's re- 
 sources; and just at the right and very best time 
 the urgent demand was suitably supplied, and with- 
 out any cost ! " 
 
 The most interesting feature of Calvert's mission 
 life at this period was in his relation to the great 
 chief, Thakombau, who, though his father, the old 
 Tanoa, was yet living, was the real ruler of Mbau 
 and its wide dependencies. He was a man of great 
 sagacity, and much strength of character. His 
 attitude towards Christianity was avowedly hostile ; 
 but there was good evidence that his sometimes 
 angry opposition was really stimulated by his un- 
 willing convictions that the new religion was right. 
 In the meantime the old king remained apparently 
 untouched by it. Already Calvert had had some 
 intercourse with Thakombau, who, on one occasion, 
 had spent several weeks in Lakemba. The mission- 
 ary had long ago been much impressed by a little 
 book, Suggestions for the Conversion of ttte World, 
 by the late Rev. Robert Young, who shows how, if 
 each Christian believer, by special prayer and effort, 
 brought about the salvation of one person, the con- 
 version of the whole world would soon be accom- 
 plished. Thakombau was early singled out by Mr. 
 Calvert as the subject of such prayer, and he begged
 
 VIWA. 123 
 
 the Christians at Lakemba to join him in intercession 
 on behalf of the powerful chief. Now he was brought 
 into close and frequent contact with him; but at 
 first his influence seemed to be endangered by a 
 decisive step which he felt obliged to take. In the 
 early days of the mission it had been thought wise 
 to gain the favour of the people, and especially the 
 chiefs, by a somewhat lavish distribution of gifts. 
 Whether this policy was right or not at the time, 
 it was fast growing into a vicious system, which 
 threatened to mislead the people as to the great 
 object of the mission. Immediately on his arrival 
 at Viwa, Calvert explained the whole matter very 
 plainly to Thakombau, and showed him why this 
 way of doing things must come to an end. He 
 finished by saying : 
 
 "My one concern will be to lead you to obtain 
 religion ; so you may expect, in all our intercourse, 
 that I shall labour for this. Another and inferior 
 matter I shall gladly attend to. I have brought 
 medicines from England, and have gained some 
 knowledge of diseases and their remedy, and shall 
 have pleasure in relieving you of pain when I can, 
 that your life may be prolonged for repentance, 
 prayer, and the service of God. While this is the 
 only object I have in view, I know that you are 
 destitute of many articles which we have in England,
 
 124 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 and which would increase your comfort. Some of 
 these I can obtain for you by writing to my friends 
 in England. I shall be glad to do so, as I should 
 like to see you improved and raised in temporal 
 matters. Only, when I send for goods, I have to 
 pay for them; and you must pay for whatever I 
 obtain for you. We give our time and energies for 
 your salvation, but we have not come to supply you 
 with worldly riches. Yet, if you will pay for what 
 you require, we will try to obtain useful articles for 
 you." 
 
 The chief had just received a handsome gift, 
 presented by the missionary, according to custom, on 
 his coming to live under his protection, and accepted 
 the new order with fairly good grace. A great 
 difficulty had thus been met, and a very important 
 point secured. 
 
 No opportunity was lost of talking faithfully to 
 Thakombau, who also would come to Viwa, and 
 sometimes spend hours at the mission-house, cleverly 
 eliciting the Christian arguments which told specially 
 against the old religion. These he would afterwards 
 use in disputing with his own priests and chiefs, 
 greatly enjoying their discomfiture. But, though 
 he was evidently restrained in his opposition to the 
 Lotu, he yielded in no other respect to its claims. 
 His despotic power was very great and extending,
 
 VIWA. 125 
 
 so that the amount of wealth which he amassed in 
 the way of tribute was, perhaps, unprecedented. 
 He saw clearly enough that the principles of 
 Christianity would make impossible some of the 
 policy and the means by which he extended his 
 power and his possessions, and his interest silenced 
 his conscience. 
 
 In the town of Mbau Christian worship was pro- 
 hibited ; but it was permitted at Sembi, a 'place 
 near by on the mainland, where lived some of old 
 Tanoa's wives, several of whom attended the services. 
 At the same time, in the closing months of this 
 year, wars and cruel acts of violence were frequent 
 round about, and the cannibal ovens in Mbau were 
 often alight. 
 
 In the following year Calvert voyaged far, and saw 
 much to encourage and much to dishearten him 
 in his work. Close at home the darkness of war 
 thickened, and many terrible scenes took place. A 
 place called Tokea was taken treacherously by the 
 Mbau people, and a hundred persons, chiefly women 
 and children, were killed. 
 
 " I have frequently visited Mbau, and had long 
 conversations with the chief about religion. I have 
 ardently urged him to stop the war which has so 
 long raged, and in which, it is said, two thousand 
 lives have been sacrificed. I have pressed him hard
 
 126 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 to spare the chief in the mountains. I have placed 
 before him the scandal of killing so many of the 
 young, and of women who have no concern in the 
 war. Two of the bodies brought from Tokea were 
 sent from Mbau to the few heathen living on this 
 island [Viwa], to be eaten. The person who brought 
 them left them on the beach, fastened to a stake 
 in the sea by a vine. He reported secretly to the 
 heathen. On being informed of this, and that the 
 heathens had gone to fetch them for cooking, I 
 called on Mr. Lyth, and we went in search of them. 
 Not finding them, we returned. I went to a young 
 Christian chief, and sent him for them. He floated 
 them round the island, and brought them near to 
 my house. I provided two mats, in which he and 
 a man living with me wrapped them. A grave was 
 dug, and they were buried. I do not hear that 
 many were eaten, I think very few indeed. Many 
 floated round Mbau, and drifted to different parts of 
 the beach on the large land. Some drifted here." 
 
 It was in July of this year, while the two mission- 
 aries were away in another part of the group, that a 
 great cannibal banquet was prepared at Mbau, four- 
 teen women having been kidnapped for the purpose. 
 Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Lyth, in sacred heroism, set 
 out in a canoe with a Christian chief, and landed 
 amongst the people, who were wrought into savage
 
 VIWA. 127 
 
 excitement by the loud beating of the great death- 
 drum, and the firing of muskets, as well as by the 
 prospect of the horrible feast. These two noble 
 women, to his bewildered astonishment, confronted 
 the old king himself, and pleaded for the lives of 
 the victims. They had their reward in the rescue 
 of five of the women. All the rest but two went to 
 the ovens. 
 
 About this time several British men-of-war visited 
 Fiji ; and their commanders did excellent service to 
 the mission by urging Thakombau, in very strong 
 terms, to abandon cannibalism. It was known that 
 an expedition was soon to come from Somosomo, 
 bringing tribute. On these occasions it had always 
 been the custom to entertain such powerful visitors 
 with the most lavish hospitality, and especially with 
 large numbers of human victims. At last the regent 
 chief gave his word that this part of the feast should 
 not be provided ; and the promise was kept. The 
 preparation, in other respects, was on a magnificent 
 scale. Calvert went across to Mbau to see the 
 formal presentation of food to the visitors. There 
 was a huge structure of basket work, more than thirty 
 feet long, filled with food. He counted " nineteen 
 cooked pigs on the top, with their snouts all pointing 
 one way." A day or two before there had been 
 presented one hundred and three pigs. It was a great 
 thing to have secured that no cannibal provision
 
 128 JAMES CALVERT OF PUT. 
 
 should be made by the supreme chief, although Mr. 
 Calvert found that other chiefs had not followed 
 his example. " I preached," he writes, " at Mbau ; 
 and heard that several cooked bodies had been 
 brought from Tui Levuka." 
 
 The people of a certain town had rebelled against 
 Mbau, but now fully submitted themselves. Mr. 
 Calvert, knowing that, notwithstanding their sur- 
 render, the severest reprisals were in preparation, 
 went to Thakombau, and pleaded for their lives. 
 The answer was : " Why, your own doctrine is, that 
 the wages of sin is death. They have acted very 
 wickedly in beginning war by murder when all was 
 peace, and I wish them all to be killed, that we 
 may be at rest. If they be spared, they will raise 
 evil up again, as on two former occasions when we 
 forgave them." It was an easy thing for the 
 missionary to turn this adroit use of a Christian 
 truth ; and, in the end, with great difficulty, he 
 gained his point. 
 
 That the influence of the truth was steadily in- 
 creasing was shown in many ways, sometimes very 
 strangely, as when the friends of a sick man, who 
 came to the mission-house for medicine, seriously 
 asked Mr. Calvert whether, in the event of the man's 
 death, he thought they might strangle his wife. 
 He naively remarks, " This is the first time I have 
 been consulted on this point from Mbau." Terrible
 
 VIWA. 129 
 
 atrocities were still committed ; yet it was felt to be 
 a great advance when Tui Viti #s Thakombau was 
 then called promised, in reply to Calvert's admoni- 
 tions, that in the case of the death of common men 
 the strangling of their widows should be done away 
 with. Yet he added, " But in my father's case, ten 
 will be strangled." 
 
 Towards the close of this year a great sorrow fell 
 upon Mr. Calvert and his devoted wife. They had 
 already sent their eldest boy to relations in England, 
 and had heard of his safe arrival and well-doing there. 
 Later, when Mrs. Hunt was returning home after 
 her husband's death, they entrusted to her their 
 firstborn, their little Mary, now nearly ten years old. 
 After her departure, more than a year and a half 
 since, they had received no news from England. 
 The coming of the Wesley was always an event of 
 most exciting interest. Her arrival in 1850 was 
 looked for with unusual eagerness by the hearts 
 which hungered for tidings. Another missionary, 
 too, was coming in the vessel. When, therefore, she 
 came near, and before she could cast anchor, Mr. 
 Calvert put off in a canoe to hasten on board. In 
 his glad impatience he did not notice that the 
 Wesley had her flag at half-mast ; but the poor 
 mother on shore saw the death-signal, and was filled 
 with sad forebodings. He climbed on deck, beam- 
 ing forth joyful greetings, and then started, in 
 
 9
 
 130 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 questioning surprise, at the looks of sorrow which met 
 him. Little Mary was dead. Broken-hearted, the 
 father went ashore, carrying to the stricken mission- 
 house letters seven months old, telling them at the 
 same time of their darling's coming, of her winning 
 the love of those with whom she found her new 
 home, of her sickness, and of her death. 
 
 It was a terrible grief, but their life's great work 
 must be done, and within a week of the Wesley's 
 arrival the mourning father sailed in her on a long 
 tour of visitation among the islands. 
 
 This year also closed in the turmoil of frequent 
 war. Now the scene of strife was on the other great 
 island, Vanua Levu, and two of the missionaries, 
 Moore and Williams, at Nandi and Mbua, were 
 surrounded by it, and in great peril. Many of the 
 people there were Christians ; and thus the quarrel 
 already was taking -the form of a war against the 
 lotu. If Thakombau did not actually instigate the 
 war, he could arrest it whenever he chose ; so Calvert, 
 accompanied by Elijah Verani, went to him to beg 
 his interference for the protection of the missionaries. 
 
 " The chief seemed to be in a good humour, but 
 said very decisively that he would have nothing to do 
 with it. He was reminded of his promise to Captain 
 Erskine [of H.M.S. HavannaJi] to protect the 
 missionaries ; but still he refused, saying, ' I shall
 
 VIWA, 131 
 
 not protect them ; and I rejoice that you have now 
 a fight of your own. When I ask you lotu people to 
 help me in war, you say, " No ; it is not lawful for 
 Christians to fight ! " And here are we breaking our 
 backs steering our canoes, catching dysentery by 
 sleeping abroad in the dews and rains, and being 
 shot in great numbers, whilst the Christians sit 
 quietly at home all the time. Now you have a fight 
 of your own ; and I am glad of it ! Besides, I hate 
 your Christianity ! ' 'I know,' replied the mission- 
 ary, ' that you hate religion. I knew it before 
 leaving England ; and have long known that, every- 
 where, " the carnal mind is enmity against God ; for 
 it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
 can be " ; so that I should have been altogether 
 surprised had I found you not hating religion.' 
 With a sneer he said, ' Oh yes, of course you know 
 everything. However, at any rate, I shall not stop 
 the fight; and I rejoice that you lotu people are 
 compelled to fight as well as I ; and I hate your 
 Christianity.' ' Well,' said Mr. Calvert, ' seeing you 
 do hate it, what are you going to do with it ? Do 
 you intend to stop its progress ? ' ' No,' was the 
 answer ; ' I cannot do that. I know that it is true, 
 and the work of God, and that we shall all become 
 Christian. But, in the meantime, I delight in you 
 Christians being compelled to engage in war as well 
 as I.' "
 
 132 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 On the first day of 1851, Mr. Calvert started in a 
 large Tongan canoe for the seat of war, and after 
 much difficulty reached Mbua. Things were in a 
 most critical state, so that he despatched another 
 urgent message to Tui Viti, calling upon him to 
 interfere. At last Thakombau seemed to wake up 
 to the greatness of the danger, and sent a chief with 
 orders to stop the war. For some time he acted 
 very capriciously, now favouring and now hindering 
 the work of the mission. He and his aged father 
 renewed their permission for a missionary to live at 
 Mbau, promising to build the necessary premises on 
 the mainland. Then again war set everything else 
 aside. Great preparations were made, during which, 
 for three days, Mr. Calvert stayed, and was very kindly 
 treated, in Thakombau's own house. Large offerings 
 were presented at the temples to secure success ; but 
 the promises of the priests came to nothing, and the 
 expedition failed. 
 
 During this year the District Meeting was held 
 at Lakemba, and Mr. Calvert had thus an oppor- 
 tunity of revisiting his old circuit, and was greatly 
 cheered and refreshed by seeing how the work had 
 extended there. Tui Nayau, the King of Lakemba, 
 for whose conversion Mr. Calvert had prayed earnestly, 
 and worked hard, had at last lotued, and the last trace 
 of opposition to Christianity on the part of the rulers 
 in Lakemba came to an end. Two years afterwards,
 
 VIWA. 133 
 
 " The chief priest of the god of Tumbou, and the 
 last of the order in Lakemba, was received on trial 
 for Church membership, having long been anxious 
 about his soul. His daughter was already a class- 
 leader, and one of his sons a zealous member. . . . 
 The people were reformed outwardly, being decently 
 clothed, and having relinquished their obscene mid- 
 night dances and songs in favour of the pure worship 
 of God. Their domestic condition was greatly im- 
 proved by the lessening of polygamy. Christianity 
 gave the Fijians what they never had truly before 
 a home. Those who had known Lakemba and its 
 dependencies twelve years ago marvelled at the 
 almost universal change which had been brought 
 about. Scarcely a temple was left standing, and 
 the sacred terraced foundations on which they were 
 once were now cultivated as garden plots. Club-law 
 was utterly abolished. A fine chapel, to which the 
 people eagerly flocked, graced every town, and not a 
 heathen priest was left. About eight hundred chil- 
 dren were assembled daily in the schools, and nearly 
 two-thirds of the adult population were Church mem- 
 bers, affording good evidence of their desire to ' flee 
 from the wrath to come ' ; while a large and growing 
 number gave every reason to believe that they were 
 renewed by the Holy Ghost. During this and the 
 previous year one thousand three hundred baptisms 
 were registered, eight hundred adults, none of
 
 134 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 whom received this sacrament without having 
 brought 'forth fruits meet for repentance,' and 
 showed a sincere desire to trust on Christ for salva- 
 tion. Everywhere, too, was found a great hunger 
 for the Word of God. The mission press could 
 supply but a small number of Testaments ; and the 
 missionaries were pained in being obliged to refuse 
 the people, who were willing to pay well of their 
 property, or make any sacrifice, to obtain the Scrip- 
 tures." (Fiji and the Fijians, p. 336.) 
 
 In 1852 the long-expected event, greatly dreaded 
 by the missionaries, took place. The old Mbau 
 king, Tanoa, died. Mr. Calvert, who had gone to 
 Ovalau two days before, thus tells, simply and 
 briefly, the dreadful story. 
 
 " Tanoa died on the morning of the 8th of 
 December, 1852, when Tui Viti [Thakombau], in 
 spite of light and conviction and entreaties from all 
 quarters, wantonly murdered five women. Several 
 captains of ships of war had laid particular injunc- 
 tions on Tui Viti not to commit this murder. Mr. 
 Watsford and I have continually been urging him to 
 refrain. He was alarmed ; but has still done the deed. 
 
 " Previous to rny going away we offered four large 
 whales' teeth. Afterwards we made the number 
 ten, weighing twenty pounds. I offered to have my 
 finger cut off.
 
 VIWA. 135 
 
 " The night before the king's death, Mr. Watsford 
 stopped till near midnight urging and entreating. 
 He offered our boat, twenty muskets, and all he 
 possessed. A short time after the death Mr. 
 Watsford arrived. Two were strangled. He ap- 
 peared before the chief, who, with an awful look, 
 trembling and excited, said, ' What about it, Mr. 
 Watsford ? ' Mr. Watsford replied, ' Refrain, sir ; 
 that is plenty ! Two are dead. Refrain ! I love 
 them.' The chief said, ' We also love them. They 
 are not many only five. But for you missionaries 
 many more would have been strangled.' He pro- 
 ceeded with his hellish work, and helped to murder 
 the whole five, and then ran away through a back 
 door. . . . We are very sorrowful, but have the 
 comfort of knowing that our utmost efforts were 
 made. We also are thankful that we were per- 
 mitted to protest boldly, fully, fearlessly to the last 
 against the murder." * 
 
 This was a time of great gloom ; but it was not 
 wholly dark. It was undeniably true that the 
 horrible orgies of death at the king's house would 
 have been far worse had it not been for the in- 
 fluence of Christian teaching. Occasional acts of 
 cannibalism still took place at Mbau ; but it was 
 
 * Full particulars of this terrible tragedy may be read in 
 Fiji and the Fijiam ; and in The King and People of Fiji, by 
 the Rev. Joseph Waterhouse.
 
 136 JAMES CALVEET OF FIJI. 
 
 well known that, for some time past, Tui Yiti him- 
 self had not tasted human flesh. Best of all, just 
 when the encouragement was needed most, there 
 were a number of very interesting and striking cases 
 of conversion, of which Mr. Calvert makes thankful 
 record. 
 
 In 1853 a great thing was accomplished in the 
 issuing from the mission press of a large revised 
 edition of the New Testament in the Fijian lan- 
 guage. , 
 
 Mr. Calvert writes : 
 
 " On the 21st of April we finished ,the printing of 
 three thousand copies of the New Testament, with 
 one thousand extra of Matthew, and one thousand 
 extra of Matthew with Komans and Philippians. 
 Mr. Martin has worked hard by day and night. 
 Mr. Rees has rendered constant and efficient help 
 for eleven weeks. Our pressmen (trained natives) 
 have toiled almost beyond their strength, some of 
 them looking very pale under their unusually hard 
 labour. 
 
 " The Book can now easily have what corrections 
 may be further necessary marked for an edition in 
 London, which, I think, should be attended to as 
 soon as may be, so that it may be ready to forward 
 to London whenever a favourable opportunity offers 
 by the presence in England of a Fijian missionary
 
 VIWA. 137 
 
 (which is indispensable), for having ten thousand 
 copies printed and bound there." 
 
 When he wrote thus, he certainly had no idea that 
 he was to be the returned missionary who should 
 be entrusted with this important work. 
 
 In July the time came round again for the state 
 visit of the King of Somosomo, at which it had been 
 customary to provide a great feast of human flesh. 
 Mr. Owen, a trader, who was in thorough sympathy 
 with the mission, brought Tui Thakau, the Somosomo 
 chief, in his vessel. 
 
 "About five o'clock this morning," writes Mr. 
 Calvert, "I was informed that eighteen persons of 
 the Ndau ni Nakelo tribe had been killed. I 
 hastened to Mbau, where I arrived just after sunrise. 
 I found that one had escaped in the night, twelve 
 were dead, and five still living. They were laid out 
 or sitting at the temples in Lasakau and Soso (the 
 fishermen's quarter). It was harrowing to see the 
 mangled bodies, and to look on, and be looked 
 at anxiously by those still alive. I proceeded at 
 once to Tui Viti. He was about being appointed 
 Vunivalu.* I took with me two whales' teeth. I 
 showed him the account in the Missionary Notices 
 of Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Lyth applying to his father 
 
 * The highest official title of the Mbau king, the conferring 
 of which was, in effect, his formal investiture as sovereign.
 
 138 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 for the lives of those who had been kidnapped by the 
 former king of the fishermen, and laid a tooth on 
 the record, and requested him to do as his father had 
 done by sparing the lives of those still alive. I then 
 showed him the letter in which was written his 
 promise to Lieutenant Pollard, of H.M.S. the 
 Bramble, that he would not, after that visit of the 
 King of Somosomo, allow any more human beings to 
 be cooked at Mbau ; and I entreated him to permit 
 all that were dead to be buried. He was calm, and 
 tolerably respectful. I referred to the strangling of 
 the five women, and said that, if he spared the 
 prisoners of war, and buried the dead, it would some- 
 what counteract the disgrace of that crime, and would 
 show that he was disposed to follow the light, and 
 the better feelings of his mind and heart, and give 
 up the disgraceful practices of Fiji. After further 
 talk, he said that I might go to the chief of the 
 fishermen [the official cannibal purveyor] and ask 
 him to spare the li ves of the living, and to the King 
 of Somosomo, and ask him not to eat the dead. 
 Knowing the uselessness of this, I refused. He then 
 said, 'It is in my power alone to save the living, 
 and have the dead buried. What I choose I do, and 
 none can interfere.' 
 
 " After some time I heard that one more was killed; 
 and I again urged him to send orders that no more 
 should be killed. He refused. A report then came
 
 VIWA. 139 
 
 that all were killed. I left, telling him that I was 
 free from all blame, which would rest wholly on him. 
 On going to Lasakau I found five still alive. I 
 went to the chief of the fishermen, who, observing 
 my approach, went away. I hastened, and found 
 him in the temple. He was much confused, and 
 declared that the victim who had been allotted to 
 him as his share he had set at liberty as an offering 
 to me, and the whole outrage had been done by 
 the direct orders of the king. The fact was that 
 the man who was missing had made his own escape. 
 I went to speak to the living. Two of them ap- 
 peared to be insensible. I conversed with three, 
 and besought them to trust in that almighty, and 
 all-loving Saviour who had saved the thief on the 
 cross, and was able to save their souls from guilt and 
 hell, and to unite their bodies and souls in glory for 
 ever. As these men were alive, I was unwilling to 
 leave. Not finding Tui Viti, I went to see the Soso 
 chief and two of his people who had been wounded 
 in the affray. I also went to the King of Somosomo, 
 and spoke to him against the horrible practice of 
 eating human flesh. He said they did not wish to 
 eat it ; and he should rejoice if I would prevail upon 
 the Mbau chief not to send the bodies to him ; but, if 
 they were sent, they dared not refuse to eat them, 
 as they were subject to Mbau, and in great fear. 
 " I went to Vata-ni-Tawaki (the great temple). A
 
 140 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 great shout throughout Mbau announced that Tui 
 Viti had drunk the yaiiggona of the Vunivalu, and 
 was installed into the office of the head chief. Then 
 a shout from Lasakau made known that, their pre- 
 parations being completed, they were dragging the 
 bodies to the temple. They held the hands of the 
 dead, and dragged them on their backs with their 
 heads grating on the ground. The head .of the first 
 was dashed against a great stone, and the others were 
 heaped upon it. There was much evidently sup- 
 pressed glee, while I looked on and reproved them. 
 A chief asked me if I should like one of the bodies 
 to eat. I publicly expressed my pain at the gross 
 insult. 
 
 " At noon I departed, feeling tired and faint. Surely 
 such heathenism calls for effort. In the midst of all, 
 one feels much encouraged to labour fearlessly and 
 hard ; for there is something in the people on which 
 our pleading tells. These evils and abominations 
 must give way. May the Lord ' bind the strong 
 man,' and spoil his goods, and establish the reign 
 of Christ!" 
 
 Mr. Calvert then went with Mr. Owen, the owner 
 of the vessel which had brought the King of Somo- 
 somo to Mbau, and told the chief that he should not 
 be allowed to return on her if the horrible feast were 
 eaten. After much persuasion, he said that he dare
 
 VIWA. 141 
 
 not prevent the cooking of the flesh, but that, when 
 the ovens were opened next morning, the contents 
 should be given up for burial. On the next day this 
 was done, and Mr. Owen brought in a boat to Viwa 
 eighty-four cooked portions of the victims, which 
 were forthwith buried. 
 
 During this year the missionaries lost a faithful 
 friend and valuable ally in the good Christian chief 
 of Viwa, Verani, who lost his life in an attempt to 
 avert war; and thus there disappeared one of the 
 noblest figures from the mission scene. He had 
 always been a man of great power and influence. 
 In the old stormy days he was the chosen and 
 staunch friend of Thakombau, and was foremost 
 in every deed of violence. His very name the 
 Fijian imitation of the word " France " was the 
 record of an atrocious crime. A French trader was 
 anchored off his island of Viwa, and, acting under 
 orders from Mbau, he killed all on board, and pil- 
 laged the vessel. As a warrior, he was famous for 
 his fearless and ferocious courage. Mr. Cross had 
 earnestly prayed and worked for the young chiefs 
 conversion. He received much consideration and 
 kindness from him, but for a long time saw no 
 sign of change. Yet Verani was gradually getting 
 interested in the new religion ; and, unlike all 
 others, even began to learn to read without joining 
 the lotu. He continued in his old course, and led
 
 142 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 his terrible band of picked warriors in several scenes 
 of frightful carnage. But a change had begun. 
 With growing knowledge of the truth, he discovered 
 the evil of his own life, and an awakened conscience 
 made the brave man fearful. Several of his people, 
 who had become Christians, were very intent upon 
 helping him to do right. In their watchful kind- 
 ness they found out that there were times when he 
 went stealthily into the woods to pray ; and, while 
 engaged in actual war, he was known to kneel and 
 call upon God to protect him. At last, he asked 
 from his superior chief and friend, Thakombau, 
 permission to lotu. It was refused, and he was 
 recommended to wait yet awhile. But the man's 
 convictions had become so strong that he could no 
 longer resist them ; and he resolved, at all cost, to 
 take the decisive step. His public renouncing of 
 heathenism brought upon him immediately insult 
 and outrage. But he never faltered. His greatest 
 suffering was caused by the loss of the friendship of 
 Thakombau, who was much exasperated at Verani's 
 change ; though he said to others, " Did I not tell 
 that we could not turn Verani ? He is a man of one 
 heart. When he was with us he was fully one with 
 us ; now he is a Christian, he is decided, and not to 
 be moved." This opinion was formed upon a very 
 intimate knowledge, and was fully justified. Verani 
 announced his intention to be thorough by putting
 
 VIWA. 143 
 
 away all his wives but one. When his old heathen 
 friends remonstrated with him, and advised him to 
 keep them as servants, he replied, " You are on the 
 devil's side. If my wife cannot manage in our 
 house, I will help her to get wood, and to cook our 
 food ; but I will not continue to sin against God." 
 His remorse for his past crimes was very sincere, and 
 his penitence genuine and deep. When, after many 
 days of earnest prayer, he found peace with God, 
 through faith in Jesus Christ, all men knew how real 
 and thorough was the change. 
 
 " Though Verani refused, on behalf of himself 
 and the Christians, to engage in war, saying, ' I 
 have already fought too much ; I have done now ' ; 
 yet his was too earnest and active a nature to 
 remain idle. But he had now espoused another 
 cause. One day, less than two months after his 
 conversion, Verani ordered his great war-canoe to be 
 launched. A dark day was it, in time past, for some 
 town or island, when the great sail of that canoe 
 went up to the wild shouts of the painted warriors 
 who thronged the deck ; but it was far otherwise 
 now. Verani, directed by the new power of love to 
 God and man, was setting sail to carry the mis- 
 sionary to the distant islands under his charge ; and 
 wherever the war-canoe of the dreaded chieftain 
 touched it brought ' the fulness of the blessing of
 
 Ui JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 the Gospel of peace.' The sound conversion of this 
 man was a great help to the mission. His decision 
 for God, his marriage to one wife, his willingness to 
 become poor and despised, were a subject of wonder 
 and inquiry throughout Fiji. And wherever he 
 went his simple zeal and earnestness increased the 
 wonder, and drew more fixed attention to the re- 
 ligion which had wrought so marvellous a change." 
 
 Hunt was the missionary whom he carried, and 
 wrote thus about the memorable voyage : 
 
 " I have visited the Christians at Ovalau. Verani 
 took me, and behaved in a very becoming manner 
 during the time we were absent. He strongly 
 recommended the lotu to all the people with whom 
 we had intercourse. In fact, he made it his busi- 
 ness, and went for the express purpose of persuading 
 the Ovalau people to throw up their heathenism. 
 He persuaded some, and got the promise of others 
 to join before long. He visited a town or two by 
 himself, to teach them what he knew. I quite 
 admired his untiring efforts, and felt ashamed of 
 myself. During the seven days that we were to- 
 gether, I heard no unbecoming expression from his 
 lips. When not engaged with the heathen or 
 Christians in conversing on religion, he was con- 
 stantly reading his book, and asking the meaning of
 
 VIWA. 145 
 
 what lie read. He also kept all his men closely to 
 their reading, day by day, and persuaded some 
 heathen chiefs, who came to see him, to learn the 
 alphabet, which was accomplished by two young 
 men in two hours, much to our satisfaction. They 
 would probably return again to their town and think 
 no more of it ; but we cannot but admire Verani's 
 earnest desire for the welfare of others." 
 
 At his baptism Verani received the name of 
 Elijah, and called his house Kirica, or Cherith. 
 He became a very effective preacher, and held 
 himself ready for any work in the service of the 
 mission, while he lost no opportunity of using his 
 influence to prevent war, or to mitigate its horrors. 
 In 1853, Thakombau found himself beset more and 
 more closely with difficulties and peril. The white 
 men on the island of Ovalau were actively plotting 
 against him. In the mountainous interior of Ovalau 
 were certain tribes which were subject to Viwa. 
 These were bought over by bribes supplied by the 
 whites, and revolted from their hitherto acknow- 
 ledged chief, Verani. A very grave crisis was then 
 brought about, and Thakombau consulted with 
 Verani as to the best way of meeting it. Mes- 
 sengers were despatched to call upon the insurgents 
 to return to their allegiance ; but they found things 
 had gone so far that they were afraid to land. 
 
 10
 
 146 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Hereupon Verani declared his purpose to go to 
 them himself. Mr. Calvert saw how great was the 
 risk, and tried to persuade him not to go to the 
 hill-town, Lavoni. Verani said, " Prevent me not ; 
 for we shall not escape unless Lavoni be regained. 
 I sent, but they could not get ashore. I will go 
 myself and try." As he was setting out, he said, 
 " This may be the time of my removal. That I 
 leave." The missionary prayed with him, and they 
 parted with tears. When on board his boat he bade 
 his brother farewell, and exhorted him, should he 
 fall, to be faithful as a Christian. And so the chief 
 set out, without flinching, upon an enterprise far 
 more heroic than any desperate adventure of his 
 old warrior days. He knew how deadly was the 
 danger awaiting him, and he deliberately went into 
 it unarmed, that he might follow his Master, who 
 came to save men's lives, and not to kill. With two 
 of his brothers and four other men, he landed at 
 night, and made his way through the bush up to 
 Lavoni. At first, his errand promised to succeed. 
 But a chief, who thought he had a personal grudge 
 against him, came on the scene, and the whole party 
 were shot or clubbed. The murderers took the slain 
 men to Levuka, and were well paid by the white 
 men for their work. As soon as the news of the 
 crime reached Mbau, Mr. Waterhouse hastened to 
 Ovalau, and courageously demanded the bodies.
 
 VIWA, 147 
 
 They were given up to him, and were buried with 
 Christian rites. 
 
 In the year following matters grew worse and worse 
 with Thakombau. The white settlers at Ovalau, who 
 had used all means to hinder his becoming Christian, 
 lest he should put a stop to some of their evil practices, 
 were now more busy than ever in stirring up war 
 against him, and he was in great danger. In addi- 
 tion to this, he fell ill, and his strength was much 
 reduced. He now yielded to the request of Mr. 
 Calvert, and gave up a house in Mbau as a residence 
 for a missionary. It was occupied, forthwith, by the 
 Eev. Joseph "Waterhouse. The death of his old 
 friend, Verani, had greatly moved the king ; and 
 now news came that his late visitor, Tui Tuikilakila, 
 the King of Somosomo, had been murdered. This 
 also greatly disturbed him. Just at this time he 
 received two letters; one extracted from a Sydney 
 paper, in which the American consul in Fiji brought 
 the heaviest charges against him, and strongly ad- 
 vised that he and his city of Mbau should be swept 
 away by force. This greatly exasperated the king, 
 but, at the same time, added to his uneasiness, and 
 made him the more ready to listen to the pleadings 
 of the other letter, which was sent to him by King 
 George of Tonga, earnestly beseeching him at once 
 to lotu. For a time he hesitated, and then told 
 Mr. Waterhouse that he would lotu on the following
 
 148 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Sunday. Mr. Calvert thus describes in his journal 
 what took place : 
 
 "Sunday, April 30&, 1854. Mr. Waterhouse 
 having desired us to go over, wishing me to take the 
 morning service, we crossed over to Mbau early. 
 At eight o'clock the chief sent ordering the drum to 
 be beaten. The large drum called rogorogo ai valu, 
 reporter of war, usually beaten when the Mbauans 
 have killed and dragged any of their enemies, was 
 now used to announce the coming of the Saviour's 
 reign in this dreadful city. We entered before 
 many had arrived. I expected there would be only 
 a few from each division of Mbau as a pledge of 
 the whole ; and, indeed, so it was. The chiefs wives 
 and children, he and his people, and some from 
 other families assembled, the men being preceded by 
 an old grey-headed priest. It was affecting and 
 pleasing to see them attired in large dresses of 
 Tongan cloth, and serious beyond what I expected. 
 There were upwards of three hundred. I felt much 
 moved, and was afraid that I could not proceed with 
 the service. However, I got through. I was asto- 
 nished at the very orderly appearance of the 
 congregation. All knelt ; and I doubt not that 
 there was a goodly number of sincere worshippers, 
 while all were brought under the same word of life. 
 That which has hindered is taken out of the way.
 
 VIWA. 149 
 
 Besides, the chief is evidently very desirous that 
 others should join him. He has already sent to 
 several towns, desiring them to lotu. He went off 
 with us to the mission-house, and appeared as if he 
 were relieved in body and mind of a great burden. 
 
 "After they had eaten, many children came to 
 the mission-house for alphabets, and began to read in 
 the verandah. There were many groups, forming 
 a Sunday School, several getting hold of the mission 
 servants and a few Viwa Christians to teach them. 
 All rejoiced. Early the next morning I called to bid 
 good-bye to the chief. He and his principal wife 
 desired me to conduct family prayer. I was begin- 
 ning, when they asked me to wait till all came. 
 Carpenters, visitors, servants, were to dress and come 
 in. A great number were present. What a change ! 
 How many evils, to which they, even when enlight- 
 ened heathens, cling tenaciously, are done away at a 
 stroke ! What a basis for good deep, extensive, 
 everlasting good to body and soul ! Glory be to God ! 
 We bless the God of heaven ! Blessed be the name 
 of God for ever and ever ! for wisdom and might are 
 His ; and He changeth the times and the seasons ! " 
 
 It was truly a great event great for Fiji, and 
 very great in the personal history of Calvert the 
 missionary. For years the conversion of Thakombau 
 had been asked for in his daily prayers ; and he had
 
 150 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 lost no opportunity of reproving and instructing 
 him. He set before himself continually the planting 
 of Christianity in Mbau as an object to be worked 
 for with all earnestness. But the king's persistence 
 in evil, and the enormous wickedness of his city, had 
 almost led the other missionaries to give up hope, 
 and to fall in with the counsel that it would be 
 better to leave Mbau and its king alone in their 
 incorrigible evil. Even when Mr. Waterhouse went 
 to live at Mbau, he went with the gloomiest 
 prospects, as to a forlorn hope. Thus, for some time 
 past, Calvert's faith had been sorely tried with every 
 possible discouragement ; but he kept on, praying, 
 trusting, and working; and now the long thick 
 darkness began to be broken. It was not yet day, 
 but there were signs of dawn ; and no wonder that 
 the good man's heart overran with joyful thankful- 
 ness. The Vunivalu was far, very far, from being a 
 converted Christian; but he had now absolutely 
 severed himself from the old heathenism and all its 
 evil observances, and he had openly put himself and 
 his people under the teaching of the missionaries. 
 
 " He caused the Sabbath to be strictly observed ; 
 and procured a large bell, by which to summon his 
 numerous household to family prayer. His own 
 attendance at the preaching and prayer-meetings 
 was regular, and his deportment serious. His little
 
 VIWA. 151 
 
 boy, of about seven years of age, had already been 
 permitted to bear the name of Christian, and had 
 learned to read. The little fellow now became the 
 teacher of his parents, who were both so eager to 
 acquire knowledge that sometimes their young 
 instructor would fall asleep with fatigue in the midst 
 of the lesson, to resume it after a refreshing nap." 
 (Fiji and the Fijians.) 
 
 In his journal Mr. Calvert writes a week after- 
 wards : 
 
 "This has been such a week as I have not 
 previously had in Fiji. It is like a dream when one 
 awaketh ; yet it is a blessed reality ; for it is rest 
 after labour, ease after painful anxiety, joyful 
 exultation after being cast down. The language of 
 all our visitors is changed. They say, 'Our chief 
 has lotued ; it is now near us ; we shall all soon lotu.' 
 Formerly all were waiting for him. 
 
 " To-day I have had a conversation with a teacher, 
 who has been at Mbau to help Mr. Waterhouse, and 
 has to-day fetched his wife, that he may go and live 
 with the chief. He says that the chief speaks and 
 acts like a man who has been walking in Grod's way, 
 and understands the Scriptures. ' The fact is,' he said, 
 ' lie has been thoroughly instructed, and is able now to 
 put in practice, and to tell others, what he knows.'
 
 152 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 " Yesterday, when his food was ready, he sent for 
 the head priest, and asked him to drink soup, and 
 eat with him. This he is not allowed to do as a 
 priest, but has separate provision made for him. 
 The old priest refused, pretending that he was tipsy. 
 The chief said, ' Well, don't mistake ; you must plant 
 your own food, and eat and drink like other people 
 for the future. There will be no chief now to supply 
 you, and no island whence any will be allowed to 
 bring you food as a priest. You have long and 
 greatly deceived me. I have decided, and we shall 
 all become Christians, and follow it to our lives' end.'" 
 
 The war troubles which pressed so heavily upon 
 Thakombau, at the time of his becoming lotu, went 
 on from worse to worse, and he was in grave peril. 
 The whites, on the one hand, and his old enemies at 
 Rewa, on the other, threatened his destruction. 
 The chief of Rewa sent to warn Mr. Waterhouse 
 to remove speedily, as he was about to demolish 
 Mbau and its king. Thakombau was much touched 
 by the missionary's determination to remain with 
 him. He at last yielded to milder counsels, and 
 sought to make peace with his enemies ; but they 
 rejected his advances. Mr. Calvert's position was 
 one of great difficulty, and of not a little danger. 
 He was well known as the firm friend of the 
 Vunivalu, while he also passed freely to and fro
 
 VI W A. 153 
 
 among his foes. Two months after Thakombau's 
 turning, Calvert had a very narrow escape. Journey- 
 ing from one place to another in the interests of 
 peace, he determined to call, on his way home, at 
 the island of Moturiki, to warn the people there that 
 the Ovalau chief was about to attack them. He 
 himself thus describes his peril and escape : 
 
 " We found that the tide did not serve well for 
 landing ; we therefore steered towards the entrance 
 [in the reef] leading to Viwa. One of my boat's 
 crew observed a man on the Moturiki beach 
 beckoning to us, and told me. I desired one of 
 my Rotumans to go on shore, as it was a long dis- 
 tance for me to wade, and we would put in at , 
 another point for him, where I would see the people. 
 He got in the water, and was proceeding towards 
 the shore, when he observed several persons come 
 out from among the cocoa-nut trees. He was afraid, 
 and said, ' They are from Lovoni [a mountain district 
 in Ovalau], and will kill me.' I requested him to 
 come into the boat. The man continued to call. 
 He was dressed, which led me to think he was a 
 man from Mbau who had lotued. I did not like to 
 let the opportunity pass, and immediately got on my 
 old water shoes. I did not believe them to be 
 Lovonians ; but said to the boat's crew that, should 
 I be killed, they were to return to Levuka, so that
 
 154 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Tui Levuka might get my body. Kaitu, a Rotuman, 
 wished to go with me. I forbade him, and ordered 
 them to take the boat round by the deep water near 
 the reef, and put in for me at the other side. The 
 beach was a considerable distance from me, and the 
 water was in some places over knee-deep. As I 
 proceeded towards the shore, many more persons 
 made their appearance, some running fast towards 
 me from two directions. As they neared me they 
 looked very fierce, and made gestures indicative 
 of evil intentions towards me. I could not get to 
 the boat, and therefore went on towards the shore. 
 One was swifter than the rest, and came near, with 
 his gun uplifted, to strike me. I expostulated with 
 him. Quickly several were up with me, some of 
 whom had clubs uplifted to club me; some with 
 hatchets, some with spears laid on in a position to 
 throw. One came very near with a musket pointed 
 at me, with desperate looks. I trembled ; but 
 protested loudly and firmly that they ought not to 
 kill me ; that in me there was no cause of death 
 from them ; that their killing me would be greatly 
 to their disgrace. I was surrounded by upwards of 
 a hundred. The features of one I recognised, and 
 hoped he was friendly. (This man had thought 
 that it was my boat, and, knowing the exasperated 
 state of the people against the whites for meddling 
 in the present wars, fearing that I should be in
 
 VIWA. 155 
 
 danger, had run towards me ; but was|late in reaching 
 me, from having run a sharp shell into his foot.) He 
 took hold of me, recognising me as the husband of 
 the lady of the wooden house at Viwa, who had 
 frequently purchased food of them, and treated them 
 kindly ; and he said I should live. I clung to him, 
 and disputed for my life with those who clamoured 
 for my death. Another man's face, through a thick 
 covering of soot, exhibited features familiar to me ; 
 but a fearful-looking battle-axe he held in his hand 
 attracted my eye. However, I laid hold of him, 
 and advised and urged him not to kill me. Thus I 
 was between two who might be friendly. I told my 
 name, my work, my labours in various ways, again 
 and again, on their behalf ; my having offered Tui 
 Levuka a very large looking-glass if he would let 
 them alone ; my having entreated Mara and the 
 mountaineers not to attack them, and my preventing 
 an intended attack. I told them that I had inter- 
 ceded with the Mbau chief to send them the help 
 by which they were now strengthened ; and that my 
 full knowledge of being one and friendly with them 
 led me to come on shore ; that no white man who 
 had been active in the war against them would 
 have dared to come on shore there. Matters were 
 in a hopeful state, when a very ugly man drew near 
 with great vehemence. Many had avowed them- 
 s^lves in my favour. He appeared resolutely de-
 
 158 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 termined, in spite of opposition, to take away my 
 life. He was extremely ferocious, but his arms 
 were seized and held by several. He struggled hard 
 for a length of time to get his musket to bear on 
 me, which, indeed, he once or twice managed ; but 
 it was warded off before he could fire. At length his 
 rage subsided. All then consented to my living. 
 But their thirst for killing had got up ; and, as they 
 could not kill me, they wished me to return towards 
 the boat, intending to accompany me, hoping to get 
 one or more of my natives in my stead. I refused to 
 go, and persisted in approaching the shore, led by 
 two. One untied my neck-cloth, and took it. They 
 pulled my coat, and felt me, and I fully expected to 
 be stripped. My trousers were wet and heavy. I 
 was weak with talking and disputing with them, 
 indeed, quite hoarse. As we still went on in the sea, 
 they commenced their death-song, always sung as 
 they drag along the bodies of enemies slain. I 
 feared that might increase their rage, and desired to 
 stop it. It was most grating to my feelings, and I 
 stood still, and entreated them to desist. After a 
 short time they did so, and we proceeded to the 
 beach. Those who had run to destroy me departed 
 towards their own town. 
 
 " I found Ratu Vuki, a chief of Mbau, had just 
 arrived. He was vexed with those who had treated 
 me so, and would have punished them. I begged
 
 VIWA. 157 
 
 he would not. I desired him to send me to Viwa in 
 a canoe, as I was sure Mrs. Calvert would be anxious. 
 My boys had seen the danger to which I was exposed. 
 They also were pursued by the natives, and hastened 
 to Viwa, where they arrived about seven o'clock. 
 Mrs. Calvert felt much at the alarming intelligence, 
 but feared to send the boat to inquire, lest my death 
 might be followed by the killing of those she might 
 send. She also hoped that I was alive, thinking 
 that the Moturiki people would not kill me. At 
 midnight I reached Viwa in the canoe, and found 
 that my wife had borne up well, but had just given 
 her consent to the going to look after me. 
 
 " During the whole of the attack upon me the Lord 
 blessed me with great presence of mind and consider- 
 able firmness, to stand up, proceed, dispute with 
 them, and protest against their taking away my life. 
 My trust was in the Lord. He was my Help and 
 Deliverer. It appeared to me very probable that my 
 course and my ministry were about being ended ; 
 yet I was comforted in the assurance 
 
 ' They cannot, Lord, my life devour, 
 Safe in the hollow of Thine hand.' 
 
 While looking at the instruments of death which 
 were held over, and levelled at me, I felt that my 
 life was still in His hands, and could only be taken 
 by His permission. My prayer was to the God of 
 my life. I was persuaded that, if He permitted my
 
 158 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 death, I should glorify Him in some ways that I 
 could not have done by my life. I thought that 
 the natives might be thereby led to deep considera- 
 tion of the folly and evil of war, and be led to terms 
 of peace. I gave myself afresh to the Lord, feeling 
 willing and desirous to glorify Him, whether by life 
 or death. I thought of my family, and committed 
 my children, in England, New Zealand, and Fiji, and 
 my much-beloved and faithful wife, to the Lord, in 
 whom she trusted. I thought of the mangled body 
 of the murdered Williams, and thought my own 
 likely to be mangled and abused to the same extent ; 
 but I knew that I should not be eaten, even in 
 cannibal Fiji, which was some relief to my mind. 
 And thus I felt very thankful to Him, who had pre- 
 served me to labour more than fifteen years, in which 
 I had been employed in rough and dangerous work. 
 It seemed to me an appropriate end of my labours 
 in Fiji. But how gracious, how wise, how powerful, 
 my Deliverer ! Again I am rescued, and privileged 
 with restoration to my family and labours." 
 
 In June, Mr. Calvert again visited Lakemba, that 
 he might take part in the ordination of native 
 ministers. He was very nearly wrecked in trying to 
 pass the entrance through the reef at Lakemba. 
 For more than an hour they were in great peril, 
 and struck the reef twice. At last they succeeded in
 
 VIWA. 159 
 
 turning round, and effected a landing at another 
 part of the coast. 
 
 Three candidates were examined for ordination, 
 and two others for admission to a four years' proba- 
 tion. These men had been under the instruction of 
 Mr. Lyth, whose services in this most important 
 branch of the mission were of the utmost possible 
 value. The great importance of his medical work 
 has been already noticed. In all respects the mission 
 owed to his personal influence and labours more than 
 can ever be told. His extreme modesty made his 
 career far less conspicuous than that of other men ; 
 but all who had an opportunity of watching his course 
 and its results agree in giving him a chief place 
 among those who were instrumental in bringing about 
 the reformation of Fiji. 
 
 Mr. Calvert says : " The training of those persons 
 for the work of the Lord in which they are to be 
 employed must have cost Mr. Lyth immense labour, 
 and reflects great credit on both teacher and taught." 
 At one place which he visited he was delighted to 
 find a large chapel filled with devout worshippers, a 
 scene which he thankfully contrasts with the time 
 when he tried in vain to introduce Christianity 
 there, and then, afterwards, " went there in the 
 night, when a few bowed the knee." 
 
 On his return voyage he had another very narrow 
 escape, being nearly swept overboard by the boom
 
 160 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 in jibing. He clung to the boom, and just saved 
 himself. They put in at Levuka, where he heard 
 very alarming news of the spread of the revolt 
 against Mbau, and that the day was fixed for the 
 destruction of the Vunivalu. After preaching three 
 times on the Sunday at Levuka, as it grew late 
 men gathered, angry and threatening, in front of 
 the house. They had said that his presence close 
 to Mbau was the only thing that hindered the 
 murder of the king. The night, therefore, was 
 spent in sleepless watching. No attack, however, 
 was made; and the next day he reached home at 
 Viwa in safety. 
 
 To any one studying the history of Fiji, the position 
 and doings of Calvert at this crisis are extremely 
 interesting. He had acquired a very remarkable 
 influence with the foremost men on both sides of the 
 spreading quarrel. He knew them and their policy 
 thoroughly, and had become an expert in the 
 mysteries of Fijian diplomacy. It is no contradic- 
 tion to say that, while he was well hated by some of 
 the enemies of Thakombau for thwarting their plans, 
 they, at the same time, respected and feared him.* 
 
 * The real respect in which he was held by the white men 
 is illustrated by the case of a Jew merchant, who made him 
 his executor, and thus laid upon him, amongst other charges, 
 the gruesome task of having the testator's body put into a 
 cask of rum and forwarded to his widow in Sydney.
 
 VIWA. 161 
 
 Some among them, though not the most violent, he 
 knew very well to be the real strength of the revolt, 
 and he used the power he had over them without 
 sparing his strength or his property. His journal is 
 almost wholly taken up, at this date, with details 
 of incessant journeys, and the account of his pleadings 
 with different chiefs, pleadings sometimes backed by 
 judicious and costly presents. He fully believed 
 in the sincerity of the Vunivalu's lotu. The event 
 justified his confidence ; but, at the time, probably no 
 one but the Christians shared it. The king's enemies 
 derided it ; though one of them said, " If he is truly 
 lotu we shall not get him ; if a hypocrite, his lotu will 
 be only fuel to fire." In the engagements in which 
 the Mbau forces took part for their own protection, 
 the old cannibal practices entirely ceased. On the 
 occasion of the body of a slain enemy being brought 
 to Mbau, Calvert writes : " How changed is Mbau ! 
 Two years ago the women were strangled on the 
 death of the chief. A year ago, any bodies that were 
 brought to Mbau were cut up, and cooked, and 
 eaten ; and cooked pieces were hung on the mission 
 fence. Now, things are altogether changed. The 
 chief gave a mat, in which the body was wrapped up, 
 and sent to his own relatives to be buried by them." 
 The following year saw the end of the great 
 rebellion. Peace was made with Eewa without 
 further fighting ; but the rest of the revolting tribes 
 
 11
 
 162 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 gathered their forces, largely helped by the whites, 
 at one place, which they strongly fortified. In 
 March, George Tubou, the Christian king of Tonga, 
 visited Mbau with a large fleet, to receive a great 
 canoe probably the largest in the world which the 
 Fijian king had built for him. The rebels fired 
 upon the Tongan canoes, which led George to unite 
 his forces with those of Thakombau ; and in one 
 short, sharp engagement the stronghold of the 
 enemy was stormed and destroyed, and the long war 
 was practically at an end. Two hundred prisoners 
 were brought to Mbau, where Mr. Calvert found 
 them unbound, and with a temporary shelter erected 
 over them. He found that the king had ordered 
 drink to be given them, and was much touched to 
 see the king's little son going about amongst them 
 to serve them. None of them were put to death, not 
 even Koroi Eavulo, a Mbau chief, who had been one 
 of the most implacable and most treacherous of the 
 rebels. 
 
 Before King George returned, he accompanied 
 Thakombau on his first visit to Rewa since the 
 eleven years' war ended. The fleet of more than 
 forty canoes made a gallant show ; and Mr. Calvert 
 sailed with the Tongan king on his new canoe, 
 which had one hundred and forty persons on board. 
 From his extremely interesting account of this trip, 
 some few extracts may be given :
 
 VIWA. 163 
 
 " In going towards the canoe, I found that the 
 tide, for which they were waiting, was making. 
 Baskets, chests, mats, yams, etc., were being taken 
 on board. While I was yet on shore, I observed the 
 king at one end of the house [on deck] attending, 
 apparently, to the reception and stowing of the 
 goods, which I thought rather an unkingly employ- 
 ment, but supposed it was necessary that some one 
 having authority should have that position. ... I 
 went to see how the king had managed the stowing 
 of the cargo, and was disappointed, as baskets, and 
 mats of various sizes and shapes, guns, boxes, etc., 
 seemed as if they had been put in accidentally. 
 But when I came to the other end of the house, I 
 found that the marked and assiduous attention he 
 had paid was to prevent encroachment upon a con- 
 siderable and very convenient portion of the house, 
 which he had appropriated to two young men of his 
 crew who had been slightly wounded. 
 
 " All being ready, the anchors were taken up. The 
 king gave orders, and took a large pole at the stern 
 of the canoe, so as to occupy the principal place for 
 steering. They at once began one of their lively 
 and inspiriting nautical songs, in which the Tongans 
 are pre-eminent. Seven suas, long paddles like oars, 
 are worked at the forepart of the vessel, the men 
 standing at their work, and twenty paddles astern, 
 which is peculiar to Tongan canoes. Twenty long
 
 164 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 poles were used at the sides and at the stern in 
 shoal water. All frequently change for relief. After 
 the king and others had poled for some time they 
 were relieved by others. Presently he went astern, 
 and called to others to join him in relieving the 
 paddlers. What was difficult in the management of 
 the canoe he was ready to lay hold of. He kept a 
 watchful eye on everything ; was grave, yet cheerful. 
 All reverenced him, and felt at home with him. 
 When we came to a shallow part, and several had to 
 get overboard, he was quickly in the water. Once 
 I saw him up to his neck. 
 
 " The stern end of the platform was occupied by a 
 large square wooden case, the sides of which leaned 
 outwards. This was soon needed. There were 
 persons appointed for cooking, who had made prepa- 
 ration beforehand. The case was covered with green 
 leaves, on which were three or four inches of earth. 
 Upon the earth was placed one tier of hard stones, 
 closely packed. On these stones a fire was made. 
 The same could be seen in the bay smoking from all 
 the Tongan canoes. On the burning wood many 
 more stones are laid, and become hot. These are 
 then removed, and yams, or taro, or bread-fruit, are 
 cut and laid on the lower tier of stones. Bananas 
 and native bread are wrapped up in leaves. As all 
 are piled up, the other hot stones are mixed with 
 them. The whole is then carefully covered over
 
 VIWA. 165 
 
 with several thicknesses of bread-fruit leaves stitched 
 together. A wet rope is then closely and neatly 
 coiled over the whole, which effectually prevents the 
 steam from escaping. A coarse cocoa-nut leaf mat 
 is laid over this to keep the sun and wind from 
 drying the rope. . . . 
 
 " After calling at one place and ratifying the 
 peace, they brought up for the night opposite 
 Makelo. 
 
 "As soon as we were anchored, I observed the 
 king covering with cocoa-nut leaves, to protect from 
 dew and rain, a part of the deck in front of the 
 canoe house, and he and another put up an end of 
 the sail around it. A mat was laid on the floor, and 
 I was told it was for my accommodation during the 
 night. I begged the king to share it with me, but 
 he said he should manage very well. I asked him to 
 conduct worship, which he did with admirable spirit, 
 propriety, and earnestness. Singing and prayer 
 ascended from every canoe. After a short nap, I 
 turned out and surveyed the deck-ends of the canoe, 
 which were covered with people, who seemed com- 
 fortably asleep. The king, I afterwards found, slept 
 on deck, with a covering of Tonga cloth. . . . 
 
 " At break of day hymns and prayers resounded 
 from the Tonga canoes. After our morning prayer 
 [on Thakombau's canoe, to which Calvert had gone 
 before daylight] the Vunivalu and I partook of yam
 
 166 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 and coffee, and I started for Makelo, which I found 
 to be a large straggling town, with several moats 
 round it. ... I went to the old queen, who had 
 lotued with the king, and saw a few who had bowed 
 themselves before the Lord since the end of the war. 
 They listened to me with marked attention, and 
 wish for teachers, whom I hope we shall be able to 
 get for them. ... I noticed a small grove of 
 bamboos, which, I was told, was planted to provide 
 instruments for cutting up dead bodies. These 
 bamboos, I was assured, were cut down and uned only 
 for that purpose. Bamboo knives are very sharp. 
 The natives are as scrupulous about what is used in 
 connection with human flesh as Herod was about 
 his oath, when he sacrificed the life of John the 
 Baptist. I suppose they would not allow a knife 
 used for food to be employed in cutting up a human 
 body. The oven in which it is cooked they are 
 careful not to use even for the vegetables eaten with 
 it. The pot in which it is re-cooked is never used 
 for any other purpose, but has a place set apart for 
 it, where it, and it alone, is kept, so that there can be 
 no mistake. On my first arrival in Fiji, I shared 
 the common prejudice against food provided at 
 places where human flesh is eaten ; but since I have 
 been so fully persuaded that the persons, implements, 
 and utensils employed in its preparation are scrupu- 
 lously avoided in preparing other food, I have no fear
 
 VIWA. 167 
 
 on that point, even should human flesh be cooking 
 in the town at the time. 
 
 " [Sunday was spent in Rewa.] At the usual time 
 the drums were beaten. Those from Tongatabu 
 assembled in the house occupied by King George, 
 those of Vavau and Haapai [the great islands in the 
 Friendly group] in the large house, where the Fijian 
 service has usually been held. We repaired to Bure 
 ko Rewa a sacred place, where dead bodies were 
 presented to the gods, and where they are cut up 
 and cooked, and where the Vunivalu or any of the 
 Mbauans would have been dragged, had they been 
 got hold of a few weeks ago. Now all assembled 
 together therein to worship the one living and true 
 (rod. ... At the service sat an old man from Kan- 
 davu, who has treated the Mbau chief ill in the late 
 war, and whose canoe was to have been taken from 
 him. He was seated second from the Vunivalu, who, 
 when he noticed him, gave him a tap on the head 
 with his fingers, which showed that all was right, and 
 relieved the old man from his fears. We assembled 
 in the same place in the afternoon. Mrs. Moore 
 [the wife of the missionary stationed at Rewa] and 
 I, in returning, went to the king's house to see the 
 queen (a Christian). But she was in her private 
 apartment a part screened off by Tonga cloth. 
 There, I judge, she was holding her class-meeting. 
 Another class-meeting of about twenty was being
 
 168 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 held at the other end of the house. A small number 
 were assembled outside on a hill, for the same 
 purpose. Private means of grace are liable to be 
 neglected in voyaging, but where there's a will 
 there's a way. In small houses, on a canoe, under a 
 canoe, in the bush, here on a hill in the middle of 
 the town, those among them who really fear the 
 Lord speak one to another, and stir up each other's 
 minds. At Mbau a class-leader came to me to know 
 whether he might meet his class in a heathen temple. 
 I encouraged him by all means to do so. All the 
 principal men at Kewa have lotued, and I doubt not 
 that the work will spread much. The change here 
 is immense." 
 
 The establishment of peace was immediately 
 followed by a wide spread of the lotu ; and Mr. 
 Calvert found that, whereas formerly they had begged 
 chiefs to receive a teacher, and very often in vain, 
 now they were besieged on all hands by earnest 
 requests that teachers might be sent. They were at 
 their wits' end to meet the demand, as also to furnish 
 necessary supplies of books. " We are perplexed," he 
 writes, " for want of men. The change is so sudden 
 and extensive that we are not at all able to get men 
 for each town who can read, and pray, and teach read- 
 ing. It is with difficulty that we get books printed 
 to meet the demand. This year we have printed
 
 VIWA. 169 
 
 upwards of twenty thousand each of the first and 
 second reading books; but that will not meet the case." 
 Mr. Calvert had now been seventeen years in Fiji. 
 Of those who were on the ground when he arrived, or 
 came with him, not one was left. Several times 
 during the last year or two, the question of his 
 return home had been raised ; but the General 
 Superintendent of the Polynesian missions, the Rev. 
 W. B. Boyce, wrote imploring him to stay until the 
 issue of the war was decided. He said, " You have 
 an influence which no one else can have. If you 
 remain, we have no fears ; but if you leave, I have 
 little hope of war being prevented, as you are the 
 master mind of the King of Mbau. In supporting 
 his authority you have done well, and are Scripturally 
 justified ; and you have consulted the good of all 
 parties in Fiji, as it was the only plan by which 
 anarchy could have been prevented." The danger 
 was now at an end, and peace restored ; and all 
 who knew the course of affairs acknowledged that 
 this result was mainly owing to Calvert's incessant 
 exertions. He had gained great influence with 
 Thakombau ; and that which had been for years a 
 chief aim of his life was well nigh reached when the 
 king lotued. He still prayed on, and worked for 
 his actual conversion ; but it was not till after he 
 had left that he was gladdened by the welcome news 
 that the Vunivalu had been baptised.
 
 170 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 He then dismissed his many wives, every one of 
 whom represented an alliance which brought him 
 power and wealth. All this was now renounced for 
 righteousness' sake, and he was solemnly married to 
 his chief queen, who had become a genuine and de- 
 voted Christian. The others speedily found husbands 
 and homes. Mr. Waterhouse thus describes the 
 baptism : 
 
 "In the afternoon [January llth, 1857] the king 
 was publicly baptised. In the presence of God, he 
 promised to ' renounce the devil and all his works, 
 the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all 
 the sinful lusts of the flesh.' He engaged to believe 
 all the articles of the Christian faith ; and solemnly 
 vowed, in the name of the Holy Trinity, ' to keep 
 God's holy will and commandments, and to walk in 
 the same all the days of his life.' In accordance 
 with my request, previously conveyed, the king 
 then addressed the assembly. It must have cost 
 him many a struggle to stand up before his court, 
 his ambassadors, and the flower of his people, to 
 confess his former sins. In time past he had con- 
 sidered himself a god, and had received honours 
 almost divine from his people. Now he humbles 
 himself, and adores his great Creator and merciful 
 Preserver. And what a congregation he had ! 
 Husbands, whose wives he had dishonoured ! widows,
 
 VIWA. 171 
 
 whose husbands he had slain ! sisters, whose relatives 
 had been strangled by his orders ! relatives, whose 
 friends he had eaten ! and children, the descendants 
 of those he had murdered, and who had vowed to 
 avenge the wrongs inflicted on their fathers ! A 
 thousand stony hearts heaved with fear and astonish- 
 ment as Thakombau said, ' I have been a bad man. 
 I disturbed the country. The missionaries came, 
 and invited me to embrace Christianity ; but I said 
 to them, " I will continue to fight." God has sin- 
 gularly preserved my life. At one time I thought 
 that I had myself been the instrument of my own 
 preservation ; but now I know that it was the Lord's 
 doing. I desire to acknowledge Him as the only 
 and the true God. I have scourged the world.' 
 He was deeply affected, and spoke with great 
 diffidence." 
 
 From that day forward till his death nearly 
 twenty-six years he proved the truth of his conver- 
 sion by a consistent and faithful Christian life. 
 
 The old king, after the cession of his dominions to 
 Great Britain, was thoroughly faithful to the compact, 
 and uniformly used his influence to facilitate the 
 new order of government. He died in 1881. In 
 the night before he passed away, he said, <; We 
 have not had prayers yet, have we ? Well, we will 
 have them now, and I will conduct them." So he
 
 172 JAMES CALVE RT OF FIJI. 
 
 prayed with his wonted simplicity and fervour. 
 Afterwards he said : " Lord, be gracious unto me. 
 Here I lie in obedience to Thy will. Life and death 
 are in Thy hands. Thou alone rulest." The last 
 petition that those about him could hear was, 
 " Hold me, Jesus ! Hold me, Jesus ! My faith in 
 Thee is firm." 
 
 The Eev. F. Langham, who was present, wrote to 
 Mr. Calvert : 
 
 " He died well. It would have rejoiced your heart 
 to see the grand old warrior for grand he certainly 
 did look as he lay on his mat saying he trusted 
 in Jesus, his loving Saviour. His son, Timothy, 
 and his daughters knelt with me while I prayed 
 to the waiting Saviour to receive the departing 
 spirit. I could hardly get words out, for we were 
 all weeping. We were thankful that he had ended 
 his stormy life so peacefully. . . . You may imagine 
 I miss the old man. He was always so regular 
 in church, and one of the best hearers I ever knew. 
 And how appropriately he used to pray! With 
 what sweet simplicity ! You remember what choice 
 language he used. He had a fine command of 
 Fijian words. It was always a treat to listen to him 
 whether in the prayer-meeting, or class-meeting, or 
 lovefeast. It was something worth doing to win 
 him for Christ. Thank God for such a glorious
 
 VIWA. 173 
 
 trophy of redeeming mercy ! And what a multitude 
 have been won to a profession of religion, and 
 brought to know the Saviour, through a knowledge 
 of his conversion, and by his influence and example! " 
 
 To return. A great work called for Calvert's 
 presence in England. The mission press had done 
 wonders ; but it was no longer equal to the demands 
 upon it. There had been published at Viwa, as already 
 stated, besides large numbers of separate Scripture 
 books and other works, an edition of one thousand of 
 the entire New Testament in Fijian ; and, two years 
 later, a revised edition of three thousand. The 
 British and Foreign Bible Society had given most 
 liberal aid, by grants of money and paper, to this 
 work, and then by sending out an edition of five 
 thousand published in England, where Mrs. Hunt did 
 valuable service in correcting the press. These 
 Testaments were thankfully purchased by the Fijian 
 Christians. The translation of the whole Bible was 
 at last complete, and the Bible Society undertook to 
 print it as soon as an expert in the language should 
 reach England. For this service Mr. Calvert was 
 chosen by common consent ; and thus his first long 
 term of work in Fiji came to an end. 
 
 On his last Sunday he preached at Mbau to a 
 thousand people assembled in the large public Guest 
 House; and both preacher and people were much
 
 174 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 moved. The long years of toil, and suffering, and 
 danger were forgotten that day in joyful thankfulness 
 for the wonderful changes that had come about. Two 
 days after, on November 13th, 1855, with Mrs. Calvert 
 and three of their children, he left Fiji in the Wesley. 
 The Rev. Thomas West and his family, from 
 Tonga, sailed with them. When five days out they 
 reached the solitary island of Rotumah, three 
 hundred miles to the north of Fiji. The mission 
 here had been entirely carried on by native Fijian 
 and Tongan teachers, who had learned the language 
 of the people. A missionary paid a visit to the 
 island about once a year. It being Sunday, Mr. 
 Calvert preached to "a large and very attentive 
 congregation " at Oinatha, the principal town, 
 Eliezer, a teacher, acting as interpreter. He says : 
 
 "I was perfectly surprised to see the amazing 
 difference observable in the people since the time of 
 my former visit. They were like another people. 
 Upwards of one hundred were prepared for baptism, 
 and their names written on a paper handed to me by 
 Eliezer, who is stationed here with Jotame. He has 
 gained an excellent knowledge of the language 
 during the year, and was very ready in interpreting. 
 He has evidently been very diligent, and success has 
 attended his efforts. He has carefully attended to 
 the classes, and to children, and the adult schools.
 
 VIWA. 175 
 
 I baptised the chief, Josiah Tokainina, who is very 
 anxious for an English missionary." 
 
 Three days were spent on Eotumah, and several 
 places visited. One hundred and eighty-three 
 persons were baptised. The Wesley had been un- 
 able to anchor, and, in very bad weather, had stood 
 off and on all the time. They had to sail above ten 
 miles out to reach her. 
 
 " Thus end my labours for the present in these 
 seas. May the Lord henceforth guide me by His 
 counsel, employ me in His service, keep me from 
 every evil, strengthen me in every duty, and 
 succeed with His blessing my future work, and 
 afterwards receive me to glory. Amen."
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 
 
 177 12
 
 Arrival in England. Woodbridge and Bible Work. Catholicity. 
 Mission Advocacy. The Call to return to Fiji Voyage 
 Out. Arrival at Lakemba. First Missionary Meetings at 
 Mbau and Viwa. Settled at Ovalau. Moturiki revisited. 
 Diplomatic Work. Kevision and Blind Shem. Visit to 
 Lakemba. Beginning of the Jubilee Chapel. Presentation 
 of Address. Eejoicing on account of Great Success. School 
 Feast at Mbau. Training Institution on Kandavu. Another 
 Visit to Rotumah. Ordination of Native Ministers. Farewell 
 Services. Left Fiji. 
 
 178
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 
 
 ON his way home, at the close of 1855, Mr. 
 Calvert spent some little time in Sydney, and 
 also attended the Conference in Melbourne. His 
 evidence concerning the work accomplished in Fiji 
 made a deep impression in the colonies to the great 
 benefit of the mission funds. Two Christian natives, 
 who had come up with him in the Wesley, accom- 
 panied him to several of the meetings which were 
 held in New South Wales, and excited much in- 
 terest by their statements. 
 
 England was reached in the spring of 1856 ; and 
 Mr. Calvert forthwith set about the work for which 
 especially he had come. The translation of the Old 
 Testament had to be prepared for the press, and the 
 New Testament translation to be further revised, 
 both under the direction of the Editorial Sup^rin- 
 tendent of Translations of the Bible Society, t&e 
 late Rev. T. W. Meller, rector of Woodbridge, 
 Suffolk ; and in his parish the Cal verts settled down, 
 and, for the first time, gathered all their children 
 
 179
 
 180 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 together about them. Their eldest had been with 
 relatives in England several years, and the two next 
 were sent to school in New Zealand. Four years 
 were spent in diligent application to the work of 
 producing the first complete edition of the Fijian 
 Bible, a work demanding patient labour, and anxious 
 attention and pains, of which those who see only 
 the completed result have but little notion. 
 
 While this responsible task had the first claim on 
 his time and energy, Mr. Calvert found opportunity 
 for much valuable service in other ways. His 
 personal character and influence were continually 
 felt for good in Woodbridge, and his genial warmth 
 and cheery brightness brought help to many. He 
 is still remembered there for the large, free catho- 
 licity with which he held himself ready to help in 
 the service of any Christian Church, and to hold 
 the most affectionate fellowship with its members. 
 His soul had grown up outside of the cramping re- 
 straints of small ecclesiastical and sectarian jealousies 
 and bigotries, and altogether refused to be held by 
 them from giving full play to the instincts of Chris- 
 tian brotherhood. This was not because he had no 
 definition on the Church side of his religion, nor 
 because he reckoned Church principles to be of 
 little importance. He stood always loyally and 
 lovingly by the Church to which he belonged. 
 Observation, indeed, seems to compel the conclusion,
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 181 
 
 that a catholicity which affects to have no such 
 standing, has seldom, if ever, strength to make itself 
 really effective. 
 
 His advocacy of the great missionary cause was of 
 the highest possible service. Without the slightest 
 pretence to rhetorical art, he told with manly sim- 
 plicity the story of what he himself had seen. And 
 with the simplicity was a quick warmth, which 
 reproduced all the feelings that had moved him in 
 witnessing, and taking part in, the scenes which he 
 described. While listening to him, it was impos- 
 sible to doubt his truth and sincerity, which gave 
 a wonderful force to his speaking, such as no artistic 
 oratory could have produced ; and occasional gleams 
 of genuine but well-controlled humour made him at 
 times irresistible. And, in his pleading, what a case 
 he had ! 
 
 Very quickly, and crowded with busy service, 
 those years at home passed away. Then news came 
 from Fiji that the mission staff, overtaxed by the 
 rapidly growing claims of the work, was seriously 
 crippled by the death of one of its strongest men, 
 the Rev. John Polglase. Already it had been 
 determined to send out a considerable reinforce- 
 ment, and six young missionaries were designated 
 for the service. The need was great, and no one 
 knew its urgency so well as Mr. Calvert and his 
 noble wife. The call came; and between the hearing
 
 182 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 and the obeying there was no pause of hesitation 
 or debate. The cost was great ; and it was reckoned 
 and faced. The happy English home, with the 
 children all about them, must be given up. They, 
 being as fully one in sacred devotion as in wedded 
 love, brought the sacrifice, and offered themselves to 
 return alone to Fiji. All the children were well 
 provided for by the aid of willing friends, who 
 reckoned it a great privilege to be suffered to 
 lighten the burden of these faithful ones. 
 
 On December 12th, 1860, the mission party, ac- 
 companied by many loving friends, went down the 
 Thames to Gravesend, where they embarked for 
 Australia. They had, on the whole, a good voyage. 
 The young missionaries and their wives met regularly 
 to study the Fijian language, and by the time they 
 reached Sydney could read and translate with fair 
 success. In a letter written on board, Mr. Calvert 
 says, "Mrs. Calvert and I are more and more 
 persuaded that we are in our proper path. She 
 has suffered a good deal, but bears all in the best 
 way." In that short sentence, written hurriedly to 
 catch a ship spoken at sea, how much motherly 
 anguish is covered by the words " has suffered a 
 good deal ! " They anchored at Sydney in three 
 months and seven days after starting, and, having 
 spent about a month in the colony, set out again 
 on April 23rd. They called at the Friendly
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 183 
 
 Islands, and arrived in Fiji on the morning of 
 May 30th. 
 
 The John Wesley brought up off Lakemba, where 
 Mr. and Mrs. Calvert first landed twenty-three years 
 before. It is not easy to imagine all they felt as 
 they looked once more on that familiar coast, every 
 feature of which brought back the thought of some 
 incident of the eventful ten years spent there. What 
 changes had been brought about since then ! The 
 whole island was now at least nominally Christian. 
 The old king, Tui Nayau, still lived, and had long 
 since forsaken heathenism and all its evil ways. It 
 was a harvest-field now, and these faithful workers 
 looked back to the long, hard seed-time, and were 
 glad with an unutterable thanksgiving. 
 
 Some of the missionaries and the widow of Mr. 
 Polglase came off to the Wesley ; but only Mr. and 
 Mrs. Calvert could go ashore. " We went," he says, 
 " to see the old king ; and he and I kissed each 
 other. I prayed with him and his one wife, to whom 
 he had been married since I left. We also went to 
 see other friends." The Wesley reached Mbau a few 
 days afterwards, having called at several stations on 
 the way. The District Meeting was held forthwith. 
 
 " During the District Meeting," Mr. Calvert 
 writes, " the first Missionary Meeting was held at 
 Mbau. It was a grand sight. Thakombau, in full
 
 184 JAMES CALVERT 0* FIJI. 
 
 dress, led the way into the large square when the 
 collection was brought. When near the spot where 
 the gifts were put, he laid hold of ten heads of 
 turtle-shell, weighing about twenty pounds, which 
 had been previously conveyed, and laid it at our 
 feet. Several five-gallon cans of cocoa-nut oil were 
 then brought as his subscription. Then the men of 
 Mbau, well dressed, one at a time, laid down their 
 presents of oil. Then came the ladies of Mbau in a 
 body, singing, as they came, appropriate pieces which 
 they had prepared, and portions of Scripture. The 
 queen gave, I think, three cans of oil, and others 
 brought quantities according to their ability and 
 disposition. Our coming to Fiji for the second time 
 to the work was celebrated in song. The fishermen 
 and women, the carpenters, and the youths of Mbau 
 came in bodies and presented their offerings. The 
 fifty cans prepared to receive the oil which were 
 expected to be more than sufficient were soon filled, 
 and many more had to be obtained. All was done 
 cheerfully and gracefully. The people were clean 
 and well dressed. After the collection was over, and 
 the oil secured, we adjourned to the chapel to sing, 
 give thanks, pray, and hear speeches. In Joeli 
 Bulu's speech he feelingly referred to our return, 
 and called upon all who, with himself, were heartily 
 thankful that we had come back again to lift up 
 their hands. The mass of hands held up was
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 185 
 
 gratifying.* Altogether it was a grand sight. The 
 change wrought is, marvellous. 
 
 " On the following day, the Viwa Missionary Meet> 
 ing was held, to which we were urgently invited. 
 Our District Meeting was drawing to a close, and we 
 were very busy ; but I got permission to attend, with 
 some of the brethren. The people are few, and the 
 work has not prospered at Viwa. We went in low 
 spirits, but I was very much cheered. The road to 
 the chapel was weeded, and the path renewed. 
 Forms were fixed in an open space, where we as- 
 sembled, and waited for the contributors, who shortly 
 made their appearance, well dressed, all alive, singing 
 as they came, bringing large yams, pigs, fowls, a 
 duck, and many mats and baskets which they had 
 made. I was surprised, encouraged, delighted. I 
 was the only speaker, and felt quite inspired. All 
 listened with very earnest attention." 
 
 It was decided that Mr. Calvert should take charge 
 of Ovalau, which, together with Viwa, was in the 
 Mbau Circuit. He would have greatly preferred to 
 be at Mbau ; but a younger missionary was there, 
 and he did not wish to unsettle him. He knew 
 
 * See Joel Bulu : the Autobiography of a Native Minister in 
 the South Seas. Translated by a Missionary. Wesleyan- 
 Methodist Book Room, London. One of the most perfectly 
 beautiful stories of the kind ever written.
 
 186 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Ovalau well, and its peculiar difficulties. All the 
 complications caused by the white residents and 
 they were very serious had their chief source on 
 this island, at Levuka, where most of the whites 
 lived. The British and American consuls were here. 
 Amongst the now growing number of foreigners 
 settled in Fiji, or staying there for a time, were 
 some men thoroughly without moral principle, whose 
 lives and influence worked disastrously among the 
 natives. A growing and murderous trade was esta- 
 blished in ardent spirits ; and the missionaries looked 
 on with dismay and grief as they saw cases of cheap 
 gin landed, bearing the names of merchants well 
 known in religion and philanthropy in Europe. 
 Here, then, Mr. Calvert came to dwell ; and it was 
 like him that he gave up the one little " study " in the 
 mission-house to the young missionary, his colleague, 
 who had just come out, and put up his own book- 
 shelves in his bedroom. 
 
 Very soon after his return he visited the island of 
 Maturiki, where his life was in such great peril 
 seven years before (p. 153). He opened two large 
 and well-built chapels, and was delighted to find 
 them filled with attentive congregations. As they 
 entered one of these, the people joined in a chant ; 
 and, in one who took the lead, dressed in a black 
 coat, the preacher recognised the man who had 
 violently insisted upon killing him.
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 187 
 
 " He was manifestly ashamed, and could not bear 
 to meet my eye. He had an uneasy appearance. 
 After the service I went and shook hands with him, 
 and said that, as we were both alive, we ought to 
 devote ourselves fully to the Lord. He could not 
 speak, but appeared deeply humbled. What a 
 marvellous change has been wrought in the views, 
 principles, and conduct of this people ! " 
 
 To narrate the particulars of Mr. Calvert's life at 
 Ovalau would be to give the history of a large part 
 of the Fiji mission, and the history of Fiji itself, 
 at that period. In every step and every detail of 
 the mission he took the most lively and practical 
 interest ; and his knowledge of the whole course of 
 events from the beginning often enabled him to give 
 most important help. In Fijian politics he was an 
 acknowledged expert. He had watched, from their 
 small beginnings, the growth and complication of 
 disputes, which had come to be problems full of 
 difficulty and danger; tribal quarrels, threatening 
 local wars ; conflicts between native interests and 
 the claims of foreign settlers, leading to the visit of 
 ships of war, and formal commissions of inquiry, 
 before which the missionary acted both as interpreter 
 and counsel; and then the harassing, find at one 
 time extremely perilous, relations with the Tongans 
 settled or roving in the group. Mr. Calvert, in
 
 188 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 common with the other missionaries, could not be 
 what his duty required him to be to the people 
 without becoming personally engaged in the dis- 
 cussion of all these questions, often travelling far, 
 and enduring much in acting as a mediator, and 
 always striving to avert war, and bring about well- 
 settled peace. There is abundant material in his 
 correspondence at this time of great interest ; but it 
 would need so much historical statement, and so 
 many explanations to make it intelligible, that it 
 must be left where it is for the instruction of any 
 student who may wish to unravel the tangle of 
 Fijian affairs previous to the effectual cutting of all 
 knots by the cession of the group to Great Britain. 
 
 The offer of the sovereignty of Fiji had already 
 been made to Great Britain, but was, at first, declined. 
 After Mr. Calvert's death, Admiral Jenkins, referring 
 to this period, wrote : 
 
 "In July and August 1862 I was captain of 
 H.M.S. Miranda, taking the message of Sir John 
 Young, Governor of New South Wales, declining, on 
 the part of Her Majesty's ministers, the offer of the 
 sovereignty of the Fiji Islands ; and I well remember 
 the valuable assistance rendered to me by Mr. Calvert, 
 not only by interpreting and printing in Fijian that 
 message, but in settling matters between Europeans 
 and the natives. Thakombau, the chief I had to do
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 189 
 
 with, looked to him with respect, and as one they 
 could rely upon to give them good counsel and advice. 
 
 "I also well remember the native church at Ovalau, 
 built and filled by themselves. After leaving Ovalau, 
 I had on board the Miranda the chief of Sarua, 
 whose people a fortnight before were said to have 
 captured and eaten five men and forty women and 
 children. 
 
 " The residence of Mr. and Mrs. Calvert at Ovalau, 
 and their influence on the native government, and 
 on the white residents, was indeed a great blessing." 
 
 But, exacting as all these matters were, they 
 always stood second to the claims of the missionary's 
 one great commission. At Levuka, the town where 
 he now lived, he found the chapel in a very bad 
 condition, and succeeded in building a new one, 
 which had the distinction of being the first in Fiji 
 having a boarded floor. He also built a church for 
 English services, and gathered a congregation of 
 fifty white people, while a school was provided for 
 their children. At last, also, an impression was 
 made upon the wild and turbulent tribe who in- 
 habited the mountains in the interior of the island, 
 amongst whom Verani was slain, and a number of 
 them were brought under Christian instruction. 
 As Mr. Calvert records his visits to different parts of 
 the group, the recurrence of such exclamations as,
 
 190 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 "What a wonderful change!" "What hath God 
 wrought ! " becomes almost like a refrain of joyful 
 praise. 
 
 During this second term in the islands he was 
 very closely occupied in the further revision of the 
 Fijian version of the Scriptures. The experience 
 which he had gained in this work while in England 
 had frequently made him feel the need of having at 
 hand an intelligent native, to whom nice points of 
 construction and expression might be referred. So 
 thoroughly did he now take up this work that, 
 during the four years, he went carefully through the 
 whole of the New Testament eight times. In this 
 he found a very valuable helper in a blind man 
 named Semi, the Fijian form of Shem. When at 
 Viwa more than ten years before, while engaged 
 on the same task, he had asked Thakombau to 
 recommend to him some one who could help him. 
 The king suggested this blind youth, to the 
 missionary's no little disappointment. A very few 
 experiments, however, proved the wisdom of the 
 selection. Shem was found to have in a remarkable 
 degree the gifts necessary for the work. He was a 
 born poet, and exercised instinctively an exact dis- 
 crimination in the choice of terms, while his fine 
 musical ear made him detect at once any awkward 
 or dissonant construction, as well as any words used 
 colloquially with an alternative and sometimes very
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI 191 
 
 objectionable meaning. In those early days when 
 Semi was quite young, though he enjoyed the work, 
 he sometimes grew tired in it, so that Mr. Calvert, 
 reading on industriously, had to call out, " Wake 
 up, Semi ! " Now, with more mature powers, larger 
 knowledge, and greater zest, he gave most valuable 
 aid in the patient and careful revision of the 
 Scriptures, particularly of the New Testament. 
 Mr. Calvert greatly admired and loved his ready 
 helper. 
 
 In December 1863 he again revisited, as Chair- 
 man of the whole Fiji District, his old station at 
 Lakemba. 
 
 " I preached in the morning, and was pleased to 
 see the husband and wife and children sit together 
 as families. This is a very great improvement upon 
 the old system, when the wife was looked down 
 upon, and partook of food if her husband left any. 
 In the evening I preached in English to a congre- 
 gation of eight persons. Here the missionaries have 
 a dozen young married men, who are likely to become 
 useful in our work, in a training school. To these 
 they pay special attention, in connection with ten 
 other local preachers. This is a most effectual way 
 of serving the cause of truth, producing great and 
 ever-accumulating good. The teachers and local 
 preachers from all the towns on the island come to
 
 192 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 the missionaries on two days a week to receive 
 instruction in writing, arithmetic, and theology. 
 Having brought with me copies of a new book pre- 
 pared by Mr. Moore for our native agents, I met 
 the teachers, and earnestly directed their attention 
 to it. It consists of definitions of, and Scripture 
 passages on, the doctrines of the Bible, and will 
 prove very helpful and useful. 
 
 " On Sunday afternoon I heard Matthias Thakau 
 preach from Revelation i. 7. The discourse was 
 clear, and every part was well confirmed by ap- 
 propriate passages of Scripture. I well remember 
 him as an active lad, who accompanied and helped 
 me on my first visit to the islands of Vatoa and Ono 
 twenty-four years ago. He is now teacher in the 
 king's town, where he is doing a good work among 
 the people generally, and especially among the young 
 men. He is a spiritual, cheerful, and energetic 
 labourer in Christ's cause, and is useful wherever he 
 resides. Such men tell everywhere. He would have 
 been recommended as a native assistant missionary, 
 but for the misfortune of having a wife who is 
 not like-minded with himself. Anywhere a wife 
 materially hinders or wonderfully helps a man in 
 his efforts to do good. How a man is comforted and 
 strengthened when he has a wife who is a co-worker 
 together with him, and whose prayers to Almighty 
 God prevail on his behalf! However, though this
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 193 
 
 good man is hindered in his position, he aims to 
 make the best of it, and his labours are crowned 
 with success. And, perhaps, after all, as a catechist 
 or teacher in charge of a town or district, he may be 
 of more real service than he would be were he elated 
 by a higher name. The defective early training, 
 and small amount of knowledge and managing ability, 
 of these people, even the best of them, are a very 
 great drawback to their holding positions of trust 
 and responsibility ; and it is extremely difficult for 
 them to keep steady and humble when they become 
 somebody by being placed over others. As a teacher, 
 my friend Matthias recommends religion by his 
 countenance and conduct ; but I should like to have 
 found his house more orderly than it is. 
 
 " Our work among so many people, placed on 
 about eighty inhabited islands, scattered over several 
 degrees of latitude and longitude, must be dependent, 
 in a great measure, on converted men and women from 
 among themselves, who have to assume authority, 
 control others, and take a leading position. Our 
 District Training Institution will prove invaluable. 
 Full attention is paid to the men, and they gain a 
 good acquaintance with themselves, and are led to 
 act cautiously, respectfully, and judiciously. 
 
 " December 22nd, 1863. It is twenty-five years 
 to-day since I first landed in Lakemba. The 
 missionaries, king, and chiefs resolved to celebrate 
 
 13
 
 194 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 our arrival a quarter of a century ago, by requesting 
 me to set the first post of their jubilee chapel * the 
 first wooden chapel in Fiji for the worship of natives. 
 People came in from all the towns, bringing cooked 
 food for the occasion. The king sent a goodly portion 
 to the mission-house, which was divided among the 
 carpenters, native assistant missionary, students, and 
 both mission families. 
 
 " At the beating of the drums we assembled in the 
 large chapel. Mr. Tait commenced the service, and 
 Matthias offered a very earnest and comprehensive 
 prayer. Mr. Tait addressed the congregation in a 
 rejoicing strain, and then, to my great surprise, 
 called upon the king's nephew, Zaccheus, to read a 
 long and most kind address to me and my wife (who 
 was also present) from the king and people. The 
 address was as follows : 
 
 " ' To MR. CALVERT. We rejoice in seeing you 
 and your wife to-day. We are grateful to God for 
 lengthening out your life to this one day of glad- 
 ness. We are inclined to remember your former 
 residence here. When you first came to Fiji our 
 elders were heathen, and painful things thereby 
 frequently came upon you. You diligently taught 
 them the Word of God ; but they despised it, and 
 
 * A memorial of the jubilee of the Wesleyan Missionary 
 Society.
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 195 
 
 they pained you in many ways. And we, their 
 children, express our gratitude for your endurance 
 of them. Now, all heathenism is abolished, and we 
 serve the true God. 
 
 " ' Behold what has been effected during your 
 living in Fiji ! When you first came, chiefs hated 
 one another, and disputed, and evil often arose. 
 But in this age we each dwell comfortably in his 
 own house with our families, and we have no cause 
 of anxiety. When you arrived, the young people 
 and children were very dark, and there was no book 
 for them to read ; but now all the children and 
 youths read, and we have the Holy Scriptures as 
 " a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path." 
 When you first came, there were few indeed who 
 worshipped God; but now, in connection with 
 Lakemba, we are upwards of four thousand joined 
 to the Church, and there is not one heathen on 
 Lakemba, nor on any of the lands over which our 
 king reigns. We bow before Jehovah, and Him 
 only we wish to serve. 
 
 " ' And we have determined to have a good house 
 in which to worship God ; and this day we begin to 
 build our wooden church. We are very glad that 
 you have managed to come to plant the first post ; 
 and we beg you will intercede with God on behalf 
 of this our work, that good may therefrom arise to 
 our land.
 
 196 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 " ' We have heard that you two are preparing to 
 return to England. It is right that you should 
 go and see your children ; but we beg you will not 
 forget us. When you are comfortably settled 
 in England, remember us, and pray for us ; and 
 entreat some young ministers to come to Fiji, to 
 instruct us in the Word of God. Both of you, go in 
 peace, remembering the word of David : " He that 
 goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 
 shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing 
 his sheaves with him." And now we bid you fare- 
 well. Our prayers shall follow you, and we will 
 prepare to meet you in heaven. 
 
 " ' Signed. On behalf of the chiefs, EDWARD, Tui 
 
 NAYAU (the king), ZACCHEUS 
 
 SOKOTUKIVEI, NATHANAEL SAMANI, 
 
 NAAMAN TAUSERE. 
 " ' On behalf of the native agents, 
 
 ISAIAH VATA, JOEL KOROIKATA, 
 
 THOMAS SE. 
 " ' On behalf of the Church members, 
 
 STEPHEN BABA, ISAAC KALOU.' 
 
 " I received the address, and with deep feeling 
 spoke to the congregation, referring to my arrival 
 just twenty-five years ago, to my continuous and 
 successful toils for nearly ten years, to personal and 
 family afflictions and health, to the glorious fact
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 197 
 
 that a great work of God has been wrought through 
 the Circuit, and to the immense help afforded to our 
 work throughout Fiji, and even to the distant island 
 of Kotumah, by cheerful and hearty labourers sent 
 forth from this Circuit. I warned them against 
 being led astray by spirituous liquors, or by pur- 
 chasing useful goods before they were able to pay 
 for them. I urged them to use the earth so abun- 
 dantly given to them, by planting sufficient food for 
 their own consumption, and for sale, and cotton and 
 coffee. I entreated them not to rest without being 
 quite clear in their conversion to God, to seek for 
 increase of Divine grace, and to walk circumspectly. 
 As they had taken a leading and prominent part in 
 the spread of Christianity, I expressed a hope that 
 the Gospel would be advanced by the people of the 
 Lakemba Circuit. 
 
 " On my first arrival, there were two hundred and 
 sixty-four Church members in this Circuit, now 
 there are four thousand. I baptised twelve adults 
 some of rank from the king's town, and two 
 children. Three of the chiefs delivered effective 
 addresses. 
 
 " We assembled on the site of the new chapel. It 
 is to be an octagon building. The width will be 
 sixty-two feet, with a six and a half feet verandah all 
 round, making the extreme width seventy-five feet. 
 The estimated cost is to be twenty-six tons of oil,
 
 198 JAMES CALVERT OF PUT. 
 
 worth, on the spot, about '600. We sang a hymn, 
 composed for the occasion by Mr. Tait, who, on 
 behalf of the building committee, presented me with 
 a wooden mallet, inlaid with whale's tooth and pearl 
 shell, and an iron-wood digging stick, with which I 
 set the post with the usual form, and delivered a 
 short address to the surrounding multitude. The 
 children chanted a piece which they had got up to 
 welcome our visit, and gave me their dresses.* 
 Nathan Thataki offered an appropriate prayer. The 
 people made a contribution of oil, and resolved upon 
 a united effort to complete the chapel, free from 
 debt, before we leave Fiji ; and they request me to 
 come to the opening, should it be finished. All 
 went off remarkably well. 
 
 " Inside a charred log of green-heart which will 
 be likely to be in good condition when some of the 
 children of the past and present race of missionaries 
 may be carrying on the work begun by us were 
 nicely placed, in a sealed bottle, a Watchman, con- 
 taining news of the last Conference, an Australian 
 Report and Notice, a Circuit Plan, No. 1 of the 
 Fijian Quarterly, edited by the Rev. J. Carey, and 
 a statement of the commencement of the mission 
 
 * A Fijian custom in making a complimentary presenta- 
 tion, the persons taking part in it having put on an over- 
 dress of native cloth for the purpose.
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 199 
 
 at Lakemba, names of foreign labourers, and the 
 present statistics of the Circuit." 
 
 After describing a watch-night service that was 
 held, he writes on January 1st of the new year : 
 
 " I long for this to be by far the best year I have 
 enjoyed and lived. And why not ? The Lord has 
 richer and much more abundant blessings in store 
 than I have yet had, and He is willing to bestow 
 them. He delights in blessing. I shall doubtless 
 have a better year than I have had heretofore, if I 
 take care to live more fully to God every day and 
 every hour, and be mindful to look to and acknow- 
 ledge Him in everything, ' and whatsoever I do in 
 word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 giving thanks to God and the Father by Him,' and 
 ' do all things without murmuring and disputings ; 
 that I may be blameless and harmless, a child of 
 God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and 
 perverse nation, among whom may I shine as a 
 light in the world ; holding forth the Word of Life, 
 that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have 
 not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.' I hope 
 to give increased attention to prayer and the Scrip- 
 tures. The Lord help and bless us ; and help and 
 bless our beloved ones and friends far away ! 
 
 " The close of the old year is celebrated by prepar- 
 ing food. Fijians are very fond of a little feasting.
 
 200 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 The king's principal daughter, to whom I frequently 
 gave medicine twenty years ago, when she was nigh 
 unto death, in grateful remembrance, gave me a 
 pig. She is likely soon to become a class-leader. 
 The king sent me two live turtles, and a large 
 supply of cooked taro, puddings, fish, and ripe 
 bananas ; and afterwards his wife brought from him 
 a head of turtle-shell, weighing three pounds and a 
 half. He has been very thoughtful and kind during 
 our stay, and sent me several pigs, fishes one weigh- 
 ing twenty-five pounds fowls, new yams, taro, and 
 bananas. 
 
 "January 3rd. In preaching this morning, I 
 observed an old man devouring the Word, and evi- 
 dently alive to God in his soul, and I called upon him 
 to pray. He prays simply and heartily. Formerly 
 he was an adept at stealing our poultry, and boasted 
 of his cleverness and boldness. After that now 
 many years ago he suffered much, and for a long 
 time, from simple tetanus, and Mr. Lyth and I paid 
 diligent attention to him. Happily, he had no 
 friends who cared so much for him as to take him 
 out of our hands and put him under Fijian doctors, 
 who have to be paid well. He was left entirely to 
 us, and we persevered. This was one of the very 
 few cases of tetanus we have cured. Zechariah 
 Koroi-mata-ni-tuka is a very good case. Who knows 
 what good may be obtained and promoted by pro-
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 201 
 
 longing life ? He is now a class-leader, and his 
 countenance shows that he is really a happy man. 
 Such a man does good every day. He has two boys 
 with Mr. Tait. One nurses the child, and amuses 
 him well, and milks the goats ; the other, Stephen, 
 is steward, and makes bread and cooks first-rate. He 
 goes about his work like a little man, and is a great 
 comfort to Mr. Tait when voyaging about, making 
 cakes and other comforts. Ay, one would almost 
 like to be young again, to have a good long term of 
 Fijian mission life under the new economy ! How- 
 ever, mine must be the rejoicing of a gladdened 
 heart, at what has been wrought by the grace and 
 providence of God among a people so deeply de- 
 graded and long neglected, and at the present state 
 and prospects of the work generally. The work 
 throughout the Circuit is in a healthy and pro- 
 sperous condition, Mr. Tait walking in the steps of 
 his predecessor, and keeping all in good order." 
 
 When Mr. Calvert came out this second time, it 
 was fully understood and arranged that his stay 
 would be short. All his plans were made for return- 
 ing at the end of three years ; but the health of the 
 Eev. Joseph Waterhouse, one of the most experienced 
 and effective of the missionaries, entirely broke down. 
 Mr. Calvert immediately decided to remain until the 
 next year.
 
 202 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 In December he attended a school feast at Mbau, 
 at which sixteen hundred scholars were present. It 
 lasted two days, and was a very successful and happy 
 festival. The repeating of portions of Scripture and 
 the reading were good ; some progress had been made 
 in arithmetic; and the Scripture lessons showed that 
 the teachers had done their work well. Thence he and 
 Mrs. Calvert went on to Kewa, and then to Kandavu, 
 to make a special inspection of the District Institution 
 at Richmond Hill for the training of teachers. 
 
 " Mr. Nettleton has entered on his duties most 
 heartily. He spends four hours a day in teaching, 
 and hears one student preach every week, and meets 
 all in class. There are now thirty-five students 
 being a much larger number than heretofore ; and I 
 hope the number will be increased to forty-two. They 
 are healthy, diligent, clean, and nicely dressed, and 
 respectful in their behaviour. They read remarkably 
 well, and have got on in arithmetic ; are sound and 
 well up in the doctrines of Holy Scripture, and preach 
 good sermons. In meeting them all in class, I was 
 delighted with the clearness and depth of their 
 Christian experience. They are truly alive to God ; 
 their souls prosper and are in health ; and this, in 
 Fiji, as everywhere else, is a great point. My heart 
 was gladdened in the class-meeting, and I rejoiced 
 greatly to find this Institution the hope of the
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 203 
 
 future in Fiji in full and very successful operation. 
 Mrs. Nettleton, having a mind to work, makes good 
 use of her eminent qualifications as a teacher, devot- 
 ing much time to the twenty wives of the married 
 students.* She teaches them to sew, read, and 
 write, meets a class, and gives Bible lessons. There 
 is a marked improvement in these women, who will 
 also be useful in places where their husbands labour. 
 Mrs. Nettleton, with the harmonium and piano and 
 her voice, teaches the men to sing well, thus qualify- 
 ing them for leading the singing, and to teach others 
 also when they get into their work. The students 
 get healthful exercise by planting a good deal of 
 food, so that they will raise nearly all that they 
 require when the present abundant crops are 
 mature. A considerable quantity of cotton is 
 planted ; and one of the gins [machines for sepa- 
 rating the seeds from the cotton], generously sent 
 to my care by J. Eobinson Kay, Esq., is stationed 
 here. By these industrial pursuits the annual cost 
 of the Institution will be much lessened, and the 
 students will be trained practically to encourage 
 industry wherever they go." 
 
 It was now decided that Mr. Calvert should leave 
 Fiji when the Wesley returned from her next visit. 
 
 * The students lived in small houses within the Institution 
 enclosure.
 
 204 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 He writes to a friend : 
 
 "At our age, I find we have been quite long 
 enough. But it gives one real comfort to come and 
 begin work at once, and to feel that the knowledge 
 one has of persons and things and language enables 
 one to be of service in so many ways. One hardly 
 likes to give it all up. I should prefer to be where I 
 can best serve Fiji as long as I live; and I know that 
 the heart of my good wife is in unison with my own." 
 
 Some one had suggested to him that they might 
 settle in one of the Australian colonies. He did not 
 think this at all likely, but hoped that, if it were to 
 be so, he might then, perhaps, after an interval, be 
 able to give another short period of service in Fiji. 
 
 At the beginning of July, after holding the District 
 Meeting, he went in the Wesley to visit Eotumah once 
 more, where a missionary, Mr.Fletcher, was now placed. 
 
 " I was very pleased with the improved appearance 
 of the people as I passed along. They are much 
 cleaner than when I saw them fifteen months ago. 
 After the service Mr. Fletcher being away preach- 
 ing elsewhere I asked the Fijian teacher who had 
 conducted it to interpret for me to the people who 
 were gathered together ; but, not having been accus- 
 tomed to such work, he felt awkward, and had to say 
 he could not manage it. But Mrs. Fletcher, who 
 was present with her four children, stood up and
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 205 
 
 kindly offered to relieve him and help me. So I 
 again had the pleasure of addressing my Eotuman 
 friends through a very ready interpreter. ... I took 
 with me six or eight months' letters. They just 
 peeped into a few, and found that all was well at 
 home. After tea, Mr. F. sent to some white men 
 living near, and I preached at seven in English. 
 My welcome was most hearty. . . . The Church 
 membership has increased about two hundred this 
 year. Our people now outnumber the heathen and 
 Papists. . . . From the number and healthy ap- 
 pearance of the children in Eotumah I judge the 
 population to be on the increase, which is, I fear, a 
 rare thing in the South Seas. The Eotuman s, when 
 right in their souls, are likely to go forth as evan- 
 gelists to other islands in regions beyond. I met 
 my old servant, Kaitu, a Eotuman, who took the 
 Gospel to Nukufetau, one of De Peyster's group, 
 situate near the line. All the people there are lotu, 
 through this instrumentality. He had lately come 
 to Eotumah with four Nukufetauans in search of a 
 teacher and books." 
 
 He got back safely to Ovalau, and set off the next 
 day to Mbau. Two days after 
 
 " Daniel Afu and Joseph Nokilevu, a Tongan and 
 Fijian, having been faithful during their four years 
 of probation, were ordained. They made a noble
 
 206 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 statement. The six missionaries present, with Joel 
 Bulu, ordained by the imposition of hands, and I 
 spoke from the first portion of Scripture read on the 
 occasion. I administered the Sacrament to the 
 newly ordained men, to the missionaries and their 
 wives, who were joined by the king and queen, and 
 their eldest daughter a very good woman, and a 
 class-leader and by the wife of a devoted native 
 missionary. It was a time of refreshing." 
 
 This last episcopal act of Mr. Calvert in his district 
 was further memorable as the first instance in the 
 mission in which a native missionary had taken part 
 in the act of ordination. It was in all respects 
 fitting that the first in this service should be the 
 saintly and heroic Joel Bulu. 
 
 " On Sabbath, the 2nd of July, I preached my fare- 
 well sermon at Mbau. On the 4th I went to Rewa, 
 on the 5th to the new station up the river, occupied 
 by Mr. Baker, who, after pioneering and faithful 
 services in other parts, is our ' Missionary to the 
 Interior.' * All were busy at this site on the hill. 
 I trust many heathen will soon hear words of salvation, 
 and that the work of Christ will spread and prosper. 
 
 * This able missionary, in the prosecution of his work in 
 the mountainous interior of Viti Levu, was killed and eaten, 
 together with a devoted native teacher who accompanied 
 him, the only missionary who lost his life by violence in 
 the whole course of this most perilous mission.
 
 HOME, AND RETURN TO FIJI. 207 
 
 " On the 8th I met Mrs. Calvert, quite well, at 
 Kandavu. On Sunday morning I preached in Fijian. 
 In the afternoon, Mr. Nettleton preached in English, 
 in Mr. White's house, to us and the people from the 
 Wesley. On the llth Mrs. Calvert and I went to the 
 Eichmond Theological Institution, to pay our last 
 visit to Mr. and Mrs. Nettleton, and to bid farewell 
 to the students. There will be the full number of 
 forty-two this year. In the afternoon I addressed 
 them. We had a gracious visitation from on high. 
 The appearance of the students, and that of their 
 wives and children, was very satisfactory. On 
 Wednesday morning I preached to the teachers and 
 stewards from the various parts of Kandavu. On 
 Thursday morning I found that I had overtaxed my 
 strength, by excitement, want of sleep, and labour ; 
 and I felt unfit to administer the Sacrament at dawn 
 of day to the teachers and local preachers previous 
 to our departure. My head was swimming. I had 
 a hot bath, in which I lay for some time, and then 
 washed over with a bucket of cold water. This 
 afforded me perfect relief, as it has done on former 
 occasions. I then joined Mr. White and the two 
 native missionaries, and we administered to one 
 hundred and twenty-seven workers. I gave a short 
 address. We felt it good to be there. 
 
 " Before sunrise next morning the sailors were sing- 
 ing merrily at the windlass, and the Wesley's bell
 
 208 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 rang for us. We here went through our severest 
 pang in parting. Our wives had a hard struggle, 
 and each of us shed many tears, and offered earnest 
 prayers on behalf of each other. Our best and most 
 faithful servant, who had been with us since our 
 arrival, was with us to the last, and was overpowered 
 with distress. On the 14th of July we left Fiji. 
 
 " These have been four happy and busy years. We 
 feel that we did right in coming back for another 
 term of service : and though we are persuaded that 
 it is right for us now to leave, to take charge of our 
 beloved children, who have been treated with ex- 
 treme kindness by numerous friends during the 
 whole period of our absence from them, yet we have 
 pain and sorrow in parting with brethren and sisters 
 and converts, and the work we love so much."
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 209 14
 
 Busy Occupation in Australia. Voyage Home. Bromley. Work 
 for Fiji. For the Bible Society. Offer for Service in South 
 Africa. Appointment to Bloemf ontein. Arrival. Boers and 
 Natives. Appointed to the Diamond Fields. New Rush. 
 The Native Problem. His Work and its Circumstances. 
 Removal to the Transvaal. Potchef stroom. Return to 
 Kimberley. Address and Presentation on leaving. England. 
 
 210
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 ON leaving Fiji Mr. Calvert spent six months in 
 Australia. As soon as he landed, he found 
 very busy occupation in translation, and in getting 
 work printed in time to be sent down to the 
 Islands by the earliest opportunity. From Sydney 
 he writes : "I think I have hardly ever been 
 so continually on full stretch at hard work as I 
 have been during my stay here. Two sermons and 
 a Sunday School address each Sunday, and several 
 night meetings, and long walks during the week, 
 and the printing. . . . We shall be hard at it right 
 to the last." Much the same sort of occupation 
 went on in Victoria, and afterwards in Adelaide, 
 where he attended the sittings of the Conference. 
 
 When on board the Yatala, that was to bring him 
 home, he wrote to a friend, giving an account of his 
 doings before starting, and then of the voyage. He 
 describes a ride in burning heat and smothering 
 dust to Kooringa, at the great Burra mines. He 
 
 took three services on the Sunday, and attended a 
 
 211
 
 212 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Missionary Meeting on the Monday, and collected 
 20. The next day he travelled twenty-five miles 
 further to Clare, and held another meeting in the 
 Town Hall. He got back to Adelaide in time to 
 attend a meeting to take farewell of the Rev. William 
 Taylor of California, who had been doing a very 
 successful work in the colony. The hearts of the 
 Adelaide people were quite won by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Calvert, and, in a few days afterwards, another meeting 
 assembled to bid them God-speed. A gold watch and 
 chain were presented to Mrs. Calvert, and to him, 
 
 " An emu's egg inkstand, mounted with silver, and 
 elegantly got up in Adelaide by a German, with the 
 figures of a black man and woman, and a bunch of 
 grapes ; also an address written on parchment. A 
 large party of friends assembled. Mr. Watsford took 
 the chair. Mr. Dunn spoke very kindly of the 
 encouragement we had given them, and dwelt 
 strongly on my letters to him and to the brethren, 
 and on my labours in Fiji. John Colton, Esq., who 
 presented the watch and inkstand, was pleased to 
 testify to what he and all had felt under my ministra- 
 tions, and to the impression mother and I had made 
 upon them. Several others spoke, and said that they 
 had never seen the mission work in so clear a light ; 
 and they had resolved to attend to it much better 
 than they had done. I had liberty in thanking the
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 213 
 
 friends, and giving a few words of exhortation, which 
 were well received. The ladies then gave mother a 
 purse containing the overplus of 12, all saying that 
 much more would have been given had they not 
 been so hurried. All was done heartily. We then 
 went to lunch at a friend's house, and several went 
 with us in the train to Port Adelaide nine miles 
 and there we parted with them. Others accom- 
 panied us in the steamer to the ship. 
 
 " Thus ended our eleven weeks in New South Wales, 
 eight weeks in Victoria, and eight weeks in South 
 Australia. I left in exceedingly good health, and my 
 beloved wife was quite well and strong and happy. 
 We have had a very prosperous and happy and hard- 
 working sojourn in the Colonies. While in Adelaide, 
 we received letters from Fiji. The missionaries were 
 astonished at, and most grateful for, the great 
 amount of printing I had accomplished in Sydney, 
 where I had the poor printers at work all night. . . . 
 
 " I shall expect that the Mission House will allow 
 me two years for work that is much required, and 
 which no one will ever accomplish while in Fiji. 
 However long I may live, I am quite sure that I 
 shall, in life and death, be happier should I complete 
 a book of New Testament References, and Hunt's 
 ' System of Theology,' towards the expense of which I 
 have 100 in hand. . . . When in England T often 
 felt the need of a clever native; and, without
 
 214 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 naming it to any one, to gain the opportunity of 
 consulting natives [in translation work] was one great 
 object in my return to Fiji. And I have been 
 through the New Testament eight times while there. 
 So the Bible Society will not give their money for 
 that which has cost nothing. . . . 
 
 " Poor mother has been suffering for two days 
 from bilious headache, under which she was very 
 patient ; and she was much sympathised with by the 
 passengers, who greatly missed her. She is now 
 quite well. I seem to enjoy voyaging in these large 
 vessels, as I can write and think and read. ... At 
 9.30 A.M. and 8 P.M. we have family prayer, con- 
 ducted by the Bishop ; and he has service twice on the 
 Sabbath. I have family worship forward at 7.30 P.M., 
 with the second class passengers and some of the 
 sailors, and at 9 and 5 on the Sabbath. Last Sunday 
 the Bishop, with many of the first class passengers, 
 came to hear me. I expected to have had some 
 portion of the services in the saloon, but his lordship 
 and the captain wished me to take the other ; and I 
 endeavour to carry out my old and valuable principle, 
 to make the best of everything, and quietly and 
 earnestly labour on in the appointed sphere, trusting 
 that God will bless me and make me a blessing." . . . 
 
 " March 22nd. On Sunday last I could not hold 
 our 9 A.M. service in the usual place forward on 
 deck in front of the forecastle, where many of the
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 215 
 
 sailors attended, and others heard. I went to mid- 
 ship, followed by my congregation of second class 
 passengers, who preferred this place. I did not like 
 it so well, as none of the sailors were present. As it 
 rained at the time of our evening service, I proposed 
 to go forward at 7, and preach in the forecastle to 
 the sailors and any who might attend. When I 
 went forward I found a chest well elevated, and 
 neatly covered with white calico, on which was a 
 champagne bottle with a long lighted candle, and a 
 tumbler of water. There was also a sack as a carpet 
 to kneel upon, and the sailors, neatly dressed, were 
 on their chests all round the forecastle. Many of 
 the second class passengers, and some from the 
 saloon, were present, and I very much enjoyed 
 the opportunity of declaring to a most attentive 
 congregation that man ' must be born again.' " 
 
 " March 23rd. After dinner yesterday, Captain 
 Legoe wished all to fill their glasses, as the Bishop 
 would propose the health and happiness of two of our 
 number. In a neat speech, in which he referred to 
 our history, our mission to Fiji, and to the respect in 
 which all held us, he proposed, ' Mr. and Mrs. Calvert. 
 Many happy returns of the day ! ' All joined heartily ; 
 and I had to return thanks for the very kind remarks 
 which his lordship had made, and express my grati- 
 tude to God for the happiness of twenty-eight years 
 of married life, and thankfulness that we had been
 
 216 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 permitted to labour successfully so long in Christ's 
 cause abroad, and I suggested that the young people 
 on board should take care to be well married. After 
 my wife and I had been forward to conduct family 
 worship, and when prayer was over in the saloon at 
 9, we retired to our cabin, and read Rev. xxii., 
 and Hymn 510. And we each poured out our grate- 
 ful hearts to Almighty God for His distinguished 
 and long-continued goodness to us and to ours ; and 
 we prayed that God's choicest blessings might rest 
 upon you all ; and that in all our future we might 
 cheerfully and faithfully serve Him. I believe our 
 future will be ordered of the Lord, and if so all will 
 be quite right. Sometimes though my mind is at 
 rest I wonder as to our future ; and I hope we may 
 not shrink from whatever God may require of us. I 
 have some fears lest I should be induced hereafter to 
 undertake what I shall not be able to accomplish, 
 and thus make a too early and unsatisfactory finish. 
 I will hope and try, however, to avoid this. 
 
 " The Yatala Times of next morning reported : 
 ' Rev. Mr. Calvert's Wedding Anniversary. On 
 Thursday afternoon the Lord Bishop of Adelaide 
 proposed the health of Mr. and Mrs. Calvert, it 
 being the anniversary of their wedding-day. The 
 reverend gentleman had endeared himself by his 
 noble mission to the Fiji Islands. His work of 
 faith and labour of love deserved the highest praise.
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 217 
 
 He had preached the Gospel, and taught the science 
 of civilisation, and had done much in correcting the 
 translations made by Wesleyan missionaries, having 
 carefully read several times over with native teachers 
 the Holy Scriptures in the Fijian language. Mis- 
 sionary enterprise is connected with the highest 
 development of human progress. Commerce and 
 civilisation follow the evangelical economy. Such a 
 labourer is received into all communities as a friend 
 to the barbarian ; and though he may be taken from 
 his much-loved work, yet his record and reward are 
 on high. The reverend gentleman rose to reply. 
 He thanked his lordship and the company for 
 drinking his health, and said his married life had 
 been happy, having enjoyed each other's confidence. 
 As the servants of Jesus Christ, they had aimed at 
 faithfulness; and had he another life it should be 
 spent in the same glorious cause. So closed the 
 twenty-eighth anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Calvert's 
 married life." 
 
 " Cape Town, April 3rd After a very comfortable 
 passage of thirty-nine days, we landed three days ago 
 at this place, where we have much enjoyed our stay 
 under the roof of the mission-house and chapel, 
 all built together in one block by Barnabas Shaw. 
 On Sunday afternoon I addressed all the Sunday 
 School children ; and in the evening, to a full congre- 
 gation, I gave an address on the Fiji mission.
 
 218 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Yesterday we went out by train eight miles to 
 Wynberg, with a thousand children, and, I suppose, a 
 thousand adults, to a Sunday School treat; and a 
 real treat we had." 
 
 In the spring of 1866 he settled once more in 
 England, at Bromley, in Kent ; and in the following 
 year his name appears as a supernumerary ; and so it 
 stood up to the Conference of 1871. This meant 
 that he had no specific pastoral charge ; but, in his 
 own practical interpretation of it, it by no means 
 meant a retirement from active work. He was in 
 an important sense and in a sense which involved 
 much cheerfully rendered labour agent in England 
 for the Fiji mission and missionaries. It was a rare 
 thing to find him during this period without his 
 hands full of translation, or revision, or publishing 
 work. A great deal of this was done to meet the 
 growing demands of the mission schools, for the use 
 of which he procured various apparatus and ap- 
 pliances. A large portion of his time was spent in 
 frequent travelling throughout Great Britain and 
 Ireland, pleading everywhere on behalf of the 
 mission cause, using the ample stores of his own 
 experience and observation as the most effective of 
 all advocacy. 
 
 To the furthering of the interests of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society he gave himself with an
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 219 
 
 unfailing enthusiasm. In this he was moved, not 
 only by seeing the unanswerable claims which that 
 great Society had upon all the churches, but by a 
 profound sense of gratitude. It had given timely 
 and most generous help again and again to his own 
 beloved Fiji ; and he knew, and rejoiced to acknow- 
 ledge, that the mission there, like other missions all 
 the world over, had become dependent on its aid for 
 its most essential means of progress. So he went 
 up and down the country, regardless of all denomi- 
 national prejudice, or narrow churchisms, setting up, 
 wherever his frank, hearty presence came, a living 
 centre of evangelical union. Bigotry must indeed 
 have been inveterate if it could withstand the quick 
 warmth of James Calvert's " simplicity and godly 
 sincerity," as he enforced the Christian duty of 
 joining in the work of circulating the Word of God. 
 After six busy and happy years at Bromley there 
 opened an entirely new, and wholly unexpected, 
 chapter in Mr. Calvert's history. In 1872 a very 
 earnest appeal was made to the Wesleyan Missionary 
 Committee to send out men of administrative ex- 
 perience to reinforce certain Missions in South 
 Africa, and, in particular, in the Orange Free State. 
 It is doubtful whether this appeal would have even 
 come to Mr. Calvert's notice had not his mind and 
 his affections been just then much drawn to Bloem- 
 fontein. In 1869 his second daughter had gone
 
 220 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 thither for the sake of her health. The news con- 
 cerning her was not hopeful. She was tended with 
 the most loving care in the home of the Rev. James 
 Scott ; but her father and mother had a great long- 
 ing to be with her, and Mr. Calvert put himself at 
 the disposal of the Committee for service in the 
 Bloemfontein District. Of course his offer was very 
 gladly accepted. Preparations were being hastened 
 to enable them to go out as early as possible after 
 the Conference of 1872, when a letter came from 
 Mr. Scott telling them of their daughter's death. 
 Mr. Calvert was at once set free from his engage- 
 ment. But he and his devoted wife, having been 
 led to give themselves again to foreign work, re- 
 fused to draw back, and renewed their offer, with 
 this difference, that they declared themselves ready 
 to go wherever the Committee judged they could be 
 of most service. It was decided that, after all, Mr. 
 Calvert should be sent to Bloemfontein ; and the 
 event proved the wisdom of the arrangement. Those 
 who knew him best had seen for some time that 
 the unabated fervour of the old missionary spirit in 
 him was making him restless in his position of com- 
 parative retirement. He was in his sixtieth year, 
 and he knew that neither he nor his wife could 
 again stand the work in the South Seas. The 
 opening now made was singular, and altogether 
 unusual. In a climate that would not tax his
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 221 
 
 strength, there was work waiting, in the doing of 
 which his age, carrying with it ripeness of charac- 
 ter, and large experience, would be a chief quali- 
 fication. Thus it was that, when his many friends 
 and few men had more thought that he had 
 settled down to a well-earned rest, he went to 
 Africa. 
 
 He crossed the Orange Eiver on December 17th, 
 and reached Bloemfontein on the 20th. The 
 veteran missionaries for the title belongs as much 
 to Mrs. Calvert as to her husband with their third 
 daughter, who had accompanied them, thus found 
 themselves in the home whence their beloved one 
 had passed away; and the strange land seemed 
 hardly strange to them as they bowed in the 
 household worship in which she had so often joined. 
 An early visit was paid to the little graveyard in 
 the outskirts of the town ; and then, forthwith, to 
 work. 
 
 The conditions and circumstances of the work 
 were, of course, all new. In the Free State Mr. 
 Calvert found himself in foreign territory. The 
 government and the language were Dutch. There 
 was a considerable English community of merchants 
 and traders, and an Episcopal and a Wesleyan 
 church. But all besides was Dutch; and, for the 
 first time, he came into contact with the Boer 
 element. It is true he had very little to do with
 
 222 JAMES GAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 the Boers ; but during his stay among them his 
 long-practised powers of observation helped him to 
 gain valuable knowledge of a people, strikingly 
 peculiar in their modes of thought and habits of 
 life, whose religious opinions and political influence 
 must be understood by any one who would take 
 an active interest in South African affairs. Then 
 almost everywhere were the natives. From his 
 first landing at Cape Town Mr. Calvert had in- 
 stinctively given his attention to these. They 
 were very different from those other dark people 
 among whom his life had been spent, and his 
 ready command of the musical Fijian tongue did 
 him no service here. From first to last, while in 
 Africa, this bar between him and the native people 
 was a trouble to him. He was too old to begin 
 learning another language. But he lost no oppor- 
 tunity of showing his lively missionary interest in 
 the original sons of the soil, and of warmly urging 
 all young missionaries to lose no time in mastering 
 the native tongues. 
 
 His stay at Bloemfontein was very short. At the 
 District Meeting, held in January 1873, he was 
 appointed to superintend the Diamond Fields and 
 New Rush Circuit, where he arrived in the beginning 
 of April. A man who had spent his life in minister- 
 ing in a highly organised church at home would 
 have found himself much perplexed by the state of
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 223 
 
 things at the Diamond Fields. That which was to be 
 Kimberley had just come into existence, under the 
 title of New Rush, not growing from small begin- 
 nings, as towns usually grow, but made suddenly by 
 a "rush," which, with a magical rapidity, brought 
 twenty thousand people together in one spot. Some 
 years before, diamonds had been found along the 
 banks of the Vaal River, and an almost exclusively 
 male population of ten thousand was drawn together 
 there from many lands. Then, in 1870, the news 
 went round of a new " find " further south, between 
 the Vaal and Modder Rivers, and the " rush " followed 
 immediately which made Kimberley. In a barren, 
 parched desert, there spread out a vast irregular en- 
 campment around Dutoitspan and Bultfontein, where 
 a rare building of wood or iron, standing here and 
 there, was a very palace amidst the universal canvas. 
 What were called streets stretched shelterless beneath 
 the burning sun, deep in hot sand and dust. Of 
 water there was but little, and what there was was bad. 
 The common necessaries of life could be got only at 
 fabulous prices. As anything like organised sanitary 
 provisions and precautions was, as yet, out of the 
 question, it naturally followed that the unwholesome 
 conditions of life, often terribly aggravated by reck- 
 less drinking, made this new settlement of diggers a 
 hotbed of fever. Everything was almost incredibly 
 dear ; but money was plentiful, and was freely
 
 224 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 squandered in indulgence of the worst vices of the 
 world's great cities. The population was made up 
 of many nationalities, amongst which the British 
 element was most numerous ; while a great deal of 
 the labour was supplied by men of various native 
 tribes, some of them coming from immense distances. 
 
 When our mission party came on the ground, the 
 original disorder had already begun to yield to 
 Government control. Kespectable merchants had 
 settled with their families in the new town, some 
 from the colonies, and some from other lands. 
 Houses having some claims to be reckoned per- 
 manent and comfortable had been built, and churches 
 and schools had been erected. If the community 
 had, to a lamentable extent, the impatient and 
 thoughtless sins of youth, it had also young vitality, 
 and strength, and' hope. 
 
 Into this busy multitude of eager diamond-seeking, 
 money-making people, Mr. Calvert came, taking up 
 the new work with all the old ardour and devotion. 
 He saw at once that the population was too mixed, 
 and too much wanting, as yet, in cohesion, to be 
 wrought upon in masses, and that, however great the 
 task, his ministry must be very largely addressed to 
 individuals. So forthwith he and Mrs. Calvert became 
 known as genial and welcome visitors in the homes 
 of Kimberley, whether beneath roofs of iron, or 
 canvas, and most frequent and most welcome visitors
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 225 
 
 where there was sickness and trouble. There are 
 yet people belonging to the old digging community 
 of those days who talk about this kindly, faithful 
 service with affectionate gratitude. 
 
 The missionary problem, presented by the con- 
 dition of the native races as he came into contact 
 with them, caused Mr. Calvert much anxious con- 
 sideration. When he had been a few months on 
 the ground, he wrote : 
 
 "The native work in this country will, I fear, 
 become more and more difficult. It was a great 
 relief to us in Fiji that we were able to make all 
 speak one language.* Here it is impossible. On 
 these Fields we have natives speaking many 
 languages, not understanding each other at all, and 
 altogether heathen. They are allowed to live here, 
 and go about almost naked. Though, professedly, 
 canteen-keepers are not allowed to sell to the natives, 
 yet very many are drunk. They exist in tents ; and 
 how life is kept in them this cold weather, just 
 lying on the ground, is a puzzle. After remaining 
 awhile here, well paid, and some of them, no doubt, 
 stealing diamonds from their employers, they buy 
 
 * There were several distinct, but not widely different, 
 dialects in the Group. The missionaries decided to adopt the 
 Mbau dialect ; and the result fully proved the wisdom of this 
 decision. 
 
 15
 
 226 JAMES CALVER1 OF FIJI. 
 
 muskets and ammunition, and then return to their 
 own country, in various directions, and to consider- 
 able distances, having learned new vices, as well as 
 how to sort and dig for diamonds. I yearn over 
 them, but seem unable to benefit them. We have 
 native services in the Dutch, Kafir, and Sesuto 
 languages, and have some valuable local preachers 
 working for their employers, and some digging and 
 sorting for themselves in a mound where the diamonds 
 are small and few ; and we have some consistent 
 church members among them. Just now, the Kafirs 
 and other natives have purchased a canvas English 
 chapel ; and some Dutch-speaking natives from the 
 Cape, who will not worship with the other inferior 
 Africans, have erected a new canvas chapel at their 
 own cost, which I opened free of debt on Sabbath 
 last." 
 
 The yearning of which he speaks caused the old 
 missionary some little trouble. The colonials, and 
 other white people around him, found it very diffi- 
 cult to appreciate his feelings in this matter, as he 
 also found it impossible to adjust his missionary 
 instincts to the colonial standard. On one occasion, 
 to save himself a walk of three or four miles, he had 
 told some natives, who were willing to do that 
 which was lawful and right in their domestic re- 
 lations, to come to the English chapel to be married.
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 227 
 
 Anxious to come as near as they could to the civilised 
 fashion, they appeared at the appointed time in seven 
 or eight carts, drawn by two horses apiece. Hereupon 
 followed a panic, and it was declared that the white 
 people would not come to worship in the chapel if 
 it came to be known that " niggers " had been 
 married in it. Mr. Calvert hastened to take on 
 himself all the blame of this unintentional outrage 
 upon white Christianity, and said that he would 
 marry the couples in his own house. " Whereupon," 
 he says, " the poor fellows again entered their carts, 
 and drove eighty or one hundred yards to my 
 house, where I married them. I felt humiliated, 
 but patiently submitted and endured." 
 
 In a letter to a friend he gives some description 
 of his work and its surroundings. 
 
 " Each of us has plenty of very good employment, 
 and a heart to enter into it ; and we feel happy in 
 our position and service. The population is very 
 various and large. I have two or three services 
 every Sunday, with good congregations. On Monday 
 night I have a class of hearty members, at which 
 we muster twelve or thirteen regularly. On Tuesday 
 I hold the prayer-meeting, when we have a goodly 
 company. On Thursday night I preach alternately 
 here at the West End and East End. I also go to 
 our chapel at Dutoitspan, not quite three miles
 
 228 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 away. ... Of course our expenses are rather heavy 
 water, 6d. per 30 gallons ; water for horse, 3cZ. 
 a day ; a cabbage, 2s. 6d. to 5s. ; eggs, 4cZ. to 6d. 
 each ; butter, 3s. to 5s. a pound. Meat is pretty 
 good and quite reasonable. A small loaf of bread 
 is Is. We have no pence here nothing less than 
 3cL or Qd. That saves trouble. In every place of 
 any size in this country there is a market every 
 morning, and vegetables, eggs, corn, firewood, 
 forage, poultry, etc., sold by auction by the market 
 master." 
 
 He stayed nearly two years at Kimberley, having 
 many cheering proofs that his work was successful. 
 The arid climate and the peculiar conditions of life 
 were, as he says, trying. 
 
 " But I do not feel it right to hurry away. It is a 
 grand sphere for labour, and we get on remarkably 
 well with our large congregations and with all 
 classes. It is most desirable to do all we can to 
 retain the hold we have upon all ranks, and to 
 maintain the position we have gained." 
 
 But, while he was thus willing to remain, new 
 work was being made ready for him elsewhere ; 
 and he was directed to go still further North, and 
 to cross the river into the Transvaal. In February, 
 1875, he arrived at Potchefstroom, where there
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 229 
 
 awaited him a state of things demanding the ut- 
 most prudence, and tact, and firmness. It is not 
 too much to say that there was committed to him 
 the control and piloting of an almost wrecked 
 Church. He very soon proved to those who coun- 
 selled his appointment that their trust in his 
 sagacity and administrative skill was well grounded. 
 During his residence of about sixteen months in 
 Potchefstroom, he saw peace restored, and the chapel 
 built, which had long stood unfinished. When he 
 and Mrs. Calvert left, the people thankfully acknow- 
 ledged that their character and their work had been 
 the means of bringing about the well-being of the 
 Church, and had left in their homes lasting memories 
 of grateful love. 
 
 The special work for which he went to Potchef- 
 stroom having been accomplished, he set out thence, 
 on June 6th, 1876, for the Natal Colony, accom- 
 panied for seven miles by a number of friends. 
 Then they all outspanned, and had " a sumptuous 
 breakfast together on the ground." Pietermaritz- 
 burg was reached safely in due time. About two 
 years were passed here and at Durban without any 
 incident calling for special record. 
 
 Things at Kimberley had not been doing well, 
 and a strong wish was expressed that Mr. Calvert 
 should again take charge there. His own family, 
 of whom there were now several in South Africa,
 
 230 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 discouraged the proposal, especially on the ground 
 of Mrs. Calvert's health, which had failed seriously 
 during their residence in the Transvaal. But the 
 claims of the work seemed so urgent that they 
 consented to go. He thus came to the Diamond 
 Fields once more in October 1878, and JMrs. Calvert 
 followed about six weeks later. They were left in 
 no doubt about their welcome, and were received 
 with the warmest affection. They knew the place 
 well, and all the peculiar conditions of the work 
 there. In a very short time the Church was once 
 more healthy and prosperous. It was said that, in 
 those days, no figure was more generally known in 
 Kimberley than that of Mrs. Calvert, riding alone on 
 horseback in all parts of the "camp," in the very 
 early morning, visiting and helping the sick and 
 the poor. In addition to his Circuit affairs, Mr. 
 Calvert had put upon him, for a time, the duties 
 of Acting Chairman of the whole Bloemfontein 
 District. 
 
 He loved his work, and was much encouraged by 
 the evidence of success. To the large mixed native 
 population at the Diamond Fields he gave his most 
 earnest and sympathetic attention. He regularly 
 preached to them by means of an interpreter, and 
 procured the building of chapels and schools for their 
 benefit. But, while he had as good heart for the 
 work as ever, he was forced very unwillingly to
 
 HOME, AND SOUTH AFRICA. 231 
 
 acknowledge that his long service was telling upon 
 his strength. In 1879 he wrote : 
 
 " I came here at the risk of my health, and even 
 life, for a short term only, in an extreme and urgent 
 case. I have done my utmost to get things round, 
 and the Lord has prospered my endeavours beyond 
 my utmost hopes, and I am very thankful to Him 
 for His great blessing. Last summer I very nearly 
 failed, and it is increasingly manifest to me and to 
 others that I cannot with any safety undertake the 
 work here another summer." 
 
 Mrs. Calvert's health also was greatly impaired, 
 so as to cause him at times much uneasiness. There 
 were difficulties, however, in the providing of a 
 successor, and he stayed on until the close of 1880. 
 
 When it. became known that he was about to take 
 a final farewell of Kimberley and South Africa, the 
 grateful love of his Church and congregation found 
 expression in a public meeting, at which an address 
 was presented to him and Mrs. Calvert, bearing 
 thankful witness to the value of their work, and 
 accompanied by a purse of two hundred and fifty 
 guineas, to which many of the natives had contri- 
 buted. Most touching of all was his parting with 
 the native people, many of whom wept like children, 
 asking why " the great fathers across the sea were 
 taking their father from them " ?
 
 232 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 The Triennial Meeting, held at Queenstown, 
 June 1880, made the following record in its General 
 Letter : 
 
 "We affectionately commend to the Committee 
 our honoured and dearly beloved brother, the Kev. 
 James Calvert. South African Methodists will not 
 forget his constant zeal for their welfare, and the 
 ready self-denial with which he consented to defer 
 his return to England, that he might serve them in 
 a time of perplexity and need. His resumption of 
 the work at the Diamond Fields, and his valuable 
 service there, have further endeared him to his own 
 brethren ; and his now completed missionary career 
 will long be treasured in the grateful memory of the 
 Methodist people at large." 
 
 He once more returned to England in April 1881.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE LATER YEARS 
 
 233
 
 Torquay. Death of Mrs. Calvert. Should Missionaries be Married ? 
 Penjerrick. Croydon. Gift to the Mission Fund. Fijian 
 Jubilee. Bible Pictures. Last Voyage to Fiji. Journal. 
 Tonga. Fiji. New Zealand. San Francisco. Across 
 America. New York. Home. Speech at City Road Chapel. 
 Sevenoaks. Missionary Conference of 1888. Marriage. 
 Hastings. Bible Society. Work for Fiji. Conference at 
 Nottingham. Temperance. Failing Health. Services in 
 Hastings. Last Public Act. Last Letter. Last Scripture 
 Reading. Last Illness. Funeral Service. Testimony of the 
 Rev. John Walton. A Portraiture. Memorial Sketch by the 
 Rev. William Arthur. 
 
 234
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 
 
 ONCE more at home, although much shaken in 
 health, Mr. Calvert cheerfully responded, as 
 far as his strength would permit, and sometimes 
 beyond his strength, to the many appeals that were 
 made to him for help as a missionary advocate. 
 Within a few days of his arrival he received an 
 enthusiastic welcome at the annual meetings of the 
 "Wesleyan Missionary Society. At one of these he 
 told of what he had seen in South Africa, and 
 insisted strongly on the need of a much larger 
 employment of native workers in all our missions. 
 In this speech he gave the first public hint that, old 
 as he was, there was still an irrepressible longing in 
 his heart to see his beloved Fiji once more. The 
 following declaration, made in speaking of the work 
 of the Eev. Peter Hargreaves, who also had recently 
 returned from South Africa, and was present at the 
 meeting, will be recognised by all who knew the 
 speaker as very characteristic. 
 
 "The cheapest and best way of really and per- 
 
 235
 
 236 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 manently benefiting men is to Christianise and save 
 them from sin, and from the evils and lusts which 
 produce wars and calamities. Christ made no mistake 
 when He died to save our race, and required His Gospel 
 to be preached to every creature. Men like our 
 brother do much more to prevent war, and keep the 
 people industrious and right, than large and costly 
 
 armies." 
 
 For the next few months his journal is little more 
 than an itinerary, merely giving the names of places 
 all over the country visited in his frequent journeyings, 
 until September, when, as far as it was then possible 
 for him to settle anywhere, he settled down at Torquay. 
 This place had been chosen on account of Mrs. Calvert's 
 health, which, after many years of remarkable vigour, 
 was now quite broken. She who had spent her life, 
 with lavish liberality, in ministering to others, must 
 now rest passive in the hands of those who tended 
 her with reverent love, and mourned as they saw that 
 the old power of recovery was gone, and that she 
 steadily grew weaker almost day by day. So the 
 months passed, and the new year had but just come 
 in, when James Calvert was left without the com- 
 panionship which, for nearly forty-four years, had 
 enriched and strengthened his life, and lightened, 
 in sharing, all his toil. 
 
 Mrs. Calvert was an ideal missionary's wife ; one
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 237 
 
 of a host of noble women who have done service, 
 often unrecorded, but beyond all price, in the work of 
 the Gospel among the heathen. Passing it by alto- 
 gether as a question of ecclesiastical dogma, the 
 employment of a celibate clergy in mission work has 
 much to recommend it on economical grounds, 
 though, probably, not so much as at first appears. 
 In the case of married missionaries the risk of life 
 and health is doubled, perhaps more than doubled, 
 as the woman's health is more likely to fail, in the 
 frequent conditions of mission life, than that of the 
 man. Thus it has very often come to pass that his 
 active service abroad has been interrupted in conse- 
 quence of her sickness, just when that service was 
 most effective. The number of such cases can be 
 exactly counted. But we have no means of reckoning 
 the far greater number of men whose service has not 
 only been prolonged, but made far more efficient, by 
 the refuge of a home, and the solace and strength- 
 ening of a loving fellowship. No one can rightly 
 appreciate this help who has not felt the terrible lone- 
 liness of living amongst people with whom, not only 
 religiously, but socially and mentally, there are 
 scarcely any points of common experience, and where, 
 in regard to the supreme and intensely felt interest 
 of his life, he finds no sympathy at all. In the 
 buoyancy of the first youthful period of the work, this 
 depressing and enervating influence can be more
 
 238 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 readily surmounted than in the after years, when 
 there is but little reserve of surplus spirit beyond the 
 demands of the daily toil. But there is a yet more 
 positive reason why the man who is a missionary 
 should avail himself of God's own provident order, 
 and seek a help who shall be meet for him in his high 
 calling. In all the many things intimately belonging 
 to the woman-life, she becomes a teaching priestess 
 of the kingdom of God. Take the mere fact of the 
 setting up of a Christian home in one of those Fijian 
 islands a complete home, with no domestic feature 
 wanting, though many a domestic comfort might not 
 be there. What an effective revelation of the 
 Christian religion, showing, better than any word- 
 teaching, what family life ought to be, in its loves and 
 cares, in its duties and relations, and what it can be 
 under the benignant influence of the Gospel. In all 
 this most essential part of the teaching of applied 
 Christian truth Mrs. Calvert greatly excelled; and 
 her self-devoted toil therein added very greatly 
 indeed to the efficiency and success of her husband's 
 work ; while her clear good sense in counsel had been 
 a strength to him throughout his course. And now 
 the long, close, faithful fellowship in the service of 
 the Gospel had come to an end. 
 
 In the early part of this year he was taken very ill 
 at Plymouth, while on his way to Penjerrick with his 
 daughter ; but a week's rest in that restful and most
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 239 
 
 beautiful home, and the kind care of its mistress, 
 whom he very highly esteemed, did him great good. 
 To Miss Fox, as well as to many other members of the 
 Society of Friends, he was closely attached ; and the 
 Journals and Letters of Caroline Fox was a book in 
 which he greatly delighted, and which he presented 
 to many of his friends. Miss Fox, in writing about 
 him, speaks of " his beaming, happy presence, which 
 was so remarkable a part of himself, and such an 
 invitation to the Christian life." From the old 
 Woodbridge days onwards some of his most valued 
 friendships were formed amongst the Quakers. 
 
 He now removed to Croydon, where he lived for 
 four years, taking part, with characteristic energy and 
 liberality, in all Church-work, and, as elsewhere, 
 gaining the lasting love of many. 
 
 During the Missionary Anniversary in the spring 
 following Mrs. Cal vert's death, there took place, as the 
 official report says, " one of the most memorable 
 meetings ever held in Methodism " ; and those who 
 were present will not consider this to be an exagge- 
 rated description. The debt of the Missionary Society 
 had grown to a very large amount ; but a grant from 
 the Thanksgiving Fund, and some munificent special 
 donations, had reduced it to 8,000. At the Break- 
 fast Meeting on April 29th, it was proposed that an 
 attempt should be made then and there to meet half 
 of this balance. The proposal was taken up very
 
 240 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 warmly, and the 4,000 were promised on the spot. 
 In the course of the meeting, Mr. Calvert referred in 
 a very few words to his recent work in South Africa, 
 and told how, on his leaving Kimberley, the people 
 had presented to him an address, which he should 
 always keep ; but they had also given him a purse 
 of 250 guineas ; and he now begged to hand over 
 that amount, in memory of his late beloved wife, to 
 the funds of the Society, in aid of the effort then 
 being made. 
 
 During the next three years he was busily occupied 
 in much travelling as a witness and advocate on 
 behalf of the missionary cause, and of the Bible 
 Society. This brought him into many homes, where 
 he was a welcome guest, and formed many close 
 friendships, which he greatly prized, with Christians 
 of all Churches. Whatever else he did, his one chief 
 and constant occupation was in the service of his 
 beloved Fiji. He was never happier than when 
 superintending publications, executing commissions, 
 and sending out supplies for the use of the mission 
 there. And all this time, and long before, there 
 was the strong desire in his heart to see Fiji once 
 more. Mrs. Calvert had opposed it. It was im- 
 possible for her to go with him, and she dreaded 
 his taking so formidable a journey alone. Before 
 her death, however, seeing how he hungered to go, 
 she withdrew her opposition, "whenever the way
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 241 
 
 should be clear." The meaning of that condition he 
 did not see at the time. Her death interpreted it. 
 But after the great loss his health was in a vefy 
 unsatisfactory state; and for a time his cherished 
 project seemed to be hopelessly put aside, for he 
 believed that his own end was near. He was now 
 living in Croydon. By the end of 1885, however, 
 he had recovered much of his strength and energy. 
 
 This year was the fiftieth since the coming of the 
 first missionaries to Fiji, and a great Jubilee celebra- 
 tion took place in the Islands accordingly. It need 
 not be said that Mr. Calvert took the most lively 
 interest herein. There had been a very strong 
 desire expressed for a large illustrated edition of the 
 Bible in the native tongue; but this great under- 
 taking was found to be impracticable. The Eeligious 
 Tract Society had published a quarto volume of 
 Bible pictures for the young. Mr. Calvert, seeing 
 that this would be the next best thing, applied to 
 the Committee of the Society, and met with a ready 
 and generous response. They put the whole of the one 
 hundred and thirty-seven blocks at his disposal, and, 
 in addition, gave 50 towards the cost of publishing 
 a Fijian edition. This he set to work, with great 
 delight, to prepare. All the Scripture quotations 
 were given in Fijian ; and an edition of six thousand 
 copies was published, under the name Ai Vakata- 
 karakara ni Veika e nai Vola Tabu, literally 
 
 16
 
 242 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Pictures of Things in the Bible. It gave immense 
 delight, and was eagerly sought after. This was the 
 old missionary's preface, done into English. 
 
 " To YOU MY FRIENDS : I rejoice that fifty years 
 are nearly ended from the time that Christianity 
 began in Fiji. And I am glad that you intend to 
 commemorate that great event with rejoicing and 
 with gratitude to Grod. With you I am greatly 
 delighted on account of the great work of the Lord 
 that has been effected in all the islands of Fiji, on 
 behalf of the numbers who have been saved, and 
 have gained the Rest, and abide with Jesus ; and also 
 on account of the very many who now live spiritually, 
 and are earnestly following the Holy Book. And, 
 moreover, I exult greatly, and am heartily thankful 
 that great numbers help well in the work of the 
 Lord in Fiji, and in other lands. The fruit of 
 Christianity in Fiji is remarkably clear. Had it 
 been easy I would have come to you, that we might 
 have been gladdened together at the Jubilee, yours 
 and mine, which will come to pass on October llth, 
 1885, that you and I might have celebrated together 
 the landing at Lakemba of the first two missionaries 
 on that day in the year 1835. But as I cannot 
 easily manage to come to you, I have prepared this 
 book, that it may be my substitute. I am persuaded 
 you will like it, and also that it will be useful to
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 243 
 
 you. I pray that Christianity may continue to 
 prosper well in all Fiji, in every age ; and that you 
 and I may sit down hereafter in the good land above, 
 with all the saved from all the world. Amen. My 
 love to you all." 
 
 Mr. Calvert here speaks of his visiting Fiji again 
 as too difficult for him to accomplish; but the 
 longing for it was so strong that it could not be 
 mastered. The idea which had been almost con- 
 stantly before him for some years, he now, in 1886, 
 determined to carry out at his own cost. His family 
 and many friends might well have grave misgivings 
 at the thought of a man of seventy-three under- 
 taking a journey round the world alone ; but, in his 
 bright, cheery way, he put aside their fears, and 
 set about his preparations for the voyage with the 
 alacrity of youth. 
 
 On May 20th, 1886, he started on board the 
 P. & 0. steamer Ballarat. His journal shows a 
 very lively interest in all the incidents of the voyage. 
 Formerly he had gone by a sailing vessel round the 
 Cape. Now all was new to him. From the captain, 
 who was a devout Christian man, he received great 
 kindness, and by his request conducted worship, 
 morning and evening, on the Sundays. He read a 
 good deal on the voyage, and before he reached Fiji 
 went through the whole of the newly Ke vised English
 
 244 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Bible. On the Ked Sea he gave a lecture, probably 
 on Fiji, "which," he says, "went off well." The 
 unique character of this visitation tour gives it so 
 peculiar an interest, that the copious extracts from 
 the journal given below will certainly be welcome. 
 
 " June 7th. Still in the Red Sea, but freed from 
 the severe oppression which many have to endure. 
 The captain kindly offered to read the Lesson at the 
 service yesterday morning. At five, I held our short 
 service, reading one Lesson, and giving a short address, 
 occupying altogether forty minutes. A prolonged 
 service on board ship is always objectionable, and it 
 could not be endured in this climate. The captain 
 had compassion on me after the morning service, 
 and dressed me up in one of his white jackets. This 
 was a great relief." 
 
 " 8th. Aden we pass, and run on to Colombo. 
 To-morrow the monsoon is expected to be on us. ... 
 This route through the Eed Sea keeps us long in the 
 tropics, and is trying ; but I stand it remarkably well. 
 The most gorgeous sunset I ever remember seeing 
 a token that we shall soon have the monsoon." 
 
 " 10th. During the night strong winds came up. 
 The portholes all closed. The thermometer im- 
 proved, from 92 to 81. ... After we passed the 
 Island of Sokotra the waves increased. Throughout 
 the day we have had a pleasant breeze, saving us
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 245 
 
 from the oppressive heat. I have kept quite well ; 
 no touch of sea-sickness. And I have had the 
 privilege of waiting upon some sufferers, who are 
 most grateful for little attentions. All wonder to 
 see me so brisk. Still I judged it prudent not to 
 stick too closely to reading and writing." 
 
 " llth. A very blessed Sabbath yesterday. Ser- 
 vices enjoyable at 10.30 and 5 o'clock. Lady 
 
 has read some books I lent her ; but she has a taste 
 for novels. That destroys, or at least deadens, the 
 taste for good books. She has a great difficulty in 
 herself. How sad that those who are enlightened 
 by the Word and Spirit of God, and have good 
 desires and purposes, do not fully decide for God ! 
 ' Ye cannot serve God and mammon.' The captain 
 is a practical Christian, and a Yorkshireman. He 
 is specially delighted with Arthur's Tongue of 
 Fire." 
 
 " IQth. After a rough and rainy night we 
 anchored at Colombo early yesterday morning. 
 After breakfast I landed and went to Colpetty, to 
 the Rev. J. Scott's. At his house I slept. We 
 visited the schools, Wesley College in Colombo, a 
 girls' boarding school in Colpetty, and day school, 
 the Bible and Tract Depot, of which Mr. Scott is 
 secretary, his large printing office, where he prints 
 the Bible for the Bible Society and books for the Tract 
 Society, and his schools. He also casts type, and
 
 246 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 takes stereotype plates. He sent out announcements 
 for a service for me in the evening, and we had 
 a good congregation, who gave me full attention. 
 This morning, after a second breakfast at 10 o'clock, I 
 went with Miss Fredoux, Dr. Moffatt's grand- 
 daughter, to her school in Colombo, for which she 
 came here six months ago, and I addressed her 
 hundred most clean and very lively girls." 
 
 " 19th. This morning we crossed the Line, and 
 are now ploughing on our way through the mighty 
 deep in the southern hemisphere, towards Albany, 
 King George's Sound, where we hope to be on the 
 28th. A clergyman came on board at Colombo. 
 I desired the captain to ask him to take both 
 services to-morrow. All wish me to continue my 
 short service with address in the evening. ... I 
 have reached the southern world without the least 
 trouble from sea-sickness, which is a terrible dis- 
 tress to many. And no headache, and no pain of 
 any kind in any part ; uninterrupted health, and 
 happy. Truly the blessing of the Lord and His 
 smile make rich, and add no sorrow. Every day 
 at 6 A.M. I much enjoy my bath. ... I have my 
 choice of the baths, as I am generally first." 
 
 "2Iat. Our shortest day; your longest. Sun 
 rises at 6.50." 
 
 "25th. We have had it rough for two days. 
 Yesterday, in a sudden lurch of the ship, I was
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 247 
 
 whirled round, and fell with all my weight upon the 
 rail, across my shoulders. It startled and shook 
 me. Had the blow been elsewhere I might have 
 been fatally damaged. We are now nearly out of 
 the tropics, and it is winter, and will soon be some- 
 what cold. Already warmer clothing is in demand, 
 and we are thankful for blankets." 
 
 " 29th. Anchored at Albany, a small town at 
 King George's Sound, Western Australia. Our 
 minister and his wife, at this dull place, rejoiced 
 to see me. We prayed together. He thanked 
 God heartily for my visit, and prayed earnestly that 
 He would bless, preserve, and prosper me. It was 
 good to be with Mr. and Mrs. James, though for a 
 short time." 
 
 " July 3rd. At 6.40 A.M. we anchored at Glenelg, 
 Adelaide. Met Mrs. Hambly, John Hunt's daughter, 
 Chief Justice S. J. Way, the Hon. John Dunn, and 
 many of our ministers. Our passengers marvelled 
 at the greetings offered me by the many who met 
 me, and I very much enjoyed sweet intercourse 
 sadly too short with men and women I became 
 acquainted with twenty years ago, on whose hearts 
 and minds my excellent wife left a lasting and deep 
 impression. 
 
 "Adelaide I found to be quite another place, 
 wonderfully improved since my former visit. The 
 suburbs, to which they drove me, are admirable. Our
 
 248 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Prince Alfred College, with four hundred pupils, I 
 was delighted to see." 
 
 " 5th. Melbourne. We anchored here at 1 o'clock 
 this morning. After breakfast I went on shore, 
 and met my old friend, John Watsford, formerly my 
 colleague in Fiji, a very hearty and successful 
 missionary and minister. Here I met the Hon. Mr. 
 Berkeley, from Fiji, come to meet his wife, who has 
 come, with her children and mother, in the Ballarat. 
 He tells me that twenty-five thousand tons of sugar 
 have been made in Fiji, and that twenty-five thousand 
 bunches of bananas are sent per month from Fiji to 
 the Colonies." 
 
 " 7th. Left Melbourne at 7 A.M., having enjoyed 
 very much indeed my two days' stay. Brother 
 Watsford gave all his time to me, and, without 
 grudging, took me wherever I desired. I thus 
 found out nearly all my old friends of twenty-one 
 and thirty-one years ago, when I formerly visited 
 the colony. All gave me a most hearty welcome, 
 every one amazed to find me ' hardly changed at all ' 
 since they last saw me ; and all desired God's blessing 
 on my visit." 
 
 " 9th. Sydney. At 8 A.M. we arrived here, on 
 the fiftieth day from England. I was met on board 
 by the son of the Kev. J. B. Waterhouse, and by the 
 Rev. Dr. Kelynack, who took me to his house on the 
 North shore. My point was to see as many of my
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 249 
 
 friends as I could. So I started off with a young 
 man as my guide, and we accomplished wonders. 
 I met two Fijian missionaries, the Rev. W. Moore, 
 an early labourer, and the Eev. A. J. Webb, who has 
 just completed eighteen years' service." 
 
 " 10th. Left Sydney at 11 A.M. bound for Naumea, 
 New Caledonia, 1,060 miles distant. We found 
 Naumea illuminated, and a ball and dancing all 
 night at Government House, and on the Green by 
 the natives, closing up a four days' festival." 
 
 " 1 5th. Now in south latitude 22; quite in the 
 tropics, but happily in midwinter, if winter can be 
 found in the tropics." 
 
 " I9th. We sighted Mount Washington, Na Buke 
 Levu, a noted mountain in Kandavu, Fiji, at 5 o'clock 
 this morning. It is 2,750 feet high. The moon 
 shone brightly. My heart was deeply moved as I 
 thought over, with gratitude, and wonder, and joy, 
 God's dealings with me during the many years since 
 I landed at Lakemba in 1838. 
 
 "At 11.30 we were at Suva, the seat of govern- 
 ment, a waste place when I was in Fiji, now quite a 
 large town, with steamers, and vessels, and small 
 craft at anchor.* This is the sixtieth day since I 
 left London. In 1838 I was nearly eight months 
 between London and Fiji. I was glad to hear that 
 
 * The cession of Fiji to Great Britain took place in 1879.
 
 250 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Mr. Langham, from Mbau, was actually at Suva. On 
 landing, I started off in search of him. He was not 
 expecting me for a fortnight. As I went up a street 
 he observed me with another, but concluded that it 
 was a man much too young for me, and so let me 
 pass by. He was overjoyed to meet me, and gave 
 me the heartiest welcome. Here I met the Kev. 
 E. E. Crosby from Tonga. 
 
 "The small steamer Suva starts to-morrow for 
 Tonga. Both Mr. Langham and I think I had 
 better go in her now to Tonga with Mr. Crosby. So 
 to-morrow night we start. She will be back here in 
 a fortnight, but I in six or ten weeks, as I may 
 find it desirable to remain. 
 
 " The acting Governor, the Hon. J. B. Thurston, on 
 hearing of my arrival, sent his private secretary, 
 desiring me to take up my abode at Government 
 House during my stay. After dinner the Governor 
 sent for some trustworthy natives and teachers, who 
 knew me. I had a most enjoyable chat with them 
 about old times and old friends." 
 
 "20th. At 11 P.M. we left in the Suva" 
 
 "2lst. At 7 A.M. we came alongside the pier at 
 Levuka, Ovalau. Here I had resided four years 
 (see p. 1 85). The new missionary and his wife, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Worrall, gave me an enthusiastic reception. 
 We enjoyed a hearty breakfast, after which I had a 
 most refreshing bath in a very large wooden bowl,
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 251 
 
 about seven feet by three and a half, which I sent 
 to Mr. and Mrs. Binner about forty years ago. Left 
 Levukaat 11 P.M." 
 
 "22nd. Vuna at 9.15 A.M. We were hardly 
 two hours on shore, but we got the thirty teachers 
 together, and I addressed them. All came neatly 
 dressed, and were very attentive." 
 
 "23rd. Anchored at Lomaloma, Vanua Balavu, 
 at 12.45. The Eev. J. Chapman has the very same 
 Circuit the head of which was then Lakemba, 
 eighty miles to windward, where I resided in which 
 I spent the first ten years of my missionary life. 
 He rejoiced to tell me of numerous conversions in 
 this large Circuit of about forty islands, and I was 
 gladdened by hearing of them. No one makes any- 
 thing out in religion without a real reformation in 
 condition, heart, and life. Children and young people 
 require this thorough change as much as their fore- 
 fathers needed it ; and they must have it as the 
 groundwork of right practice." 
 
 " 26th. -Reached Nukualofa, Tonga Tabu." 
 
 It would take too long to tell here the history of 
 the rending of the Church in Tonga; and perhaps 
 the time has hardly yet come when the whole course 
 of events, which wrought woful damage in one of the 
 fairest fields of Christian enterprise, can be perfectly 
 understood and faithfully recorded. That two
 
 252 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 churches should have been set up instead of one, 
 in the same group, was a result to be lamented; 
 but the bitterness of strife and the persecuting 
 violence which attended the division were beyond 
 measure deplorable. This unhappy state of things 
 had made Mr. Calvert the more anxious to visit the 
 South Seas. The relation of his own mission to that 
 in the Friendly Islands had always been very in- 
 timate, and he enjoyed, and greatly valued, the 
 friendship of the Tongan king. Being well known 
 by both parties, and having never committed himself 
 to the position of either, he cherished a kindly hope 
 that he might be able to mediate between them. 
 After he had been a week on the ground, he 
 wrote: 
 
 " Matters here are extremely bad, and seriously dif- 
 ficult. The separation is a fully accomplished fact. 
 The rent is very great and wide ; party spirit runs 
 high. Still the Lord reigneth ; and I trust, by His 
 blessing, that I shall be of service in some ways. . . . 
 In this very trying position the Lord strengthens 
 and blesses me. I trust Him, and cast my care 
 upon Him, and pray for His guidance and prospering 
 blessing. I am very grateful for His presence, and 
 for the openings for useful intercourse He gives me 
 with persons of varied views. But, alas ! both sides 
 seem determined to have and pursue their own way.
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 253 
 
 I do my utmost in trying to prevail upon them to 
 act with moderation." 
 
 Later on he writes : 
 
 " Were I a younger man, I should consider 
 seriously whether there was not a call here for me ; 
 but I am quite sure that, at my age, I ought not 
 to undertake a task like this." 
 
 This was no mere cheap sentiment. Conversations 
 with him both before and after his voyage proved 
 how this idea had got hold of him, and how warmly 
 he desired the opportunity, at the cost of any self- 
 sacrifice, of at least mitigating the evils which had 
 come to pass. After spending exactly a month in 
 the Islands he left, on August 26th, to complete his 
 visit to Fiji. 
 
 " Here I close my visit to Tonga, to which I came 
 with a single purpose of trying to do good. While 
 here I have been very fully employed, and have had 
 much that was not pleasant. I have mixed freely 
 with all, and tried hard to bring about good-will, 
 freedom, and love. All have shown me respect ; and 
 kindness I have had from many." 
 
 It was with a sense of most welcome relief that he 
 turned his face once more to the peaceful scenes of 
 his own beloved Fiji, which he reached two days 
 later, going on to Ovalau, where he passed a very
 
 254 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 busy and happy week at Levuka. He found here a 
 letter awaiting him from the acting Governor, who 
 had been obliged to go to Samoa. The Colonial 
 Secretary was deputed by him to further Mr. Calvert's 
 plans in every way, and the small Government 
 steamer was coaled and got ready for his use. 
 
 " September 5th. After I had engaged to preach 
 twice in English, the natives and half-castes appealed 
 to me not to neglect them ; and I felt compelled to 
 meet them for a short service at Levuka at 9 A.M., 
 and at Vangandathi at 4 P.M. At 1 1 and 7 o'clock I 
 preached in the excellent stone chapel to a very 
 good and full congregation in English. After the 
 evening service I administered the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper. After all was over I was not at all 
 weary. I very much enjoyed the services, and all 
 were kind and hearty." 
 
 " 9th. Went to Moturiki, landing where the 
 attack was made upon me in 1854. Had school 
 feasts, and examinations ; and slept." 
 
 From the beach where he passed through deadly 
 peril in 1854 he gathered twelve small shells as a 
 memorial. On the next day he went to Mbau, and 
 saw much to delight him, though his old friend 
 Thakombau was no more. In the old dark days he 
 had, by his intercession, gained from the king the 
 life of a widow, named Bongithewa, who was about
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 255 
 
 to be strangled at the death of her husband, a Mbau 
 chief. It was the first life he had thus rescued ; and 
 now he had the joy of meeting the widow once more, 
 and found that, for many years, she had fulfilled a 
 good and useful Christian course. He crossed over 
 to Viwa, where the mission press was still placed, 
 as he wanted a paper he had written about Tonga to 
 be printed. 
 
 " I helped Mr. Small to set up my paper on the 
 Friendly Islands. I wondered that I took so readily 
 to picking up the type. By both sticking close to 
 work we got through." 
 
 " 26th. Navuloa. The prayer-meeting at 7 o'clock. 
 At 9.30 I preached to the students from Acts xvi. 9, 
 10, and felt very happy in my work quite at home 
 deeming it a great privilege and gracious opportunity 
 to address so many who were likely to take a promi- 
 nent part in God's work in Fiji in the future. In 
 the afternoon Mr. Lindsay preached. In the evening 
 we had a prayer-meeting, and I conducted a Sacra- 
 mental service, and gave an address to the students 
 and others who were present. I was moved by the 
 prayer of the native minister, who thanked God that 
 they, who had heard of me from their fathers, with 
 whom I had lived and laboured, were now surprised 
 and delighted to see me. He went on praying, 
 beseeching the Lord to have a watchful eye and
 
 256 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 care over me in the future. I greatly enjoyed my 
 three days' visit to this grand training institution." 
 
 " 27th. Mr. Lindsay took me over to Viwa in his 
 boat. Here I resided from 1848 to 1855 seven 
 years. Here John Hunt, John Polglase, and Joel 
 Bulu are buried. The printing plant is excellent, 
 and was given by the Tomblesons, of Barton-on- 
 Humber, at my request." 
 
 " 30th. Left Suva at midnight in the Arawata" 
 
 " October 2nd. Saturday. We are now five hun- 
 dred miles from Fiji, where I have been thirty-eight 
 days. All the time I was fully employed, and equal to 
 all the demands made upon me. I am very thankful 
 to the Lord for all the help and gracious influences 
 granted me. I have been much gratified in finding 
 how great and how real God's work has been and is 
 throughout Fiji ; and I have good reason to believe 
 that my visit will, by God's blessing, be of service in 
 various ways. By remaining longer, and risking the 
 hot months, I do not see that I could do much 
 more." 
 
 " 3rd. Sunday. I rose early, and found it profit- 
 able. The Bishop of Nelson had to keep his bed 
 most of the day. I took the service, by his request, 
 at 1 1 o'clock, on deck. We could not have any sing- 
 ing. I read the 103rd Psalm, prayed, and preached, 
 and was very happy in the service. The Bishop 
 thanked me much, he having heard all down below."
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 257 
 
 " 6th. Auckland, New Zealand. After a smooth 
 run from Russell, where we called yesterday, and 
 where Bishop Suter and I spent 'a pleasant day with 
 a dear old lady, Mrs. Ford, a widow of my own age, 
 who ministers comfort to many of all denominations. 
 Mr. Philip H. Mason met me on board at 7.30 A.M., 
 and took me over in a little steamer to his new 
 house at Devonport. With them I am to abide 
 until the 12th, when we leave for Honolulu. Im- 
 mediately on my arrival I had a visit from a young 
 minister from the principal chapel in Auckland, to 
 engage me to speak or lecture on Monday night. 
 Soon after breakfast I had a minister from each of 
 the two other Circuits, asking for a service each on 
 Sunday." 
 
 " 7th. To-day I was driven out to Three Kings, 
 about three miles, where the Rev. Alexander Reed 
 has twelve New Zealanders and five young English- 
 men in training for our work. The Lord blessed me 
 greatly while addressing first the English, and then 
 the natives, and in prayer with all together. 
 
 " I went to the top of Mount Eden, and had an 
 extensive and splendid view all around, which much 
 surprised me. . . . Spoke at the Home Missionary 
 Meeting at Devonport." 
 
 " 10th. Preached in the morning at Devonport, 
 and in the evening at Grafton Road. The congrega- 
 tions were good, and the Lord blessed us. After the 
 
 17
 
 258 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 evening service I called in at a large theatre, where 
 special services are held by clergymen and others, 
 and said a few words on my way back to Devonport." 
 
 " llth. Went to the weekly meeting of ministers 
 in the vestry of Spurgeon's Tabernacle. He showed 
 me over the splendid structure, where he has a very 
 large congregation. At 7.30 we had a Missionary 
 Meeting in King Street Chapel, where we had a good 
 company. I spoke for an hour. During the day I 
 had a very kind letter from my fellow-passenger, the 
 Bishop of Nelson, dated from the ' Scene of the 
 Eruption.' He is a most amiable man, and we got on 
 remarkably well together. My six days in Auckland 
 were most enjoyable. All were exceedingly kind to 
 me. At the ministers' meeting all were most affec- 
 tionate, and listened well to a few words which I said 
 at their request. They prayed very earnestly for 
 me on my voyage, and also in the hereafter." 
 
 " I2th. Left Auckland in the Mariposa at 5 P.M." 
 
 " I3th. Crossed the meridian of Greenwich, and, 
 in order to keep our week and Sabbath right, we 
 had to have two Wednesdays eight days in the 
 week. The mail steamer which we meet between 
 Auckland and Samoa has to lose a day, and have only 
 six days in the week. One man who came on board 
 at Samoa, having crossed and recrossed the meridian, 
 had four Sabbaths in nine days." 
 
 " nth. I had a good congregation at 8 P.M. The
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 259 
 
 Lord greatly blessed and helped me to deliver His 
 saving truth in a straightforward and honest way; 
 for which I had hearty thanks and pleasant looks." 
 
 " 23rd. At 10.30 this forenoon we were alongside 
 the wharf at Honolulu, 3,833 miles from Auckland. 
 We left again at 6.30 for San Francisco, 2,092 miles 
 further." 
 
 " 30th. San Francisco at 9 A.M. Seven days from 
 Honolulu. The Custom House officer said I had an 
 honest face, and he was very lenient, and passed my 
 things very easily. I soon found the Methodist 
 Book Koom, and the editor of the Christian Advocate, 
 with whom I had a good chat ; and then went to see 
 something of this immense city." 
 
 " 31st. I heard two sermons from the Rev. Dr. 
 Izer, and assisted him with the communion after the 
 morning service. He offered me his pulpit for the 
 evening, but I judged he was himself specially pre- 
 pared, and had been announced. I found my notion 
 was correct, when I heard him at night. In the 
 afternoon I heard General Howard who lost his 
 right arm in the war at the Young Men's Christian 
 Association. It was a fine gathering. I was asked 
 to lead in prayer ; and was constrained afterwards to 
 speak for a few minutes, and had a very good hearing." 
 
 " November 1st. Rose quite refreshed at 6, very 
 grateful for my rest of yesterday, and for the past 
 night. At 7.15, just off to breakfast, and to prepare
 
 260 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 for my long journey of 3,461 miles, such as I never 
 had before, and never shall have again." 
 
 The notes of the great railway journey record 
 experiences that have been frequently described by 
 others. He says, after his first night in a sleeping- 
 car, that he was tossed about as much as at sea, and 
 did not sleep well. He is astonished at the immense 
 " ferry boat," which takes the whole train across to 
 Benicia. He sees the sights of Salt Lake City ; un- 
 expectedly finds there people with whom he has 
 links of acquaintance ; and delights most of all in 
 taking part in a Methodist prayer-meeting. He is 
 surprised and thankful that he has accomplished 
 one-third of the journey without suffering from the 
 cold. The grand scenery over Marshall Pass, and 
 afterwards, rouses him to admiring enthusiasm. He 
 rejoices greatly at Denver " to be at the end of the 
 narrow, shaky gauge, which robbed me of one night's 
 sleep though I had to pay 16s. a night for the 
 accommodation." He wakes in time to see the 
 crossing of the Mississippi, and on the afternoon 
 of Sunday, November 7th, reaches Chicago. 
 
 " Before reaching Chicago, a few of us in the car 
 met. I read Romans xii. We sang, ' Take the 
 Name of Jesus with you,' and about a dozen other 
 hymns, among them ' The Sweet By-and-by,' which 
 reminded me of our singing it, with my good wife,
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 261 
 
 in the Transvaal plains, as we left Potchefstroom in 
 1880. 
 
 "Arrived at the Grand Pacific Hotel at 3.30. 
 Went in search of a Methodist Episcopal church. 
 Soon found the Eev. Dr. Bolton in his study at the 
 church. At 6 went to a prayer-meeting there ; and 
 at 6.30 Dr. Bolton addressed young men on Purpose : 
 ' Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not 
 defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, 
 nor with the wine which he drank.' After the 
 service, at Dr. Bolton's request, many testified as 
 to their purpose I among the rest." 
 
 Having met the ministers at their weekly meeting 
 on the Monday morning, he went on to Niagara, 
 where he " spent eight hours among those extra- 
 ordinary Falls, going over the bridge into Canada, 
 and back, and left for New York at 3.10." 
 
 Soon after reaching New York, he sought out 
 Dr. McCabe, drawn to him by his enthusiasm in 
 the office of Junior Secretary of Missions. Of 
 course, Mr. Calvert was at once requested to tell 
 about the Fiji mission, and found, when he had 
 done, that all he had said had been reported by 
 " the three young lady clerks." Dr. McCabe 
 pressed him to remain six months in America, to 
 take part in missionary conventions and meetings. 
 This was impossible ; but he consented to attend a
 
 262 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 convention then being held at Waterbury, and then 
 to join Dr. McCabe in meetings, which would have 
 taken him through Boston, and afterwards to Wash- 
 ington. He took part in several meetings at Water- 
 bury; and the minister there strongly importuned 
 him to remain over the Sunday to help him in his 
 work. It was a very great disappointment to Mr. 
 Calvert to be deprived of his only chance of seeing 
 Boston and Washington ; but as Dr. McCabe set 
 him free from his engagements, he yielded, and 
 preached on the Sunday morning, and gave a mis- 
 sionary address in the evening. The next morning 
 he visited the great watch-making works, and re- 
 turned to New York, where he was very happy in 
 the hospitable home of Mr. Anderson Fowler, the 
 son-in-law of the Rev. William Arthur. 
 
 " I enjoyed some services in New York, and inter- 
 views with editors, and learned doctors, and bishops, 
 and laymen, and women who labour in the Gospel. 
 It was delightful to stay a few days in the great 
 city." 
 
 On Saturday, November 20th, he left on the 
 voyage home, and landed at Liverpool on the 28th, 
 just one hundred and eighty-four days since he 
 started from London. Out of this time he had spent 
 a month in Tonga, nearly six weeks in Fiji, and ten 
 days in New York. The rest of the time was
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 263 
 
 occupied in almost continuous travel, entirely round 
 the world. Surely a wonderful achievement for a 
 man in his seventy-fourth year. 
 
 On his return his services were in great request, and 
 he was soon actively employed again, being eagerly 
 welcomed everywhere on Missionary and Bible Society 
 platforms. When the Missionary Anniversary was 
 held in the following May his presence was a marked 
 feature ; and at the adjourned meeting, in City Eoad 
 Chapel, he gave an account of the condition of his 
 beloved Fiji, as he had lately seen it, and of the results 
 of the work in which, almost from its very beginning, 
 he had taken a large part. It is interesting to note 
 how the troubles and the dangers of the early days 
 of that wonderful history are, now that he thus scans 
 the whole, lost in the brightness of present success. 
 The speech is eminently characteristic. 
 
 " I am deeply grateful to Almighty God for having 
 guided me to foreign mission service, and especially 
 that He sent me to Fiji, and for the help and bless- 
 ing and success He has granted to us. 
 
 " We had no night of toil. God was with us 
 from the beginning, and all along, even to the 
 present time, and He has ever confirmed His word 
 with signs following. Multitudes have been in the 
 past and, thank God, still are now convinced of 
 sin by the Word and Spirit of God. They bitterly
 
 264 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 repented of their misdoings and transgressions, 
 sought mercy and forgiveness with all earnestness 
 and perseverance; and when they were saved by 
 grace, through faith in Jesus, many were remarkably 
 clear in their enjoyment of the Divine favour, and 
 rejoiced greatly in their Saviour and Lord. These 
 converts were whole-hearted, and very true and 
 faithful. Their thorough change of heart, wrought 
 by the Holy Spirit, was manifest to all. They 
 became living epistles, read and known by all. It 
 is a grand thing anywhere to have persons pardoned, 
 renewed, sanctified, made new creatures in Christ 
 Jesus; old things passed away, and all things 
 become new! This personal Christian experience 
 told amazingly upon the dark and simple-minded 
 Fijians and it tells everywhere and many felt 
 convinced that the religion of Christ was a real power 
 and excellence, and greatly to be desired. 
 
 " And as soon as any were converted, and gained 
 spiritual life in their souls, they were very earnest in 
 prayer and direct effort for the salvation of others. 
 Baptised with the Holy Spirit, they at once began to 
 speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. We had 
 several extensive and blessed revivals, such as have 
 been in many parts of the world since the Spirit 
 was poured out on the day of Pentecost. These 
 showers of blessing told much upon our work. And 
 a grand work of God, exceeding the utmost hopes of
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 265 
 
 the most sanguine, has been wrought upon that long- 
 neglected and deeply degraded cannibal race. This 
 work is so real, deep, abiding, and continued, that 
 those who witness it cannot gainsay the good done, 
 but cheerfully and heartily confess that God has really 
 done great things. Miss Gordon-Cummings, a 
 member of the Church of England, resided two years 
 in Fiji, and thoroughly examined the work. She gives 
 the strongest testimony in favour of the Mission. And 
 Baron de Hubner, a German scientist and Koman 
 Catholic, who has been three times round the world 
 with his eyes open, and very observant, said a mar- 
 vellous change had been wrought, which no honest 
 man could deny; and he reverently ascribed the 
 blessed work on the hearts and lives of multitudes 
 to the work of the Holy Spirit alone. 
 
 "The glorious Gospel of the blessed God, pro- 
 claimed in a straightforward and earnest way, has 
 done its old work. The Spirit accompanied the 
 truth with His convincing and saving power, and 
 the results on a grand scale are extraordinary. 
 Abominable and degrading superstitions are re- 
 moved. Tens of thousands of saved Fijians are 
 now with their Saviour, numbered with John Hunt, 
 Richard Burdsall Lyth, Joeli Bulu the Tongan, my 
 good wife, and all God's saints in glory everlasting. 
 Some of these bore well fierce persecutions, severe 
 trials, the loss of all things, and martyrdom. Now
 
 266 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 marriage is sacred, the Sabbath sacredly kept, family 
 worship regularly conducted, schools everywhere es- 
 tablished, law and good government firmly laid, and 
 spiritual Churches formed and prosperous. 
 
 " The language has been reduced to written form, 
 and made one, doing away with the plague of many 
 dialects. An excellent grammar and dictionaries 
 have been printed one edition at the mission press 
 in Fiji, and one in England. Two editions of the 
 New Testament, and part of the Old, with innumer- 
 able portions of the Scriptures, were also printed 
 in Fiji; and 8,050 copies of the Bible, in two 
 editions, and over 50,000 of the New Testament, have 
 been printed and bound by the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society, and these have been supplied to, and 
 purchased by, the converts. Immense numbers of 
 Catechisms, with Scripture proofs, a large edition of 
 Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and three editions of an 
 invaluable System of Christian Theology, prepared 
 by the eminent John Hunt, when his mind and 
 heart were in their ripest condition, and his know- 
 ledge of the language was well matured, have been, 
 and are, widely circulated, and very profitably used. 
 
 "From the beginning, God gave just the right 
 stamp of men, with the needed qualifications, to 
 commence and carry on the work. A printer, 
 doctor, teacher, builder, translator, a man specially 
 qualified to prepare an admirable grammar and
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 267 
 
 dictionaries all hard-working men, who stuck to it 
 all day long and every day wherever they were. It 
 was their meat and drink to do the will of Him that 
 sent them. They adapted themselves to-the climate, 
 and to the utter degradation and abominations 
 which prevailed everywhere ; and all cheerfully 
 roughed it. The work from the beginning has been 
 mainly done by native teachers and preachers, of 
 whom there are now 2,958. 
 
 "After an absence of twenty-one years, I have just 
 had the opportunity and privilege of a visit to the 
 place where the best years of my life were spent. 
 Commerce I found sadly depressed, and the manu- 
 facture of sugar not remunerative ; and I was sorry 
 to learn that, beyond the somewhat heavy taxes, 
 the chiefs, who occupy positions under the English 
 Government, are still allowed to exact food, and 
 money, and property from the people. But my 
 heart was greatly gladdened by the excellent state 
 of God's work throughout the Group. I rejoiced to 
 find that, in one Circuit, 500 persons had during the 
 year asked to be allowed to meet in class, desiring 
 to flee from the wrath to come, and gain salvation. 
 New conversions were taking place, and God's work 
 was deepened in the hearts of His people. Great 
 steadfastness, earnestness, and constancy were mani- 
 fest. The devoted chairman, the Rev. F. Langham, 
 and his excellent wife, who have been twenty-eight
 
 268 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 years hard at work, are likely to serve faithfully for 
 years to come. In his Circuit, in a population, all 
 told, of 11,508 persons, 98^ per cent, attend our 
 worship ; and throughout Fiji, 90 per cent, of all 
 worship with us. So that Fiji is a nation of Metho- 
 dists. I was greatly comforted by the excellent 
 spirit and zeal of the young missionaries from the 
 Colonies, who have entered into our labours, and 
 are earnestly carrying on the work. 
 
 " I was glad that special attention is given to the 
 education and training of native agents, on whom so 
 much depends in this extensive work, considerable 
 numbers of whom are constantly required. In- 
 stitutions for this important branch of our service 
 are diligently worked by each missionary in every 
 Circuit, and also by the native ministers, and by 
 some catechists in the sections of Circuits of which 
 they have charge. The most promising of these 
 men, thus prepared for the work, so far as they can 
 be spared, are sent for some years to the District 
 Institution, over which are placed a missionary and 
 a native minister, who are best qualified for, and 
 adapted to, this special service. There are 109 fine, 
 whole-hearted men of various ages, some of whom 
 have wives, who are taught and trained for the work 
 as teachers and preachers. I had the honour and 
 enjoyment of giving prizes at the close of the 
 session, and was pleased that some of the wives also
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 269 
 
 gained prizes for good conduct, and for keeping 
 their families, and houses, and husbands in good 
 order. The Bishop of Nelson, New Zealand, was 
 present, and gave valuable counsel to the men and 
 women. He was surprised and gratified ; as he was 
 also with the late Thakombau's magnificent chapel, 
 and our work, at Mbau. In his astonishment and 
 rejoicing with us, he exclaimed, ' And all this 
 without accessories ! ' Mr. Langham helped the 
 catholic-spirited Bishop on his way, taking him 
 from Navuloa to Mbau, and sending him to Ovalau, 
 twenty-five miles, in the mission boat, pulled by 
 students. I voyaged with him from Fiji to Auck- 
 land. I heard with great satisfaction one of the 
 students rightly divide the Word of Truth, which 
 he explained and applied. I was pleased with the 
 simple and cheap dresses of the students and their 
 wives, and with their entire spirit and deportment. 
 They are very true, and wholly devoted to Christ 
 and His cause, ready to go forth and brave the 
 terrible hardships and exposures of New Guinea, 
 where some of them have perished in the work; 
 but others are baptised for the dead, and cheerfully 
 ready to fill their places. There were also two 
 foreign students from the island of Eotumah, three 
 hundred miles to the north of Fiji. These men, by 
 gaining a knowledge of the Fijian language, gain the 
 great advantage of our Bible, and all our other books.
 
 270 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 " What has been wrought in Fiji is of the utmost 
 intrinsic value on the behalf of every saved one ; 
 but the work there is extremely important as a 
 specimen ; and it affords hope and encouragement 
 to pray, and work, and give for the salvation of the 
 vast populations of all China, all India, all Africa, 
 Russia, and the whole world. Christ tasted death 
 for every man for every man in the whole world 
 
 ' Christ has for all a ransom paid, 
 For all a full atonement made.' 
 
 And ' to Him every knee shall bow, and every 
 tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father.' ' He will put down all rule, and all 
 authority and power. For He must reign, till He 
 hath put all enemies under His feet.' 
 
 " The one special need is power from on high ; and 
 this we have in its fulness and richness. We live 
 in the last time, in the glorious dispensation of the 
 Spirit, when He is working in our hearts, and in our 
 country, and among the nations, beyond what was 
 realised in any age, hastening the latter days' glory, 
 when all shall know Him and His power to save, and 
 when Christ's kingdom shall be established in all 
 the earth. When the Spirit descends upon the 
 Churches, upon preachers and hearers, the Word will 
 be proclaimed with new power, the pious will pray 
 in the Holy Ghost ; cheerful workers of the right 
 stamp, and liberal givers will abound. The rich
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 271 
 
 will be very generous under His constraining power, 
 and the poor will devise liberal things to the utmost 
 of their means. The busy and fully employed will 
 be ingenious, and find time and opportunity for 
 work in Christ's service. The love of Christ will 
 assuredly constrain them to do something. When 
 the Spirit works freely and fully in the soul every 
 power will be enlisted to render its quota in the 
 blessed service of Christ. Glorious days are ahead ! 
 The Lord hasten them ! ' Gold shall be brought ' ; 
 not squeezed out of the people, nor parted with 
 reluctantly, but voluntarily and cheerfully sur- 
 rendered for Christ's sake. The heart shall be en- 
 larged. The abundance of the sea shall be converted 
 to God, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come to 
 Him. The wilderness shall be a fruitful field, ' and 
 the fruitful field shall be counted for a forest.' ' A 
 little one shall become a thousand, and a small one 
 a strong nation ' ; and the Lord ' will hasten it in 
 His time.' And there shall be 'great voices in 
 heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are 
 become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ ; 
 and He shall reign for ever and ever.' " 
 
 At the Missionary Lovefeast held in connection 
 with the Anniversary he presided, as was most 
 fitting. In such a gathering for such a purpose all 
 rejoiced to see him at their head ; for, in the work
 
 272 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 of the Gospel, who of them had such an experience 
 to rehearse ? He stood there amongst the people 
 in the exceeding beauty of his strong old age, no 
 carpet knight, but a faithful servant of the Lord 
 Jesus, having a wonderful history of service, yet 
 saying no word of anything he had done, but 
 rejoicing to tell how the grace of God had saved 
 him, and, before his eyes, had mightily saved multi- 
 tudes from darkness and death. Year by year, as 
 long as he lived, the presidence of James Calvert at 
 the Missionary Lovefeast was a standing arrange- 
 ment in the proceedings of the May Anniversary. 
 
 After his last voyage Mr. Calvert spent two years 
 at Sevenoaks, where also his aid was freely given in 
 helping all good work. But here, as elsewhere, home 
 meant for him not so much an abiding rest, as a 
 centre from which he journeyed in all directions in 
 his customary public service. 
 
 The Missionary Conference held in London in 
 1888 gave him great delight. In that memorable 
 assembly of representatives of Christian missions in 
 all parts of the world he was sought out by many, 
 who had long known his name as connected with the 
 great work in Fiji ; while he, on his part, also sought 
 out others, men of renown in the service of the 
 Gospel, with greater eagerness than any tuft-hunter 
 anxiously striving to win the notice of titled nobles. 
 It delighted him exceedingly to meet here once
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 273 
 
 more his fellow-traveller, the Bishop of Nelson. In 
 several of the important discussions which were held 
 he took part: and on several difficult questions he 
 spoke with the confidence and authority of an ample 
 experience. To the much-debated inquiry whether 
 missionaries, who had not had a medical train- 
 ing, should prescribe, he answered with an unhesi- 
 tating yes, and was prepared to give abundant 
 evidence in support of his answer. Then there was 
 the problem, on which exactly opposite opinions 
 were held, and supported by great argumentative 
 zeal, should polygamists be admitted to Church 
 membership ? Here he maintained a decisive and 
 uncompromising negative, and declared that the 
 whole history of Christian triumph in Fiji, where 
 this question had to be faced in its worst form, 
 made, to him, any alternative position impossible. 
 In the course of the Conference, he read a paper 
 giving a sketch of the history of Christianity in the 
 Fiji Islands. It was all through a fervid expression 
 of exultant faith faith uttering itself in praise. 
 In his own simple, strong, direct fashion, he gave 
 witness that, from first to last, the horrible evils 
 which cursed the people had been dealt with only by 
 the Gospel preached and lived amongst them, at first 
 by a few foreigners, " none of them extraordinary or 
 great, but suitable, well adapted, ready to rough it 
 and go on heartily with every branch of the work 
 
 18
 
 274 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 that had to be done ; making little of difficulties, 
 dangers, and afflictions, but the best of everything 
 and every one " ; and then by an ever-growing com- 
 pany of converts from among the people themselves. 
 At the time he was speaking, the number of white 
 missionaries was nine; of native preachers, three 
 thousand and five, fifty-six of whom were fully set 
 apart for the work of the ministry. Referring to the 
 Jubilee celebrated three years before, he said : 
 " Fifty years before there was not a Christian in 
 all Fiji ; then, not an avowed heathen left ! Canni- 
 balism has, for some years past, been wholly extinct ; 
 and other immemorial customs of horrible cruelty 
 and barbarism have disappeared." The listening 
 assembly was deeply moved, and responded with warm 
 thanksgiving as the old missionary, who had seen 
 this work of Divine grace, exclaimed, " Behold ! what 
 hath God wrought ! " 
 
 In February 1889 Mr. Calvert married the 
 widow of his friend, the late Rev. Dr. Andrew Kessen, 
 and hereby gained for his latter days not only a 
 very congenial companionship, but all the comfort 
 and help which the most solicitous and devoted 
 affection could secure. 
 
 His home was now at Hastings, where, though his 
 life was passed in quiet peacefulness, and its activities 
 were limited by occasional weakness, he was by 
 no means an idle man, but was always and fully
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 275 
 
 employed. It was seldom that he had not on hand 
 some commission to fulfil for Fiji, and, as far as his 
 strength permitted, he continued to preach, and to 
 speak on behalf of missions and of the Bible 
 Society. 
 
 His love of this great Christian institution was 
 very strong ; and he lost no opportunity of asserting 
 its claims, and working for its interests. Through- 
 out all his course he had received from it the 
 greatest consideration and most generous help. 
 When the committee, with kindly expressions of 
 admiring respect, added his name to their list of 
 Honorary Life Governors, he rejoiced greatly in the 
 distinction. 
 
 He cheerfully gave his help to the ministers in 
 Hastings, as freely to those of other Churches as in 
 his own. In his genial presence, and listening to his 
 frank words of faith and love, Christians were drawn 
 together, and learned to hold their Church distinc- 
 tions without bigotry or exclusiveness. 
 
 His residence at Hastings brought to him the 
 great pleasure of intercourse with many friends who 
 resorted thither. There were few men who had 
 more friends ; and to the last he formed new and 
 close attachments ; but the old ties were never 
 broken. " I never," he said in those days, " let 
 a friend slip." There are very many, in many lands, 
 who count the friendship of James Calvert among
 
 276 JAMES CALVEET OF FIJI. 
 
 the best things of their life ; and all can bear 
 witness that his love was as true as it was tender. 
 
 In the autumn of 1890 a seventh edition of the 
 Fijian New Testament was printed ; and in the 
 careful revision and reading of proofs he found full 
 and always welcome employment. About the same 
 time he also carried through the press a Hymn-book, 
 Catechisms, and a Book of Offices, all in the Fijian 
 language. 
 
 In March 1891 he conducted the great Lovefeast 
 at the Centenary Commemoration of the death 
 of Wesley, in the old City Eoad Chapel, which was 
 crowded, so that many stood during the whole 
 service. And a memorable service it was, with its 
 glowing concert of Christian witness, whereby those 
 who told of their own knowledge of the saving power 
 of God strengthened and encouraged one another 
 in the great enterprise of bringing the world to 
 Christ. The very presence of the beloved elder who 
 led the meeting, his face radiant with the joy of the 
 Lord, rebuked unfaithfulness and doubt, and kindled 
 praise. 
 
 In the following May he conducted the opening 
 service of the new West Hill Chapel at Hastings, 
 one of the foundation-stones of which he had laid 
 the year before. He preached from the text, " I will 
 give myself unto prayer." This place of worship, 
 the building of which he very liberally aided, has
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 277 
 
 since been styled the Calvert Memorial Chapel ; and 
 truly the name of this saint is as well worthy of such 
 application as that of many a saint holding his title 
 from a Pope's patent. In this pulpit also he 
 preached his last sermon. 
 
 He had not intended to be at the Conference this 
 year, but, being elected by his District as a repre- 
 sentative, he went to Nottingham, and greatly 
 enjoyed the Conference and all its religious and 
 social accompaniments, attending nearly every 
 session, and taking great interest in the proceedings. 
 
 He conducted the Conference Lovefeast, and went 
 from it to the great Temperance Meeting, at which 
 a testimonial was presented to the Rev. Charles 
 Garrett. In the temperance question he took a lively 
 interest. Early in his mission-life he became a 
 total abstainer, and always maintained that he owed 
 his strength for long-protracted service very largely 
 to this decision. He found also that, by taking a 
 firm and unquestionable position in this matter, he 
 gained great power in helping the Fijian Christians 
 to escape from the temptations of their native grog 
 the yanggona and from the fatal perils of the strong 
 spirits brought into the islands by white merchants. 
 On leaving Fiji the first time, he further determined 
 to give up smoking. It was a very old habit, and 
 not easy to break. But being convinced that he 
 ought to put an end to the indulgence, he did it
 
 278 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 sharply and decisively. He often afterwards de- 
 clared his thankful satisfaction with the determination 
 then carried out, and affirmed that it was better for 
 him than if he had received a thousand pounds. 
 
 In September he had an attack of influenza, which 
 seriously broke his strength ; and a medical exami- 
 nation resulted in his being forbidden to do any 
 public work. It was a great trouble to him to be 
 obliged to cancel a number of engagements to 
 attend meetings in different parts of the country : 
 but he felt it to be inevitable. After his many 
 years of incessant activity, he faced the truth that his 
 public work was done, not only with quiet submis- 
 sion, but with an altogether happy resting in the will 
 of Him whom he so long had served. 
 
 While he was still suffering, he was greatly shocked 
 by the news that the Rev. Dr. James, who had been 
 his fellow-student fifty-four years ago, had died very 
 suddenly. He wrote to an old friend : 
 
 " For some time I have desired to write to you, as 
 I have been a good deal upset in health for some 
 weeks. When staying at Sevenoaks I had indigestion, 
 and took cold and perhaps I had influenza. My 
 heart, from which I suffered a good deal at Torquay, 
 and again three years ago, has now once more troubled 
 me seriously ; and Dr. James' death was a great shock 
 to me.
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 279 
 
 " But I have had the utmost tenderness, and care, 
 and attention, and am greatly relieved. I have now 
 good hope that I shall soon be quite myself again. 
 But I must be quiet. I have called off all my 
 engagements for the Bible Society and Missions, 
 and shall not attempt any public service. I feel it 
 to be my absolute duty to rest ; and I think I may 
 conscientiously take rest as my privilege and, shall 
 I say ? due. 
 
 " I am soon sending off to Fiji 730 Bibles, and 
 2,500 each of Hymns, Catechisms, and Book of 
 Offices, with large supplies of English Tracts from 
 Drummond, and the Religious Tract Society. 
 
 " Please pray for me. I am not at all anxious, 
 but leave myself wholly in my loving Saviour's 
 care. The Lord, who has dealt so bountifully with 
 me in all the past, is and will be most gracious 
 to me." 
 
 After this he recovered strength wonderfully, and 
 entered on 1892 with a hope that he would yet be 
 able to work again. On New Year's day he called on 
 friends, and received visits, with all his old genial 
 warmth, and almost youthful vivacity. But, perhaps, 
 the crowning delight of the season was the arrival of 
 another commission for Bibles and books for Fiji 
 and Rotumah. The fulfilling of this joined him to 
 the active past ; and, in the joyful alacrity of the
 
 280 JAMES CAL VERT OF FIJI. 
 
 service, it seemed as though some of the energy of 
 the past came back to him. 
 
 On the first Sunday in January he completed his 
 seventy-ninth year. In the morning he attended 
 public worship, and in the afternoon the old Methodist 
 service of the Renewal of the Covenant with Grod, in 
 connection with which he assisted in the administra- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Then followed two months of apparently good 
 health, and a happy returning to his customary ways 
 of life. Infirm, sick, and poor people thankfully 
 welcomed his ministration of Christian comfort and 
 hope, and generously practical sympathy. Amongst 
 those who delighted in these visits were several aged 
 andinvalid clergymen, and members of other Churches, 
 amongst whom he was greatly beloved. All claimed 
 him as their own ; and very joyfully he acknowledged 
 the claim. He was a conspicuous and well-known 
 figure in the town of Hastings. His tall, erect, and 
 largely built form, his brisk walk, his cheery look 
 and laugh, the quick vitality of every gesture, seemed 
 to belong to a far younger man than did the venerable 
 whiteness of head and beard. As he passed along 
 he received many greetings from many people. The 
 fishermen and the railway servants, the cabmen and 
 the chairmen, knew him as the messenger to them 
 of a better life, and saluted him as their friend. His 
 look of hale manliness was, perhaps, never more
 
 THE LATER TEARS. 281 
 
 striking than in these days. He laughed heartily 
 when some dear Australian friends told him that he 
 was handsomer than ever ; and, as far as his appear- 
 ance went, there really seemed nothing impossible 
 in the way of his accepting their warm invitation to 
 visit them again. He was much moved when they 
 said, " When the name of James Calvert is mentioned 
 at a public meeting in Australia, as it often is, we all 
 rise to our feet." To all congratulations on his good 
 health he would answer that he had been spared to 
 do more Bible work for Fiji. 
 
 At the service held at Robertson Street Church, as 
 a memorial of the great preacher, Spurgeon, lately 
 deceased, Mr. Calvert was present ; and many re- 
 marked upon his aspect of vigour, and the full, clear 
 voice with which he spoke the words of benediction 
 as the service ended. That act of speaking peace 
 and blessing in the name of God was the last act of 
 his public life. Nor could there have been devised 
 a close more beautifully befitting his long course of 
 faithful ministry. It was in strongly marked contrast 
 with the scenes of his earlier career, with their hard, 
 rough toil, and long journeyings, and sickness and 
 pain, and perils by land and by sea ; but in the faith 
 and the aim of the life years had made no change. 
 All had been given to the dispensing of the Divine 
 peace and blessing. And now, in a harboured calm 
 of quiet waiting, and in the venerable loveliness of a
 
 282 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 saintly old age, out of the fulness of a heart satisfied 
 with the perfect peace, his lips uttered the Gospel 
 benediction of grace, and love, and fellowship with 
 God. That benediction gathered together and ex- 
 pressed his whole trust and his whole life. 
 
 On the last Sunday in February he went alone to 
 join in the worship at the Central Chapel, Mrs. 
 Calvert being laid aside by sickness. On the Tues- 
 day following she was able to leave her room, to his 
 great delight, and sat with him at his study fireside. 
 It had always been a very characteristic habit of his 
 to forecast his future work, and plan it out with all 
 the exact arrangement of a timetable. On the next 
 evening, as they sat again together, he, holding his 
 wife's hand, talked about two full years of busy 
 employment, for another edition of the Fijian Bible 
 was called for ; and it had been just decided that the 
 translation should undergo another careful revision. 
 He had everything in readiness to start with this 
 work the next day, and looked forward to it with 
 great joy, pointing out to his wife wherein it would 
 be possible for her to help him. He spoke much of 
 the past, tracing, with devout thankfulness, the lead- 
 ing of the Lord's hand in his eventful history. He 
 always made it a rule to keep his correspondence 
 completed up to date. Finding one more letter was 
 left to be written, he considered for a moment 
 whether he should not leave it till the morrow, but
 
 ^p, A
 
 284 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 decided to write it at once. And thus it was that, for 
 the last time, his much-used pen was taken in hand, 
 in writing to the widow of the Rev. T. W. Meller, 
 under whose superintendence he had done his first 
 work in preparing the Fijian Bible for the press, 
 thirty-six years before. A portion of this last letter 
 is here reproduced in facsimile. 
 
 And so the calm, happy day of home rest and 
 home love passed on ; and when night came, as was 
 his wont, he read to his wife out of the Word ; and 
 in his reading that night was this : " For I am al- 
 ready being offered, and the time of my departure is 
 come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished 
 the course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there 
 is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which 
 the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that 
 day ; and not to me only, but unto them also that 
 love His appearing." 
 
 Before the next day broke apoplexy came upon 
 him as he slept ; and his wife, roused by his heavy 
 breathing, found him insensible. The doctor, who 
 lived close by, . came immediately. Before his 
 arrival Mr. Calvert had recovered consciousness, and 
 inquired after some of the doctor's patients in whom 
 he was interested. While his heart was being 
 examined, he said, " I have had a hard life, doctor.'' 
 Throughout this and the following day he lay pros- 
 trate, and, according to strict orders, was kept in
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 285 
 
 perfect quietness. Then, on the Friday night, he 
 became restless, and his mind wandered, but it 
 wandered only one way. For hours he was uncon- 
 sciously busy, turning over and correcting proof- 
 sheets of the Fijian Bible. The hushed days passed, 
 and the Sunday found him very feeble, but clear in 
 mind. In the afternoon he lay, with closed eyes, 
 holding his wife's hand, and answering warmly to 
 words of Divine promise, which she quoted, and 
 verses of hymns, correcting her when one quotation 
 was not exact. " It is all right," he said, " the will 
 of the Lord is best the very best." 
 
 Early on Monday morning, they who lovingly 
 tended him knew, and he also knew, that the end 
 was near. He spoke brightly to his kind medical 
 attendant, and called for his dear ones, his wife, 
 daughter, and youngest son, and very tenderly bade 
 each of them a last farewell. Afterwards he lay 
 calmly awaiting his release. Once or twice during 
 the afternoon loving words fell from his lips, and 
 then came unbroken silence, passing into peaceful 
 sleep. Before another day broke he was " with 
 Christ : "March 8th, 1892. 
 
 A funeral service was held in the Central Wesleyan 
 Chapel, Hastings, in which, besides the members of 
 the family, a large number of friends took part, and 
 amongst them many ministers. It was much noted 
 that, in all the deep solemnity of the service, there
 
 286 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 was such a light of hope, and such assurance of a 
 life's work well done, that no gloom could settle 
 there. An address was given by the Kev. Joseph 
 Nettleton, one of the band of young missionaries 
 who went out in 1860, when Mr. and Mrs. Calvert 
 returned to Fiji for their second term of service. 
 He knew the departed saint well, and had worked 
 beside him on the field of his life's chief labours. 
 His tribute to his memory was full of reverent love, 
 and was peculiarly impressive as given by one who 
 had been an eye-witness of the wonderful results of 
 his faithful devotion. And by the speaker there 
 was brought the testimony of another saint of God, 
 and hero of the mission, also gone to his rest and 
 reward Joel Bulu, the old Tongan minister, who 
 had given his life to Fiji, and had watched the 
 whole history of the Gospel in the islands from its 
 beginning. "I saw," said he, at Lakemba, in 1868, 
 " those two men land, with pale faces and weak 
 voices. They could not wield the club like we can. 
 Their wives were not strong like our women. But 
 what changes have they wrought on this island ! 
 Instead of widow-strangling and cannibalism we 
 have a Christian chief ruling over a Christian people. 
 Instead of heathen temples we have Christian 
 churches; and instead of the old mythologies we 
 have the Word of God in our own tongue, and we 
 and our children can read it. Instead of heathen
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 287 
 
 priests we have been educated and ordained as 
 Christian ministers. Those pale-faced men came 
 from England ; and if the great queen had sent out 
 ships of war to fire on us, if we would not give up 
 widow-strangling and cannibalism, we might have 
 been blown to pieces ; but we never should have 
 given up the old customs for cannon-balls. If the 
 great queen had sent out an army of soldiers to cut 
 us' down with the drawn sword, we should not have 
 given up the cannibal oven or widow-strangling for the 
 sword. ' The sword of the Spirit ' which those two 
 men wielded has done what neither cannon-ball nor 
 cold steel could have done. From our killing and 
 devouring one another it has turned us into Christian 
 men and women. They not only preached the Word 
 of God, but they lived it ; and their daily life of 
 love and self-denial was a gospel which no prejudice 
 could resist, and no argument could withstand." 
 
 The burial was at Torquay. And there, in the 
 beautiful Barton cemetery, one in death, as in eternal 
 life, there lie together true yokefellows, who had 
 together borne the burden and heat of the day 
 James and Mary Calvert, awaiting the resurrection 
 of the just. 
 
 A memorial sermon was preached at Hastings 
 by the Kev. John Walton, who had well known 
 Mr. Calvert and his work in South Africa. He said 
 of him:
 
 288 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 "John Wesley's ideal Methodist preacher was 
 happily realised in this ardent missionary. Certainly 
 James Calvert had ' all his wits about him.' A man 
 of strong common sense, shrewd and practical in his 
 methods, and fearless in duty, he could adapt him- 
 self to new and difficult situations. He was a fine- 
 tempered, loving, and lovable man, tender as a 
 woman, and soon moved to tears. But he did not 
 lack the courage of his convictions. Politic he was, 
 as a missionary among savages must be; but he 
 never compromised truth or principle ; he always 
 went straight, and did his duty as his Church 
 expected him to do with unflinching fidelity. He 
 was indeed a man of resource, and not soon at his 
 wits' end. In dealing with the chiefs he displayed 
 wonderful tact. While he properly recognised their 
 position, and on all occasions treated them with due 
 respect, he never flattered, never feared them. 
 When occasion required, he could be bold as Nathan. 
 Once and again the cannibal despot had been turned 
 from his murderous design by the brave expostula- 
 tions of this herald of the Cross. He stood up 
 manfully for the oppressed and defenceless people. 
 Poor women and innocent children, already doomed 
 to be strangled or clubbed to furnish the cannibal 
 feast, have been rescued by the courageous inter- 
 vention of the man of God. By his wise address 
 and Christian conciliation fearful war was averted
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 289 
 
 and peace restored. . . . The love of God in his own 
 heart was the potent force that brought him into 
 touch with the poor savages. Had he restricted his 
 ministry to rebuke and denunciation he would have 
 failed in his mission. But he delivered his soul 
 in a full declaration of all the counsel of God ; he 
 fervently proclaimed the glorious provision Divine 
 mercy has made for even the vilest and the worst of 
 men. He urged them to repent and believe the 
 Gospel, as he himself had done. He besought them, 
 often with tears. 
 
 " To this feature of his ministry we must give due 
 prominence if we would understand James Calvert. 
 The poor cannibals came to believe in the man before 
 they believed in his message. And this method of 
 his was not a mere device to win Fijians. He followed 
 it all through his varied ministry, when dealing with 
 white men, as well as when dealing with black men, 
 in his native land as well as in Fiji. The warm 
 personal testimony he bore in his ministrations and 
 missionary addresses invested both with a gracious 
 charm. . . . This lovefeast element in James Cal vert's 
 fine emotional nature was very strong. It made his 
 face shine ; and he told his story with a spiritual 
 fascination which touched and thrilled his audience?. 
 
 " A few sentences must be added with reference to 
 James Cal vert's labours in South Africa. He be- 
 longed to the class of Christian heroes, and held 
 
 19
 
 290 JA.VES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 that a missionary should be ready to go anywhere. 
 He himself thought it not too much to visit Fiji 
 once and again when the Master called him. In 
 1872 he, with his devoted wife, placed himself at 
 the disposal of the missionary committee for service 
 anywhere. They were sent to join the workers at 
 the Cape. James Calvert's reputation had preceded 
 him, and the people expected great things. For 
 eight years, first in the Orange Free State and then 
 at the Diamond Fields at Kimberley, he laboured 
 with much acceptance amongst both colonists and 
 Kafirs. They were attracted by his personal character, 
 while his evangelical ministrations and pastoral atten- 
 tion won their hearts. He was greatly beloved. . . . 
 The Sunday before their embarkation for England, I 
 prevailed upon him to preach in the Commemoration 
 Church at Grahamstown. From the pulpit where 
 William Shaw had often preached he gave us a 
 beautiful discourse on ' The Greatest Thing in the 
 World.' That farewell message from the lips of so 
 beloved a disciple harmonised with the lofty tradi- 
 tions of the place, and was made a blessing to 
 many. . . ." 
 
 But little attempt has been made in these pages 
 to present a portraiture of James Calvert other than 
 that which is furnished by the record of his life, 
 and by his own words. The only difficulty in the
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 291 
 
 way of any one who, knowing him intimately, would 
 describe Mr. Calvert's character, is in the fear lest 
 the attempt to analyse that character should blur 
 the clear outline of its entire simplicity. Nowhere 
 would the art which, undertaking to draw a likeness, 
 glorifies itself by idealising a picture be more mis- 
 placed. His personality had an irresistible charm ; 
 but the admiration which would claim for him the 
 possession of genius, or great natural endowments, 
 would wholly misrepresent him. He had, however, 
 this actual greatness, that as those who knew him 
 longest and best can testify he never affected any- 
 thing that was not really his. There are some men 
 whose gifts compel your unwilling admiration, so 
 that, however you may blame yourselves for it, you 
 resent the compulsion, while you grudgingly pay the 
 tribute. One would not like to live near the man 
 who was not made the happier by knowing and 
 admiring James Calvert. But, though his character 
 was quite simple, it was, in no sense whatever, little. 
 The man was planned on an ample scale ; and beneath 
 his vigour of character was a massive framework of 
 qualities which give strength. 
 
 Yet it was his religion that made him. On this 
 point he must himself be heard, saying, as he 
 always did say, " By the grace of God I am what I 
 am." For a long course of years, in many places, and 
 before very diverse audiences, he was required to tell
 
 292 JAMJSS CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 the history of the recovery of a whole people from 
 the lowest barbarism. He himself had witnessed 
 this recovery, and taken a large part in bringing it 
 about, and as noted at the beginning of this 
 memoir he, almost without exception, prefaced 
 every account of his work with a reference to his 
 own conversion ; and, as the present writer has said 
 of him elsewhere, " every part of his subsequent 
 career not only looked back to that starting-point, 
 but, to his own mind, was in immediate and 
 necessary connection with it. Without this key his 
 story is unintelligible, crowded with facts which 
 refuse to be accounted for." And, as of his history, 
 so of himself; you cannot explain him if you leave 
 out his faith. Giving to the term all the Methodist 
 meaning with which he used it, his Experience was 
 at the living root of all he was and all he did. 
 Without it he might very likely have achieved 
 success in business ; for he had qualities which go to 
 the winning of such success, being withal orderly, 
 punctual, pushing, and sagacious. But the man he 
 became, as known and loved by thousands, he never 
 could have been save by the transforming and 
 ennobling power of the Divine grace. 
 
 He had, at starting, very scanty advantages in 
 Lhe way of culture ; but he always spoke and wrote 
 his own language correctly, and secured strength 
 in the use of it by observing simplicity. His
 
 THE LATER YE A PS. 293 
 
 education, like that of many men whose influence 
 has told for the benefit of others, was gained 
 chiefly from the schooling of active life, and the 
 discipline of circumstances. He was quick to gather, 
 and prompt to use any information which he could 
 turn to practical account. Beyond this, his zeal of 
 research did not extend far. Few men have been 
 brought into direct relation with such a wide variety 
 of people ; and, by the experience thus acquired, the 
 faculty of reading character was developed in him 
 to an altogether remarkable degree. And just as 
 remarkable was the adroit skill with which he used 
 his knowledge of men to influence them in the 
 direction he wished. In all this wisdom his one 
 supreme motive kept him from any loss of harmless- 
 ness and honesty. He sought to please men, " for 
 that which is good unto edifying." When occasion 
 of rebuke came he was direct and unflinching on 
 behalf of the right. Moreover, in dealing with 
 others, he never let them think that, in judging 
 them, he stood aloof from them or above them. His 
 warm quickness of sympathy made them know that 
 it was in his heart to come close to them with 
 brotherly help. Surely no man had in a larger 
 degree the most happy faculty of making the best of 
 everything and of everybody. 
 
 In him certain elements of force balanced each 
 other, which would otherwise have become conflicting.
 
 294 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 His hearty and liberal generosity was a marked 
 feature ; while, on the other hand, he was exceed- 
 ingly keen in detecting crookedness of motive and 
 hard to impose upon. He was nobly unselfish, often 
 to his own hurt ; but he had learned by very severe 
 training how to turn circumstances to his own 
 advantage. In the fulfilment of the service of his 
 high calling, and whenever there was opportunity 
 to do good to others, he never spared himself ; but 
 would face any peril, and suffer any inconvenience or 
 privation ; yet he was wont to declare with a droll 
 droop of one eyebrow well known to his friends 
 that his policy was to take care of himself and to live 
 as long as possible. So, shifting the emphasis to 
 suit his purpose, he would quote from a familiar 
 Methodist hymn, and say : 
 
 " I would the precious time redeem, 
 And longer live. . . ." 
 
 He read well, both in regard to the quality of the 
 books he studied, and in the way in which he assimi- 
 lated and made industrious notes of their contents. 
 Of light literature he had no appreciation whatever. 
 As a preacher, he never attained to popular dis- 
 tinction. He contented himself with a simple, 
 direct, and earnest statement and enforcement of 
 Christian truth, never getting out of sight of the 
 need of actual conversion, and the possibility of 
 being made "substantially happy" a favourite
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 295 
 
 phrase of his in the forgiving love of God. Of his 
 own happiness there could be no doubt. The light 
 of it shone out, so as to make a brightness round 
 about him wherever he went. He had known great 
 personal suffering, and, up to the very last, was 
 made to bear painful sorrow ; but his heart hid " its 
 own bitterness " from all but a very few ; and his 
 "joy in the Lord " remained undimmed. He had 
 the grace of hearty laughter, the bright tones of 
 which still ring clear in the memory of those who 
 knew him ; and they also love to recollect his 
 exceeding tenderness of heart, making his voice 
 break, and his eyes swim in a moment with ready 
 sympathy. 
 
 He made many friends in all the Churches, and 
 was faithful to them all ; and each of these counted 
 himself the richer for his friendship. A youthful 
 vivacity, the sparkle of which remained in old age, 
 gathered to him the affection of the young, in 
 whose love and friendship he greatly rejoiced. 
 
 Nothing is more certain than that you cannot 
 hope to form a right judgment of a man's character 
 until you know what he is at home. In some cases, 
 it is to be feared, the verdict of those who live and 
 look within that innermost circle would widely 
 differ from that of the outside world. Not so with 
 James Calvert. He not only showed, in the fullest 
 degree, the warm lovingkindness of his heart in
 
 296 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 all family relationships, but he put his Christianity 
 fully into them all. Loving his children as he did, 
 he suffered acutely in being separated from them. 
 No sacrifice made for the Lord and His service 
 involved anything like such self-denial as did this. 
 His private correspondence expresses the most 
 solicitous care for the well-being of those beloved 
 ones, and his letters to them are full of the tenderest 
 affection. 
 
 All knew him even those who could not under- 
 stand all it meant all knew him to be a man of 
 God. Without any ostentation, he never lowered 
 his colours. Amongst Christian people everywhere 
 he was a " brother beloved " ; whilst, in intercourse 
 with men of all kinds, he never lost sight of the 
 mandate of his missionary service, and had, in a high 
 degree, the excellent art of inoffensively making 
 opportunities for the faithful advocacy of the truth. 
 More than one casual companion in travel has had 
 reason for everlasting thankfulness that it fell to his 
 lot to journey with James Calvert. 
 
 His faith had in it nothing of speculation. He 
 knew Him in whom he believed. His relation to 
 Christ as a Saviour was a distinct fact in his daily 
 consciousness, and the controlling centre of his life's 
 motives. He was called to face the uttermost human 
 degradation which sin could work, and the most 
 appalling difficulties in the way of setting up the
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 297 
 
 kingdom of God. But he saw nothing that needed 
 to be done which was greater than that which had 
 already been done in his own self; and, anchored in 
 that sure knowledge of his own salvation, his faith, 
 however great the stress upon it, never drifted. He 
 believed, and he knew, the Gospel to be enough to 
 solve the hardest problems of the world's want ; and, 
 in this trust, he gave himself, with whole-hearted 
 devotion, to the preaching of Christ. 
 
 In the history of Christian missions in this cen- 
 tury the Church must ever glorify God for His 
 grace, magnified in the life and work of James 
 Calvert of Fiji. 
 
 The following beautiful sketch, by his oldest 
 surviving friend, the Rev. William Arthur, is trans- 
 ferred, by permission, from Work and Workers, as a 
 fitting close to this imperfect record. 
 
 " Five-and-fifty years ago, in the old college at 
 Hoxton, when I joined the company of students, 
 youngest of the number, a man some six years 
 older, yet one of my own year, was James Calvert. 
 He soon marked himself out as one whom the eye 
 must follow. And yet it would not be easy to say 
 why. He had no name for talents or attainments, 
 and made no attempts to be prominent. But every- 
 body knew Calvert, talked of him, liked him, and 
 expected him to do a good clay's work. The idea of
 
 298 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 his idling over his Master's business, or making 
 shift to come fairly off by leaning for help on others, 
 or of his making much noise for little labour, 
 entered no man's head. 
 
 " Whatever else he had or had not, he had three 
 things grace, head, and heart. God had loved 
 him, redeemed him, forgiven him, and sent him 
 into His vineyard to do good. This, as Stringer 
 Rowe has said, he knew, and all his existence was 
 coloured accordingly. His head and his heart were 
 both strong ; common sense, robust and quick, with 
 feeling both intense and tender, backed by a vigorous 
 will, gave you a man of clear purpose and forcible 
 impulse ; prompt in decision, swift of step, ready of 
 speech, and capable of a tear. He was neither 
 eccentric, nor quite free from a vein of something 
 which, for moments at a time, would look like in- 
 dividuality coming into touch with eccentricity. 
 His speech was plain, short, straight, and lovingly 
 affected the North. If he had not been a Yorkshire 
 man you would have said that he ought to have 
 been. 
 
 " Among the men in their first year who were much 
 given to open-air preaching, I seem more than any 
 others to recall Thomas Williams and Calvert. With 
 the latter I have been to Rag Fair and Shoreditch 
 Pump, and I think to Whitecross Street. Calvert 
 had a directness and simplicity which were very
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 299 
 
 effective ; and he seemed to get right at his audience 
 as if they were all one, and as if he had to take no 
 stiff steps either down or up to find the right level. 
 His prayers went up with a similar directness ; he 
 asked in order to receive, expected to receive, and 
 would leave the impression that it was good to draw 
 nigh unto God. There were men who could preach 
 better than Calvert, and, as people say, ' pray better,' 
 who, to judge from the tone in which they would 
 speak of him, would have been glad to be like Calvert. 
 " A man in his third year was always mentioned by 
 us all as the most remarkable man amongst us, an ex- 
 ploughman, a prospective Professor of Divinity, or 
 whatever else the Lord might call him to be. For 
 his opportunities a prodigy of solid attainment, and 
 with his reputation a pattern of Christian modesty. 
 In John Hunt the grace of Grod had built up a comely 
 monument, the remembrance of which has always 
 done me good, whenever it has come back to me, in 
 the course of my pilgrimage ; and back it has come 
 full oft, in paths of the land, and of the sea. Of 
 Hunt, personally, I saw more at Hoxton than of 
 Calvert, and regarded him with profound respect and 
 affection, as did every one, from Father Entwisle and 
 Dr. Hannah down to the last of the train. Hunt 
 and Calvert were both to be missionaries, and Hunt, 
 it was generally expected, would go to South Africa. 
 One day, Father Entwisle, after dinner, told us of
 
 800 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Cross and Cargill in Fiji, and of the cry, Pity Poor 
 Fiji, and of the intention to send out some men 
 forthwith. I believe many hearts then said, ' Here 
 am I, send me,' and I am sure that all asked, ' Who 
 will go ? ' 
 
 " The news was soon buzzing in every study that 
 Hunt was to go, and Gal vert with him. The interest 
 of the students was intense. Few now survive to 
 say me yea. Some lie in Africa, some in the West 
 Indies, some in Canada, some in Indian or Austral- 
 asian graves, and some in various fields at home, 
 sleep the sleep of the harvestman. One white head 
 still rises before me, that of the comrade student of 
 Hunt in his third year, John Richards, who served 
 well both in Africa and India. Were we not there 
 to a man that evening, in the little old chapel 
 at Hackney, up a lane, to see Hunt and Calvert 
 ordained for their service amongst the fiercest of 
 the fierce, and at the very ends of the earth ? Even 
 the youngest could feel the solemn joy of following, 
 if last of the rear, in the march of a great militant 
 host. Hunt's solemn and commanding testimony 
 to the grace of God, Calvert's testimony, warm and 
 homely as a village boy, left upon our hearts a last 
 recollection of these beloved companions which 
 always had the double effect of knitting the soul to 
 the men, and of inspiring faith in the blessing which 
 would attend their mission.
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 301 
 
 " When I came back from India, Cargill from Fiji 
 was staying at Dr. Beecham's, and by that kindly 
 tireside I heard from him much about Hunt and 
 Calvert, and took delight to think of my old com- 
 rade of Shoreditch Pump and Bag Fair drawing a 
 good bow at the battle of the cannibals. Then, after 
 a lapse of many years, the old quick step, the old 
 ringing laugh, in spite of the little dash of grey in 
 the hair, made the man of Fijian toils and wonders 
 seem only James Calvert of the Hoxton group over 
 again. Before they sailed I had just seen the 
 two comely wives. Before Calvert's return I had 
 looked with an interest, not to be expressed, on the 
 widow of his noble yokefellow, a woman worthy of 
 the man. Now by Calvert's side was his own Mary 
 Calvert, whose doings far away I had thankfully 
 traced, and in whose open countenance I gladly 
 saw the face of her brother, Philip Fowler, familiar 
 in Dr. Hannah's lecture room, and afterwards in 
 Conference. And looking on them one saw what 
 was not to be seen one saw the sun of the South 
 shining on eight letters cut in stone, JOHN HUNT ; 
 which eight letters, as long as suns do shine, will 
 make Christian souls bless the God and Redeemer 
 of the Lincolnshire ploughman. 
 
 " So then for many years, here and there, one met 
 with Calvert on platforms, in Conference, in the 
 houses of friends, and, best of all, now and then at
 
 302 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 home. There were episodes in Fiji, in Africa, else- 
 where ; but Hoxton and Fiji were to me always the 
 frames in which the figure of Calvert stood before 
 me. Of the many homes in which we have met, like 
 two old boys, never making much of one another, 
 but for all that knowing what we meant, none seems 
 to return to me as a place of frequent meeting so 
 much as dear old Guimersbury House kindly focus 
 of missionary feeling, where many an exhausted 
 toiler warmed himself on returning, and many a one 
 warmed himself again before setting out for another 
 campaign. Surrounded by Mr., Mrs., and Miss 
 Farmer, and the rest of the group, how would 
 Calvert enjoy himself, and be enjoyed, especially 
 when Mrs. Calvert and his daughter Annie were 
 with him ! 
 
 " In my own house Calvert was always as welcome 
 as the flowers of May. He was as much the friend 
 of my wife and children as my friend. Light came 
 with him, and useful talk of the kingdom of Christ 
 at home and abroad. I never told him how small I 
 often felt by his side when I thought of what our 
 common Master had wrought by his means as com- 
 pared with the poor track that lies behind me. In 
 the presence of men who had faithfully laboured in 
 West Africa or Fiji I always felt as if I had done 
 nothing in missionary sacrifice. Among servants 
 honoured of my Lord whom my roof has covered,
 
 THE LATER YEARS. 303 
 
 two men stand out before me, James Calvert of Fiji, 
 and William Taylor, Missionary Bishop of Africa. 
 
 " My last vivid recollections of Calvert will always 
 hover around Stoke House, Mr. W. H. Budgett's 
 residence, and around the Bristol Conference of 
 1890, that Conference of pains and cares unequalled 
 since 1849. Around that hospitable board there 
 were three of us past threescore and ten, with three 
 or four younger men. Dr. Osborn is gone, James 
 Calvert is gone, and I wait till the wafting of a 
 white wing shall carry me across the stream. It was 
 very pleasant then to see my old friend's comfort 
 with the second excellent Mrs. Calvert, and right 
 edifying to watch his intense interest in every phase 
 of the solicitude of the hour, coupled with his child- 
 like faith in God, and sturdy common sense in the 
 few observations he made on men and their pro- 
 ceedings. The last scene which comes up, and 
 which will often come up, was when he entered my 
 room, with solemn anxiety, to report the latest news, 
 not calculated to comfort but to disquiet. Two old 
 heads were weighted with fears, and yet were lifted 
 up again in faith and hope, that the God of patience 
 and consolation would save the Connexion from 
 another 1849. Probably that scene will linger with 
 me as the last of my fellowship with James Calvert 
 though not actually my last interview with him. 
 
 " So he has met John Hunt, and met Richard B.
 
 304 JAMES CALVERT OF FIJI. 
 
 Lyth, whom he so dearly loved the Doctor as he 
 delighted to call him and met a host of Fijian 
 converts, and met a gracious Master, who has said 
 unto him, ' Enter into My joy.' My two old 
 Hoxton friends have been met by many other 
 Hoxton friends there. 
 
 " As I sat in the morning sun a pair of sowers 
 passed by, going out to sow, and gave a kindly 
 greeting. We said the seed was good, and the men 
 were like their work, but the ground was nothing 
 but rocks and roadside, with patches of thorn and 
 brier. As I sit in the evening light, waiting till the 
 sun goes down behind the hills, I see two reapers 
 meeting meeting in the midst of the gold and the 
 crimson and the manifold glory and their sheaves 
 with them." 
 
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