The next circumstance of importance which occurred while at Rarotonga was Mrs. Williams's illness. My mind had for some time been contemplating the extension of our labours to the Navigators Islands and the New Hebrides; and, as far back as 1824, I wrote to the Directors of the Missionary Society upon the subject. The Gospel being now established at the Hervey Islands, I began more seriously to think of taking a voyage to those distant groups; and, prior to leaving Raiatea, I communicated my wishes to Mrs. Williams; who, on learning that the islands I proposed to visit were from 1800 to 2000 miles distant, and that I should be absent about six months, exclaimed, “How can you suppose that I can give my consent to such a strange proposition? You will be eighteen hundred miles away, six months absent, and among the most savage people we are acquainted with; and if you should lose your life in the attempt, I shall be left a widow with my fatherless children, twenty thousand miles from my friends and my home.” Finding her so decidedly opposed to the undertaking, I did not mention it again, although my mind was still fixed upon the object. A few months after this, she was laid upon a bed of affliction; her illness came on so rapidly and severely, that in a few hours she was in a state of insensibility, and we greatly feared that it would terminate fatally: the prospect was truly distressing.