nd, as he had kindly offered to do.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

MORE EXPLORATIONS AND ADVENTURES.

Shortly after the events mentioned in a former chapter, the Ajax came in
sight of a cluster of mountains, rising, it seemed, directly out of the
sea, to the height of four thousand feet. It was the island of
Raratonga, of which Mr Martin had told Ben. It is surrounded by a
curious barrier-reef of solid block coral, thirty-five miles in
circumference, and from a quarter of a mile to half a mile broad. At
high water it is completely covered to a depth of four or six feet, but
at low water it is almost bare. This vast reef prevents the sea from
breaking against the island. Outside the reef there is no anchorage
ground, as no cable could fathom the depth. Inside, the water is smooth
and beautifully clear, but no ship of any size can pass through the
reef. There are several passages for canoes and boats, and one for a
vessel of forty-five tons. This is, however, a very great advantage to
the inhabitants in a social point of view, as it prevents the
establishment of a seaport town in their island, while, at the same
time, they can enjoy intercourse with the rest of the world. This was
the very island of which Mr Williams had heard, and which he so long
looked for before he found it. Here the missionary Papehia landed
alone, trusting in Jehovah, among its then savage inhabitants. It was
here the great missionary Williams spent many months, and built
single-handed the schooner--the Messenger of Peace mentioned before--in
which he crossed over so many thousand miles of the Pacific Ocean, to
carry the glad tidings of great joy to many of the numerous islands
scattered over it. It was here that a fierce chief, Tinomana, became a
humble, lowly-minded Christian, and died strong in the faith. This is
the island, the inhabitants of which were among the fiercest of all the
isles of the Pacific, and are now among the most consistent and truest
Christians. It has sent out more missionaries than any other to convert
the heathen of the isles of the Pacific. It contains a training college
for missionaries, with numerous churches and schools. The houses of the
inhabitants are well-built, neat, and clean; and it is hardly too much
to say that, in the same space, and among an equal number of people
living together in any part of the world, a larger proportion of true
and consistent Christians will not be found.

As soon as the friga