terrific. The shoutings and
exertions of the men, who felt the danger of their position, added to
the roar and the power of the waters, which tossed us hither and
thither as a thing of no consequence, made it a strange wild
minute,--till we emerged from all that struggle and roar into the still
beautiful quiet of the lagoon inside. Imagine it, surrounded with its
border of rocky land covered with noble trees, and spotted with islets
covered in like manner. The whole island is of volcanic formation, and
its rocks are of black scoria. The theory is, I believe, that a volcano
once occupied the whole centre of such islands; which sinking
afterwards away left its place to the occupancy of a lake instead.
However produced, the effect is singular in its wild beauty. The soil
of this island is poor for any purpose but growing timber; the
inhabitants consequently are not many, and they live on roots and fish
and what we should think still poorer food--a great wood maggot, which
is found in plenty. There are but four villages, two of them Christian.
I staid there one night and the next day, giving them all I could; and
it was a good time to me. The day after I returned home. O sweet gospel
of Christ! which is lighting up these dark places; and O my blessed
Master, who stands by his servants and gives them his own presence and
love, when they are about his work and the world is far from them, and
men would call them lonely. There is no loneliness where Christ is. I
must finish this long letter with giving you the dying testimony of a
Tongan preacher who has just gone to his home. He came here as a
missionary from his own land, and has worked hard and successfully. He
said to Mr. Calvert the day before his death, 'I have long _enjoyed_
religion and felt its _power_. In my former illness I was happy; but
now I am greatly blessed. The Lord has come down with mighty power into
my soul, and I feel the blessedness of _full rest of soul_ in God. I
feel religion to be peculiarly sweet, and my rejoicing is great. I see
more fully and clearly the truth of the word and Spirit of God, and the
suitableness of the Saviour. The whole of Christianity I see as
exceedingly excellent.'

"With this testimony I close, my dear friend. It is mine; I can ask no
better for you than that it may be yours."

Mrs. Caxton ended her reading and looked at Eleanor. She had done that
several times in the course of the reading. Eleanor was always bent
over her