Early Christian missionaries cared for the physical health of Māori as well as their souls. Jane Williams kept a supply of medicines which she administered to members of her flock when necessary. On 18 May 1840 she wrote in her diary: 'I have great cause for gratitude to our Heavenly Father having been so much better today as to be able to attend to my regular duties. Many applicants for medicine to whom I attended as far as they come within the compass of my very small portion of skill.'
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Source: Frances Porter, ed., The Turanga journals 1840–1850. Letters and journals of William and Jane Williams, missionaries to Poverty Bay. Price Milburn for Victoria University Press: Wellington, 1974, p. 109.
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