The work of a native teacher is no sinecure. To begin with, he may be sent to a distant island, where the dialect is so different from his own that he has to begin by learning the language of the people. In this the men of Bau have a great advantage over all others, their speech being the standard of pure Fijian, in which, consequently, the Scriptures are published, so they are understood by all the people; but the Bau men are themselves sometimes sorely puzzled, just as you might be if addressed in broad Yorkshire or Somerset. There are about sixteen distinct dialects spoken in the group, some of which are as different as Spanish is from Portuguese. Once appointed to a district, the teacher has to hold school three mornings a-week for children, three evenings for adults, one week-day service with address, two Sunday services with sermon, and early prayer-meeting in church. He must conduct daily morning and evening prayer in several houses; must visit the sick; pray and read the Scriptures with them; look after the people generally; bury the dead, and travel once a-week to report himself to the native minister, who perhaps lives at a considerable distance. His pay varies from ten to twenty shillings, paid quarterly _in kind_. Should the value of the gifts exceed the sum to which he is entitled (decided by stewards in each village), the surplus, which may be a few shillings, goes to eke out the pay of a man in a poorer place. He is provided with a free house, and works in his own garden. His dinner is provided for him on Sunday. Once a-month an offering of food is made by the village, perhaps sufficient to last for a couple of days. And once a-year there may perhaps be an extra offering of yams. A native minister is entitled to receive twenty-five shillings a-quarter, and possibly a hundred yams as his annual offering, but this is rarely paid in full. He is subject to the law of the Wesleyan Mission Society, which forbids a missionary to possess any land as private property, or to do any act of trade—_i.e._, buying to sell again. The salary he receives from the Society is £5 a-year, which is raised to £15 after fifteen years’ service. I think it may interest you to see a sample of the manner in which the quarterly contributions for teachers is paid. For instance, here is a table of the offertory in each village on the isle of Ngau, one of the richer districts. Others, such as the Ra coast, give much less. The sum here represented is the quarterly salary of both native minister and schoolmaster.