This book is the outcome of the revived interest in the South Seas which the effort to build the steamer, John Williams, has created. In reading old books descriptive of the early days of the mission I came across so many striking facts unknown to the young people of to-day that a desire to put these facts together in a short connected story grew strong within me. It seemed also only right that those who had worked so nobly in raising money for the steamer should possess a volume that would clearly show them the greatness of the enterprise which they were helping forward.<br><br>The first few pages repeat what appears in the opening chapter of "From Island to Island," but in an altered form. The remainder is newly written. The books to which I am specially indebted are: Ellis's "Polynesian Researches," Williams's" Missionary Enterprises," Buzacott's "Mission Life in the Pacific," Turner's " Nineteen Years in Polynesia," Murray's "Western Polynesia," and "Forty Years' Mission Work," Gill's "Gems from the Coral Islands," Dr. Steele's "New Hebrides and Christian Missions," "The Night of Toil," by the author of the "Peep of Day," and an article entitled "Christian Work in Polynesia," which appeared in "The Missionary Review of the World." I have to thank my friends the Revs. S. J. Whitmee, F.R.G.S., formerly of Samoa, and A. T. Saville, formerly of Huahine, for their valued help in reading through the proofs.<br><br>That the reader may have as much happiness in perusing this wonderful record of God's power and grace as I have had in writing it is my most earnest wish.