attending to the education of the children. He quickly learned the language, and every condition seemed favourable, but there was one disturbing feature. Germany was extending her influence in the islands, and some of her traders far from trying to keep the peace were selling arms and ammunition to the natives. One day war broke out between the natives of an adjoining district and those of his own centre, and Brown immediately hastened to place himself between the contending parties, and sat for the remainder of the day in the sun trying to make a truce between them. In this he was not successful and there was much fighting for some time. Brown, however, became a great figure among the Samoans. His varied experiences as a youth in the doctor's surgery and chemist's shop helped him in the simple doctoring of native ills, and his career as a sailor had taught him many useful things. His mastery of the language was a great asset, and his human charity helped much in all his relations with both the natives and the white beachcombers living on the islands. He left Samoa in 1874 with the intention of being transferred to New Britain and New Ireland, and travelled through Australia appealing for funds. In August 1875 Brown went to the New Britain group of islands and began his work there. In the early days he was constantly in danger of losing his life, as he worked among cannibalistic natives who were constantly fighting among themselves. In 1878 he led a punitive expedition against a cannibal chief responsible for the massacre of Christian native teachers, this caused an uproar in the Australian press and was known as the 'Blanche Bay affair'. However it did improve the situation for Europeans, later Brown's wife could join him. He was there a little more than five years and returned to Sydney in the beginning of 1881. Deputation and circuit work During the next six years Brown was engaged in deputation and circuit work. He also wrote a series of anonymous articles in the Sydney Morning Herald regarding the necessity of British control of the islands of the Pacific. He was thoroughly familiar with German methods, and was convinced that they constituted a menace both to the natives and the world in general. In 1887 he was appointed secretary of the board of missions of the Methodist Church