John, a Protestant missionary to the South Sea Islands, was born at Tottenham High Cross, near London, June 29, 1796. His early education was more circumscribed than might have been expected; but having been afterwards bound as an apprentice to a furnishing ironmonger in London, he, without neglecting the duties of the warehouse, manifested a special interest in the processes of the workshop, and eagerly availed himself of opportunities of making himself practically acquainted with them. The mechanical skill which he then acquired he turned to good account in after-life. Having offered his services to the London Missionary Society, he sailed in November 1816 for the South Sea Islands, along with other three missionaries. On reaching the scene of his labours, he settled not on Tahiti but on Raiatea, one of the Society Islands, along with another missionary named Mr Threlkeld. Here, besides communicating religious instruction to the natives, they sought to promote among them the arts of civilized life. Previously the inhabitants had lived in a straggling way over the island, three or four families in one bay, and a little group five or six miles further on; but now, through the advice and influence of the missionaries, they collected together into one place, and erected for themselves a range of neat cottages, extending nearly three miles along the sea-beach, in which the great body of them resided. To this the mechanical skill and the instructions and example of Mr Williams greatly contributed. He threw his whole soul into efforts for the improvement of the natives, through means of the mechanical and other arts of civilized life, being fully alive to the great importance of the advancement of their temporal as well as of their spiritual condition; and he had the satisfaction of seeing great advances made by them in their civil and social, as well as in their religious and moral condition.

But Mr Williams was not satisfied with the limited sphere of usefulness which he had in Raiatea. He was anxious to visit the other groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean, and to introduce the gospel into them. Having had occasion, on account of his own and his wife's health, to go to Sydney, he also thought to advance the civilisation of the Society Islands by establishing a regular communication between them and the colony, and opening a market there for native produce. With these views he purchased, on account of the chiefs, a schooner of from 80 to 90 tons, and after his return to Raiatea, he and his fellow-missionary Mr Bourne sailed for the Hervey Islands, and taking with them six native teachers, settled them in Rarotonga and others of the islands. But he was stopped in the execution of the great scheme which had taken possession of his mind by its becoming necessary to sell the vessel. Though discouraged by this and other circumstances, he never, however, gave up the design. Having, four years afterwards, paid a second visit to Rarotonga for the purpose of introducing a missionary into that island, he was detained there longer than he had originally contemplated, as no ship had touched at it by which he might return to his own field of labour, and he was driven to the necessity of building a small vessel for the purpose. He had little knowledge of shipbuilding, was without suitable materials, had scarcely any tools except the imperfect ones which he himself made, and had to employ natives, who were wholly unacquainted with even the most ordinary things; yet in writing to a friend he was able to say, "I have built a little vessel of between 60 and 70 tons for missionary purposes. She was not four months on hand from the time we cut the keel until she was in the water. I had everything to make—my bellows, forge, lathe, and all the iron work, out of old axes, iron hoops, &c.; but I cannot enlarge on my numerous manoeuvres to overcome difficulties, though they would be interesting to you no doubt. Suffice it to say she is finished." Shortly after he sailed in her to Tahiti, a distance of between 600 and 700 miles.

In May 1830 Mr Williams, accompanied by a fellow-missionary, Mr Barff, sailed in the Messenger of Peace, as his little vessel was called, to the Navigators Islands, in the prosecution of the great object on which his heart had been so long set. Here they met with a very cordial reception from both the chiefs and the people; and, encouraged by this, they left eight native teachers on the island of Savaii, the largest and most imposing of the group. Such was the first step in the commencement of a mission on the Navigators Islands, a mission which has since been attended with remarkable success.

In 1834, Mr Williams returned to England, partly on account of his wife's health, who had long been a great invalid; and having been much employed in addressing public meetings, and also by the publication of a work, entitled A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands, he excited a deep interest in his mission and his plans. We question whether any missionary returned from the scene of his labours or any missionary publication ever made an equal impression on the public mind. While in this country he also carried through the press the New Testament in the dialect of Rarotonga, a considerable portion of which had been translated by himself; and likewise several other useful works. For the object on which his heart had been set for so many years, a missionary ship, he also now obtained ample funds.

In 1838, after a lengthened stay in this country, prolonged by his many and important engagements, Mr Williams again sailed for the South Sea Islands in the Camden, as the ship was called. He was accompanied by other nine missionaries; and after visiting the Navigators, the Hervey, the Georgian, and the Society islands, and seeing them settled in the several stations to which they were destined, he sailed with twelve native teachers for the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. On board the ship were also Mr James Harris, and Mr W. C. Cunningham, the British vice-consul for the South Sea Islands. After leaving three teachers on Tanna, they directed their course to the island of Erromanga. Here Mr Williams, Mr Harris, and Mr Cunningham landed, but they had not gone far on shore when they were attacked by the natives. Mr Cunningham effected his escape, but Mr Williams and Mr Harris were overtaken by them and killed with their clubs. An attempt was made to recover the bodies, but the natives carried them off and devoured them. Thus perished John Williams November 20, 1839, a noble specimen of a Christian missionary—ardent, devoted, disinterested, energetic, kind and conciliatory in his manners, yet withal of a compre-