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diff --git a/4952.txt b/4952.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be8d89c --- /dev/null +++ b/4952.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28074 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Life of John Coleridge Patteson, by Charlotte M. Yonge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Life of John Coleridge Patteson + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4952] +Last Updated: April 21, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON *** + + + + +Produced by Sandra Laythorpe and Others + + + + + + + + +LIFE OF JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON: + +MISSIONARY BISHOP OF THE MELANESIAN ISLANDS + + +By Charlotte Mary Yonge + + + +Transcriber's note: This Etext of the Life of John Coleridge Patteson: +Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands, by Charlotte Mary Yonge +was prepared by Sandra Laythorpe and others. More information about the +history of the Anglican Church may be found at Project Canterbury A web +page for Charlotte M Yonge may be found at www.menorot.com/cmyonge.htm. + + + + + +PREFACE. + + + +There are of course peculiar advantages as well as disadvantages in +endeavouring to write the life of one recently departed. On the +one hand, the remembrances connected with him are far fresher; his +contemporaries can he consulted, and much can be made matter of +certainty, for which a few years would have made it necessary to trust +to hearsay or probable conjecture. On the other, there is necessarily +much more reserve; nor are the results of the actions, nor even their +comparative importance, so clearly discernible as when there has been +time to ripen the fruit. + +These latter drawbacks are doubled when the subject of the biography has +passed away in comparatively early life: when the persons with whom his +life is chiefly interwoven are still in full activity; and when he has +only lived to sow his seed in many waters, and has barely gathered any +portion of his harvest. + +Thus what I have written of Bishop Patteson, far more what I have +copied of his letters, is necessarily only partial, although his nearest +relations and closest friends have most kindly permitted the full use +of all that could build up a complete idea of the man as he was. Many +letters relate to home and family matters, such as it would be useless +and impertinent to divulge; and yet it is necessary to mention that +these exist, because without them we might not know how deep was the +lonely man's interest and sympathy in all that concerned his kindred +and friends. Other letters only repeat the narrative or the reflections +given elsewhere; and of these, it has seemed best only to print that +which appeared to have the fullest or the clearest expression. In +general, the story is best told in letters to the home party; while +thoughts are generally best expressed in the correspondence with Sir +John Taylor Coleridge, to whom the Nephew seems to have written with +a kind of unconscious carefulness of diction. There is as voluminous +a correspondence with the Brother, and letters to many Cousins; but as +these either repeat the same adventures or else are purely domestic, +they have been little brought forward, except where any gap occurred in +the correspondence which has formed the staple material. + +Letters upon the unhappy Maori war have been purposely omitted; and, as +far as possible, such criticisms on living personages as it seemed fair +towards the writer to omit. Criticisms upon their publications are of +course a different thing. My desire has been to give enough expression +of Bishop Patteson's opinions upon Church and State affairs, to +represent his manner of thinking, without transcribing every detail of +remarks, which were often made upon an imperfect report, and were, +in fact, only written down, instead of spoken and forgotten, because +correspondence served him instead of conversation. + +I think I have represented fairly, for I have done my best faithfully +to select passages giving his mind even where it does not coincide +completely with my own opinions; being quite convinced that not only +should a biographer never attempt either to twist or conceal the +sentiments of the subject, but that either to apologise for, or as it +were to argue with them, is vain in both senses of the word. + +The real disadvantage of the work is my own very slight personal +acquaintance with the externals of the man, and my ignorance of the +scenes in which the chief part of his life was passed. There are those +who would have been far more qualified in these respects than myself, +and, above all, in that full and sympathetic masculine grasp of a man's +powerful mind, which is necessarily denied to me. But these fittest of +all being withheld by causes which are too well known to need mention, +I could only endeavour to fulfil the work as best I might; trusting +that these unavoidable deficiencies may be supplied, partly by Coleridge +Patteson's own habit of writing unreservedly, so that he speaks for +himself, and partly by the very full notes and records with which his +friends have kindly supplied me, portraying him from their point of +view; so that I could really trust that little more was needed than +ordinary judgment in connecting and selecting. Nor until the work is +less fresh from my hand will it be possible to judge whether I have +in any way been allowed to succeed in my earnest hope and endeavour to +bring the statue out of the block, and as it were to carve the figure of +the Saint for his niche among those who have given themselves soul and +body to God's Work. + +It has been an almost solemn work of anxiety, as well as one of love. +May I only have succeeded in causing these letters and descriptions to +leave a true and definite impression of the man and of his example! + +Let me here record my obligations for materials--I need hardly say to +the immediate family and relations--for, in truth, I act chiefly as +their amanuensis; but likewise to the Bishop of Lichfield, Bishop +Abraham. + +Lady Martin, the Rev. B. T. Dudley, the Rev. E. Codrington, and Captain +Tilly, for their valuable aid--the two first mentioned by correction and +revision, the others by contributions such as could only be supplied by +eye-witnesses and fellow-workers. Many others I must thank for kindly +supplying me with letters. + + +CHARLOTTE MARY YONGE. ELDERFIELD, September 19, 1873. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL, 1827-1838. + + + +So much of a man's cast of character depends upon his home and +parentage, that no biography can be complete which does not look back +at least as far as the lives of the father and mother, from whom the +disposition is sure to be in part inherited, and by whom it must often +be formed. Indeed, the happiest natures are generally those which have +enjoyed the full benefit of parental training without dictation, and +have been led, but not forced, into the way in which they should go. + +Therefore it will not be irrelevant to dwell on the career of the father +whose name, though still of great weight in his own profession, may not +be equally known to the younger generation who have grown up since the +words 'Mr. Justice Patteson' were of frequent occurrence in law reports. + +John Patteson, father of the subject of the present memoir, was son to a +clergyman of a Norfolk family, and was born at Coney Weston, on February +11, 1790. He was educated at Eton, and there formed more than one +friendship, which not only lasted throughout his life, but extended +beyond his own generation. Sport and study flourished alike among such +lads as these; and while they were taught by Dr. Groodall to delight +in the peculiarly elegant and accurate scholarship which was the +characteristic of the highest education of their day, their boyhood +and youth were full of the unstained mirth that gives such radiance to +recollections of the past, and often causes the loyalty of affectionate +association to be handed on to succeeding generations. The thorough +Etonian impress, with all that it involved, was of no small account in +his life, as well as in that of his son. + +The elder John Patteson was a colleger, and passed on to King's College, +Cambridge, whence, in 1813, he came to London to study law. In 1816 he +opened his chambers as a special pleader, and on February 23, 1818, was +married to his cousin, Elizabeth Lee, after a long engagement. The +next year, 1819, he was called to the Bar, and began to go the Northern +circuit. On April 3, 1820, Mrs. Patteson died, leaving one daughter, +Joanna Elizabeth. Four years later, on April 22, 1824, Mr. +Patteson married Frances Duke Coleridge, sister of his friend and +fellow-barrister, John Taylor Coleridge. This lady, whose name to all +who remember her calls up a fair and sweet memory of all that was good, +bright, and beloved, was the daughter of James Coleridge, of Heath's +Court, Ottery St. Mary, Devon, Colonel of the South Devon Volunteers. He +was the eldest of the numerous family of the Rev. John Coleridge, Master +of Ottery St. Mary School, and the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was +the youngest. + +The strong family affection that existed between all Colonel Coleridge's +children, and concentrated itself upon the only sister among them, +made marriage with her an adoption into a group that could not fail to +exercise a strong influence on all connected with it, and the ties of +kindred will be found throughout this memoir to have had peculiar force. + +John Coleridge Patteson, his mother's second child and eldest son, was +born at No. 9, Grower Street, Bedford Square, on the 1st of April, +1827, and baptized on the 8th. Besides the elder half-sister already +mentioned, another sister, Frances Sophia Coleridge, a year older than, +and one brother, James Henry, nearly two years younger than Coleridge, +made up the family. + +Three years later, in 1830, Mr. Patteson was raised to the Bench, at the +unusually early age of forty. + +It is probable that there never was a period when the Judicial Bench +could reckon a larger number of men distinguished not only for legal +ability but for the highest culture and for the substantial qualities +that command confidence and respect. The middle of the nineteenth +century was a time when England might well be proud of her Judges. + +There was much in the habits of the Bench and Bar to lead to close and +friendly intimacy, especially on the circuits. When legal etiquette +forbade the use of any public conveyance, and junior barristers shared +post-chaises, while the leaders travelled in their own carriages, all +spent a good deal of time together, and it was not unusual for ladies to +go a great part of the circuit with their husbands, especially when it +lay in the direction of their own neighbourhood. The Judges' families +often accompanied them, especially at the summer assize, and thus there +grew up close associations between their children, which made their +intimacy almost like that of relationship. Almost all, too, lived in +near neighbourhood in those parts of London that now are comparatively +deserted, but which were then the especial abodes of lawyers, namely, +those adjacent to Bedford Square, where the gardens were the daily +resort of their children, all playing together and knowing one another +with that familiarity that childhood only gives. + +'Sir John Patteson's contemporaries have nearly all, one by one, passed +away,' writes one of them, Sir John Taylor Coleridge. 'He has left few, +if any, literary monuments to record what his intellectual powers were; +and even in our common profession the ordinary course and practice are +so changed, that I doubt whether many lawyers are now familiar with his +masterly judgments; but I feel that I speak the truth when I describe +him as a man of singularly strong common sense, of great acuteness, +truthfulness, and integrity of judgment. These were great judicial +qualities, and to these he added much simplicity and geniality of temper +and manners; and all these were crowned by a firm, unhesitating, devout +belief in the doctrines of our faith, which issued in strictness to +himself and the warmest, gentlest charity to his fellow-creatures. The +result was what you might expect. Altogether it would be hard to +say whether you would characterise him as a man unusually popular or +unusually respected.' + +Such was the character of Mr. Justice Patteson, a character built upon +the deep, solid groundwork of religion, such as would now be called that +of a sound Churchman of the old school, thoroughly devout and scrupulous +in observance, ruling his family and household on a principle felt +throughout, making a conscience of all his and their ways, though +promoting to the utmost all innocent enjoyment of pleasure, mirth, or +gaiety. Indeed, all who can look back on him or on his home remember +an unusual amount of kindly genial cheerfulness, fun, merriment, and +freedom, i.e. that obedient freedom which is the most perfect kind of +liberty. + +Though this was in great part the effect of having such a head of the +family, the details of management could not but chiefly depend upon +the mother, and Lady Patteson was equally loved for her tenderness and +respected for her firmness. 'She was, indeed,' writes her brother, 'a +sweet and pious person, of the most affectionate, loving disposition, +without a grain of selfishness, and of the stoutest adherence to +principle and duty. Her tendency was to deal with her children fondly, +but this never interfered with good training and discipline. What she +felt right, she insisted on, at whatever pain to herself.' + +She had to deal with strong characters. Coleridge, or Coley, to give him +the abbreviation by which he was known not only through childhood but +through life, was a fair little fellow, with bright deep-blue eyes, +inheriting much of his nature from her and her family, but not by any +means a model boy. He was, indeed, deeply and warmly affectionate, +but troublesome through outbreaks of will and temper, showing all the +ordinary instinct of trying how far the authorities for the time +being will endure resistance; sufficiently indolent of mind to use his +excellent abilities to save exertion of intellect; passionate to kicking +and screaming pitch, and at times showing the doggedness which is such +a trial of patience to the parent. To this Lady Patteson 'never yielded; +the thing was to be done, the point given up, the temper subdued, the +mother to be obeyed, and all this upon a principle sooner understood +than parents suppose.' + +There were countless instances of the little boy's sharp, stormy gusts +of passion, and his mother's steady refusal to listen to his 'I will be +good' until she saw that he was really sorry for the scratch or pinch +which he had given, or the angry word he had spoken; and she never +waited in vain, for the sorrow was very real, and generally ended in +'Do you think God can forgive me?' When Fanny's love of teasing had +exasperated Coley into stabbing her arm with a pencil, their mother +had resolution enough to decree that no provocation could excuse 'such +unmanliness' in a boy, and inflicted a whipping which cost the girl more +tears than her brother, who was full of the utmost grief a child +could feel for the offence. No fault was lightly passed over; not that +punishment was inflicted for every misdemeanour, but it was always +noticed, and the children were shown with grave gentleness where they +were wrong; or when there was a squabble among them, the mother's +question, 'Who will give up?' generally produced a chorus of 'I! I! I!' +Withal 'mamma' was the very life of all the fun, and play, and jokes, +enjoying all with spirits and merriment like the little ones' own, +and delighting in the exchange of caresses and tender epithets. Thus +affection and generosity grew up almost spontaneously towards one +another and all the world. + +On this disposition was grafted that which was the one leading +characteristic of Coley's life, namely, a reverent and religious spirit, +which seems from the first to have been at work, slowly and surely +subduing inherent defects, and raising him, step by step, from grace to +grace. + +Five years old is in many cases an age of a good deal of thought. The +intelligence is free from the misapprehensions and misty perceptions of +infancy; the first course of physical experiments is over, freedom of +speech and motion have been attained, and yet there has not set in that +burst of animal growth and spirits that often seems to swamp the deeper +nature throughout boyhood. By this age Coley was able to read, and on +his birthday he received from his father the Bible which was used at his +consecration as Bishop twenty-seven years later. + +He had an earnest wish to be a clergyman, because he thought saying the +Absolution to people must make them so happy, 'a belief he must have +gleaned from his Prayer-book for himself, since the doctrine was not in +those days made prominent.' The purpose was fostered by his mother. 'She +delighted in it, and encouraged it in him. No thought of a family being +to be made, and of Coley being the eldest son, ever interfered for a +moment. That he should be a good servant at God's altar was to her above +all price.' + +Of course, however, this was without pressing the thought on him. He +grew on, with the purpose accepted but not discussed, except from time +to time a half-playful, half-grave reference to himself as a future +clergyman. + +Reverence was strongly implanted in him. His old nurse (still his +sister's valued servant) remembers the little seven years old boy, after +saying his own prayers at her knee, standing opposite to his little +brother, admonishing him to attention with 'Think, Jemmy; think.' In +fact, devoutness seems to have been natural to him. It appears to have +been the first strongly traceable feature in him, and to have gradually +subdued his faults one by one. + +Who can tell how far this was fostered by those old-fashioned habits +of strictness which it is the present habit to view as repellent? Every +morning, immediately after breakfast, Lady Patteson read the Psalms and +Lessons for the day with the four children, and after these a portion +of some book of religious instruction, such as 'Horne on the Psalms' or +'Daubeny on the Catechism.' The ensuing studies were in charge of Miss +Neill, the governess, and the life-long friend of her pupils; but the +mother made the religious instruction her individual care, and thus +upheld its pre-eminence. Sunday was likewise kept distinct in reading, +teaching, employment, and whole tone of conversation, and the effect was +assuredly not that weariness which such observance is often supposed to +produce, but rather lasting benefit and happy associations. Coley really +enjoyed Bible-reading, and entered into explanations, and even +then often picked up a passage in the sermons he heard at St. +Giles's-in-the-Fields from the Rev. J. Endell Tyler, and would give +his home-oracles no peace till they had made it as clear to his +comprehension as was possible. + +The love of his home may be gathered from the fact that his letters have +been preserved in an unbroken series, beginning from a country visit in +1834, after a slight attack of scarlet fever, written in the round-hand +of a boy of seven years old, and finished off with the big Roman +capitals FINIS, AMEN, and ending with the uncompleted sheets, bearing as +their last date September 19, 1871. + +The boy's first school was at Ottery St. Mary, in Devonshire, of which +his great-grandfather and great-uncle had both been head-masters. + +There was much to make Ottery homelike to Coley, for his grandparents +lived at Heath's Court, close to the church, and in the manor-house near +at hand their third son, Francis George Coleridge, a solicitor, whose +three boys were near contemporaries of Coley, and two of them already in +the school. + +From first to last his letters to his parents show no symptom of +carelessness; they are full of ease and confidence, outpourings of +whatever interested him, whether small or great, but always respectful +as well as affectionate, and written with care and pains, being +evidently his very best; nor does the good old formula, 'Your +affectionate and dutiful son,' ever fail or ever produce stiffness. + +The shrinking from rough companions, and the desire to be with the +homelike relatives around, proved a temptation, and the little boy was +guilty of making false excuses to obtain leave of absence. We cannot +refrain from giving his letter of penitence, chiefly for the sake of the +good sense and kindness of his uncle's treatment:-- + + +'April 26, 1836. + +'My dear Papa,--I am very sorry for having told so many falsehoods, +which Uncle Frank has told mamma of. I am very sorry for having done so +many bad things, I mean falsehoods, and I heartily beg your pardon; +and Uncle Frank says that he thinks, if I stay, in a month's time Mr. +Cornish will begin to trust me again. Uncle Frank to-day had me into his +house and told me to reflect upon what I had done. He also lectured me +in the Bible, and asked me different questions about it. He told me that +if I ever told another falsehood he should that instant march into the +school and ask Mr. Cornish to strip and birch me; and if I followed the +same course I did now and did not amend it, if the birching did not do, +he should not let me go home for the holidays; but I will not catch the +birching... + +'So believe me your dear Son, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +On the flap of the letter 'Uncle Frank' writes to the mother:-- + + +'My dear Fanny,--I had Coley in my room to-day, and talked to him +seriously about his misdeeds, and I hope good has been done. But I +could scarcely keep my countenance grave when he began to reduce by +calculation the exact number of fibs he had told. He did not think it +was more than two or three at the utmost: and when I brought him to +book, I had much to do to prevent the feeling that the sin consisted +in telling many lies. However the dear boy's confession was as free +as could be expected, and I have impressed on his mind the meanness, +cowardice, and wickedness of the habit, and what it will end in here and +hereafter. He has promised that he will never offend in future in like +manner, and I really believe that his desire to be away from the school +and at ease among his friends induced him to trump up the invitations, +&c., to Mr. Cornish, in which consisted his first fibs. I shall watch +him closely, as I would my own child; and Cornish has done wisely, +I think, by giving the proper punishment of confining him to the +school-court, &c., and not letting him go to his friends for some time. +The dear boy is so affectionate, and has so much to work on, that there +is no fear of him; only these things must be looked after promptly, and +he must learn practically (before his reason and religion operate) that +he gains nothing by a lie... He is very well, and wins one's heart in a +moment... + +'Ever your affectionate Brother, + +'F. G. C.' + + +The management was effectual, and the penitence real, for this fault +never recurred, nor is the boy's conduct ever again censured, though the +half-yearly reports often lament his want of zeal and exertion. Coley +was sufficiently forward to begin Greek on his first arrival at Ottery, +and always held a fair place for his years, but throughout his school +career his character was not that of an idle but of an uninterested +boy, who preferred play to work, needed all his conscience to make +him industrious, and then was easily satisfied with his performances; +naturally comparing them with those of other boys, instead of doing his +own utmost, and giving himself full credit for the diligence he thought +he had used. For it must be remembered that it was a real, not an ideal +nature; not a perfect character, but one full of the elements of growth. + +A childish, childlike boy, he was now, and for many years longer, +intensely fond of all kinds of games and sports, in which his light +active form, great agility, and high spirit made him excel. Cricket, +riding, running-races, all the school amusements were his delight; +fireworks for the 5th of November sparkle with ecstasy through his +letters, and he was a capital dancer in the Christmas parties at his +London home. He had likewise the courage and patience sure to be needed +by an active lad. While at Ottery he silently bore the pain of a broken +collar-bone for three weeks, and when the accident was brought to light +by his mother's embrace, he only said that 'he did not like to make a +fuss.' + +Consideration for others, kindness, and sweetness of nature were +always his leading characteristics, making him much beloved by all his +companions, and an excellent guardian and example to his little brother, +who soon joined him at Ottery. Indeed, the love between these two +brothers was so deep, quiet, and fervid, that it is hard to dwell on +it while 'one is taken and the other left.' It was at this time a rough +buffeting, boyish affection, but it was also a love that made separation +pain and grief, and on the part of the elder, it showed itself in +careful protection from all harm or bullying, and there was a strong +underlying current of tenderness, most endearing to all concerned with +the boys, whether masters, relations, friends, or servants. + + + + +CHAPTER II. BOYHOOD AT ETON. 1838--1845. + + + +After the Christmas holidays of 1837-8, when Coley Patteson was nearly +eleven years old, he was sent to Eton, that most beautifully situated +of public schools, whose delightful playing fields, noble trees, broad +river, and exquisite view of Windsor Castle give it a peculiar charm, +joining the venerable grandeur of age to the freshness and life of +youth, so as to rivet the affections in no common degree. + +It was during the head-mastership of Dr. Hawtrey that Patteson became, +in schoolboy phrase, an Eton fellow, being boarded in the house of his +uncle, the Rev. Edward Coleridge, one of the most popular and successful +Eton masters. Several of his cousins were also in this house, with other +boys who became friends of his whole life, and he was thoroughly happy +there, although in these early days he still felt each departure from +home severely, and seldom failed to write a mournful letter after the +holidays. There is one, quite pathetic in its simplicity, telling his +mother how he could not say his prayers nor fall asleep on his first +night till he had resolutely put away the handkerchief that seemed +for some reason a special link with home. It illustrates what all who +remember him say, how thoroughly a childlike being he still was, though +a well-grown, manly, high-spirited boy, quite able to take care of +himself, keep his place, and hold his own. + +He was placed in the lower remove of the fourth form, which was then +'up to' the Rev. Charles Old Goodford, i.e. that was he who taught the +division so called in school. + +The boy was evidently well prepared, for he was often captain of his +division, and his letters frequently tell of successes of this kind, +while they anticipate 'Montem.' + +That of 1838 was a brilliant one, for Queen Victoria, then only +nineteen, and her first year of sovereignty not yet accomplished, came +from the Castle to be driven in an open carriage to Salt Hill and bestow +her Royal contribution. + +In the throng little Patteson was pressed up so close to the Royal +carriage that he became entangled in the wheel, and was on the point +of being dragged under it, when the Queen, with ready presence of mind, +held out her hand: he grasped it, and was able to regain his feet in +safety, but did not recover his perceptions enough to make any sign +of gratitude before the carriage passed on. He had all a boy's shyness +about the adventure; but perhaps it served to quicken the personal +loyalty which is an unfailing characteristic of 'Eton fellows.' + +The Royal custom of the Sunday afternoon parade on the terrace of +Windsor Castle for the benefit of the gazing public afforded a fine +opportunity for cultivating this sentiment, and Coley sends an amusingly +minute description of her Majesty's dress, evidently studied for +his mother's benefit, even to the pink tips of her four long ostrich +feathers, and calling to mind Chalon's water-colours of the Queen in +her early youth. He finishes the description with a quaint little bit of +moralising. 'It certainly is very beautiful with two bands playing on +a calm, blessed Sunday evening, with the Queen of England and all her +retinue walking about. It gives you an idea of the Majesty of God, who +could in one short second turn it all into confusion. There is nothing +to me more beautiful than the raising one's eyes to Heaven, and thinking +with adoration who made this scene, and who could unmake it again.' + +A few days later the record is of a very different scene, namely, +Windsor Fair, when the Eton boys used to imagine they had a prescriptive +right to make a riot and revel in the charms of misrule. + +'On the second day the Eton fellows always make an immense row. So at +the signal, when a thing was acting, the boys rushed in and pulled down +the curtain, and commenced the row. I am happy to say I was not there. +There were a great many soldiers there, and they all took our part. The +alarm was given, and the police came. Then there was such a rush at the +police. Some of them tumbled over, and the rest were half-knocked down. +At last they took in custody three of our boys, upon which every boy +that was there (amounting to about 450) was summoned. They burst open +the door, knocked down the police, and rescued our boys. Meantime the +boys kept on shying rotten eggs and crackers, and there was nothing but +righting and rushing.' + +A startling description! But this was nothing to the wild pranks that +lived in the traditions of the elder generation; and in a few years more +the boys were debarred from the mischievous licence of the fair. + +Coley had now been nearly a year at Eton, and had proceeded through the +lower and middle removes of the fourth form, when, on November 23, he +achieved the success of which he thus writes:-- + +'Rejoice! I was sent up for good yesterday at eleven o'clock school. I +do not know what copy of verses for yet, but directly I do, I will send +you a copy.... Goodford, when I took my ticket to be signed (for I was +obliged to get Goodford, Abraham, and my tutor to sign it), said, "I +will sign it most willingly," and then kept on stroking my hand, and +said, "I congratulate you most heartily, and am very glad of it." I am +the only one who is sent up; which is a good thing for me, as it will +give me forty or fifty good marks in trials. I am so splitting with joy +you cannot think, because now I have given you some proof that I have +been lately sapping and doing pretty well. Do not, think that I am +praising myself, for I am pretty nearly beside myself, you may suppose.' + +One of his cousins adds, on the same sheet: 'I must tell you it is very +difficult to be sent up in the upper fourth form, and still more so in +the middle remove.' + +The subject of the Latin verses which obtained this distinction was +a wreath or garland, and there must have been something remarkable in +them, for Mr. Abraham preserved a copy of them for many years. There +was something in the sweetness and docility of the boy, and in the +expression of his calm, gentle face, that always greatly interested the +masters and made them rejoice in his success; and among his comrades +he was a universal favourite. His brother joined him at Eton during the +ensuing year, when the Queen's wedding afforded the boys another glimpse +of Royal festivity. Their tumultuous loyalty and audacity appear in +Coley's letter:-- + +'In college, stretching from Hexter's to Mother Spier's was a +magnificent representation of the Parthenon: there were three pillars, +and a great thing like this (a not over-successful sketch of a +pediment), with the Eton and Royal arms in the middle, and "Gratulatur +Etona Victoria et Alberto" It cost L150, and there were 5,000 lamps hung +on it. Throughout the whole day we all of us wore large white bridal +favours and white gloves. Towards evening the clods got on Long Walk +Wall; and as gentle means would not do, we were under the necessity of +knocking some over, when the rest soon jumped off. However, F---- and +myself declared we would go right into the quadrangle of the Castle, +so we went into the middle of the road and formed a line. Soon a rocket +(the signal that the Queen was at Slough) was let off, and then some +Life Guards came galloping along, and one of them ran almost over me, +and actually trod on F---'s toe, which put him into dreadful pain for +some time. Then came the Queen's carriage, and I thought college would +have tumbled down with the row. The cheering was really tremendous. The +whole 550 fellows all at once roared away. The Queen and Consort nodding +and bowing, smiling, &c. Then F---- and I made a rush to get up behind +the Queen's carriage, but a dragoon with his horse almost knocked us +over. So we ran by the side as well as we could, but the crowd was so +immensely thick, we could not get on as quick as the Queen. We rushed +along, knocking clean over all the clods we could, and rushing against +the rest, and finally F---- and myself were the only Eton fellows that +got into the quadrangle. As we got there, the Queen's carriage was going +away. You may fancy that we were rather hot, running the whole way up to +the Castle, besides the exertion of knocking over the clods and knocking +at doors as we passed; but I was so happy.' + +Such is bliss at twelve years old! + +The first half-year of 1839 had brought Patteson into the Remove, that +large division of the school intermediate between the fourth and fifth +forms. The work was harder, and his diligence somewhat relaxed. In fact, +the Coley of this period and of a good while later had more heart for +play than work. Cricket, bathing, and boating were his delight; and +though his school-work was conscientiously accomplished, it did not +interest him; and when he imagined himself to have been working hard and +well, it was a thunderbolt to him to find, at the end of the half-year, +that a great deal more had been expected of him by his tutor. It shows +how candid and sweet his nature was, that, just as when he was a little +fellow at Ottery, his penitent letter should contain the rebuke he had +received, without resentment against anyone but himself:-- + +'Aunt has just called me down into the drawing-room and shown me my +character. I am stupefied at it; it is so shocking just when I most +wanted a good one on account of mamma's health. I am ashamed to say that +I can offer not the slightest excuse; my conduct on this occasion has +been very bad. I expect a severe reproof from you, and pray do not send +me any money, nor grant me the slightest [favour?]. Whilst ....., +who has very little ability (uncle says), is, by plodding on, getting +credit, I, who (my tutor says) have abilities, am wickedly neglecting +and offending both my heavenly and earthly Father by my bad use of them. +Aunt called me into the drawing-room, and very kindly showed me the +excessive foolishness of my conduct; but from this very moment I am +determined that I will not lose a moment, and we will see what the next +three weeks will produce.' + +Poor little fellow! his language is so strong that it is almost a +surprise to find that he was reproaching himself for no more heinous +fault than not having worked up to the full extent of his powers! He +kept his promise of diligence, and never again incurred reproof, but was +sent up for good again in November. His career through the school was +above the average, though not attaining to what was expected from his +capabilities; but the development of his nature was slow, and therefore +perhaps ultimately the more complete, and as yet study for its own sake +did not interest him; indeed, his mind was singularly devoid of pleasure +in classical subjects, though so alert in other directions. + +He was growing into the regular tastes of the refined, fastidious Eton +boy; wrote of the cut of his first tail-coat that 'this is really an +important thing;' and had grown choice in the adorning of his room and +the binding of his books, though he never let these tastes bring him +into debt or extravagance. His turn for art and music began to show +itself, and the anthems at St. George's Chapel on the Sunday afternoons +gave him great delight; and in Eton Chapel, a contemporary says, 'I well +remember how he used to sing the Psalms with the little turns at the end +of the verses, which I envied his being able to do.' Nor was this mere +love of music, but devotion. Coley had daily regular readings of the +Bible in his room with his brother, cousins, and a friend or two; but +the boys were so shy about it that they kept an open Shakespeare on the +table, with an open drawer below, in which the Bible was placed, and +which was shut at the sound of a hand on the door. + +Hitherto No. 33 Bedford Square had been the only home of the Patteson +family. The long vacations were spent sometimes with the Judge's +relations in the Eastern counties, sometimes with Lady Patteson's in the +West. Landwith Rectory, in Cornwall, was the home of her eldest brother, +Dr. James Coleridge, whose daughter Sophia was always like an elder +sister to her children, and the Vicarage of St. Mary Church, then a +wild, beautiful seaside village, though now almost a suburb of Torquay, +was held by her cousin, George May Coleridge; and here the brothers and +sisters climbed the rocks, boated, fished, and ran exquisitely wild +in the summer holidays. Christmas was spent with the Judge's mother at +Ipswich, amongst numerous cousins, with great merriment and enjoyment +such as were never forgotten. + +Colonel Coleridge had died in 1836, his widow in her daughter's house +in 1838, and Heath's Court had become the property of Mr. Justice +Coleridge, who always came thither with his family as soon as the +circuit was over. In 1841, Feniton Court, about two miles and a half +from thence, was purchased by Judge Patteson, much to the delight of his +children. It was a roomy, cheerful, pleasantly-situated house, with a +piece of water in the grounds, the right of shooting over a couple of +farms, and all that could render boy life happy. + +Feniton was a thorough home, and already Coley's vision was, 'When I am +vicar of Feniton, which I look forward to, but with a very distant +hope, I should of all things like Fanny to keep house for me till I am +married;' and again, when relating some joke with his cousins about +the law-papers, of the Squire of Feniton, he adds: 'But the Squire of +Feniton will be a clergyman.' + +Whether this were jest or earnest, this year, 1841, brought the dawn +of his future life. It was in that year that the Rev. George Augustus +Selwyn was appointed to the diocese of New Zealand. Mrs. Selwyn's +parents had always been intimate with the Patteson family, and the +curacy which Mr. Selwyn had held up to this time was at Windsor, so +that the old Etonian tie of brotherhood was drawn closer by daily +intercourse. Indeed, it was from the first understood that Eton, with +the wealth that her children enjoyed in such large measure, should +furnish 'nerves and sinews' to the war which her son was about to wage +with the darkness of heathenism, thus turning the minds of the boys to +something beyond either their studies or their sports. + +On October 31, the Rev. Samuel Wilberforce, then Archdeacon of Surrey, +and since Bishop of Oxford and of Winchester, preached in the morning at +New Windsor parish church, and the newly-made Bishop of New Zealand in +the afternoon. Coley was far more affected than he then had power to +express. He says: 'I heard Archdeacon Wilberforce in the morning, and +the Bishop in the evening, though I was forced to stand all the time. +It was beautiful when he talked of his going out to found a church, and +then to die neglected and forgotten. All the people burst out crying, +he was so very much beloved by his parishioners. He spoke of his perils, +and putting his trust in God; and then, when, he had finished, I think +I never heard anything like the sensation, a kind of feeling that if it +had not been on so sacred a spot, all would have exclaimed "God bless +him!"' + +The text of this memorable sermon was, 'Thine heart shall be enlarged, +because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the +forces also of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.' (Is. lx. 5.) Many +years later we shall find a reference to this, the watchword of the +young hearer's life. + +The Archdeacon's sermon was from John xvii. 20, 21: 'Neither pray I for +these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their +word; that they all may be One, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in +Thee, that they also may be One in Us: that the world may believe that +Thou hast sent Me.' And here again we find one of the watchwords of +Coley's life, for nothing so dwelt with him and so sustained him as the +sense of unity, whether with these at home in England, or with those in +the inner home of the Saints. When the sermon concluded with the words, +'As we are giving of our best, as our Church is giving of her best, in +sending forth from her own bosom these cherished and chosen sons, so let +there go forth from every one of us a consenting offering; let us give +this day largely, in a spirit of self-sacrifice, as Christian men, to +Christ our Lord, and He will graciously accept and bless the offerings +that we make'--the preacher could little guess that among the lads who +stood in the aisle was one in whom was forming the purpose of offering +his very self also. + +For at that time Coleridge Patteson was receiving impressions that +became the seed of his future purpose, and the eyes of his spirit were +seeing greater things than the Vicarage of Feniton. Indeed, the subject +was not entirely new to him, for Edward Coleridge was always deeply +interested in missions, and had done his best to spread the like +feeling, often employing the willing services of his pupils in copying +letters from Australia, Newfoundland, &c. + +When the Bishop of New Zealand came to take leave, he said, half in +earnest, half in playfulness, 'Lady Patteson, will you give me Coley?' +She started, but did not say no; and when, independently of this, her +son told her that it was his greatest wish to go with the Bishop, she +replied that if he kept that wish when he grew up he should have her +blessing and consent. + +But there was no further mention of the subject. The sisters knew what +had passed, but it was not spoken of to his father till long after, when +the wish had become purpose. Meantime the boy's natural development put +these visions into the background. He was going on with ordinary work +and play, enjoying the pageantry of the christening of the Prince of +Wales, and cheering himself hoarse and half-frantic when the King of +Prussia came to see the school; then on his father's birthday writing +with a 'hand quite trembling with delight' to announce what he knew +would be the most welcome of birthday presents, namely, the news that +he had been 'sent up' for a very good copy of seventy-nine verses, +'all longs, on Napoleon e Seylhia profugus, passage of Beresina, and +so forth.' His Latin verses were his strong point, and from this time +forward he was frequently sent up, in all twenty-five times, an almost +unprecedented number. + +In fact he was entering on a fresh stage of life, from the little boy to +the lad, and the period was marked by his Confirmation on May 26, 1842. +Here is his account both of it and of his first Communion. The soberness +and old-fashioned simplicity of expression are worth remarking as tokens +of the quietly dutiful tone of mind, full of reverence and sincere +desire to do right, and resting in the consciousness of that desire, +while steadily advancing towards higher things than he then understood. +It was a life and character where advancement with each fresh imparting +of spiritual grace can be traced more easily than usual. + +It is observable too that the boy's own earnestness and seriousness of +mind seem to have to him supplied the apparent lack of external aids to +devotional feeling, though the Confirmation was conducted in the brief, +formal, wholesale manner which some in after-life have confessed to +have been a disappointment and a drawback after their preparation and +anticipation:-- + +'You will know that I have been confirmed to-day, and I dare say you all +thought of me. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of Lincoln, and +I hope that I have truly considered the great duty and responsibility +I have taken upon myself, and have prayed for strength to support me +in the execution of all those duties. I shall of course receive the +Sacrament the first time I have an opportunity, and I trust worthily. I +think there must have been 200 confirmed. The Bishop gave us a very +good charge afterwards, recommending us all to take pattern by the +self-denial and true devotion of the Bishop of New Zealand, on whom +he spoke for a long-while. The whole ceremony was performed with the +greatest decorum, and in the retiring and coming up of the different +sets there was very little noise, and not the slightest confusion. I +went up with the first set, and the Bishop came round and put his hands +on the heads of the whole set (about forty), and then going into the +middle pronounced the prayer. The responses were all made very audibly, +and everyone seemed to be impressed with a proper feeling of the +holiness and seriousness of the ceremony. After all the boys had been +confirmed about seven other people were confirmed, of whom two were +quite as much as thirty, I should think.' + + +'June 5. + +'I have just returned from receiving the Holy Sacrament in Chapel. I +received it from Hawtrey and Okes, but there were three other ministers +besides. There was a large attendance, seventy or eighty or more Eton +boys alone. I used the little book that mamma sent me, and found the +little directions and observations very useful. I do truly hope and +believe that I received it worthily... It struck me more than ever +(although I had often read it before) as being such a particularly +impressive and beautiful service. I never saw anything conducted with +greater decorum. Not a single fellow spoke except at the responses, +which were well and audibly made, and really every fellow seemed to +be really impressed with the awfulness of the ceremony, and the great +wickedness of not piously receiving it, I do not know whether there +will be another Sacrament here before the holidays, or whether I shall +receive it with you at Feniton next time.' + + +No doubt the whole family (except the yet unconfirmed younger brother) +did so receive it in the summer holidays, the last that were to be +spent in the full joy of an unbroken household circle, and, as has been +already said, one of unusual warmth and kindliness, binding closely +into it all who were connected therewith. Each governess became a +dear friend; the servants were deeply attached, and for the most +part fixtures; and one, the nurse already mentioned, says she never +recollects a time when Master Coley had to leave Feniton for London +without his offering the servants to take charge of their messages or +parcels. All dependents and poor people, in fact whatever came under +Judge Patteson's genial, broad-hearted influence, were treated with +the like kindness, and everything alive about the place seemed full of +happiness and affection. + +The centre of this bright home had always been the mother, fervently +loved by all who came in contact with her, fragile in health, and +only going through her duties and exertions so cheerily by the quiet +fortitude of a brave woman. In the course of this year, 1842, some +severe spasmodic attacks made her family anxious; and as the railway +communication was still incomplete, so that the journey to London was a +great fatigue to an invalid, her desire to spend Christmas in Devonshire +led to her remaining there with her daughters, when her husband returned +to London on the commencement of term. + +He had been gone little more than a fortnight when, on November 17, a +more severe attack came on; and though she was soon relieved from it, +she never entirely rallied, and was firmly convinced that this was 'the +beginning of the end.' Her husband was summoned home, Judge Coleridge +taking a double portion of his work to set him at liberty, and the truth +began to dawn on the poor boys at Eton. 'Do you really mean that there +is anything so very, very dreadful to fear?' is Coley's cry in his note +one day, and the next, 'Oh, Papa, you cannot mean that we may never, +unless we come down to Feniton, see mamma again. I cannot bear the +thought of it. I trust most earnestly that it is not the case. Do not +hide anything from me, it would make me more wretched afterwards. If it +shall (which I trust in His infinite mercy it will not) please Almighty +God to take our dearest mamma unto Himself, may He give us grace to bear +with fortitude and resolution the dreadful loss, and may we learn to +live with such holiness here that we may hereafter be united for ever +in Heaven.' This letter is marked twice over 'Only for Papa,' but the +precaution was needless, for Lady Patteson was accustoming all +those about her to speak freely and naturally of what she felt to be +approaching. Her eldest brother, Dr. Coleridge, was greatly comforting +her by his ministrations, and her sons were sent for; but as she did not +ask for them, it was thought best that they should remain at their Uncle +Frank's, at Ottery, until, on the evening of Sunday, the 27th, a great +change took place, making it evident that the end was drawing near. + +The sufferer was told that the boys were come, and was asked if she +would see them. She was delighted, and they came in, restraining their +grief while she kissed and blessed them, and then, throwing her arms +round their father, thanked him for having brought her darling boys for +her to see once more. It was not long before she became unconscious; and +though all the family were watching and praying round her, she showed no +further sign of recognition, as she gradually and tranquilly fell asleep +in the course of the night. + +To his cousin, Mrs. Martyn, Coley wrote the following letter just after +the funeral:-- + +'We only came down from our rooms to go to church, and directly the +beautiful service was over we went upstairs again. I need not tell you +what we then felt, and now do feel. It is a very dreadful loss to us +all; but we have been taught by that dear mother, who has been now taken +from us, that it is not fit to grieve for those who die in the Lord, +"for they rest from their labours." She is now, we may safely trust, a +blessed saint in Heaven, far removed from all cares and anxieties; and, +instead of spending our time in useless tears and wicked repinings, we +should rather learn to imitate her example and virtues, that, when we +die, we may sleep in Him as our hope is this our sister doth, and may be +finally united with her in Heaven. Yesterday was a day of great trial to +us all: I felt when I was standing by the grave as if I must have burst. + +'Dear Papa bears up beautifully, and is a pattern of submission to us +all. We are much more happy than you could suppose, for, thank God, we +are certain she is happy, far happier than she could be on earth. She +said once, "I wonder I wish to leave my dearest John and the children, +and this sweet place, but yet I do wish it" so lively was her faith and +trust in the merits of her Saviour.' + +A deep and permanent impression was left upon the boy's mind, as will be +seen by his frequent references to what he had then witnessed; but for +the present he was thought to be less depressed than the others, and +recovered his natural tone of spirits sooner than his brother and +sisters. The whole family spent their mournful Christmas at Thorverton +Rectory, with Dr. and Mrs. Coleridge and their daughter Fanny, their +chief comforters and fellow-sufferers; and then returned to London. The +Judge's eldest daughter, Joanna, who had always been entirely one with +the rest, had to take her place at the head of the household. In her own +words, 'It was trying for a lad of fifteen and a half, but he was very +good, and allowed me to take the command in a way that few boys would +nave done.' + +'It has struck me as remarkable that friends and relations have again +and again spoken of different incidents as 'turning-points' in Coley's +life. If he had literally turned at them all, his would have been a +most revolving career; but I believe the fact to have been that he never +turned at all, for his face was always set the right way, but that each +of these was a point of impulse setting him more vigorously on his way, +and stirring up his faithful will. Such moments were those of admission +to religious ordinances, to him no dead letters but true receptions of +grace; and he likewise found incitements in sorrows, in failures, in +reproofs. Everything sank deeply, and his mind was already assuming the +introspective character that it had throughout the period of growth and +formation. One of his Eton companions, four years younger, has since +spoken of the remarkable impression of inwardness Patteson made on him +even at this time, saying that whenever he was taken by surprise he +seemed to be only ruminating till he spoke or was spoken to, and then +there was an instant return to the outer world and ready attention to +whatever was in hand. + +The spring found him of course in the full tide of Eton interests. The +sixth and upper fifth forms, to the latter of which he had by this +time attained, may contend in the public examination for the Newcastle +scholarship, just before the Easter holidays, and it is a great +testimony to a boy's ability and industry if his name appears among +the nine select for their excellence. This time, 1843, Coley, who +was scarcely sixteen, had of course but little chance, but he had the +pleasure of announcing that his great friend, Edmund Bastard, a young +Devonshire squire, was among the 'select,' and he says of himself: 'You +will, as I said before, feel satisfied that I did my best, but it was an +unlucky examination for me. It has done me a great deal of good in one +way. It has enabled me to see where I am particularly deficient, viz. +general knowledge of history, and a thorough acquaintance with Greek and +Roman customs, law courts and expressions, and Greek and Roman writers. +I do not find myself wanting in making out a stiff bit of Greek or Latin +if I have time, but I must read History chiefly this year, and then I +hope to be selected next time. My tutor is not at all disappointed in +me.' + +This spring, 1843, Patteson became one of the Eleven, a perilously +engrossing position for one who, though never slurring nor neglecting +his studies, did not enjoy anything so much as the cricket-field. +However, there the weight of his character, backed by his popularity and +proficiency in all games and exercises, began to be a telling influence. + +On November 2, 1843, when the anniversary of his mother's death was +coming round, he writes to his eldest sister:-- + + +'I had not indeed forgotten this time twelvemonth, and especially that +awful Sunday night when we stood round dear mamma's bed in such misery. +I never supposed at that time that we could ever be happy and merry +again, but yet it has been so with me; and though very often the +recollection of that night has come upon me, and the whole scene in its +misery has passed before me, I hope I have never forgotten, that though +a loss to us, it was a gain to her, and we ought rather to be thankful +than sorrowful.... By the bye, I do not really want a book-case much, +and you gave me the "Irish Stories," and I have not yet been sent up. I +would rather not have a present, unless the Doctor means to give me an +exercise. Do not lay this down to pride; but you know I was not sent up +last half, and if this passes, a blank again, I do not deserve any fresh +presents.' + + +This piece of self-discipline was crowned by joyous notices of being +'sent up for good' and 'for play' in the next half; when also occurs +a letter showing a spirit of submission to a restriction not fully +understood:-- + + +'Tuesday evening. + +'My dearest Father,--Hearing that "Israel in Egypt" was to be performed +at Exeter Hall on Friday night, I went and asked my tutor whether he had +any objection to my running up that night to hear it, and coming back +the next morning, quite early at six. My tutor said that, without any +absurd feelings on the matter, he should not think himself of going to +such a thing in Lent. "It was not," he said, "certainly like going to +the play, or any of those sort of places," but he did not like the idea +of going at all. Do you think that there was any harm in the wish? + +'I do not ask because I wish you to write and say I may go, but because +I wish to learn whether my asking at all was wrong. Even if you have no +objection, I certainly shall not go, because for such a trifling thing +to act in opposition to my tutor, even with your consent, would be very +foolish. + +'...Good-bye, my dearest Father. God bless you, says your affectionate +and dutiful Son, + +'J. C. P.' + + +This year, 1844, the name of Patteson appeared among the 'select.' +'I shall expect a jolly holiday for my reward,' he merrily says, when +announcing it to his sisters. He had begun to join the Debating Society +at Eton, and for a while was the president. One of the other members +says, 'His speeches were singularly free from the bombast and +incongruous matter with which Eton orators from fifteen to eighteen are +apt to interlard their declamations. He spoke concisely, always to the +point, and with great fluency and readiness. A reputation for good sense +and judgment made his authority of great weight in the school, and his +independent spirit led him to choose, amongst his most intimate friends +and associates, two collegers, who ultimately became Newcastle scholars +and medallists. + +'That the most popular oppidan of his day should have utterly ignored +the supposed inferiority of the less wealthy section of the school, and +looked on worth and high character as none the worse for being clothed +in a coarse serge gown, is a fact seemingly trivial to ordinary readers, +but very noticeable to Eton men. As a rank and file collegian myself, +and well remembering the Jew and Samaritan state that prevailed between +oppidans and collegers, I remember with pride that Patteson did so much +to level the distinctions that worked so mischievously to the school. +His cheerfulness and goodness were the surest guarantee for good order +amongst his schoolfellows. There was no Puritanism in him, he was up to +any fun, sung his song at a cricket or foot-ball dinner as joyfully +as the youngest of the party; but if mirth sank into coarseness +and ribaldry, that instant Patteson's conduct was fearless and +uncompromising....' + +Here follows an account of an incident which occurred at the dinner +annually given by the eleven of cricket and the eight of the boats at +the hotel at Slough. + +A custom had arisen among some of the boys of singing offensive songs on +these occasions, and Coley, who, as second of the eleven, stood in the +position of one of the entertainers, gave notice beforehand that he was +not going to tolerate anything of the sort. One of the boys, however, +began to sing something objectionable. Coley called out, 'If that +does not stop, I shall leave the room;' and as no notice was taken, +he actually went away with a few other brave lads. He afterwards found +that, as he said, 'fellows who could not understand such feelings +thought him affected;' and he felt himself obliged to send word to the +captain, that unless an apology was made, he should leave the +eleven--no small sacrifice, considering what cricket was to him; but the +gentlemanlike and proper feeling of the better style of boys prevailed, +and the eleven knew their own interests too well to part with him, so +the apology was made, and he retained his position. The affair came to +the knowledge of two of the masters, Mr. Dupuis and Mr. Abraham, and +they gratified their warm sense of approbation by giving Patteson a bat, +though he never knew the reason why, as we shall see in one of his last +letters to one of the donors. + +His prowess at cricket must be described in the words of his cousin, +Arthur Duke Coleridge, who was at this time in college: 'He was by +common consent one of the best, if not the best, of the cricketers of +the school. The second year of his appearance at Lord's Cricket Ground +was the most memorable, as far as his actual services were concerned, of +all the matches he played against Harrow and Winchester. He was sent +in first in the Harrow match; the bowling was steady and straight, but +Patteson's defence was admirable. He scored fifty runs, in which there +was but one four, and by steady play completely broke the neck of the +bowling. Eton won the match easily, Patteson making a brilliant catch at +point, when the last Harrow man retired. Full of confidence, Eton began +the Winchester match. Victory for a long time seemed a certainty for +Eton; but Kidding, the Winchester captain, played an uphill game so +fiercely that the bowling had to be repeatedly changed. Our eleven were +disorganised, and the captain had so plainly lost heart, that Patteson +resolved on urging him to discontinue his change of bowling, and begin +afresh with the regular bowlers. The captain allowed Patteson to have +his way, and the game, though closely contested, was saved. His powers +of defence were indeed remarkable. I saw the famous professional +cricketer Lillywhite play once at Eton in his time, and becoming almost +irritated at the stubbornness and tenacity with which Coley held his +wicket. After scoring twenty and odd times in the first, and forty in +the second innings, (not out), Lillywhite said, 'Mr. Patteson, I should +like to bowl to you on Lord's Ground, and it would be different.' 'Oh, +of course,' modestly answered Coley; 'I know you would have me out +directly there.' + +The next cricket season this champion was disabled by a severe sprain +of the wrist, needing leeches, splints, and London advice. It was when +fixing a day for coming up to town on this account that he mentioned the +occurrence of the previous year in a letter to his father:-- + +'I have a great object in shirking the oppidan dinner. I not only hate +the idea of paying a sovereign for a dinner, but last year, at the +cricket dinner, I had a great row, which I might possibly incur another +time, and I wish very much to avoid.' + +Then, after briefly stating what had passed, he adds: 'At this dinner, +where the captain of the boats manages it, I should be his guest, and +therefore any similar act of mine would make matters worse. You can +therefore see why I wish Tuesday to be the day for my coming up.' + +The sprain prevented his playing in the matches at Lord's that summer, +though he was well enough to be reckoned on as a substitute in case any +of the actual players had been disabled. Possibly his accident was good +for his studies, for this was a year of much progress and success; and +though only seventeen, he had two offers of tutorship for the holidays, +from Mr. Dugdale and the Marchioness of Bath. The question where his +university life was to be spent began to come forward. Studentships at +Christchurch were then in the gift of the Canons, and a nomination would +have been given him by Dr. Pusey if he had not been too young to begin +to reside, so that it was thought better that he should wait and go up +for the Balliol scholarship in the autumn. + +In the October of 1844 he describes to his eldest sister the reception +of King Louis Philippe at Eton, accompanied by the Queen, Prince Albert, +and the Duke of Wellington: + +'The King wore a white great coat, and looked a regular jolly old +fellow. He has white frizzle hair and large white whiskers. The former, +I suspect, is a wig. The cheering was tremendous, but behind the royal +carriage the cheers were always redoubled where the old Duke, the +especial favourite hero, rode. When they got off their horses in the +schoolyard, the Duke being by some mistake behindhand, was regularly +hustled in the crowd, with no attendant near him. + +'I was the first to perceive him, and springing forward, pushed back the +fellows on each side, who did not know whom they were tumbling against, +and, taking off my hat, cheered with might and main. The crowd hearing +the cheer, turned round, and then there was the most glorious sight I +ever saw. The whole school encircled the Duke, who stood entirely alone +in the middle for a minute or two, and I rather think we did cheer him. +At last, giving about one touch to his hat, he began to move on, saying, +"Get on, boys, get on." I never saw such enthusiasm here; the masters +rushed into the crowd round him, waving their caps, and shouting like +any of us. As for myself, I was half-mad and roared myself hoarse in +about five minutes. The King and Prince kept their hats off the whole +time, incessantly bowing, and the King speaking. He walked arm-in-arm +with the Queen, who looked well and very much pleased. The Duke walked +with that Grand Duchess whose name you may see in the papers, for I +can't spell it.' + +Very characteristic this both of Eton's enthusiasm for the hero, and of +the hero's undemonstrative way of receiving it, which must have somewhat +surprised his foreign companions. + +A week or two later, in November 1844, came the competition for the +Balliol scholarship, but Coley was not successful. On the Saturday he +writes:-- + +'The scholarship was decided last night; Smith, a Rugby man, got +the first, and Grant, a Harrow man, the second.... I saw the Master +afterwards; he said, "I cannot congratulate you on success, Mr. +Patteson, but you have done yourself great credit, and passed a very +respectable examination. I shall be happy to allow you to enter without +a future examination, as we are all quite satisfied of your competency." +He said that I had better come up to matriculate next term, but should +not have another examination. We were in about nine hours a day, three +hours in the evening; I thought the papers very hard; we had no Latin +elegiacs or lyrics, which was rather a bore for the Eton lot. I am very +glad I have been up now, but I confess it was the longest week I ever +recollect. I feel quite seedy after a whole week without exercise.... +The very first paper, the Latin Essay (for which we were in six hours), +was the worst of all my papers, and must have given the examiners an +unfavourable impression to start with. The rest of my papers, with the +exception of the Greek prose and the critical paper, I did very fairly, +I think.' + +A greater disappointment than this was, however, in store for Coley. He +failed in attaining a place among the 'select,' at his last examination +for the Newcastle, in the spring of 1845. Before the list was given out +he had written to his father that the Divinity papers were far too easy, +with no opportunity for a pretty good scholar to show his knowledge, +'the ridicule of every one of the masters,' but the other papers very +difficult. + +'Altogether,' he adds, 'the scholarship has been to me unsatisfactory. I +had worked hard at Greek prose, had translated and re-translated a good +deal of Xenophon, Plato, and some Demosthenes, yet to my disappointment +we had no paper of Greek prose, a thing that I believe never occurred +before, and which is generally believed to test a boy's knowledge well. +My Iambics were good, I expect, though not without two bad faults. In +fact, I cannot look back upon a single paper, except my Latin prose, +without a multitude of oversights and faults presenting themselves to +me... I almost dread the giving out of the select. Think if my name was +not there. It is some consolation that Hawtrey, yesterday, in giving me +an exercise for good, asked how I liked the examination. Upon my saying, +"It was not such a one as I expected, and that I had done badly," he +said "That is not at all what I hear," but this cannot go for much... +I want exercise very badly, and my head is very thick and stupid, as I +fear this last paper must show the examiners.' + +The omission of Patteson's name from among the select was a great +mortification, not only to himself but his father, though the Judge +kindly wrote:-- + +'Do not distress yourself about this unfortunate failure as to the +Newcastle. We cannot always command our best exertions when we want to +do so, and you were not able on this occasion to bring forward all you +knew. It was not from idleness or want of attention to school business. +Work on regularly, and you will do well at Oxford. I have a line from +your tutor, who seems to think that it was in Juvenal, Cicero and Livy, +and in Iambics, that the faults principally were. I cannot say that I am +not disappointed; but I know so well the uncertainty of examinations +and how much depends on the sort of papers put, and on the spirits and +feeling one is in, that I am never surprised at such results, and I do +not blame you at all.' Those who knew Coley best agree in thinking that +this reverse took great effect in rousing his energies. This failure +evidently made him take himself to task, for in the summer he writes to +his father:-- + +There are things which have occurred during my stay at Eton which +cannot but make me blame myself. I mean principally a want of continuous +industry. I have perhaps for one half or two (for instance, last Easter +half) worked hard, but I have not been continuously improving, and +adding knowledge to knowledge, half by half. I feel it now, because I am +sure that I know very little more than I did at Easter. One thing I am +improved in, which is writing themes; and you will be pleased to know +that Hawtrey has again given me the School Theme prize, worth 5L., which +counts for another sent up exercise.' + +In reply, the Judge, on July 22, wrote in the midst of the circuit, from +Stafford, a letter that might well do a son's heart good:-- + +'I rejoice in your finale, and shall be glad to see the exercise. You +have gone through Eton with great credit and reputation as a scholar, +and what is of more consequence, with perfect character as to truth and +conduct in every way. This can only be accounted for by the assistance +of the good Spirit of God first stirred up in you by the instructions of +your clear mother, than whom a more excellent human being never existed. +I pray God that this assistance may continue through life, and keep you +always in the same good course.' + +A few days more and the boy's departure from the enthusiastically loved +school had taken place, together with his final exploits as captain in +the cricket-field, where too he formed an acquaintance with Mr. C. +S. Roundell, the captain of the Harrow eleven, which ripened into a +lifelong friendship. + +'You may suppose,' writes Coley, 'that I was really very miserable at +leaving Eton. I did not, I assure you, without thanking God for the many +advantages I have there enjoyed and praying for His forgiveness for my +sin in neglecting so many. We began our match with Harrow yesterday, by +going in first; we got 261 runs by tremendous hitting, Harrow 32, and +followed up and got 55: Eton thus winning in one innings by 176 runs, +the most decided beating ever known at cricket.' + +So ended Coleridge Patteson's school life, not reaching to all he saw +that it might have been; but unstained, noble, happy, honourable, and +full of excellent training for the future man. No sting was left to +poison the fail-memory of youth; but many a friendship had been formed +on foundations of esteem, sympathy, and kindness which endured through +life, standing all tests of separation and difference. + + + + +CHAPTER III. UNDERGRADUATE LIFE AT BALLIOL AND JOURNEYS ON THE CONTINENT. + +1845--1852. + + + +University life is apt to exert a strong influence upon a man's career. +It comes at the age at which there is probably the most susceptibility +to new impressions. The physical growth is over, and the almost +exclusive craving for exercise and sport is lessening; there is more +voluntary inclination to intellectual application, and the mind begins +to get fair play. There is also a certain liberty of choice as to the +course to be taken and the persons who shall become guides, and this +renders the pupilage a more willing and congenial connection than that +of the schoolboy: nor is there so wide a distance in age and habits +between tutor and pupil as between master and scholar. + +Thus it is that there are few more influential persons in the country +than leading University men, for the impress they leave is on the flower +of English youth, at the very time of life when thought has come, but +action is not yet required. At the same time the whole genius loti, +the venerable buildings with their traditions, the eminence secured +by intellect and industry, the pride that is taken in the past and +its great men, first as belonging to the University, and next to the +individual college, all give the members thereof a sense of a dignity to +keep up and of honour to maintain, and a certainty of appreciation and +fellow-feeling from the society with which they are connected. + +The Oxford of Patteson's day was yet untouched by the hand of +reformation. The Colleges were following or eluding the statutes of +their founders, according to the use that had sprung up, but there had +been a great quickening into activity of intellect, and the religious +influences were almost at their strongest. It was true that the master +mind had been lost to the Church of England, but the men whom he and his +companions had helped to form were the leaders among the tutors, and the +youths who were growing up under them were forming plans of life, which +many have nobly carried out, of unselfish duty and devotion in their +several stations. + +Balliol had, under the mastership of Dr. Jenkyns, attained preeminence +for success in the schools, and for the high standard required of its +members, who formed 'the most delightful society, the very focus of +the most stimulating life of the University,' within those unpretending +walls, not yet revivified and enlarged. + +Here Coleridge Patteson came to reside in the Michaelmas term of 1845; +beginning with another attempt for the scholarship, in which he was +again unsuccessful, being bracketed immediately after the fourth with +another Etonian, namely, Mr. Hornby, the future head-master, His friend, +Edmund Bastard, several of his relations, and numerous friends had +preceded him; and he wrote to his sister Fanny:-- + +'You cannot think what a nice set of acquaintance I am gradually +slipping into. Palmer and myself take regular familiar walks; and +Riddell, another fellow who is the pet of the College, came up the other +evening and sat with me, and I breakfast with them, and dine, &c. The +only inconvenience attaching itself to such a number of men is, that +I have to give several parties, and as I meant to get them over before +Lent, I have been coming out rather strong in that line lately, as the +pastry-cook's bill for desserts will show in good time. + +'I have been asked to play cricket in the University eleven, and have +declined, though not without a little struggle, but cricket here, +especially to play in such matches as against Cambridge, &c., entails +almost necessarily idleness and expense.' + +The struggle was hardly a little one to a youth whose fame in the +cricket field stood so high, and who was never happy or healthy +without strong bodily exercise. Nor had he outgrown his taste for this +particular sport. Professor Edwin Palmer (alluded to above) describes +him as at this time 'a thorough public schoolboy, with a full capacity +for enjoying undergraduate society and undergraduate amusements, though +with so fond a recollection of Eton that to some of us he hardly seemed +to appreciate Oxford sufficiently.' + +Again, Mr. Roundell (his late adversary at Lord's) says: 'He was a +reluctant and half-interested sojourner was ever looking back to the +playing-fields of Eton, or forward to the more congenial sphere of a +country parish.' So it was his prime pleasure and glory that he +thus denied himself, though not with total abstinence, for he played +occasionally. I remember hearing of a match at Ottery, where he was one +of an eleven of Coleridge kith and kin against the rest of Devon. His +reputation in the field was such that, many years later, when he chanced +to be at Melbourne at the same time with the champion English eleven, +one of the most noted professional cricketers, meeting him in the +street, addressed him confidentially, 'I know, sir, the Bishop of +Melbourne does not approve of cricket for clergymen in public, but if +you would meet me in private at five o'clock to-morrow morning, and let +me give you a few balls, it would be a great satisfaction!' + +Some resolution thus was required to prevent cricket from becoming a +tyrant, as so often befalls those whose skill renders them valuable. +Tennis became Coley's chief recreation, enabling him to work off his +superfluous energy at the expense of far less time than cricket matches +require, and in this, as in everything active, he soon excelled. + +As to the desserts upon which the young men in turn were spending a good +deal out of mere custom, harmlessly enough, but unnecessarily; as soon +as the distress of the potato famine in Ireland became known, Patteson +said, 'I am not at all for giving up these pleasant meetings, but why +not give up the dessert?' So the agreement was made that the cost should +for the present be made over to the 'Irish fund.' + +Another friend of this period, now well known as Principal Shairp of St. +Andrews', was then in the last year of a five years' residence. He has +been kind enough to favour me with the following effective sketch of +Coley as an undergraduate:-- + +'Patteson as he was at Oxford, comes back to me, as the representative +of the very best kind of Etonian, with much good that he had got from +Eton, with something better, not to be got at Eton or any other school. +He had those pleasant manners and that perfect ease in dealing with men +and with the world which are the inheritance of Eton, without the least +tincture of worldliness. I remember well the look he then had, his +countenance massive for one so young, with good sense and good feeling, +in fact, full of character. For it was character more than special +ability which marked him out from others, and made him, wherever he was, +whether in cricket in which he excelled, or in graver things, a centre +round which others gathered. The impression he left on me was of quiet, +gentle strength and entire purity, a heart that loved all things true +and honest and pure, and that would always be found on the side of +these. We did not know, probably he did not know himself, the fire of +devotion that lay within him, but that was soon to kindle and make him +what he afterwards became.' + +In truth he was taking deep interest in the religious movement, though +in the quiet unexcited way of those to whom such doctrines were only the +filling out of the teachings of their childhood. He was present at that +sermon on the 'Entire Absolution of the Penitent,' with which, on the +Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, 1846, Dr. Pusey broke his enforced silence +of three years. + +The same evening Coley wrote to his sister Fanny:-- + +'I have just returned from University sermon, where I have been +listening with great delight to Pusey's sermon on the Keys for nearly +two hours. His immense benevolence beams through the extreme power +of his arguments, and the great research of his inquiry into all the +primitive writings is a most extraordinary matter, and as for the +humility and prayerful spirit in which it was composed, you fancied he +must have been on his knees the whole time he was writing it. I went +early to Christ Church, where it was preached, and, after pushing +through such a crowd as usually blocks up the entrance into Exeter Hall, +I found on getting into the Cathedral that every seat was occupied. +However, standing to hear such a man was no great exertion, and I never +was so interested before. It will probably be printed, so that you +will have no occasion for any remarks of mine. It is sufficient that he +preached the doctrine to my mind in an invincible manner.' The letter +has a postscript--'Easter vacation will be from three weeks to a month. +Hurrah! say I; now a precious deal more glad am I to leave Oxford for +the holidays than Eton, though Feniton is better than either.' + +Even in the last undergraduate year, the preference for Eton remained as +strong as ever. Coley intended to remain at Oxford to read for honours +through great part of the Long vacation; and after refreshing himself +with a run to Eton, he wrote:-- + +'Now for a very disagreeable contrast, but still I shall find great +interest in my work as I go on, and reading books for the second or +third time is light work compared to the first stodge at them. I am, +however, behindhand with my work, in spite of not having wasted much +time here.... I really don't see my way through the mass of work before +me, and half repent having to go up for class. + +'...I went to the opera on Tuesday, but was too much taken up by Eton to +rave about it, though Grisi's singing and acting were out and out; but, +in sober earnest, I think if one was to look out simply for one's +own selfish pleasure in this world, staying at Eton in the summer is +paradise. I certainly have not been more happy, if so happy, for years, +and they need no convincing there of my doting attachment to the place. +I go down to Eton on Election Saturday and Sunday for my last enjoyment +of it this year; but if I am well and nourishing in the summer of 1849, +and all goes right with me, it is one of the jolliest prospects of my +emancipation from the schools to think of a month at Eton. Oh! it's hard +work reading for it, I can tell you.' + +Thus Coley Patteson's work throughout his undergraduate three years +was, so to speak, against the grain, though it was more diligent +and determined than it had been at Eton. He viewed this as the least +satisfactory period of his life, and probably it was that in which he +was doing the most violence to his likings. It struck those who had +known him at Eton that he had 'shaken off the easy-going, comfortable, +half-sluggish habit of mind' attributed to him there, and to be +earnestly preparing for the future work of life. His continued interest +in Missions was shown by his assisting to collect subscriptions for the +Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In fact, his charm of manner, +and his way of taking for granted that people meant to do what they +ought, made him a good collector, and he had had a good deal of practice +at Eton in keeping up the boys to the subscription for the stained glass +of the east window of the Chapel which they had undertaken to give. + +That Long vacation of study was a great effort, and he felt it tedious +and irksome, all the more from a weakness that affected his eyelids, +and, though it did not injure his sight, often rendered reading and +writing painful. Slight ailments concurred with other troubles and +vexations to depress his spirits; and besides these outward matters, he +seems to have had a sense of not coming up to his ideal. His standard +was pitched higher than that of most men: his nature was prone to +introspection, and his constitutional inertness rendered it so +difficult for him to live up to his own views, that he was continually +dissatisfied with himself; and this, in spite of his sweet unselfish +temper, gave his manner at home an irritability, and among strangers +a reserve--the very reverse of the joyous merry nature which used to +delight in balls, parties, and gaieties. + +Though an ardent friend, he became disinclined to enter into general +society; nor was the distaste ever entirely overcome, though he never +failed to please by the charm alike of natural manner and of Christian +courtesy; the same spirit of gentleness and kindness very soon prevailed +in subduing, even in family life, any manifestation of the tender points +of a growing character. + +In the autumn of 1849, he obtained a second class in the school of +Literae humaniores, a place that fairly represented his abilities as +compared with those of others. When the compulsory period of study +was at an end, his affection for Oxford and enjoyment of all that it +afforded increased considerably, though he never seems to have loved the +University quite as well as Eton. + +As he intended to take Holy Orders, he did not give up his residence +there; but his first use of his leisure was to take a journey on the +Continent with his brother and Mr. Hornby. It was then that, as he +afterwards wrote, his real education began, partly from the opening +of his mind by the wonders of nature and art, and partly from the +development of his genius for philology. Aptitude for language had +already shown itself when his sister Fanny had given him some German +lessons; and even on his first halt at Cologne, he received the +compliment, 'Sie sprechen Deutsch wohl' and he found himself talking to +a German on one side and a Frenchman on the other. + +His letters throughout his foreign travels are more copious than ever, +but are chiefly minute descriptions of what he saw, such as would weary +the reader who does not want a guide-book even full of individuality. +Yet they cannot be passed by without noticing how he fulfilled the duty +of study and endeavour at appreciation which everyone owes to great +works of art, instead of turning aside with shallow conceit if he do not +enter into them at first sight. + +After the wonders of Vienna and the mines of Salzburg, the mountain +scenery of the Tyrol was an unspeakable pleasure, which tries to express +itself in many closely written pages. Crossing into Italy by the Stelvio +Pass, a sharp but passing fit of illness detained Coley at Como for a +day, and caused him to call in an Italian doctor, who treated him on the +starvation system, administered no medicines, and would take no fee. +The next day Coley was in condition to go on to Milan, where his +first impression of the Cathedral was, as so often happens, almost of +bewilderment. He did not at first like the Lombardo-Gothic style, but +he studied it carefully, and filled his letter with measurements and +numbers, though confessing that no part pleased him so much as the +pinnacles terminating in statues, 'each one a very beautiful martyr's +memorial.' Two more visits of several hours, however, brought the +untutored eye to a sense of the harmony of proportion, and the +surpassing beauty of the carvings and sculpture. + +It did not need so much study to enjoy Lionardo da Vinci's great fresco, +of which he wrote long and elaborately, and, altogether, Milan afforded +him very great delight and was a new world to him. It was the farthest +limit of his travels on this occasion. The party returned by way of +Geneva; and Coley, alone with four guides, attempted the Col du Geant. +Then following is his account of the danger in which he found himself:-- + +'On Monday at 4.15 A.M. we started from the Montanvert, with our +alpenstocks, plenty of ropes, and a hatchet to cut steps in the ice. We +walked quickly over the Mer de Glace, and in about three hours came to +the difficult part. I had no conception of what it would be. We had to +ascend perpendicular walls of ice, 30, 40, 50 feet high, by little +holes which we cut with the hatchet, and to climb over places not a foot +broad, with enormous crevasses on each side. I was determined not to +give in, and said not a word, but I thought that no one had a right to +expose himself to such danger if known beforehand. After about three +hours spent in this way, (during which I made but one slip, when I slid +about twelve feet down a crevasse, but providentially did not lose my +head, and saved myself by catching at a broken ridge of ice, rising +up in the crevasse, round which I threw my leg and worked my way up it +astride), got to the region of snow, and here the danger was of falling +into hidden crevasses. We all five fastened ourselves to one another +with ropes. I went in the middle, Couttet in front, then Payot. Most +unluckily the weather began to cloud over, and soon a sharp hailstorm +began, with every indication of a fog. We went very cautiously over +the snow for about three hours, sinking every now and then up to our +middles, but only once in a crevasse, when Couttet suddenly fell, +singing out "Tirez! tirez!" but he was pulled out instantly. We had now +reached the top, but the fog was so dense that I could scarcely see 30 +feet before me, and the crevasses and mountains of snow looming close +round us looked awful. At this moment the guides asked me if I must make +the passage. I said instantly that I wanted to do so, but that I would +sooner return at once than endanger the lives of any of them. They told +me there was certainly great danger, they had lost their way, but were +unwilling to give up. For an hour and a half we beat about in the fog, +among the crevasses, trying every way to find the pass, which is very +narrow, wet to the skin, and in constant peril; but we knew that the +descent on the Chamouni side is far more difficult than that on the +Courmayeur side. At last all the guides agreed that it was impossible +to find the way, said the storm was increasing, and that our only chance +was to return at once. So we did, but the fearful difficulties of the +descent I shall never forget. Even in the finest weather they reckon it +very difficult, but yesterday we could not see the way, we were numbed +with intense cold, and dispirited from being forced to return. + +In many places the hail and sleet had washed out the traces we trusted +as guides. After about four hours, we had passed the most dangerous +part, and in another hour we were safely upon the Mer de Glace, which +we hailed with delight: Couttet, who reached the point of safety first, +jumping on the firm ice and shouting to me "Il n'y a plus de danger, +Monsieur." Here we took off the ropes, and drank some more brandy, and +then went as hard as we could, jumping across crevasses, which two days +before I should have thought awkward, as if they were cart ruts. We +reached Chamouni at 8.30 P.M., having been sixteen and a quarter hours +without resting. I was not at all tired; the guides thanked me for +having given so little trouble, and declared I had gone as well as +themselves. Indeed I was providentially unusually clear-headed and cool, +and it was not till the danger was over that I felt my nerves give way. +There was a good deal of anxiety about us at Chamouni, as it was one +of the worst days ever seen here. Hornby had taken all my clothes to +Geneva, so I put on a suit of the landlord's, and had some tea, and at +11 P.M. went to bed, not forgetting, you may be sure, to thank God most +fervently for this merciful protection, as on the ice I did many times +with all my heart. + +'On reviewing coolly, to-day, the places over which we passed, and which +I shall never forget, I remember seven such as I trust never again to +see a man attempt to climb. The state of the ice and crevasses is +always shifting, so that the next person who makes the ascent may find +a comparatively easy path. We had other dangers too, such as this: twice +the guides said to me, "Ne parlez pas ici, Monsieur, et allez vite," the +fear being of an ice avalanche falling on us, and we heard the rocks and +ice which are detached by the wet falling all about. The view from the +top, if the day is fine, is about the most magnificent in the Alps; and +as in that case I should have descended easily on the other side, the +excursion would not have been so difficult. I hope you will not think I +have been very foolish; I did not at all think it would be so dangerous, +nor was it possible to foresee the bad weather. My curiosity to see some +of the difficulties of an excursion in the Alps is fully satisfied.' + +After this adventure, the party broke up, James Patteson returning +home with Mr. Hornby, while Coley, who hoped to obtain a Fellowship at +Merton, and wished in the meantime to learn German thoroughly in order +to study Hebrew by the light of German scholarship, repaired to Dresden +for the purpose; revelling, by the way, on the pictures and glass at +Munich, descriptions of which fill three or four letters. He remained +a month at Dresden, reading for an hour a day with a German master, and +spending many hours besides in study, recreating himself with German +newspapers at the cafe where he dined, and going to the play in the +evening to hear colloquialisms. The picture galleries were his daily +enjoyment, and he declared the Madonna di San Sisto fully equal to +his anticipations. There is that about the head of the Virgin which +I believe one sees in no other picture, a dignity and beauty with a +mixture of timidity quite indescribable.' + +Returning home for Christmas, Coley started again in January 1851, in +charge of a pupil, the son of Lord John Thynne, with whom he was to go +through Italy. The journey was made by sea from Marseilles to Naples, +where the old regime was still in force. Shakespeare and Humboldt +were seized; and after several hours' detention on the score of the +suspicious nature of his literature, Mr. Patteson was asked for a bribe. + +The climate was in itself a great charm to one always painfully +susceptible to cold; and, after duly dwelling on the marvels of Vesuvius +and Pompeii, the travellers went on to Rome. There the sculptures were +Coley's first delight, and he had the advantage of hints from Gibson on +the theory of his admiration, such as suited his love of analysis. +He poured forth descriptions of statues and pictures in his letters: +sometimes apologising.--'You must put up with a very stupid and +unintelligible sermon on art. The genius loci would move the very stones +to preach on such a theme. Again: The worst is, that I ought to have +months instead of days to see Rome in. I economise my time pretty well; +but yet I find every night that I can only do a little of what I propose +in the morning; and as for my Italian, an hour and a half a day is on +an average more than I give to it. I suffer a good deal from weakness in +the eyes; it prevents my working at night with comfort. I have a master +every other day. I tried to draw, but it hurt me so much after looking +about all day that I despair of doing anything, though I don't abandon +the idea altogether.' + +There are many letters on the religious state of Rome. The apparently +direct supplications to the Saints, the stories told in sermons of +desperate sinners--saved through some lingering observance paid to +the Blessed Virgin, and the alleged abuse of the Confessional, shocked +Patteson greatly, and therewith he connected the flagrant evils of the +political condition of Rome at that time, and arrived at conclusions +strongly adverse to Roman Catholicism as such, though he retained +uninjured the Catholic tone of his mind. + +It was art which was the special attraction to Coley of all the many +spells of old Rome. He spent much time in the galleries, and studied +'modern painters' with an earnestness that makes Ruskinism pervade his +letters. + +At Florence, Coley wrote as usual at much length of the galleries, where +the Madonna del Cardellino seems to have been what delighted him most. +He did not greatly enter into Michel Angelo's works, and perhaps hardly +did their religious spirit full justice under the somewhat +exclusive influence of Fra Angelico and Francia, with the Euskinese +interpretation. The delight was indescribable. He says:-- 'But I have +written again and again on this favourite theme, and I forget that it is +difficult for you to understand what I write, or the great change that +has taken place in me, without seeing the original works. No one can +see them and be unchanged. I never had such enjoyment.' His birthday +presents were spent on a copy of the beloved Madonna del Cardellino, of +which he says:--'though it does not reach anything like the intensity +of feeling of the original, is still a very excellent painting, and will +always help to excite in my imagination, and I hope to convey to you, +some faint image of the exceeding beauty of this most beautiful of all +paintings.' + +Readers chiefly interested in the subsequent career of the missionary +would feel interrupted by the overflowing notes on painting, sculpture +and architecture which fill the correspondence, yet without them, it is +scarcely possible to realise the young man's intense enthusiasm for the +Beautiful, especially for spiritual beauty, and thus how great was the +sacrifice of going to regions where all these delights were unknown and +unattainable. He went on to Venice, where he met a letter which gave a +new course to his thoughts, for it informed him that the deafness, which +had long been growing on his father had now become an obstacle to the +performance of his duties as a Judge, and announcing his intention of +retiring. + +In the fulness of his heart he wrote:-- + + +'Venice, Hotel de la Villa: May 2, 1851. + +'My dearest Father,--I have not been in Venice an hour yet, but little +did I expect to find such news waiting for me as is contained in Jem's +letter, and I can lose no time in answering it. It is indeed a heavy +trial for you, that, in addition to many years of constant annoyance +from your deafness, you should be obliged now, in the full vigour of +your mind, and with the advantage of your experience, to give up a +profession you so thoroughly delight in. I don't deny that I have +often contemplated the possibility of such a thing; and I had some +conversation with Uncle John last winter in consequence of my fancying +your deafness was on the increase, though the girls did not perceive it; +I hope with all my heart I was wrong. I told him what I know you feel, +that, painful as it will be to you to retire from the Bench, if any +dissatisfaction was expressed at your not hearing sufficiently what +passed, you would choose rather to give up your seat than to go on +under such circumstances. His answer, I remember, was that it was most +difficult to know what to do, because it was no use concealing the fact +that your infirmity did interfere with the working of the Court more +or less, on Circuit especially, and at other times when witnesses were +examined, but that your knowledge of law was so invaluable that it was +difficult to see how this latter advantage could fail to outweigh the +former defect; and everybody knew that they can't find a lawyer to fill +your place, though another man might do the ordinary circuit work with +greater comfort to the Bar; though therefore nobody is so painstaking +and so little liable to make mistakes, yet to people in general and in +the whole, another man would seem to do the work nearly as well, and +would do his work, as far as his knowledge and conscientiousness went, +with more ease;--this was something like the substance of what passed +then, and you may suppose that since that time I have thought more about +the possibility of your retirement; but as I know how very much you will +feel giving up an occupation in which you take a regular pride, I do +feel very sorry, and wish I was at home to do anything that could be +done now. I know well enough that you are the last man in the world to +make a display of your feelings, and that you look upon this as a +trial, and bear it as one, just as you have with such great patience and +submission (and dear Joan too,) always quietly borne your deafness; but +I am sure you must, and do feel this very much, and, added to Granny's +illness, you must be a sad party at home. I feel as if it were very +selfish to be in this beautiful city, and to have been spending so much +money at Florence. Neither did Joan, in her last letter, nor has Jem +now, mentioned whether you received two letters from Florence, the first +of which gave some description of my vetturino journey from Rome to +Florence. I little thought when I was enjoying myself so very much +there, that all this was passing at home.... Your influence in the Privy +Council (where I conclude they will offer you a seat) might be so good +on very important questions, and it would be an occupation for you; +and I have always hoped that, if it should please God you should retire +while still in the prime of life for work, you would publish some great +legal book, which should for ever be a record of your knowledge on these +subjects. However it may be, the retrospect of upwards of twenty years +spent on the Bench with the complete respect and admiration of all your +friends, is no slight thing to fall back upon: and I trust that this +fresh trial will turn to your good, and even happiness here, as we may +trust with safety it will hereafter. + +'Ever your very affectionate and dutiful Son, + +'JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON.' + + +In this winter of 1852, Mr. Justice Patteson's final decision to retire +was made and acted upon. The Judge delighted in no occupation so much as +the pursuit of law, and therefore distrusted his own opinion as to the +moment when his infirmity should absolutely unfit him for sitting in +Court. He had begged a friend to tell him the moment that the impediment +became serious; and this, with some hesitation, was done. The intimation +was thankfully received, and, after due consideration, carried out. + +On January 29, 1852, after twenty-two years on the Bench, and at the age +of sixty-two, Mr. Justice Patteson wrote his letter of resignation to +Lord Truro, then Lord Chancellor, petitioning for the usual pension. It +was replied to in terms of warm and sincere regret; and on the 2nd of +February, Sir John Patteson was nominated to the Privy Council, as +a member of the Judicial Committee; where the business was chiefly +conducted in writing, and he could act with comparatively little +obstacle from his deafness. + +On February 10, 1852, he took his leave of the Bar. The Court of Queen's +Bench was crowded with barristers, who rose while the Attorney-General, +Sir Alexander Cockburn, made an address expressive of the universal +heartfelt feeling of respect and admiration with which the retiring +Judge was regarded. + +John Patteson's reply, read with a voice broken by emotion, is so +touching in its manly simplicity and humility that a paragraph or two +may well be quoted:-- + +'Mine,' he said, 'is one of the many instances which I know that a +public man without pre-eminent abilities, if he will but exert such +as it has pleased God to bestow on him honestly and industriously, +and without ostentation, is sure to receive public approbation fully +commensurate with, and generally much beyond, his real merits; and I +thank God if I shall be found not to have fallen entirely short in the +use of those talents which He has entrusted to me.' Then, after some +words on the misfortune that necessitated his withdrawal, he continued, +'I am aware that on some, and I fear too many, occasions I have given +way to complaints and impatient expressions towards the Bar and the +witnesses in Court, as if they were to blame when, in truth, it was my +own deficiency; and heartily sorry have I been and am for such want of +control over myself. I have striven against its recurrence earnestly, +though not always successfully. My brethren on the Bench, and you, and +the public, have been very kind and indulgent to me; the recollection of +which will remain with, and be a great solace to me for the rest of my +life. + +'And now, gentlemen, I bid you farewell most affectionately. I wish +you many years of health and happiness, of success and honour in your +liberal profession; the duties of which have been and are and I trust +ever will be performed, not only with the greatest zeal, learning, and +ability, but with the highest honour and integrity, and a deep sense of +responsibility to God and to man, and which being so performed, are, in +my humble judgment, eminently conducive, under the blessing of God, +to maintain the just prerogative of the Crown, and the true right, +liberties, and happiness of the people.' + +He then rose from the Judges' seat, and bowed his farewell to the +assembly, who stood respectful and silent, except for some suppressed +tokens of emotion, for in truth to many the parting was from an old +familiar and much trusted friend. + +Private letters poured in, expressive of deep regret, esteem, and +affection, and not only were gratefully read at the time, but became to +the family valuable memorials of the heartfelt appreciation gained by a +high-minded and upright course of life, and evidences that their father +had done that which is perhaps the best thing that it is permitted to +man to do here below, namely, 'served God in his generation.' + + + + +CHAPTER IV. FELLOWSHIP OF MERTON. 1852--1854. + + + +In the summer of 1852 Coleridge Patteson stood for a fellowship of +Merton, obtained it, and moved into rooms there. Every college has a +distinctive character; and Merton, if not actually the eldest, is at +least one of the oldest foundations at Oxford, and is one of the most +unchanged in outward aspect. There is a peculiar charm in the beauty and +seclusion of the quadrangle, in the library, still mediaeval even to the +fittings; and the church is above all impressive in the extraordinary +loveliness of the early decorated architecture, and the space and +loftiness of the choir. The whole, pre-eminently among the colleges, +gives the sense of having been unaltered for five hundred years, yet +still full of life and vigour. + +Coley attached himself to Merton, though he never looked to permanent +residence there. The Curacy in the immediate neighbourhood of his home +was awaiting him, as soon as he should be ordained; but though his +purpose was unchanged and he was of full age for Holy Orders, he wished +for another year of preparation, so as to be able to study both Hebrew +and theology more thoroughly than would be possible when pastoral labour +should have begun. What he had already seen of Dresden convinced him +that he could there learn Hebrew more thoroughly and more cheaply than +at home, and to this he intended to devote the Long Vacation of 1852, +without returning to Feniton. There the family were settling themselves, +having given up the house in Bedford Square, since James Patteson had +chambers in King's Bench Walk, where the ex-Judge could be with him when +needed in London. There had some notion of the whole family profiting +by Sir John's emancipation to take a journey on the Continent, and the +failure of the scheme elicited the following letter:-- + + +'Merton: June 18. + +'My dearest Fan,--I can, to a certain extent, sympathise with you +thoroughly upon this occasion; the mere disappointment at not seeing so +many interesting places and things is a sharp one, but in your instance +this is much increased by the real benefit you hoped to derive from +a warmer climate; and no wonder that the disappearance of your hopes +coupled with bodily illness makes you low and uncomfortable. The weather +too is trying to mind and body, and though you try as usual to shake off +the sense of depression which affects you, your letter is certainly sad, +and written like the letter of one in weak health. Well, we shall see +each other, please GOD, at Christmas now. That is better than passing +nearly or quite a year away from each other; and some other time I hope +you will be able to go to Italy, and enjoy all the wonders there, though +a tour for health's sake cannot be too soon. It is never too soon to get +rid of an ailment.... + +'I find that I am getting to know the undergraduates here, which is what +I wanted to do; it is my only chance of being of any use. True, that I +have to do it at the expense of two half-days' cricketing, which I have +quite ceased to care about, but I know that when I went up to Balliol, +I was glad when a Fellow played with us. It was a guarantee for orderly +conduct, and as I say, it gives me an opportunity of knowing men. I hope +to leave London for Dresden on Monday week; Arthur is gone thither, as I +find out from Jem, and I hope the scheme will answer. If I find I can't +work, from my eyes, or anything else, preventing me, I shall come home, +but I have no reason to expect any such thing. My best love to Joan and +all friends. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The 'Arthur' here mentioned was the youngest son of Mr. Frank Coleridge, +and became Coley's companion at Dresden, where he was studying German. +He writes:-- + +'Patteson spoke German fluently, and wrote German correctly. He had +studied the language assiduously for about two years previously, and so +successfully that whilst we were at Dresden, he was enabled to dispense +with a teacher and make his assistance little more than nominal. +Occasionally he wrote a German exercise, but rather as an amusement +than a discipline, and merely with the view of enlarging his German +vocabulary. I remember his writing an elaborate description of Feniton +Court, and imagining the place to be surrounded with trees belonging +to all sorts of climates. The result was very amusing to ourselves, and +added to the writer's stock of words on particular subjects. When our +master Schier appeared, the conversation was led by a palpable ambuscade +to the topic which had been made the subject of Patteson's exercise, and +conversation helped to strengthen memory. After looking over a few of +Patteson's German exercises, Mr. Schier found so little to correct, +in the way of grammatical errors, that these studies were almost +relinquished, and gave way to Arabic and Hebrew. Before we left Dresden, +Patteson had read large portions of the Koran; and, with the aid +of Hurwitz's Grammar and Bernhard's Guide to Hebrew Students, books +familiar to Cambridge men, he was soon able to read the Psalms in the +original. I remember the admiration and despair I felt in witnessing +Patteson's progress, and the wonder expressed by his teacher in his +pupil's gift of rapid acquirement. We had some excellent introductions; +amongst others, to Dr. ----, a famous theologian, with whom Patteson was +fond of discussing the system and organisation of the Church in +Saxony. Up to the time of his leaving England he was constantly using +Olshausen's Commentary on the New Testament, a book he was as thoroughly +versed in as Archbishop Trench himself. I think that he consulted no +other books in his study of the Gospels, but Olshausen and Bengel's +Gnomon. + +'In our pleasures at Dresden there was a mixture of the utile with the +dulce. Our constant visits to the theatre were strong incentives to a +preparatory study of the plays of Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing. What +noble acting we saw in that Dresden theatre! + +'With regard to the opera, I have never seen Weber or Meyerbeer's works +given so perfectly and conscientiously as at Dresden. Patteson's chief +delight was the Midsummer Night's Dream, with Mendelssohn's music. He +had a tuneful baritone voice and a correct ear for music. We hired +a piano for our sitting-room; and, though I failed to induce him to +cultivate his voice, and join me in taking lessons, he sang some of +Mendelssohn's Lieder very pleasingly, and knew most of the bass music +from the Messiah by heart. He began to play a few scales on the piano, +and hoped to surprise his sisters on his return to England by playing +chants, but the Arabic and Hebrew studies proved too absorbing; +he grudged the time, and thought the result disproportioned to the +sacrifice. + +'In our daily walks we talked constantly of Church matters. Some sharp +and sad experiences in the loss of more than one of his Eton and Oxford +friends, who had abandoned the Church of England, failed to shake his +confidence in the Church he was to serve so faithfully and to die for +so gloriously. His faith and daily practice seem to me a protest +and warning against the folly, if not the falsehood, of extremes. +Moderation, quiet consistency of life, and unswerving loyalty to a faith +which had been the joy and comfort of his dear mother, whose loveable +nature he inherited and reflected, a blameless life and unfailing +charity enabled him when the time came to live a life of incessant toil, +and face a martyr's death. I remember the present Bishop of Carlisle +inciting Cambridge undergraduates to become, by virtue of earnestness, +gentleness, and toleration, "guides not judges, lights not firebrands." +He drew a perfect description of Patteson, who came more completely up +to that ideal than anyone I ever knew. Here was a man capable of the +purest and most tender friendship, with an exquisite appreciation of all +that is noblest in life, and he was ready to give up all, and content to +lead the forlorn hope of Christianity, and perish in the front ranks +of the noble army. "And having been a little tried he shall be greatly +rewarded, for God proved him, and found him worthy for Himself."' + +I have given this letter almost entire, because it shows the impression +Coley made on one, little his junior, in the intimate associations of +cousin, neighbour, and schoolfellow, as well as travelling companion. + +This year seems to have been a marked stage of development. He was now +twenty-five, and the boyish distaste for mental exertion which had so +long rendered study an effort of duty had passed into full scholarly +enjoyment. The individuality and originality of his mind had begun to +awaken, and influenced probably by the German atmosphere of thought +in which he was working, were giving him that strong metaphysical bent +which characterised his tone through life, and became apparent in his +sermons when he addressed an educated audience. + +Here is a letter to his eldest sister: 'The weather has been better +suited for work, and I feel pretty well satisfied with my Hebrew. What +makes it so difficult is principally this, that as it is an Oriental +language, it is entirely different in structure, and in its inflections, +&c., from any language I ever came across. I can't fall back upon +anything already learnt to help me; but I see my way pretty clear now, +and shall soon have little more than a knowledge of the meaning of the +words to learn, which is only a matter of patience, and can be learnt +with a good dictionary and practice. A real complete knowledge of the +grammar is of course the great thing. + +'The great Dresden fair, called the Vogelschiesser, is going on; it +began last Sunday and ends next Sunday. About half a mile from the town +there is a very large meadow by the river, where a small town of booths, +tents, &c., is erected, and where shooting at targets with wooden darts, +sham railway-trains and riding-horses, confectionery of every kind, +beer of every name, strength, and colour, pipes, cigars, toys, gambling, +organ-grinding, fiddling, dancing, &c., goes on incessantly. The great +attraction, however, is the shooting at the bird, which occupies the +attention of every Saxon, and is looked upon as the consummation of +human invention and physical science. A great pole, nearly 80 feet high, +is erected with a wooden bird, about the size of a turkey, at the top; +to hit this with a crossbow from a regular stand, about 50 feet from +the foot of the pole, is the highest ambition of this great people. The +accompaniments are rich in the extreme: cannon firing, drums rolling, +for a successful shot, the shooting society, who exist only for the sole +honour and glory of hacking this bird to pieces, the presence of the +King, I think to-day, and the intense interest taken in the amusement by +the whole population; certainly the Germans are satisfied with less than +any people I ever saw (barring two things, smoke and beer, in which they +are insatiable). I went out to see it all, but it rather bored me after +an hour or so. Tom F---- and I threw some dice for a pair of braces for +Arthur, which we presented in due form; and we had some shots at the +targets--mine were eminently unsuccessful. + +'Last night we had a great treat. Emil Devrient, who has been acting in +London, you know, came back, and acted Marquis Posa in "Don Carlos." The +play acts very much better than it reads. Schiller certainly has great +dramatic genius; only I agree with Goethe that there is always a longing +for exhibiting cruelty in its most monstrous form, and refinement of +cruelty and depravity overstepping almost the natural conditions of +humanity. I always thought Iago about the most awful character in +Shakspeare; but Schiller's Philip II. is something beyond even this, +without perhaps so much necessity for the exhibition of this absolute +delight in evil. It is long since I have been so excited in a theatre. I +was three rows from the stage, heard and understood everything, and +was so completely carried away by the grandeur and intense feeling of +Devrient (who was well supported by the Don Carlos), that I had some +difficulty to keep quiet, and feel to-day rather odd, shaken, as it +were, from such a strain upon the feelings.' + +Here is a letter, enclosed within one to his sister Fanny on September +9, written on a scrap of paper. The apologetic tone of confession is +amusing:-- + +'My dearest Father,--I have not before told you that I have been at work +for just three weeks upon a new subject; reading, however, Hebrew every +day almost for three hours as well. Schier is not a great Hebraist; and +I found the language in one sense easier than I expected, so that with +good grammar and dictionary I can quite get on by myself, reading an +easy part of the Bible (historical books, e.g.) at the rate of about +twenty-five verses an hour. Well, I began to think that I ought to use +the opportunities that Dresden affords. I know that Hebrew is not a +rich language; that many words occur only once, and consequently have an +arbitrary meaning attached to them, unless they can be illustrated from +cognate languages. Now I have a taste for these things, and have in +three weeks progressed so far in my new study as to feel sure I shall +make it useful; and so I tell you without fear I am working at Arabic. I +hope you won't think it silly. It is very hard, and for ten days was as +hard work as I ever had in my life. I think I have learnt enough to +see my way now, and this morning read the first chapter of Genesis +in three-quarters of an hour. It is rich, beyond all comparison, in +inflexions; and the difficulty arises from the extreme multiplicity +of all its forms: e.g. each verb having not only active, middle, +and passive voices, but the primitive active having not less than +thirty-five derivative forms and the passive thirteen. The "noun of +action,"--infinitive with article (to akonein) of the Greek--is again +different for each voice or form; and the primitive can take any of +twenty-two forms, which are not compounded according to any rule. +Again, there are twenty-eight sets of irregular plurals, which are quite +arbitrary. No grammarian has ever given any explanation about them. +All mere matters of memory. The very alphabet shows the richness of the +language. There are twenty-nine letters, besides vowel points; and each +letter is written in four different ways, so that it is different when +isolated, when in the beginning, middle, or end of a word. It took me +some hours to learn them. In very many respects, it is closely allied +to the Hebrew, so that everybody who writes Hebrew grammars and lexicons +necessarily has much to do with Arabic; and a knowledge of it may be of +great use in clearing up difficulties in the Bible. My year in Oxford +will enable me to go on with it, for in three weeks more I hope to be +able to go on alone. To-morrow I begin the Koran. My lessons will not +in all exceed 31; and I really should have gone on, perhaps, not much +faster with Hebrew if I had worked it exclusively; and it is hard to +read so many hours at one thing: and I may say, now without doubt, that +I have laid the foundation for a study of Oriental languages, if I have +time and opportunity that may be fairly given to them. Think what one +hour a day is, and the pleasure to me is very great, and I feel that I +have a knack rather (if I may say so) of laying hold of these things. +Don't mention it to anyone.' + +There the fragment breaks off; and in a letter of August 29 there occurs +this reply to a message from his eldest sister:-- + +'Thank dear Joan for her caution: I know I need it sadly, especially now +when I am at work upon somewhat out-of-the-way subjects, and feel the +danger of forgetting that if I mistake the means for the end, and feel +gratified with the mere intellectual amusement, I am doing very wrong, +even when I am working very hard at very difficult matters. I like these +things, I must confess, and the time is so well adapted to work here, +and now that the weather is cool I can secure every day a good long +time to myself.' In the enclosed letter he announces that he shall leave +Dresden in another three weeks. He says:-- + +'We have had a steady working time of it here; and as I know some +members of the family rather discourage these Continental flights, I +just sum up the advantages thereof. Being naturally endowed with a love +of music, the probability is, that when you, Clara, and Miss Horsley are +together in the house, as soon as a Lied or Sonata began, away would +go my books, or at all events my thoughts. You know well that the piano +goes at all hours, and always in the morning at home. Then riding, +walking with Father, long sitting after dinner, &c. do not improve the +chances for reading. In fact, you know that what with visitors from +without, friends within, parties, &c., I should have had very little +reading in the vacation, and that not through my own fault--not a +Stilbehen in the house could protect me from music. Here I make my own +time, and last week my eyes were troublesome. I walked twice every day, +exactly at the hour when I most wanted it; and without nonsense, I may +say that I have in two months done really a great deal more than I could +have done at home even with masters. This all applies to Arthur just as +much. He has read German exclusively most of the time, and knows as well +as I do that it is not possible to work at home. If I could go on just +as well as with Mendelssohn ringing in my ears, it would be different, +but I can't. You remember how pleasant, but how very idle, last vacation +was, and especially the last six weeks of it!' + +Then, after much about family matters, commissions, and little gifts +which he was collecting for all at home-- + +I should like to get something for everybody, but that is not possible. +Luckily, my lessons are less expensive than I expected, and, considering +the work, wonderfully cheap. I make good progress, I can say; but the +difficulty is great enough to discourage any but a real "grinder" at +such work. I have written a scrap for Father, and you will see that I +am working away pretty well. I have finished my introductory book, +consisting of forty-one fables; and though difficulties present +themselves always to really good scholars from time to time, the Bible +is not one of the hardest books, not so hard, e.g. as the Koran. Now +I can at any future time, if the opportunity comes, go on with these +things, and I hope find them really useful. I know you like to hear what +I am doing; but be sure to keep it all quiet, let no one know but Father +and Joan. You might carelessly tell it to anyone in fun, and I don't +wish it to be known. Especially don't let any of the family know. Time +enough if I live out my Oxford year, and have really mastered the matter +pretty well. Remember this is taken up with a view to elucidate and +explain what is so very hard in Hebrew. Hebrew is to be the Hauptsache, +this the Hulfsmittel, or some day I hope one of several such helps. It +is very important to accustom one's mind to the Denk and Anschauungswerk +of the Orientals, which is so different from that of Europeans or their +language. How hard are the metaphors of the Bible for this reason!' + +There is something in all these long apologies and strenuous desire for +secrecy about these Arabic studies that reminds one that the character +was a self-conscious introspective one, always striving for humility, +and dreading to be thought presumptuous. A simpler nature, if devoid of +craving for home sympathy, would never have mentioned the new study at +all; or if equally open-hearted, would have let the mention of it among +home friends take its chance, without troubling himself as to their +possible comments. Indeed, it is curious to observe how elaborate he +was at this period about all his concerns, meditating over the cause of +whatever affected him. It was a form of growth; and dropped off when the +time of action arrived, and his character had shaped itself. It must be +remembered, too, that his habit of pouring out all his reflections and +feelings to his sisters, and their preservation of his letters, have +left much more on record of these personal speculations than is common. + +His father made a much simpler matter of the Arabic matter, in the +following characteristic letter:-- + + +'Feniton Court: September 14, 1852, + +'My dearest Coley,--So far from thinking you wrong in learning Arabic, I +feel sure that you are quite right. However, we shall keep your secret, +and not say anything about it. I am heartily glad that you should +acquire languages, modern as well as ancient. You know I have often +pressed the former on your and Jem's notice, from myself feeling my +deficiency and regret at it. I can well understand that Arabic, and I +should suppose Syriac also, must be of the greatest use towards a true +understanding of much of the Old Testament: a great deal of which is +doubtless not understood by those who understand only our translation, +or even the Septuagint, which I suspect to have many passages far from a +faithful vehicle of the meaning of the original. I was greatly delighted +with your theological letter, so to speak, as well as with the first, +and look to have some jolly conversations with you on such subjects. + +'We have many more partridges than our neighbours, and Jem shoots +uncommonly well. Three double shots yesterday. I shoot worse than usual; +and cannot walk without much fatigue and frequent pain, so that I shall +not be able to work enough to get much sport. I got through the Mary +Church affair very well--that is, not making a fool of myself--and if +I did not do much good, I think I did no harm. The Bishop of Exeter +[Phillpotts] is mightily pleased, and wrote me a letter to that effect. +Of course I cannot tell you what I said, it would be too long, nor are +you likely to see it. It was fully inserted in "Woolmer," and from him +copied into the "Guardian." + +'I live in hopes to see you well and hearty at Oxford on the 14th of +October, till when, adieu, God bless you. + +'Your affectionate Father, + +'J. PATTESON.' + + +The interview with the Bishop of Sydney never took place, for the +excellent Bishop Broughton arrived with health shattered by his +attendance on the sufferers from fever in the ship which brought him +from St. Thomas, and he did not long survive his landing. + +The 'Mary Church affair' here referred to was the laying the +foundation-stone of the Church, built or restored, it is hard to say +which, on the lines of the former one, and preserving the old tower, +at St. Mary Church, near Torquay. Though the death of the Rev. Gr. M. +Coleridge had broken one tie with the place, it continued to be much +beloved by the Patteson family, and Sir John had taken so much share +in the church-building work as to be asked to be the layer of the +corner-stone. The speech he made at the ensuing luncheon excited much +attention and the sisters took care that their brother should not +miss reading it. The stay at Dresden was drawing to an end; and he was +preparing to return through Berlin, intending to go direct to Oxford and +reside there till the summer, when he meant to seek ordination and enter +on the Curacy at Alfington. He says to his sister Joanna:-- + +'It is a long time to pass without seeing you, but I hope, if it please +God that we all live on together, that it will be long before such +another interval occurs. I have not grown out of an occasional fit of +home sickness yet; and on these occasions Arthur and I talk incessantly +about domestic matters, and indulge our fancies in conjecturing what you +are all doing, and so forth. I followed Joan and Clara's trip, step +by step, from the Den at Teignmouth to St. Mary Church, Oddiscombe, +Rabbicombe, Anstey's Cave, Meadfoot, &c. How I remember every inch of +the dear old places! Better than the mud banks at Felixstowe, are they +not, Clara? I shall keep always the scrap from the "Guardian" with +Father's speech. I don't think I remember any speech on a similar +occasion so thoroughly good, and so likely to do good. Plain, sensible, +and manly, no question of words and unimportant differences of opinion; +no cant, high or low, just like himself. I pray I may have but a tenth +part of his honesty and freedom from prejudice and party spirit. It +may come, under God's blessing, if a man's mind is earnestly set on the +truth; but the danger is of setting up your own exclusive standard of +truth, moral and intellectual. Father certainly is more free from it +than any man we ever knew. He tells me in his letter that the Bishop +of Sydney is coming home to consult people in England about Synodical +Action, &c., and that he is going to meet him and explain to him certain +difficulties and mistakes into which he has fallen with regard to +administering the Oath of Abjuration and the like matters. How few +people, comparatively, know the influence Father exercises in this way +behind the scenes, as it were. His intimacy with so many of the Bishops, +too, makes his position really of very great importance. I don't want to +magnify, but the more I think of him, and know how very few men they are +that command such general respect, and bear such a character with all +men for uprightness and singleness of purpose, it is very difficult to +know how his place could be supplied when we throw his legal knowledge +over and above into the scale. I hope he will write: I am quite certain +that his opinion will exercise a great influence on very many people. +Such a speech as this at Mary Church embodies exactly the sense of +a considerable number of the most prudent and most able men of the +country, and his position and character give it extra weight, and that +would be so equally with his book as with his speech. How delightful it +will be to have him at Oxford. He means to come in time for dinner +on the 14th, and go away on the 16th; but if he likes it, he will, I +daresay, stop now and then on his way to town and back. Jem will not be +back in town when he goes up for the Judicial Committee work, so he will +be rather solitary there, won't he. I am not, however, sure about the +number of weeks Jem must reside to keep his term....' + +The enjoyment of the last few days at Dresden 'was much marred by +a heavy cold, caught by going to see an admirable representation of +'Egmont,' the last of these theatrical treats so highly appreciated. The +journey to Berlin, before the cold was shaken off, resulted in an attack +of illness; and he was so heavy and uncomfortable as to be unable to +avail himself of his opportunities of interesting introductions. + +He returned to his rooms at Merton direct from Germany. Like many men +who have come back to Oxford at a riper age than that of undergraduate +life, he now entered into the higher privileges and enjoyments of the +University, the studies, friendships, and influences, as early youth +sometimes fails to do. He was felt by his Oxford friends to have greatly +developed since his Balliol terms had been over and the Eton boy left +behind. Study was no longer a toil and conscientious effort. It +had become a prime pleasure; and men wondered to find the plodding, +accurate, but unenthusiastic student of three years back, a linguist and +philologist of no common power and attainment. Mr. Roundell says, 'He +had become quite another person. Self-cultivation had done much for him. +Literature and art had opened his mind and enlarged his interests and +sympathies. The moral and spiritual forces of the man were now vivified, +refined, and strengthened by the awakening of his intellectual and +esthetic nature.' + +Ever reaching forward, however, he was on his guard against, as he said, +making the means the end. Languages were his pleasure, but a pleasure +held in check as only subservient to his preparation for the ministry. +He did not mean to use them to the acquirement of academical honour +nor promotion, nor did he even rest in the intellectual delight of +investigation; he intended them only as keys to the better appreciation +of the Scriptures and of the doctrines of the Church, unaware as yet +that the gift he was cultivating would be of inestimable value in far +distant regions. + +In February, while Sir John Patteson was in London, his son James was +the cause of much alarm, owing to a mistake by which he swallowed an +embrocation containing a large amount of laudanum. Prompt measures, +however, prevented any ill effects; and all danger was over before the +letter was sent off which informed Coley of what had happened; but the +bare idea of the peril was a great shock to one of such warm affections, +and so deeply attached to his only brother. He wrote the two following +letters to his father and sisters on the first impulse on the receipt of +the intelligence:-- + + +'Shrove Tuesday. + +'My dearest Father,--I believe I speak truly when I say that I never in +my life felt so thoroughly thankful and grateful to God for His great +mercy as I did this morning, on reading of dear Jem's danger and safety. +He is less accustomed to talk about his feelings than I am, in which +I see his superiority, but partly because our tastes are in several +respects different, chiefly because of his exceeding amiability and +unselfishness. I am sure we love each other very dearly. Ever since +his illness at Geneva, I have from time to time contemplated the utter +blank, the real feeling of loss, which anything happening to him would +bring with it, and the having it brought home close to me in this way +quite upset me, as it well might. I pray God that no ill effects may +follow, and from what you say I apprehend none. I have often thought +that it is much better when two brothers propose to themselves different +objects in life, and pursue them with tastes dissimilar on unimportant +matters. They act better upon one another; just as I look to Jem, as I +have more than once told him, to give me a hint when he sees a want of +common sense in anything I take up, because I know I act a good deal +from impulse, and take an interest in many things which are perhaps not +worth the time I spend on them. It is a mercy that I hope I shall never +forget, never cease to be thankful for. Many and many a time, if it +please God, I shall look to him in difficulties, and remember how nearly +once he was lost to me. I can get away with the greatest ease for a few +days on Thursday if desirable, and perhaps old Jem will feel low after +this, when you have left him. I think this very likely, from what I know +of him, and if you think it too, without asking him if he would like it, +I will come up for some other reason. You will not go, I know, unless +he is perfectly well; but he might, and I think would, like to have some +one with him just at first. Let me know what you think. + +'Good-bye, my dearest father. + +'Ever your affectionate and dutiful son, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +'Merton, Shrove Tuesday. + +'My dearest Joan and Fan,--How we must all have united this morning in +pouring out our thanks to God for His great mercy! You will not suspect +me of being wanting in love to you, if I say that the contemplation of +what might have happened presented such a scene of desolation, such a +void, that it would have required all the strength I possess to turn to +God in resignation and submission to His will. I have often, very often, +thought of that illness at Geneva, but this brought it home to me, +perhaps closer still; and I hope I shall never cease to be mindful of, +and thankful for, this special providence. Father seems pretty confident +that all mischief is prevented; and Jem wrote six hours after he took +the laudanum, and had then felt no drowsiness to speak of, and Dr. +Watson said there was no fear of anything happening after two hours had +elapsed. + +'I should like to join with you in showing our gratitude by some deed +of charity, or whatever you think right. Something that without any show +might be a thank-offering to God for His signal act of mercy. + +'Ever your loving Brother, + +'J. C. PATTESON. + +'5.30. I wrote this quite early this morning. I can hardly think +yet what it all means. Now, I feel only a sense of some very heavy +affliction removed. Poor dear Father, and all of us! what should we have +been without him!' + + +A letter to the brother himself was written under the same impulse, +even more tenderly affectionate, but so deep and intimate, that it would +almost be treason to give it to the world. The next letter was written +soon after the alarm had passed, but is undated:-- + +'My dear Fan,--Yesterday I was unluckily too seedy with headache to go +on the ice, and this morning I have been skating for half an hour, but +the ice is spoilt. Very jolly it is to be twisting and turning about +once more. I thought of writing to old Jem to come down for it, as +I should think the frost is not severe enough to freeze any but the +shallow water of the floods, but it was not good enough to reward him +for the trouble of coming so far. + +'The constant sense of his preservation from that great danger really +prevents my feeling so acutely perhaps as I ought to do the distress of +others. I really think I ought to be less cheerful and happy than I feel +myself to be. I had a pleasant little talk with Dr. Pusey on Monday: +he was recommending me two or three books for Hebrew reading, but they +would be of no use to me yet; the language is difficult to advance far +into, and you know my shallow way of catching a thing at first rather +quickly perhaps, but only superficially. I find my interest increasing +greatly in philological studies. One language helps another very much; +and the beautiful way in which the words, ideas, and the whole structure +indeed, of language pervades whole families, and even the different +families, (e.g., the Indo-Germanic and Semitic races,) is not only +interesting, but very useful. I wish I had made myself a better Greek +and Latin scholar, but unfortunately I used to hate classics. What +desperate uphill work it was to read them, a regular exercise of +self-denial every morning! Now I like it beyond any study, except +Divinity proper, and I try to make up for lost time. There are admirable +books in my possession which facilitate the acquisition of critical +scholarship very much, and I work at these, principally applying it to +New Test. Greek, LXX, &c. But my real education began, I think, with my +first foreign trip. It seems as if there was not time for all this, +for I have Hebrew, Arabic, &c., to go on with (though this is a slow +process), Pearson, Hooker, Blunt on the Reformation (a mere sketch which +I read in a day or two at odd times), Commentaries, Trench's Books on +Parables and Miracles, which are in my room at home, and would in parts +interest you; he is a writer of good common sense, and a well-read man. +But I of course want to be reading history as well, and that involves +a good deal; physical geography, geology, &c., yet one things helps +another very much. I don't work quite as methodically as I ought; and +I much want some one to discuss matters with relating to what I read. I +don't say all this, I am sure you know, as if I wanted to make out that +I am working at grand subjects. I know exceeding little of any one +of them, so little history, e.g., that a school girl could expose +my ignorance directly, but I like to know what we are doing among +ourselves, and we all get to know each other better thereby. I felt +so much of late with regard to Jem, that a natural reserve prevents so +often members even of the same family from communicating freely to each +other their opinions, business, habits of life, experiences of sympathy, +approval, disapproval, and the like; and when one member is gone, then +it is felt how much more closely such a habit of dealing with each other +would have taught us to know him.... Nothing tests one's knowledge +so well as questions and answers upon what we have read, stating +difficulties, arguments which we can't understand, &c., to each other. +Ladies who have no profession to prepare for, in spite of a very large +correspondence and numerous household duties, may (in addition to their +parochial work as curates!) take up a real course of reading and go into +it thoroughly; and this gives girls not only employment for the time, +but gives the mind power to seize every other subject presented to it. +If you are quite alone, your reading is apt to become desultory. I find +it useful to take once or twice a week a walk with Riddell of Balliol, +and go through a certain period of Old Testament history; it makes me +get it up, and then between us we hammer out so many more explanations +of difficult passages than, at all events, I should do by myself. He is, +moreover, about the best Greek scholar here, which is a great help to +me. You have no idea of the light that such accurate scholarship as +his throws upon many disputed passages in the Bible, e.g., "Wisdom is +justified of her children," where the Greek preposition probably gives +the key to the whole meaning, and many such. So you see, dear old Fan, +that the want of some one to pour out this to, for it sounds fearfully +pedantic, I confess, has drawn upon you this grievous infliction. + +'My kindest love to Father and dear Joan, + +'Ever your loving + +'J. C. P.' + + +Fanny Patteson answered with arguments on the other duties which +hindered her from entering on the course of deep study which he had been +recommending. He replies:-- + + +'Feb. 25, 1853. + +'My dearest Fan,--I must answer your very sensible well-written letter +at once, because on our system of mutual explanation, there are two or +three things I wish to notice in it. First, I never meant that anything +should supersede duties which I am well aware you practise with real use +to yourself and those about you, e.g., the kindness and sympathy shown +to friends, and generally due observance of all social relations. +Second, I quite believe that the practical application of what is +already known, teaching, going about among the poor, is of far more +consequence than the acquisition of knowledge, which, of course, for its +own sake is worth nothing. Third, I think you perfectly right in keeping +up music, singing, all the common amusements of a country life; of +course I do, for indeed what I said did not apply to Joan or you, except +so far as this, that we all know probably a great deal of which each +one is separately ignorant, and the free communication of this to one +another is desirable, I think. + +'My own temptation consists perhaps chiefly in the love of reading for +its own sake. I do honestly think that for a considerable time past I +have read, I believe, nothing which I do not expect to be of real +use, for I have no taste naturally for novels, &c. (without, however, +wishing to deny that there may be novels which teach a real insight into +character). Barring "I Promessi Sposi" which I take up very seldom when +tired, I have not read one for ages: I must except "Old Mortality," +read last Vacation at Feniton; but I can't deny that I like the study +of languages for its own sake, though I apply my little experience in +it wholly to the interpretation of the Bible. I like improving my +scholarship, it is true, but I can say honestly that it is used to read +the Greek Testament with greater accuracy: so of the Hebrew, Syriac, +Arabic. I feel, I confess, sometimes that it is nice, &c., to know +several languages, but I try to drive away any such thoughts, and it is +quite astonishing how, after a few weeks, a study which would suggest +ideas of an unusual course of reading becomes so familiar that I never +think of myself when pursuing it, e.g., I don't think that after +two hours' grind at Arabic the stupid wrong feeling of its being an +out-of-the-way study comes upon me now, it is getting quite natural. It +comes out though when I talk or write perhaps with another, but I must +try and get over it. + +'I believe it to be a good thing to break off any work once or twice a +day in the middle of any reading, for meditating a little while and for +prayer. This is more easily done at College than elsewhere; and is, I +hope, a preventive against such thoughts. Then, as I jog on I see how +very little I know, what an immense deal I have to learn to become +ordinarily well acquainted with these things. I am in that state of +mind, perhaps, when Ecclesiastes (which I am now reading) puts my own +case exactly before me. I think, What's the good of it all? And the +answer comes, it may be very good properly used, or very mischievous +if abused. I do indeed look forward to active parochial work: I think I +shall be very happy so employed, and I often try to anticipate the time +in thought, and feel with perfect sincerity that nothing is so useful +or so full of comfort as the consciousness of trying to fulfil the daily +duties of my situation. Here of course I need do nothing; I mean there +is nothing to prevent my sitting all day in an arm-chair and reading +"Pickwick.".... One word about the way languages help me, that you may +not think what I am doing harder than it really is. These three bear the +same kind of relation to each other (or rather say these five, Arabic, +Syriac, Hebrew, Chaldee, Ethiopia; but of the last I know nothing +whatever, and of Chaldee only so much as that it is a dialect of Hebrew +in the same character, and consequently anyone who knows Hebrew knows +something about it), as German to English, e.g., Bahlom (Arab.), Beel +(Syr.), Baal (Heb.), are the same word, as you can see, only written +in different characters, and all mean "a lord," so Baal, Beelzebub, or +Baalzebeb. Baal Peor, which means, literally, "the Lord of the ravine," +viz., the idol worshipped at the Pass in the wilderness. Consequently, +in reading any one of these languages, the same word keeps on occurring +in all; and the chief use is of course that often a word which occurs +only once or twice in Hebrew perhaps is in common use in the others, and +so its meaning is fixed. Add to all this, that the Syriac version of the +New Testament was made (as all agree) early in the second century, if +not at the end of the first, and thus is the very best exponent of the +New Testament where the Greek is doubtful; and the additional fact, that +though a mixture of Chaldee and Syriac was the language of Palestine in +our Lord's time, yet He certainly sometimes spoke what is now our Syriac +(e.g., Talitha cumi, &c.), and the importance of it is apparent. Surely +to read the language that our Blessed Lord himself used is no small +profit as well as delight. + +'So I think we may each go on in our several pursuits, each helping +each, and each trying to do so without a foolish affectation of +learning. + +'My best love to dear Father and Joan, + +'Ever your affectionate Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + + +Fenelon has said that in a certain stage of piety there is much of self, +and Coley was evidently in that stage. His own figure was the primary +object before his eyes, neither indulged, nor admired, but criticised, +repressed, and by his very best efforts thrust aside, whenever he was +conscious that his self-contemplation was self-complacency. Still it +was in his nature to behold it, and discuss it, and thus to conquer +and outgrow the study in time, while leaving many observations upon +self-culture and self-training, that will no doubt become deeply valued +as the result of the practical experience of one who so truly mastered +that obtrusive self. + +Patteson was one of the most decided workers for the admission of +improvements and reduction of abuses within his own college, with +which each Oxford foundation was endeavouring to forestall compulsory +reformation by a University Commission. Mr. Roundell says:-- + +'His early years as Fellow of Merton coincided with the period of active +reform at Oxford which followed upon the Report of the Commission in +1852. What part did the future Missionary Bishop take in that great +movement? One who worked with him at that time--a time when University +reform was as unfashionable as it is now fashionable--well remembers. He +threw himself into the work with hearty zeal; he supported every liberal +proposal. To his loyal fidelity and solid common sense is largely due +the success with which the reform of Merton was carried out. And yet in +those first days of college reform the only sure and constant nucleus +of the floating-Liberal majority consisted of Patteson and one other. +Whatever others did, those two were always on the same side. And so, +somehow, owing no doubt to the general enlightenment which distinguished +the senior Fellows of Merton under the old regime--an enlightenment +unquestionably due to the predominance in that College of the lay +non-resident element--the new reforming spirit found itself in the +ascendency. It is to the honour of Patteson, and equally to the honour +of the older Fellows of the College at that time, that so great an +inroad upon old traditions should have been made with such an entire +absence of provocation on the one side, or of irritation on the +other. But Patteson, with all his reforming zeal, was also a high-bred +gentleman. He remembered what was due to others as well as to himself. +His bearing was one of respect for authority, of deference towards those +who were his superiors in age. He knew how to differ. He showed towards +others the considerate courtesy which others in return so abundantly +showed towards him. And this generous forbearance of the seniors had its +reward. It entailed upon the juniors a reciprocity of respect. It was +felt by them at the time to be an additional incentive to moderation, to +sobriety, to desistance from extreme views. The result was that the work +got done, and what was done left no heartburnings behind. + +'Yet it would be delusive to pretend to claim Bishop Patteson as a +Liberal in the political sense of the word. He was no such thing. If +anything, his instincts, especially in Church matters, drew him the +other way. But those who knew the man, like those who have seen the +Ammergau Play, would as soon think of fastening upon that a sectarian +character, as of fixing him with party names. His was a catholic mind. +What distinguished him was his open-mindedness, his essential goodness, +his singleness and simplicity of aim. He was a just man, and singularly +free from perturbations of self, of temper, or of nerves. You did not +care to ask what he would call himself. You felt what he was, that +you were in the presence of a man too pure for party, of one in whose +presence ordinary party distinctions almost ceased to have a meaning. +Such a man could scarcely be on the wrong side. Both the purity of his +nature and the rectitude of his judgment would have kept him straight.' + +Coley remained at Merton until the Long Vacation of 1853; when his +Oxford life terminated, though not his connection with the University, +for he retained his Fellowship until his death, and the friendships he +had formed both at Balliol and Merton remained unbroken. + + + + +CHAPTER V. THE CURACY AT ALFINGTON. 1853-1855. + + + +Preparation for ordination had become Patteson's immediate object. As +has been already said, his work was marked out. There was a hamlet +of the parish of Ottery St. Mary, at a considerable distance from the +church and town, and named Alfington. + +Some time previously, the family of Sir John Kennaway had provided +the place with a school, which afterwards passed into the hands of Mr. +Justice Coleridge, who, in 1849, there built the small church of St. +James, with parsonage, school, and house, on a rising ground overlooking +the valley of Honiton, almost immediately opposite to Feniton; and, at +the same time, took on himself the expenses of the curacy and school, +for the vicar of the parish, the Rev. Dr. Cornish, formerly master of +Ottery School. + +The first curate of Alfington was Judge Coleridge's son Henry, the +well-known author of the beautiful Life of St. Francis Xavier. On his +leaving our communion, it was his father's wish that Coleridge Patteson +should take the cure; and, until his ordination, it was committed +temporarily to other hands, in especial to the Rev. Henry Gardiner, +who was much beloved there. In the spring of 1853, he had a long and +dangerous illness, when Coley came to nurse him, and became so much +attached to him, that his influence and unconscious training became +of great importance. The church was served by such clerical friends as +could give their assistance on Sunday, and the pastoral care, attention +to the school, cottage visiting, &c., became the employment of the +candidate for Holy Orders, who thus began his work under the direction +of his disabled friend. + +A letter to his sister shows how he plunged into the drudgery of the +parish, doing that which always cost him most, namely, administering +rebukes; so that it was no wonder that he wrote with a sort of elation +at having lashed himself up to the point of giving a thorough warning:-- + + +'Feniton: July 19, 1853. + +'My dearest Fan,--I am going to Thorverton to-day to stay till Thursday. +Gardiner came downstairs on Sunday, and again yesterday, and is making +very rapid strides towards perfect recovery. He even went out yesterday +for a few minutes. So I don't mind leaving him in the least; and indeed +he is going to Sidmouth himself, probably at the end of the week. I have +seen him every day without one exception, and have learnt a very great +deal from him. He has studied very closely school work, condition of the +labourer, boys' homes, best method of dispensing charity, &c., and on +all these points his advice has been really invaluable. I feel now that +I am quite to all intents working the district. People ask me about +their children coming to school. I know almost all the people in the +village, and a good many out of it, and begin to understand, in a very +small way, what a clergyman's life is. A mixture of sorrow and pleasure +indeed! There are many very sad cases of hypocrisy, filthiness, and +wickedness (as I suppose there are in every district); and yesterday I +had a very hard-working and in one case most painful day. + +'Some people had asked me to take their boy, three years and a half old, +to school--a wretched pair, with a little savage for a son. I said I +would speak to Miss Wilkins, and put plainly before her the character of +parents and child. However, she wished to have him, and I knew it was so +far well to get the boy away from home. But such a scene ensued! The +boy was really like a little savage; kicked, dashed his head against the +wall, and at length, with his nose bleeding violently, exhausted with +his violence, fell asleep. Next day, he is so bad, he is sent home; when +the mother drives him back to school, cursing and swearing, telling Miss +Wilkins she may kill him if she pleases! Unluckily, I was not in school. + +'Yesterday he was in school and more quiet, but did not kneel down at +prayers, and seemed like a little beast beginning to be tamed. So, after +school, I called him to me, and putting him before my knees asked him +some questions very kindly: "Did he know who God was? Had he never been +taught to kneel down and say his prayers? Of course he had not, but it +gave me the proper opportunity of speaking to his parents. So having +now considered the matter for two or three days previously, having +ascertained all the facts about the people, after an hour among some +others in the village, I went right into their cottage, and luckily +found father and mother and grandmother at home, besides one or two more +(who are lodgers) in a room adjoining, with the door open. 'I am come +to talk to you about William,' I began, whereupon I saw the woman +turn quite red. However, I spoke for about ten minutes slowly and very +quietly, without any appearance (as I believe) of anger or passion at +all, but yet speaking my mind quite plainly. "I had no idea any child +could be so neglected. Did they suppose the school was a place where +any parent might send a child merely to get it out of the way (of course +they do, you know, most of them)? Was it possible that a child could be +made good as if by magic there, when it learns nothing but wicked words +at home? Do you think you can or ought to get rid of the duties you owe +your child? Do you suppose that God will not require from you an account +of the way you have behaved towards him, you who have never taught him +to know who God is, what God is, what is prayer, what is the church, +who have taught that little mouth, which God created for praise and +blessings, to curse and blaspheme? I know that many children do and say +wicked things, but it is in most cases owing to the neglect of their +parents, who do not speak kindly to their children, and do what they can +to keep them out of temptation, but this is a different case. Your boy +is not fit to come into the company of little Christians! Awful as it +is to think of, he is already, at his early age, the very dread of the +parents who live near you." + +'They had not a word to say, not a syllable beyond the objection which I +had already met, that other children were bad too. I did not say what I +might have said with truth, because it is only from Gardiner's report, +not from my own knowledge--viz., that neither father nor mother ever +come to church, and that their house is the centre of evil to the young +people of the village. + +'"Now," I said, in conclusion, "I fully meant to send back your boy, and +tell you I would examine him six months hence, to see if he was fit to +be brought into the school, but as I do trust he may behave better, +and that this may be the means of recovering him from this sad state, I +shall take him still, unless he behaves again very badly. But remember +this--this is the turning point in the boy's life, and all, humanly +speaking, depends on the example you set him. What an awful thing it +would be, if it pleased God to take him away from you now, and a fit of +measles, scarlatina, or any such illness, may do it any day! Remember +that you are responsible to a very great extent for your child; that +unless it sees you watchful over your thoughts, words, and actions; +unless it sees you regular and devout in prayer at home (I don't believe +they ever think of such a thing--God forgive me, if I am wrong); unless +it sees you habitually in your place in God's house, you are not doing +your duty to yourselves or your child, you are not laying up any hope or +comfort whatever for the day of your sickness and death. Now I hope you +clearly understand me. I have spoken plainly--exactly what I think, and +what I mean to act upon. You know now the sort of person you have to +deal with. Good morning,"--and thereupon I marched out, amazed at my own +pluck, and heartily glad that I had said what I wished, and felt I ought +to say. + +'But I need hardly tell you that this left me in a state of no slight +excitement, and that I should be much comforted by hearing what you and +Father and Joan think of my behaviour. + +'Meanwhile, there are some very nice people; I dearly love some of the +boys and girls; and I do pray that this plan of a boys' home may save +some from contamination. I, seated with Sanders last night, found him +and his wife very hearty about it. I have only mentioned it to three +people, but I rather wish it to be talked about a little now, that +they may be curious, &c., to know exactly what I mean to do. The two +cottages, with plenty of room for the Fley's family and eight boys, with +half an acre of garden at L11. 5s. the year. I shall of course begin +with only one or two boys--the thing may not answer at all; but +everyone, Gardiner, several farmers, and two or three others, quite +poor, in different places, all say it must work well, with God's +blessing. I do not really wish to be scheming away, working a favourite +hobby, &c., but I do believe this to be absolutely essential. The +profligacy and impurity of the poor is beyond all belief. Every mother +of a family answers (I mean every honest respectable mother of a +family): "Oh sir, God will bless such a work, and it is for want of this +that so much misery and wretchedness abound." I believe that for a year +or so it will exhaust most of my money, but then it is one of the best +uses to which I can apply it; for my theory is, that help and assistance +is wanted in this way, and I would wish to make most of these things +self-supporting. Half an acre more of garden, thoroughly well worked, +will yield an astonishing return, and I look to Mary as a person of +really economical habits. It is a great relief to have poured all this +out. It is no easy task that I am preparing for myself. I know that I +fully expect to be very much disappointed, but I am determined to try +it. I am determined to try and make the people see that I am not going +to give way to everybody that asks; but that I am going to set on foot +and help on all useful industrial schemes of every kind, for people +of every age. I am hard at work, studying spade husbandry, inspectors' +reports of industrial schools, &c. I am glad you are all so happy. I am +so busy. Best love to all. + +'Your loving + +'J. C. P.' + + +Coley was thus already serving a vigorous apprenticeship in pastoral +work, while preparing himself for receiving deacon's orders. It was a +trying time both to his family and himself, for, as before said, his +standard was very high, and his own strong habit of self-contemplation +made his dissatisfaction with himself manifest in his manner to those +nearest to him. He was always gentle and unselfish; not showing temper, +but unhappiness. + +Here are letters showing a good deal of his state of mind: the first +only dated 'Saturday evening,' but evidently written about this time, +in reply to the cautions with which his sister had replied to the above +letter of eager plans of improvement. + + +'My dearest Fan,--Your letter has just reached me from Honiton, and I +have read it with very great interest. I liked it better on a second +perusal of it, which showed in itself that I wanted it, for it is quite +true that I require to be reminded of the only true principle upon which +one ought to work; and I allow quite willingly that I trace interested +motives--e.g., love of self-approval or applause in actions where such +feelings ought least of all to enter. I certainly did feel pleased with +myself for speaking plainly to those people, and I often find myself +indulging the notion that I am going to be a very hard-working +clergyman, with a remedy for all the evils of the age, &c. If I was to +hunt about for an excuse, I might perhaps find one, by saying that I am +in that state of mind which attends always, I suppose, the anticipation +of any great crisis in a person's life; sometimes hard work and hard +thought, sometimes (though alas! very seldom) a real sense of the very +awful responsibility of ministering in the Church, sometimes a +less natural urging of the mind to contemplate and realise this +responsibility. I was for some time reading Wilberforce's new book, +and this involved an examination of the question in other writers; but +lately I have laid all controversial works aside almost entirely, and +have been reading Pearson, Bull, and the Apostolical Fathers, Clement +and Ignatius. I shall probably read Justin Martyr's Apologies, and some +treatises of Tertullian before next month is over. I have read some part +already. There is such a very strong practical element in these very +early writings that they ought to soothe and calm the mind; but I cannot +honestly conceal the fact that the theological interest for the most +part outweighs the practical teaching. + +'My light reading is of a new and very amusing and interesting +character--viz., books on school economy, management of school farms, +allotments, the modern dairy, spade husbandry, agricultural chemistry. +K, W, F, C, and G, and I have great talks; and as they all agree with +me, I think them capital judges. + +'I don't think at all that my present state of mind is quite natural. +You quite repeat my own words when you say it is transitory. A calm +undisturbed spirit of prayer and peace and contentment is a great gift +of God, and to be waited for with patience. The motto of "The Christian +Year" is very beautiful. I sent the roses on Tuesday. My best love to +dear Father and Joan. + +'Ever your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + + +These words 'love of self-approval' perfectly analysed that snare +of Coley's early life, against which he so endeavoured to guard--not +self-conceit, but love of self-approval. + +So the Easter week drew on, and during it he writes to his cousin:-- + + +'Friday, Wallis Lodgings, Exeter: September, 1853. + +'My dear Sophy,--We have had a good examination, I think; perhaps rather +harder than I expected. Woolecombe and Chancellor Harrington spoke to +me this morning, thanking me for my papers, and telling me to read the +Gospel at the Ordination. + +'I did feel very nervous last Sunday and Monday, and the Ember Prayer +in the morning (when I was at Ottery) fairly upset me, but I don't think +anybody saw it; now, I am thankful to say, I am very well, and +feel thoroughly happy. I shall be nervous, no doubt, on Sunday, and +especially at reading the Gospel, but not I think so nervous as to break +down or do anything foolish; so when you know I am reading--for you +won't hear me, if you are in the stalls, don't distress yourself about +me. + +'I can't tell what it was that upset me so on Sunday and +Monday--thinking of dear Mamma and how she had wished for this, the +overwhelming kindness of everybody about me, dear Father's simple words +of very affectionate comfort and advice. + +'But I walked into Exeter, and on the way got quite calm, and so I have +been ever since. It is not strange that the realising the near approach +of what I have for years wished for, and looked forward to, should +at times come upon me with such force that I seem scarcely master of +myself; but it is only excitement of feeling, and ought, I know, to +be repressed, not for a moment to be entertained as a test of one's +religious state, being by no means a desirable thing. I am very glad the +examination is over. I did not worry myself about it, but it was rather +hard work, and now I have my time to myself for quiet thought and +meditation. + +'Ever, dear Sophy, your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The next evening he writes:-- + + +'Saturday, 5.45 P.M. + +'My dearest Father,--I must write my last letter as a layman to you. I +can't tell you the hundredth part of the thoughts that have been passing +through my mind this week. There has been no return of the excitement +that I experienced last Sunday and Monday, and I have been very happy +and well. + +'To-day my eyes are not comfortable, from I know not what cause, but as +all the work for them is over, it does not matter so much. I am glad to +have had a quiet time for reflection. Indeed, I do not enough realise my +great unworthiness and sinfulness, and the awful nature of the work I am +undertaking. I pray God very earnestly for the great grace of humility, +which I so sadly need: and for a spirit of earnest prayer, that I may be +preserved from putting trust in myself, and may know and forget myself +in my office and work. I never could be fit for such work, I know that, +and yet I am very thankful that the time for it has come. I do not feel +excited, yet I am somewhat nervous because it requires an effort to +meditate steadily. I have thought so much of my early life, of dearest +Mamma. What a snare it seems, so full of transitory earthly plans and +pursuits; such a want of earnestness of purpose and steady performance +of duty! God grant my life as a clergyman may be more innocent to +myself, and more useful to others! Tell dear Joan the gown came this +morning. My kind love to her, Fan, and Jem. + +'Ever, my dearest Father, + +'Your affectionate and dutiful Son, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +On the ensuing day, Sunday, September 14, 1853, John Coleridge Patteson +received the Diaconate at the hands of the venerable Bishop Phillpotts, +in Exeter Cathedral. His being selected to read the Gospel was the proof +of his superiority in the examination--no wonder, considering the two +additional years that he had spent in preparation, and the deep study +and searchings of heart of the last few months. + +He was established in a small house at Alfington--the usual habitation +of the Curate. And of his first sermon there, his uncle, Sir John +Coleridge, gives the following touching description from his diary:-- + +'October 23, 1853.--Yesterday morning Arthur and I went to Alfington +Church, to be present at Coley's first sermon. I don't know when I have +been so much delighted and affected. His manner of saying the prayers +was exceedingly good: his voice very sweet and musical; without seeming +loud, it was fully audible, and gave assurance of more power if needed: +his manner quite unaffected, but sweet and devout. His sermon was a very +sound and good one, beautifully delivered; perhaps in the early parts, +from the very sweetness of his voice, and the very rapid delivery of +his words, a little more variety of intonation would have helped in +conveying his meaning more distinctly to those who formed the bulk +of his congregation. But when he came to personal parts this was not +needed. He made a kind allusion to me, very affecting to me; and when +I was in this mood, and he came to the personal parts, touching himself +and his new congregation, what he knew he ought to be to them and to +do for them, what they should do for themselves, and earnestly besought +their prayers, I was completely overcome, and weeping profusely. + +Fanny Patteson and Arthur Coleridge were sitting with the Judge, and +were equally overcome. When the service was over, and the congregation +dispersed, Coley joined these three in the porch, holding out his hands, +taking theirs and shedding tears, and they with him--tears of warm +emotion too deep for words. He was evidently surprised at the effect +produced. In fact, on looking at the sermon, it does not seem to have +been in itself remarkable, but as his cousin Arthur says: 'I suppose +the deep spirituality of the man, and the love we bore him for years, +touched the emotional part of us.' The text was significant: 'We preach +not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants +for Jesus' sake' (2 Cor. iv. 5). + +The services that the newly-ordained Deacon undertook were the ordinary +Sunday ones, and Wednesday and Friday Matins and Litany, Saints'-day +prayers and lecture, and an Advent and Lent Evensong and lecture on +Wednesdays and Fridays. These last had that great popularity which +attends late services. Dr. Cornish used to come on one Sunday in the +month to celebrate the Holy Communion (which is given weekly in the +mother Church); and when Mr. Grardiner was able to be at Sidmouth, +recovering from his illness, he used to come over on the second Sunday +in the month for the same purpose; and the next Lent, the Matins were +daily, and followed by a lecture. + +At this time Patteson's constitutional shrinking from general society +was in full force, and he also had that dislike to 'speaking to' people +in the way of censure, which so often goes with tender and refined +natures, however strong; so that if his housekeeper needed a reproof, he +would make his sister administer it, and creep out of reach himself; but +this was one of the deficiencies with which he was struggling all his +life, and fortunately it is a fact that the most effective lectures +usually come from those to whom they cost the most. + +This was the hardest part of his ministry. Where kindness and attention +were needed, nothing could be more spontaneous, sweet, or winning than +his ways. One of his parishioners, a farmer's daughter, writes:-- + +'Our personal knowledge of him began some months before his Ordination, +owing, I suppose, to Mr. Gardiner's severe illness; and as he was +very much respected, Mr. Patteson's attentions won from the first our +admiration and gratitude, which went on and on until it deepened +into that love which I do not think could have been surpassed by the +Galatians for their beloved St. Paul, which he records in his Epistle to +them (chap. iv. 15). All were waiting for him at his Ordination, and a +happy delusion seemed to have come over the minds of most, if not all, +that he was as completely ours as if he had been ordained expressly for +us.' + +It was not his own feeling, for he knew that when his apprenticeship +should be past, the place was too small, and the work too easy, for a +man in full force and vigour, though for the sake of his father he was +glad to accept it for the present, to train himself in the work, and +to have full time for study; but he at that time looked to remaining in +England during his father's lifetime, and perhaps transferring himself +to Manchester, Liverpool, London, or some large city, where there was +need of mission work among the neglected. + +His father was on the City of London Charter Commission, and was in +London from November to February, the daughters joining him there, but +there was no lack of friends around Alfington. Indeed it was in the +midst of an absolute clan of Coleridges, and in Buckerell parish, at +Deerpark, that great old soldier, Lord Seaton, was spending the few +years that passed between his Commissioner-ship in the Ionian Isles and +his Commandership in Ireland. + +He was connected with the Coleridges through the Yonge family, and the +young people were all on familiar cousinly terms. Coley was much liked +by him; and often joined in the rides through the lanes and to the hills +with him and his daughters, when there were many conversations of much +interest, as there could not fail to be with a man who had never held a +government without doing his utmost to promote God's work in the Church +and for education; who had, moreover, strong opinions derived from +experience of the Red Indians in Upper Canada--namely, that to reclaim +the young, and educate them was the only hope of making Christianity +take root in any fresh nation. + +It was at Deerpark, at a dinner in the late autumn of this year 1853, +that I saw Coley Patteson for the second and last time. I had seen him +before in a visit of three days that I made at Feniton with my parents +in the September of 1844, when he was an Eton boy, full of high spirits +and merriment. I remember then, on the Sunday, that he and I accompanied +our two fathers on a walk to the afternoon service at Ottery, and that +on the way he began to show something of his inner self, and talked +of his mother and her pleasure in Feniton; but it began to rain, and I +stayed for the night at Heaths Court, so that our acquaintance ceased +for that time. It was not a formal party at Deerpark, and the evening +was chiefly spent in playing at games, thread paper verses and the like, +in which Coley took his part with spirit. If I had guessed what he was +to be, I should have observed him more; but though, in after years, our +intercourse in letters makes us feel intimate with one another, these +two brief meetings comprise the whole of my personal acquaintance with +one in whom I then only saw a young clergyman with his heart in his +work. + +Perhaps this is the best place to mention his personal appearance, as +the portrait at the beginning of this volume was taken not more than a +year later. + +He was tall and of a large powerful frame, broad in the chest and +shoulders, and with small neat hands and feet, with more of sheer +muscular strength and power of endurance than of healthiness, so that +though seldom breaking down and capable of undergoing a great deal +of fatigue and exertion, he was often slightly ailing, and was very +sensitive to cold. His complexion was very dark, and there was a +strongly marked line between the cheeks and mouth, the corners of which +drooped when at rest, so that it was a countenance peculiarly difficult +to photograph successfully. The most striking feature was his eyes, +which were of a very dark clear blue, full of an unusually deep +earnest, and so to speak, inward, yet far away expression. His smile was +remarkably bright, sweet and affectionate, like a gleam of sunshine, and +was one element of his great attractiveness. So was his voice, which had +the rich full sweetness inherited from his mother's family, and which +always excited a winning influence over the hearers. Thus, though not a +handsome man, he was more than commonly engaging, exciting the warmest +affection in all who were concerned with him, and giving in return an +immense amount of interest and sympathy, which only became intensified +to old friends while it expanded towards new ones. Here is a letter to +his father, undated, but written not long after his settling down at +Alfington. After expressing his regret that his voice had been inaudible +to his sister Joanna at a Friday evening service, he proceeds:-- + + +'I did not speak very loud, because I don't think I could do so and +at the same time keep my mind at work and thoughts collected. Anything +which is so unnatural and unusual as to make me conscious of myself in a +peculiar manner would prevent, I fear, my getting on with my oration at +all. + +'I am glad you think I could not have acted otherwise with E---. I +quite expect ere long to find something going on which may call for +my interference, and I specially guarded myself on this point. It is +distinctly understood that I shall speak to him quite plainly whenever +and wherever I think it necessary to do so. I do not suppose it very +likely that he can go on long without my being forced to take some step; +but I really feel so very unequal to expressing a decided opinion upon +the great question of Bible readers, that I am certainly glad I have not +taken up a hostile position hastily. As a matter of fact, he reads +in very few cottages in my district; tracts he distributes almost +everywhere. + +'Now I see of course the distinction between a man making it his +business to read the Bible and neighbours dropping in occasionally +to read a chapter to one who is unable to read, but where you are +distinctly told that the wish is most decidedly to support the +clergyman, and answers not unsatisfactory are given upon main points, +what difference remains between the two cases I have put that can +furnish matter for fair argument, with a man from education, &c., +disposed to take a different view of the whole question? Add to this, +that I cannot appeal to the universal practice of the clergy. "Why," +might it be said, "do you, as a clergyman find a difficulty where Mr. +H. finds none? You are, after all, acting on your own private opinion, +though you lay claim to authority for it." I cannot successfully appeal +to the distinctive teaching of our Church, clear and manifest as it is, +for the very words I think conclusive contain no such evidence for him, +and so on ad infinitum. Besides, to speak quite what I feel at present, +though only so perhaps because my view is necessarily unformed, the +natural order of things in such a district as this seems to be: gain +the affections of the people by gentleness and showing real interest +in their welfare, spiritual and temporal; show them in the Bible such +teaching as the Church considers necessary (but not as yet upon the +authority of the Church, or at least not so expressed to them); lead +them gradually to the acknowledgment of such truths as these: that +Christ did found a society called the Church, and appoint to certain +persons whom he sent the Ministry of reconciliation; that if we have no +guide but mere opinion, there will be thousands of conflicting opinions +in the world even among good men, whereas Truth can be but one, and that +practically this is found to be so; that it is no argument to say, that +the Spirit so operated as to enlighten the reason of each individual to +this extent, viz., that it may compose a Creed for him or herself; that +the Spirit acts now in the ordinary, though not less real and heavenly +manner; and that the infinite divisions among sectaries proves the fact +to be as I state it. + +'Thus I imagine the want of that external and visible Church will be +felt as necessary to fix the Creeds pasa katadike. + +'But to reverse this process, to cram positive teaching down their +throats upon the authority of the Church before they know what the +Church is, or feel the need of any power outside (so to speak) their +own minds to guide them, does seem to me in a place like this (humanly +speaking) suicidal. I cannot, of course, tell how much preparatory +teaching they have received, but I must judge from what I see and hear, +and deal accordingly in each cottage. Some few there are to whom I can +speak, as to Church people in the real sense of the word, but these are +as two or three in a hundred. + +'One line to say whether you think me right or wrong, would be a great +comfort to me. I feel no tendency to latitudinarianism, but only to see +much good in systems unrecognised by your very highflyers. I believe +that the Church teaching is represented in an unfavourable, often +offensive, light to many of our poor, because they hear words and see +things which find no response in their hearts; because they are told, +ordered almost, to believe things the propriety of believing which they +do not recognise; because the existence of wants is implied when they +have never been felt, and a system for supplying them introduced which +finds no room in the understanding or affections of the patient. + +'But you know, dear Father, what I mean, without more dusky attempts at +explaining myself. + +'Do not many High Churchmen want a little more "experimental religion" +in Bishop Jebb's sense of the terms: not a religion of the feelings, but +a religion brought home to the heart, and truly felt so as to prohibit +any systematic criticism of the feelings? + +'I am late this week with my sermons, I have not begun either of them, +and may have one to-morrow evening if my voice will do its part. I write +very long washy concerns, and find it difficult to do otherwise, for +it is a good pull upon me week after week, and latterly I have not been +able to read very much. I shall look out two or three that I think fair +specimens, and ask you by-and-by to run your eye over them, that you may +point out the defects. + +'My ignorance of the Bible astonishes me, though not so much as it ought +to do. I purpose, D.V., to commence a thorough study of the original +texts. I must try to become something of a scholar, at all events, to +make any progress in the work. I sometimes hope that, in spite of my +many backslidings and broken resolutions, some move is taking place +within, where most it is wanted; but I live here so quietly, that I have +little (comparatively) food for some special faults. Good-bye, my dear +Father, + +'Your affectionate and dutiful Son, + +'J. C. P.' + + +'Some move taking place within!' It is impossible not to pause +and observe how as Confirmation and Communion had almost palpably +strengthened the boy's struggles with his inherent faults, so the grace +conferred with the Deacon's orders is now felt to be lifting him higher, +and enabling him to see further than he has yet seen. + +Sermons were, however, never Patteson's forte. Though his pen flowed so +freely in letters, and he could pour out his heart extemporaneously +with great depth, fervour and simplicity, his sermons were laboured and +metaphysical, as if he had taken too much pains with them as it were, +and he could not speak to the abstract, as he could to the individual, +or when he saw the effect of his words. It was perhaps owing to the +defective system which threw two sermons a week upon a young deacon at +a time when his mind was working through such an experimental course of +study and thought. Yet his people, who had learnt to believe in little +but preaching, would not have come to prayers alone; and the extemporary +addresses, in which he would probably have been much more successful, +would have seemed to him at his age and at that period--twenty years +back--too presumptuous to be attempted, at any rate till he had better +learnt his ground. How his system would have succeeded, we cannot tell. +The nature of the peasantry of the county he had to deal with is, to +be quick-witted, argumentative, and ready of retort; open to religious +impressions, but with much of self-opinion and conceit, and not much +reverence, and often less conscientious in matters of honesty and +morality than denser rustics of less apparent piety. The Church had for +a long-period been at a peculiarly low ebb in the county, and there is +not a neighbourhood which has not traditions of incredibly ignorant, +careless and underbred--if not dissipated--clergy; and though there were +grand exceptions, they were only respected as men; faith in the whole +system, as a system, was destroyed. Bishop Phillpotts, coming down on +such elements as these, was, in spite of his soundness of faith and +grand trenchant force of character, better as a warrior than as a +shepherd, and the controversial and political sides of his character, +though invaluable to the Church, did not recommend him to the affections +of the people of his diocese, who could not understand the points of the +debate, and wanted the direct evidence of spirituality which they could +appreciate. + +The cholera of 1832 had been especially terrible in the unwholesome +precincts of the Devonshire seaports, and the effect was a great craving +for religion. The Church was in no condition to avail herself of it; in +fact, she would have viewed it with distrust as excitement. Primitive +Methodism and Plymouth Brethrenism supplied the void, gave opportunities +of prayer, and gratified the quickened longing for devotion; and +therewith arose that association of the Church with deadness and +of Dissent with life, which infected even the most carefully tended +villages, and with which Patteson was doing his best to contend at +Alfington. The stage of gaining the people's affection and confidence, +and of quickening their religious life, he had attained; and the further +work of teaching them that the Church alone gives security of saving +union with Christ, was yet to come when his inward call led him +elsewhere. + +On the 12th of December he says:-- + +'Yesterday was a very happy day; Gardiner came to help me and he +administered the Holy Communion to twenty-seven or twenty-eight of my +own people. This is nearly double the average before I came, and two +regular attendants are prevented by sickness from being at Church. I +trust I have not urged the necessity of communicating unwisely upon +them. I preach on it once a month, as you know, and in almost every +sermon allude to it, and where occasion offers, speak about it to +individuals at home; but I try to put before them the great awfulness +of it as well as the danger of neglecting it, and I warn them against +coming without feeling really satisfied from what I read to them, and +they read in the Bible concerning it. Six came yesterday for the first +time.... Old William (seventy-five years of age), who has never been a +communicant, volunteered on Thursday to come, if I thought it right. He +is, and always has been (I am told), a thoroughly respectable, sober, +industrious man, regular at Church once a day; and I went to his cottage +with a ticket in my pocket to urge him to consider the danger of going +on as if content with what he did and without striving to press onwards, +&c. But, after a long conversation on other matters, he said; "I should +like, Sir, to come to the Sacrament, if you have no objection;" and very +happy and thankful I felt, for I had prayed very earnestly that this old +man might be led thither by God's grace, and now it was done without any +urging on my part, beyond what he heard in Church and what I had said to +his daughter about him.' + +The next of his letters is occupied with the pecuniary affairs of his +lodging house for farm boys, and the obtaining of ground where they +might grow vegetables for their own use. + +In February his family returned home, and his sister Fanny thus speaks +of him to a friend:-- + +'He does not look well; and at first we were quite uneasy, for his eyes +were heavy and puffed, but he is much better, and confesses that dinners +and evenings here do him good, though he quite denies the starving, +and Mrs. Knowles also. She says he gets over anxious in mind, and was +completely chilled the week he sat in the hall. No doubt his house is +still both cold and damp, and the Church the same, and therefore +the labour of reading and preaching is very great. We are by degrees +interesting him in our winter life, having heard all his performances +and plans; and he is very glad to have us back, though much too busy to +have missed us when we were away. Now he has daily morning service, +with a lecture; and if it lasts, the impression he has made is really +extraordinary. We may well pray that he should not be vain of his works. +There are men whose whole lives seem changed, if I am to believe what I +hear.' + +Such was the young Deacon's early success. With an affectionate brother +close at hand, and friends within easy reach, his Fellowship preserving +his connection with Oxford, his father's and brother's profession with +London, in fact, all England could offer; and he would easily have it +in his power to take fresh holidays on the Continent and enjoy those +delights of scenery, architecture, art and music, which he loved with an +appreciation and enthusiasm that could easily have become an absorbing +passion. Who could have a smoother, easier, pleasanter career open to +him than the Rev. John Coleridge Patteson at six and twenty? + +Yet even then, the wish breathed to his mother, at fourteen, that he +might devote himself to the cause of the heathen, lay deep in his heart; +although for the present, he was, as it were, waiting to see what God +would have him do, whether his duty to his father required him to remain +at hand, or whether he might be called to minister in some great English +manufacturing town. + +Early in 1854, it became known that the Bishop of New Zealand and Mrs. +Selwyn were about to spend a year in England. Coley's aspirations to +mission work were renewed. The thoughts excited by the sermons he had +heard at Eton twelve years previously grew in force. He remembered his +mother's promise of her blessing, and seriously considered of offering +himself to assist in the work in the Southern Hemisphere. He discussed +the matter seriously with his friend, Mr. Gardiner, who was strongly of +opinion that the scheme ought not to be entertained during his father's +lifetime. He acquiesced; but if his heart and mind were convinced, his +soul and spirit were not, and the yearnings for the forefront of the +battle were not quenched, though there was no slackening of zeal over +the present little flock, to make them suspect that he had a thought +beyond. + +Old ties of friendship already mentioned made the Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn +promise to spend a few days at Feniton; and on the 19th of August the +New Zealand guests arrived at Feniton. After joining in the family +welcome, Coley went apart, and gave way to a great burst of tears, due, +perhaps, not so mueh to disappointed ardour, as to the fervent emotion +excited by the actual presence of a hero of the Church Militant, who +had so long been the object of deep silent enthusiasm. The next morning, +Coley walked from Alfington to breakfast at home, and afterwards went +into the garden with the Bishop, who led him to talk freely of his +present work in all its details. By-and-by the question arose, Did it +satisfy him? + +Yes, the being near his father satisfied him that it was right for the +present, but at some future time, he hoped to do more, go perhaps to +some great manufacturing town, or, as he could not help going on to say, +what he should like would be to go out as a missionary, only the thought +of his father withheld him. + +'But,' replied the Bishop, 'if you think about doing a thing of that +sort, it should not be put off till you are getting on in life. It +should be done with your full strength and vigour.' + +Then followed an endeavour on both sides to ascertain whether the +inclination was a real earnest desire, or only fancy for the romance of +mission work. The test might be whether he were willing to go wherever +he might be sent, or only where he was most interested. Coley replied, +that he was willing to work anywhere, adding that his sister Fanny could +testify whether his desire were a real one of long standing or the mere +outcome of a fit of enthusiasm. + +Therewith they separated, and Coley, going straight to Fanny, told her +what had passed: 'I could not help it,' he said:--'I told the Bishop of +my wish.' + +'You ought to put it to my father, that he may decide it,' she answered; +'he is so great a man that he ought not to be deprived of the crown of +the sacrifice if he be willing to make it.' + +So Coley repaired to his father, and confessed his long cherished +wish, and how it had come forth to the Bishop. Sir John was manifestly +startled; but at once said: 'You have done quite right to speak to me, +and not to wait. It is my first impulse to say No, but that would be +very selfish.' + +Coley explained that he was 'driven to speak;' he declared himself not +dissatisfied with his present position, nor he hoped, impatient. If his +staying at home were decided upon, he would cheerfully work on there +without disappointment or imagining his wishes thwarted. He would leave +the decision entirely in the hands of his father and the Bishop. + +Luncheon brought the whole family together; and Sir John, making room +for his younger daughter beside him, said, 'Fan, did you know this about +Coley?' + +She answered that she had some idea, but no more could pass till the +meal was ended; when her father went into another room, and she followed +him. The great grief broke out in the exclamation: 'I can't let him go;' +but even as the words were uttered, they were caught back, as it were, +with--'God forbid I should stop him.' + +The subject could not be pursued, for the Bishop was public property +among the friends and neighbours, and the rest of the day was bestowed +upon them. He preached on the Sunday at Alfington, where the people +thronged to hear him, little thinking of the consequences of his visit. + +Not till afterwards were the Bishop and the father alone together, when +Sir John brought the subject forward. The Bishop has since said that +what struck him most was the calm balancing of arguments, like a true +Christian Judge. Sir John spoke of the great comfort he had in this son, +cut off as he was by his infirmity from so much of society, and enjoying +the young man's coming in to talk about his work. He dwelt on all with +entire absence of excitement, and added: 'But there, what right have I +to stand in his way? How do I know that I may live another year?' + +And as the conversation ended, 'Mind!' he said; 'I give him wholly, not +with any thought of seeing him again. I will not have him thinking he +must come home again to see me.' + +That resolution was the cause of much peace of mind to both father and +son. After family prayers that Sunday night, when all the rest had gone +upstairs, the Bishop detained the young man, and told him the result of +the conversation, then added: 'Now, my dear Coley, having ascertained +your own state of mind and having spoken at length to your father and +your family, I can no longer hesitate, as far as you recognise any power +to call on my part, to invite you most distinctly to the work.' + +The reply was full acceptance. + +Then taking his hand, the Bishop said, 'God bless you, my dear Coley! It +is a great comfort to me to have you for a friend and companion.' + +Such was the outward and such the inward vocation to the Deacon now +within a month of the Priesthood. Was it not an evident call from Him by +whom the whole Church is governed and sanctified? And surely the noble +old man, who forced himself not to withhold 'his son, his firstborn +son,' received his crown from Him who said: 'With blessing I will bless +thee.' + +And he wrote to his brother:-- + + +'August 21. + +'My dear old Jem,--I have news for you of an unexpected and startling +kind; about myself: and I am afraid that it will cause you some pain to +hear what I am to tell you. You must know that for years I have felt +a strong leaning toward missionary work, and though my proceedings at +Alfington and even the fact of going thither might seem to militate +against such a notion, yet the feeling has been continually present to +me, and constantly exercising an increasing influence over me. I trust +I have not taken an enthusiastic or romantic view of things; my own firm +hope and trust is that I have decided upon calm deliberate conviction, +and it is some proof of this, that Fanny and Joan have already guessed +my state of mind, and months ago anticipated what has now taken +place.... And so, dear Jem, you must help them all to bear what will of +course be a great trial. This is my trial also; for it is hard to bear +the thought that I may be giving unnecessary pain and causing distress +without really having considered sufficiently the whole matter. But then +I think God does not call now by an open vision; this thought has been +for years working in my mind: it was His providence that brought me into +contact with the Bishop in times past, and has led me to speak now. I +cannot doubt this. I feel sure that if I was alone in the world I should +go; the only question that remains is, "am I bound to stay for my dear +Father's sake, or for the sake of you all?" and this has been answered +for me by Father and the Bishop. And now, my dear Jem, think well over +my character, sift it thoroughly, and try to see what there is which may +have induced me to act wrongly in a matter of so much consequence. This +is the kindest thing you can do; for we ought to take every precaution +not to make a mistake before it is too late. Speak out quite plainly; do +tell me distinctly as far as you can see them my prevailing faults, +what they were in boyhood at Eton, and at College. It may help me to +contemplate more clearly and truly the prospect before me. We shall have +many opportunities, I trust, of discussing all this by-and-by. I shall +tell Uncle John, because some arrangements must be made about Alfington +as soon as may be. My tutor knows something about it already; it will +soon be known to more. But do not suppose that I imagine myself better +qualified for this work than hundreds of others more earnest, and +infinitely more unselfish, and practically good; but I have received an +invitation to a peculiar work, which is not offered to many others. We +must all look onwards: we must try to think of this world as but a short +moment in our existence; our real life and home is beyond the grave. On +September 24th I hope to be ordained Priest; think of me and pray +for me, my dear old fellow, that God will give me more of your own +unselfishness and care and interest for others, and teach me to act not +according to my own will and pleasure, but solely with a view to His +honour and glory. God bless you, my dear old Jem, my dear, dear brother. + +'Your most loving brother, + +'J. C. P. + + +From that moment the matter was treated as fixed; and only three days +later, the intention was announced to the relations at Thorverton. + +This is the letter to the little fatherless cousin, Paulina Martyn, +who had always been devoted to Coley, and whom he loved with a triple +portion of the affection children always gained from him. She was +only eight years old, but had the precocity of solitary children much +attended to by their elders:-- + + +'Feniton: August 24, 1854. + +'My darling Pena,--I am going to tell you a secret, and I am afraid it +is one which will make you feel very sorry for a little while. Do you +remember my talking to you one day after breakfast rather gravely, and +telling you afterwards it was my first sermon to you? Well, my darling, +I was trying to hint to you that you must not expect to go on very long +in this world without troubles and trials, and that the use of them is +to make us think more about God and about Heaven, and to remember that +our real and unchangeable happiness is not to be found in this world, +but in the next. It was rather strange for me to say all this to a +bright happy good child like you, and I told you that you ought to be +bright and happy, and to thank God for making you so. It is never right +for us to try to make ourselves sad and grieve. Good people and good +children are cheerful and happy, although they may have plenty of trials +and troubles. You see how quietly and patiently Mamma and Grandpapa +and Grandmamma take all their trouble about dear Aunty; that is a good +lesson for us all. And now, my darling, I will tell you my secret. I am +going to sail at Christmas, if I live so long, a great way from England, +right to the other end of the world, with the good Bishop of New +Zealand. I dare say you know where to find it on the globe. Clergymen +are wanted out there to make known the Word of God to the poor ignorant +people, and for many reasons it is thought right that I should go. So +after Christmas you will not see me again for a very long time, perhaps +never in this world; but I shall write to you very often, and send you +ferns and seeds, and tell you about the Norfolk Island pines, and you +must write to me, and tell me all about yourself, and always think of +me, and pray for me, as one who loves you dearly with all his heart, +and will never cease to pray God that the purity and innocence of +your childhood may accompany you all through your life and make you a +blessing (as you are now, my darling) to your dear mother and all who +know you. + +'Ever your most affectionate, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +To the child's mother the words are:-- + +'I pray God that I may have chosen aright, and that if I have acted from +sudden impulse too much, from love of display, or from desire to raise +some interest about myself, or from any other selfish and unholy motive, +it may be mercifully forgiven. + +'Now, at all events, I must pray that with a single honest desire for +God's glory, I may look straight onwards towards the mark. I must forget +what is behind, I must not lose time in analysing my state of mind to +see how, during years past, this wish has worked itself out. I trust the +wish is from God, and now I must forget myself, and think only of the +work whereunto I am called. But it is hard to flesh and blood to think +of the pain I am causing my dear dear Father, and the pain I am causing +to others outside my own circle here. But they are all satisfied that +I am doing what is right, and it would surprise you, although you know +them so well, to hear the calmness with which we talk about outfits.' + +A heavy grief was even now on the family. The beloved, 'Uncle Frank,' so +often affectionately mentioned, had been failing for some time. He +had taken a journey abroad, with one of his daughters, in hopes of +refreshment and invigoration, but the fatigue and excitement were more +than he could bear; he returned home, and took to his bed. He suffered +no pain, and was in a heavenly state of mind indeed, a most blessed +death-bed, most suggestive of comfort and peace to all who survive as a +most evident proof of what the close of life may be, if only 'that life +is spent faithfully in doing our duty to God'--as Patteson wrote to his +old friend, Miss Neill. + +'And now one word about myself, which at such a time I should not +obtrude upon you, but that the visit of the Bishop of New Zealand made +it necessary for me to speak. + +'I am going with him to work, if all is well, at the Antipodes, +believing that the growing desire for missionary work, which for +years has been striving within me, ought no longer to be resisted, and +trusting that I am not mistaken in supposing that this is the line of +duty that God has marked out for me. + +'You may be sure that all this is done with the full consent and +approbation of my dear Father. He and the Bishop had a great deal of +conversation about it, and I left it entirely for them to determine. +That it will be a great trial to us all at Christmas when we sail, I +cannot conceal from myself; it is so great a separation that I cannot +expect ever to see my dear Father, perhaps not any of those I love best, +again in this world. But if you all know that I am doing, or trying to +do, what is right, you will all be happy about me; and what has just +been taking place at the Manor House teaches us to look, on a little to +a blessed meeting in a better place soon. It is from no dissatisfaction +at my present position, that I am induced to take this step. I have been +very happy at Alfington; and I hope to be ordained Priest, on the 24th +of September, with a calm mind. I trust I am not following any sudden +hasty impulse, but obeying a real call to a real work, and (in the +midst of much self-seeking and other alloy) not wholly without a sincere +desire to labour for the honour and glory of God.' + +With this purpose full in view, Coleridge Patteson received Ordination +as a Priest in the ensuing Ember Week, again at the hands of Bishop +Phillpotts, in Exeter Cathedral; where a beautiful marble pulpit is to +commemorate the fact. + +The wrench from home and friends could not but be terrible. The sisters, +indeed, were so far prepared that they had been aware from the first +of his wish and his mother's reception of it, and when they told their +Father, he was pleased and comforted; for truly he was upheld by the +strength of willing sacrifice. Those were likewise sustained who felt +the spirit of missionary enterprise and sympathy, which was at that time +so strongly infused into the Church; but the shock was severe to many, +and especially to the brother who had been devoted to Coley from their +earliest infancy, and among his relations the grief was great. + +As to the district of Alfington, the distress was extreme. The people +had viewed Mr. Patteson as their exclusive property, and could not +forgive the Bishop of New Zealand for, as they imagined, tempting him +away. 'Ah! Sir,' was the schoolmistress's answer to some warm words from +Mr. Justice Coleridge in praise of Bishop Selwyn, 'he may be--no +doubt he is--a very good man. I only wish he had kept his hands off +Alfington.' 'It would not be easy,' says the parishioner from whom +I have already quoted, 'to describe the intense sorrow in view of +separation. Mr. Patteson did all he could to assure us that it was his +own will and act, consequent upon the conviction that it was God's will +that he should go, and to exonerate the Bishop, but for some time he was +regarded as the immediate cause of our loss; and he never knew half the +hard things said of him by the same people who, when they heard he +was coming, and would preach on the Sunday, did their utmost to make +themselves and their children look their very best.' + +Indeed, the affectionate writer seems to have shared the poor people's +feeling that they had thus festally received a sort of traitor with +designs upon their pastor. She goes on to tell of his ministrations to +her mother, whose death-bed was the first he attended as a Priest. + +It would be impossible for me to say all he was to her. Not long before +her death, when he had just left the room, she said, 'I have not felt +any pain or weakness whilst Mr. Patteson has been here.' I was not +always present during his visits to her, and I think their closer +communings were only known to Him above, but their effects were +discernible in that deep confidence in him on her part, and that lasting +impression on him, for you will remember, in his letter last April, he +goes back in memory to that time, and calls it--'a solemn scene in my +early ministry.' Solemn, indeed, it was to us all that last night of +her life upon earth. He was with her from about the middle of the day +on Monday until about four o'clock on Tuesday morning; when, after +commending her soul to God, he closed her eyes with his own hands, and +taking out his watch, told us the hour and moment of her departure. He +then went home and apprised Miss Wilkins of her death in these words: +'My soul fleeth unto the LORD before the morning watch, I say before the +morning watch,' and at the earliest dawn of day, the villagers were made +aware that she had passed away by the tolling bell, and tolled by him. +This was not the only death during his ministry among us; but it was +the first occasion where he gave the Communion of the Sick, also when he +read the Burial Service. Cases of rejoicing with those that rejoiced as +well as of weeping with those that wept, the child and the aged seemed +alike to appreciate his goodness. In him were combined those qualities +which could inspire with deep reverence and entire confidence. Many, +many are or will be the stars in the crown of his rejoicing, and some +owe to him under God, their deeper work of grace in the heart and their +quickening in the divine life.' + +A remarkable testimony is this to the impression remaining after the +lapse of sixteen years from a ministry extending over no more than +seventeen months. 'Our Mr. Patteson' the people called him to the last. + +Yet, in the face of all this grief, the parting till death, the work +broken off, the life cut short midway, the profusion of needs at home +for able ministers, is it to be regretted that Coleridge Patteson +devoted himself to the more remote fields abroad? I think we shall find +that his judgment was right. Alfington might love him dearly, but the +numbers were too small to afford full scope for his powers, and he would +have experienced the trials of cramped and unemployed energies had he +remained there beyond his apprenticeship. Nor were his gifts, so far as +can be judged, exactly those most requisite for work in large towns. +He could deal with individuals better than with masses, and his +metaphysical mind, coupled with the curious difficulty he had in writing +to an unrealised public, either in sermons or reports, might have +rendered him less effective than men of less ability. He avoided, +moreover, the temptations, pain, and sting of the intellectual warfare +within the bosom of the Church, and served her cause more effectually on +her borders than he could in her home turmoils. His great and peculiar +gifts of languages, seconded by his capacity for navigation, enabled him +to be the builder up of the Melanesian Church in so remarkable a manner +that one can hardly suppose but that he was marked out for it, and these +endowments would have found no scope in an ordinary career. Above all, +no man can safely refuse the call to obey the higher leadings of grace. +If he deny them, he will probably fall below that which he was before, +and lose 'even that which he seemeth to have.' + +A few days later, he wrote to his cousin Arthur Coleridge an expression +of his feelings regarding the step he had taken in the midst of the pain +it was costing to others:-- + + +'Feniton: November 11, 9 A.M. + +'My dear Arthur,--Your letter was very acceptable because I am, I +confess, in that state of mind occasionally when the assurance of my +being right, coming from another, tends to strengthen my own conviction. + +'I do not really doubt as I believe; and yet, knowing my want of +consideration for others, and many other thoughts which naturally +prevent my exercising a clear sound judgment on a matter affecting +myself, I sometimes (when I have had a conversation, it throws me +back upon analysing my own conduct) feel inclined to go over the whole +process again, and that is somewhat trying. + +'On the other hand, I am almost strangely free from excitement. I live +on exactly as I did before: and even when alone with Father, talk just +as I used to talk, have nothing more to tell him, not knowing how to +make a better use of these last quiet evenings. + +'By-and-by I shall wish I had done otherwise, perhaps, but I do not know +now, that I have anything specially requiring our consideration: we talk +about family matters, the movements in the theological and political +world, &c., very little about ourselves. + +'One of all others I delight to think of for the music's sake, and +far more for the glorious thought that it conveys. "Then shall the +righteous," not indeed that I dare apply it to myself (as you know), but +it helps one on, teaches what we may be, what our two dear parents are, +and somehow the intervening, space becomes smaller as the eye is fixed +steadily on the glory beyond. + +'God bless you, my dear fellow. + +'Ever your affectionate + +'J. C. P.' + + +The Mission party intended to sail immediately after Christmas in the +'Southern Cross,' the schooner which was being built at Blackwall for +voyages among the Melanesian isles. In expectation of this, Patteson +went up to London in the beginning of December, when the admirable +crayon likeness was taken by Mr. Richmond, an engraving from which is +here given. He then took his last leave of his uncle, and of the cousins +who had been so dear to him ever since the old days of daily meeting +in childhood; and Miss Neill, then a permanent invalid, notes down: 'On +December 13, I had the happiness of receiving the Holy Communion from +dear Coley Patteson, and the following morning I parted from him, as +I fear, for ever. God bless and prosper him, and guard him in all the +dangers he will encounter!' He wrote thus soon after his return:-- + + +'Feniton: December 22, 1854. + +'My dear Miss Neill,--I began a note to you a day or two ago, but I +could not go on with it, for I have had so very much to do in church +and out of it, parochializing, writing sermons, &c. It makes some little +difference in point of time whether I am living here or at Alfington, +and so the walking about from one house to another is not so convenient +for writing letters as for thinking over sermons. + +'I need not tell you what a real happiness and comfort it is to me to +have been with you again and to have talked so long with you, and most +of all to have received the Communion with you. It is a blessed thought +that no interval of space or time can interrupt that Communion of the +Spirit, and that we are one in Him, though working in different corners +of the Lord's field. + +'I want to look you out a little book or two; and Fanny has told you +that if ever my picture is photographed, I have particularly desired +them to send you a copy with my love. Your cross I have now round my +neck, and I shall always wear it; it will hang there with a locket +containing locks of hair of my dear Father and Mother, the girls, and +Jem. + +'You will be glad to hear that they all seem cheerful and hearty. Fan +is not well, but I do not see that she is depressed or unhappy. In fact, +the terrible events of the war prove a lesson to all, and they feel, I +suppose, that it might be far worse, and that so long as I am doing my +duty, there is no cause for sorrow. + +'Still there will be seasons of loneliness and sadness, and it seems to +me as if it always was so in the case of all the people of whom we read +in the Bible. Our Lord distinctly taught His disciples to expect it to +be so, and even experienced this sorrow of heart Himself, filling up +the full measure of His cup of bitterness. So I don't learn that I ought +exactly to wish it to be otherwise, so much is said in the Bible about +being made partaker of His, sufferings, only I pray that it may please +God to bear me up in the midst of it. I must repeat that your example +is constantly before me, as a witness to the power that God gives of +enduring pain and sickness. It is indeed, and great comfort it gives +me. He is not indeed keeping you still in the world without giving you +a work to do, and enabling you from your bed of sickness to influence +strongly a circle of friends. + +'God bless you for all your kindness to me, and watchfulness over me +as a child, for your daily thought of me and prayers for me, and may He +grant that I may wear your precious gift not only on but in my heart. + +'Always your very affectionate + +'J. C. PATTESON. + +'P.S.--I do not expect to sail for three weeks; this morning I had +a line about the ship, and they say that she cannot be ready for a +fortnight.' + + +On Christmas-day, he was presented with a Bible subscribed for by +the whole Alfington population. Here is a sentence from his letter of +acknowledgment:-- + +'If these poor needy souls can, from love to a fellow creature whom they +have known but a few months, deny themselves their very crumb of bread +to show their affection, what should be our conduct to Him from whom we +have received all things, and to whom we owe our life, strength, and all +that we possess?' + +The farewell service was said by one of these poor old people to be like +a great funeral. Sexagesima Sunday was Sir John's sixty-sixth birthday, +and it was spent in expectation that it would be the last of the whole +party at home, for on the Monday Sir John was obliged to go to London +for a meeting of the Judicial Committee. The two notes his son wrote +during his absence are, perhaps to prove good spirits, full of the +delights of skating, which were afforded by the exceptionally severe +frost of February 1855, which came opportunely to regale with this +favourite pastime one who would never tread on solid ice again. He wrote +with zest of the large merry party of cousins skating together, of the +dismay of the old housekeeper when he skimmed her in a chair over the +ice, sighing out, in her terror, 'My dear man, don't ye go so fast,' +with all manner of endearing expressions--of the little boys to whom +he threw nuts to be scrambled for, and of his own plunge through the +thinner ice, when, regardless of drenched garments, he went on with +the sport to the last, and came home with clothes frozen as stiff as a +board. + +He was not gone when his father and brother came home on the +twenty-sixth, prepared to go with him to Southampton. + +The note to his cousin Arthur written at this time thus ends: 'We +worked together once at Dresden. Whatever we have acquired in the way of +accomplishments, languages, love of art and music, everything brings us +into contact with somebody, and gives us the power of influencing them +for good, and all to the glory of God.' + +Many were touched when, on the first Sunday in Lent, as Sir John +Patteson was wont to assist in Church by reading the Lessons, it fell to +him to pronounce the blessing of God upon the patriarch for his willing +surrender of his son. + +After all, the 'Southern Cross' was detected in leaking again, and +as she was so small that the Mission party would have been most +inconveniently crowded for so long a voyage, the Bishop was at length +persuaded to relinquish his intention of sailing in her, and passages +were taken for himself, Mrs. Selwyn, Mr. Patteson, and another +clergyman, in the 'Duke of Portland,' which did not sail till the end of +March, when Patteson was to meet her at Gravesend. + +Thus he did not depart till the 25th. 'I leave home this morning I may +say, for it has struck midnight,' he wrote to Miss Neill. 'I bear with +me to the world's end your cross, and the memory of one who is bearing +with great and long-tried patience the cross that God has laid upon +her.' + +He chose to walk to the coach that would take him to join the railway at +Cullompton. The last kisses were exchanged at the door, and the sisters +watched him out of sight, then saw that their father was not standing +with them. They consulted for a moment, and then one of them silently +looked into his sitting room, and saw him with his little Bible, and +their hearts were comforted concerning him. After that family prayers +were never read without a clause for Missionaries, 'especially the +absent member of this family.' + +He went up to his brother's chambers in London, whence a note was sent +home the next day to his father:-- + +'I write one line to-night to tell you that I am, thank God, calm and +even cheerful. I stayed a few minutes in the churchyard after I left +you, picked a few primrose buds from dear mamma's grave, and then walked +on. + +'At intervals I felt a return of strong violent emotion, but I soon +became calm; I read most of the way up, and felt surprised that I could +master my own feelings so much. + +'How much I owe to the cheerful calm composure which you all showed this +morning! I know it must have cost you all a great effort. It spared me a +great one.' + +On the 27th the brothers went on board the 'Duke of Portland,' and +surveyed the cabins, looking in at the wild scene of confusion sure +to be presented by an emigrant ship on the last day in harbour. A long +letter, with a minute description of the ship and the arrangements ends +with: 'I have every blessing and comfort. Not one is wanting. I am not +in any excitement, I think, certainly I do not believe myself to be +in such a state as to involve a reaction of feeling. Of course if I am +seedy at sea for a few days I shall feel low-spirited also most likely, +and miss you all more in consequence. But that does not go below the +surface. Beneath is calm tranquil peace of mind.' + +On the 28th the two brothers joined the large number of friends who went +down with the Mission party, among them Mr. Edward Coleridge. + +Parting notes were written from on board to all the most beloved; to +little Paulina, of bright hopes, to Miss Neill of her cross; to Arthur +the German greeting, 'Lebe wohl, doch nicht auf Ewigkeit,'--to Mr. +Justice Coleridge:-- + + +'March 28, 1855. + +'My dear Uncle,--One line more to thank you for all your love and to +pray for the blessing of God upon you and yours now and for ever. + +'We sail to-day. Such letters from home, full of calm, patient, cheerful +resignation to his will. Wonderfully has God supported us through this +trial. My kind love to Arthur. Always, my dear Uncle, Your affectionate, +grateful Nephew, + +'JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON.' + + +Perhaps the frame of mind in which Coley left England can best be +gathered from the following extract from a letter to his father from his +uncle Edward:-- + +'While on board I had a good deal of quiet talk with him, and was fully +confirmed by his manner and words, of that which I did not doubt before, +that the surrender of self, which he has made, has been put into his +heart by God's Holy Spirit, and that all his impulses for good are based +on the firm foundation of trust in God, and a due appreciation of his +mortal, as well as professional condition. I never saw a hand set on the +plough stead with more firmness, yet entire modesty, or with an eye and +heart less turned backwards on the world behind. I know you do not in +any way repine at what you have allowed him to do; and I feel sure that +ere long you will see cause to bless God not only for having given +you such a son, but also for having put it into his heart so to devote +himself to that particular work in the Great Vineyard.' + +About 5 P.M. the 'Duke of Portland' swung round with the tide, strangers +were ordered on shore, Coleridge and James Patteson said their last +farewells, and while the younger brother went home by the night-train +to carry the final greetings to his father and sisters, the ship weighed +anchor and the voyage was begun. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE VOYAGE AND FIRST YEAR. 1855-1856. + + + +When the See of New Zealand was first formed, Archbishop Howley +committed to the care of the first Bishop the multitudinous islands +scattered in the South Pacific. The technical bounds of the diocese were +not defined; but matters were to a certain degree simplified by Bishop +Selwyn's resolution only to deal with totally heathen isles, and +whatever superiority the authorised chief pastor might rightfully claim, +not to confuse the minds of the heathen by the sight of variations among +Christians, and thus never to preach in any place already occupied by +Missions, a resolution from which he only once departed, in the case of +a group apparently relinquished by its first teachers. This cut off all +the properly called Polynesian isles, whose inhabitants are of the Malay +type, and had been the objects of care to the London Mission, ever since +the time of John Williams; also the Fiji Islands; and a few which had +been taken in hand by a Scottish Presbyterian Mission; but the groups +which seem to form the third fringe round the north-eastern curve of +Australia, the New Hebrides, Banks Islands, and Solomon Isles, were +almost entirely open ground, with their population called Melanesian +or Black Islanders, from their having much of the Negro in their +composition and complexion. These were regarded as less quick but more +steady than the Polynesian race, with somewhat the same difference of +character as there is between the Teuton and the Kelt. The reputation +of cannibalism hung about many of the islands, and there was no doubt +of boats' crews having been lost among them, but in most cases there had +been outrage to provoke reprisals. + +These islands had as yet been little visited, except by Captain Cook, +their first discoverer, and isolated Spanish exploring expeditions; but +of late whalers and sandal wood traders, both English and American, had +been finding their way among them, and too often acting as irresponsible +adventurous men of a low class are apt to do towards those whom they +regard as an inferior race. + +Mission work had hardly reached this region. It was in attempting +it that John Williams had met his death at Erromango, one of the New +Hebrides; but one of his best institutions had been a school in one of +the Samoan or Navigators' Islands, in which were educated young men of +the native races to be sent to the isles to prepare the way for white +men. Very nobly had these Samoan pupils carried out his intentions, +braving dislike, disease and death in the islands to which they were +appointed, and having the more to endure because they came without the +prestige of a white man. Moreover, the language was no easier to them +than to him, as their native speech is entirely different from the +Melanesian; which is besides broken into such an extraordinary number of +different dialects, varying from one village to another in an island not +twenty miles long, that a missionary declared that the people must have +come straight from the Tower of Babel, and gone on dividing their speech +ever since. Just at the time of the formation of the See of New Zealand, +the excitement caused at home by Williams's death had subsided, and the +London Mission's funds were at so low an ebb that, so far from extending +their work, they had been obliged to let some of it fall into abeyance. + +All this came to the knowledge of the Bishop of New Zealand while he was +occupied with the cares of his first seven years in his more immediate +diocese, and in 1848, he made a voyage of inspection in H.M.S. 'Dido.' +He then perceived that to attempt the conversion of this host of isles +of tropical climate through a resident English clergyman in each, would +be impossible, besides which he knew that no Church takes root without +native clergy, and he therefore intended bringing boys to New Zealand, +and there educating them to become teachers to their countrymen. He had +lately established, near Auckland, for the sons of the colonists, St. +John's College, which in 1850 was placed under the Reverend Charles John +Abraham, the former Eton master, who had joined the Bishop to act +as Archdeacon and assist in the scheme of education; and here it was +planned that the young Melanesians should be trained. + +The Bishop possessed a little schooner of twenty-two tons, the 'Undine,' +in which he was accustomed to make his expeditions along the coast; +and in August 1849, he set forth in her, with a crew of four, without a +weapon of any sort, to 'launch out into the deep, and let down his nets +for a draught.' Captain Erskine of H.M.S. 'Havannah' readily undertook +to afford him any assistance practicable, and they were to cruise in +company, the 'Undine' serving as a pilot boat or tender on coasts where +the only guide was 'a few rough sketches collected from small trading +vessels.' + +They met near Tanna, but not before the Bishop had been in Dillon's +Bay, on the island of Erromango, the scene of Williams's murder, and had +allowed some of the natives to come on board his vessel as a first step +towards friendly intercourse. The plan agreed on by the Bishop and the +Captain was to go as far north as Vate, and return by way of the Loyalty +Isles, which fringe the east coast of New Caledonia, to touch at that +large island, and then visit the Island of Pines, at its extreme south +point, and there enquire into a massacre said to have taken place. This +was effected, and in each place the natives showed themselves friendly. +From New Caledonia the Bishop brought away a pupil named Dallup, and +at two of the Loyalty Islands, Nengone or Mare, and Lifu, where Samoan +teachers had excited a great desire for farther instruction, boys +eagerly begged to go with him, and two were taken from each, in especial +Siapo, a young Nengone chief eighteen or nineteen years old, of very +pleasing aspect, and with those dignified princely manners which rank is +almost sure to give. The first thing done with such lads when they came +on board was to make clothes for them, and when they saw the needle +employed in their service, they were almost sure to beg to be taught the +art, and most of them soon became wonderfully dexterous in it. + +On the Island of Pines, so called from the tower-like masses of the +Norfolk pine on the shores, was at that time the French Bishop of New +Caledonia, the Oul, as the natives called him and his countrymen, for +whom they had little love. After an interview between the two bishops, +the 'Undine' returned to New Zealand, where the native boys were +brought to St. John's College. The system of education there combined +agricultural labour and printing with study, and the authorities and the +boys shared according to their strength in both, for there was nothing +more prominent in the Bishop's plan than that the coloured man was not +to be treated as a mere hewer of wood and drawer of water, but, as a +Maori once expressed the idea: 'Gentleman--gentleman thought nothing +that ought to be done at all too mean for him; pig-gentleman never +worked.' The whole community, including the ladies and their guests, +dined together in hall. + +The five boys behaved well, Siapo being a leader in all that was good, +and made advances in Christian knowledge; but it was one of the Bishop's +principles that none of them should be baptized till he had proved +whether his faith were strong enough to resist the trial of a return to +his native home and heathen friends. The climate of New Zealand is +far too chilly for these inhabitants of tropical regions, and it was +absolutely necessary to return them to their homes during the winter +quarter from June to August. The scheme therefore was to touch at their +islands, drop them there, proceed then further on the voyage, and then, +returning the same way, resume them, if they were willing to come under +instruction for baptism and return to the college. In the lack of a +common language, Bishop Selwyn hoped to make them all learn English, and +only communicate with one another in that. + +The 'Undine,' not being large enough for the purpose, was exchanged for +the 'Border Maid;' and in the course of the next three years an annual +voyage was made, and boys to the number of from twelve to fourteen +brought home. Siapo of Nengone was by far the most promising scholar. He +was a strong influence, when at home, on behalf of the Samoan teachers, +and assisted in the building of a round chapel, smoothly floored, and +plastered with coral lime. In 1852 he was baptized, together with three +of his friends, in this chapel, in his own island, by the Bishop, in the +presence of a thousand persons, and received the name of George. When +the 'Border Maid' returned, though he was convalescent from a severe +illness, he not only begged that he might come back, but that the +young girl to whom he was betrothed might be taken to New Zealand to +be trained in Christian ways. Ready consent was given, and the little +Wabisane, and her companion Wasitutru (Little Chattering Bird), were +brought on board, and arrayed in petticoats fashioned by the Bishop's +own hands, from his own counterpane, with white skirts above, +embellished with a bow of scarlet ribbon, the only piece of finery to be +found in the 'Border Maid.' The Rev. William Nihill had spent the period +of this trip at Nengone, and had become deeply interested in the people. +The island was then thought likely to become a centre whence to work +on adjacent places; but to the grief and disappointment of all, George +Siapo did not live through the summer at St. John's. He had never +recovered his illness at home, and rapidly declined; but his faith +burnt brighter as his frame became weaker, and his heart was set on the +conversion of his native country. He warmly begged Mr. Nihill to return +thither, and recommended him to the protection of his friends, and +he wished his own brother to become scholar at St. John's. His whole +demeanour was that of a devoted Christian, and when he died, in the +January of the year 1853, he might be regarded as the firstfruits of the +Melanesian Church. Since Mr. Nihill was about to return to Nengone, and +there was a certain leaven of Christianity in the place, the girls were +not subjected to the probation of a return before baptism, but were +christened Caroline and Sarah, after Mrs. Abraham and Mrs. Selwyn. + +Another very satisfactory pupil was little Umao. An English sailor in a +dreadful state of disease had been left behind by a whaler at Erromango, +where the little Umao, a mere boy, had attached himself to him, and +waited on him with the utmost care and patience, though meeting with no +return but blows and rough words. The man moved to Tanna, where there +are mineral springs highly esteemed by the natives, and when the 'Border +Maid' touched there, in 1851, he was found in a terrible condition, +but with the little fellow faithfully attending him. The Englishman was +carried to Sydney, and left in the hospital there; but Umao begged not +to be sent home, for he said his parents cruelly ill-used him and his +brothers, and set them to watch the fire all night to keep off evil +spirits; so, when New Zealand became too cold for him, he was sent to +winter at the London Society's station in Anaiteum. His sweet friendly +nature expanded under Christian training, but his health failed, and in +the course of the voyage of 1853 he became so ill that his baptism was +hastened, and he shortly after died in the Bishop's arms. + +Two more boys, cousins, from Lifu, also died. There never was any +suspicion or displeasure shown among the relatives of these youths. +Their own habits were frightfully unhealthy; they were not a long-lived +people, and there was often great mortality among them, and though they +were grieved at the loss of their sons, they never seemed distrustful +or ungrateful. But it was evident that, even in the summer months, the +climate of New Zealand was trying to these tropical constitutions, and +as it was just then determined that Norfolk Island should no longer be +the penal abode of the doubly convicted felons of Botany Bay, but should +instead become the home of the descendants of the mutineers of the +'Bounty' who had outgrown Pitcairn's Island, the Bishop cast his +eyes upon it as the place most likely to agree alike with English and +Melanesian constitutions, and therefore eminently fitted for the place +of instruction. + +The expenses of the voyages in the 'Border Maid' had been met partly by +the Eton Association, and partly by another association at Sydney, where +a warm interest in these attempts had been excited and maintained by the +yearly visits of Bishop Selwyn, who usually visited Australia while +the lads were wintering at their homes. But the 'Border Maid' was +superannuated, nor had she ever been perfectly fitted for the purpose; +and when, in 1853, the Bishop was obliged to come to England to take +measures for dividing his diocese, he also hoped to obtain permission to +establish a Melanesian school on Norfolk Island, and to obtain the +means of building a schooner yacht, small enough to be navigated in +the narrow, shallow creeks separating the clustered islets, and yet +capacious enough for the numerous passengers. In the meantime Mr. Nihill +went to Nengone with his wife and child. His lungs were much affected, +but he hoped that the climate would prolong his power of working among +the Christian community, who heartily loved and trusted him. + +Other fellow-labourers the Bishop hoped to obtain at home, though it was +his principle never to solicit men to come with him, only to take those +who offered themselves; but all the particulars of the above narration +had been known to Coley Patteson through the Bishop's correspondence +with Mr. Edward Coleridge, as well as by the yearly report put forth by +the Eton Association, and this no doubt served to keep up in his heart +the flame that had burnt unseen for so many years, and to determine its +direction, though he put himself unreservedly at the Bishop's disposal, +to work wherever he might be sent. + +The means for the mission ship 'Southern Cross' were raised. She was +built at Blackwall by Messrs. Wigram, and, after all the delays, sailed +on the very same day as the 'Duke of Portland.' + +Meantime here are a few extracts from Patteson's journal-letter during +the voyage. Sea-sickness was very slightly disabling with him; he was up +and about in a short time, and on the 8th of April was writing:-- + +'What a day this has been to me, the twenty-eighth anniversary of my +baptism to begin with, and then Easter Day spent at sea! + +'April 20th, lat, 4 deg. N., long. 25 deg. W.--Rather hot. It is very fine +to see all the stars of the heavens almost rise and pass overhead and +set--Great Bear and Southern Cross shining as in rivalry of each other, +and both hemispheres showing forth all their glory. Only the Polar Star, +that shines straight above you, is gone below our horizon; and One alone +knows how much toil, and perhaps sorrow, there may be in store for +me before I see it again. But there is and will be much happiness +and comfort also, for indeed I have great peace of mind, and a firm +conviction that I am doing what is right; a feeling that God is +directing and ordering the course of my life, and whenever I take the +only true view of the business of life, I am happy and cheerful. + +'May 10.--It is, I find, quite settled, and was indeed always, that I am +to go always with the Bishop, roving about the Melanesian department, so +that for some years, if I live, I shall be generally six months at sea. +And not little to my delight, I find that the six winter months (i.e. +your summer months) are the ones that we shall spend in sailing about +the islands within or near the tropics, so that I shall have little more +shivering limbs or blue hands, though I may feel in the long run +the effect of a migratory swallow-like life. But the sea itself is a +perpetual tonic, and when I am thoroughly accustomed to a sea life, I +think I shall be better almost on board ship.' + +This seems the place for Bishop Selwyn's impression, as written to a +friend at this very time. 'Coley Patteson is a treasure which I humbly +set down as a Divine recompense for our own boys*. He is a good fellow, +and the tone of his mind is one which I can thoroughly enjoy, content +with the 'to aei' present, yet always aiming at a brighter and better +future.' + +*(Footnote: Left at home for education.) + +'June 18.--You must think of us at 8 P.M. on Sundays--just at 8.20 A.M. +before you come down to prayers. The Bishop has a service in the College +chapel; then, after all the "runners" (clergy who have district chapels) +have returned, chanting Psalms, and reading collects, which bear +especially on the subject of unity, introducing the special Communion +thanksgiving for Whitsunday, and the Sanctus, and the Prayer for Unity +in the Accession Service. I feel that it must be an impressive and very +happy way of ending the Sunday, and you will be at Sunday prayers at the +other end of the world praying with us. + +'July 3.--Still at sea. As soon as we rounded the North Cape on Friday, +June 29, a contrary wind sprang up, and we have been beating about, +tacking between North Cape and Cape Brett ever since. Fine sunny weather +and light winds, but always from the south. To me it is a matter of +entire indifference; I am quite ready to go ashore, but do not mind a +few more days at sea. The climate is delightful, thermometer on deck 55 deg. +to 60 deg., and such glorious sunsets! There is really something peculiar in +the delicacy of the colours here--faint pink and blue, and such an idea +of distance is given by the great transparency of the air. It is full +moon too now, and I walk the deck from eleven to twelve every night with +no great-coat, thinking about you all and my future work. Last night the +Bishop was with me, and told me definitely about my occupation for the +time to come. All day we have been slowly, very slowly, passing along +from the north headland of the Bay of Islands to Cape Brett, and along +the land south of it. A fine coast it is, full of fine harbours and +creeks, the bay itself like a large Torbay, only bolder. Due south of +us is the Bream headland, then the Barrier Islands. We are only about a +mile from the shore, and refreshing it is to look at it; but as yet we +have seen no beach; the rock runs right into the sea. Such bustle and +excitement on board! emigrants getting their things ready, carpenters +making the old "Duke" look smart, sailors scrubbing, but no painting +going on, to our extreme delight. It is so calm, quite as smooth as a +small lake; indeed there is less perceptible motion than I have felt +on the Lake of Como. No backs, no bones aching, though here I speak for +others more than for myself, for the Bishop began his talk last night by +saying, "One great point is decided, that you are a good sailor. So far +you are qualified for Melanesia."' + +To this may be added that Patteson had been farther preparing for +this work by a diligent study of the Maori language, and likewise of +navigation; and what an instructor he had in the knowledge of the +coasts may be gathered from the fact that an old sea captain living at +Kohimarama sent a note to St. John's College stating that he was sure +that the Bishop had come, for he knew every vessel that had ever come +into Auckland harbour, and was sure this barque had never been there +before; yet she had come in the night through all the intricate +passages, and was rounding the heads without a pilot on board. He +therefore concluded that the Bishop must be on board, as there was +no other man that could have taken command of her at such a time, and +brought her into that harbour. + +The Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn went on shore as soon as possible; Patteson +waited till the next day. Indeed he wrote on July 5 that he was in +no hurry to land, since he knew no one in the whole neighbourhood but +Archdeacon Abraham. Then he describes the aspect of Auckland from the +sea:-- + +'It looks much like a small sea-side town, but not so substantially +built, nor does it convey the same idea of comfort and wealth; rude +warehouses, &c., being mixed up with private houses on the beach. The +town already extends to a distance of perhaps half a mile on each side +of this cove, on which the principal part of it is built. Just in the +centre of the cove stands the Wesleyan chapel. On the rising ground on +the east of the cove is the Roman Catholic chapel, and on the west side +is St. Paul's Church, an Early English stone building, looking really +ecclesiastical and homelike. The College, at a distance of about five +miles from the town, on some higher ground, northwest of it, is reached +from the harbour by a boat ascending a creek to within a mile of the +buildings, so that we shall not go into the town at all when we land. By +water too will be our shortest, at all events our quickest way from the +college to the town. + +'July 9, St. John's College.--Though we reached harbour on July 5, and +landed the next day, I have scarcely found a minute to write a line. +Imagine my feelings as I touched land and jumped ashore at a creek under +Judge Martin's house, in the presence of Rota Waitoa, the only native +clergyman in the diocese; Levi, who is perhaps to be ordained, and four +or five other natives. Tena ra fa koe e ho a? "How are you, my friends?" +(the common New Zealand greeting), said I as I shook hands with them one +by one. We walked up from the beach to the house. Roses in full flower, +and mimosa with a delicate golden flower, and various other shrubs and +flowers in full bloom. Midwinter, recollect. The fragrance of the air, +the singing of the birds, the fresh smell (it was raining a little and +the grass was steaming) were delicious, as you may suppose. Here I +was, all at once, carrying up baggage, Maoris before and behind, and +everything new and strange, and yet I felt as if it were all right and +natural. The Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn had landed the day before, and +we were heartily welcomed. Mr. Martin took me into his study. "I am +thankful to see you as a fresh labourer among us here; a man of your +name needs no introduction to a lawyer." Nothing could exceed his +kindness. He began talking of at once. + +'We dined at about 12.30. Clean mutton chops, potatoes and pumpkin (very +good indeed), jam pudding, bread, and plenty of water (beer I refused). +It did taste so good, I am quite ashamed of thinking about it. About two +o'clock I started with the Bishop for the College, nearly six miles from +Auckland. + +'The Bishop is at a kind of collegiate establishment on the outskirts of +Auckland, where Mr. Kissling, a clergyman, is the resident, and thither +I go on Wednesday, to live till October 1, when we start, please God, +in the "Southern Cross" for the cruise around New Zealand. Here, at Mr. +Kissling's, I shall have work with Maoris, learning each day, I trust, +to speak more correctly and fluently. Young men for teachers, and it may +be for clergymen, will form at once my companions and my pupils, a +good proportion of them being nearly or quite of my own age. I am to +be constantly at the Judge's, running in and out, working on Sundays +anywhere as I may be sent. So much for myself. + +'The College is really all that is necessary for a thoroughly good and +complete place of education; the hall all lined with kauri pine wood, a +large handsome room, collegiate, capable of holding two hundred persons; +the school-room, eighty feet long, with admirable arrangements for +holding classes separately. There are two very cosy rooms, which belong +to the Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn respectively, in one of which I am now +sitting.... On the walls are hanging about certain tokens of Melanesia +in the shape of gourds, calabashes, &c., such as I shall send you one +day; a spade on one side, just as a common horse halter hanging from +Abraham's bookshelf, betokens colonial life. Our rooms are quite large +enough, bigger than my room at Feniton, but no furniture, of course, +beyond a bedstead, a table for writing, and an old bookcase; but it is +never cold enough to care about furniture... I clean, of course, my room +in part, make my bed, help to clear away things after meals, &c., and am +quite accustomed to do without servants for anything but cooking. There +is a weaving room, which used to be well worked, a printing press +(from C. M. S.) which has done some good work, and is now at work +again--English, Maori, Greek and Hebrew types. Separate groups of +buildings, which once were filled with lads from different Melanesian +isles--farm buildings, barns, &c. Last of all, the little chapel +of kauri wood, stained desk, like the inside of a really good +ecclesiastical building in England, porch S.W. angle, a semicircular +apse at the west, containing a large handsome stone font, open seats of +course. The east end very simple, semicircular apse, small windows all +full of stained glass, raised one step, no rails, the Bishop's chair +on the north side, bench on the south. Here my eye and my mind rested +contentedly and peacefully. The little chapel, holding about seventy +persons, is already dear to me. I preached in it last night at the seven +o'clock service. We chanted the Unity Psalms CXXII, CXXIII, CXXIV, and +CL, heartily, all joining to a dear old double chant in parts. I felt +my heart very full as I spoke to them of the blessedness of prayer +and spiritual communion. I was at Tamaki in the morning, where I read +prayers, the Archdeacon preaching. A little stone church, very rude +and simple, but singing again good, and congregation of fifty-one, +attentive. At Panmure, about three miles off, in the afternoon, a tiny +wooden church--where Abraham took all the duty. In the evening, in the +chapel, he read prayers, and I preached to about thirty-five or forty +people. We left the chapel just as you were getting ready for breakfast, +and so passed my first Sunday in New Zealand. To-day I have had hard +work; I walked with Abraham to Auckland--six miles of rough work, I +promise you, except the two last. + +I believe it was in the course of this walk that Patteson experimented +on his Maori, a native whom they visited, and who presently turned upon +the Archdeacon, and demanded, 'Why do you not speak like Te Pattihana?' +Such a compliment has seldom been paid on so early an attempt at +colloquialism in a new language. Journal continues:-- + +'Lugged down boxes, big empty ones, from the Judge's house to the beach. +Went with the Bishop to the old ship, packed up books, brought away +all our things almost, helped to pack them in a cart and drag, and then +walked back to the College, which I reached in the dark at 7.30. It is +delightful to see the delight of the natives when they see the Bishop. +"E--h te Pikopa!" and then they all come round him like children, +laughing and talking. Two common men we met on Friday from Rotoma, 150 +miles off, who said that their tribe had heard that the Queen of England +had taken away his salary, and they had been having subscriptions for +him every Sunday. They are of various shades of colour, some light +brown, some nearly black, and some so tattooed all over that you can't +tell what colour they are. I was talking to-day to the best of my power +with a native teacher upon whose face I could not see one spot as big as +a shilling that was not tattooed, beautifully done in a regular pattern, +one side corresponding to the other. Each tribe, as it is said (I +know not how truly), has a pattern of its own; so they wear their +coats-of-arms on their faces, that is all. The young Christian natives +are not tattooed at all, and I have been to-day with Sydney, whose +father was the great fighting man of Honghi (miscalled Shanghi) who was +presented to George IV. This young man's father helped to exterminate a +whole tribe who lived on a part of the College property (as it is now), +and he is said to be perhaps the first New Zealander who was baptized +as an infant. I find it hard to understand them; they speak very +indistinctly--not fast, but their voices are thick in general. I hope to +learn a good deal before October. My first letter from the ends of the +world tells of my peace of mind, of one sound and hearty in body, and, I +thank God, happy, calm, and cheerful in spirit.' + + +'July 11, 1855; St. John's College, Auckland. + +'My dear Fan,--I do not doubt that I am where I ought to be; I do think +and trust that God has given me this work to do; but I need earnest +prayers for strength that I may do it. It is no light work to be +suddenly transplanted from a quiet little country district, where every +one knew me, and the prestige of dear Father's life and your active +usefulness among the people made everything smooth for me, to a work +exceeding in magnitude anything that falls to the lot of an ordinary +parish priest in England--in a strange land, among a strange race +of men, in a newly forming and worldly society, with no old familiar +notions and customs to keep the machine moving; and then to be made +acquainted with such a mass of information respecting Church government +and discipline, educational schemes, conduct of clergy and teachers, +etc., etc. It is well that I am hearty and sound in health, or I should +be regularly overwhelmed with it. Two texts I think of constantly: +"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." "Sufficient +for the day," etc. I hardly dare look forward to what my work may be on +earth; I cannot see my way; but I feel sure that He is ordering it all, +and I try to look on beyond the earth, when at length, by God's mercy, +we may all find rest. + +'That I have been so well in body and so cheerful in mind ever since I +left home--I mean cheerful on the whole, not without seasons of sadness, +but so mercifully strengthened at all times--must, I think, without +any foolish enthusiasm, be remembered by me as a special act of God's +goodness and mercy. I was not the least weary of the sea. Another month +or two would have made very little difference to me, I think. I am very +fond of it, and I think of my voyages to come without any degree +of dread from that cause, and I have no reason to expect any great +discomfort from any other. I have my whole stock of lemon syrup and +lime juice, so that the salt meat on the "Southern Cross" will be +counteracted in that way; and going round those islands we shall be +ashore every few days. But what most surprises me is this: that when +I am alone, as here at night in a great (for it is large) cheerless, +lonely room, as I should have thought it once; though I can't help +thinking of my own comforts at home, and all dear faces around me, +though I feel my whole heart swelling with love to you all, still I am +not at all sad or gloomy, or cast down. This does surprise me: I did not +think it would or could be so. I have indeed prayed for it, but I had +not faith to believe that my prayer would be so granted. The fact +itself is most certain. I have at Alfington, when alone of an evening, +experienced a greater sense of loneliness than I have once done out +here. Of this hitherto I feel no doubt: it may be otherwise any day of +course; and to what else can I attribute this fact, in all soberness of +mind, but to the mercy of God in strengthening me for my work? Much of +it may be the effect of a splendid climate upon my physique, that is +true; for indeed to find flowers in full blossom, green meadows, hot +suns, birds singing, etc., in midwinter, with a cool, steady breeze from +the sea invigorating me all the while, is no doubt just what I require; +but to-day we have a north-easter, which answers to your south-west +wind, with pouring rain, and yet my spirits are not going down with the +barometer. All the same, the said barometer will probably soon recover +himself; for I believe these heavy storms seldom last long. There is +no fire in the room where I sit, which is the Bishop's room when he is +here; no fire-place indeed, as it opens into Mrs. Selwyn's room. The +thermometer is 58 deg., and it is midwinter.' + + +To Miss Neill, on the same day, after repeating his conviction that he +was in the right place, he says:-- + + +'I have written to them at home what I ought not perhaps to have said of +myself, but that it will give them comfort--that from all sides my +being here as the Bishop's companion is hailed as likely to produce very +beneficial results. But I must assure you that I fully know how your +love for me and much too high opinion of me makes you fancy that I could +be of use at home. But we must not, even taking this view, send our +refuse men to the colonies. Newly forming societies must be moulded by +men of energy, and power, and high character; in fact, churches must be +organised, the Gospel must be preached by men of earnest zeal for God's +glory in the salvation of souls. To lower the standard of Christian life +by exhibiting a feeble faint glimmering instead of a burning shining +light is to stamp upon the native mind a false impression, it may be for +ever. + +'Remember, we have no ancient customs nor time-hallowed usages to make +up for personal indifference and apathy; we have no momentum to carry on +the machine. We have to start it, and give it the first impulse, under +the guidance of the Spirit of God; and oh! if it takes a wrong direction +at first, who can calculate the evil that must follow? It is easy to +steer a vessel in smooth water, with a fair breeze; but how are you to +keep her head straight in a rolling sea with no way on her?' + + +This letter, with two or three more, went by the first mail after +his arrival. From that time he generally kept a journal-letter, and +addressed it to one or other of his innermost home circle; while the +arrival of each post from home produced a whole sheaf of answers, and +comments on what was told, by each correspondent, of family, political +or Church matters. Sometimes the letter is so full of the subject of +immediate interest as absolutely to leave no room for personal details +of his own actual life, and this became more the case as the residence +in New Zealand or Norfolk Island lost its novelty, while it never +absorbed him so as to narrow his interests. He never missed a mail +in writing to his father and sisters, and a letter to his brother was +equally regular, but these latter were generally too much concerned with +James's own individual life to be as fully given as the other letters, +which were in fact a diary of facts, thoughts, and impressions. + + +'July 12, St. Stephen's, Mr. Kissling's School-house.--You know I am to +live here when not on the "Southern Cross," or journeying in the Bush; +so I must describe, first, the place itself, then my room in it. The +house is a large one-storied building of wood, no staircase in it, but +only a succession of rooms.... There are at present fourteen or sixteen +girls in the school, boarding here, besides Rota, who is a native +deacon, spending a month here; Levi, who is preparing for ordination, +and three other men. The house stands on table-land about four hundred +yards from the sea, commanding glorious views of the harbour, sea, and +islands, which form groups close round the coast. It is Church property +all round, and the site of a future cathedral is within a stone's throw +of it.... Now for my room. Plenty large enough to begin with, not less +than sixteen feet long by twelve wide, and at least eleven high, all +wood, not papered or painted, which I like much, as the kauri is a +darkish grained wood; no carpet of course, but I am writing now at 10 +P.M., with no fire, and quite warm. The east side of the room is one +great window, latticed, in a wooden frame; outside it a verandah, and +such a beautiful view of the harbour and bay beyond. I will tell you +exactly what I have done to-day since two o'clock, as a sample of my +life. + +'2 P.M., dinner, roast mutton; my seat between the Bishop and Eota. +Fancy the long table with its double row of Maoris. After dinner, away +with the Bishop to the hospital, a plain wooden building a mile off, +capable of taking in about forty patients in all. I am to visit it +regularly when here, taking that work off the parish clergyman's +shoulders, and a great comfort it will be. I went through it to-day, +and had a long talk with the physician and surgeon, and saw the male +patients, two of them natives. One of them is dying, and so I am to be +now talking as well as I can, but at all events reading and praying, +with this poor fellow, and a great happiness it is to have such a +privilege and so on. Came back to tea, very pleasant. After tea made +Eota, and Sydney, a young-man who knows English pretty well, sit in my +room (N.B., there is but one chair, in which I placed Eota), and then +I made them read Maori to me, and read a good deal myself, and then we +talked as well as we could. At 6.15, prayers, the whole party of Maoris +assembled. Mr. Kissling read the first verse of the chapter (Joshua +vi.), and we each read one verse in turn, and then he questioned them +for perhaps fifteen minutes. They were very intelligent and answered +well, and it was striking to see grown-up men and young women sitting so +patiently to be taught. Then the evening service prayers; and so I knelt +with these good simple people and prayed with them for the first time. +Very much I enjoyed all this. Soon after came supper, a little talking, +and now here am I writing to you. + +'I wish you could see the tree-ferns; some are quite twenty feet high in +the trunk, for trunk it is, and the great broad frond waves over it in +a way that would make that child Pena clap her hands with delight. Then +the geraniums and roses in blossom, the yellow mimosa flower, the wild +moncha, with a white flower, growing everywhere, and the great variety +of evergreen trees (none that I have seen being deciduous) make the +country very pretty. The great bare volcanic hills, each with its +well-defined crater, stand up from among the woodlands, and now from +among pastures grazing hundreds of oxen; and this, with the grand sea +views, and shipping in the harbour, make a very fine sight. + +'July 14.--I write to-night because you will like a line from me on the +day when first I have in any way ministered to a native of the country. +I was in the hospital to-day, talked a little, and read St. Luke xv. to +one, and prayed with another Maori. The latter is dying. He was baptized +by the Wesleyans, but is not visited by them, so I do not scruple to go +to him. Rota, the native deacon, was with me, and he talked a long +while with the poor fellow. It is a great comfort to me to have made a +beginning. I did little more than read a few prayers from the Visitation +Service, but the man understood me well, so I may be of use, I hope. He +has never received the Lord's Supper; but if there is time to prepare +him, the Bishop wishes me to administer it to him. + +'July 20.--Yesterday in sailed the "Southern Cross" with not a spar +carried away or sail lost, perfectly sound, and in a fit state to be off +again at once. She left England on the same day that we did, and arrived +just a fortnight after us, and this is attributable to her having kept +in low latitudes, not going higher than 39 deg.; whereas we were in 51 deg. +30', which diminished the distance and brought us in the way of more +favourable winds. I saw from my windows about 9 A.M. a schooner in the +distance, and told the Bishop I thought it might be the "Southern Cross" +(she has no figure-head and a very straight bow). Through the day, which +was very rainy, we kept looking from time to time through our glasses. +At 3 P.M. the Bishop came in: "Come along, Coley; I do believe it is the +'Southern Cross.'" So I hurried on waterproofs, knowing that we were +in for some mudlarking. Off we went, lugged down a borrowed boat to the +water, tide being out. I took one oar, a Maori another, and off we went, +Bishop steering. After twenty minutes' pull, or thereabouts, we met her, +jumped on board, and then such a broadside of questions and answers. +They had a capital passage. Two men who were invalided when they started +died on the voyage--one of dysentery, I think--all the rest flourishing, +the three women respectable and tidy-looking individuals, and two +children very well. After a while the Bishop and I went off to shore, in +one of his boats, pulled by two of the crew, Lowestoft fishermen, fine +young fellows as you ever saw. Then we bought fresh meat, onions, bread, +etc., for them, and so home by 7 P.M. "Mudlarking" very slight on this +occasion, only walking over the flat swamp of low-water marsh for a +quarter of a mile; but on Tuesday we had a rich scene. Bishop and I went +to the "Duke of Portland" and brought off the rest of our things; but +it was low-water, so the boats could not come within a long way of the +beach, and the custom is for carts to go over the muddy sand, which is +tolerably hard, as far into the water as they can, perhaps two and a +half or three feet deep when it is quite calm, as it was on Tuesday. +Well, in went our cart, which had come from the College, with three +valuable horses, while the Bishop and I stood on the edge of the water. +Presently one of the horses lost his footing, and then all at once all +three slipped up, and the danger was of their struggling violently and +hurting themselves. One of those in the shafts had his head under water, +too, for a time. Instanter Bishop and I had our coats off, my trousers +were rolled over my knees, and in we rushed to the horses. Such a +plunging and splashing! but they were all got up safe. This was about 4 +P.M., and I was busy about the packages and getting them into the carts, +unloading at Mr. Kissling's till past 8; but I did not catch cold. +Imagine an English Bishop with attending parson cutting into the water +up to their knees to disentangle their cart-horses from the harness in +full view of every person on the beach. "This is your first lesson in +mudlarking, Coley," was the remark of the Bishop as we laughed over our +respective appearance. + +'July 21.--I was finishing my sermon for the soldiers to-morrow at +11.30, when Mr. Kissling came in to say that the schooner just come into +the harbour was the vessel which had been sent to bring Mr. and Mrs. +Nihill from Nengone or Mare Island. He was in very bad health when he +went there, and great doubts were entertained as to his coming back. I +was deputed to go and see. I ran a good part of the way to the town +on to the pier, and there heard that Mr. Nihill was dead. An old +acquaintance of Mrs. Nihill was on the pier, so I thought I should be in +the way, and came back, told Mrs. Kissling, and went on to the Judge's, +and told Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Selwyn. Whilst there we saw a boat land a +young lady and child on the beach just below the house, and they sent +me down. Pouring with rain here on the beach, taking shelter in a +boat-house with her brother, I found this poor young widow; and so, +leaning on my arm, she walked up to the house. I just waited to see +Mrs. Selwyn throw her arms round her neck, and then walked straight off, +feeling that the furious rain and wind chimed in with a violent struggle +which was just going on in my own mind. I go through such scenes firmly +enough at the time, but when my part is over I feel just like a child, +and I found the tears in my eyes; for the universal sympathy which has +been expressed by everyone here for the lonely situation of the Nihills +at Nengone made me feel almost a personal interest in them. He was a +good linguist, and his loss will be severely felt by the Bishop. + +'August 14.--I marked out to-day some pretty places for the two wooden +houses for the "Southern Cross" sailors at Kohimarama (Focus of Light), +a quiet retired spot, with a beautiful sparkling beach, the schooner +lying just outside the little bay a third of a mile off. Forty or fifty +acres of flat pasturage, but only sixteen properly cleared, and then an +amphitheatre of low hills, covered with New Zealand vegetation. I +passed fine ferns to-day quite thirty feet in the stem, with great +spreading-fronds, like branches of the Norfolk Island pine almost. + +'On the 17th of August came the welcome mail from home. "Oh what a +delight it is to see your dear handwriting again!" is the cry in the +reply. Father's I opened first, and read his letter, stopping often +with tears of thankfulness in my eyes to thank God for enabling him not +to be over-anxious about me, and for the blessing of knowing that he was +as well as usual, and also because his work, so distasteful to him, was +drawing to a close. Then I read Fan's, for I had a secret feeling that I +should hear most from her about Alfington.' + +On the evening of that day he wrote to Fanny. In answer to the +expression of the pain, of separation, he says:-- + + +'There is One above who knows what a trial it is to you. For myself, +hard as it is, and almost too hard sometimes, yet I have relief in the +variety and unceasing-multiplicity of my occupations. Not a moment of +any day can I be said to be idle. Literally, I have not yet had a minute +to untie my "Guardians;" but for you, with more time for meditating, +with no change of scene, with every object that meets you at home and in +your daily walks reminding you of me, it must indeed be such a trial as +angels love to look upon when it is borne patiently, and with a perfect +assurance that God is ordering all things for our good; and so let us +struggle on to the end. All good powers are on our side, and we shall +meet by the infinite mercy one day when there shall be no separation for +ever. + +'I read on in your letter till I came to "Dear Coley, it is very hard to +live without you,"--and I broke down and cried like a child. I was quite +alone out in the fields on a glorious bright day, and it was the relief +I had longed for. The few simple words told me the whole story, and I +prayed with my whole heart that you might find strength in the hour of +sadness. Do (as you say you do) let your natural feelings work; do not +force yourself to appear calm, do not get excited if you can help it; +but if your mind is oppressed with the thought of my absence, do not try +to drive it away by talking about something else, or taking up a book, +etc.; follow it out, see what it ends in, trace out the spiritual help +and comfort which have already, it may be, resulted from it, the growth +of dependence upon God above; meditate upon the real idea of separation, +and think of Mamma and Uncle Frank.' + + +'August 26, 1855, 10.40 P.M.: S. Stephen's, Auckland. 'My dear +Arthur,--I am tired with my Sunday work, which is heavy in a colony, +but I just begin my note on the anniversary of your dear, dear father's +death. How vividly I remember all the circumstances of the last ten +days--the peaceful, holy, happy close of a pure and well-spent life! I +do so think of him, not a day passing without my mind dwelling on him; I +love to find myself calling up the image of his dear face, and my heart +is very full when I recollect all his love for me, and the many, many +tokens of affection which he used to pour out from his warm, generous, +loving heart. I can hardly tell you what an indescribable comfort it is +to me now I think of these things, cut off from the society and sympathy +of friends and the associations of home; the memory is very active in +recalling such scenes, and I almost live in them again. I have very +little time for indulging in fancies of any kind now; I begin to get +an idea of what work is; but in my walks or at night (if I am awake), +I think of dear Mamma and your dear father, and others who are gone +before, with unmixed joy and comfort. You may be quite sure that I am +not likely to forget anybody or anything connected with home. How I do +watch and follow them through the hours of the day or night when we are +both awake and at our work! I turn out at 6.45, and think of them at +dinner or tea; at 10, I think of them at evening prayers; and by my +own bed-time they are in morning church or busied about their different +occupations, and I fancy I can almost see them. + +'So it goes on, and still I am calm and happy and very well; and I think +I am in my place and hope to be made of some use some day. I like the +natives in this school very much. The regular wild untamed fellow is +not so pleasant at first--dirty, unclothed, always smoking, a mass of +blankets, his wigwam sort of place filthy; his food ditto; but then he +is probably intelligent, hospitable, and not insensible to the advantage +of hearing about religion. It only wants a little practice to overcome +one's English feelings about dress, civilisation, etc., and that will +soon come. + +'But here the men are nice fellows, and the women and girls make capital +servants; and so whereas many of the clergy and gentry do not keep a +servant (wages being enormous), and ladies like your sisters and mine +do the whole work of the housemaid, nursery-maid, and cook (which I have +seen and chatted about with them), I, on the contrary, by Miss Maria (a +wondrous curly-headed, black-eyed Maori damsel, arrayed in a "smock," +weiter nichts), have my room swept, bed made, tub--yes, even in New +Zealand--daily filled and emptied, and indeed all the establishment will +do anything for me. I did not care about it, as I did all for myself +aboard ship; but still I take it with a very good grace. + +'In about six weeks I expect we shall sail all round the English +settlement of New Zealand, and go to Chatham Island. This will occupy +about three months, and the voyage will be about 4,000 miles. Then we +start at once, upon our return, for four months in the Bush, among +the native villages, on foot. Then, once again taking ship, away for +Melanesia. So that, once off, I shall be roving about for nearly a year, +and shall, if all goes well, begin the really missionary life. + +'It is late, and the post goes to morrow. Good-bye, my dear Arthur; +write when you can. + +'Ever your affectionate + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +'August 27.--I have just been interrupted by Mrs. Kissling, who came +to ask me to baptize privately the young son of poor Eota, the native +deacon, and his wife Terena. Poor fellow! This child was born two or +three days after he left this place for Taranaki with the Bishop, so +he has not seen his son as yet. He has one boy about four, and has lost +three or four others; and now this little one, about three weeks old, +seems to be dying. I was almost glad that the first time I baptized a +native child, using the native language, should be on Fan's birthday. +It was striking to see the unaffected sympathy of the natives here. The +poor mother came with the child in her arms to the large room. A table +with a white cloth in the centre, and nearly the whole establishment +assembled. I doubt if you would have seen in England grown-up men and +women more thoroughly in earnest. It was the most comforting private +baptism I ever witnessed. + +'Henri has been for an hour or more this morning asking me questions +which you would seldom hear from farmers or tradesmen at home, showing a +real acquaintance with the Bible, and such a desire, hunger and thirst, +for knowledge. What was the manna in the wilderness? he began. He +thought it was food that angels actually lived upon, and quoted the +verse in the Psalm readily, "So man did eat angel's food." So I took +him into the whole question of the spiritual body; the various passages, +"meats for the belly," etc., our Lord's answer to the Sadducees, and so +on to 1 Cor. xv. Very interesting to watch the earnestness of the man +and his real pleasure in assenting to the general conclusion expressed +in 1 John iii. 2 concerning our ignorance of what we shall be, not +implying want of power on God's part to explain, but His divine will in +not withdrawing the veil wholly from so great a mystery. "E marama ana," +(I see it clearly now): "He mea ngaro!" (a mystery). His mind had wholly +passed from the carnal material view of life in heaven, and the idea +of food for the support of the spiritual body, and the capacity for +receiving the higher truths (as it were) of Christianity showed itself +more clearly in the young New Zealander than you would find perhaps +in the whole extent of a country parish. I think that when I know +the language well enough to catechize freely, it will be far more +interesting, and I shall have a far more intelligent set of catechumens, +than in England. They seem especially fond of it, ask questions +constantly, and will get to the bottom of the thing, and when the +catechist is up to the mark and quick and wily in both question and +illustration, they get so eager and animated, all answering together, +quoting texts, etc. I think that their knowledge of the Bible is in some +sense attributable to its being almost the only book printed that they +care much about.' + +The 11th of September produced another long letter full of home feeling, +drawn forth in response to his sister. Here are some extracts:-- + + +'Sometimes I cannot help wishing that I could say all this, but not +often. There is One who understands, and in really great trials even, it +is well to lean only on Him. But I must write freely. You will not think +me moody and downhearted, because I show you that I do miss you, +and often feel lonely and shut up in myself. This is exactly what I +experience, and I think if I was ill, as you often are, I should break +down under it; but God is very merciful to me in keeping me in very good +health, so that I am always actively engaged every day, and when night +comes I am weary in body, and sleep sound almost always, so that the +time passes very rapidly indeed, and I am living in a kind of dream, +hardly realizing the fact of my being at half the world's distance from +you, but borne on from day to day, I scarcely know how. Indeed, when +I do look back upon the past six months, I have abundant cause to be +thankful. I never perhaps shall know fully how it is, but somehow, as a +matter of fact, I am on the whole cheerful, and always busy and calm in +mind. I don't have tumultuous bursts of feeling and overwhelming floods +of recollection that sweep right away all composure. Your first letters +upset me more than once as I re-read them, but I think of you all +habitually with real joy and peace of mind. And I am really happy, not +in the sense that happiness presents itself always, or exactly in the +way that I used to feel it when with you all, or as I should feel it if +I were walking up to the lodge with my whole heart swelling within me. +It is much more quiet and subdued, and does not perhaps come and go +quite as much; but yet in the midst of all, I half doubt sometimes +whether everything about and within me is real. I just move on like a +man in a dream, but this again does not make me idle. I don't suppose I +ever worked harder, on the whole, than I do now, and I have much anxious +work at the Hospital. Such cases, Fan! Only two hours ago, I left a +poor sailor, by whose side I had been kneeling near three-quarters of an +hour, holding his sinking head and moistening his mouth with wine, the +dews of death on his forehead, and his poor emaciated frame heaving like +one great pulse at each breath. For four days that he has been there +(brought in a dying state from the Merchantman) I have been with him, +and yesterday I administered to him the Holy Communion. He had spoken +earnestly of his real desire to testify the sincerity of his repentance +and faith and love. I have been there daily for nine days, but I cannot +always manage it, as it is nearly two miles off. The responsibility is +great of dealing with such cases, but I trust that God will pardon +all my sad mistakes. I cannot withhold the Bread of Life when I see +indications of real sorrow for sin, and the simple readiness to obey the +command of Christ, even though there is great ignorance and but little +time to train a soul for heaven. I cannot, as you may suppose, prepare +for my Sunday work as I ought to do, from want of time. Last Sunday +I had three whole services, besides reading the Communion Service +and preaching at 11 A.M., and reading Prayers at 5 P.M. I should have +preached five times but that I left my sermon at Mr. T.'s, thinking to +go back for it.... Mrs. K. gave me an old "Woolmer" the other day, which +gladdened my eyes. Little bits of comfort come in, you see, in these +ways. Nothing can be kinder than the people here, I mean in Auckland and +its neighbourhood--real, simple, hearty kindness. Perhaps the work at +Kohimarama is most irksome to me. It is no joke to keep sailors in good +humour ashore, and I fear that our presence on board was much needed +during the passage out.' + +With reference to his sister's reading, he continues:--'Take care of +Maurice, Fan; I do not think it too much to say that he is simply and +plainly "unsound" on the doctrine of the Atonement; I don't charge him +with heresy from his stand-point, but remember that you have not been +brought into contact with Quakers, Socinians, &c., and that he may +conceive of a way of reconciling metaphysically difficulties which a +far inferior but less inquisitive and vorsehender geist pronounces +for itself simply contrary to the word of God. There are two Greek +prepositions which contain the gist of the whole matter, huper, in +behalf of, and anti, instead of, in the place of. Maurice's doctrine +goes far to do away with the truth of the last, as applied to the +Sacrifice of Christ. I have an exceedingly high regard for him, and +respect for his goodness no less than his ability. His position +has exposed him to very great difficulties, and therefore, if he is +decidedly wrong, it is not for us to judge him. Read his "Kingdom of +Christ," and his early books; but he is on very slippery and dangerous +ground now. It is indeed a great and noble task to propose to oneself, +viz.--to teach that God is our Father, and to expose the false and most +unhappy idea that has at times prevailed of representing God as actuated +by strong indignation, resentment, &c., against the human race, so that +men turned from Him as from some fearful avenging power. This is the +worst form of Anthropomorphism, but this is not the Scriptural idea of a +just God. We cannot, perhaps, conceive of absolute justice; certainly we +are no judges of God's own revealed scheme of reconciling Justice with +Law, and so I call Maurice's, to a certain extent, human teaching, more +philosophy than religion, more metaphysics than revelation.' + +On the 22nd the Ordination took place, and the second Maori deacon was +ordained, Levi (or according to Maori pronunciation, Eivata) Ahea, a man +of about thirty-eight, whose character had long been tested. Immediately +after, the Bishop, Mrs. Selwyn, Mr. Patteson, and the new deacon, set +forth on a coasting expedition in the new vessel. + +The language of the journal becomes nautical, and strong in praise of +the conduct of the little ship, which took the party first to Nelson, +where Sunday, the 7th of October, was spent, the Bishop going ashore +while Patteson held a service for the sailors on board, first going +round to the vessels anchored in the harbour to invite the men's +attendance, but without much success. On the 10th he wrote:-- + +'Already I feel to a certain extent naturalized. I do not think I should +despair of qualifying myself in three months for the charge of a native +parish. I don't mean that I know the niceties of the language so as to +speak it always correctly, but I should be able to communicate with +them on ordinary subjects, and to preach and catechize. But, after all, +Melanesia is becoming more and more a substantial reality.' + +The history of Bishop Selwyn's visitation hardly belongs to Patteson's +life; but after one Sunday morning's ministration at Queen Charlotte's +Sound, Patteson was thus entreated: 'At 2.30 I was on shore again, and +soon surrounded by some thirty or forty natives, with whom I talked a +long while about the prospect of a clergyman being settled among them. +"We want you! You speak so plainly, we can understand you!" + +'"No, I am going to the islands, to the blacks there." (N.B. The Maoris +speak of the Blacks with a little touch of contempt.) + +'"You are wanted here! Never mind the blacks!" + +'"Ought not the Gospel to be preached to them, too? They have no +teacher. Is it not right they should be taught as you have been?" + +'"Ke rae tika ana. Yes, yes, that is right!"' + +The settlements, then new, of Canterbury and Dunedin were visited, and +then, the Bishop remaining on shore on other work, the 'Southern Cross' +started for the Chatham Isles, gaining high commendation for all the +good qualities of which a schooner could be supposed capable. + +'It was pretty to see the little, vessel running away from the great +broad-backed rollers which rolled over the shore far above. Every now +and then she shipped a sea, and once her deck was quite full of water, +up to the gunwale nearly.' And as for her future skipper, he says, 'I +had plenty of work at navigation. It really is very puzzling at first; +so much to remember--currents, compass, variation, sun's declination, +equation of time, lee way, &c. But I think I have done my work pretty +well up to now, and of course it is a great pleasure as well as a +considerable advantage to be able to give out the true and magnetic +course of the ship, and to be able from day to day to give out her +position.' + +The Chatham Islands are dependencies of New Zealand, inhabited by +Maoris, and as it has fallen to the lot of few to visit them, here is +this extract concerning them:-- + +'I buried a man there, a retired sea captain who had spent some twenty +years of his life in China, and his widow was a Chinese woman, a little +dot of a thing, rather nice-looking. She spoke a little English and +more Maori. We walked through the Pa to the burial-ground, some twenty +natives all dressed in black, i.e. something black about them, and many +in a good suit, attending the funeral. Levi had spent the day before +(Sunday) with them and had told them about me. As I approached the +Pa before the funeral they all raised the native cry of welcome, the +"Tangi." I advanced, speaking to them collectively, and then went +through the ceremony of shaking hands with each one in order as they +stood in a row, saying something, if I could think of it, to each. After +the funeral they all (according to native custom) sat down in the open +air, round a large cloth on the ground, on which were spread tins of +potatoes, fish, pork, &c. The leader came to me and said, "This is the +Maori fashion. Come, my friend, and sit with us," and deposited three +bottles of beer at my feet, while provisions enough for Dan Lambert were +stored around--a sort of Homeric way of honouring me, and perhaps they +made a Benjamin of me. However, I had already eaten a mouldy biscuit and +had a glass of beer at the house of the Chinawoman, so I only said grace +for them, and after talking a little while, I shook hands all round and +went off. Their hands, being used as knives and forks, were not a little +greasy; but of course one does not think of that. + +As I passed the end of the Pa I heard a cry, and saw a very old man with +a perfectly white beard, too old to come to the feast, who had crawled +out of his hut to see me. He had nothing on but a blanket, and I was +sorry I had not known of his being there, that I might have gone to the +old gentleman, so we talked and shook hands, and I set off for my eight +miles walk back. The whole island is one vast peat field, in many places +below in a state of ignition; then the earth crumbles away below and +pits are formed, rank with vegetation, splendid soil for potatoes.' + +Christmas-day was spent at Wellington, in services on shore, the +Christmas dinner eaten on board, but the evening spent at the Governor's +in blind man's buff and other games with the children, then evening +prayers on board for the crew. The stay at Wellington was altogether +enjoyable, and it ended by Mr. Patteson taking the command of the +vessel, and returning with Mrs. Selwyn to Auckland, while the Bishop +pursued his journey by land, no small proof of the confidence inspired +by so recent a mariner. He was sorry to lose the sight of the further +visitation, and in his New Year's letter of 1856, written soon after +receiving a budget from home, there is one little touch of home +sickness:-- + +'Really it is a fine land, with wonderful facilities for large +manufacturing, commercial, and agricultural interests; worth visiting, +too, merely for the scenery, but somehow enjoying scenery depends a +good deal upon having one's own friends to enjoy it with. One thing I +do enjoy thoroughly, and that is the splendid sunsets. I don't remember +anywhere to have seen such fine soft golden sunsets; and they are +not wanting in variety, for occasionally he goes to bed among red and +crimson and purple clouds, with wild scuds flying above, which suggest +to me the propriety of turning up my bed and looking out for a good roll +in the night. But there is certainly a peculiar transparency in the air +which makes the distances look distant indeed.' + +This trip, so cheerfully described, was rather a pull on the frame which +had yet to become seasoned to the heat of the southern midsummer, and +there was a languor about the outward man, the last remnant of the +original sluggishness, which, if ever a doubt arose of the fitness +of the instrument for the work, awoke it during the voyage. There was +depression likewise, in part, no doubt, from the spending the first +Christmas away from home and friends, and partly from a secret +disappointment at the arrangement which made him for a time +acting-master, not to say steward, of the ship, so that he had to live +on board of her, and make himself useful on Sundays, according to need, +in the churches on shore, a desultory life very trying to him, but +which he bore with his usual quiet determination to do obediently and +faithfully the duty laid on him, without picking or choosing. + +The journal-letters continue on the 17th of January: 'Wrote a Maori +sermon this morning, not feeling able yet to preach extempore in the +native language, though it is much better to do so as soon as I can. Now +I must stick to the vessel again. I have been quite frisky, really, for +two days past, and have actually slept on shore, the fourth time since +September 24. The sensation is exceedingly pleasant of firm ground +underneath and clean water, a basin, &c., to wash in. And yet I almost +like coming back to my ship home: it is really very comfortable, and you +know I always liked being a good deal alone. I am reading, for lightish +reading, the first part of the third volume of Neander's Church History, +which is all about Missions. It is the fifth volume in the way his works +are usually bound up, and came out in this box the other day. It is very +interesting, especially to me now, and it is curious to observe how +much the great men insisted upon the necessity of attending to the more +secular part of missionary work,--agriculture, fishing, and other means +of humanizing the social condition of the heathen among whom they lived. +Columbanus and Boniface, and his pupil Gregory, and others (all the +German Missionaries, almost) just went on the plan the Bishop wants to +work out here. + +'2. P.M. I am off to Otaki to see my native parishioners. What different +work from calling in at S. W.'s and other good Alfingtonians! The walk +will be pleasant, especially as I have been grinding away at navigation +all the morning. My stupid head gets puzzled at that kind of work; and +yet it is very good for me, just because it requires accuracy. + +'29th. Just as I am beginning to get some hold of the Maori, so as to +make real use of it, the Island languages are beginning to come into +work. I have a curious collection here now--some given by the Judge, who +is a great philologist, others belonging to the Bishop--a MS. grammar +here, one chapter of St. Mark in another language, four Gospels in +a third, a few chapters of Kings with the Lord's Prayer in a fourth, +besides Marsden's Malay grammar and lexicon. Mrs. Nihill has given me +some few sheets of the Nengone language, and also lent me her husband's +MS. grammar. One letter, written (--);, but pronounced a sort of rg in the +throat, yet not like an ordinary guttural, she declares took two +years to learn. You may fancy I have enough to do, and then all my +housekeeping affairs take up a deal of time, for I not only have to +order things, but to weigh them out, help to cut out and weigh the meat, +&c., and am quite learned in the mysteries of the store-room, which to +be sure is a curious place on board ship. I hope you are well suited +with a housekeeper: if I were at home I could fearlessly advertise +for such a situation. I have passed through the preliminary steps of +housemaid and scullerymaid, and now, having taken to serving out stores, +am quite qualified for the post, especially after my last performance of +making bread, and even a cake.' + +This seems to be the right place for the description which the wife of +Chief Justice Martin gives of Mr. Patteson at this period. The first +meeting, she says, 'was the beginning of an intimate friendship, which +has been one of the great blessings of our lives. After a short stay +at St. John's College, he came into residence at St. Stephen's native +institution, of which Archdeacon Kissling was then the Principal. He +learned rapidly to read and speak Maori, and won all hearts there by his +gentle unassuming manners. My husband was at that time a great invalid, +and as our dear friend was living within five minutes' walk of our house +he came in whenever he had a spare half-hour. He used to bring Archer +Butler's sermons to read with us, and I well remember the pleasant +talks that ensued. The two minds were drawn together by common tasks and +habits of thought. Both had great facility in acquiring languages, and +interest in all questions of philology. Both were also readers of German +writers on Church history and of critical interpretation of the New +Testament, and I think it was a help to the younger man to be able to +discuss these and kindred subjects with an older and more trained mind. +I had heard much of our dear friend before he arrived, and I remember +feeling a little disappointed at first, though much drawn to him by his +gentle affectionate thoughtfulness and goodness. He said little about +his future work. He had come obedient to the call and was quietly +waiting to do whatever should be set him to do. As my husband a few +months later told Sir John Patteson, there was no sudden flame of +enthusiasm which would die down, but a steady fire which would go on +burning. To me he talked much of his home. He used to walk beside my +pony, and tell me about "his dear father"--how lovingly his voice used +to linger over those words!--of the struggle it had been to leave him, +of the dreariness of the day of embarkation. Years after he could hardly +bear to recall it to mind. I remember his bright look the first day it +became certain that we must visit England. "Why, then you will see my +dear father, and tell him all about me!" I knew all his people quite +well before, and when I went to visit his little parish of Alfington I +seemed to recognise each cottage and its humble inmates, so faithfully +had he described his old people and haunts. + +'One thing that specially impressed me was his reverent appreciation of +the good he had gained from older friends. He certainly had not imbibed +any of the indifference to the opinion of elders ascribed to the youth +of this generation. "Dear old tutor," his uncles, Sir John Coleridge and +Dr. Coleridge, to whom he looked up with almost filial reverence, the +beloved Uncle Frank, whose holy life and death he dwelt on with a sort +of awe, how gratefully and humbly he spoke of the help he had got +from them! He was full of enthusiasm about music, painting, and art in +general. He would flow on to willing listeners of Mendelssohn and other +great composers, and when he found that we hoped to visit Italy he was +just as eager about pictures. He owned that both at Dresden and at Rome +he had weakened his eyes by constant study of his favourite masters. + +'Altogether he gave me the impression of having had a very happy youth +and having enjoyed it thoroughly. His Eton and Oxford life, the society +of men of thought at his father's house, home interests, foreign travel, +art, happy days with his brother Jem in the Tyrol, were all entertained +as pleasant memories, and yet he was able without conscious effort or +struggle to put them all aside for his work's sake. + +'The Bishop kindly gave us a passage to Wellington in the "Southern +Cross," and Mr. Patteson went with us in charge of the vessel. We were +five days at sea. I used to lie on the deck, and watch with amused +interest the struggle going on between his student habits and his +practical duties, which were peculiarly distasteful to him. He was +never quite well at sea, but was headachy and uncomfortable. He was +scrupulously neat and clean, and the dirt and stiffness displeased +him--how much we never knew, till he spoke out one day when very ill +at our house in 1870. He was not apt at teaching, but he used +conscientiously to hear a young lad spell and read daily. He would come +up with some book of thought in his hand, and seemed buried in it, till +he suddenly would remember he ought to be directing or overlooking in +some way. This would happen half a dozen times in an afternoon. + +'He shrank at this time from finding fault. It was a positive distress +to him. At Wellington we parted. He seemed a little depressed, I +remember, as to what use he would be. I said: "Why, you will be the son +Timothy! This was after some years of partially failing health, when +these feelings had become habitual. I do not think they existed in +his earlier voyages so long waited for." His face brightened up at the +thought. "Yes, if I can release the Bishop of some of his anxieties, +that will be enough."' + +No doubt he was depressed at parting with the Chief Justice and Mrs. +Martin, who were thoroughly home-like friends, and whose return was then +uncertain. His success as a sea-captain however encouraged him, and he +wrote as follows on his return:-- + + +'Kohimarama: March 6, 1856. + +"Southern Cross." + +'My dear Miss Neill,--How kind of you to write to me, and such a nice +long letter. It cost you a great effort, I am sure, and much pain, I +fear; but I know it was a comfort to you that it was written, and +indeed it was a great happiness to me to read it. Oh, these letters! The +intense enjoyment of hearing about you all at home, I know no pleasure +like it now. Fond as I always was of reading letters and papers, the +real happiness of a mail from England now is quite beyond the conception +of any but a wanderer in foreign parts. Our mail went out yesterday at 2 +P.M., rather unluckily for me, as I only returned from a very rapid and +prosperous voyage to Wellington yesterday morning. + +'I took the Chief Justice and Mrs. Martin (such dear, excellent people) +to Wellington to meet the "Seringa-patam," homeward bound from that +port; and I brought back from Wellington the Governor's sick wife and +suite. Only absent a fortnight for a voyage of 1,100 miles, including +three days' stay at Wellington. The coast of New Zealand is so +uncertain, and the corners so many in coasting from Auckland to +Wellington, that the usual passage occupies seven or eight days; and +when the "Southern Cross" appeared yesterday morning in harbour, I was +told by several of the officers and other residents that they feared we +had put back from foul weather, or because the Judge could not bear the +motion of the vessel. They scarcely thought we could actually have been +to Wellington and returned. + +'Most thankful am I for such a fine passage, for I had two sets of +invalids, the Judge being only now (as we trust) recovering from +a severe illness, and Mrs. Martin very weakly; and I felt the +responsibility of having the charge of them very much. This was my +second trip as "Commodore," the Bishop still being on his land journey; +but we expect him in Auckland at the end of the month. As you may +suppose, I am getting on with my navigation, take sights, of course, +and work out errors of watches, place of ship, &c.; it is pretty and +interesting work, and though you know well enough that I have no turn +for mathematics, yet this kind of thing is rendered so easy nowadays +by the tables that are constructed for nautical purposes, that I do not +think I should feel afraid of navigating a ship at all. The "seamanship" +is another thing, and that the master of the ship is responsible for.... +You ask me, dear Miss Neill, where I am settled. Why, settled, I suppose +I am never to be: I am a missionary, you know, not a "stationary." But, +however, my home is the "Southern Cross," where I live always in harbour +as well as at sea, highly compassionated by all my good friends here, +from the Governor downwards, and highly contented myself with the sole +possession of a cosy little cabin nicely furnished with table, lots of +books, and my dear father's photograph, which is an invaluable treasure +and comfort to me. In harbour I live in the cabin. It is hung round with +barometers (aneroids), sympie-someters, fixed chest for chronometers, +charts, &c. Of course, wherever the "Southern Cross" goes I go too, and +I am a most complete skipper. I feel as natural with my quadrant in my +hand as of old with a cricket bat. Then I do rather have good salt-water +baths, and see glorious sunsets and sunrises, and star-light nights, and +the great many-voiced ocean, the winds and waves chiming all night with +a solemn sound, lapping against my ear as I lie in my canvas bed, six +feet by two and a half, and fall sound asleep and dream of home. Oh! +there is much that is really enjoyable in this kind of life; and if the +cares of the vessel, management of men, &c., do harass me sometimes, it +is very good for me; security from such troubles having been anxiously +and selfishly pursued by me at home. + +'If it please God to give success to our mission work, I may some day be +"settled" (if I live) on some one of the countless islands of the South +Pacific, looking after a kind of Protestant Propaganda College for the +education of teachers and missionaries from among the islanders, but +this is all uncertain. + +'Now good-bye, my dear Miss Neill. I never doubt that in all your +sufferings God does administer abundant sources of consolation to you. +Even my life, so painless and easy, is teaching me that we judge of +these things by a relative standard only, and I can conceive of one duly +trained and prepared for heaven that many most blessed anticipations of +future rest may be vouchsafed in the midst of extreme bodily pain. It is +in fact a kind of martyrdom, and truly so when borne patiently for the +love of Christ. + +'Always, my dear Miss Neill, + +'Your very affectionate, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The Sundays were days of little rest. Clergy were too scarce for one +with no fixed cure not to be made available to the utmost, and the +undeveloped state of the buildings and of all appliances of devotion +fell heavily and coldly on one trained to beauty, both of architecture +and music, though perhaps the variety of employment was the chief trial. +His Good Friday and Easter Sunday's journal show the sort of work that +came on him:-- + +'Taurarua, Good Friday.--I am tired, for walking about in a hot sun, +with a Melanesian kit, as we call them, slung round the neck, with +clothes and books, is really fatiguing. Yesterday and to-day are just +samples of colonial work. Thursday, 7.30, prayers in chapel; 10.30, +Communion service in chapel. Walked two miles to see a parishioner of +the Archdeacon's. 1.30, dinner; 2.30, walked to Taurarua, five and a +half miles, in a burning sun; walked on to Mr. T.'s and back again, +three miles and a half more. 7, tea, wrote a sermon and went to bed. +To-day, service and sermon, for 600 soldiers at 9; Communion service +and preached at 11. Back to Taurarua after three miles' walk, on to +the College, and read prayers at 7. Not much work, it is true, but +disjointed, and therefore more fatiguing. I do sometimes long almost for +the rest of English life, the quiet evening after the busy day; but I +must look on to a peaceful rest by and by; meanwhile work away, and to +be sure I have a grand example in the Bishop. + +'Easter Day.--I was at Tamaki chapel, a cold, bare, barn-like building +of scoria, all this country being of volcanic origin. Fifty persons +present perhaps: two or three faint female voices, two or three rough +most discordant male voices, all the attempt at singing. No instrument +of any kind. The burthen of trying to raise the tone of the whole +service to a really rejoicing thankful character wholly, I suppose, +upon myself, and I so unequal to it. But the happy blessed services +themselves, they gradually absorbed the mind, and withdrew it from all +relative and comparative ideas of externals of worship. What a training +it is here for the appreciation of the wondrous beauty of our Church +services, calming all feeling of excitement and irreverent passionate +zeal, and enabling one to give full scope to the joy and glory of +one's heart, without, I hope, forgetting to rejoice with reverence and +moderation. Here, at Tamaki, you have nothing but the help the services +themselves give, and I suppose that is very good for one in reality, +though at the time it makes one feel as if something was wanting in the +hearty sympathy and support of earnest fellow-worshippers. The College +chapel nicely decorated. + +'1st Sunday after Easter: Taurarua.--I walked in from the College +yesterday afternoon, took the soldiers' service at 9.15 A.M., Communion +service and sermon at St. Matthew's at 11, Hospital at 2.30. Preached at +St. Paul's at 6 P.M., reminding me of my Sunday's work when I was +living at St. Stephen's. It is a comfort to have a Sunday in Auckland +occasionally--more like a Sunday, with a real church, and people +responding and singing.' + +So passed that first year, which many an intending missionary before +Patteson has found a crucial test which he has not taken into his +calculations. The soreness of the wrench from home is still fresh, +and there is no settled or regular work to occupy the mind, while the +hardships are exactly of the kind that have not been anticipated, and +are most harassing, though unsatisfying to the imagination, and all this +when the health is adapting itself to a new climate, and the spirits +are least in time, so that the temper is in the most likely condition +to feel and resent any apparent slight or unexpected employment. No one +knows how many high hopes have sunk, how many intended workers have been +turned aside, by this ordeal of the first year. + +Patteson, however, was accepting whatever was distasteful as wholesome +training in the endurance of hardships, and soon felt the benefit he +reaped from it. The fastidiousness of his nature was being conquered, +his reluctance to rebuke forced out of being a hindrance, and no doubt +the long-sought grace of humility was rendered far more attainable by +the obedient fulfilment of these lowly tasks. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE MELANESIAN ISLES. 1856-1857. + + + +And now, in his twenty-ninth year, after all the unconscious preparation +of his education, and the conscious preparation of two years, Coleridge +Patteson began the definite work of his life. Bishop Selwyn was to +sail with him in the "Southern Cross," making the voyage that had been +intermitted during the expedition to England, introducing him to the +Islands, and testing his adaptation to the work there. The first point +was, however, to be Sydney, with the hope of obtaining leave to use +Norfolk Island as the headquarters of the Mission. They meant to touch +there, weather permitting, on their way northward. + +Ascension Day was always Bishop Selwyn's favourite time for starting, +so that the charge might be ringing freshly in his ears and those of his +companions, 'Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of +the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' + +There was morning service and Holy Communion at the little College +chapel on the 1st of May, Ascension Day of 1856; then the party went on +board, but their first start was only to Coromandel Bay, in order +that the Bishop might arrange a dispute with the Maoris, and they then +returned to Auckland to take up Mrs. Selwyn. The crew were five in +number, and Mr. Leonard Harper, son of the future Bishop of Lyttelton, +likewise accompanied them, and relieved Patteson of his onerous duties +as steward. + +The first adventure was such a storm as the little vessel had never yet +encountered. The journal-letter thus describes it:--'On Saturday +morning it began to blow from the north-east, and for the first time +I experienced a circular gale or hurricane. Mrs. Somerville, I think, +somewhere describes the nature of them in her "Physical Geography." +The wind veered and hauled about a point or two, but blew from the +north-east with great force, till about seven P.M. we could do no more +with it and had to lie to. Ask old D. what that means, if you can't +understand my description of it. The principle of it is to set two small +sails, one fore and one aft, lash the rudder (wheel) amidships, make all +snug, put on hatches, batten everything down, and trust to ride out the +storm. As the vessel falls away from the wind by the action of one sail, +it is brought up to it again by the other-sail. Thus her head is always +kept to the wind, and she meets the seas, which if they caught her on +the beam or the quarter would very likely send her down at once. About +midnight on Saturday the wind suddenly chopped round to W.S.W., so that +we were near the focus of the gale; it blew harder and harder till we +took down the one sail forward, as the ropes and spars were enough for +the wind to act upon. From 1 P.M. to 7 P.M. on Sunday it blew furiously. +The whole sea was one drift of foam, and the surface of the water beaten +down almost flat by the excessive violence of the wind, which cut off +the head of every wave as it strove to raise itself, and carried it +in clouds of spray and great masses of water, driving and hurling it +against any obstacle, such as our little vessel, with inconceivable +fury. As I stood on deck, gasping for breath, my eyes literally unable +to keep themselves open, and only by glimpses getting a view of this +most grand and terrible sight, it seemed as if a furious snow-storm +was raging over a swelling, heaving, dark mass of waters. When anything +could be seen beyond the first or second line of waves, the sky and sea +appeared to meet in one cataract of rain and spray. A few birds were +driving about like spirits of the storm. It was, as Shakspeare calls it, +a regular hurly. Add to this the straining of the masts, the creaking of +the planks, the shrill whistle of the wind in the ropes and cordage, the +occasional crash of a heavy sea as it struck us with a sharp sound, and +the rush of water over the decks, down the companion and hatches, that +followed, and you have a notion of a gale of wind. And yet this was far +from all the wind and sea can do, and we were never in any danger, I +believe. That is, an unlucky sea at such a time may be fatal, and if +anything about the schooner had been unsound it might have been awkward. +At prayers, the Bishop read the prayer to be used in a storm, but I +never myself entertained the idea of our being really in peril, nor did +I suffer anything like the anxiety that I did when we were rounding Cape +Palliser on our way to Wellington with the Judge. Here we had sea room +and no fear of driving upon rocks. It is blowing a good deal now, as +you see by my writing. I have a small ink-bottle of glass, made like +an eel-pot (such as tax-gatherers use), tied to my buttonhole, and with +this I can scribble away in almost any sea. Dear me! you could not sit +still a minute, even now. I was qualmish on Saturday, and for a minute +sick, but pretty comfortable on Sunday, though wearied by the constant +pitching and rolling.' + +The day after this, namely May 15, the Bishop and Mr. Patteson rowed +into Cascade Bay, Norfolk Island, amid a heavy surf, but they saw no +cascade, as there had been no rain for a long time; and there were only +rocks surmounted by pine trees, no living creature, no landing-place, as +they coasted along. At last they saw a smooth-looking rock with an iron +staple, and concluding that it was the way of approach, they watched +their time, and through the surf which broke over it they leapt on it, +and dashed ashore before the returning swell caught them. They walked +inland, and met a man, one of twelve convicts who had been left behind +to receive the Pitcairners, who had not yet arrived, but were on their +way from their original island in H.M.S. 'Juno.' The vegetation and +climate struck them as beautiful; there were oranges, lemons, sweet +potatoes, and common potatoes, and English vegetables, and the Norfolk +Island pine growing to a great height: 'but,' writes Coley, 'it is +coarser in the leaf and less symmetrical in shape than I had expected. +I thought to have seen the tree of Veitch's nursery garden on a scale +three or four times as large, and so I might have done in any of the +gardens; but as they grow wild in the forest, they are not so very +different from the more common fir tribe.' + +They saw one house, but had little time, and getting down to the smooth +rock, stood there, barefooted, till the boat could back in between the +rollers; the Bishop leapt in at the first, and the boat made off at +once, and till it could return, Patteson had to cling to the clamps to +hinder himself from being washed off, as six or seven waves broke over +him before the boat could come near enough for another spring. These +difficulties in landing were one of the recommendations of the island, +by isolating the future inhabitants from the demoralising visits of +chance vessels. + +Then followed some days of great enjoyment of the calm warmth of the +semi-tropical winter, chiefly varied by catching a young shark, and +contrasting him with his attendant pilot, as the ugliest and +prettiest of fish. Patteson used the calm to write (May 30) one of his +introspective letters, owning that he felt physical discomfort, and +found it hard to banish 'recollections of clean water, dry clothes, +and drink not tasting like medicine; but that he most of all missed the +perfect unconstrained ease of home conversation.' + +Then he continues:-- + +'But now, don't you see, Fan, how good this is for me? If you think +impartially of me, as you recollect me, you will see how soft and +indolent I was, how easily I fell into self-indulgent habits, how little +I cared to exert myself and try and exercise the influence, etc., a +clergyman may be supposed to possess; there was nothing about me to +indicate energy, to fit me for working out a scheme and stamping my own +mind upon others who came in contact with me. Perhaps there is no one +person who can trace any sensible influence to anything I ever did or +said. + +'Now I don't of course venture to say that this is otherwise now; but I +think that this is the best training to make it so. I think that I ought +to be gaining strength of purpose, resolution, energy of character, +under these circumstances. And observe, what should I be without some +such change pressing on me? Just imagine me, such a one as I was at +Alfington, alone on an island with twenty-five Melanesian boys, from +half as many different islands, to be trained, clothed, brought into +orderly habits, &c., the report of our proceedings made in some sort +the test of the working of the Mission; and all this to be arranged, +ordered, and worked out by me, who found H. B---- and W. P---- a care +too great for me. + +'Don't you see that I must become very different from what I was--more of +a man; to say nothing of the higher and religious side of this question? +While then there is much that my carnal self-indulgent nature does not +at all like, and while it is always trying to rebel, my better sense and +the true voice within tells me that, independently of this particular +work requiring such a discipline, the discipline itself is good for the +formation of my own character.... Oh! the month of June at Feniton! the +rhododendrons, azaleas, and kalmias, the burst of flowers and trees, the +song of thrush and blackbird (both unknown to New Zealand). The green +meadows and cawing rooks, and church towers and Sunday bells, and the +bright sparkling river and leaping trout: and the hedges with primrose +and violet (I should like to see a hedge again); and I am afraid I must +add the green peas and beans, and various other garden productions, +which would make salt pork more palatable! Yes, I should like to see +it all again; but it is of the earth after all, and I have the +"many-twinkling smile of Ocean," though there is no soft woodland dell +to make it more beautiful by its contrast. Well, I have had a happy hour +scribbling away, and now to work.' + +'I am less distressed now,' he adds, a few days later, in the same +strain, 'at the absence of all that is customary in England on these +occasions (great festivals), though I dare not say how far the loss of +all these privileges produces a bad effect upon my heart and character. +One often loses the spirit when the form is withdrawn, and I still +sorely long for the worship of God in the beauty of holiness, and my +mind reverts to Ottery Church, and college chapels and vast glorious +cathedrals.' + +On the 10th of June the 'Southern Cross' was in Sydney harbour, and +remained there a fortnight, Bishop Barker gladly welcoming the new +arrivals, though in general Bishop Selwyn and his Chaplain announced +themselves as like the man and woman in the weather-glass, only +coming-out by turns, since one or other had to be in charge of the ship; +but later an arrangement was made which set them more at liberty. +And the churches at Sydney were a great delight to Patteson; the +architecture, music, and all the arrangements being like those among +which he had been trained. + +'A Sunday worth a dozen gales of wind!' he exclaims, 'but you can hardly +judge of the effect produced by all the good substantial concomitants +of Divine worship upon one who for fourteen months has scarcely seen +anything but a small wooden church, with almost all the warmth of +devotion resting on himself. I feel roused to the core. ...I felt the +blessing of worshipping the Lord with a full heart in the beauty of +holiness. A very good organ well played, and my joy was great when we +sang the long 78th Psalm to an old chant of itself almost enough to +upset me, the congregation singing in parts with heart and voice.' + +His exhilaration showed itself in a letter to his little cousin, Paulina +Martin:-- + + +"Southern Cross," Sydney Harbour: June 18, 1856. + +'My darling Pena,--Are you so anxious to have a letter from me, and do +you think I am going to forget all about you? However, you have had long +before this two or three letters from me, I hope, and when I write to +grandpapa or grandmamma or mamma, you must always take it as if a good +deal was meant for you, for I have not quite so much time for writing +as you have, I dare say, in spite of music and French and history and +geography and all the rest of it. But I do dearly love to write to you +when I can, and you must be quite certain that I shall always do so as I +have opportunity. + +'Don't you ever talk to me about any of your English watering-places and +sea-port towns! No one knows anything about what an harbour can be +for perfect beauty of earth, air, and sea, for wooded banks and rocky +heights, and fine shipping and handsome buildings, and all the bustle +and stir of a town of 80,000 inhabitants somehow lost and hidden among +gum trees and Norfolk Island pines and parks and gravel walks; and +everywhere the magnificent sea view breaking in upon the eye. Don't be +angry, darling, for I love Dawlish very much, and would sooner go and +sail the "Mary Jane" with you in some dear little basin among the rocks +at low tide, and watch all the little crabs and other creatures with +long Latin names, than walk about Sydney arm-in-arm with the Bishops of +New Zealand and Newcastle, to call on the Governor. But I must say what +I think about the natural scenery of places that I visit, and nowhere, +even in New Zealand--no, not even in Queen Charlotte's Sound, nor in +Banks's Peninsula, have I seen anything so completely beautiful as this +harbour--'"heoi ano" "that's enough." The Governor told us yesterday +that when he was at Hobart Town, he made the convicts cut a path through +one of the deep gullies running down from a mountain 4,500 feet high to +the sea. The path was two miles long, and all the way the tree-ferns, +between twenty and thirty feet high, formed a natural roof arched and +vaulted like the fretted roofs of our Tudor churches and chapels. +There is a botanical garden here with a very good collection of all +the Australian trees and shrubs, and with many New Zealand and many +semi-tropical plants besides. All the English flowers and fruits grow +here as well, so that in the warmer months it must look beautiful. It +is close to the sea, which runs here in little creeks and bays close up +among the public walks and buildings; and as the shore is all rocky and +steep at low water, there is no mud or swamp or seaweed, but only clear +green water quite deep and always calm and tranquil, because the harbour +is so broken up and diversified by innumerable islets, gulfs, &c., that +no wind can raise any sea of consequence in it. + +'Just now it is winter time--slight frost at night, but no appearance +of it after the sun is up; bright hot days, and bracing cold nights, the +very perfection of a climate in winter, but in summer very hot. It is +so funny to me to see regular stone and brick houses, and shops, and +carriages, and cabs, &c., all quite new to me. + +'To-night there is a great missionary meeting. Bishops of Sydney, New +Zealand, and Newcastle present. Bishop of Newcastle and a Mr. King +advocate the cause of the Australian blacks, and the Bishop of New +Zealand and unfortunate I have to speechify about Melanesia. What on +earth to say I don't know, for of course the Bishop will exhaust the +subject before me. + +'However, I must try and not be in a great fright; but I would sooner by +half be going to have a talk with a parcel of Maoris. Now, you must get +Fanny Patteson to tell you all about our voyage from New Zealand, our +adventure at Norfolk Island, &c. + +'We sail on Monday, 23rd, for Norfolk Island again, as it is in our way +to the Solomon group, because we shall get the S.E. trades just about +there, and so run away in style to the Solomon Islands, and perhaps +farther north still, but that is not probable this time. + +'Always, my darling, + +'Your affectionate cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +This meeting was called by the Australian Board of Missions to receive +information or propositions concerning the missions to the Australians +and Melanesians. Bishop Barker of Sydney was in the chair, and the +Bishop of Newcastle, who had made one Melanesian cruise in the 'Border +Maid,' was likewise present. The room was crowded to excess, and from +900 to 1,000 were certainly present, many more failing to get in. +Afterwards Patteson writes to his father:-- + +'The Bishop of New Zealand, in introducing me to the meeting, spoke +before all these people of you and me in a way that almost unnerved +me, and I had to speak next. What he said is not reported, or very +badly--calling me his dear friend, with his voice quivering--I never saw +him more, or so much affected--"I ought to be most thankful to God for +giving me so dear a companion, &c." But he spoke so of you, and people +here seemed to know of you, coming up to me, and asking about you, +after the meeting. The Bishop of Newcastle spoke of you most kindly, and +really with very great feeling. An evening I had dreaded ended happily. +Before I dined with the three Bishops; last night with Chief Justice Sir +Alfred Stephen, and met the trio again, Bishop everywhere speaking of me +as one of his family. "No, my boys are not with me; but we have my dear +friend Mr. Patteson." Of course all this exhibition of feeling never +comes out when we are alone, we know each other too well. And now the +romance of Mission work is over, and the real labour is to begin. There +has been bad work among the islands lately, but you know in whose hands +we are.' + +The collections both at the door and on the following Sunday were very +large, and a strong warm feeling was excited in Sydney which has never +since died away. Mr. Patteson was much beloved there, and always met +with kind welcome and ready assistance from all classes. But there was +one great disappointment. The Bishop of New Zealand, on formally setting +before Sir William Denison, Governor-General of Australia, his plan +for making Norfolk Island the site of a school for training Melanesian +teachers, and eventually the seat of a bishopric, received a refusal, +and was not permitted even to place a chaplain there. Sir William, as +he tells us in his published diary, had heard from some quarter or other +rumours respecting the Melanesian scholars which made him suppose +that their presence might have a bad effect upon the Pitcairners; and +repeated that his instructions were that the islanders should be left as +much as possible to themselves. The request to be permitted to place Mr. +Patteson there was refused on the ground that Norfolk Island belonged to +the see of Tasmania, and not to that of New Zealand. But the Bishop of +Tasmania could hardly visit it without great inconvenience, and he had +therefore placed it under the care of his brother of New Zealand, +full in whose track it lay. The matter was referred to the Colonial +Secretary, and in the meantime Bishop Selwyn adhered to his purpose +of visiting it on leaving Sydney, and though he could not place his +chaplain there, leaving Mrs. Selwyn to assist in the work of training +the new comers to the novelties of a more temperate climate and a more +genial soil than they had known on the torrid rock of Pitcairn's Island. + +Accordingly, on the 4th of July, the 'Southern Cross' again approached +the island, and finding that the Pitcairners had come, and that +their magistrate and Mr. Nobbs, their clergyman, would gladly welcome +assistance, the Bishop brought Mrs. Selwyn on shore, and left her there +to assist Mr. Nobbs in preparing the entire population to be confirmed +on his return. But the Pitcairners have been amply written about, and as +Coleridge Patteson's connection with them was only incidental, I shall +not dwell on them or their history. + +The 'Southern Cross' reached Anaiteum on the 14th of July. This island +was occupied by Mr. Inglis and Mr. Greddie, of the Scottish Presbyterian +Mission, who had done much towards improving the natives. Small canoes +soon began to come off to the vessel, little craft consisting of no more +than the trunk of a tree hollowed out, seldom more than a foot broad, +and perhaps eighteen inches deep, all with outriggers--namely, a slight +wooden frame or raft to balance them, and for the most part containing +two men, or sometimes three or four. Before long, not less than fifteen +or twenty had come on board, with woolly hair and mahogany skins, +generally wearing a small strip of calico, but some without even this. +They were small men, but lithe and supple, and walked about the deck +quite at ease, chattering in a language no one understood except the +words 'Missy Inglis,' as they pointed to a house. Presently another +canoe arrived with a Samoan teacher with whom the Bishop could converse, +and who said that Mr. Geddie was at Mare. They were soon followed by a +whale boat with a Tahitian native teacher, a Futuma man, and a crew of +Anaiteans. + +'The Futuma man had expended his energies upon his hair, which was +elaborately dressed after a fashion that precluded the possibility of +any attention being bestowed upon the rest of his person, which was +accordingly wholly unencumbered with any clothing. The perfection of +this art apparently consisted in gathering up about a dozen hairs +and binding them firmly with grass or fine twine of cocoa-nut fibre +plastered with coral lime. As the hair grows, the binding is lengthened +also, and only about four or five inches are suffered to escape from +this confinement, and are then frizzed and curled, like a mop or a +poodle's coat. Leonard Harper and I returned in this boat, Tahitian +steering, Samoan, Futuman, and Anaiteans making one motley crew. The +brisk trade soon carried us to the beach in front of Mr. Inglis's house, +and arrived at the reef I rode out pick-a-back on the Samoan, Leonard +following on a half-naked Anaitean. We soon found ourselves in the midst +of a number of men, women and children, standing round Mr. Inglis at the +entrance of his garden. I explained to him the reason of the Bishop's +being unable to land, that he alone knew the harbour on the other side +of island, and so could not leave the vessel. + +'Then, having delivered the boxes and letters we had brought for him +from Auckland, we went into his house, gazing with delight at cocoanut +trees, bananas, breadfruit trees, citrons, lemons, taro, &c., with +bright tropical colouring thrown over all, lighting up the broad leaves +and thick foliage of the trees around us. + +'The house itself is built, after the fashion of these islands, of +wattle plastered with coral lime, the roof thatched with the leaves of +the cocoa-nut and pandana; the fences of the garden were made of cane, +prettily worked together in a cross pattern; the path neatly kept, +and everything looking clean and tidy. We sat down in a small, +well-furnished room, and looked out upon the garden, verandah, and +groups of men and women standing outside. Presently Mrs. Inglis came +into the room, and after some discussion I was persuaded to stay all +night, since the schooner could not reach her anchorage before dark, and +the next day the water-casks were to be filled. + +'An excellent dinner was provided: roast fowl with taro, a nutritious +root somewhat like potato, rice and jam, bananas and delicious fruit, +bread and Scotch cheese, with glasses of cocoa-nut milk. + +'Afterwards he showed us the arrangements for boarding young men and +women--twelve of the former, and fourteen of the latter. Nothing could +well exceed the cleanliness and order of their houses, sleeping rooms, +and cooking rooms. The houses, wattled and plastered, had floors covered +with native mats, beds laid upon a raised platform running round the +inner room, mats and blankets for covering, and bamboo cane for a +pillow. The boys were, some writing, some making twine, some summing, +when we went in; the girls just putting on their bonnets, of their own +manufacture, for school. + +'They learn all household work--cooking, hemming, sewing, &c.; the boys +tend the poultry, cows, cultivate taro, make arrowroot, &c. All of them +could read fluently, and all looked happy, clean, and healthy. The girls +wear their native petticoats of cocoa-nut leaves, with a calico body. +Boys wear trousers, and some had shirts, some waistcoats, and a few +jackets. + +'We walked about a small wood adjoining the house, through which a small +fresh-water stream runs. In the wood we saw specimens of the various +trees and shrubs, and flowers of the island, including those already +noticed in Mr. Inglis's garden, and the breadfruit tree and sugar-cane, +and a beautiful bright flower of scarlet colour, a convolvulus, larger +than any I had ever seen elsewhere; also a tree bearing a very beautiful +yellow flower. + +'We then returned to the house, and shortly afterwards went to the +church, which is at present used also as the school-house, though the +uprights of a larger school-house are already fixed in the ground. + +'Men, women, and children to the number of ninety-four had assembled in +a large oblong building, wattled and plastered, with open windows on +all sides; mats arranged on the floor, and a raised platform or bench +running round the building for persons who prefer to sit after the +English, instead of the native fashion, + +'All that were called upon to read did so fluently; the singing was +harsh and nasal enough, but in very good time; their counting very good, +and their writing on slates quite equal to the average performance, I +am satisfied, of a good English parish school. They listened attentively +when Mr. Inglis spoke to them, and when at his request I said a few +words, which he translated. The most perfect order and quiet prevailed +all the time we were in the school. At the end of the lessons they +came forward, and each one shook hands with Leonard Harper and myself, +smiling and laughing with their quick intelligent eyes, and apparently +pleased to see strangers among them. + +'By this time it was dusk, and we went back to the Mission House, and +spent a pleasant evening, asking and answering questions about Anaiteum +and the world beyond it, until 8 P.M., when the boarders came to +prayers, with two or three persons who live about the place. They read +the third chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel in turns, verse by verse, and +then a prayer from Mr. Inglis followed. At 8.30 we had private family +prayers, and at 9 went to bed. + +'July 16.--We got up at four, and were soon ready for our walk to the +south side of the Island; Mr. Inglis came with us, and ten or twelve +natives. For the first half-mile we walked along the beach among +cocoa-nut trees, bananas and sugar-canes, the sun, not yet above the +horizon, tingeing the light clouds with faint pink and purple lines, +the freshness of the early dawn, and the soft breeze playing about us, +gladdening at once our eyes and our hearts. Soon we struck off to the +south, and passing through taro plantations, began to ascend the slopes +of the island. As we walked along we heard the sound of the logs beaten +together, summoning the people to attend the various schools planted in +every locality, under the management of native teachers, and we had a +good opportunity of observing the careful system of irrigation adopted +by the natives for the cultivation of the taro plant. Following the +course of a small mountain stream, we observed the labour with which +the water was brought down from it upon causeways of earth, carried in +baskets from very considerable distances; occasionally the water-course +is led round the head of various small ravines; at other times the trunk +of a tree is hollowed out and converted into an aqueduct; but no pains +have been wanting to make provision for the growth of the staple food of +the island.' + +From this scene of hope and encouragement the 'Southern Cross' sailed on +the sixteenth, and passing Erromango, came in sight of Fate, also called +Sandwich, a wooded island beautiful beyond description, but with a +bad character for cannibalism, and where the Samoan teachers had been +murdered. So the approach was cautious, and the vessel kept a mile from +the shore, and was soon surrounded with canoes, one of them containing a +native who had been instructed in Samoa, and was now acting as teacher. + +'The first canoe that came had five men on board. Girdles of beautifully +plaited cocoa-nut fibre round their waists were their only clothing, but +some had wreaths of flowers and green leaves round their heads, and most +of them wore mother-of-pearl shells, beads, &c., round their necks and +in their ears. They do not tattoo, but brand their skins. All five came, +and presently three more, and then another; but seeing a large double +canoe with perhaps twenty men in her coming close, we stood away. Two of +our visitors chose to stay, and we have them on board now: Alsoff, a man +of perhaps forty-five, and Mospa, a very intelligent young man from whom +I am picking up words as fast as I can. F. would have laughed to have +seen me rigging them out in calico shirts, buttoning them up. Mospa gave +me his wooden comb, which they push through their hair, as you ladies do +coral or gold pins at parties. Another fellow whose head was elaborately +frizzled and plastered with coral lime, departed with one of my common +calico pocket-handkerchiefs with my name in Joan's marking. This is to +adorn his head, and for aught I know, is the first, and certainly the +best specimen of handwriting in the island. We hope to call at all these +islands on our way back from the north, but at present we only dodge a +few canoes, &c. + +'July 20.--I suppose you like to know all little things, so I tell you +that our Fate friends, being presented each with a blanket, just wound +themselves up on the cabin floor, one close to Leonard and me, and slept +away in style; that I soon taught them to eat with a knife and fork, and +to-day have almost succeeded in making them believe that plum pudding +(our Sunday dish) is a fine thing. + +'July 21.--All day we have been very slowly drifting along the west +side of Espiritu Santo. A grand mountainous chain runs along the whole +island, the peaks we estimate at 4,000 feet high. This alone is a fine +sight--luxuriant vegetation to nearly the top of the peaks, clouds +resting upon the summit of the range, from the evaporation caused by the +vast amount of vegetable matter. + +'As we were lying to, about half-way along the coast, we espied a brig +at anchor close on shore. Manned the boat and rowed about two miles to +the brig, found it was under the command of a notorious man among the +sandal-wood traders for many a dark deed of revenge and unscrupulous +retaliation upon the natives. At Nengone he shot three in cold blood who +swam off to his ship, because the people of the place were said to be +about to attempt to take his vessel. At Mallicolo but lately I fear he +killed not less than eight, though here there was some scuffling and +provocation. For the Nengone affair he was tried for his life at Sydney, +Captain Erskine and the Bishop having much to do with his prosecution. +He is now dealing fairly (apparently) with these people, and is +certainly on very friendly terms with them. The Bishop has known him +many years, and baptized some years ago his only child, a son. We are +glad to let these men see that we are about in these seas, watching +what they do; and the Bishop said, "Mr. Patteson is come from England on +purpose to look after these islands," as much as to say, Now there will +be a regular visitation of them, and outrages committed on the natives +will probably be discovered. + +'Well, on we rowed, half a mile to shore--such a lovely scene. A bend +in the coral reef made a beautiful boat harbour, and into it we rowed. +Clear as crystal was the water, bright as tropical sun at 2.30 P.M. +could make it was the foliage on the shore. Numbers of children and boys +were playing in the water or running about on the rocks and sands, and +there were several men about, all of course naked, and as they lead +an amphibious life they find it very convenient. They work little; +breadfruit trees, cocoa-nut trees, and bananas grow naturally, and the +yam and taro cultivations are weeded and tended by the women. They have +nothing to do but eat, drink, and sleep, and lie on the warm coral rock, +and bathe in the surf. + +'There was no shyness on the part of the children, dear little fellows +from six to ten clustering round me, unable to understand my coat with +pockets, and what my socks could be--I seemed to have two or three +skins. The men came up and soon shook hands, but did not seem to know +the custom. A Nengone man was ashore, and with him I could talk a +little. Soon I was walking on shore arm-in-arm with him, stark naked, +and he was asking me about Mrs. Nihill and her child. A little boy of +the island held the other hand, and so, leaving the boat, we walked +inland into the bush to see a native village. Ten minutes' walk brought +us to it--cottages all of bamboos tied together with cocoa-nut fibre, +thatched with leaves, a ridge-pole and sloping roof on either side +reaching to the ground. No upright poles or side-walls; they were quite +open at the two ends, perhaps 20, 30, or even 40 feet long; the general +appearance clean and healthy. Their food was kept on raised stages as in +New Zealand, and they had plenty of earthenware pots and basins, some of +good shape, and all apparently strong and serviceable. Large wooden or +earthenware platters are used for stirring up and pounding the yams with +a heavy wooden pestle, and they have a peculiar way of scraping the yam, +on a wooden board roughened like a grater, into a pulp, and then boiling +it into a fine dough. + +'They have plenty of pigs and dogs, which they eat, and some fowls. +Spears I saw none, but bows and arrows. I took a bow out of a man's +hand, and then an arrow, and fitted it to the string; he made signs that +he shot birds with it. Clubs they have, but as far as I saw only used +for killing pigs. There is a good deal of fighting on the island, +however. Recollect with reference to all these places, that an island +fifty or sixty miles long, one mass of forest with no path, is not like +an English county. It may take months to get an accurate knowledge of +one of them; we can only at present judge of the particular spots and +bays we touch at. But there is every indication here of friendliness, +of a gentle, soft disposition, and I hope we shall take away some of the +boys when we return. I never saw children more thoroughly attractive in +appearance and manner,--dear little fellows, I longed to bring off +some of them. You would have liked to have seen them playing with me, +laughing and jumping about. These people don't look half so well when +they have any clothes on, they look shabby and gentish; but seeing them +on shore, or just coming out of a canoe, all glistening with water, +and looking so lithe and free, they look very pleasant to the eye. The +colour supplies the place of clothing. The chief and most of the men +were unfortunately absent at a great feast held a few miles off, but +there were several women and many children. + +'We went to their watering place, about a quarter or half a mile from +the beach, a picturesque spot in a part of the wood to which the water +from the hills is carried in canes of bamboo, supported on cross sticks. +The water was very clear and sweet, and one of our little guides soon +had a good shower-bath, standing under the shoot and then walking in the +sun till in a few minutes his glistening skin was dry again. Coming back +we met a man carrying water in cocoa-nut shells, six or eight hanging by +strings two feet long at each end of a bamboo cane slung across over +his shoulder, nicely balanced and very pretty. One of our party carried +perhaps two and a half gallons of water in a bamboo stuffed at the end +with grass. About five P.M. we went back to the schooner and made sail +for Bauro (San Cristoval).' + +At this place there was a great disappointment at first in the +non-appearance of William Diddimang, an old baptized scholar at St. +John's; and though he came at last, and dined on board, he had evidently +so far fallen away as to be unwilling to meet the Bishop. The canoes +here were remarkably beautiful, built of several pieces, fastened with +a kind of gum. The shape was light and elegant, the thwarts elaborately +carved with figures of birds or fish, and the high prow inlaid with +mother-of-pearl let into black wood. + +As a Sunday at sea was preferable to one among curious visitors who must +be entertained, the schooner put out to sea to visit one to two other +neighbouring islets, and then to return again to Bauro. + +Kennell Island, where she touched on the 27th, proved to be inhabited by +Maoris. One man, who swam alone to the vessel, offered the salutation of +rubbing noses, New Zealand fashion, and converse could be held in that +language. Two more joined him, and spent the night on board in singing +a kaka or song of love for their visitors. Next day the island was +visited. 'Oh the beauty of the deep clefts in the coral reef, lined with +coral, purple, blue, scarlet, green, and white! the little blue fishes, +the bright blue starfish, the little land-crabs walking away with other +people's shells. But nothing of this can be seen by you; the coral loses +its colour, and who can show you the bright line of surf breaking the +clear blue of this truly Pacific Ocean, and the tropical sun piercing +through masses of foliage which nothing less dazzling could penetrate. +Our three friends, with two more men, their wives and children, form the +whole population of the south end of the island at all events, perhaps +twenty in all. I trod upon and broke flowering-branches of coral that +you would have wondered at.' + +Bellona likewise had a Maori-speaking population. There was no passage +through the reef, so the Bishop and Patteson took off their coats, one +took two hatchets and the other two adzes, and with a good header, swam +ashore. Walking up the beach, they found a place in the bush with nine +beautiful canoes, with nets, and large wooden hooks in them, but at +first no people; and they were leaving their presents in the canoes when +Patteson spied two men, and advanced to them while the Bishop went back +to fetch the goods. After a rubbing of noses and a Maori greeting, the +men were reassured, and eleven more came up, one a chief with a spear +in his hand. 'I had my straw hat fastened by a ribbon, which my friend +coveted, so I let him take it, which he did by putting his adze (my +gift) against it, close to my ear, and cutting it, off--not the least +occasion to be afraid of them.' A characteristic comment, certainly! +But there was no foolhardiness. The Bishop was on the alert, and when +presently he saw his companion linger for a moment, a quick 'Come +along,' was a reminder that 'this was not the beach at Sidmouth.' The +peculiar quickness of eye--verily circumspect, though without the least +betrayal of alarm or want of confidence, which was learnt from the +need of being always as it were on guard, was soon learnt likewise by +Patteson, while the air of suspicion or fear was most carefully avoided. +The swim back to the boat was in water 'too warm, but refreshing,' and +ended with a dive under the boat for the pure pleasure of the thing. + +Then, as before arranged, Bauro was revisited on another part of the +coast, where Iri was ready with a welcome, but Diddimang appeared no +more. He had returned to native habits, and had made no attempt at +teaching, but the visits he had made to New Zealand were not lost, for +the Bishop had acquired a knowledge of the language, and it was moreover +established in the Bauro mind that a voyage in his ship was safe and +desirable. 'This part of Bauro was exceedingly beautiful:-- + +'Here were coral crags, the masses of forest trees, the creepers +literally hundreds of feet long, crawling along and hanging from the +cliffs, the cocoa-nut trees and bananas, palms, &c., the dark figures +on the edge of the rocks looking down upon us from among the trees, the +people assembling on the bright beach--coral dust as it may be called, +for it was worn as fine as white sand--cottages among the trees, and a +pond of fresh water close by, winding away among the cliffs.' + +Here a visit was paid to Iri's boathouse, which contained three +exquisite canoes, beautifully inlaid; then to his house, long, low, and +open at the ends, like those formerly described, but with low wattled +side walls. Along the ridge-pole were ranged twenty-seven skulls, not +yet blackened with smoke, and bones were scattered outside, for a fight +had recently taken place near at hand. 'In this Golgotha,' the Bishop, +using his little book of Bauro words, talked to the people, and plainly +told them that the Great God hated wars and cruelty, and such ornaments +were horrible in his sight. Iri took it all in good part, and five boys +willingly accepted the invitation to New Zealand. One little fellow +about eight years old had attached himself to Coley, clinging about his +waist with his arms, but he was too young to be taken away. Iri came +down to the beach, and waded up to his waist in the water as the boat +put off. + +In the night Gera, or Guadalcanar, was reached, a fine mountainous +island, with a detached reef. Numerous canoes surrounded the vessel, +bringing yarns for barter. Fish-hooks were of no account; it was small +hatchets that were in request, and the Bauro boys could hold some sort +of converse with the people, though theirs was quite another dialect. +They were gaily decked out with armlets, frontlets, bracelets, and +girdles of shell, and almost all of them wore, not only nose-rings, +but plugs of wood or mother-of-pearl in the tip of the nose. One man +in particular had a shell eyelet-hole let into his nose, into which he +inserted his unicorn decoration. The Bishop amused himself and Coley by +saying, as he hung a fishhook on this man's nose-hook, 'Naso suspendis +adunco.' Others had six or eight pieces of wood sticking out from either +side of the nose, like a cat's whiskers. Two young men were taken from +hence, and more would have gone, but it was not thought well to take +married men. + +The isle of Mara or Malanta had a very shy population, who seemed to +live inland, having probably been molested by the warlike Gera men. It +had been supposed that there was a second islet here, but the 'Southern +Cross' boat's crew found that what had been taken for a strait was only +the mouth of a large river, where the casks were filled. + +The wondrous beauty of the scene, sea and river alike fringed with the +richest foliage, birds flying about (I saw a large blue bird, a parrot, +I suppose), fish jumping, the perfectly still water, the mysterious +smoke of a fire or two, the call of a man heard in the bush, just enough +of novelty to quicken me to the full enjoyment of such a lovely bay as +no English eyes save ours have ever seen.' + +No communication with the native inhabitants was here accomplished, but +at four little flat, cocoanut-covered islets, named after Torres, were +the head-quarters of an English dealer in cocoa-nut oil. The native race +were Maori-speaking, but their intercourse with sailors had given them a +knowledge of the worst part of the English language, and as usual it was +mournfully plain how much harm our countrymen instil. + +The next group, sighted on the 17th of August, had already a remarkable +history, to which Patteson refers in his journal, with no foreboding of +the association those reefs and bays were to acquire for him, and far +more through him. + +Alvaro de Mendana had, in 1567, gone forth from Peru on a voyage of +discovery in the Pacific, and had then found, and named, most of the +Solomon Isles. Grera and Bauro owed their names of Guadalcanar and San +Cristoval to him. In 1594, he obtained permission to found a colony on +San Cristoval, and set forth with his wife and four ships. But the Bauro +people were spared that grievous misfortune of a Spanish settlement; +Mendana missed his way, blundered into the Marquesas first, and then +came upon a cluster of islands, one large and beautiful, two small, and +one a volcano in full action. + +He called the large island Santa Cruz, and fancied the natives of the +same race he had seen in Bauro, but they knew nothing of the language +he had learnt there, and though courteous at first, presently discharged +their arrows. However, he found a beautiful harbour on the other side of +the island, and a friendly and dignified old chief called Malope, who in +South Sea fashion exchanged names and presents with him. Mendana and +his wife Dona Ysabel seem to have wished to be on good terms with the +natives, and taught them to sign the cross, and say amigos, and they +proceeded to found their intended city, but neither Mendana nor Malope +could restrain their followers; there were musket-shots on one side and +arrow-shots on the other, and at last, the chief Malope himself fell +into the hands of some Spanish soldiers, who murdered him. Mendana +punished them with death; but his own health was fast failing, he died +in a few weeks, and his widow deserted the intended city, and returned +home with the colonists, having probably bequeathed to the island a +distrust of white men. + +All this was in Patteson's mind, as he shows by his journal, as the +lovely scenery of Santa Cruz rose on him. The people came out in canoes +with quantities of yams and taro, of which they knew the full value; but +the numbers were so large that no 'quiet work' could be done, and there +was little to be done but to admire their costume, armlets, necklaces, +plates of mother-of-pearl, but no nose ornaments. They had strips of a +kind of cloth, woven of reed, and elaborate varieties of head-gear, some +plastering their hair white with coral lime, others yellow, others red; +others had shaved half the head with no better implement than a sharp +shell, and others had produced two lines of bristles, like hogs' manes, +on a shaven crown. Their decorations made a great sensation among the +Solomon Islanders, who made offers of exchange of necklaces, &c. + +In the evening the schooner made for the volcano, about three miles off. +It was a magnificent sight--a perfect cone, the base of the mountain and +all except the actual cone being under water. The cone was apparently +about 2,000 feet high, clouds hanging about it near the top, lurid and +fiery, increasing the grandeur of the glow at the summit. Every minute +streams of fire, falling from the top or sides, rushed down the mount, +so that for a space of perhaps half a mile in breadth the whole cone was +always streaked, and sometimes covered with burning-masses of stones, +cinders, &c. Bumbling noises were heard only a few times. + +'About 7 to 9 A.M. we sailed quite round the island, and saw there that +the fiery appearance at night is not actually fire or flame, but caused +by hot burning stones and masses of scoria, &c., constantly falling down +the sides of the cone, which on the lee side are almost perpendicular. +On the weather side are cocoa-nut trees, and one small house, but we +could see no people. It was grand to see the great stones leaping and +bounding down the sides of the cone, clearing 300 or 400 feet at a jump, +and springing up many yards into the air, finally plunging into the sea +with a roar, and the splash of the foam and steam combined. + +This was on the 12th of August, and here is the ensuing note, how +full now of significance, which it would be faithless to term +melancholy:--'We then went on to Nukapu, an island completely encircled +by a coral reef. The natives soon came off in canoes, and brought +breadfruit and cocoa-nuts. They spoke a few words of Maori, but wore +their hair like the people of Santa Cruz, and resembled them in the +character of their ornaments and in their general appearance. They had +bows and clubs of the same kind, tapa stained with turmeric, armlets, +ear-rings and nose-rings of bone and tortoiseshell.' + +Returning to Santa Cruz, a large supply of the produce was obtained +by barter, but the people were still in such noisy crowds that nothing +could be effected beyond these commercial transactions. + +Tubua was the next ensuing island, a lovely spot within its encircling +ring, over which the Bishop and Patteson waded, and found thirteen men +on the beach. Patteson went up to the first, tied a bit of red tape +round his head, and made signs that he wanted a cocoa-nut in exchange +for a fish-hook. Plenty were forthcoming; but the Bishop, to his +companion's surprise, made a sudden sign to come away, and when the boat +was regained he said: 'I saw some young men running through the bush +with bows and arrows, and these young gentry have not the sense to +behave well like their parents.' + +Vanikoro was the next stage. This too had its history, encircled as +it is with a complete reef of coral, in some parts double. In the year +1785, two French vessels, which were commanded by Count La Perouse, and +named 'La Boussole' and 'L'Astrolabe,' had set forth from Brest on a +voyage of discovery in the Pacific. They made a most discursive survey +of that ocean, from Kamtschatka southwards, and at the end of 1787 were +at the Samoan Isles, then unconverted, and where their two boats' crews +were massacred, and the boats lost. The ships came to Port Jackson, +in Australia, to build fresh boats, left it in February 1788, and were +never heard of more. One or two attempts were made to ascertain their +fate, but none succeeded till, in 1826, a sandal-wood trader named +Dillon found in the possession of a European, who had lived since 1813 +in Ticopia, the silver guard of a sword, and ascertained from him that +the natives had several articles, such as china, glass, and the handle +of a silver fork, which evidently came from a ship. He had been told +that these articles had been procured from another isle called Vanikoro, +where two large ships had been wrecked. + +His intelligence led to the fitting out of a vessel, in which he was +sent to ascertain the fate of the Frenchmen, and by the help of the +man who had been so long in Ticopia, he was able to examine a Vanikoran +chief. It appeared that the two ships had run aground on the parallel +reefs. One had sunk at once, and the crew while swimming out had been +some of them eaten by the sharks, and others killed by the natives; +indeed, there were sixty European skulls in a temple. The other vessel +had drifted over the reef, and the crew entrenched themselves on shore, +while building another vessel. They went out and foraged for themselves +in the taro fields, but they made no friends; they were ship-spirits, +with noses two hands long before their faces (their cocked hats). +Articles were recovered that placed the fact beyond a doubt, and which +were recognised by one of the expedition who had left it in Kamtschatka, +the sole survivor. Of the fate of the two-masted vessel built by the +shipwrecked crew, nothing was ever discovered. + +The Mission party landed here, but saw nobody. They sent a black boy up +a tree for cocoa-nuts, and left a tomahawk beneath it as payment. +That there were inhabitants somewhere there was horrible proof, for a +frightful odour led to search being made, and the New Zealander Hoari +turning up the ground, found human bones with flesh hanging to them. A +little farther off was a native oven, namely, a pit lined with stones. + +This was Patteson's nearest contact with cannibalism, and it left a deep +impression of horror. + +The Banks group of islands came next--Great Banks Isle, or in the native +language Vanua Lava, Valua or Saddle Isle, a long narrow ridge of hills, +Mota or Sugarloaf Island, an equally descriptive name; Star Island, +and Santa Maria. These places were to become of great importance to the +Mission, but little was seen of them at this time--the walls of coral +round them were remarkably steep and difficult of access. + +Valua had no beach and no canoes, and such swarms of natives clustering +upon the cliffs that the Bishop did not think it prudent to land. In +Mota, though the coast for the most part rises up in sheer crags, forty +or fifty feet above the sea, with a great volcanic cone in the centre, +a little cove was found with a good beach, where a number of inhabitants +had assembled. They were entirely without clothing or ornament, neither +tattooed nor disfigured by betel-nut, and their bright honest faces +greatly attracted Patteson, though not a word of their language could +be then understood. He wanted to swim ashore among them, but the Bishop +would not allow it, lest it should be difficult to escape from the +embraces of so many without giving offence. Great numbers swam out to +the boat, and canoes brought fruits of all kinds, and bamboos decked +with leaves and flowers. 'I crammed native combs in my hair,' says +Patteson, 'picked up what words I could, and made up the rest by a grand +display of gesticulation.' + +At Santa Maria, the next day, there was the like scene around the boat, +only the sight of a bit of striped calico caused immense excitement. At +other islands it had been unheeded, but here the people were mad to +get it, and offered their largest yams for strips of it, and a pair of +scarlet braces were purchased for two beautiful bows. + +At Vanua Lava, or Great Banks Island, on the 20th, a large canoe with +seven men came alongside, three-quarters of a mile from shore. They +would not, however, venture on board till Patteson had gone into the +water, and placed himself in their canoe, after which they were induced +to come on deck, were 'decorated with the order of the tape,' and +received axes. No weapon was seen among them, and there was reason to +think them the tractable and hopeful race they have since proved. + +Bligh Island, the next visited, plainly revealed itself as the cone +of an enormous submerged volcano, the water forming a beautiful and +extensive bay where numbers of people could be seen. There was a landing +and a little trading for yams, and then, after the like intercourse +with some of the inhabitants of the cluster of small islets named after +Torres, the vessel steered for Espiritu Santo, but wind and time forbade +a return to the part previously visited, nor was there time to do more +than touch at Aurora, and exchange some fish-hooks for some bows. + +At Malicolo, in 1851, the Bishop and his party, while fetching water, +had been assailed with stones and arrows, and had only escaped by +showing the utmost coolness. There was, therefore, much caution shown in +approaching this bay, called Port Sandwich, and the boat stopped outside +its breakwater coral reef, where numerous canoes flocked round, the +people with their bows and arrows, not attempting to barter. Their +faces were painted some red, some black, or yellow. An old chief named +Melanbico was recognised by the Bishop, and called by name into the +boat. Another old acquaintance named Nipati joined him, and it was +considered safe to row into the harbour. The Bishop had learnt a little +of the language, and talked to these two, while Patteson examined +Nipati's accoutrements--a club, a bow, arrows neatly made, handsomely +feathered, and tipped with a deadly poison, tortoiseshell ear-rings, and +a very handsome shell armlet covering the arm from the elbow eight or +nine inches upward, his face painted red and black. The Bishop read out +the list of names he had made on the former visit, and to several the +answer was 'dead, or 'shot,' and it appeared that a great mortality had +taken place. Large numbers, however, were on the beach, and the Bishop +and Patteson landed among them, and conversed with them; but they +showed no disposition to trade, and though some of the lads seemed +half-disposed to come away with the party, they all changed their minds, +and went back again. However, all had behaved well, and one little +boy, when offered a fish-hook, at once showed that he had received one +already. It was plain that a beginning had been made, which might lead +to further results. + +Two whales were seen while rowing back to the ship. One--about a third +of a mile off--leapt several times fairly out of the water, and fell +back on the sea 'with a regular crack,' dashing up the spray in clouds. +There was now very little time to spare, as the time of an ordination at +Auckland was fixed, and two important visits had yet to be paid, so the +two Fate guests were sent ashore in the canoes of some of their friends, +and the 'Southern Cross' reached Nengone on the 1st of September. The +Bishop had left a boat there some years before, and the Samoan teacher, +Mark, who had been Mrs. Nihill's best friend and comforter, came out +in it with a joyful party full of welcome. The Bishop and Patteson went +ashore, taking with them their two Bauro scholars, to whom the most +wonderful sight was a cow, they never having seen any quadruped bigger +than a pig. All the native teachers and their wives were assembled, and +many of the people, in front of the house where Mr. Nihill had died. +They talked of him with touching affection, as they told how diligently +he had striven to bring young and old to a knowledge of his God; and +they eagerly assisted in planting at his grave a cross, which the Bishop +had brought from Auckland for the purpose, and which bore the words: 'I +am the Resurrection and the Life.' + +The coral lime church and the houses of the teachers among the cocoa-nut +trees gave the place a civilised look, and most of the people had some +attempt at clothing. Here several passengers were taken in. The +two girls, Caroline Wabisane and Sarah Wasitutru, were both +married--Caroline to a Maori named Simeona, and Sarah to a man from her +own isle called Nawiki. All these and two more men wished to go to St. +John's for further instruction, and were taken on board, making up a +party of fourteen Melanesians, besides Sarah's baby. 'Mrs. Nihill will +be glad to have the women,' writes Coley, 'and I am glad to have the +others--not the baby, of course.' + +Close quarters indeed, but not for very long, for on the 3rd of +September the schooner again put into Norfolk Island, and on the next +Sunday Coley was present at the confirmation of the whole population, +excepting the younger children, and at the subsequent Communion. Strong +hopes were then entertained that the Pitcairners, standing as it were +between the English and the islanders, would greatly assist in the +work of the Gospel, but this plan was found only capable of being very +partially carried out. + +Off Norfolk Island, he wrote to his brother an account of the way of +life on the voyage, and of the people:-- + +'They are generally gentle, and seem to cling to one, not with the +very independent goodwill of New Zealanders, but with the soft yielding +character of the child of the tropics. They are fond, that is the word +for them. I have had boys and men in a few minutes after landing, follow +me like a dog, holding their hands in mine as a little child does with +its nurse. + +'My manner of life on board is as I described it before. I eschewed +shoes and socks, rather liking to be paddling about all day, when not +going on shore, or otherwise employed, which of course made up eight or +ten out of the thirteen hours of daylight. When I went ashore (which I +did whenever the boat went), then I put on my shoes, and always swam +in them, for the coral would cut my feet to pieces. Usual swimming and +wading attire--flannel shirt, dark grey trousers, cap or straw hat, +shoes, basket round my neck with fish-hooks, or perhaps an adze or two +in my hand. I enjoyed the tropical climate very much--really warm always +in the water or out of it. On the reefs, when I waded in shallow water, +the heat of it was literally unpleasant, more than a tepid bath.' + +On the 13th of September, the little missionary vessel came safe into +harbour at Auckland, and Coley and his boys--they were considered +especially as his--took up their quarters at St. John's College. All +through the voyage he had written the journals here followed for the +general benefit of his kindred, and at other leisure moments he had +written more personal letters. On his sister Fanny's birthday, when +the visit to Malicolo was just over, after his birthday wishes, he goes +on:-- + +'And now, how will you be when this reaches Feniton? I think of all your +daily occupations,--school, garden, driving, &c.--your Sunday reading, +visiting the cottages, &c., and the very thought of it makes me feel +like old times. When occasionally I dream, or fall into a kind of trance +when awake, and fancy myself walking up from the lodge to the house, and +old forms and faces rise up before me, I can scarcely contain the burst +of joy and happiness, and then I give a shake and say, "Well, it would +be very nice, but look about the horizon, and see how many islands +you can count!" and then, instead of thoughts of home for myself, I am +tempted to induce others to leave their homes, though I don't really +think many men have such a home to leave, or remain so long as I did, +one of the home fire-side. + +'I have been reading one or two of the German books you sent out. +"Friedrich der Grosse" is interesting, but henceforth I don't think I +shall have time for aught but a good German novel or two for wet days +and jumping seas; or such a theological book as I may send for.' + +The effect of the voyage seems to have shown itself in an inflamed leg, +which was painful, but not disabled for some time. There was a welcome +budget of letters awaiting him,--one from his uncle Dr. Coleridge, to +which this is the reply:-- + + +'September 15, 1856: St. John's College. + +'Your letter of March 26 was awaiting my arrival here. How thankful I +am that (as Fan says) in little as in great things God is so good to us. +Letters from me arriving on the anniversary of my departure! and all at +Thorverton! + +'You are clearly right in what you say about my post in the S. X. I did +not like it at first, just as a schoolboy does not like going back to +school; but that it was good for me I have no doubt; and now see! here I +am on shore for seven or eight months, if I live so long--my occupations +most interesting, working away with twelve Melanesians at languages, +etc., with the highest of all incentives to perseverance, trying to form +in them habits of cleanliness, order, decency, etc. + +'Last night (Sunday--their first Sunday in New Zealand), after +explaining to the Solomon Islands boys, seven in number, the nature of +the Lord's Prayer as far as my knowledge of their language would carry +me, I thought myself justified in making them kneel down round me, and +they uttered with their lips after me (i.e. the five most intelligent) +the first words of prayer to their Father in Heaven. I don't venture to +say that they understood much--neither does the young child taught at +his or her mother's knees--neither do many grown persons perhaps know +much about the fulness of the Prayer of Prayers--(these scenes teach +me my ignorance, which is one great gain)--yet they knew, I think, that +they were praying to some great and mighty one--not an abstraction--a +conscious loving Being, a Father, and they know at least the name of His +Son, Jesus Christ. + +'Their first formula was: "God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy +Ghost, only One God." I can't yet explain that our Blessed Lord came +from heaven and died for our sins; neither (as far as human thought +may reach) does the power of God's Spirit as yet work in their hearts +consciousness of sin, and with that the sense of the need of a Redeemer +and Saviour. I asked in my sermon yesterday the prayers of the people +for the grace of God's Holy Spirit to touch the hearts and enlighten the +understandings of these heathen children of a common Father, and I added +that greatly did their teachers need their prayers that God would make +them apt to teach, and wise and simple in endeavouring to bring before +their minds the things that belong unto their peace. You too, dear +Uncle, will think I know of these things, for my trust is great. In this +cold climate, 26 deg. or 27 deg. of latitude south of their own island, I have +much anxiety about their bodily health, and more about their souls. + +'The four youngest, sixteen to eighteen, sleep in my room. One is now on +my bed, wrapped up in a great opossum rug, with cold and slight fever; +last night his pulse was high, to-day he is better. I have to watch over +them like a cat. Think of living till now in a constant temperature +of 84 deg., and being suddenly brought to 56 deg.. New Zealand is too cold for +them, and the College is a cold place, wind howling round it now. + +'Norfolk Island is the place, and the Pitcairners themselves are most +co-operative and hearty; I trust that in another year I may be there. + +'Thank you for all your kind wishes on my birthday. I ought to wish to +live many years, perhaps, to try and be of use; especially as I am so +unfit to go now, or rather I ought not to wish at all. Sometimes I feel +almost fainthearted, which is cowardly and forgetful of our calling "to +fight manfully under Christ's banner." Ah! my Bishop is indeed a warrior +of the Cross. I can't bear the things Sophy said in one of her letters +about my having given up. + +It seems mock humility to write it; but, dear Uncle, if I am conscious +of a life so utterly unlike what all you dear ones fancy it to be, what +must it be in the sight of God and His holy angels? What advantages I +have always had, and have now! and not a day goes by and I can say I +have done my duty. Good-bye, dear dear Uncle. + +'Always your affectionate and grateful nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON. + +'Love to dear Aunt.' + + +Almost the first experience after settling in at St. John's College was +a sharp attack of fever that fell on Kerearua, one of the Bauro lads. +Such illnesses, it seemed, were frequent at home and generally fatal. +His companion Hirika remarked, 'Kerearua like this in Bauro ah! in a few +days he would die; by-and-by we go back to Bauro.' The sick boys were +always lodged in Coley's own room to be more quiet and thoroughly +nursed. Fastidiousness had been so entirely crushed that he really +seemed to take pleasure in the arrangement, speaking with enthusiasm of +the patient's obedience and gratitude, and adding, 'He looks quite nice +in one of my night-shirts with my plaid counterpane, and the plaid Joan +gave me over it, a blanket next to him.' + +The Melanesians readily fell into the regular habits of short school, +work out of doors, meals in hall and bed-time, and they were allowed a +good deal of the free use of their limbs, needful to keep them happy +and healthy. Now and then they would be taken into Auckland, as a great +treat, to see the soldiers on parade, and of course the mere living +with civilization was an immense education to them, besides the direct +instruction they received. + +The languages of Nengone and Bauro were becoming sufficiently familiar +to Mr. Patteson to enable him to understand much of what they said to +him. He writes to Miss Neill (October 17):-- + + +'I talk with them about common things, and learn a great deal of their +wild savage customs and habits, but I can do but little as yet in the +way of real instruction. Some ideas, I trust, they are beginning to +acquire concerning our Blessed Lord. Is it not a significant fact that +the god worshiped in Gfera, and in one village of Bauro, is the Serpent, +the very type of evil? I need not say that these dear boys have won +their way to my heart, they are most docile and affectionate. I think +some will really, if they live, leave their own island and live with me +at Norfolk Island, or here, or wherever my dwelling may be whenever I am +not in the "Southern Cross." + +'But of course I must not dwell on such notions. If it come to pass that +for some years I can retain a hold upon them, they may be instructed +sufficiently to make them teachers in their turn to their own people. +But all this is in the hands of God. My home journal will tell you +particulars of our voyage. Don't believe in the ferocity, &c., of the +islanders. When their passions are excited, they do commit fearful +deeds, and they are almost universally cannibals, i.e. after a battle +there will be always a cannibal feast, not otherwise. But treat them +well and prudently, and I apprehend that there is little danger in +visiting them, meaning by visiting merely landing on the beach the first +time, going perhaps to a native village the next time, sleeping on shore +the third, spending ten days the fourth, &c., &c. The language once +learnt from the pupils we bring away, all is clear. And now good-bye, my +dear Miss Neill. That I think of you and pray for you, you know, and I +need not add that I value most highly your prayers for me. When I think +of my happiness and good spirits, I must attribute much, very much, to +God's goodness in accepting the prayers of my friends.' + +After the old custom of telling the home party all his doings, the +journal-letter of the 27th of November goes through the teaching to the +Bauro boys:-- + +'I really think they comprehend thus much, that God, who made all +things, made man, Adam and Eve, very good and holy; that Adam and Eve +sinned, that they did not listen to the word of God, but to the Bad +Spirit; that God found them out, though they were afraid and tried to +hide (for He sees and knows all things); that He drove them out of the +beautiful garden, and said that they must die; that they had two sons, +Cain and Abel; that Cain killed his brother, and that all fighting +and killing people, and all other sins (I mention all for which I have +names) came into the world because of sin; that God and man were far +apart, not living near, no peace between them because men were so +evil. That God was so good that He loved men all the time, and that He +promised to save all men who would believe in His Son Jesus Christ, who +was to die for them (for I can't yet express, "was to die that men might +not go down to the fire, but live for ever with God "); that by and by +He sent a flood and drowned all men except Noah and seven other people, +because men would not be good; that afterwards there was a very good +man, named Abraham, who believed all about Jesus Christ, and God chose +him, and his son Isaac, and his son Jacob, and his twelve sons, to be +the fathers of a people called Jews; that those people alone knew about +God, and had teachers and praying men: and that they killed lambs and +offered them (gave them to God as a sign of Jesus Christ being one day +slain and offered to God on a cross) but these very men became wicked +too, and at last, when no man knew how to be happy and good, Jesus +Christ came down from heaven. His mother was Mary, but He had no father +on earth, only God the Father in heaven was His Father: the Holy Ghost +made Mary to be mother of Jesus Christ. + +'Then I take two books, or anything else, and say, This one is God, and +this is man. They are far apart, because man is so bad and God is so +good. But Jesus Christ came in the middle between them, and joins them +together. He is God and He is Man too; so in(side) Him, God and Man +meet, like the meeting of two men in one path; and He says Himself He is +the true Way, the only true Path to God and heaven. God was angry with +us because we sinned; but Jesus Christ died on the cross, and then God +the Father forgave us because Jesus Christ gave His life that we might +always live, and not die. By and by He will come to judge us; and He +knows what we do, whether we steal and lie, or whether we pray and teach +what is good. Men of Bauro and Gera and Santa Cruz don't know that yet, +but you do, and you must remember, if you go on doing as they do after +you know God's will, you will be sent down to the fire, and not see +Jesus Christ, who died that you might live. + +'I think that they know all this, and much in the exactly equivalent +words. Of course I find difficulty in rendering religious ideas in a +language which contains scarcely any words adequate to express them, but +I am hopeful enough to believe that they do know so much at all events. +How far their hearts are affected, One alone knows. It is indeed but +little after they have been with us four months; but till I had them on +shore, I could get very little work done. The constant boat work took me +away, and anywhere in sight of islands, of course they were on deck in +eagerness to see the strange country. Then I could not work with energy +while my leg would not let me take exercise. But it is now beginning +to be a real pleasure as well as duty to teach both Nengone and Bauro +people. Enough of the language to avoid most of the drudgery has been +got over, I hope, though not near enough for purposes of 'exact and +accurate translation.' + +I have given at length this account of Patteson's fundamental teaching, +though to some it may seem to savour of the infant school, because in +spite of being hampered by imperfect knowledge of the language, he has +thrown into it the great principle both of his action and teaching; +namely, the restoration of the union of mankind with God through Christ. +It never embraced that view of the heathen world which regards it as +necessarily under God's displeasure, apart from actual evil, committed +in wilful knowledge that it is evil. He held fast to the fact of man +having been created in the image of God, and held that whatever good +impulses and higher qualities still remained in the heathen, were the +remnants of that Image, and to be hailed accordingly. Above all, he +realised in his whole life the words to St. Peter: 'What God hath +cleansed that call not thou common,' and not undervaluing for a moment +Sacramental Grace, viewed human nature, while yet without the offer +thereof, as still the object of fatherly and redeeming love, and full of +fitful tokens of good coming from the only Giver of life and holiness, +and needing to be brought nearer and strengthened by full union and +light, instead of being left to be quenched in the surrounding flood +of evil. 'And were by nature the children of wrath,' he did not hold +to mean that men were objects of God's anger, lying under His deadly +displeasure; but rather, children of wild impulse, creatures of passion, +swayed resistlessly by their own desires, until made 'children of +grace,' and thus obtaining the spiritual power needful to enable them to +withstand these passions. An extract from the sermon he had preached at +Sydney may perhaps best serve to illustrate his principle:-- + +'And this love once generated in the heart of man, must needs pass on to +his brethren; that principle of life must needs grow and expand with +its own inherent energy; the seed must be developed into the tree, and +strike its roots deep and wide, and stretch out its branches unto +the sea and its boughs unto the rivers. No artificial nor accidental +circumstances can confine it, it recognises no human ideas of +nationality, or place, or time, but embraces like the dome of heaven all +the works of God. And love is the animating principle of all. In every +star of the sky, in the sparkling, glittering waves of the sea, in every +flower of the field, in every creature of God, most of all in every +living soul of man, it adores and blesses the beauty and the love of the +great Creator and Preserver of all. + +'Viewed indeed from that position which was occupied by ancient +philosophers, the existing contrarieties between nations might well +appear inexplicable, and intellectual powers might seem to be the +exclusive heritage of particular nations. But Christianity leads us to +distinguish between the nature of man as he came fresh from the hands of +his Creator, and that natural propensity to sin which he has inherited +in consequence of his fall from original innocence. It teaches that as +God has "made of one blood all nations to dwell together on the face +of the whole earth," and has given in virtue of this common origin one +common nature destined to be pure and holy and divine, so, by virtue of +Redemption and Regeneration, the image of God may be restored in all, +and whatever is the result of his depravity therefore may be overcome. +And this seems to be the answer to all statements relating to the want +of capacity in certain nations of the earth for the reception of Divine +Truth, that every man, because he is a man, because he is a partaker of +that very nature which has been taken into the Person of the Son of God, +may by the grace of God be awakened to the sense of his true life, of +his real dignity as a redeemed brother of Christ. + +'The spark of heavenly fire may indeed have been all but quenched by +the unbridled indulgence of his passions; the natural wickedness of the +heart of man may have exhibited itself with greater fearfulness where no +laws and customs have introduced restraints against at least the outward +expression of vice; but the capacity for the Christian life is there; +though overlaid, it may be, with monstrous forms of superstition or +cruelty or ignorance, the conscience can still respond to the voice of +the Gospel of Truth.' + +And one who so entirely believed and acted upon these words found them +true. The man who verily treated the lads he had gathered round him with +a perfectly genuine sympathy, a love and a self-denial--nay more, an +identification of self with them--awoke all that was best in their +characters, and met with full response. Enthusiastic partiality of +course there was in his estimate of them; but is it not one of the +absolute requisites of a good educator to feel that enthusiasm, like +the parent for the child? And is it always the blind admiration at which +outsiders smile; is it not rather indifference which is blind, and love +which sees the truth? + +'I would not exchange my position with these lads and young men for +anything (he wrote, on December 8, to his uncle, the Eton master). I +wish you could see them and know them; I don't think you ever had pupils +that could win their way into your heart more effectually than these +fellows have attached themselves to me. It is no effort to love them +heartily. Gariri, a dear boy from San Cristoval, is standing by me now, +at my desk, in amazement at the pace that my pen is going, not knowing +that I could write to you, my dear old tutor, for hours together if I +had nothing else to do. He is, I suppose, about sixteen, a most +loveable boy, gentle, affectionate, with all the tropical softness and +kindliness. + +'We have seven Solomon Islanders--five from Mata, a village at the +north-west of San Cristoval, and two from the south-east point of +Guadalcanar, or Gera, a magnificent island about twenty-five or twenty +miles to the north-west of San Cristoval. From frequent intercourse they +are almost bilingual, a great "lounge" for me, as one language does for +both; the structure of the two island tongues is the same, but scarcely +any words much alike. However, that is not much odds. + +'Then from Nengone, where you remember Mr. Nihill died after eighteen +months' residence on the island, we have four men and two women, both +married. Of these, two men and both the women have been baptized, some +time ago, by the Bishop, in 1852, and one by the London Mission, who now +occupy the island. These four I have, with full trust, admitted to the +Holy Communion. Mr. Nihill had taught them well, and I am sure they +could pass an examination in Scriptural history, simple doctrinal +statements, &c., as well as most young English people of the middle +class of life. The other two are well taught, and one of them knows a +great deal, but, poor fellow, he misconducted himself at Nengone, and +hence I cannot recommend him to the Bishop for baptism without much talk +about him. + +'But I think my love is more poured out upon my Bauro and Gera lads. +They are such dear fellows, and I trust that already they begin to +know something about religion. Certain it is that they answer readily +questions and say with their mouths what amounts almost to a statement +of the most important Christian truths. Of course I cannot tell what +effect this may have on their hearts. They join in prayer morning and +evening, they behave admirably, and really there is nothing in their +conduct to find fault with. If it please God that any of them were at +some future time to stay again with us, I have great hopes that they may +learn enough to become teachers in their own country. + +'The Nengone lads are quite in a different position. Their language has +been reduced to writing, the Gospel of St. Mark translated, and they can +all read a little English, so that at evening prayers we read a verse +all round, and then I catechise and expound to them in Nengone. + +'I really trust that by God's blessing some real opening into the great +Solomon group has been effected. There is every hope that many boys will +join us this next voyage. No one can say what may be the result. As yet +it is possible to get on without more help, but I do not for a moment +doubt that should God really grant not only a wide field of labour, but +some such hope of cultivating it, He will send forth plenty of men to +share in this work. Men who have some means of their own--L100 a year is +enough, or even less--or some aptitude for languages, surely will feel +drawn in this direction. It is the happiest life a man can lead, full of +enjoyment, physical and mental, exquisite scenery, famous warm +climate, lots of bathing, yams and taro and cocoa-nut enough to make an +alderman's mouth water, and such loving, gentle people. But of course +something depends on the way in which a man looks at these things, and +a fine gentleman who can't get on without his servant, and can't put his +luggage for four months into a compass of six feet by one-and-a-half, +won't like it.... + +'You know the kind of incidents that occur, so I need not repeat them +to you. I have quite learnt to believe that there are no "savages" +anywhere, at least among black or coloured people. I'd like to see +anyone call my Bauro boys savages! Why, the fellows on the reef that +have never seen a white man will wade back to the boat and catch one's +arms to prevent one falling into pits among the coral, just like an old +nurse looking after her child. This they did at Santa Maria, where we +two swam ashore to a party of forty or fifty men, and where our visit +was evidently a very agreeable one on both sides, though we did not know +one syllable of the language, and then.... But I almost tremble to think +of the immense amount of work opening upon one. Whither will it lead? +But I seldom find any time for speculations; and oh, my dear tutor, I +am as happy as the day is long, though it never seems long to me!.... +My dear father writes in great anxiety about the Denison case. Oh dear! +what a cause of thankfulness it is to be out of the din of controversy, +and to find hundreds of thousands longing for crumbs which are shaken +about so roughly in these angry disputes! It isn't High or Low or Broad +Church, or any other special name, but the longing desire to forget all +distinctions, and to return to a simpler state of things, that seems +naturally to result from the very sight of heathen people. Who thinks of +anything but this: "They have not heard the Name of the Saviour Who died +for them," when he is standing with crowds of naked fellows round him? I +can't describe the intense happiness of this life. I suppose trials will +come some day, and I almost dread the thought, for I surely shall not be +prepared to bear them. I have no trials at all, even of a small kind, to +teach me how to bear up under great ones.' + +In truth Coleridge Patteson had entered on the happiest period of his +life. He had found his vocation, and his affections were fastening +themselves upon his black flock, so that, without losing a particle +of his home love, the yearnings homewards were appeased, and the fully +employed time, and sense of success and capability, left no space for +the self-contemplation and self-criticism of his earlier life. He gives +amusing sketches of the scenes:-- + +'The donkey here, a fatally stubborn brute, is an unceasing amusement to +my boys. No one of them can retain his seat more than ten minutes, but +they all fall like cats on their legs amid cries of laughter. The +donkey steers straight for some small scrubby trees, and then kicks and +plunges, or else rubs their legs against the sides of the house, and +all this time the boys are leaping about the unfortunate fellow who is +mounted, and the fun is great. + +'Wadrokala, one of the Nengone lads, who had recently made his first +communion, became the prominent scholar at this time. He had thought +a good deal. One night he said: "I have heard all kinds of words +used--faith, repentance, praise, prayer--and I don't clearly understand +what is the real great thing, the chief thing of all. They used these +words confusedly, and I feel puzzled. Then I read that the Pharisees +knew a great deal of the law, and so did the Scribes, and yet they were +not good. I am not doing anything good. Now I know something of the +Bible, and I can write; and I fear very much, I often feel very much +afraid, that I am not good, I am not doing anything good."' + +He was talked to, and comforted with hopes of future work; but a day +or two later his feelings were unconsciously hurt by being told in joke +that he was wearing a shabby pair of trousers to save the good ones to +take home to Nengone. His remonstrance was poured out upon a slate:-- + +'Mr. Patteson, this is my word:--I am unhappy because of the word you +said to me that I wished for clothes. I have left my country. I do not +seek clothes for the body. What is the use of clothes? Can my spirit be +clothed with clothes for the body? Therefore my heart is greatly afraid; +but you said I greatly wished for clothes, which I do not care for. +One thing only I care for, that I may receive the life for my spirit. +Therefore I fear, I confess, and say to you, it is not the thing for the +body I want, but the one thing I want is the clothing for the soul, for +Jesus Christ's sake, our Lord.' + +Soon after a very happy Christmas, Wadrokala and Kainwhat expressed a +desire, after a final visit to their native island, to return with Mr. +Patteson, and be prepared to be sent as native teachers to any dark +land, as the Samoans had come to them. + +Wadrokala narrated something of the history of his island, a place with +6,000 inhabitants, with one tribe forming a priestly caste, the head of +which was firmly believed by even these Christian Nengonese to possess +the power of striking men dead by his curse. Caroline, Kainwhat and +Kowine were the children of a terrible old chief named Bula, who +had fifty-five wives, and whose power was almost absolute. If anyone +offended him, he would send either a priest or one of his sons to kill +the man, and bring the corpse, of which the thighs were always reserved +for his special eating, the trunk being given to his slaves. If one +of his wives offended him, he sent for the high priest, who cursed +her--simply said, 'She has died,' and die she did. A young girl who +refused to marry him was killed and eaten, or if any person omitted to +come into his presence crouching, the penalty was to be devoured; in +fact, he seems to have made excuses for executions in order to gratify +his appetite for human flesh, which was considered as particularly +dainty fare. Everyone dreaded him, and when at last he died a natural +death, his chief wife was strangled by her own brother, as a matter +of course. Such horrors as these had pretty well ceased by that time, +though still many Nengonese were heathen, and the priests were firmly +believed to have the power of producing death and disease at will by +a curse. Wadrokala, with entire conviction, declared that one of his +father's wives had thus been made a cripple for life. + +Nengonese had become almost as familiar to Coley as Maori, and his +Sundays at this time were decidedly polyglot; since, besides a regular +English service at Taranaki, he often took a Maori service, and preached +extempore in that tongue, feeling that the people's understanding went +along with him; and there were also, in early morning and late evening, +prayers, partly in Nengonese, partly in Bauro, at the College chapel, +and a sermon, first in one language, and then repeated in the other. The +Nengone lads, who had the question of adherence to the London Mission +at home, or the Church in New Zealand, put to them, came deliberately +to entreat to remain always with Mr. Patteson, saying that they saw that +this teaching of the Church was right, and they wished to work in it. It +was a difficult point, as the London Mission was reasserting a claim +to the Loyalty Isles, and the hopes of making them a point d'appui were +vanishing; but these men and their wives could not but be accepted, and +Simeona was preparing for baptism. A long letter to Professor Max +Muller on the languages will be found in the Appendix. The Bishop of New +Zealand thus wrote to Sir John Patteson respecting Coley and his work:-- + + +'Taurarua, Auckland: March 2, 1857. + +'My dear Judge,--Your letter of December 5 made me very happy, by +assuring me of the satisfaction which you feel in your son's duties and +position. I do indeed most thankfully acknowledge the goodness of God +in thus giving me timely aid, when I was pledged to a great work, but +without any steady force to carry it on. Coley is, as you say, the right +man in the right place, mentally and physically: the multiplicity of +languages, which would try most men, is met by his peculiar gift; the +heat of the climate suits his constitution; his mild and parental temper +makes his black boys cling about him as their natural protector; and his +freedom from fastidiousness makes all parts of the work easy to him; for +when you have to teach boys how to wash themselves, and to wear clothes +for the first time, the romance of missionary work disappears as +completely as a great man's heroism before his valet de chambre. + +'On Sunday, February 22, we had a native baptism, an adult from Nengone +and his infant child. Coley used the Baptismal Service, which he had +translated, and preached fluently in the Nengone tongue, as he had done +in the morning in New Zealand. The careful study which we had together +of the latter on our voyage out will be of great use in many other +dialects, and Mrs. Nihill has given him her husband's Nengone +manuscripts. + +'You know in what direction my wishes tend, viz., that Coley, when he +has come to suitable age, and has developed, as I have no doubt he will, +a fitness for the work, should be the first island Bishop, upon the +foundation, of which you and your brother Judge, and Sir W. Farquhar, +are trustees; that Norfolk Island should be the see of the Bishop, +because the character of its population, the salubrity of its climate, +and its insular position, make it the fittest place for the purpose. + +'Your affectionate and grateful friend, + +'G. A. NEW ZEALAND.' + + +By the same mail Patteson himself wrote to Miss Neill:-- + +'If it please God to give us some few native teachers from Bauro and +Grera, not to be sent before, but to go with or follow us (i.e. Bishop +and me), in a short time the word of God might be heard in many a grand +wild island, resplendent with everything that a tropical climate and +primeval forests, etc., can bestow, and thickly populated with an +intelligent and, as I imagine, tolerably docile race, of whom some are +already "stretching out their hands unto God." + +'All these Solomon Islanders here would answer questions about +Christianity as well, perhaps, as children of nine or ten years old +in England. Some seem to feel that there is a real connection between +themselves and what they are taught, and speak of the love of God in +giving Jesus Christ to die for them, and say that God's Holy Spirit +alone can enlighten their dark hearts. + +'That beautiful image of light and darkness seems common to all nations. +The regular word used by the Nengone people, who are far more advanced +in Christian knowledge and practice, for all heathen places is "the dark +lands." + +'On Sunday week, February 22, we had a deeply interesting service in the +College chapel at 7.15 P.M., just as the English world was beginning its +Sunday. Simeona and his infant boy of four weeks and three days old were +baptized. The College chapel was nicely lighted, font decorated simply. +I read the service in Nengone, having had all hands at work setting the +types and printing on Friday and Saturday. The Bishop took the part of +the service which immediately precedes the actual baptism, and baptized +them both--first the father, by the name of George Selwyn, then the +baby, by the name of John Patteson. This was the special request of the +parents, and as it is my dear Father's name, how could I object? He is, +of course, my godson, and a dear little fellow he is. At the end of my +sermon, I added a few words to "George," and besought the prayers of +the Nengone people for him and his child. We have now four regular +communicants among them--Wadrokala, Mark (Kainwhat), Carry and Sarah. +George is baptized, and baby; and Sarah's child, Lizzy, I baptized long +ago. In about two months (D. V.), we are off for a good spell of four +or five months among the islands, taking back this party, though some of +them will, by and by, rejoin us again, I hope.' + +The plan of starting in April for a four or five months' cruise was +disconcerted, as regarded Bishop Selwyn, by the delay of Bishop Harper +and the Archdeacons in arriving for the intended Synod, which was thus +put off till May, too wintry a month for the Melanesians to spend in New +Zealand. After some doubt, it was decided that Mr. Patteson should make +a short voyage, for the mere purpose of returning his scholars to their +homes, come back to Auckland, and make a fresh start when the Bishop was +ready. + +In prospect of the parting, Patteson writes to his beloved old governess +(March 19, 1857):-- + +'You will like a report of my pupils, especially as I can give most +of them a good ticket, little mark and all, as we used to say of yours +(though not as often as we ought to have done) to our dear mother. +You never had such willing pupils, though you turned out some, I hope, +eventually as good. In your hands these lads would be something indeed. +Really they have no faults that I can detect, and when their previous +state is considered, it is wonderful; for all this time they have been +with us, the greatest fault has been a fit of sulkiness, lasting +about half a day, with three of them. Their affection, gentleness, +unselfishness, cheerfulness, willingness to oblige, in some of them a +natural gentlemanly way of doing things, and sometimes indications of +what we should call high principle--all these things give one great +hopes, not for them only, but for all these nations, that, refined by +Christianity, they may be bright examples of manly virtues and Christian +graces.' + +To some, no doubt, these expressions will seem exaggerated, but not to +those who have had any experience of the peculiar suavity and grace +that often is found in the highbred men of native races, before they are +debased by the corruptions brought in by white men. Moreover, in every +case, the personal influence of the teacher when in immediate contact +with a sufficiently small number, is quite enough to infuse good habits +and obviate evil ones to an extent quite inconceivable to those who have +not watched the unconscious exertion of this power. Patteson knew that +too much reliance must not be placed on present appearance. + +'It is dangerous (he says), to have persons clinging to you too much. I +feel that; but then these fellows, I take it, are very impulsive, and no +doubt the cocoanuts in their own land will exercise a counter-influence +to mine, and so I shall soon be undeceived if I learn to think too much +of their personal affection; but I never knew such dear lads, I don't +know how I shall get on without them. + +'You must be looking forward to your spring and summer. How delicious +some of those days are in England! We miss the freshness of a deciduous +foliage, our evergreens look dull, and we have no deciduous trees as +yet. A good scamper with Joan on the East Hill, or a drive with Fan in +the pony carriage along a lane full of primroses and violets would be +pleasant indeed, and so would a stroll with old Jem up the river be +happy indeed, and I could almost quit the "Southern Cross" for dear +Father's quarter-deck in the "Hermitage," but that I am, I believe, +sailing in the right vessel, and, as I trust, on the right course to the +haven where we may all meet and rest for ever.' + +On Good Friday the three Nengone young men who had been baptized were +confirmed, and on the Wednesday in Easter Week the 'Southern Cross' +sailed, this time with a responsible sailing master. At Nengone Mr. +Patteson had a friendly interview with Mr. Craig, the London Society's +missionary, and explained to him the state of things with regard to +these individual pupils; then, after being overwhelmed with presents by +the Christian population, shaped his course for Bauro. + +On the way he had the experience of a tropical thunderstorm, after +having been well warned by the sinking of the barometer through the +whole of the day, the 27th of April. 'At 7.30 the breeze came up, and +the big drops began, when suddenly a bright forked flash so sustained +that it held its place before our eyes like an immense white-hot crooked +wire, seemed to fall on the deck, and be splintered there. But one +moment and the tremendous crack of the thunder was alive and around +us, making the masts tremble. For more than an hour the flashes were so +continuous that I think every three seconds we had a perfect view of +the whole horizon. I especially remember the firmament between the lurid +thunder clouds looking quite blue, so intense was the light. The thunder +rolled on without cessation, but the tremendous claps occurred only at +intervals. We have no lightning conductor, and I felt somewhat anxious; +went below and prayed God to preserve us from lightning and fire, read +the magnificent chapter at the end of Job. As the storm went on, I +thought that at that very hour you were praying "From lightning and +tempest, good Lord, deliver us." We had no wind: furious rain, repeated +again from midnight to three this morning. About eleven the thunder +had ceased, but the broad flashes of lightning were still frequent. The +lightning was forked and jagged, and one remarkable thing was the length +of time that the line of intense light was kept up, like a gigantic +firework, so that the shape of the flash could be drawn with entire +accuracy by any one that could handle a pencil. It was a grand and +solemn sight and sound, and I am very thankful we were preserved from +danger, for the storm was right upon us, and the danger must have been +great.' + +A ready welcome awaited the 'Southern Cross' at Bauro, in a lovely bay +hitherto unvisited, where a perfect flotilla of canoes came off to greet +her, and the two chiefs, Iri and Eimaniaka, came on board, and no less +than fifty-five men with them. The chiefs and about a dozen men were +invited to spend the night on board. The former lay on the floor of the +inner cabin, talking and listening while their host set before them some +of the plain truths of Christianity. He landed next day, and returned +the visit by going to Iri's hut, where he pointed to the skulls, +discoursed on the hatefulness of such decorations, and recommended their +burial. He also had an opportunity of showing a Christian's horror of +unfilial conduct, when Rimaniaka struck his mother for being slow in +handing yams; and when a man begged for a passage to Gera in direct +opposition to his father's commands, he was dismissed with the words, 'I +will have nothing to do with a man who does not obey his own father.' + +At Gera there was also a great assembly of canoes, and as all hands were +wanted on board, Patteson went ashore in a canoe with the brother of +one of the scholars. He was told that he was the first white man who had +ever landed there, and the people showed a good deal of surprise, but +were quite peaceable, and the presence of women and children was a sign +that there was no danger. When he tried to return to the ship, a heavy +sea came on, and the canoes were forced to put back, and he thus found +himself obliged to spend the night on the island. He was taken into a +house with two rooms, in each of which numbers of men were lying on the +ground, a small wood fire burning in the midst of each group of three or +four. + +A grass mat was brought him, and a bit of wood for a pillow, and as +he was wet through, cold, and very tired, he lay down; but sleep was +impossible, from tormenting vermin, as well as because it seemed to be +the custom of the people to be going backwards and forwards all night, +sitting over the fire talking, then dropping asleep and waking to talk +again. A yam was brought him after about an hour, and long before dawn +he escaped into the open air, and sat over a tire there till at high +tide, at six o'clock in the morning, he was able to put off again and +reach the ship, where forty-five natives had slept, and behaved well. + +'The sense of cold and dirt and weariness was not pleasing,' he +confesses, and certainly the contrast to the Eton and Oxford habits was +great. There was a grand exchange of presents; hatchets, adzes, +hooks and empty bottles on one side, and a pig and yams on the other. +Immediately after follows a perilous adventure, which, as we shall find, +made a deep impression. It is thus related in a letter for the benefit +of Thorverton Rectory:-- + + +'At Sea: Lat. 19 deg. 50' S.; long. 167 deg. 41' E. + +'My dearest Uncle,--May is a month specially connected henceforward +in my mind with a merciful deliverance from great peril, which God +vouchsafed to us on May 2nd. We touched on a reef at the Isle of +Guadalcanar, one of the Solomon Islands, in lat. 9 deg. 50', and but for +God's mercy in blessing our exertions, we might have incurred fearful +danger of losing the Mission vessel. As it was, in a couple of minutes +we were off the reef and in deep safe water--to Him be the praise and +the glory! I have written all particulars as usual to my father, and now +that the danger has been averted, you will rejoice to hear how great a +door is opened to us in that part of the world. Personal safety ensured, +and, so far as can be judged of, no apparent obstacle in the way of the +Mission in that quarter. Had this great peril not occurred--and it was +to human eyes and in human language the mere "chance" of a minute--I +might have dwelt with too much satisfaction on the bright side of the +picture. As it is, it is a lesson to me "to think soberly." I can hardly +trust myself to write yet with my usual freedom of the scenery, natives, +&c. One great thought is before me--"Is it all real that we touched on +that reef in the sight of hundreds of natives?" It was not a sense of +personal danger--that could not occur at such a time; but the idea that +the vessel might be lost, the missionary operations suspended, &c.; this +shot through me in those two minutes! But I had no time for more than +mental prayer, for I was pulling at ropes with all my strength; not +till it was all over could I go below and fall on my knees in a burst +of thanksgiving and praise. We suppose that there must be a very strong +under-current near the reef at the mouth of the bay, for the vessel, +instead of coming round as usual (and there was abundance of room), +would not obey the helm, and we touched an outlying rock before we could +alter the sails, when she rounded instantly on the other tack. Humanly +speaking, she would have come off very soon, as the tide was flowing, +and she received no damage, as we came very gently against the rock, +which was only about the size of an ordinary table. But it is an event +to be remembered by me with thankfulness all my life. I think the number +of natives who had been on deck and about us in canoes that morning +could not have been less than 450. They behaved very well. Of the +five principal chiefs three could talk some Bauro language, so I could +communicate with them, and this was one reason why I felt satisfied of +their good-will. They gave me two pigs, about 500 or 600 cocoa-nuts, +and upwards of a ton of yams, though I told them I had only two small +hatchets, five or six adzes, a few gimlets, and empty bottles to give in +exchange. If I had not been satisfied of their being quite friendly, I +would not have put ourselves so entirely into their power; but it is of +the greatest consequence to let the natives of a place see that you +are not suspicious, and where there is no evident hazard in so doing, I +think I ought to act upon it. Perhaps the Bishop, being an older hand at +it, will think I was rash; but as far as the natives are concerned, the +result shows I was quite right; the letting go a kedge in deepish water +is another matter, that was a mistake I know now. But we could not work +the vessel by reason of the crowds of natives, and what was I to do? +Either not stand close in, as they all expected, or let go a kedge. If I +did not go into the mouth of the bay, they would have said, "He does not +trust us," and mutual suspicion would have been (possibly) the result, +and I could not make them understand rightly the reason why I did not +want to drop the kedge or small anchor. + +'I had slept on shore about three miles up the bay among a number of +natives, twenty-five or twenty-six in the same room with me, on the +previous evening: at least, I lay down in my things, which, by the bye, +were drenched through with salt and rain water. They said I was the +first white person that had been ashore there. They treated me very +well. How in the face of all this could I run the risk of letting them +think I was unwilling to trust them? So I think still that I was right +in all but one thing. I ought to have ascertained better the nature +of the current and the bottom of the harbour, to see if there was good +holding ground. But it is easier to do those things in an English port +than in the sight of a number of natives, and especially when there is +but one person able to communicate with the said natives. If I went off +in the boat sounding, who was to look after the schooner? If I stayed +on board, who was to explain to the natives what was being done in the +boat? Besides, we have but five men on board, including the master +and mate, and one of them was disabled by a bad hand, so that if I +had manned the boat, I should have left only three able-bodied men on +board--it was a puzzle, you see, dear Uncle. Now I have entered into +this long defence lest any of you dear ones should think me rash. +Indeed, I don't want to run any risks at all. But there was no risk +here, as I supposed, and had we chosen to go round on the other tack we +should have known nothing of a risk now. As it was, we did run a great +hazard of grounding on the reef, and therefore, Laus Deo. + +'Oh! dear little Pena, if you had only seen the village which, as yet, +I alone of white people have been allowed to see--the great tall +cocoa-nuts, so tall and slender at the top, that I was almost afraid +when a boy was sent up to gather some nuts for me--the cottages of +bamboo and cocoa-nut leaves--the great forest trees, the parrots flying +about among the branches--the crowd of men and children and a few women +all looking at, and some talking to the strange chief, "who had spoken +the truth and brought their kinsman as he promised,"--the sea in the +harbour shut off by small islets and looking like a beautiful lake with +high wooded and steep banks--the pretty canoes on the beach, and the +great state canoe lying at its stone anchor about fifty yards off, about +fifty feet long, and inlaid throughout with mother-of-pearl, the spears +leaning against the houses--men stalking about with a kind of club (the +great chief Puruhanua gave me his);--I think your little head would have +been almost turned crazy.... + +'June 4th, Auckland.--We reached harbour a week ago in a violent +squall of wind and rain at 8.45 P.M. Anxious night after the anchor +was dropped, lest the vessel should drag. Nine days coming from Norfolk +Island, very heavy weather--no accident, but jib-boom pitched away while +lying to in a south-easter.... + +'Your loving nephew, + +'J. C. P.' + + +The Rev. Benjamin Thornton Dudley, for several years a most valuable +helper in the work, both at home and abroad, gives the following account +of his own share in it, and his recollections of that first year:-- + +'The first time I ever saw Mr. Patteson was in the beginning of 1856, +when you (this is a letter to Mrs. Selwyn) all visited Lyttelton in +the newly arrived "Southern Cross." That indescribable charm of manner, +calculated at once to take all hearts by storm, was not perhaps as +fully developed in him then as afterwards, and my experience was then +comparatively limited, yet his words in the sermon he preached on behalf +of the Melanesian Mission (a kind of historical review of the growth and +spread of the Gospel), although coming after the wonderful sermon of the +Bishop in the morning, made a deep impression on several of us, myself +among the number. + +'You came to Lyttelton at the end of 1856 again, this time without him, +and the Bishop brought me up to St. John's College, and placed me under +him there. I remember at first how puzzled I felt as to what my position +was, and what I was expected to do. Not a single direction was given +me by Mr. Patteson, nor did he invite me to take a class in the +comparatively small Melanesian school. Gradually it dawned upon me that +I was purposely left there, and that I was expected to offer myself for +anything I could do. When I offered myself I was allowed to assist in +this and that, until at length I fell into my regular place. Although +the treatment I received in this respect puzzled me, I felt his great +kindness from the first. How bright he was in those days, and how +overflowing with spirits when among the Melanesians. What fun there used +to be of a morning, when he would come and hunt the lazy ones out of +bed, drive them down to the bath house, and there assist their ablutions +with a few basins of water thrown at them; and what an amount of quiet +"chaff" used to go on at breakfast time about it as we sat with them +in the great hall, without any of those restraints of the "high table" +which were introduced at dinner. + +'During the first voyage made that year to return our Melanesian party, +I think Mr. Patteson was feeling very much out of sorts. I do not +remember any time during the years in which I was permitted to see so +much of him when he took things so easily. He spoke of himself as lazy, +and I confess I used to wonder somewhat how it was that he retired so +completely into the cabin, and did apparently so little in the way of +study. He read the "Heir of Redclyffe," and other books of light reading +in that voyage. I understood better afterwards what, raw youth as I +was at the time, puzzled me in one for whom I was already beginning +to entertain a feeling different from any previously experienced. That +seems to me now to have been quite a necessary pause in his life after +he had with wholeheartedness and full intention given himself to his +work, but before he had fully faced all its requirements and had learnt +to map out his whole time with separate toil.' + +So concluded what may be called the first term of Coley Patteson's +tutorship of his island boys. His work is perhaps best summed up in this +sentence in a letter to me from Mrs. Abraham: 'Mr. Patteson's love for +them, and his facility in communicating with them in their own tongue, +make his dealing with the present set much more intimate and effective +than it has ever been before, and their affections towards him are drawn +out in a lively manner.' + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE AND LIFU. 1857-1859. + + + +It seems to me that the years between 1856 and 1861 were the very +brightest of Coleridge Patteson's life. He had left all for Christ's +sake and the Gospel's, and was reaping the blessing in its freshness. +His struggles with his defects had been successful, the more so +because he was so full of occupation that the old besetting trouble, +self-contemplation, had been expelled for lack of opportunity; and he +had become far more simple, since humility was ceasing to be a conscious +effort. + +There is a light-heartedness about his letters like that of the old Eton +times. Something might have been owing to the impulse of health, which +was due to the tropical heat. Most probably this heat was what exhausted +his constitution so early, but at first it was a delightful stimulus, +and gave him exemption from all those discomforts with which cold had +affected him at home. This exhilaration bore him over the many trials +of close contact with uncivilised human nature so completely that his +friends never even guessed at his natural fastidiousness. That which +might have been selfish in this fastidiousness was conquered, though the +refinement remained. Even to the last, in his most solitary hours, this +personal neatness never relaxed, but the victory over disgust was a real +triumph over self, which no doubt was an element of happiness. + +While the Bishop continued to go on the voyages with him, he had +companionship, guidance, and comparatively no responsibility, while his +success, that supreme joy, was wonderfully unalloyed, and he felt +his own especial gifts coming constantly into play. His love for his +scholars was one continual well of delight, and really seemed to be an +absolute gift, enabling him to win them over, and compensating for what +he had left, even while he did not cease to love his home with deep +tenderness. + +Another pair of New Zealand friends had to be absent for a time. +Archdeacon Abraham's arm was so severely injured by an accident with +a horse, that the effects were far more serious than those of a common +fracture. The disaster took place in Patteson's presence. 'I shall never +forget,' writes his friend, 'his gentleness and consideration as he +first laid me down in a room and then went to tell my wife.' + +It was found necessary to have recourse to English advice; the +Archdeacon and Mrs. Abraham went home, and were never again residents at +Auckland. + +A letter to Mr. Justice Coleridge was written in the interval between +the voyages:-- + + +'Auckland: June 12, 1857. + +'My dear Uncle,--You will not give me credit for being a good +correspondent, I fear; but the truth is that I seldom find time to +do more than write long chatty letters to my dear father and sisters, +occasionally to Thorverton, and to Miss Neill and one or two others to +cheer them in their sickness and weariness. Any news from afar may be a +real relaxation. + +'For myself I need only say that I find these dear people most +attractive and winning, that it is no effort to love them, that they +display all natural gifts in a remarkable way--good temper, affection, +gentleness, obedience, gratitude, &c., occasionally real self-restraint. +Dear Hirika's last words to me at San Cristoval were, "Oh, I do love you +so," and his conduct showed it. He is a bright handsome lad, clever +but inaccurate, of most sweet disposition. In matters of personal +cleanliness, healthy appearance, &c., the change in seven months +was that of a lad wholly savage becoming neat, tidy in dress, and of +gentlemanly appearance. In some ways he was my pet of the whole party, +though I have equally bright hopes of Grariri, a sturdy, honest fellow +with the best temper I almost ever found among lads of sixteen anywhere, +and Kerearua is the most painstaking fellow of the lot; and a boy whose +distinguishing features it would be hard to describe; but he may be +summed up as a very good boy, and certainly a most loveable one. Sumaro +and Kimarua older and less interesting. + +'I printed short catechisms, a translation of the Lord's Prayer, Creed, +General Confession, two or three other of the Common Prayer prayers, and +one or two short missionary prayers in the dialect of both islands; but +I can only speak at all fluently the language of San Cristoval. + +'Of the Nengone people I could say much more. The two young women +(married) and the two young unmarried men had been under Mr. Nihill's +instruction two or three years, baptized, and were regular communicants +while at the College. Simeona was baptized on the same day as his infant +son, after he had been with us five months. He and the other four were +confirmed at the College chapel, and he afterwards received the Holy +Communion with the rest. + +'Kowine, a lad of seventeen, is not baptized, though well instructed. We +were not wholly satisfied about him. Of the knowledge of them all I can +speak with the utmost confidence. They know more a great deal than most +candidates for confirmation in a well-regulated English parish. It was +delightful to work with them. We wrote Bible history, which has reached +about fifty sheets in MS. in small handwriting, bringing the history +to the time of Joshua; very many questions and answers, and translated +ninety pages of the Prayer Book, including Services for Infant and Adult +Baptism, Catechism, Burial Service, &c. + +'It is most interesting work, though not easy, and much of it will no +doubt be altered when we come to know the language thoroughly well. This +island of Nengone (called also Maro and Britannia Island) contains +about 6,500 inhabitants, of whom some profess Christianity, while the +remainder are still fighting and eating one another, though accessible +to white people. + +'We hope to have time to see something of the heathen population, though +the London Mission Society having re-occupied the island, we do not +regularly visit it with the intention of establishing ourselves.... The +language is confined to that island. I call it language, not dialect, +for it is, I believe, really distinct from any others we have or have +heard of, very soft, like Italian, and capable of expressing accurately +minute shades of meaning. Causative forms, &c., remind us of the +oriental structure, one peculiarity (that of the chief's dialect, or +almost language, running parallel to that of common life) I think I have +before mentioned. + +'In about a month I suppose we shall be off again for three or four +months, and we long to get hold of pupils from the Banks Archipelago, +Santa Cruz, Espiritu Santo, in which no ground is broken at present. We +visited them last year, but did not get any pupils; lovely islands, very +populous, and the natives very bright, intelligent-looking. But how I +long to see again some of my own dear boys, I do so think of them! It +may be that two or three of them may come again to us, and then we may +perhaps hope that they may learn enough to be really useful to their own +people.... Dear uncle, I should indeed rejoice much to see my dear, dear +father and sisters and Jem and all of you if it came in the way of one's +business, but I think, so long as I am well, that the peculiar nature of +this work must require the constant presence of one personally known to, +and not only officially connected with, the natives. While I feel very +strongly that in many ways intercourse occasionally resumed with the +home clergy must be very useful to us, yet if you can understand that +there is no one to take one's place, you see how very unlikely it must +be that I can move from this hemisphere. I say "if you can understand," +for it does seem sad that one should really be in such a position that +one's presence should be of any consequence; but, till it please God +that the Bishop shall receive other men for this Mission, there is no +other teacher for these lads, and so we must rub on and do the best +we can. Of course I should be most thankful, most happy if, during his +lifetime, I once more found myself at home, but I don't think much nor +speculate about it, and I am very happy, as I am well and hearty. You +won't suspect me of any lessening of strong affection for all that +savours of home. I think that I know every face in Alfington and in +Feniton, and very many in Ottery as of old; I believe I think of all +with increasing affection, but while I wonder at it, I must also confess +that I can and do live happy day after day without enjoying the sight of +those dear faces. + +'Always your affectionate and grateful nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +As soon as the 'Southern Cross' had carried Bishop Harper back to +Lyttelton, the Melanesian voyage was recommenced, this time with a +valuable assistant in Mr. Benjamin Dudley. Mrs. Selwyn was again dropped +at Norfolk Island, and five young Pitcairners were taken on board to +serve as a boat's crew, and also to receive instruction. + +This was a more extensive voyage than the first, as more time could be +spent on it, but there is less full description, as there was less time +for writing; and besides, these coral islands are much alike. Futuma was +the first new island visited:-- + +'The canoes did not venture to come off to us, so we went ashore in +the boat, Bishop and I wading ankle-deep to the beach. Forty or fifty +natives under a deep overhanging rock, crouching around a fire, plenty +of lads and boys, no women. Some Tanna men in the group, with their +faces painted red and black, hair (as you know) elaborately frizzled and +dressed with coral lime. The Futuma people speak a different language +from those of Anaiteum, and the Tanna people speak a third (having, +moreover, four dialects of their own). These three islands are all in +sight of each other. Tanna has an active volcano, now smoking away, and +is like a hot-bed, wonderfully fertile. People estimate its population +at 10,000, though it is not very large,--about thirty miles long. At +Futuma, the process by which these coral islands have been upheaved is +well seen. The volcanic rocks are lying under the coral, which has been +gradually thrust upwards by them. As the coral emerged, the animal went +on building under water, continually working lower and lower down upon +and over the volcanic formation, as this heaved in its upward course the +coral formation out of the sea.' + +Erromango was occupied by the Scottish Mission, and Mr. Gordon was then +living there in peace and apparent security, when a visit was paid to +him, and Patteson gathered some leaves in Dillon's Bay, the spot where +John Williams met his death sixteen years before, not, as now was +understood, because he was personally disliked, but because he was +unconsciously interfering with a solemnity that was going on upon the +beach. + +At Fate Isle, the people were said to be among the wildest in those +seas. When the 'Royal Sovereign' was wrecked, they had killed the whole +crew, nineteen in number, eaten ten at once, and sent the other nine +as presents to their friends. Very few appeared, but there was a good +'opening' exchange of presents. + +A great number of small islets lie around Fate, forming part of the +cluster of the New Hebrides, The Bishop had been at most of them before, +and with a boat's crew of three Pitcairners and one English sailor, +starting early and spending all day in the boat, he and Patteson +touched at eleven in three days, and established the first steps to +communication by obtaining 127 names of persons present, and making +gifts. These little volcanic coral isles were all much alike, and +nothing remarkable occurred but the obtaining two lads from Mai, named +Petere and Laure, for a ten months' visit. Poor fellows, they were very +sea-sick at first, and begged to go home again, but soon became very +happy, and this connection with Petere had important consequences in +the end. These lads spoke a language approaching Maori, whereas the Fate +tongue prevailed in the other isles. + +At Mallicolo, on August 20, a horrible sight presented itself to the +eyes of the two explorers when they walked inland with about eighteen +most obliging and courteous natives--an open space with four hollowed +trunks of trees surrounding two stones, the trees carved into the shape +of grotesque human heads, and among them, a sort of temple, made of +sloping bamboos and pandanus leaves meeting at the top, from whence +hung a dead man, with his face painted in stripes of red and yellow, +procured, it was thought, from the pollen of flowers. There was not +enough comprehension of the language to make out the meaning of all +this. + +Ambrym, the next island, was more than usually lovely, and was destined +to receive many more visits. The women made their approach crawling, +some with babies on their backs. Whitsuntide, where the casks had to be +filled with water, showed a great number of large, resolute-looking men, +whose air demanded caution; 'but,' says the journal, 'practice makes +perfect, and we get the habit of landing among strangers, the knack +of managing with signs and gesticulations, and the feeling of ease +and confidence which engenders confidence and good-will in the others. +Quarrels usually arise from both parties being afraid and suspicious of +each other.' + +Leper's Isle owes its unpleasant name to its medicinal springs. It is a +particularly beautiful place, containing a population of good promise. +Three landings were made there, and at the fourth place Patteson jumped +ashore on a rock and spent some time in calming the fears of a party of +natives who had been frightened in their canoe by the boat under +sail overtaking them. 'They fingered bows and arrows, but only from +nervousness,' he says. However, they seem to have suspected the visitors +of designs on their load of fine taro, and it was some time before the +owner would come out and resume it. On all these isles the plan could +as yet only be to learn names and write them down, so as to enquire +for acquaintance next time, either make presents, or barter them for +provisions, discover the class of language, and invite scholars for +another time. + +So at Star Island three or four natives said, 'In ten moons you two come +back; very good, then we go with you.' 'I think,' Patteson tells his +sisters, 'you would have liked to have seen me, standing on a rock, with +my two supporters, two fine young men, who will I trust go with us next +time, my arms round their necks, and a fine background of some thirty +or forty dark figures with bows and arrows, &c., and two or three little +rogues, perched on a point of rock above me, just within reach, +asking for fish-hooks.' He says it in all simplicity, but the picture +presupposes some strength of mind in the sisters who were to appreciate +it. + +Few natives appeared at Espiritu Santo, and the vessel passed on to +Oanuta or Cherry Island, where the Bishop had never been, and where +a race of dull, good-natured giants was found. The chief was a +noble-looking man with an aquiline nose, and seemed to have them well +under command, and some of the younger men, who had limbs which might +have been a model for a sculptor, could have lifted an ordinary-sized +Englishman as easily as a child. They were unluckily already acquainted +with whalers, whom they thought the right sort of fellows, since they +brought tobacco and spirits, did not interfere with native habits, +nor talk of learning, for which the giants saw no need. The national +complexion here was of a lighter yellow, the costume a tattooed chest, +the language akin to Maori; and it was the same at Tikopia, where four +chiefs, one principal one immensely fat, received their visitors seated +on a mat in the centre of a wide circle formed by natives, the innermost +seated, the others looking over them. These, too, were accustomed to +whalers, and when they found that pigs and yams in exchange for spirits +and tobacco were not the object, they were indifferent. They seemed to +despise fish-hooks, and it was plain that they had even obtained muskets +from the whalers, for there were six in the chiefs house, and one was +fired, not maliciously but out of display. The Bishop told them his +object, and they understood his language, but were uninterested. The fat +chief regaled the two guests with a cocoa-nut apiece, and then seemed +anxious to be rid of them. + +The Banks Islands, as usual, were much more hopeful, Santa Maria coming +first. Canoes came round the vessel, and the honesty of the race showed +itself, for one little boy, who had had a fish-hook given him, wished to +exchange it for calico, and having forgotten to restore the hook at +the moment, swam back with it as soon as he remembered it. There was a +landing, and the usual friendly intercourse, but just as the boat had +put off, a single arrow was suddenly shot out of the bush, and fell +about ten yards short. It was curious that the Spanish discoverers +had precisely the same experience. It was supposed to be an act of +individual mischief or fun, and the place obtained the appropriate name +of Cock Sparrow Point. + +It was not possible to get into the one landing-place in the wall round +Mota's sugar-loaf, but there was an exchange of civilities with the +Saddleites, and in Vanua Lava, the largest member of the group, a +beautiful harbour was discovered, which the Bishop named Port Patteson, +after the Judge. + +The Santa Cruz group was visited again on the 23rd of September. Nothing +remarkable occurred; indeed, Patteson's journal does not mention these +places, but that of the Bishop speaks of a first landing at Nukapu, and +an exchange of names with the old chief Acenana; and the next day of +going to the main island, where swarms of natives swam out, with cries +of Toki, toki, and planks before them to float through the surf. +About 250 assembled at the landing place, as before, chiefly eager for +traffic. The Volcano Isle was also touched at, but the language of the +few inhabitants was incomprehensible. The mountain was smoking, and +red-hot cinders falling as before on the steep side. It was tempting to +climb it and investigate what probably no white man had yet seen, but it +was decided to be more prudent to abstain. + +Some events of the visit to Bauro are related in the following letter to +the young cousin whose Confirmation day had been notified to him in time +to be thought of in his prayers:-- + + +'Off San Cristoval: October 5, 1857. + +'My dearest Pena,--It was in a heathen land, among a heathen people, +that I passed the Sunday--a day most memorable in your life--on which +I trust you received for the first time the blessed Sacrament of our +Saviour's Body and Blood. + +'My darling--, as I knelt in the chiefs house, upon the mat which was +also my bed--the only Christian in that large and beautiful island--my +prayers were, I hope, offered earnestly that the full blessedness of +that heavenly Union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him with the +Father and the Holy Ghost, might rest upon you for ever. I had +reckoned upon being on board that Sunday, when the Holy Eucharist +was administered on board our vessel; but as we reached Mwaata, our +well-known village at San Cristoval, on Saturday, we both agreed that +I had better go ashore while the vessel went away, to return for me on +Monday. My day was now passed strangely enough, my first Sunday in a +land where no Sunday is known. + +'It was about 3 P.M. on Saturday when I landed, and it was an effort to +have to talk incessantly till dark. Then the chief Iri went with me +to his house. It is only one oblong room, with a bamboo screen running +halfway across it about half-way down the room. It is only made of +bamboo at the sides, and leaves for the roof. Yams and other vegetables +were placed along the sides. There is no floor, but one or two grass +mats are placed on the ground to sleep on. Iri and his wife, and an +orphan girl about fourteen or fifteen, I suppose, slept on the other +side of the screen; and two lads, called Grariri and Parenga, slept on +my side of it. I can't say I slept at all, for the rats were so very +many, coming in through the bamboo on every side, and making such a +noise I could not sleep, though tired. They were running all about me. + +'Well, at daylight I sent Gariri to fetch some water, and shaved and +washed, to the great admiration of Iri and the ladies, and of others +also, who crowded together at the hole which serves for door and +windows. I lay down in my clothes, all but my coat, but I took a razor +and some soap ashore. + +'Sunday was spent in going about to different neighbouring settlements, +and climbing the coral rocks was hard work, the thermometer at sea being +85 deg. in the cool cabin, as the Bishop told me to-day. + +'Of course many people were at work in the yam grounds, several of which +I saw; but I found considerable parties at the different villages, and +had, on the whole, satisfactory conversations with them. They listened +and asked questions, and I told them as well as I could the simplest +truths of Christianity. + +'I had a part of a yam and drank four cocoa-nuts during the day, besides +eating some mixture of yam, taro, and cocoa-nut all pounded together. + +'People offered me food and nuts everywhere. Walked back with a boy +called Tahi for my guide, and stopped at several plantations, and talked +with the people. + +'Sat out in the cool evening on the beach at Mwaata, after much talk +in a chiefs house called Tarua; people came round me on the beach, and +again I talked with them (a sort of half-preaching, half-conversing +these talks were), till Iri said we must go to bed. Slept a little that +night. + +'I can truly say that you were in my head all day. After my evening +prayers, when I thought of you--for it was about 9 P.M. = 10.10 A.M. +with you, and you were on your way to church--I thought of you, kneeling +between your dear mamma and grandmamma, and dear grandpapa administering +to his three beloved ones the Bread of Life, and I was very happy as I +thought of it, for I trust, through the mercy of God, and the merits of +our Lord, that we shall be by Him raised at the Last Day to dwell with +Him for ever. But indeed I must not write to you how very unworthy I +felt to belong to that little company. + +'This morning about eleven the vessel's boat came off for me, with the +Bishop. I had arranged about some lads coming on with us, and it ended +in seven joining our party. Only one of our old scholars has come again: +he is that dear boy Grariri, whose name you will remember. + +'Now I have had a good change of shirts, etc., and feel clean and +comfortable, though I think a good night's rest will do me no harm. I +have written to you the first minute that I had time. What a blessed, +happy day it must have been for you, and I am sure they thought of you +at Feniton. + +'Your loving cousin, + +'J. C. P.' + + +This strange Sunday was spent in conversation with different sets of +natives, and that some distinct ideas were conveyed was plain from what +old Iri was overheard saying to a man who was asking him whether he had +not a guest who spoke Bauro: 'Yes,' said Iri, adding that 'he said men +were not like dogs, or pigs, or birds, or fishes, because these cannot +speak or think. They all die, and no one knows anything more about them, +but he says we shall not die like that, but rise up again.' + +On Monday, the 7th of October, Grera was revisited, and Toto, a last +year's scholar, came forth with his welcome in a canoe; but it was +rather a mixed success, for the danger of the vessel on her previous +visit was a warning against bringing her into the harbour, where there +was no safe anchorage, and this disappointed the people. Thirteen, +indeed, slept on board, and the next morning sixty canoes surrounded +the vessel, and some hundred and sixty came on deck at once; but they +brought only one pig and a few yams, and refused to fetch more, saying +it was too far--a considerable inconvenience, considering the necessity +of providing the Melanesian passengers with vegetable food. The whole +nine slept in the inner cabin, Orariri on Patteson's sofa, 'feet to +feet, the others on the floor like herrings in a barrel.' + +The great island of New Caledonia was next visited. The Bishop had been +there before, and Basset, one of the chiefs, lamented that he had been +so long absent, and pleaded hard to have an English missionary placed in +his part of the country. It was very sad to have no means of complying +with the entreaty, and the Bishop offered him a passage to Auckland, +there to speak for himself. He would have come, but that it was the +season for planting his yams; but he hoped to follow, and in the +meantime sent a little orphan named Kanambat to be brought up at +Auckland. The little fellow was pleased enough with the ship at first, +but when his countrymen who had been visiting there left her, he jumped +overboard and was swimming like a duck after them, when, at a sign from +the Bishop, one of the Pitcairners leapt after him, and speedily brought +him back. He soon grew very happy and full of play and fun, and was well +off in being away from home, for the French were occupying the island, +and poor Basset shortly after was sent a prisoner to Tahiti for refusing +to receive a Roman Catholic priest. + +Nengone were reached on October 23, and most of the old scholars were +ready with a warm welcome; but Mr. Creagh, the London missionary, had +taken Wadrokala away with him on an expedition, and of the others, only +Kowine was ready to return, though the two married couples were going +on well, and one previous scholar of the Bishop's and four new +ones presented themselves as willing to go. Urgent letters from the +neighbouring isle of Lifu entreated the Bishop to come thither, and, +with a splendid supply of yams, the 'Southern Cross' again set sail, +and arrived on the 26th. This island had entirely abandoned heathenism, +under the guidance of the Samoans. The people felt that they had come to +the end of the stock of teaching of these good men, and entreated for an +Englishman from the Bishop, and thus, here was the third island in this +one voyage begging for a shepherd, and only one English priest had been +found to offer himself to that multitude of heathen! + +The only thing that could be done was to take John Cho, a former St. +John's scholar, to receive instruction to fit him for a teacher, and +with him came his young wife Naranadune, and their babe, whom the Bishop +had just baptized in the coral-lime chapel, with three other children. + +The next few days were spent in great anxiety for Wailumai, a youth +from Grera, who was taken ill immediately after dinner with a most +distressing difficulty of breathing. He proved to have a piece of sugar +cane in his throat, which made every breath agony, and worked a small +ulcer in the throat. All through the worst Patteson held him in his +arms, with his hand on his chest: several times he seemed gone, and +ammonia and sal volatile barely revived him. His first words after he +was partially relieved were, 'I am Bishop! I am Patihana!' meaning that +he exchanged names with them, the strongest possible proof of affection +in Melanesian eyes. He still seemed at the point of death, and they made +him say, 'God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost! Jesus +Christ, Son of God.' At last a favourable change took place, but he +continued so ill for several days that his two attendants never did more +than lie down in their clothes; nor was it till the third day that he +at length coughed up the piece of cane that had caused the mischief. He +still required so much care that Patteson did not go on shore at Norfolk +Island when the five Pitcairners were exchanged for Mrs. Selwyn. + +On November 15 Auckland harbour was again reached after this signally +prosperous voyage. It is thus summed up in a letter written two days +later:-- + + +'November 17, 1857: St. John's College. + +'My dear Miss Neill,--Thanks for your L21. 2s., and more thanks still +for your prayers and constant interest in this part of the world. After +nearly seventeen weeks at sea, we returned safely on Sunday morning +the 15th, with thirty-three Melanesians, gathered from nine islands and +speaking eight languages. Plenty of work for me: I can teach tolerably +in three, and have a smattering of one or two more. + +'One is the wife of a young man, John Cho, an old scholar baptized. His +half-brother is chief of Lifu Isle, a man of great influence. The London +Mission (Independents) are leaving all their islands unprovided with +missionaries, and these people having been much more frequently visited +by the Bishop than by the "John Williams," turn to him for help. By and +by I will explain all this: at present no time. + +'We visited sixty-six islands and landed eighty-one times, wading, +swimming, &c.; all most friendly and delightful; only two arrows shot +at us, and only one went near--so much for savages. I wonder what people +ought to call sandal-wood traders and slave-masters if they call my +Melanesians savages. + +'You will hear accounts of the voyage from Fanny. I have a long journal +going to my father, but I can't make time to write at length any more. +I am up before five and not in bed before eleven, and you know I must be +lazy sometimes. It does me good. Oh! how great a trial sickness would be +to me! In my health now all seems easy. Were I circumstanced like you, +how much I should no doubt repine and murmur. God has given me hitherto +a most merciful share of blessings, and my dear father's cordial +approbation of and consent to my proceedings is among the greatest.... + +'The anniversary of my dear mother's death comes round in ten days. That +is my polar star (humanly speaking), and whensoever it pleases God to +take my dear dear father to his rest, how blessed to think of their +waiting for us, if it be His merciful will to bring me too to dwell +before Him with them for ever. + +'I must end, for I am very busy. The weather is cold, and my room full +of lads and young men. If I was not watching like a cat they would be +standing about in all sorts of places and catching cold. + +'I send you in a box, a box made by Pitcairners of Pitcairn woods. + +'Ever your loving old pupil, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The little New Caledonian remained at Taurarua with the Bishop, and as +there was no woman at St. John's to take the charge of Cho's wife, she +was necessarily sent to Mrs. Kissling's school for Maori girls, while +her husband pursued his studies at St. John's. + +Patteson often gave his services at the Maori village of Orakei, where +there was to be a central native school managed by Pirimona (Philemon), +a well-trained man, a candidate for Holy Orders. + +'However, this did not satisfy his countrymen. As if I had not enough to +do, old Wi comes with a request from the folks at Orakei that I would be +their "minita," and take the management of the concern. Rather rich, is +it not? I said, of course, that I was minita for the islanders. "Oh, let +the Bishop take another man for that, you are the minister for us." He +is, you know, wonderfully tatooed, and a great object of curiosity to +the boys! + +Before many days had passed, there had occurred the first case of that +fatal tetanus, which became only too well known to those concerned in +the Mission. Of course, all weapons were taken from the scholars; but +one of the San Cristoval boys, named Tohehammai, fetched one of his own +arrows out of Mr. Dudley's room to exchange with an English lad for a +shirt, and as he was at play, carrying the arrow in his left hand behind +his back and throwing a stick like a spear with the other, he sharply +pricked his right arm, within the elbow, against the point of the arrow; +but thinking nothing of the hurt, and knowing that the weapons were +forbidden playthings, he said nothing for twelve days, but then +complained of stiffness in the arm. Two doctors happened to be at the +college that day; one thought it rheumatism, the other mentioned the +word tetanus, but for three days more the arm was merely stiff, it +was hung in a sling, and the boy went about as usual, until, on the +fifteenth day, spasmodic twitchings in the arm came on. + +Liniment of chloroform was rubbed in, and the boy was kept under +chloroform, but in vain; the next day his whole body was perfectly +rigid, with occasional convulsions. About 4 p.m. his throat had become +contracted, and the endeavour to give him nourishment brought on +convulsive attacks. The Bishop came at 8. p.m., and after another +attempt at giving him food, which produced a further spasm, he was lying +quietly when Patteson felt his pulse stop. + +'"He is dying!" the Bishop said. '"Father, into Thy hands we commend his +spirit."' + +Patteson's 'Amen' came from his heart. The poor fellow made no sound +as he lay with his frame rigid, his back arched so that an arm could +be thrust under it. He was gone in that moment, unbaptized. Patteson +writes:-- + +'I had much conflict with myself about it. He had talked once with me in +a very hopeful way, but during his illness I could not obtain from him +any distinct profession of faith, anything to make me feel pretty sure +that some conviction of the truth of what he he had been taught, and not +mere learning by rote, was the occasion of his saying what he did say. I +did wish much that I might talk again with the Bishop about it, but his +death took us by surprise. I pray God that all my omission and neglect +of duty may be repaired, and that his very imperfect and unconscious +yearnings after the truth may be accepted for Christ's sake.' + +The arrow was reported to have been poisoned, but by the time the cause +of the injury had been discovered it had been thrown away and could not +be recovered for examination. Indeed, lockjaw seems to be so prevalent +in the equatorial climates, and the natives so peculiarly liable to it, +that poison did not seem needful to account for the catastrophe. + +Altogether, these lads were exotics in New Zealand, and exceedingly +fragile. In the very height of summer they had to wear corduroy +trousers, blue serge shirts, red woollen comforters, and blue Scotch +caps, and the more delicate a thick woollen jersey in addition; and with +all these precautions they were continually catching cold, or getting +disordered, and then the Bauro and Grera set could only support such +treatment as young children generally need. The Loyalty Islanders were +much tougher and stronger and easier to treat, but they too showed that +the climate of Auckland was a hard trial to their constitutions. + +On the last day of March came tidings of the sudden death of the +much-beloved and honoured Dr. James Coleridge of Thorverton. + +'It is a great shock,' says the letter written the same day; 'not that +I feel unhappy exactly, nor low, but that many many memories are revived +and keep freshening on my mind.... And since I left England his warm, +loving, almost too fond letters have bound me very closely to him, +and sorely I shall miss the sight of his handwriting; though he may be +nearer to me now than before, and his love for me is doubtless even more +pure and fervent. + +'I confess I had thought sometimes that if it pleased God to take you +first, the consciousness that he would be with you was a great comfort +to me--not that any man is worth much then. God must be all in all. But +yet he of all men was the one who would have been a real comfort to you, +and even more so to others.' To his cousin he writes:-- + + +'Wednesday in Passion Week, 1858: St. John's College. + +'My dearest Sophy,--Your letter with the deep black border was the first +that I opened, with trembling hand, thinking: "Is it dear dear Uncle +gone to his eternal rest; or dear Aunty? not that dear child, may God +grant; for that would somehow seem to all most bitter of all--less, so +to speak, reasonable and natural." And he is really gone; that dear, +loving, courageous, warm-hearted servant of Christ; the desire of our +eyes taken away with a stroke. I read your letter wondering that I was +not upset, knelt down and said the two prayers in the Burial Service, +and then came the tears; for the memory of him rose up very vividly +before me, and his deep love for me and the notes of comfort and +encouragement he used to write were very fresh in my mind. I looked +at the print of him, the one he sent out to me, with "your loving old +Uncle" in pencil on it. I have all his letters: when making a regular +clearance some months ago, I could not tear up his, although dangerous +ones for me to read unless used as a stimulant to become what he thought +me. His "Jacob" sermon in his own handwriting, I have by me. But more +than all, the memory of his holy life, and his example as a minister of +Christ, have been left behind for us as a sweet, undying fragrance; +his manner in the sick-room--I see him now, and hear that soft, steady, +clear voice repeating verses over my dear mother's death-bed; his +kindly, loving ways to his poor people; his voice and look in the +pulpit, never to be forgotten. I knew I should never see him again in +this world. May God of His mercy take me to be with him hereafter. + +'Thank you, dear Sophy, for writing to me; every word about him is +precious, from his last letter to me:-- + +'"You will believe how sweet it is to me every month now to give the +Holy Eucharist to my three dear ones." + +'"All complaints of old men must be serious." + +'I wish I had more time to write, but I am too busy in the midst of +school, and printing Scripture histories and private prayers, and +translations in Nengone, Bauro, Lifu; and as all my time out of school +is spent in working in the printing office, I really have not a minute +unoccupied. With one exception, I have scarcely ever taken an hour's +walk for some six weeks. A large proportion of the printing is actually +set up by my own fingers; but now one Nengone lad, the flower of my +flock, can help me much--a young man about seventeen or eighteen, +of whom I hope very much--Malo, baptized by the name of Harper, an +excellent young man, and a great comfort to me. He was setting up in +type a part of the little book of private prayers I am now printing for +them. I had just pointed out to him the translation of what would be in +English--"It is good that a man as he lies down to sleep should remember +that that night he may hear the summons of the Angel of God; so then let +him think of his death, and remember the words of St. Paul: 'Awake, thou +that sleepest,'" etc.; when in came the man whom the Archdeacon left +in charge here with my letters. "I hope, sir, there is no bad news for +you;" and my eye lighted on the deep black border of your envelope. + +'To-morrow, if I live, I enter upon my thirty-second year--a solemn +warning I have received to-day, as another year is passing from me. May +some portion of his spirit rest on me to bless my poor attempt to +do what he did so devotedly for more than forty years: his duty as a +soldier and servant of his Lord and Master, into whose joy he has no +doubt now entered. + +'Easter Day.--What an Easter for him! and doubtless we all who will by +and by, as the world rolls round, receive the Holy Eucharist shall be in +some way united to him as well as to all departed saints--members of His +Mystical Body. + +'April 12.--Bishop came out yesterday afternoon from Auckland. After +baptisms at 5, and evening service at 7, sat till past 11 settling +plans: thus, God willing, start this day fortnight to return the +boys--this will occupy about two months; as we come back from the far +north, he will drop one at Lifu, one of the Loyalty Islands, with large +population; he will go on to New Zealand, stay perhaps six weeks in New +Zealand, or it may be two months; so that with the time occupied by his +voyage from Lifu to New Zealand, 1,000 miles and back, he will be away +from Lifu about two and a half or three months. Then, picking me up +(say about September 12), we go on at once to the whole number of our +islands, spending three months or so among them, getting back to New +Zealand about the end of November. So that I shall be in Melanesia, +D.V., from the beginning of May to the end of November. I shall be able +to write once more before we start--letters which you will get by the +June mail from Sydney--and of course I shall send letters by the Bishop +when he leaves me at Lifu. But I shall not be able to hear again from +England till the Bishop comes to pick me up in September. Never mind. I +shall have plenty to do; and I can think of those dear ones at home, and +of you all, in God's keeping, with perfect comfort. The Lifu people are +in a more critical state than any others just now, otherwise I +should probably stop at San Cristoval. A few years ago they were very +wild--cannibals of course; but they are now building chapels, and +thirsting for the living waters. What a privilege and responsibility +to go to them as Christ's minister, to a people longing for the glad +tidings of the Gospel of Peace. Samoan teachers have been for a good +many years among them. + +'I cannot write now to dearest Aunty or Pena. + +'May God bless you and abundantly comfort you.... I think I see his dear +face. I see him always. + +'Your loving cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Cho's wife had arrived in a cart at the College when her baby was a day +old, so rapid is recovery with mothers in those climates. 'I saw the +baby,' observes the journal, quite strong, not dark,--but I don't care +for them till they can talk; on the contrary, I think them a great bore, +especially in wooden houses, where a child with good lungs may easily +succeed in keeping all the inhabitants awake.' + +'April 12.--Settled that I stop at Lifu in the interval between the two +voyages. I think Lifu wants me more than any other island just now. Some +15,000 or 20,000 stretching out their hands to God. The London Mission +(Independent) sent Samoan teachers long ago, but no missionary, even +after frequent applications. At last they applied personally to the +Bishop, he being well known to them of old. I can't go for good, because +I have of course to visit all these islands; but I shall try to spend +all the time that I am not at sea or with boys in New Zealand, perhaps +three months yearly, with them, till they can be provided with a regular +clergyman. + +'So I shall have no letters from you till the return of the vessel to +pick me up in September. But be sure you think of me as very happy and +well cared for, though, I am glad to say, not a white man on the +island; lots of work, but I shall take much exercise and see most of +the inhabitants. The island is large, not so large as Bauro, but still +large. + +'You will say all that is kind to all relations, Buckerell, etc. Thank +the dear old vicar for the spurs, and tell him that I had a battle royal +the other day with a colonial steed, which backed into the bush, and +kicked, and played the fool amazingly, till I considerably astonished +him into a gallop, in the direction I wanted to go, by a vigorous +application of the said spurs. + +'God bless and keep you all. + +'Your loving + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +A few days later he writes:-- + + +'The "Southern Cross," returning to Lifu, will bring my letters; but +unless a stray whaler comes to Lifu while I am there, on its way to +Sydney, that will be the only exchange of letters. I am afraid this will +be an increase of the trial of separation to you all, but it is not +sent until you have learnt to do pretty well without me, and you will be +comforted by knowing that this island of Lifu, with many inhabitants, is +in a very critical state; that what it most wants is a missionary, and +that as far as I am concerned, all the people will be very anxious to do +all they can for me. I take a filter and some tea. We shall have yams, +taro, cocoa-nuts, occasionally a bit of turtle, a fowl, or a bit of +pork. So, you see, I shall live like an alderman; I mean, if I am to +go to every part of the island, heathen and all. Perhaps 20,000 people, +scattered over many miles. I say heathen and all, because only a very +small number of the people now refuse to admit the new teaching. Samoans +have been for some time on the island, and though, I dare say, their +teaching has been very imperfect and only perhaps ten or fifteen people +are baptized, they have chapels, and are far advanced beyond any of the +islands except Nengone and Toke, always excepting Anaiteum. Hence it is +thought the leaven may work quietly in the Solomon Islands without me, +but that at Lifu they really require guidance. So now I have a parochial +charge for three months of an island about twenty-five miles long and +some sixteen or eighteen broad. + +'I feel that my letters, after so long an absence, may contain much to +make me anxious, so that I shall not look with unmixed pleasure to my +return to my great packet; yet I feel much less anxiety than you might +imagine; I know well that you are in God's keeping, and that is enough.' + +After just touching at Nengone early in May the 'Southern Cross' went on +to Lifu, and on landing, the Bishop and Mr. Patteson found a number of +people ready to receive them, and to conduct them to the village, where +the chief and a great number of people were drawn up in a half-circle +to receive them. The young chief, Angadhohua, bowed and touched his hat, +and taking Coley's hand, held it, and whispered, 'We will always live +together.' + +'By and by we will talk about it,' was the answer; and they were taken +to a new house, belonging to one of the Samoans, built of lath plastered +and thatch, with one large room and a lesser one at each of its angles. +There the Bishop and Mr. Patteson sat on a chest, and seventy or eighty +men squatted on mats, John Cho and the native teacher foremost. There +was a five minutes' pause. Lifu was not yet familiar to Coley, who spoke +it less well than he had spoken German, and John Cho said to him: 'Shall +I tell them what you have said to me formerly?' + +He then explained that Mr. Patteson could only offer them a visit of +three or four months, and would then have the charge of lads from 'dark +isles.' + +Silence again; then Angadhohua asked: 'Cannot you stop always?' + +'There are many difficulties which you cannot understand, which prevent +me. Would you like me to shut the door which God has opened to so many +dark lands?' + +'No, no; but why not have the summer school here as well as the winter?' + +'Because it does the lads good to see New Zealand, and because the +Bishop, who knows better than I do, thinks it right.' + +'And cannot we have a missionary?' + +However, they were forced to content themselves with all that could be +granted to them, and it was further explained that Mr. Patteson would +not supersede the native teachers, nor assume the direction of the +Sunday services, only keep a school which any one might join who liked. +This was felt to be only right in good faith to the London Mission, in +order not to make dire confusion if they should be able to fill up the +gap before the Church could. + +After sleeping in the house, Patteson produced the books that had been +printed for them at St. John's. + +'Would that you could have seen their delight! About two pages, +indifferently printed, was all they had hitherto. Now they saw +thirty-two clearly printed 8vo. pages of Bible History, sixteen of +prayers, rubrics, &c., eight of questions and answers. "You see," said +I cunningly; "that we don't forget you during these months that I can't +live among you."' + +They began reading at once, and crying, 'Excellent, exactly right, the +very thing.' + +It was thought good that some one from Lifu should join the Mission +party and testify to their work, and on the invitation, the chief, +Angadhohua, a bright youth of seventeen, volunteered to go. It was an +unexampled thing that a chief should be permitted by his people to +leave them, there was a public meeting about it, and a good deal of +excitement, but it ended in Cho, as spokesman, coming forward with tears +in his eyes, saying, 'Yes, it is right he should go, but bring him back +soon. What shall we do?' + +Patteson laid his hand on the young chief's shoulder, answering, 'God +can guard him by sea as on land, and with His blessing we will bring him +back safe to you. Let some of the chiefs go with him to protect him. I +will watch over him, but you may choose whom you will to accompany him.' + +So five chiefs were selected as a body-guard for the young Angadhohua, +who was prince of all the isle, but on an insecure tenure, for the +French, in New Caledonia, were showing a manifest inclination to annex +the Loyalty group. + +The heavily loaded boat had a perilous strife with the surf before the +ship was reached, and it was a very rough passage to Anaiteum, where +some goods had to be left for Mr. Inglis, and he asked that four Fate +visitors might be taken home. This was done, and Mr. Grordon was visited +at Erromango on the way, and found well and prosperous. + +At Mai, the reception of Petere and Laure was ecstatic. There was a +crowd on shore to meet them, and on the two miles' walk to the village +parties met, hugged, and wept over them. At the village Mr. Patteson +addressed the people for ten minutes, and Petere made an animated +exposition of what he had learnt, and his speeches evidently had great +effect. His younger brother and two little boys all came in his stead, +and would form part of the winter school at Lifu. + +The Espiritu Santo boy, the dunce of the party, was set down at +home, and the Banks Islanders were again found pleasant, honest, and +courteous, thinking, as it appeared afterwards, that the white men were +the departed spirits of deceased friends. A walk inland at Vanua Lava +disclosed pretty villages nestling under banyan trees, one of them +provided with a guest-chamber for visitors from other islands. Two boys, +Sarawia and another, came away to be scholars at Lifu, as well as his +masters in the language, of which he as yet scarcely knew anything, +but which he afterwards found the most serviceable of all these various +dialects. + +The 26th of May brought the vessel to Bauro, where poor old Iri was +told of the death of his son, and had a long talk with Mr. Patteson, +beginning with, 'Do you think I shall see him again?' It was a talk +worth having, though it was purchased by spending a night in the house +with the rats. + +It seemed as though the time were come for calling on the Baurese to +cease to be passive, and sixty or seventy men and women having come +together, Mr. Patteson told them that he did not mean to go on merely +taking their boys to return them with heaps of fish-hooks and knives, +but that, unless they cared for good teaching, to make them good and +happy here and hereafter, he should not come like a trader or a whaler. +That their sons should go backwards and forwards and learn, but to teach +at home; and that they ought to build a holy house, where they might +meet to pray to God and learn His will. + +Much of this was evidently distasteful, though they agreed to build a +room. + +'I think,' he writes, 'that the trial stage of the work has arrived. +This has less to attract outwardly than the first beginning of all, and +as here they must take a definite part, they (the great majority who +are not yet disposed to decide for good) are made manifest, and the +difficulty of displacing evil customs is more apparent.' + +In fact, these amiable, docile Baurese seemed to have little manliness +or resolution of character, and Sumaro, a scholar of 1857, was +especially disappointing, for he pretended to wish to come and learn at +Lifu, but only in order to get a passage to Gera, where he deserted, and +was well lectured for his deceit. + +The Gera people were much more warlike and turbulent, and seemed to have +more substance in them, though less apt at learning. Patteson spent the +night on shore at Perua, a subsidiary islet in the bay, sleeping in a +kind of shed, upon two boards, more comfortably than was usual on these +occasions. Showing confidence was one great point, and the want of safe +anchorage in the bay was much regretted, because the people could not +understand why the vessel would not come in, and thought it betokened +mistrust. Many lads wished to join the scholars, but of those who were +chosen, two were forced violently overboard by their friends, and only +two eventually remained, making a total of twelve pupils for the +winter school at Lifu, with five languages between them--seven with the +addition of the Nengone and Lifu scholars. + +'You see,' writes Patteson on June 10, on the voyage, 'that our +difficulty is in training and organising nations, raising them from +heathenism to the life, morally and socially, of a Christian. This is +what I find so hard. The communication of religious truth by word of +mouth is but a small part of the work. The real difficulty is to do for +them what parents do for their children, assist them to--nay, almost +force upon them--the practical application of Christian doctrine. This +descends to the smallest matters, washing, scrubbing, sweeping, all +actions of personal cleanliness, introducing method and order, habits +of industry, regularity, giving just notions of exchange, barter, trade, +management of criminals, division of labour. To do all this and yet not +interfere with the offices of the chief, and to be the model and pattern +of it, who is sufficient for it?' + +On June 16, Mr. Patteson was landed at Lifu, for his residence there, +with the five chiefs, his twelve boys, and was hospitably welcomed to +the large new house by the Samoan. He and four boys slept in one of the +corner rooms, the other eight lads in another, the Rarotongan teacher, +Tutoo, and his wife in a third. The central room was parlour, school, +and hall, and as it had four unglazed windows, and two doors opposite +to each other, and the trade-wind always blowing, the state of affairs +after daylight was much like that which prevailed in England when King +Alfred invented lanterns, while in the latter end of June the days were, +of course, as short as they could be on the tropic of Capricorn, so that +Patteson got up in the dark at 5-30 in the morning. + +At 7 the people around dropped in for prayers, which he thought it +better not to conduct till his position was more defined. Then came +breakfast upon yams cooked by being placed in a pit lined with heated +stones, with earth heaped over the top. Mr. and Mrs. Tutoo, with their +white guest, sat at the scrap of a table, 'which, with a small stool, +was the only thing on four legs in the place, except an occasional +visitor in the shape of a pig.' Then followed school. Two hundred Lifu +people came, and it was necessary to hold it in the chapel. One o'clock, +dinner on yams, and very rarely on pig or a fowl, baked or rather done +by the same process; and in the afternoon some reading and slate work +with the twelve Melanesians, and likewise some special instruction to a +few of the more promising Lifuites. At 6.30, another meal of yams, but +this time Patteson had recourse to his private store of biscuit; and the +evening was spent in talk, till bedtime at 9 or 9.30. It was a thorough +sharing the native life; but after a few more experiments, it was found +that English strength could not be kept up on an exclusive diet of +yams, and the Loyalty Isles are not fertile. They are nothing but rugged +coral, in an early stage of development; great ridges, upheaved, bare +and broken, and here and there with pits that have become filled with +soil enough to grow yams and cocoa-nuts. + +The yams--except those for five of the lads, whose maintenance some of +the inhabitants had undertaken--were matter of purchase, and formed the +means of instruction in the rules of lawful exchange. A fixed weight of +yams were to constitute prepayment for a pair of trousers, a piece of +calico, a blanket, tomahawk, or the like, and all this was agreed to, +Cho being a great assistance in explaining and dealing with his people. +But it proved very difficult to keep them up to bringing a sufficient +supply, and as they had a full share of the universal spirit of +haggling, the commissariat was a very harassing and troublesome +business, and as to the boys, it was evident that the experiment was +not successful. Going to New Zealand was seeing the world. Horses, +cows, sheep, a town, soldiers, &c., were to be seen there, whereas Lifu +offered little that they could not see at home, and schooling without +novelty was tedious. Indeed, the sight of civilised life, the being +taken to church, the kindness of the friends around the College, were no +slight engines in their education; but the Lifu people were not advanced +enough to serve as an example--except that they had renounced the more +horrible of their heathen habits. They were in that unsettled state +which is peculiarly trying in the conversion of nations, when the old +authoritative customs have been overthrown, and the Christian rules not +established. + +It was a good sign that the respect for the chief was not diminished. +One evening an English sailor (for there turned out to be three whites +on the island) who was employed in the sandal-wood trade was in the +house conversing with Tutoo, when Angadhohua interrupted him, and he--in +ignorance of the youth's rank--pushed him aside out of the way. The +excitement was great. A few years previously the offender would have +been killed on the spot, and as it was, it was only after apology and +explanation of his ignorance that he was allowed to go free; but an +escort was sent with him to a place twenty miles off lest any one should +endeavour to avenge the insult, not knowing it had been forgiven. + +Many of the customs of these Loyalty Isles are very unhealthy, and +the almost exclusive vegetable diet produced a low habit of body, that +showed itself in all manner of scrofulous diseases, especially tumours, +under which the sufferer wasted and died. Much of Patteson's time was +taken up by applications from these poor creatures, who fancied him +sure to heal them, and had hardly the power, certainly not the will, to +follow his advice. + +Nor had he any authority. He only felt himself there on sufferance +till the promised deputation should come from Rarotonga from the London +Mission, to decide whether the island should be reserved by them, or +yielded to the Church. Meantime he says on Sunday:-- + +'Tutoo has had a pretty hard day's work of it, poor fellow, and he is +anything but strong. At 9.30 we all went to the chapel, which began by +a hymn sung as roughly as possible, but having rather a fine effect from +the fact of some 400 or 500 voices all singing in unison. Then a long +extemporary prayer, then another hymn, then a sermon nearly an hour +long. It ought not to have taken more than a quarter of an hour, but it +was delivered very slowly, with endless repetitions, otherwise there was +some order and arrangement about it. Another hymn brought the service to +an end about 11. But his work was not done; school instantly succeeded +in the same building, and though seven native teachers were working +their classes, the burthen of it fell on him. School was concluded +with a short extemporary prayer. At three, service again--hymn, prayer, +another long sermon, hymn, and at last we were out of chapel, there +being no more school.' + +'To be sure,' is the entry on another Sunday, 'little thought I of old +that Sunday after Sunday I should frequent an Independent chapel. As for +extemporary prayer not being a form, that is absurd. These poor fellows +just repeat their small stock of words over and over again, and but +that they are evidently in earnest, it would seem shockingly irreverent +sometimes. Most extravagant expressions! Tutoo is a very simple, +humble-minded man, and I like him much. He would feel the help and +blessing of a Prayer-book, poor fellow, to be a guide to him; but even +the Lord's Prayer is never heard among them.' + +So careful was Mr. Patteson not to offend the men who had first worked +on these islands, that on one Sunday when Tutoo was ill, he merely +gave a skeleton of a sermon to John Cho to preach. On the 27th of July, +however, the deputation arrived in the 'John Williams'--two ministers, +and Mr. Creagh on his way back to Nengone, and the upshot of the +conference on board, after a dinner in the house of Apollo, the native +teacher, was that as they had no missionary for Lifu, they made no +objection to Mr. Patteson working there at present, and that if in +another year they received no reinforcement from home, they would take +into consideration the making over their teachers to him. 'My position +is thus far less anomalous, my responsibility much increased. God will, +I pray and trust, strengthen me to help the people and build them up in +the faith of Christ.' + +'August 2.--Yesterday I preached my two first Lifu sermons; rather +nervous, but I knew I had command of the language enough to explain my +meaning, and I thought over the plan of my sermons and selected texts. +Fancy your worthy son stuck up in a pulpit, without any mark of the +clergyman save white tie and black coat, commencing service with a hymn, +then reading the second chapter of St. Matthew, quite new to them, then +a prayer, extemporary, but practically working in, I hope, the principle +and much of the actual language of the Prayer-book--i.e. Confession, +prayer for pardon, expression of belief and praise--then another hymn, +the sermon about forty minutes. Text: "I am the Way," &c. Afternoon: +"Thy Word is a lantern unto my feet." + +'You can easily understand how it was simple work to point out that a +man lost his way by his sin, and was sent out from dwelling with God; +the recovery of the way by which we may again return to Paradise is +practically the one great event which the whole Bible is concerned in +teaching. The subject admitted of any amount of illustration and +any amount of reference to the great facts of Scripture history, and +everything converges to the Person of Christ. I wish them to see clearly +the great points--first, God's infinite love, and the great facts by +which He has manifested His Love from the very first, till the coming +of Christ exhibited most clearly the infinite wisdom and love by which +man's return to Paradise has been effected. + +'Significant is that one word to the thief on the Cross "Paradise." The +way open again; the guardian angel no longer standing with flaming sword +in the entrance; admission to the Tree of Life.' + +'The services were much shorter than usual, chiefly because I don't +stammer and bungle, and take half an hour to read twenty verses of the +Bible, and also because I discarded all the endless repetitions and +unmeaning phrases, which took up half the time of their unmeaning +harangues. About an hour sufficed for the morning-service; the evening +one might have been a little longer. I feel quite at my ease while +preaching, and John told me it was all very clear; but the prayers--oh! +I did long for one of our Common Prayer-books.' + +One effect of the Independent system began to reveal itself strongly. +How could definite doctrines be instilled into the converts by teachers +with hardly any books, and no formula to commit to memory? What was the +faith these good Samoans knew and taught? + +'No doctrinal belief exists among them,' writes Patteson, in the third +month of his stay. 'A man for years has been associated with those who +are called "the people that seek Baptism." He comes to me:-- + +'J. G. P. 'Who instituted baptism? + +'A. Jesus. + +'J. G. P. And He sent His Apostles to baptize in the Name of Whom? + +'Dead silence. + +'"Why do you wish to be baptized?" + +'"To live." + +'"All that Jesus has done for us, and given to us, and taught us, is for +that object. What is the particular benefit we receive in baptism?" 'No +conception.' Such is their state. + +'I would not hesitate if I thought there were any implicit recognition +of the doctrine of the Trinity; but I can't baptize people morally good +who don't know the Name into which they are to be baptized, who can't +tell me that Jesus is God and man. There is a lad who soon must die of +consumption, whom I now daily examine. He has not a notion of any truth +revealed from above, and to be embraced and believed as truth upon the +authority of God's Word. A kind of vague morality is the substitute for +the Creed of the Apostles. What am I to do? I did speak out for three +days consecutively pretty well, but I am alone, and only here for four +months, and yet, I fear, I am expecting too much from them, and that +I ought to be content with something much less as the (so to speak) +qualifications; but surely they ought to repent and believe. To say the +word, "I believe," without a notion of what they believe, surely that +won't do. They must be taught, and then baptized, according to our +Lord's command, suited for adults.' + +Constant private teaching to individuals was going on, and the 250 +copies of the Lifu primer were dispersed where some thousands were +wanted, and Mr. Patteson wrote a little book of sixteen pages, +containing the statement of the outlines of the faith, and of Scripture +history; but this could not be dispersed till it had been printed in New +Zealand. + +And in the meantime a fresh element of perplexity was arising. The +French had been for some time past occupying New Caledonia, and a bishop +had been sent thither about the same time as Bishop Selwyn had gone to +New Zealand; but though an earnest and hardworking man, he had never +made much progress. He had the misfortune of being connected in the +people's minds with French war ships and aggression, and, moreover, the +South Sea race seem to have a peculiar distaste for the Roman Catholic +branch of the Church, for which it is not easy to account. + +The Loyalty Isles, as lying so near to New Caledonia, were tempting to +the French Empire, and the Bishop at the same time felt it his duty to +attempt their conversion. + +Some priests had been placed at the north end of the island for about +six months past, but the first communication was a letter on July +6, complaining, partly in French, partly in English, that since Mr. +Patteson's arrival, the people had been making threatening reports. +Now Mr. Patteson had from the first warned them against showing any +unkindness to the French priests, and he wrote a letter of explanation, +and arranged to go and hold a conference. On the way, while supping with +the English sailor, at the village where he was to sleep, he heard a +noise, and found the Frenchman, Pere Montrouzier, had arrived. He was +apparently about forty; intelligent, very experienced in mission work, +and conversant with the habits and customs of French and English in +the colonies; moreover, with plenty of firmness in putting forward his +cause. He seems to have been supported by the State in a manner unusual +with French missions. + +'I had one point only that I was determined to press (Patteson says), +namely, liberty to the people to follow any form of religion they might +choose to adopt. I knew that they and I were completely in his power, +yet that my line was to assume that we were now about to arrange our +plans for the future independently of any interference from the civil +power. + +'He let me see that he knew he could force upon the Lifu people whatever +he pleased, the French Government having promised him any number of +soldiers he may send for to take possession, if necessary, of the +island. They have 1,000 men in New Caledonia, steamers and frigates of +war; and he told me plainly that this island and Nengone are considered +as natural appendages of New Caledonia, and practically French +possessions already, so that, of course, to attempt doing more than +secure for the people a religious liberty is out of the question. He +promised me that if the people behaved properly to him and his people, +he would not send for the soldiers, nor would he do anything to +interfere with the existing state of the island. + +'He will not himself remain here long, being commissioned, in +consequence of his fourteen years' experience, to prepare the way for +the French mission here. He told me that twenty missionaries are coming +out for this group, about seven or eight of whom will be placed on Lifu, +others on Nengone, &c.; that the French Government is determined to +support them; that the Commandant of Nimia in New Caledonia had sent +word to him that any number of men should be sent to him at an instant's +notice, in a war steamer, to do what he might wish in Lifu, but that +honestly he would do nothing to compel the people here to embrace +Romanism; but that if necessary he would use force to establish the +missionaries in houses in different parts of the island, if the chiefs +refused to sell them parcels of land, for instance, one acre. The +captain of the "Iris," an English frigate, called on him on Monday, and +sent me a letter by him, making it quite clear that the French will meet +with no opposition from the English Government. He too knew this, and +of course knew his power; but he behaved, I must say, well, and if he +is really sincere about the liberty of religion question, I must be +satisfied with the result of our talk. I was much tired. We slept +together on a kind of bed in an unfurnished house, where I was so cold +that I could not sleep; besides, my head ached much; so my night was +not a very pleasant one. In the morning we resumed our talk, but the +business was over really. The question that we had discussed the evening +before was brought to an issue, however, by his requiring from John +Cho, who was with us, permission to buy about an acre of land in his +territory. John was much staggered at this. It looked to him like a +surrender of his rights. I told him, at great length, why I thought he +must consent; but finally it was settled, that as John is not the real +chief, I should act as interpreter for the Frenchmen; and send him from +Mu an answer to a letter which he addresses to me, but which is, in +fact, intended for the chief. + +'It is, I suppose, true, that civilised nations do not acknowledge the +right of a chief to prevent any one of his subjects from selling a +plot of his land to a foreigner unless they may be at war with that +particular nation. + +'He said that France would not allow a savage chief to say "My custom in +this respect is different from yours;" and again, "This is not a taking +possession. It is merely requiring the right to put up a cottage for +which I pay the just price." He told me plainly, if the chiefs did not +allow him to do so, he would send for soldiers and put it up by force; +but not use the soldiers for any other purpose. Of course I shall relate +all this to Angadhohua at Mu, and make them consent. + +'He told me that at New Caledonia they had reserved inalienably +one-tenth of the land for the natives, that the rest would be sold to +French colonists of the poor class, no one possessing more than ten +acres; that 5,000 convicts would be sent there, and the ticket-of-leave +system adopted, and that he thought the worst and most incorrigible +characters would be sent to Lifu. Poor John! But I can't help him; he +must make such terms as he can, for he and his people are wholly in +their power. + +'Our talk being ended, I found a great circle of men assembled on the +outside with a pile of yams as usual in the centre for me. I was glad +to see a small pile also for the Frenchman. I made my speech in his +presence, but he knows not Lifu. "Be kind to the French, give them food +and lodging. This is a duty which you are bound to pay to all men; +but if they try to persuade you to change the teaching which you have +received, don't listen to them. Who taught you to leave off war and evil +habits, to build chapels, to pray? Remember that. Trust the teachers who +have taught you the Word of God." + +'This was the kind of thing I said. Then off we set--two miles of loose +sand at a rattling pace, as I wanted to shake off some 200 people who +were crowding about me. Then turning to the west, climbed some coral +rocks very quickly, and found myself with only half my own attendants, +and no strangers. Sat down, drank a cocoa-nut, and waited a long time +for John, who can't walk well, and then quietly went on the remaining +eight or nine miles to Zebedee's place, a Samoan teacher. They were +very attentive, and gave me some supper. They had a bed, which was, of +course, given up to me in spite of opposition. They regard a missionary +as something superhuman almost. Sometimes I can't make them eat and +drink with me; they think it would be presumptuous. Large meeting of +people in the afternoon, and again the following morning, to whom I said +much what I had already said at We. Then fifteen miles over to Apollo's +place on the west coast, a grand bay, with perfectly calm water, +delicious in the winter months. Comfortable quarters; Apollo a +cleverish, free-spoken fellow. + +'I went, on the same afternoon, two miles of very bad road to visit +the French priest, who is living here. More talk and of a very friendly +nature. He has been eighteen months at San Cristoval, but knows not the +language; at Woodlark Island, New Caledonia, &c. We talked in French +and English. He knows English fairly, but preferred to talk French. This +day's work was nineteen miles. + +Slept at Apollo's. Next morning went a little way in canoes and walked +six miles to Toma's place; meeting held, speech as usual, present of +yams, pig, &c. Walked back the six miles, started in double canoe for +Gaicha, the other side of the bay: wind cold, some difficulty in getting +ashore. Walked by the bad path to Apollo's and slept there again; +Frenchman came in during the evening. Next day, Friday, meeting in the +chapel. Walked twenty miles back to We, where I am now writing. Went the +twenty miles with no socks; feet sore and shoes worn to pieces, cutting +off leather as I came along. Nothing but broken bottles equals jagged +coral. Paths went so that you never take three steps in the same +direction, and every minute trip against logs, coral hidden by long +leaves, arid weeds trailing over the path. Often for half a mile you +jump from one bit of coral to another. No shoes can stand it, and I was +tired, I assure you. Indeed, for the last two days, if I stopped for a +minute to drink a nut, my legs were so stiff that they did not get into +play for five minutes or so. + +'July 16th.--The captain of the "Iris" frigate passing Lifu dropped me +a line which satisfied me that the French will meet with no impediment +from the English Government in the prosecution of their plans out here. +Well, this makes one's own path just as easy, because all these things, +great and small, are ordered for us; but yet I grieve to think that we +might be occupying these groups with missionaries. Even ten good men +would do for a few years; and is it unreasonable to think that ten +men might be found willing to engage in such a happy work in such a +beautiful part of the world--no yellow fever, no snakes, &c. I think +of the Banks Islands, Vanua Lava, with its harbour and streams, and +abundance of food, and with eight or nine small islands round it, +speaking the same language, few dialectic differences of consequence, as +I believe. + +'Even one good man might introduce religion here as we have received it, +pure and undefiled. Oh! that there were men who could believe this, +and come out unconditionally, placing themselves in the Bishop's hands +unreservedly. He must know the wants and circumstances of the islands +far better than they can, and therefore no man ought to stipulate as to +his location, &c. Did the early teachers do so? Did Titus ever think of +saying to St. Paul, "Mind I must be an elder, or bishop, or whatever he +was, of Crete?" Just as if that frame of mind was compatible with a real +desire to do what little one can by God's help to bring the heathen to a +knowledge of Christ. + +'At this moment, one man for the Banks group and another for Mai and the +neighbouring islands would be invaluable. If anything occurs to make me +leave these Loyalty Islands as my residence during a part of the year, +I am off to Banks, or Mai, or Solomon Isles. But what am I? In many +respects not so well qualified for the work as many men who yet, +perhaps, have had a less complete education. I know nothing of +mechanics, and can't teach common things; I am not apt to teach +anything, I fear, having so long deferred to learn the art of teaching, +but of course exposing one's own shortcomings is easy enough. How to get +the right sort of men? First qualification is common-sense, guided, of +course, by religious principle. Some aptitude for languages, but that is +of so little consequence that I would almost say no one was sufficient +by itself as a qualification. Of course the mission work tends immensely +to improve all earnest men; the eccentricities and superfluities +disappear by degrees as the necessary work approves itself to the +affection and intellect.' + +The French question resulted in a reply in Angadhohua's name, that the +people should be permitted to sell ground where the mission required it; +and that in the one place specified about which there was contention, +the land should be ceded as a gift from the chiefs. 'This,' observes +Mr. Patteson, 'is the first negotiation which has been thrust upon me. I +more than suspect I have made considerable blunders.' + +By the 13th of August, he had to walk over the coral jags for another +consultation with Pere Montrouzier, whose negotiation with Cho had +resulted in thorough misunderstanding, each thinking the other was +deceiving him, and not dealing according to promise to Mr. Patteson. The +Pere had, in his fourteen years' experience, imbibed a great distrust +of the natives, and thought Mr. Patteson placed too much confidence +in them, while the latter thought him inclined to err the other way; +however, matters were accommodated, at heavy cost to poor Coley's feet. +A second pair of shoes were entirely cut to pieces, and he could not put +any on the next day, his feet were so blistered. + +The troubles were not ended, for when the ground was granted, there +followed a stipulation that the chiefs should not hinder the men from +working at the building; and when the men would not work, the chiefs +were suspected of preventing it, and a note from Pere Montrouzier +greatly wounded Patteson's feelings by calling John Cho faux et +artificieux. + +However, after another note, he retracted this, and a day or two after +came the twenty miles over the coral to make a visit to the English +clergyman. 'There is much to like in him: a gentleman, thoroughly +well informed, anxious of course to discuss controversial points, and +uncommonly well suited for that kind of work, he puts his case well and +clearly, and, of course, it is easy to make their system appear most +admirably adapted for carrying out all the different duties of a Church, +as it is consistent in all, or nearly all, particulars, given the one +or two leading points on which all depend. The Church of England here +is very much in the position of any one of those other bodies, Wesleyan, +Independent, or Presbyterian; and though we have a Bishop at the +head--of what, however? Of one individual clergyman! Oh, that we had now +a good working force--twenty or thirty men with some stuff in them; and +there are plenty if they would only come. Meanwhile, France sends plenty +of men; steamers bring them houses, cows for themselves and as presents +for natives--supports the missionary in every way. New Caledonia is +handy for the central school, everything almost that can be requisite. +Never mind; work on, one small life is a mighty trifling thing +considered with reference to those great schemes overruled by God to +bring out of them great ultimate good, no doubt.' + +There was an interchange of books between the French and English priest. +Pere Montrouzier lent, and finally gave, Martinet's 'Solution de Grands +Problemes,' which Patteson calls 'a very interesting book, with a +great deal of dry humour about it, not unlike Newman's more recent +publications. "It is," he (Montrouzier) says, "thought very highly of in +France." He is a well-read man, I should imagine, in his line; and that +is pretty extensive, for he is a really scientific naturalist, something +of a geologist, a good botanist, besides having a good acquaintance with +ecclesiastical literature.' + +There was the more time for recreation with the Pere's French books, +and the serious work of translating St. Mark's Grospel and part of the +Litany into Lifu, as the inhabitants were all called off from school +in the middle of August 'by a whale being washed ashore over a barrier +reef--not far from me. All the adjacent population turned out in grass +kilts, with knives and tomahawks to hack off chunks of flesh to be +eaten, and of blubber to be boiled into oil; and in the meantime the +neighbourhood was by no means agreeable to anyone possessing a nose.' + +Meanwhile Sarawia, the best of the Banks pupils, had a swelling on the +knee, and required care and treatment, but soon got better. Medical +knowledge, as usual, Patteson felt one of the great needs of missionary +life. Cases of consumption and scrofula were often brought to him, +and terrible abscesses, under which the whole body wasted away. 'Poor +people!' he writes, 'a consumptive hospital looms in the far perspective +of my mind; a necessary accompaniment, I feel now, of the church and the +school in early times. I wish I could contrive some remedy for the dry +food, everything being placed between leaves and being baked on the +ground, losing all the gravy; and when you get a chicken it is a +collection of dry strings. If I could manage boiling; but there is +nothing like a bit of iron for fire-place on the island, and to keep +up the wood fire in the bush under the saucepan is hard work. I must +commence a more practical study than hitherto of "Robinson Crusoe," +and the "Swiss Family." Why does no missionary put down hints on the +subject? My three months here will teach me more than anything that has +happened to me, and I dare say I shall get together the things I want +most when next I set forth from New Zealand.... I find it a good plan to +look on from short periods to short periods, and always ask, what next? +And at last it brings one to the real answer:--Work as hard as you can, +and that rest which lacks no ingredient of perfect enjoyment and peace +will come at last.' + +Among the needs he discovered was this:--'By the bye, good cheap Bible +prints would be very useful; large, so as to be seen by a large class, +illustrating just the leading ideas. Schnorr's Bible prints by Rose and +Bingen are something of the kind that I mean, something quite rude will +do. Twenty-four subjects, comprising nothing either conventional or +symbolical, would be an endless treasure for teachers; the intervening +history would be filled up and illustrated by smaller pictures, but +these would be pegs on which to hang the great events these lads ought +to know. Each should be at least twenty-four inches by ten. + +'Try to remember, in the choice of any other picture books for them, +that anything that introduces European customs is no use yet. Pictures +of animals are the best things. One or two of a railway, a great bridge, +a view of the Thames with steamers rushing up and down, would all +do; but all our habits of social life are so strange that they don't +interest them yet. + +'When I next reach Auckland, I suppose my eyes will rejoice at +seeing your dear old likenesses. When we build our permanent central +school-house at Kohimarama, I shall try to get a little snuggery, and +then furnish it with a few things comfortably; I shall then invest in a +chest of drawers, as I dare say my clothes are getting tired of living +in boxes since March 1855. + +'I can hardly tell you how much I regret not knowing something about the +treatment of simple surgical cases. If when with W---- I had studied the +practical--bled, drawn teeth, mixed medicines, rolled legs perpetually, +it would have been worth something. Surely I might have foreseen all +this! I really don't know how to find the time or the opportunity +for learning. How true it is that men require to be trained for their +particular work! I am now just in a position to know what to learn were +I once more in England. Spend one day with old Fry (mason), another with +John Venn (carpenter), and two every week at the Exeter hospital, and +not look on and see others work--there's the mischief, do it oneself. +Make a chair, a table, a box; fit everything; help in every part of +making and furnishing a house, that is, a cottage. Do enough of every +part to be able to do the whole. Begin by felling a tree; saw it into +planks, mix the lime, see the right proportion of sand, &c., know how to +choose a good lot of timber, fit handles for tools, &c. + +'Many trades need not be attempted; but every missionary ought to be a +carpenter, a mason, something of a butcher, and a good deal of a cook. +Suppose yourself without a servant, and nothing for dinner to-morrow but +some potatoes in the barn, and a fowl running about in the yard. That's +the kind of thing for a young fellow going into a new country to imagine +to himself. If a little knowledge of glazing could be added, it would be +a grand thing, just enough to fit in panes to window-frames, which last, +of course, he ought to make himself. Much of this cannot be done for +you. I can buy window-frames in Auckland, and glass; but I can't carry +a man a thousand miles in my pocket to put that glass into these frames; +and if it is done in New Zealand, ten to one it gets broken on the +voyage; whereas, glass by itself will pack well. Besides, a pane gets +broken, and then I am in a nice fix. To know how to tinker a bit is a +good thing; else your only saucepan or tea-kettle may be lying by you +useless for months. In fact, if I had known all this before, I should +be just ten times as useful as I am now. If anyone you know thinks of +emigrating or becoming a missionary, just let him remember this.' + +To these humble requisites, it appears that a missionary ought on +occasion to be able to add those of a prime minister and lawgiver. +Angadhohua, a bright, clever lad, only too easily led, was to be +instructed in the duties of a chief; Mr. Patteson scrupulously trying +in vain to make him understand that he was a person of far more +consideration and responsibility than his white visitor would be in his +own country. The point was to bring the Christian faith into connection +with life and government. 'Much talk have I had with John in order that +we may try to put before them the true grounds on which they ought +to embrace Christianity,' writes Mr. Patteson, when about to visit a +heathen district which had shown an inclination to abandon their old +customs, 'and also the consequences to which they pledge themselves by +the profession of a religion requiring purity, regularity, industry, +&c., but I have little doubt that our visit now will result in the +nominal profession of Christianity by many heathen. Angadhohua, John, +and I go together, and Isaka, a Samoan teacher who has been a good deal +among them. I shall make an arrangement for taking one of their leading +men to New Zealand with me, that he may get some notion of what is meant +by undertaking to become a Christian. It is in many respects a great +benefit to be driven back upon the very first origin of a Christian +society; one sees more than ever the necessity of what our Lord has +provided, a living organised community into which the baptized convert +being introduced falls into his place, as it were, naturally; sees +around him everything at all times to remind him that he is a regenerate +man, that all things are become new. A man in apostolic times had the +lessons of the Apostles and disciples practically illustrated in the +life of those with whom he associated. The church was an expression of +the verbal teaching committed to its ministers. How clearly the +beauty of this comes out when one is forced to feel the horrible blank +occasioned by the absence of the living teacher, influencing, moulding, +building up each individual professor of Christianity by a process +always going on, though oftentimes unconsciously to him on whom it +operates. + +'But how is the social life to be fashioned here in Lifu according to +the rule of Christ? There is no organised body exemplifying in daily +actions the teaching of the Bible. A man goes to chapel and hears +something most vague and unmeaning. He has never been taught to grasp +anything distinctly--to represent any truth to his mind as a settled +resting-place for his faith. Who is to teach him? What does he see +around him to make him imperceptibly acquire new habits in conformity +with the Bible? Is the Christian community distinguished by any habits +of social order and intercourse different from non-Christians? + +'True, they don't fight and eat one another now, but beyond that are +they elevated as men? The same dirt, the same houses, the same idle +vicious habits; in most cases no sense of decency, or but very little. +Where is the expression of the Scriptural life? Is it not a most +lamentable state of things? And whence has it arisen? From not +connecting Christian teaching in church with the improvement in social +life in the hut and village, which is the necessary corollary and +complement of such teaching. + +'By God's grace, I trust that some little simple books in Lifu will +soon be in their houses, which may be useful. It is even a cause for +thankfulness that in a few days (for the "Southern Cross" ought to be +here in a week with 500 more copies) some 600 or more copies, in large +type, of the Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments will be in +circulation; but they won't use them yet. They won't be taught to learn +them by heart, and be questioned upon them; yet they may follow by and +by. Hope on is the rule. Give them the Bible, is the cry; but you must +give them the forms of faith and prayer which Christendom has accepted, +to guide them; and oh! that we were so united that we could baptize them +into a real living exemplification, and expression--an embodiment of +Christian truth, walking, sleeping, eating and drinking before their +eyes. Christ Himself was that on earth, and His Church ought to be now. +These men saw to accept His teaching was to bind themselves to a +certain course of life which was exhibited before their own eyes. Hence, +multitudes approved His teaching, but would not accept it--would not +profess it, because they saw what was involved in that profession. But +now men don't count the cost; they forget that "If any man come to Me" +is followed by "Which of you intending to build a tower," &c. Hence the +great and exceeding difficulty in these latter days when Christianity is +popular!' + +In this state of things it was impossible to baptize adults till they +had come to a much clearer understanding of what a Christian ought to do +and to believe; and therefore Coley's only christenings in Lifu were of +a few dying children, whom he named after his brother and sisters, as +he baptized them with water, brought in cocoa-nut shells, having taught +himself to say by heart his own translation of the baptismal form. + +He wrote the following letter towards the end of his stay:-- + + +'September 6, 1858: Lifu, Loyalty Islands. + +'My dear Miss Neill,--The delay of four or five days in the arrival of +the "Southern Cross" gives me a chance of writing you a line. The Bishop +dropped me here this day three months, and told me to look out for him +on September 1. As New Zealand is 1,000 miles off, and he can't command +winds and waves, of course I allow him a wide margin; and I begged him +not to hurry over my important business in New Zealand in order to keep +his appointment exactly. But his wont is to be very punctual. I have +here twelve lads from the north-west islands: from seven islands, +speaking six languages. The plan of bringing them to a winter school in +some tropical isle is now being tried. The only difficulty here is that +Lifu is so large and populous; and just now (what with French priests on +it, and the most misty vague kind of teaching from Independents the only +thing to oppose to the complete machinery of the Romish system) demands +so much time, that it is difficult to do justice to one's lads from +the distant lands that are living with one here. The Bishop had an +exaggerated notion of the population here. I imagine it to be somewhere +about 8,000. The language is not very hard, but has quite enough +difficulty to make it more than a plaything: the people in that state +when they venerate a missionary--a very dangerous state; I do my best to +turn the reverence into the right channel and towards its proper object. + +'You will see by the last Melanesian report of which I desired a copy to +be sent to you, that our work is very rapidly increasing; that openings +are being made in all directions; and that had we men of trust, we could +occupy them at once. As it is, we keep up a communication with some +seventy-four islands, waiting, if it may be, that men may be sent, +trying to educate picked men to be teachers; but I am not very sanguine +about that. At all events, the first flush of savage customs, &c., is +being, I trust, removed, so that for some other body of Christians, if +not the Church of England, the door may be laid open. + +'Of course, the interest of the work is becoming more and more +absorbing; so that, much as there is indeed going on in your world to +distract and grieve one, it comes to me so weakened by time and distance +that I don't sympathise as I ought with those who are suffering so +dreadfully from the Indian Mutiny, or the commercial failure, or the +great excitement and agitation of the country. You can understand how +this can be, perhaps; for my actual present work leaves me small leisure +for reflecting, and for placing myself in the position of others at +a distance; and when I have a moment's time surely it is right that I +should be in heart at Feniton, with those dear ones, and especially my +dear dear father, of whom I have not heard for five months, so that I am +very anxious as to what account of him the "Southern Cross" may bring, +and try to prepare myself for news of increased illness, &c. + +'You, I imagine, my dear Miss Neill, are not much changed to those who +see you day by day; but I should find you much weaker in body than when +I saw you last, and yet it did not seem then as if you had much strength +to lose: I don't hear of any sudden changes, or any forms of illness; +the gradual exhausting process is going on, but accompanied, I fear, +with even greater active pain than of old; your sufferings are indeed +very severe and very protracted, a great lesson to us all. Yet you have +much, even speaking only of worldly comfort, which makes your position a +much happier one than that of the poor suffering souls whom I see here. +Their house is one round room, a log burning in the centre, no chimney, +the room full of smoke, common receptacle of men, women, boys, girls, +pigs, and fowls. In the corner a dying woman or child. No water in the +island that is fresh, a few holes in the coral where water accumulates, +more or less brackish; no cleanliness, no quiet, no cool fresh air, hot +smoky atmosphere, no proper food, a dry bit of yam, and no knowledge of +a life to come: such is the picture of the invalided or dying South Sea +Islander. All dying children under years of discretion I baptize, and +all the infants brought to the chapel by parents who themselves are +seeking baptism; but I have not baptized any adults yet, they must +be examined and taught for some time, for the Samoan and Rarotongan +teachers sent by the Independent missionaries are very imperfectly +instructed and quite incapable of conveying definite teaching to them. + +'I don't see, humanly speaking, how this island is to be kept from +becoming purely Roman Catholic. They have a large staff of men, and are +backed up by the presence of a complete government establishment in +New Caledonia, only two or three days distant, while what have we? Four +months a year of the time, partially otherwise occupied by Melanesian +schools, of one missionary, and while here these four months, I have my +lads from many islands to teach, so that I can't lay myself out to learn +this one language, &c. I am writing this on September 16. "Southern +Cross" not yet come, and my lads very anxious; I confess I should like +to see it, not only (as you will believe) because all my stores are +gone. I have not a morsel of biscuit or grain of sugar left, and am +reduced to native fare, which does not suit my English constitution for +very long. Yams and taro, and a fowl now and then, will be my food until +the ship comes. Hitherto I have had coffee and biscuits in addition. + +'My very kind love to Mrs. S ----, and many thanks for the letters, +which I much enjoy. + +'Your very affectionate old pupil, + +'J. C. P.' + + +The whole of September passed without the arrival of the 'Southern +Cross.' The fact was that after Mr. Patteson had been left at Lifu, +the vessel when entering Port-au-France, New Caledonia, had come upon +a coral reef, and the damage done to her sheathing was so serious that +though she returned to Auckland from that trip, she could not sail again +without fresh coppering; and as copper had to be brought from Sydney +for the purpose, there was considerable delay before she could set +forth again, so that it was not till the last day of September that she +gladdened Patteson's eyes, and brought the long-desired tidings from +home. + +This voyage was necessarily short, as there were appointments to be kept +by the Bishop in New Zealand in November, and all that could be aimed at +was the touching at the more familiar islands for fresh instalments +of scholars. The grand comet of 1858 was one feature of this +expedition--which resulted in bringing home forty-seven Melanesians, +so that with the crew, there were sixty-three souls on board during the +homeward voyage! + +'As you may suppose, the little "Southern Cross" is cram full, but the +Bishop's excellent arrangements in the construction of the vessel for +securing ventilation, preserve us from harm by God's blessing. Every day +a thorough cleaning and sweeping goes on, and frequent washing, and as +all beds turn up like the flap of a table, and some thirty lads sleep +on the floor on mats and blankets, by 7 A.M. all traces of the night +arrangements have vanished. The cabin looks and feels airy; meals go on +regularly; the boys living chiefly on yams, puddings, and cocoa-nuts, +and plenty of excellent biscuit. We laid in so many cocoa-nuts that they +have daily one apiece, a great treat to them. A vessel of this size, +unless arranged with special reference to such objects, could not +carry safely so large a party, but we have nothing on board to create, +conceal, or accumulate dirt; no hold, no storeroom, no place where +a mixed mess of spilt flour, and sugar, and treacle, and old rotten +potatoes, and cocoa-nut parings and bits of candle, can all be washed +together into a dark foul hold; hence the whole ship, fore and aft, is +sweet and clean. Stores are kept in zinc lockers puttied down, and in +cedar boxes lined with zinc. We of course distribute them ourselves; a +hired steward would be fatal, because you can't get a servant to see the +importance of care in such details.' + +Mr. Patteson always, in the most careful manner, paid respect both to +the chief's person and his dicta. He declined more than once to give +directions which he said ought to issue from the chief, although on one +of these occasions he was asked by the chief himself. He foresaw clearly +the evils that might follow if the people's respect for recognised +authority were weakened, instead of being, as it might be, turned to +useful account. And so he always accorded to John Cho, and to other +persons of rank when they were with us in the Mission school, just such +respect as they were accustomed to receive at the hands of their own +people. For instance, he would always use to a moderate extent the +chief's language in addressing John Cho or any other of the Loyalty +chiefs; and it being a rule of theirs that no one in the presence of the +chiefs should ever presume to sit down higher than the chiefs, he would +always make a point of attending to it as regarded himself; and once or +twice when, on shore in the islands, the chief had chosen to squat down +on the ground among the people, he would jocularly leave the seat that +had been provided for him, and place himself by the chief's side on the +ground. All this was keenly appreciated as significant, but alas! the +Loyalty Islanders were not long to remain under his charge. + +The ensuing letter was written to Sir John Taylor Coleridge, after +learning the tidings of his retirement from the Bench in the packet of +intelligence brought by the vessel:-- + + +'November 10, 1858: Lat. 31 deg. 29' S.; Long. 171 deg. 12' E. + +'My dear Uncle John,--I see by the papers that you have actually +resigned, and keep your connection with the judges only as a Privy +Councillor. I am of course on my own account heartily glad that you will +be near my dear father for so many months of the year, and you are +very little likely to miss your old occupation much, with your study at +Heath's Court, so I shall often think of you in summer sitting out on +the lawn, by John's Pinus excelsis, and in winter in your armchair by +the fire, and no doubt you will often find your way over to Feniton. +And then you have a glorious church!.... Oh! I do long for a venerable +building and for the sound of ancient chants and psalms. At times, +the Sunday is specially a day on which my mind will go back to the old +country, but never with any wish to return. I have never experienced +that desire, and think nothing but absolute inability to help on a +Melanesian or a Maori will ever make a change in that respect. I feel +as certain as I can be of anything that I should not be half as happy +in England as I am in New Zealand, or in Lifu, in the Banks or Solomon +Islands, &c. I like the life and the people, everything about it and +them.... + +'Coppering the schooner caused delay, so that he (the Bishop) could give +but two months instead of three to the Island voyage, for he starts on +November 25 for a three months' Confirmation tour (1,000 miles) among +the New Zealanders, which will bring him to Wellington by March 1, for +the commencement of the first synod. Consequently we have only +revisited some of our seventy and odd islands, but we have no less than +forty-seven Melanesians from twelve islands on board, of whom three are +young married women, while two are babies. + +'This makes our whole number on board sixty, viz., four Pitcairners, +forty-seven Melanesians, ourselves + crew = sixty-three, a number too +great for so small a vessel, but for the excellent plan adopted by the +Bishop in the internal arrangement of the vessel when she was built, and +the scrupulous attention to cleanliness in every place fore and aft. As +it is, we are not only healthy but comfortable, able to have all meals +regularly, school, prayers, just as if we had but twenty on board. +Nevertheless, I think, if you could drop suddenly on our lower deck at +9 P.M. and visit unbeknown to us the two cabins, you would be rather +surprised at the number of the sleepers--twelve in our after-cabin, and +forty-five in the larger one, which occupies two-thirds of the vessel. + +'Of course we make no invasion upon the quarters forward of the four men +before the mast--common seamen, and take good care that master and mate +shall have proper accommodation. + +'One gets so used to this sort of thing that I sleep just as well as I +used to do in my own room at home, and by 6.30 or 7 A.M. all vestiges +of anything connected with sleeping arrangements have vanished, and the +cabins look like what they are,--large and roomy. We have, you know, no +separate cabins filled with bunks, &c., abominations specially contrived +to conceal dirt and prevent ventilation. Light calico curtains answer +all purposes of dividing off a cabin into compartments, but we agree to +live together, and no one has found it unpleasant as yet. We turn a +part of our cabin into a gunaikhon at night for the three women and two +babies by means of a canvas screen. Bishop looks after them, washes the +babies, tends the women when sick, &c., while I, by virtue of being a +bachelor, shirk all the trouble. One of these women is now coming for +the second time to the college; her name is Carry. Margaret Cho is on +her second visit, and Hrarore is the young bride of Kapua, now coming +for his third time, and baptized last year. + +'We wish to make both husbands and wives capable of imparting better +notions to their people. + +'We have, I think, a very nice set on board.... + +'I think everything points to Vanua Lava, the principal island of the +Banks group, becoming our centre of operations, i.e., that it would be +the place where winter school would be carried on with natives from many +islands, from Solomon Islands group to the north-west, and Santa Cruz +group to north, New Hebrides to south and Loyalty Islands south-west, +and also the depot among the islands, a splendid harbour, safe both from +trade and hurricane winds, plenty of water, abundantly supplied +with provisions, being indeed like a hot-house, with its hot springs +constantly sending up clouds of vapour on the high hills, a population +wholly uninjured by intercourse with traders and whalers, it being +certain that our vessel was the first at all events that has ever been +seen by the eyes of any member of this generation on the islands; I +could prove this to you easily if I had time. + +'They are most simple, gentle and docile, unwarlike, not cannibals, I +verily believe as good a specimen of the natural fallen man as can +be met with, wholly naked, yet with no sense of shame in consequence; +timid, yet soon learning to confide in one; intelligent, and gleaming +with plenty of spirit and fun. As the island, though 440 miles north +of the Loyalty Isles, is not to leeward of them, it would only take us +about eight days more to run down, and a week more to return to it from +New Zealand, than would be the case if we had our winter school on one +of the Loyalty Islands. So I hope now we may get a missionary for Lifu, +and so I may be free to spend all my time, when not in New Zealand, +at Vanua Lava. Temperature in winter something under 80 deg. in the shade, +being in lat. 13 deg. 45' 5". The only thing against Vanua Lava is the fact +that elephantiasis abounds among the natives, and they say that the +mortality is very considerable there, so it might not be desirable to +bring many lads to it from other islands; but the neighbouring islands +of Mota and Valua, and Uvaparapara are in sight and are certainly +healthy, and our buildings are not so substantial as to cause much +difficulty in shifting our quarters if necessary. The language is very +hard, but when it is one's business to learn a thing, it is done after a +while as a matter of course. + +'We have quite made up our mind that New Zealand itself is the right +place for the head-quarters of the Mission. True, the voyage is long, +and lads can only be kept there five or six months of the year, but the +advantages of a tolerably settled state of society are so great, and +the opportunities of showing the Melanesians the working of an English +system are so many, that I think now with the Bishop that New Zealand +should be the place for the summer school in preference to any other. I +did not think so at one time, and was inclined to advocate the plan of +never bringing the lads out of the tropics, but I think now that there +are so many good reasons for bringing the lads to New Zealand that we +must hope to keep them by good food and clothing safe from colds and +coughs. Norfolk Island would have been in some ways a very good place, +but there is no hope now of our being settled there.... + +'I can hardly have quite the same control over lads brought to an island +itself wholly uncivilised as I can have over them in New Zealand, but as +a rule, Melanesians are very tractable. Certainly I would sooner have +my present school to manage, forty-five of all ages from nine to perhaps +twenty-seven or eight, from twelve or thirteen islands, speaking at +least eight languages, than half the number of English boys, up to all +sorts of mischief.... + +'Thank you, dear uncle, for the Xavier; a little portable book is very +nice for taking on board ship, and I dare say I may read some of his +letters in sight of many a heathen island.... + +'Good-bye, my dear Uncle. + +'Your affectionate and grateful nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +'Savages are all Fridays, if you know how to treat them' is a saying of +Patteson's in one of his letters, and a true one. In truth, there was no +word that he so entirely repudiated as this of savage, and the courtesy +and untutored dignity of many of his native friends fully justified his +view, since it was sure to be called forth by his own conduct towards +them. + +The chiefs, having a great idea of their own importance, and being used +to be treated like something sacred, and never opposed, were the most +difficult people to deal with, and in the present voyage there was a +time of great anxiety respecting a young chief named Aroana, from the +great isle of Malanta. He fell into an agony of nervous excitement lest +he should never see his island again, an attack of temporary insanity +came on, and he was so strong that Mr. Patteson could not hold him down +without the help of the Bishop and another, and it was necessary to tie +him down, as he attempted to injure himself. He soon recovered, and the +cooler latitudes had a beneficial effect on him, but there was reason +to fear that in Malanta the restraint might be regarded as an outrage on +the person of a chief. + +The voyage safely ended on the night of the 16th of November. Here is +part of a letter to Mr. Edward Coleridge, written immediately after +reading the letters that had been waiting in Auckland:-- + + +'My father writes:--"My tutor says that there must be a Melanesian +Bishop soon, and that you will be the man," a sentence which amused me +not a little. + +'The plan is that the Bishop should gradually take more and more +time for the islands, as he transfers to the General Synod all deeds, +documents, everything for which he was corporation sole, and as he +passes over to various other Bishops portions of New Zealand. Finally, +retaining only the north part of the northern island, to take the +Melanesian Bishopric. + +'I urged this plan upon him very strongly one day, when somewhere about +lat. 12 deg. S. (I fancy) he pressed me to talk freely about the matter. I +said: "One condition only I think should be present to your mind, viz., +that you must not give up the native population in New Zealand," and to +this he assented. + +'If, dear tutor, you really were not in joke, just try to find some +good man who would come and place himself under the Bishop's direction +unreservedly, and in fact be to him much what I am + the ability and +earnestness, &c. Seriously, I am not at all fitted to do anything but +work under a good man. Of course, should I survive the Bishop, and no +other man come out, why it is better that the ensign should assume the +command than to give up the struggle altogether. But this of course is +pure speculation. The Bishop is hearty, and, I pray God, may be Bishop +of Melanesia for twenty years to come, and by that time there will be +many more competent men than I ever shall be to succeed him, to say +nothing of possible casualties, climate, &c. + +'Good-bye, my dear Uncle; kind love to all. + +'Your loving nephew and pupil, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The three women and the two babies were disposed of in separate houses, +but their husbands, with thirty-nine other Melanesians, four Norfolk +Islanders, two printers, Mr. Dudley and Mr. Patteson, made up the +dinner-party every day in the hall of St. John's College. 'Not a +little happy I feel at the head of my board, with two rows of merry, +happy-looking Melanesians on either side of me!' + +The coughs, colds, and feverish attacks of these scholars were the only +drawback; the slightest chill made them droop; and it was a subject of +joy to have any day the full number in hall, instead of one or two lying +ill in their tutor's own bed-chamber. + +On the 29th of December came the exceeding joy of the arrival of the +Judge and Mrs. Martin, almost straight from Feniton, ready to talk +untiringly of everyone there. On the New Year's day of 1859 there was a +joyful thanksgiving service at Taurarua for their safe return, at which +all the best Church people near were present, and when John Cho made his +first Communion. + +On the 20th these much-loved friends came to make a long stay at the +College, and the recollections they preserved of that time have thus +been recorded by Lady Martin. It will be remembered that she had parted +from him during the year of waiting and irregular employment: + +'We were away from New Zealand nearly three years. We had heard at +Feniton dear Coley's first happy letters telling of his voyages to the +islands in 1856-7, letters all aglow with enthusiasm about these places +and people. One phrase I well remember, his kindly regret expressed for +those whose lot is not cast among the Melanesian islands. On our +return we went to live for some months at St. John's College, where Mr. +Patteson was then settled with a large party of scholars. + +'We soon found that a great change had passed over our dear friend. His +whole mind was absorbed in his work. He was always ready, indeed, to +listen to anything there was to tell about his dear father; but about +our foreign travels, his favourite pictures, the scenes of which we had +heard so much from him, he would listen for a few minutes, but was sure +in a little while to have worked round to Melanesia in general, or to +his boys in particular, or to some discussion with my husband on the +structure of their many languages and dialects. It was then that +Bishop Abraham said that when the two came to their ninth meaning of a +particle, he used to go to sleep. + +'There were a very fine intelligent set of young men from the Loyalty +Islands, some sleepy, lazy ones from Mai, some fierce, wild-looking lads +from the Solomon Islands who had long slits in their ears and bone horns +stuck in their frizzly hair. Mr. Patteson could communicate with all +more or less easily, and his readily delicate hearing enabled him to +distinguish accurately sounds which others could not catch--wonderful +mp and piv and mbw which he was trying to get hold of for practical +purposes. + +'He was in comfortable quarters, in one long low room, with a sunny +aspect. It looked fit for a student, with books all about, and pictures, +and photos of loved friends and places on the walls, but he had no mind +to enjoy it alone. There was sure to be some sick lad there, wrapped up +in his best rugs, in the warmest nook by the fire. He had morning and +afternoon school daily in the large schoolroom, Mr. Dudley and Mr. Lask +assisting him. School-keeping, in its ordinary sense, was a drudgery +to him, and very distasteful. He had none of that bright lively way and +readiness in catechising which made some so successful in managing a +large class of pupils at once, but every person in the place loved +to come to the evening classes in his own room, where, in their own +language, he opened to them the Scriptures and spoke to them of the +things pertaining to the kingdom of God. It was in those private classes +that he exercised such wonderful influence; his musical voice, his holy +face, his gentle manner, all helping doubtless to impress and draw even +the dullest. Long after this he told me once how after these evening +classes, one by one, some young fellow or small boy would come back with +a gentle tap at the door, "I want to talk to you," and then and there +the heart would be laid open, and counsel asked of the beloved teacher. + +'It was very pleasant to see him among his boys. They all used to go off +for a walk on Saturday with him, sometimes to town, and he as full of +fun with them as if they had been a party of Eton boys. He had none of +the conventional talk, so fatal to all true influence, about degraded +heathen. They were brethren, ignorant indeed, but capable of acquiring +the highest wisdom. It was a joke among some of us, that when asked the +meaning of a Nengone term of endearment he answered naively, "Oh, it +means old fellow." He brought his fresh, happy, kindly feelings towards +English lads and young men into constant play among Melanesians, and so +they loved and trusted him.' + +I think that exclusiveness of interest which Lady Martin describes, and +which his own family felt, and which is apt to grow upon missionaries, +as indeed on every one who is very earnestly engaged in any work, +diminished as he became more familiar with his work, and had a mind more +at liberty for thought. + +Mr. Dudley thus describes the same period:--'It was during the summers +of 1857-8 and 1858-9 that the Loyalty Islanders mustered in such numbers +at St. John's College, as it was supposed that they, at least Lifu would +be left in the hands of the Church of England. Mr. Patteson worked very +hard these years at translations, and there was an immense enthusiasm +about printing, the Lifuites and Nengonese striving each to get the most +in their own language. + +'Never shall I forget the evening service during those years held in +the College chapel, consisting of one or two prayers in Bauro, Gera, +and other languages, and the rest in Nengonese, occasionally changing +to Lifu, when Mr. Patteson used to expound the passage of Scripture +that had been translated in school during the day. Usually the Loyalty +Islanders would take notes of the sermon while it went on, but now and +then it was simply impossible, for although his knowledge of Nengonese +at that time, as compared with what it was afterwards, was very limited, +and his vocabulary a small one from which to choose his expressions, he +would sometimes speak with such intense earnestness and show himself +so thoroughly en rapport with the most intelligent of his hearers, that +they were compelled to drop their papers and pencils, and simply to to +listen. I remember one evening in particular. For some little time past +the conduct of the men, especially the married men, had not been at all +satisfactory. The married couples had the upper house, and John Cho, +Simeona, and Kapua had obtained a draught-board, and had regularly given +themselves up to draught-playing, night and day, neglecting all the +household duties they were expected to perform, to the great annoyance +of their wives, who had to carry the water, and do their husbands' work +in other ways as well their own. This became soon known to Mr. Patteson, +and without saying anything directly to the men, he took one evening as +his subject in chapel those words of our Lord, "If thy hand or thy foot +offend thee," &c., and spoke as you know he did sometimes speak, and +evidently was entirely carried out of himself, using the Nengonese with +a freedom which showed him to be thinking in it as he went on, and +with a face only to be described as "the face of an angel." We all +sat spellbound. John Cho, Simeona, and the other walked quietly away, +without saying a word, and in a day or two afterwards I learnt from John +that he had lain awake that night thinking over the matter, that fear +had come upon him, lest he might be tempted again, and jumping up +instantly, he had taken the draught-board from the place where he had +left it and had cast it into the embers of their fire. + +'Many and many a time was I the recipient of his thoughts, walking +with him up and down the lawn in front of the cottage buildings of an +evening, when he would try to talk himself clear. You may imagine what +a willing listener I was, whatever he chose to talk upon, and he often +spoke very freely to me, I being for a long time his only resident white +companion. It was not long before I felt I knew his father well, and +reverenced him deeply. He never was tired of talking of his home, and +of former days at Eton and Oxford, and then while travelling on the +Continent. Often and often during those early voyages have I stood or +sat by his side on the deck of the "Southern Cross," as in the evening, +after prayers, he stood there for hours, dressed in his clerical attire, +all but the grey tweed cap, one hand holding the shrouds, and looking +out to windward like a man who sees afar off all the scenes he was +describing.' + +Thinking over those times since, one understands better far than one did +at the time the reality of the sacrifice he had made in devoting himself +for life to a work so far away from those he loved best on earth. + +The Bishop of Wellington, for to that see Archdeacon Abraham had been +consecrated while in England, arrived early in March, and made a short +stay at the College, during which he confirmed eleven and baptized one +of Patteson's flock. Mrs. Abraham and her little boy remained at the +College, while her husband went on to prepare for her at Wellington, +and thus there was much to make the summer a very pleasant one, only +chequered by frequent anxieties about the health of the pupils, as +repeated experiments made it apparent that the climate of St. John's was +too cold for them. Another anxiety was respecting Lifu for the +London Missionary Society, had, after all, undertaken to supply two +missionaries from England, and it was a most doubtful and delicate +question whether the wishes of the natives or the established principle +of noninterference with pre-occupied ground, ought to have most weight. +The Primate was so occupied by New Zealand affairs that he wrote to +Mr. Patteson to decide it himself and he could but wait to be guided by +circumstances on the spot. + +To Mr. Edward Coleridge he writes on the 18th of March:-- + + +'I have many and delightful talks with Mr. Martin on our languages. We +see already how strong an infusion of Polynesian elements exists in +the Melanesian islands. With the language of four groups we are fairly +acquainted now, besides some of the distinguishing dialects, which +differ very much from one another; nevertheless, I think that by-and-by +we shall connect them all if we live; but as some dialects may have +dropped out altogether, we may want a few links in the chain to +demonstrate the connection fully to people at a distance. It is a great +refreshment to me to work out these matters, and the Judge kindly looked +up the best books that exist in all the Polynesian languages, so that we +can found our induction upon a comparison of all the dialects now from +the Solomon Islands to the Marquesas, with the exception of the Santa +Cruz archipelago. We have been there two or three times, but the people +are so very numerous and noisy, that we never have had a chance as yet +of getting into a quiet talk (by signs, &c.) with any of the people. + +'Still, as we know some Polynesian inhabitants of a neighbouring isle +who have large sea canoes, and go to Santa Cruz, we may soon get one of +them to go with us, and so have an interpreter, get a lad or two, and +learn the language. + +'We are sadly in want of men; yet we cannot write to ask persons to +come out for this work who may be indisposed, when they arrive in +New Zealand, to carry out the particular system on which the Bishop +proceeds. Any man who would come out and consent to spend a summer at +the Melanesian school in New Zealand in order to learn his work, and +would give up any preconceived notions of his own about the way to +conduct missionary work that might militate against the Bishop's +plan--such a man would be, of course, the very person we want; but we +must try to make people understand that half-educated men will not do +for this work. Men sent out as clergymen to the mission-field who would +not have been thought fit to receive Holy Orders at home, are not at all +the men we want. It is not at all probable that such men would really +understand the natives, love them, and live with them; but they would be +great dons, keeping the natives at a distance, assuming that they could +have little in common, &c.--ideas wholly destructive of success in +missionary, or in any work. That pride of race which prompts a white man +to regard coloured people as inferior to himself, is strongly ingrained +in most men's minds, and must be wholly eradicated before they will ever +win the hearts, and thus the souls of the heathen. + +'What a preachment, as usual, about Melanesia!... + +'Your loving old Pupil and Nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Next follows a retrospective letter:-- + + +'April 1, 1859: St. John's College. + +'My dearest Father,--Thirty-two years old to-day! Well, it is a solemn +thing to think that one has so many days and months and years to account +for. Looking back, I see how fearfully I wasted opportunities which +I enjoyed, of which, I fancy, I should now avail myself gladly; but I +don't know that I fancy what is true, for my work now, though there +is plenty of it, is desultory, and I dare say hard application, +continuously kept up, would be as irksome to me as ever. + +'It seems very strange to me that I never found any pleasure in +classical studies formerly. Now, the study of the languages for its own +sake even is so attractive to rue that I should enjoy working out the +exact and delicate powers of Greek particles, &c.; but I never cared for +it till it was too late, and the whole thing was drudgery to me. I +had no appreciation, again, of Historians, or historians; only thought +Thucydides difficult and Herodotus prosy(!!), and Tacitus dull, and Livy +apparently easy and really very hard. So, again, with the poets; and +most of all I found no interest (fancy!) in Plato and Aristotle. They +were presented to me as merely school books; not as the great effort of +the cultivated heathen mind to solve the riddle of man's being; and +I, in those days, never thought of comparing the heathen and Christian +ethics, and the great writers had no charm for me. + +'Then my French. If I had really taken any pains with old Tarver in old +days--and it was your special wish that I should do so--how useful it +would be to me now; whereas, though I get on after a sort, I don't speak +at all as I ought to do, and might have learnt to do. It is sad to look +back upon all the neglected opportunities; and it is not only that I +have not got nearly (so to speak) a quantity of useful materials for +one's work in the present time, but that I find it very hard to shake +off desultory habits. I suppose all persons have to make reflections of +this kind, more or less sad; but, somehow, I feel it very keenly now: +for certainly I did waste time sadly; and it so happens that I have +just had "Tom Brown's Schooldays" lent me, and that I spent some time in +reading it on this particular day, and, of course, my Eton life rose up +before me. What a useful book that is! A real gain for a young person to +have such a book. That is very much the kind of thing that would really +help a boy--manly, true, and plain. + +'I hear from Sydney by last mail that the Bishop is really desirous to +revive the long dormant Board of Missions. He means to propose to send +a priest and a deacon to every island ready for them, and to provide for +them--if they are forthcoming, and funds. Of this latter I have not much +doubt.... + +'April 24--I have to get ready for three English full services +to-morrow, besides Melanesian ditto.--So goodbye, my dearest Father, + +'Your loving and dutiful Son, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Sir John Patteson might well say, in a letter of this summer, to Bishop +Selwyn:-- + +'As to my dear boy Coley, I am more and more thankful every day that I +agreed to his wishes; and in whatever situation he may be placed, feel +confident that his heart will be in his work, and that he will do God +service. He will be contented to work under any one who may be appointed +Bishop of Melanesia (or any other title), or to be the Bishop himself. +If I judge truly, he has no ambitious views, and only desires that he +may be made as useful as his powers enable him to be, whether in a high +or subordinate situation.' + +Nothing could be more true than this. There was a general sense of the +probability that Mr. Patteson must be the first Missionary Bishop; but +he continued to work on at the immediate business, always keeping the +schemes and designs which necessarily rose in his mind ready to be +subjected to the control of whomsoever might be set over him. The cold +had set in severely enough to make it needful to carry off his 'party of +coughing, shivering Melanesians' before Easter, and the 'Southern Cross' +sailed on the 18th. Patteson took with him a good store of coffee, +sugar, and biscuits, being uncertain whether he should or should not +again remain at Lifu. + +In the outward voyage he only landed his pupils there, and then went +on to the Banks Islands, where Sarawia was returned at Vanua Lava, and +after Mr. Patteson had spent a pleasant day among the natives, Mota was +visited next after. + +'May 24.--On Monday, at 3 P.M., we sailed from Port Patteson across +to Mota. Here I landed among 750 people and the boat returned to the +vessel. She was to keep up to windward during the night and call for me +the next morning. I walked with my large following, from the teach, up +a short steep path, to the village, near to which, indeed only 200 yards +off, is another considerable village. The soil is excellent; the houses +good--built round the open space which answers to the green in +our villages, and mighty banyan trees spreading their lofty and +wide-branching arms above and around them. The side walls of these +houses are not more than two feet high, made only of bamboos lashed by +cocoa-nut fibre, or wattled together, and the long sloping roofs nearly +touch ground but within they are tolerably clean and quite dry. The moon +was in the first quarter, and the scene was striking as I sat out in +the open space with some 200 people crowding round me--men, women and +children; fires in front where yams were roasting; the dark brown forms +glancing to and fro in the flickering light; the moon's rays quivering +down through the vast trees, and the native hollow drum beating at +intervals to summon the people to the monthly feast on the morrow. I +slept comfortably on a mat in a cottage with many other persons in +it. Much talk I had with a large concourse outside, and again in this +cottage, on Christianity; and all were quiet when I knelt down as usual +and said my evening prayers. Up at 5.30 A.M., and walked up a part of +the Sugar Loaf peak, from which the island derives its English name, and +found a small clear stream, flowing, through a rocky bed, back to the +village, where were some 300 people assembled; sat some time with them, +then went to the beach, where the boat soon came for me. + +'After this there was a good deal of bad weather; but all the lads were +restored to their islands, including Aroana, the young Malanta chief, +who had begun by a fit of frenzy, but had since behaved well; and who +left his English friends with a promise to do all in his power to tame +his people and cure them of cannibalism.' + +Then came some foul winds and hot exhausting weather. + +'I have done little more than read Stanley's "Sinai and Palestine," and +Helps's "Spanish America," two excellent books and most delightful +to me. The characters in the Spanish conquest of Mexico and America +generally; the whole question of the treatment of natives; and that +nobleman, Las Casas--are more intelligible to me than to most persons +probably. The circumstances of my present life enable me to realise it +to a greater extent. + +'Then I have been dipping into a little ethnology; yesterday a little +Plato; but it is almost too hot for anything that requires a working +head-piece. You know I take holiday time this voyage when we are in open +water and no land near, and it is great relaxation to me.' + +A pretty severe gale of wind followed, a sharp test of Patteson's +seamanship. + +'Then came one day of calm, when we all got our clothes dry, and the +deck and rigging looked like an old clothes' shop. Then we got a fairish +breeze; but we can get nothing in moderation. Very soon it blew up +into a strong breeze, and here we are lying to with a very heavy sea. +Landsmen would call it mountainous, I suppose. I am tired, for I have +had an anxious time; and we have had but one quiet night for an age, and +then I slept from 9.30 P.M. to 7.30 A.M. continuously. 'It may be that +this is very good training for me. Indeed it must give me more coolness +and confidence. I felt pleased as well as thankful when we made the +exact point of Nengone that I had calculated upon, and at the exact +time.' + +On the 20th of June, Auckland harbour was safely attained; but the +coming back without scholars did not make much of holiday time for their +master, who was ready to give help to other clergymen whenever it might +be needed, though, in fact, this desultory occupation always tried him +most. + +On the 25th of July he says:-- + +'I have had a sixty miles' walk since I wrote last; some part of it over +wild country. I lost my way once or twice and got into some swamps, but +I had my little pocket-compass. + +'My first day was eighteen miles in pouring rain; no road, in your sense +of the word; but a good warm room and tea at the end. Next day on the +move all day, by land and water, seeing settlers scattered about. Third +day, Sunday, services at two different places. Fourth day, walk of +some twenty-seven miles through unknown regions baptizing children +at different places; and reaching, after divers adventures, a very +hospitable resting-place at 8 p.m. in the dark. Next day an easy walk +into Auckland and Taurarua. Yesterday, Sunday, very wet day. Man-of-war +gig came down for me at 9.15 A.M., took the service on board; 11 A.M. +St. Paul's service; afternoon, hospital, a mile or so off; 6 P.M., St. +Paul's evening service; 8.30, arrived at Taurarua dripping.' + +The same letter replies to one from home:-- + +'I thank you, my dear father, for writing so fully about yourself, and +especially, for seeing and stating so plainly your full conviction that +I ought not to think of returning to England. It would, as you say, +humanly speaking, interfere most seriously with the prospects of the +Mission. Some dear friends write to me differently, but they don't quite +understand, as you have taken pains to do, what our position is out +here; and they don't see that my absence would involve great probable +injury to the whole work. + +'It is curious how few there are who know anything of New Zealand and +Melanesia! + +'Of course it is useless to speculate on the future, but I see nothing +at all to make it likely that I shall ever revisit England. I can't +very well conceive any such state of things as would make it a duty to +gratify my constant inclination. And, my dear father, I don't scruple to +say (for you will understand me) that I am happier here than I should be +in England, where, even though I were absent only a few months, I should +bear about with me the constant weight of knowing that Melanesia was not +provided for. And, strange as it may seem, this has quite ceased to be a +trial to me. The effort of subduing the longing desire to see you is +no longer a great one: I feel that I am cheerful and bright, and +light-hearted, and that I have really everything to make a man thankful +and contented. + +'And if you could see the thankful look of the Bishop, when he is again +assured that there is no item of regret or desire to call me home on +your part, you would feel, I know, that colonial work does require, +especially, an unconditional unreserved surrender of a man to whatever +he may find to do.' + +But while admiring the noble spirit in which the son held fast his post, +and the father forebore to unsettle him there, let not their example +he used in the unkind and ignorant popular cry against the occasional +return of colonial Bishops. For, be it remembered, that dire necessity +was not drawing Coleridge Patteson to demand pecuniary assistance round +all the platforms of English towns. The Eton, and the Australian and New +Zealand Associations, supplemented by the Society for the Propagation of +the Gospel and his own family, relieved him from the need of having to +maintain his Mission by such means. All these letters are occupied with +the arrangements for raising means for removing the Melanesian College +to a less bleak situation, and it is impossible to read them without +feeling what a difference it made to have a father who did not view +giving to God's work as robbing his family. + +On the 13th of August, Patteson was on board, preparing for the voyage; +very cold, and eager for the tropics. The parting voice in his farewell +letter is: 'I think I see more fully that work, by the power of God's +Spirit, is the condition of us all in this world; tiny and insignificant +as the greatest work of the greatest men is, in itself, yet the one +talent is to be used.' + +It was meant to be a farewell letter, but another followed in the +leisure, while waiting for the Bishop to embark, with some strong (not +to say fiery) opinions on the stern side of duty:-- + +'I feel anxious to try to make some of the motives intelligible, upon +which we colonial folk act sometimes. First. I think that we get +a stronger sense of the necessity for dispensing with that kind of +courtesy and good nature which sometimes interferes with duty than +people do in England. + +'So a man placed as I am (for example) really cannot oftentimes avoid +letting it be seen that work must come first; and, by degrees, one +sympathises less than one possibly should do with drones and idlers in +the hive, and feels it wrong to assent to a scheme which lets a real +work suffer for the sake of acquiescing in a conventional recognition of +comfort, claims of society, &c. + +'Would the general of an army say to his officers, "Pray, gentlemen, +don't dirty your boots or fatigue your horses to succour the inhabitants +of a distant village"? Or a captain to his mates and middies: "Don't +turn out, don't go aloft. It is a thing hard, and you might get wet"? + +'And the difference between us and people at home sometimes is, that we +don't see why a clergyman is not as much bound as an officer in the army +or navy to do what he is pledged of his own act to do; and that at home +the 'parsonage and pony-carriage' delusion practically makes men forget +this. I forget it as much as any man, and should very likely never have +seen the mistake but for my coming to New Zealand; and it is one of the +great blessings we enjoy. + +'There is a mighty work to be done. God employs human agents, and the +Bible tells us what are the rules and conditions of their efficiency. + +'"Oh! but, poor man, he has a sickly wife!" Yes, but, "it remaineth that +those who have wives be as they that have none." + +'True, but the case of a large family? "Whosoever loveth child more than +me," &c. + +'Second. The fact that we live almost without servants makes us more +independent, and also makes us acquainted with the secrets of each +other's housekeeping, &c. All that artificial intercourse which depends +a good deal upon a well-fitted servants' hall does not find place here. +More simple and more plain and homely in speech and act is our life in +the colonies--e.g., you meet me carrying six or seven loaves from town +to the college. "Oh, I knew that the Bishop had to meet some persons +there to-day, and I felt nearly sure there would be no breakfast then." +Of course an English person thinks, "Why didn't he send the bread?" To +which I answer, "Who was there to send?" + +'I don't mean that I particularly like turning myself into a miller one +day and a butcher the next; but that doing it as a matter of course, +where there is no one else to do it, one does sometimes think it +unreasonable to say, as has been said to the Bishop:--"Two thousand +pounds a year you want for your Mission work!" "Yes," said the +Bishop, "and not too much for sailing over ten thousand miles, and for +educating, clothing, and feeding some forty young men!" + +'I mean that conventional notions in England are preventing people from +really doing half what they might do for the good of the needy. + +'I don't know how this might be said to be a theory tending to +revolutionise society; but I think I do know that there is a kind of +religious common sense which comes in to guide people in such matters. +Only, I do not think it right to admit that plea for not doing more in +the way of almsgiving which is founded upon the assumption that first +of all a certain position in society must be kept up, which involves +certain expenditure. + +'A barrister is living comfortably on L800 a year, or a clergyman in +his living of L400. The professional income of the one increases, and a +fatter living is given to the other, or some money is left them. What +do they do? Instantly start a carriage, another servant, put the +jack-of-all-trades into a livery, turn the buttons into a flunkey, and +the village girl into a ladies' maid! Is this really right? They were +well enough before. Why not use the surplus for some better purpose? + +'I imagine that we, the clergy, are chiefly to blame, for not only not +protesting against, but most contentedly acquiescing in such a state of +things. You ask now for something really demanding a sacrifice. "I can't +afford it." "What, not to rescue that village from starvation? not to +enable that good man to preach the Gospel to people only accessible by +means of such an outlay on his vessel, &c.? Give up your carriage, +your opera box; don't have so many grand balls, &c. "Oh no! it is all a +corban to the genius of society. + +'Now, is this Scriptural or not, my dear father? I don't mean that any +individual is justified in dictating to his neighbour, still less in +condemning him. But are not these the general principles of religion and +morality in the Bible? There are duties to society: but a good man +will take serious counsel as to what they are, and how far they may be +militating against higher and holier claims. + +'August 24.--Why I wrote all this, my dearest father, I hardly know, +only I feel sure that unless men at home can, by taking real pains to +think about it, realise the peculiar circumstances of colonial life, +they will never understand any one of us. + +'I have written Fan a note in which I said something about my few +effects if I should die. + +'One thing I should like to say to you, not as venturing to do more than +let you be in full possession of my own mind on the matter. Should I die +before you die, would it be wrong for me to say, "Make the Melanesian +Mission my heir"? + +'It may be according to the view which generally obtains that the other +three should then divide my share. But now I would take what may seem +the hard view of which I have been writing, and say, "They have enough +to maintain them happily and comfortably." The Mission work without such +a bequest will be much endangered. I feel sure that they would wish +it to be so, for, of course, you know that this large sum of which you +write will be, if I survive you, regarded simply as a bequest to the +Mission in which I have a life interest, and the interest of which, in +the main, would be spent on the Mission. + +'But I only say plainly, without any reserve, what I have thought about +it; not for one moment putting up my opinion against yours, of course, +in case you take a contrary view. + +'We sail, I hope, to-morrow, but the Bishop is more busy than ever. + +'Again, my dearest Father, + +'Your loving and dutiful Son, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The history of this voyage was, as usual, given in a long letter for the +Feniton fireside; but there was a parallel journal also, kept for the +Bishop of Wellington, which is more condensed, and, therefore, better +for quotation. + +The manner in which the interest in, and connection with all English +friends and relations was kept up is difficult to convey, though it was +a very loveable part of the character. Little comments of condolence or +congratulation, and messages of loving remembrance to persons mentioned +by playful names, would only be troublesome to the reader; but it must +be taken for granted that every reply to a home packet was full of these +evidences that the black children on a thousand isles had by no means +driven the cousins and friends of youth from a heart that was enlarged +to have tenderness for all. + + +'Lat. 9 deg. 29' S.; Long. 163 deg. S.E. "Southern Cross:" October 9, 1859. + +'My dear Bishop,--We are on our way from Uleawa to the Santa Cruz group, +having visited the Loyalty Islands, Southern New Hebrides, Banks Island +(2), and Solomon Islands. + +'The Bishop so planned the voyage as to run down the wind quickly to +the Solomon Islands, and do the real work coming home; not, as usual, +beating up in the open water between the Santa Cruz archipelago, Banks +Islands and New Hebrides to the east, and New Caledonia to the west. We +are thus able to visit Vanua Lava on the way out and home also; and as +we meant to make the Banks Islands the great point this voyage, that +was, of course, great gain. + +'We touched at Norfolk Island.... Going on to Nengone we found everybody +away at the distant yam grounds, and could not wait to see them. + +'At Lifu, the first thing that shocked us was John's appearance: one of +those fatal glandular swellings has already produced a great change in +him. He looked sallow and weak, and I fear ut sit vitalis. He spoke to +me very calmly about his illness, which he thinks is unto death, and I +did not contradict him. + +'We had much private talk together. He is a fine fellow and, I believe, +a sincere Christian man. Then came the applications to us not to desert +them, and letters enumerating all the villages of Lifu almost without +exception, and entreating us to suffer them to be connected with us, and +we had to answer that already two missionaries from the L. M. S. are +on their way from Sydney to Lifu, and that it would do harm to have two +rival systems on the island. They acquiesced but not heartily, and it +was a sad affair altogether, all parties unhappy and dissatisfied, and +yet unable to solve the difficulty. Then came a talk with Angadhohua, +John's half-brother, the real chief. The poor lad feels now what a +terrible thing it will be for him and his people if they should lose +John. Nothing can be nicer than his way of talking: "I know you don't +think me firm enough, and that I am easily led by others. What am I to +do if John dies? We all respect him. He has been taught so much, and +people all listen to him." I gave him the best advice that I could +and longed to be able to do something for him and his people. It was, +however, a comfort to leave with them St. Mark, Scripture books, &c. + +'We called at Tanna, to see poor Mr. Paton, who lost his wife last +April. He is living on there quite alone, and has already lived down the +first angry opposition of some of the people, and the unkind treatment +that he received from men and women alike who mocked him because of his +wife's death, &c. He has had much fever and looked very ill, but his +heart was in his work; and the Bishop said he seemed to be one of the +weak things which God hath chosen. I know he made me feel pretty well +ashamed of myself. + +'Next day we spent a few hours with Mr. and Mrs. Gordon at Erromango. He +has a small house on the high table-land overlooking Dillon's Bay, and +certainly is exposed to winds which may, for aught I know, rival those +of Wellington notoriety. The situation is, however, far preferable in +the summer to that on the beach, which is seldom free from malaria and +ague. + +'Then we sailed to the great bay of Pango, landed at Fate a fellow +who had come to the Bishop in New Zealand for a passage, and in the +afternoon sailed away through "the Pool" (the landlocked space between +Mallicolo and Espiritu Santo to the west; Aspee, Ambrym, Whitsuntide, +Aurora to the east), where for eighty miles the water is always smooth, +the wind always steady, the scenery always lovely, and where, on this +occasion, the volcano was bright. + +'Being nearly becalmed to the south-east of Leper's Isle, the Bishop +gave me the choice of a visit to Whitsuntide or Leper's Island. I voted +for the latter, and delighted we were to renew an acquaintance made two +years ago, and not since kept up, with these specially nice people. We +were recognised at once, but we have a very small vocabulary. + +'The sea was running heavily into the bay, but it is sand there and not +much rock on the beach, and we had a jolly swim ashore. Then we bought a +few yams, which the surf did not permit us to get to the boat, and had +a very pleasant visit; for, as we sat among them, words came into one's +head, or were caught from their mouth, and at the end of twenty minutes +we were getting on a little. The old chief took me by the hand and led +me aside to the spot where the ladies were assembled, and divining no +doubt that I was a bachelor, politely offered me his daughter, and his +protection, &c., if I would live among them. + +'I missed seeing the Bishop knocked clean over by the breakers as he +was swimming off to the boat; I was still talking to the people, with my +back to the sea, and only saw him staggering to his feet again. Thinking +to myself that if he was knocked over, I had better look out, I awaited +a "smooth" and swam out comfortably. + +'The next morning (Sunday) at ten, we dropped anchor in Port Patteson, +the harbour which you know the Bishop would call after my father. The +first person who came off to us was Sarawia, my old Lifu pupil, from +this island! Then came a good many men. I told them there would be no +going ashore and no trading till the next day. Palemana, your friend +Matawathki, &c., were at church, all dressed and well-behaved. What nice +orderly people they are, to be sure! + +'The next day we bought lots of yams, and gave away seeds and +fruit-trees, or rather planted them; and looked for a place for a +station, and fixed at last on the rising-ground which forms the east +side of the harbour, and the Bishop, arming himself with an axe, led +a party to clear the bush, which was very thick. They made a fair path +through in one afternoon to the top, and a healthy place might be found +now with little trouble to return to at night from the schools, &c. in +the village below, and so shirk the malaria. + +'But the next day, as I had anticipated, rather changed his intentions +as to the principal station being formed at Vanua Lava. We landed at +Sugar Loaf Island, and with something of pride I showed off to him the +beauties of the villages where I slept in May last--the dry soil, +the spring of water, the wondrous fertility, the large and remarkably +intelligent, well-looking population, the great banyan tree, +twenty-seven paces round--and at once he said, "This is such a place as +I have seen nowhere else for our purpose." + +'The Bishop had seen this island before I was with him, during one of +the "Border Maid's" voyages, and knew the people, of course, but had not +happened to have walked in shore at all, and so the exceeding beauty and +fitness of the island for a Mission station had not become so apparent +to him. We know of no place where there seems to be such an unusual +combination of everything that can be desired, humanly speaking, for +such an institution. So that is settled (D.V.) that next winter I +should be here, if alive and well; and that the Banks Islands should be +regarded as the central point of the Mission. + +'Such boys! Bright-eyed, merry fellows, many really handsome; of that +reddish yellow tinge of colour which betokens affinity with Polynesian +races, as their language also testifies. The majority of the people +were pleasing in their appearance and manner. Well, all this was very +hopeful, and we went off very happy, taking Eumau, the boy who first met +us at Port Patteson when we found it out, and old Wompas (who was with +me at Lifu), and another from Mota, to see the Northern Islands. + +'I think our work is more likely now to revolve upon a fixed +centre--Sugar Loaf Island in the Banks group--that we shall make the +occupation of the group the first ohject, and do all with reference to +that as the necessary part of the work to be attended to first. In the +choice of scholars, e.g., we have considered whether we should not limit +our selection to such as might pass the next winter with me at Sugar +Loaf Island, and so that the vessel need not run down to leeward of it. +Solomon Islands are the extreme verge. In the East Island, where there +would be merely a question of nothing or something, we may take very +young men who would perhaps not be easy to keep out of harm at Sugar +Loaf, because there will be no difficulty about returning them to their +homes.... + +'November 11th.--We found in the Santa Cruz group that the news of +Captain Front's and his two men's death in Vanikoro, and (as we suppose) +the news of the "Cordelia" having been at that island to inquire into +the matter, had made the people anxious, uneasy, noisy, and rather +rude. That poor man went to make a station at Vanikoro in the usual way, +taking three poor New Caledonian women with him. The Vanikoro people +killed the three English and took away the women. + +'We did not land at Sta. Cruz, but we had a more pleasant intercourse +than heretofore with thirty or forty canoes' crews. + +'Timelin Island we ascertained to be identical with Nukapu, an old +familiar place whose latitude we had not ascertained correctly before. +The small reef (Polynesian) islands did not give us so good a reception +as last year, though there was no unfriendliness. The news about +Vanikoro had made them suspicious of visits from white men. But they +will be all right by next time.... + +'We saw a pleasant party at Bligh Island, brought away one young man +from that island, and two lads belonging to a neighbouring small island +called Eowa. The next day we watered on the north side of Vanua Lava, +and in the evening went across to Santa Maria. Here we landed on the +next day among two hundred or more people, shy and noisy. We bought a +few yams, and I detected some young fellows stealing from our little +heap I would not overlook this, but the noticing it made them more +suspicious that we meant to hurt them. As the Bishop and I, after some +twenty minutes, turned to rejoin the boat, the whole crowd bolted like +a shot right and left into the bush. Evidently they must have had some +trading crew tire a parting shot in mere wantonness at them from their +boat. I expected some arrows to be shot at us; but they did not shoot +any. + +'The same evening (Saturday) we stood across the passage with a brisk +breeze, and took up our party, consisting of five and including Sarawia +and four others anciently noted as promising in appearance.... + +'We reached Mota (Sugar Loaf Island) in time to leave me for a night's +visit to the people. I had time before the boat called next day at noon +to see five or six of their villages. People quite accustomed to expect +me--all most friendly, apparently pleased to be told that I would stop +with them in the winter. Seven scholars joined us here.... + +'At Mai, I slept in the house of Petere and Laure. Things are promising. +It is quite ready for a missionary. We brought away Moto, Pepeu, and the +two young boys who were with me at Lifu, and very many wished to come. + +'Thence we had a very long passage to Lifu. John Cho is, I am thankful +to say, very much better. The two men from the London Missionary Society +are on the island.... The Lifu people tell me that in the north of +the island many are accepting the teaching of the two French priests. +William Martin Tahia and Chakham, a principal chief and old scholar, are +with us. + +'At Nengone, Wadrokala, George Simeona, and Harper Malo have come away +for good.... We number thirty-nine Melanesians.... This is a long letter +which will try your patience. + +'Always, my dear Bishop, + +'Affectionately yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Another long letter was written during this voyage to Mr. Edward +Coleridge, a great portion of it on the expediency of the islands being +taken under British protection, also much respecting the Church of New +Zealand, which is scarcely relevant to the immediate subject, and only +at the end is there anything more personal:-- + +'The last accounts of my father were unusually good, but I well know +what news may be awaiting our return from a voyage whether long or +short, and I try to be ready for any news; yet I suppose that I cannot +at all realize what it would be. It makes some difference when the idea +of meeting again in this world has been relinquished for now four and a +half years, yet it is all very well to wait or think about it! I was not +so upset by dear Uncle James's death as I should no doubt have been had +I enjoyed the prospect of frequently seeing him. Somehow, when all ideas +of time and space are annihilated by death, one must think about such +separations in a religious way: for separations in any other sense to us +here, from people in England, have already taken place. I must except, +however, the loving wise letters, and the power of realising more +clearly perhaps the occupations of those still in the body--their +accustomed places and duties; though I suppose we can tell quite enough +about all this in the case of those who have died in the true faith of +Christ to know, at all events, that we are brought and united to them +whenever we think or do anything religiously. I often think that this +is well brought out in the "Heir of Redclyffe"--the loss of "the bright +outside," the life and energy and vigour, and all the companionable and +sociable qualities, contrasted with the power of thinking oneself into +the inner spiritual relations that exist between the worlds visible and +invisible. + +'All this effort is much diminished in our case. There is no very great +present loss; at least, it is not so sensibly felt by a great deal as it +would be if we missed some one with whom we lived up to the time of his +death. It is much easier to think of them as they are than it could be +in the case of persons who remember so vividly what they so lately were; +and this is why, I suppose, the news of Uncle James's death seemed to +affect me so much less than I should have expected, and it may be +so again: certain it is that I loved him dearly, and that I miss his +letters very much indeed; but I think that the point I felt most about +him was the sad affliction to his family, and the great loss to my dear +father, who had of late seen more than ever of him.' + +From the home letter I only quote from the reflections so regularly +inspired by the anniversary of the 28th of November. + +After lamenting that it was difficult to realise those scenes in his +mother's illness which he and his brother only knew from narration, +Patteson adds:-- + +'The memory of those days would perhaps have been more precious to me +if I had witnessed more with my own eyes. And yet of course it really +mattered nothing at all, because the lesson of her life does not depend +on an acquaintance with a few days of it; and what I saw when I was +there I never have forgotten, and hope that I never may forget. + +'And indeed I feel now with regard to you, my dear Father, that I have +not learned to know you better while I was with you than I do now. I +think that in some ways I enter more almost into your mind and thought, +or that I fancy I do so: just as the present possession of anything so +often prevents our really taking pains to learn all about it. We rest +content with the superficial knowledge of that which is most easily +perceived and recognised in it.... + +'I think I know from your letters, and from the fact of my absence from +you making me think more about you, as much about you as those present. +I very much enjoy a letter from Joan, which gives me a kind of tableau +vivant of you all. That helps me to realize the home life; so do the +photographs, they help in the same way. But your letters, and the fact +that I think so much about them, and about you, are my real helps.' + +The voyage ended on the 7th of December. It was the last made under the +guidance of the Bishop of New Zealand, and, alas! the last return of the +first 'Southern Cross.' + + + + +CHAPTER IX. MOTA AND ST. ANDREW'S COLLEGE, KOHIMARAMA. 1859-1862. + + + +With the year 1860 a new period, and one far more responsible and +eventful, began. After working for four years under Bishop Selwyn's +superintendence, Coleridge Patteson was gradually passing into a sphere +of more independent action; and, though his loyal allegiance to his +Primate was even more of the heart than of the letter, his time of +training was over; he was left to act more on his own judgment; and +things were ripening for his becoming himself a Bishop. He had nearly +completed his thirty-third year, and was in his fullest strength, mental +and bodily; and, as has been seen, the idea had already through Bishop +Selwyn's letters become familiar to his family, though he himself had +shrunk from entertaining it. + +The first great change regarded the locality of the Melanesian school in +New Zealand. Repeated experience had shown that St. John's College was +too bleak for creatures used to basking under a vertical sun, and it +had been decided to remove to the sheltered landing-place at Kohimarama, +where buildings for the purpose had been commenced so as to be habitable +in time for the freight of 1859. + +It should be explained, that the current expenses of the Mission had +been defrayed by the Eton and Sydney associations, with chance help +from persons privately interested, together with a grant of L200, and +afterwards L300 per annum from the Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel. The extra expense of this foundation was opportunely met by a +discovery on the part of Sir John Patteson, that his eldest son, living +upon the Merton Fellowship, had cost him L200 a year less than his +younger son, and therefore that, in his opinion, L800 was due to +Coleridge. Moreover, the earlier voyages, and, in especial the +characters of Siapo and Umao, had been so suggestive of incidents +fabricated in the 'Daisy Chain,' that the proceeds of the book were felt +to be the due of the Mission and at this time these had grown to such an +amount as to make up the sum needful for erecting such buildings as were +immediately requisite for the intended College. + +These are described in the ensuing letter, which I give entire, because +the form of acknowledgment is the only style suitable to what, however +lightly acquired, was meant as an offering, even though it cost the +giver all too little: + + +'Kohimarama: Dec. 21, 1859. + +'My dear Cousin,--I have received at length from my father a distinct +statement of what you have given to the Melanesian Mission. I had heard +rumours before, and the Bishop of Wellington had spoken to me of your +intentions, but the fact had not been regularly notified to us. + +'I think I know you too well to say more than this. May God bless you +for what you have lent to Him, and give us, who are specially connected +with the Mission, grace to use your gift as you intend it to be used, to +His glory in the salvation of souls. + +'But you will like to hear how your gift will be appropriated. For three +summers the Melanesian scholars lived at St. John's College, which is +situated on a low hill, from which the ground falls away on every side, +leaving it exposed to every wind that blows across and around the narrow +isthmus. + +'Thank God, we had no death traceable to the effect of the climate, +but we had constant anxiety and a considerable amount of illness. +When arrangements were completed for the arrival of a new principal to +succeed the Bishop of Wellington, the college was no longer likely to be +available for the Mission school. Consequently, we determined to build +on the site long ago agreed upon; to put up some substantial buildings, +and to remove some of the wooden buildings at the College which would +not be required there, and set them up again at Kohimarama. + +'Just opposite the entrance into the Auckland harbour, between the +island of Eangitoto with its double peak and the easternmost point of +the northern shore of the harbour, lies a very sheltered bay, with its +sea-frontage of rather more than a quarter of a mile, bounded to the +east, south, and west by low hills, which where they meet the sea become +sandy cliffs, fringed with the red-flower-bearing pohutakawa. The whole +of this bay, the seventy acres of flat rich soil included within the +rising ground mentioned, and some seventy acres more as yet lying +uncleared, adjoining the same block of seventy acres, and likely to be +very valuable, as the land is capital--the whole of this was bought by +the Bishop many years ago as the property of the Mission, and is the +only piece of Church land over which he retains the control, every other +bequest or gift to the amount of 14,000 acres, having been handed over +by him to the General Synod. This he retains till the state of the +Melanesian Mission is more definitely settled. + +'On the west corner of this bay we determined to build. A small tide +creek runs for a short way about S.S.E. from the extreme end of the +western part of the beach, then turns early eastward, and meets a small +stream coming down from the southern hill at its western extremity. This +creek encloses a space extending along the whole width of the bay of +about eighteen or twenty acres. + +'At the east end stand three wooden cottages, occupied by the master, +mate, and a married seaman of the "Southern Cross." At the west end +stands the Melanesian school. Fences divide the whole space into three +portions, whereof the western one forms our garden and orchard; and the +others pasture for cows and working bullocks; small gardens being also +fenced off for the three cottages. The fifty acres of flat land south of +the creek we are now clearing and ploughing. + +'The situation here is admirably adapted for our school. Now that we +have a solid wall of the scoria from the volcanic island opposite, we +have a complete shelter from the cold south wind. The cliff and hill to +the west entirely shut off the wind from that quarter, and the north and +east winds are always warm. The soil is very dry, and the beach composed +exclusively of small "pipi" shells--small bivalves. So that by putting +many cart-loads of these under our wooden floors, and around our +buildings, we have so perfect a drainage that after heavy rain the soil +is quite dry again in a few hours. It causes me no anxiety now, when I +am for an hour away from my flock, to be thinking whether they are lying +on the ground, forgetting that the hot sun overhead does not destroy the +bad effect of a damp clay soil such as that at St. John's College. + +'The buildings at present form three sides of a quadrangle, but the +south side is only partly filled up. The large schoolroom, eighty feet +long, with three sets of transepts, has been removed from the College, +and put up again so as to form the east side of the quadrangle. This +is of wood; so is the small wooden quadrangle which serves now for +dormitories, and a part of which I occupy; my house consisting of +three little rooms, together measuring seventeen feet by seven. These +dormitories are the southern side of the quadrangle, but do not reach +more than half-way from the east to the west side, room being left for +another set of dormitories of equal size, when we want them and +can afford them. The west side consists of a very nice set of stone +buildings, including a large kitchen, store room, and room for putting +things in daily and immediate use; and the hall, which is the northern +part of the side of the quadrangle, is a really handsome room, with +simple open roof and windows of a familiar collegiate appearance. These +buildings are of the dark grey scoria, almost imperishable I suppose, +and look very well. The hall is just long enough to take seven of us +at the high table (so to speak), and thirty-four at the long table, +stretching from the high table to the end of the room. + +'At present this is used for school also, as the carpenters who +are making all our fittings, shelves, &c., are still in the large +schoolroom. We take off the north end of the schoolroom, including one +set of transepts for our temporary chapel. This part will be lined, i.e. +boarded, neatly inside. The rest of the building is very rough, but it +answers its purpose. + +'In all the stone buildings, the rough stone is left inside just as +it is outside. It does not look bad at all to my eye, and I doubt if I +would have it lined if we had funds to pay for it. + +'I hope eventually that stone buildings will take the place of the +present wooden schoolroom and dormitories; but this ought to last many +years. Here we live most happily and comfortably. The climate almost +tropical in summer. The beautiful scenery of the harbour before our +eyes, the smooth sea and clean dry beach within a stone's throw of my +window. The lads and young men have their fishing, bathing, boating, +and basking in the sun, which all day from sunrise to sunset beats right +upon us; for the west cliff does not project more than a few yards to +the north of us, and the eastern boundary is low and some way off. I see +the little schooner at her moorings whenever I look off my book or my +paper, and with an opera-glass can see the captain caulking the +decks. All is under my eye; and the lads daily say, "College too cold; +Kohimarama very good; all the same Bauro, Mota," as the speaker belongs +to one or other of our fourteen islands represented.... The moment we +heard of your gift, we said simultaneously, "Let it be given to this or +to some specific and definite object." I think you will like to feel +not only that the money came most opportunely, but that within the walls +built with that money, many many hundreds, I trust, of these Melanesian +islanders will be fed and taught, and trained up in the knowledge and +fear of God.... + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Before the old year was out came the tidings of the death of good Miss +Neill, the governess whom Patteson had so faithfully loved from early +childhood, and whose years of suffering he had done his best to cheer. +'At rest at last.' In the same letter, in answer to some complaint from +his sister of want of detail in the reports, he says: 'Am I trying to +make my life commonplace? Well, really so it is more or less to me. +Things go on in a kind of routine. Two voyages a year, five months in +New Zealand, though certainly two-thirds of my flock fresh every year. I +suppose it still sounds strange to you sometimes, and to others always, +but they should try to think for themselves about our circumstances. + +'And you know, Fan, I can't write for the world at large anecdotes of +missionary life, and swell the number of the "Gems" and other trashy +books. If people who care to know, would think of what their own +intuition tells them of human nature, and history tells them of +heathenism, they can make out some notion of real missionary work. + +'The school is the real work. Teaching adults to read a strange tongue +is hard work; I have little doubt but that the Bishop is right in saying +they must be taught English; but it is so very difficult a language, not +spelt a bit as pronounced; and their language is all vocalic and so easy +to put into writing. + +'But if you like I will scatter anecdotes about--of how the Bishop and +his chaplain took headers hand in hand off the schooner and roundhouse; +and how the Bishop got knocked over at Leper's Island by a big wave; +and how I borrowed a canoe at Tariko and paddled out yams as fast as the +Bishop brought them to our boat, &c.--but this is rubbish.' + +This letter is an instance of the reserve and reticence which Mr. +Patteson felt so strongly with regard to his adventures and pupils. +He could not endure stories of them to become, as it were, stock for +exciting interest at home. There was something in his nature that shrank +from publishing accounts of individual pupils as a breach of confidence, +as much, or perhaps even more, than if they had been English people, +likely to know what had been done. Moreover, instances had come to his +knowledge in which harm had been done to both teachers and taught by +their becoming aware that they were shown off to the public in print. +Such things had happened even where they would have seemed not only +unlikely, but impossible; and this rendered him particularly cautious +in writing of his work, so that his reports were often dry, while he +insisted strongly on his letters to his family being kept private. + +The actual undertakings of the Mission did not exceed its resources, so +that there was no need for those urgent appeals which call for sensation +and incident to back them; and thus there sometimes seemed to the +exterior world to be a lack of information about the Mission. + +The letters of January 1860 show how the lads were fortified +against weather: 'They wear a long flannel waistcoat, then a kind of +jersey-shaped thing, with short trousers, reaching a little below the +knee, for they dabble about like ducks here, the sea being not a hundred +yards from the building. All the washing, of course, and most of the +clothes-making they can do themselves; I can cut out after a fashion, +and they take quickly to needle and thread; but now the Auckland ladies +have provided divers very nice garments, their Sunday dresses are very +nice indeed.' + +The question of the Bishopric began to come forward. On the 18th of +January a letter to Sir John Patteson, after speaking of a playful +allusion which introduced the subject, details how Mrs. Selwyn had +disclosed that a letter had actually been despatched to the Duke of +Newcastle, then Colonial Secretary, asking permission to appoint and +consecrate John Coleridge Patteson as Missionary Bishop of the Western +Pacific Isles. + +J.C.P.--'Well, then, I must say what I feel about it. I have known for +some time that this was not unlikely to come some day; but I never spoke +seriously to you or to the Martins when you insinuated these things, +because I thought if I took it up gravely it would come to be considered +a settled thing.' + +Mrs. S.--'Well, so it has been, and is----' + +J.C.P.--'But has the Bishop seriously thought of this, that he has had +no trial of any other man; that I could give any other man who may +come, perhaps, the full benefit of my knowledge of languages, and of my +acquaintance with the islands and the people, while we may reasonably +expect some one to come out before long far better fitted to organise +and lead men than I am? Has he fairly looked at all the per contra? + +Mrs. S.--'I feel sure he has.' + +J.C. P.--'I don't deny that my father tells me I must not shrink from +it; that some things seem to point to it as natural; that I must not +venture to think that I can be as complete a judge as the Bishop of what +is good for Melanesia--but what necessity for acting now?' + +Here came an interruption, but the conversation was renewed later in +the day with the Bishop himself, when Patteson pleaded for delay on +the score that the isles were as yet in a state in which a missionary +chaplain could do all that was requisite, and that the real management +ought not to be withdrawn from the Bishop; to which the reply was +that at the present time the Bishop could do much to secure such +an appointment as he wished; but, in case of his death, even wishes +expressed in writing might be disregarded. After this, the outpouring to +the father continues:-- + +'I don't mean to shrink from this. You tell me that I ought not to do +so, and I quite believe it. I know that no one can judge better than you +can as to the general question, and the Bishop is as competent to decide +on the special requirements of the case. + +'But, my dear father, you can hardly tell how difficult I find it to +be, amidst all the multiplicity of works, a man of devotional prayerful +habits; how I find from time to time that I wake up to the fact that +while I am doing more than I did in old times, yet that I pray less. How +often I think that "God gives" habitually to the Bishop "all that sail +with him;" that the work is prospering in his hands; but will it prosper +in mine? I know He can use any instrument to His glory: I know that, +and that He will not let my sins and shortcomings hinder His projects of +love and blessing to these Melanesian islanders; but as far as purity +of motive, and a spirit of prayer and self-denial do go for anything in +making up the qualification on the human side for such an office--in so +far, do they exist in me? You will say I am over sensitive and expect +too much. That, I think, very likely may be true. It is useless to wait +till one becomes really fit, for that of course I never shall be. +But while I believe most entirely that grace does now supply all our +deficiencies when we seek it fully, I do feel frightened when I see that +I do not become more prayerful, more real in communion with God. This +is what I must pray for earnestly: to become more prayerful, more +constantly impressed with the necessity of seeking for everything from +Him. + +'You all think that absence from relations, living upon yams, want of +the same kind of meat and drink that I had at home, that these things +are proofs of sincerity, &c. I believe that they all mean just nothing +when the practical result does not come to this--that a man is walking +more closely with his God. I dare not say that I can feel humbly and +reverently that my inner life is progressing. I don't think that I am +as earnest in prayer as I was. Whether it be the effect of the amount +of work distracting me; or, sometimes, of physical weariness, or of the +self-indulgence (laugh as you may) which results from my never being +contradicted or interfered with, or much worried, still I do feel this; +and may He strengthen me to pray more for a spirit of prayer. + +'I don't know that the actual time for my being consecrated, if I live, +is nearer by reason of this letter: I think it most probable that it may +take place when the General Synod meets, and, consequently, five bishops +will be present, in 1862, at Nelson. But I suppose it is more fixed than +it has been hitherto, and if the Bishop writes to you, as he may do, +even more plainly than he speaks to me, you will know what especially to +ask for me from God, and all you dear ones will recollect daily how I do +inwardly tremble at the thoughts of what is to come. Do you remember how +strangely I was upset before leaving home for my ordination as a deacon; +and now it is coming to this--a church to be planted, organised, edified +among the wild heathen inhabitants of Melanesia; and what hope can there +be for me if there is to be no growth of a fervent, thankful, humble +spirit of prayer and love and adoration? Not that, as I feel to my great +comfort, God's work is dependent upon the individual growth in grace +even of those who are entrusted with any given work; but it is in some +way connected with it. + +'And yet, the upshot of it all is that I shall do (D.V.) what the Bishop +tells me is right. I hope he won't press on the matter, but I am content +now to leave it with him, knowing what you have said, and being so +thankful to leave it with you and him.' + +There is a letter to his sister Fanny of the same date, beginning +merrily about the family expostulation on receiving a box of reports +where curiosities had been expected:-- + +'Fancy not thinking your worthy brother's important publications the +most satisfactory treasures that any box could contain! The author's +feelings are seriously injured! What are Melanesian shells to Melanesian +statistics, and Lifu spears to a dissertation on the treatment of Lifu +diseases? Great is the ingratitude of the houses of Feniton and Dawlish! + +'Well, it must have been rather a "sell," as at Eton it is called, to +have seen the long-desired and highly-paid-for box disgorge nought but +Melanesian reports! all thanks to Mrs. Martin, who packed it after I was +off to the Islands. + +'I cannot send you anything yet, but I will bear in mind the fact that +reports by themselves are not considered satisfactory. Does anybody read +them, after all? for they really cost me some days' trouble, which I +can't find time for again. This year's report (for I suppose there must +be one) is not begun, and I don't know what to put in it. I have but +little news beyond what I have written once for all to Father. + +'The decisive letter from the Bishop of New Zealand to the Duke of +Newcastle is in the Governor's hands, and all discussion of the question +is at an end. May God bring out of it all that may conduce to His glory; +but how I dread what is to come, you, who remember my leaving home first +for my deacon's ordination, can well imagine. + +'It is true I have seen this coming for a year or two, and have seen +no way of preventing its coming upon me--no one else has come out; the +Bishop feels he cannot work his present diocese and Melanesia: he is +satisfied that he ought to take New Zealand rather than the islands; +that the time is come for settling the matter while he is able to settle +it; and I had nothing to say, for all personal objections he overruled. +So then, if I live, it is settled; and that, at all events, is a +comfort.... Many of my Melanesians have heavy coughs--some twelve, but I +don't think any of them seriously ill, only needing to be watched. I +am very well, only I want some more exercise (which, by the bye, it is +always in my power to take), and am quite as much disposed as ever to +wish for a good game at tennis or fives to take it out of me. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The birthday letter of February 11 is a happy one, though chiefly taken +up with the business matters respecting the money required for the +Mission, of which Sir John was one trustee. Life was pleasant then, for +Patteson says:-- + +'I do feel sometimes that the living alone has its temptations, and +those great ones; I mean that I can arrange everything--my work, my +hours, my whole life--after my own pleasure a great deal more than +probably is good for me; and it is very easy to become, in a manner, +very self-indulgent. I think that most likely, as our work (D.V.) +progresses, one or two men may be living with me, and that will supply a +check upon me of some kind. At present I am too much without it. Here +I am in my cosy little room, after my delicious breakfast of perfect +coffee, made in Jem's contrivance, hot milk and plenty of it, dry +toast and potato. Missionary hardships! On the grass between me and the +beach--a distance of some seventy yards--lie the boys' canvas beds and +blankets and rugs, having a good airing. The schooner lies at anchor +beyond; and, three or four miles beyond the schooner, lies Eangitoto, +the great natural breakwater to the harbour. With my Dollond's +opera-glass that you gave me, I can see the master and mate at their +work refitting. Everything is under my eye. Our long boat and whale boat +(so-called from their shapes) lie on the beach, covered with old sails +to protect them from the sun. The lads are washing clothes, or +scrubbing their rooms, and all the rooms--kitchen, hall, store-room, +and school-room. There is a good south-western breeze stirring--our cold +wind; but it is shut off here, and scarcely reaches us, and the sun has +great power. + +'I have the jolliest little fellows this time--about seven of +them--fellows scarcely too big to take on my knee, and talk to about +God, and Heaven, and Jesus Christ; and I feel almost as if I had a kind +of instinct of love towards them, as they look up wonderingly with their +deep deep eyes, and smooth and glossy skins, and warm soft cheeks, and +ask their simple questions. I wish you could have seen the twenty Banks +Islanders as I told them that most excellent of all tales--the story +of Joseph. How their eyes glistened! and they pushed out their heads to +hear the sequel of his making himself known to his brethren, and asking +once more about "the old man of whom ye spake, is he yet alive?" + +'I can never read it with a steady voice, nor tell it either.' + +Sir John had thus replied to the tirade against English conventional +luxury:-- + +'The conventional notions in this old country are not always suited to +your country, and I quite agree that even here they are carried too far. +Yet there are other people than the needy whose souls are entrusted to +the clergy here, and in order to fulfil that trust they must mix on some +degree of equality with the gentry, and with the middle classes who are +well-to-do. Then again, consider both as to clergy and laity here. If +they were all to lower themselves a peg or two, and give up many not +only luxuries, but comforts, numbers of tradesmen, and others working +under them, aye, even merchants, manufacturers, and commercial men of +all sorts, would be to some extent thrown out of employ. The artificial +and even luxurious state of society here does really prevent many +persons from falling into the class of the needy. All this should +be regulated in its due proportion. Every man ought so to limit his +expenses as to have a good margin for charitable purposes of all sorts, +but I cannot think that he is doing good by living himself like a pauper +in order to assist paupers. If all men did so, labour of all kinds would +be overstocked with hands, and more paupers created. True it is, that +we all are too apt as means increase, some to set our hearts upon them, +which is wickedness; some to indulge in over much luxury, which is +wicked also; there should be moderation in all things. I believe that +more money is given in private charities of various kinds in helping +those who are struggling with small means, and yet not apparently in +the class of the needy, than the world is aware of; and those who do the +most are precisely those who are never heard of. But do not mistake me. +I am no advocate for luxury and idle expenditure. Yet I think you carry +your argument a little farther than is just. The impositions that are +practised, or attempted to be practised, upon charitable people are +beyond all conception.' The following is the answer:-- + + +'April 23, 1860. + +'My dearest Father,--Thank you for writing your views about luxuries, +extravagant expenditure, and the like. I see at once the truth of what +you say. + +'What I really mean is something of this kind. A high degree of +civilisation seems to generate (perhaps necessarily) a state of society +wherein the natural desires of people to gratify their inclinations +in all directions, conjoined with the power of paying highly for the +gratification of such inclinations, tends to call forth the ingenuity of +the working class in meeting such inclinations in all agreeable ways. So +springs up a complicated mechanism, by which a habit of life altogether +unnecessary for health and security of life and property is introduced +and becomes naturalised among a people. + +If this is the necessary consequence of the distinction between rich and +poor, and the course of civilisation must result in luxury and poverty +among the two classes respectively (and this seems to be so), it is, +of course, still more evident that the state of society being once +established gradually, through a long course of years, no change can +subsequently be introduced excepting in one way. It is still in the +power of individuals to act upon the community by their example--e.g., +the early Christians, though only for a short time, showed the result +of the practical acceptance of the Lord's teaching in its effect upon +society. Rich and poor, comparatively speaking, met each other half way. +The rich man sold his possessions, and equal distribution was made to +the poor. + +'All that I contend for is that, seeing the fearful deterioration, and +no less fearful extravagance, of a civilised country, the evil is one +which calls loudly for careful investigation. Thousands of artisans +and labourers who contribute nothing to the substantial wealth of the +country, and nothing towards the production of its means of subsistence, +would be thrown out of employment, and therefore that plan would be +wrong. Jewellers, &c., &c., all kinds of fellows who simply manufacture +vanities, are just as honest and good men as others, and it is not their +fault, but the fault (if it be one at all) of civilisation that +they exist. But I don't see why, the evil being recognised, some +comprehensive scheme of colonisation might not be adopted by the rulers +of a Christian land, to empty our poor-houses, and draft off the surplus +population, giving to the utterly destitute the prospect of health, +and renewed hopes of success in another thinly-inhabited country, and +securing for those who remain behind a more liberal remuneration for +their work by the comparative absence of competition. + +'I hardly know what to write to you, my dear Father, about this new +symptom of illness. I suppose, from what you say, that at your time +of life the disease being so mild in its form now, will hardly prove +dangerous to you, especially as you submit at once to a strictness of +diet which must be pretty hard to follow out--just the habit of a whole +life to be given up; and I know that to forego anything that I like, in +matters of eating and drinking, wants an effort that I feel ashamed of +being obliged to make. I don't, therefore, make myself unnecessarily +anxious, though I can't help feeling that such a discipline must be +hard. You say that in other respects you are much the same; but that +means that you are in almost constant pain, and that you cannot obtain +entire relief from it, except in bed. + +'Still, my dear Father, as you do bear it all, how can we wish that God +should spare you one trial or infirmity, which, we know, are, in His +providence, making you daily riper and riper for Heaven? I ought not +to write to you like this, but somehow the idea of our ever meeting +anywhere else has so entirely passed from my mind, that I try to view +things with reference to His ultimate purpose and work. + +'Your loving and dutiful Son, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The most present trouble of this summer was the sickness of Simeona. The +account of him on Ash Wednesday is: 'He is dying of consumption slowly, +and may go back with us two months hence, but I doubt it. Poor fellow, +he makes the worst of his case, and is often discontented and thinks +himself aggrieved because we cannot derange the whole plan of the school +economy for him. I have everything which is good for him, every little +dainty, and everyone is most kind; but when it comes to a complaint +because one pupil-teacher is not set apart to sit with him all day, and +another to catch him fish, of course I tell him that it would be wrong +to grant what is so unreasonable. Some one or other of the most stupid +of the boys catches his fish just as well as a pupil-teacher, and he is +quite able to sit up and read for two or three hours a day, and would +only be injured by having another lad in the room on purpose to be the +receptacle of all his moans and complaints, yet I know, poor fellow! it +is much owing to the disease upon him.' + +In spite of his fretfulness and exactions, the young man, meeting not +with spoiling, but with true kindness, responded to the touch. Lady +Martin tells us: 'I shall never forget dear Mr. Patteson's thankfulness +when, after a long season of reserve, he opened his heart to him, and +told him how, step by step, this sinfulness of sin had been brought home +to him. He knew he had done wrong in his heathen boyhood, but had put +away such deeds when he was baptized, and had almost forgotten the past, +or looked on it as part of heathenism. But in his illness, tended daily +and hourly by our dear friend, his conscience had become very tender. He +died in great peace.' + +His death is mentioned in the following letter to Sir John Coleridge:-- + + +'March 26, 1860. '(This day 5 years I left home. It was a Black Monday +indeed.) + +'My dear Uncle,--At three this morning died one of my old scholars, +by name George Selwyn Simeona, from Nengone. He was here for his third +time; for two years a regular communicant, having received a good deal +of teaching before I knew him. He was baptized three years ago. I did +not wish to bring him this time, for it was evident that he could not +live long when we met last at Nengone, and I told him that he had better +not come with us; but he said, "Heaven was no farther from New Zealand +than from Nengone;" and when we had pulled some little way from shore, +he ran down the beach, and made us return to take him in. Gradual +decline and chronic bronchitis wore him to a skeleton. On Thursday the +Bishop and I administered the Holy Eucharist to him; and he died at 3 +A.M. to-day, with his hand in mine, as I was in the act of commending +his soul to God. His wife, a sweet good girl, one of Mrs. Selwyn's +pupils from Nengone in old times, died last year. They leave one boy of +three years, whom I hope to get hold of entirely, and as it were adopt +him. + +'The clear bright moon was right over my head as after a while, and +after prayer with his friends, I left his room; the quiet splash of +the tiny waves on our sheltered shore, and the little schooner at +her anchorage: and I thanked God that one more spirit from among the +Melanesian islanders was gone to dwell, we trust, with JESUS CHRIST in +Paradise. + +'He will not be much missed in the Melanesian school work, for, for +months, he could not make one of us.... + +'I find Trench's Notes on the Authorised Version of the New Testament +very useful, chiefly as helping one to acquire a habit of accurate +criticism for oneself, and when we come (D.V.) to translate any portion +of the Scriptures, of course such books are very valuable.' + +'Last mail brought me but a very few letters. The account of my dear +Father's being obliged to submit to discipline did not alarm me, though +I know the nature of the disease, and that his father died of it. It +seems in his case likely to be kept under, but (as I have said before) I +cannot feel uneasy and anxious about him, be the accounts what they may. +It is partly selfish, for I am spared the sight of his suffering, but +then I do long for a look at his dear face and for the sound of his +voice. Five years of absence has of course made so much change in my +mind in this respect, that I do not now find myself dreaming of home, +constantly thinking of it; the first freshness of my loss is not felt +now. But I think I love them all and you all better than ever; and I +trust that I am looking inward on the whole to the blessedness of our +meeting hereafter. + +'But this work has its peculiar dangers. A man may become so +familiarised with the habits of the heathen that insensibly his +conscience becomes less sensitive. + +'There is a danger in living in the midst of utter lawlessness and +violence; and though the blessings and privileges far excel the +disadvantages, yet it is not in every way calculated to help one +forward, as I think I have in some ways found by experience. + +'Well, this is all dull and dry. But our life is somewhat monotonous on +shore, varied only by the details of incidents occurring in school, +and witnessing to the growth of the minds of my flock. They are a very +intelligent set this year, and there are many hopeful ones among them. +We have worked them hard at English, and all can read a little; and some +eight or ten really read nicely, but then they do not understand nearly +all they read without an explanation, just like an English boy +beginning his knowledge of letters with Latin (or French, a still spoken +language). + +'In about a month we shall (D.V.) start to take them back; but the +vessel will be absent but a short time, as I shall keep the Solomon +Islanders with me in the Banks Archipelago for the winter, and so avoid +the necessity of the schooner running 200 or 300 miles to leeward and +having to make it up again. I have slept ashore twice in the Banks +Islands, but no other white man has done so, and that makes our course +very clear, as they have none of the injuries usually committed by +traders, &c., to revenge. + +'Good-bye once more, my dearest Uncle, + +'Your affectionate and grateful Nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The calmness of mind respecting his father which is here spoken of was +not perpetual, and his grief broke out at times in talks with his young +friend and companion, Mr. Dudley, as appears by this extract:-- + +'I remember his talking to me more than once on the subject of his +father, and especially his remarking on one occasion that his friends +were pressing him to come out there oftener, and suggesting, when +he seemed out of health and spirits, that he was not taking care of +himself; but that it was the anguish he endured, as night after night he +lay awake thinking of his father gradually sinking and craving for him, +and cheerfully resigning him, that really told upon him. I know that I +obtained then a glimpse of an affection and a depth of sorrow such as +perfectly awed me, and I do not think I have witnessed anything like it +at all, either before or since. It was then that he seemed to enter into +the full meaning of those words of our Lord, in St. Mark x. 29-30, i.e., +into all that the "leaving" there spoken of involved.' + +Yet in spite of this anxiety there was no flinching from the three +months' residence at Mota, entirely out of reach of letters. A frame +house, with planks for the floor, was prepared at Auckland to be taken +out, and a stock of wine, provisions, and medicines laid in. The Rev. +B. Y. Ashwell, a New Zealand clergyman, joined the Mission party as a +guest, with two Maori youths, one the son of a deacon; and, besides Mr. +Dudley, another pupil, Mr. Thomas Kerr, was beginning his training for +service in the Mission. Sailing on one of the last days of April, there +was a long passage to Nengone, where the party went ashore, and found +everything in trouble, the French constantly expected, and the chiefs +entreating for a missionary from the Bishop, and no possibility of +supplying them. Lifu was rendered inaccessible by foul winds. + +'Much to my sorrow,' writes Mr. Patteson, 'I could not land my two +pupil-teachers, who, of course, wished to see their friends, and who +made me more desirous to give them a run on shore, by saying at once: +"Don't think of us, it is not safe to go." But I thought of what my +feelings would be if it were the Devonshire coast, somewhere about +Sidmouth, and no landing!' However, they, as well as the three +Nengonese, Wadrokala, Harper Malo, and Martin Tahia, went on +contentedly. + +'Off Mai, May 19th.--Mr. Kerr has been busy taking bearings, &c., for +the purpose of improving our MS. chart, and constructing a new one. +Commodore Loring wanted me to tell him all about Port Patteson, and +asked me if I wished a man-of-war to be sent down this winter to see me, +supposing the New Zealand troubles to be all over. I gave him all the +information he wanted, told him that I did not want a vessel to come +with the idea of any protection being required, but that a man-of-war +coming with the intention of supporting the Mission, and giving help, +and not coming to treat the natives in an off-hand manner, might do +good. I did not speak coldly; but really I fear what mischief even a +few wildish fellows might do on shore among such people as those of the +Banks Islands! + +'A fore-and-aft schooner in sight! Probably some trader. May be a +schooner which I heard the French had brought for missionary purposes. +What if we find a priest or two at Port Patteson! However, my course is +clear any way: work straight on. + +'May 21st.--Schooner a false alarm. We had a very interesting visit on +Saturday afternoon at Mai. We could not land till 4 P.M.; walked at once +to the village, a mile and a half inland. After some excitement caused +by our appearance, the people rushing to welcome us, we got them to be +quiet, and to sit down. I stood up, and gave them a sermonette, then +made Dudley, who speaks good Mai, say something. Then we knelt down, and +I said the second Good Friday Collect, inserted a few petitions which +you can imagine anyone would do at such a time, then a simple prayer in +their language, the Lord's Prayer in English, and the Grace.' + +On Friday Mota was reached, and the people showed great delight when +the frame of the house was landed at the site purchased for a number +of hatchets and other goods, so that it is the absolute property of +the Mission. Saturday was spent in a visit to Port Patteson, where the +people thronged, while the water-casks were being filled, and bamboos +cut down, with entreaties that the station might be there; and the +mosquitoes thronged too--Mr. Patteson had fifty-eight bites on one foot. + +On Whit Sunday, after Holy Communion on board, the party went on shore, +and prayed for, 'I cannot say with the people of Vanua Lava.' + +And on Whit Monday the house was set up 'in a most lovely spot,' says +Mr. Dudley, 'beneath the shade of a gigantic banyan tree, the trunk and +one long horizontal branch of which formed two sides of as beautiful +a picture as you would wish to look upon; the sloping bank, with +its cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, and other trees, forming the base of the +picture; and the coral beach, the deep, clear, blue tropical ocean, with +others of the Banks Islands, Valua, Matlavo, and Uvaparapara, in the +distance, forming the picture itself.' + +At least a hundred natives came to help, pulling down materials from +their own houses to make the roof, and delighted to obtain a bit of +iron, or still better of broken glass, to shave with. In the afternoon, +the master of the said house, using a box for a desk, wrote: 'Our little +house will, I think, be finished to-night; anyhow we can sleep in it, +if the walls are but half ready; they are merely bamboo canes tied +together. We sleep on the floor boarded and well raised on poles, two +feet and more from the ground--beds are superfluous here.' + +Here then was the first stake of the Church's tabernacle planted in all +Melanesia! + +The boards of the floor had been brought from New Zealand, the heavy +posts on which the plates were laid were cut in Vanua Lava, and the +thatch was of cocoa-nut leaves, the leaflets ingeniously bound together, +native fashion, and quite waterproof; but a mat or piece of canvas had +to be nailed within the bamboo walls to keep out the rain. + +On Wednesday a short service was held, the first ever known in Mota; +and then Mr. Ashwell and Mr. Kerr embarked, leaving Mr. Patteson and Mr. +Dudley with their twelve pupils in possession. Mr. Dudley had skill to +turn their resources to advantage. Space was gained below by making a +frame, to which knapsacks, bags, &c., could be hung up, and the floor +was only occupied by the four boxes, which did the further part of +tables, desks, and chairs in turn. As to beds, was not the whole floor +before them? and, observes the Journal: 'Now I see the advantage of +having brought planks from New Zealand to make a floor. We all had +something level to lie on at night, and when you are tired enough, a +good smooth plank or a box does just as well as a mattress.' + +Fresh water was half a mile off, and had to be fetched in bamboos; but +this was a great improvement upon Lifu, where there was none at all; and +a store of it was always kept in four twenty-gallon casks, three on the +beach, and one close to the house. + +The place was regularly purchased:-- + +'June 8th.--I have just bought for the Mission this small clearing of +half an acre, and the two acres (say) leading to the sea, with twenty or +more bread-fruits on it. There was a long talk with the people, and some +difficulty in finding out the real proprietors, but I think we arranged +matters really well at last. You would have been amused at the solemnity +with which I conducted the proceeding: making a great show of writing +down their names, and bringing each one of the owners up in their turn +to see his name put down, and making him touch my pen as I put a cross +against his name. Having spent about an hour in enquiring whether any +other person had any claim on the land or trees, I then said, "Now this +all belongs to me," and they assented. I entered it in my books--"On +behalf of the Melanesian Mission," but they could only understand that +the land belonged to the Bishop and me, because we wanted a place where +some people might live, who should be placed by the Bishop to teach +them. Of course the proceeding has no real validity, but I think they +will observe the contract: not quite the same thing as the transfer of +land in the old country! Here about 120 men, quite naked, represented +the interests of the late owners, and Dudley and I represented the +Mission.' + +The days were thus laid out--Morning school in the village, first with +the regular scholars, then with any one who liked to come in; and then, +when the weather permitted, a visit to some village, sometimes walking +all round, a circuit of ten miles, but generally each of the two taking +a separate village, talking to the people, teaching them from cards, and +encouraging interrogatories. Mr. Patteson always had such an attraction +for them that they would throng round him eagerly wherever he went. + +The Mota people had a certain faith of their own; they believed in +a supreme god called Ikpat, who had many brothers, one of whom was +something like Loki, in the Northern mythology, always tricking him. +Ikpat had disappeared in a ship, taking the best of everything with him. +It was also believed that the spirits of the dead survived and ranged +about at night, maddening all who chanced to meet them; and, like many +other darkly coloured people, the Motans had begun by supposing their +white visitors to be the ghosts of their deceased friends come to +revisit them. + +There were a good many other superstitions besides; and a ceremony +connected with one of them was going on the second week of the residence +at Mota--apparently a sort of freemasonry, into which all boys of a +certain age were to be initiated. + +The Journal says:-- + +'There is some strange superstitious ceremony going on at this village. +A space had been enclosed by a high hedge, and some eighteen or nineteen +youths are spending a month or more inside the fence, in a house where +they lie wrapped up in mats, abundantly supplied with food by the +people, who, from time to time, assemble to sing or perform divers +rites. I had a good deal of trouble with the father of our second year's +pupil Tagalana, who insisted upon sending his son thither. I warned +him against the consequences of hindering his son, who wished to follow +Christ. He yielded, because he was evidently afraid of me, but not +convinced, as I have no right to expect he should be. + +'The next morning comes an old fellow, and plants a red-flowering branch +in our small clearing, whereupon our Mota boys go away, not wishing to +go, but not daring to stay. No people came near us, but by-and-by comes +the man who had planted it, with whom I had much talk, which ended in +his pulling up and throwing away the branch, and in the return of our +boys. + +'In the evening many people came, to whom I spoke very plainly about the +necessity of abandoning these customs if they were in earnest in saying +they wished to embrace the Word of God. On Sunday they gave up their +singing at the enclosure, or only attempted it in a very small way. + +'June 6th.--I am just returned from a village a mile and a half off, +called Tasmate, where one of their religious ceremonies took place this +morning. The village contains upwards of twenty houses, built at +the edge of the bush, which consists here almost exclusively of +fruit-bearing trees--cocoa-nut trees, bananas, bread-fruit, and large +almond trefts are everywhere the most conspicuous. The sea view looking +south is very beautiful. + +'I walked thither alone, having heard that a feast was to be held there. +As I came close to the spot, I heard the hum of many voices, and the +dull, booming sound of the native drum, which is nothing but a large +hollow tree, of circular shape, struck by wooden mallets. Some few +people ran off as I appeared, but many of them had seen me before. The +women, about thirty in number, were sitting on the ground together, in +front of one of the houses, which enclosed an open air circular space; +in front of another house were many children and young people. In the +long narrow house which forms the general cooking and lounging room of +the men of each village, and the sleeping room of the bachelors, were +many people preparing large messes of grated yam and cocoa-nut in flat +wooden dishes. At the long oblong-shaped drum sat the performers, two +young men, each with two short sticks to perform the kettledrum part +of the business, and an older man in the centre, whose art consisted in +bringing out deep, hollow tones from his wooden instrument. Around them +stood some thirty men, two of whom I noticed especially, decked out with +red leaves, and feathers in their hair. Near this party, and close to +the long, narrow house in the end of which I stood, was a newly raised +platform of earth, supported on stones. On the corner stone were laid +six or eight pigs' jaws, with the large curling tusks left in them. This +was a sacred stone. In front of the platform were three poles, covered +with flowers, red leaves, &c. + +'For about an hour and a half the men at or around the drum kept up an +almost incessant shouting, screaming and whistling, moving their legs +and arms in time, not with any wild gesticulations, but occasionally +with some little violence, the drum all the time being struck +incessantly. About the middle of the ceremony, an old, tall, thin man, +with a red handkerchief, our gift at some time, round his waist, began +ambling round the space in the middle of the houses, carrying a boar's +skull in his hand. This performance he repeated three times. Then a +man jumped up upon the platform, and, moving quickly about on it and +gesticulating wildly, delivered a short speech, after which the drum was +beat louder than ever; then came another speech from the same man; and +then the rain evidently hastening matters to a conclusion to the +whole thing, without any ceremony of consecrating the stone, as I had +expected. + +'In the long room afterwards I had the opportunity of saying quietly +what I had said to those about me during the ceremony: the same story of +the love of God, especially manifested in JESUS CHRIST, to turn men from +darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. With what +power that verse speaks to one while witnessing such an exhibition of +ignorance, or fear, or superstition as I have seen to-day! And through +it all I was constantly thinking upon the earnestness with which these +poor souls follow out a mistaken notion of religion. Such rain as fell +this morning would have kept a whole English congregation from going to +church, but they never sought shelter nor desisted from their work +in hand; and the physical effect was really great, the perspiration +streamed down their bodies, and the learning by heart all the songs +and the complicated parts of the ceremony implied a good deal of pains. +Christians do not always take so much pains to fulfil scrupulously their +duties as sometimes these heathens do. And, indeed, their bondage is +a hard one, constant suspicion and fear whenever they think at all. +Everything that is not connected with the animal part of our nature +seems to be the prey of dark and gloomy superstitions; the spiritual +part is altogether inactive as an instrument of comfort, joy, peace +and hope. You can imagine that I prayed earnestly for these poor souls, +actually performing before me their strange mysteries, and that I spoke +earnestly and strongly afterwards. + +'The argument with those who would listen was: What good comes of all +this? What has the spirit you call Ikpat ever done for you? Has he +taught you to clothe yourselves, build houses, &c.? Does he offer to +make you happy? Can you tell me what single good thing has come from +these customs? But if you ask me what good thing has come to us from the +Word of God, first you had better let me tell you what has happened in +England of old, in New Zealand, Nengone, or Lifu, then I will tell you +what the Word of God teaches;--and these with the great outline of the +Faith.' + +Every village in the island had the platforms, poles, and flowers; and +the next day, at a turn in the path near a village, the Mission party +suddenly came upon four sticks planted in a row, two of them bearing +things like one-eyed masks; two others, like mitres, painted red, black, +and white. As far as could be made out, they were placed there as a +sort of defiance to the inhabitants; but Mr. Patteson took down one, +and declared his intention of buying them for fish-hooks, to take to New +Zealand, that the people might see their dark and foolish customs! + +Some effect had already been produced, the people declared that there +had been much less of fighting since the missionaries had spoken to them +eighteen months back, and they had given up some of the charms by which +they used to destroy each other; but there was still much carrying of +bows; and on the way home from this expedition, Mr. Patteson suddenly +came on six men with bows bent and arrows pointed in his direction. He +at once recognised a man from Veverao, the next village to the station, +and called out 'All right!' It proved that a report had come of his +being attacked or killed on the other side of the island, and that they +had set out to defend or avenge him. + +He received his champions with reproof:--'This is the very thing I told +you not to do. It is all your foolish jealousy and suspicion of them. +There is not a man on the island who is not friendly to me! And if they +were not friendly, what business have you with your bows and arrows? I +tell you once more, if I see you take your bows again, though you may +do it as you think with a good intention towards me, I will not stay at +your village. If you want to help me, receive the Word of God, abandon +your senseless ceremonies. That will be helping me indeed!' + +'Cannot you live at peace in this little bit of an island?' was the +constant theme of these lectures; and when Wompas, his old scholar, +appeared with bow and arrows, saying, I am sent to defend you,' the +answer was, 'Don't talk such nonsense! Give me the bow!' This was done, +and Patteson was putting it across his knee to break it, when the youth +declared it was not his. 'If I see these things again, you know what +will become of them!' + +The mitres and masks were gone; but the Veverao people were desperately +jealous of the next village, Auta, alleging that the inhabitants were +unfriendly, and by every means trying to keep the guest entirely to +themselves; while he resolutely forced on their reluctant ears, 'If +you are sincere in saying that you wish to know God, you must love your +brother. God will not dwell in a divided heart, nor teach you His truth +while you wilfully continue to hate your brother!' + +The St. Barnabas Day on which most of this was written was a notable +one, for it was marked by the first administration of both the +Sacraments in Mota. In the morning one English and four Nengonese +communicants knelt round their pastor; and, in the evening, after a +walk to Auta, and much of this preaching of peace and goodwill, then a +dinner, which was made festive with preserved meat and wine, there came +a message from one Ivepapeu, a leading man, whose child was sick. It was +evidently dying, and Mr. Patteson, in the midst of the people, told them +that-- + +'The Son of God had commanded us to teach and baptize all nations; that +they did not understand the meaning of what he was about to do, but that +the word of JESUS the Son of God was plain, and that he must obey it; +that this was not a mere form, but a real gift from heaven, not for the +body but the soul; that the child would be as likely to die as before, +but that its spirit would be taken to God, and if it should recover, it +must be set apart for God, not taken to any heathen rites, but given +to himself to be trained up as a child of God.' The parents consented: +'Then,' he continues, 'we knelt, and in the middle of the village, the +naked group around me, the dying child in its mother's lap, I prayed to +God and Christ in their language to bless the child according to His +own promise, to receive it for His own child, and to convey to it the +fulness of the blessing of His holy Sacrament. Then while all were +silent, I poured the water on its head, pronouncing the form of words +in English, and calling the child John, the first Christian child in the +Banks Islands. Then I knelt down again and praised God for His goodness, +and prayed that the child might live, if it were His good pleasure, and +be educated to His glory; and then I prayed for those around me and for +the people of the island, that God would reveal to them His Holy Name +and Word and Will; and so, with a few words to the parents and people, +left them, as darkness settled down on the village and the bright stars +came out overhead.' + +The innocent first-fruits of Mota died three days later, and Mr. +Patteson found a great howling and wailing going on over its little +grave under a long low house. This was hushed when he came up, and spoke +of the Resurrection, and described the babe's soul dwelling in peace in +the Kingdom of the Father, where those would join it who would believe +and repent, cast away their evil practices, and be baptized to live +as children of God. Kneeling down, he prayed over it, thanking God +for having taken it to Himself, and interceding for all around. They +listened and seemed touched; no opposition was ever offered to him, +but he found that there was much fighting and quarrelling, many of the +villages at war with each other, and a great deal too much use of the +bow and arrow, though the whole race was free from cannibalism. They +seemed to want to halt between two opinions: to keep up their orgies on +the one hand, and to make much of the white teacher on the other; and +when we recollect that two unarmed Englishmen, and twelve blacks +from other islands, were perfectly isolated in the midst of a heathen +population, having refused protection from a British man-of-war, it +gives a grandeur to the following narrative:-- + +'June 7th.--One of their chief men has just been with two bread-fruit as +a present. I detected him as a leader of one of their chief ceremonies +yesterday, and I have just told him plainly that I cannot accept +anything from him, neither can I suffer him to be coming to my place +while it is notorious that he is teaching the children the very things +they ought not to learn, and that he is strongly supporting the old +false system, while he professes to be listening attentively to the Word +of God. I made him take up his two bread-fruit and carry them away; and +I suppose it will be the story all over the village that I have driven +him away. + +'"By-and-by we will listen to the Word of God, when we have finished +these ceremonies." + +'"Yes, you hearken first to the voice of the evil spirit; you choose him +firsthand then you will care to hear about God.'" + +The ceremony was to last twenty days, and only affected the lads, who +were blackened all over with soot, and apparently presented pigs to the +old priest, and were afterwards admitted to the privileges of eating and +sleeping in the separate building, which formed a kind of club-house for +the men of each village, and on which Mr. Patteson could always reckon +as both a lecture room and sleeping place. + +The people kept on saying that 'by-and-by' they would make an end of +their wild ritual, and throw down their enclosures, and at the same time +they thronged to talk to him at the Mission station, and built a shed to +serve for a school at Auta. + +Meantime the little estate was brought into order. A pleasant day of +landscape-gardening was devoted to clearing gaps to let in the lovely +views from the station; and a piece of ground was dug and planted with +pine-apples, vines, oranges, and cotton, also a choicer species of +banana than the indigenous one. Bread-fruit was so plentiful that +breakfast was provided by sending a boy up a tree to bring down four or +five fruits, which were laid in the ashes, and cooked at once; and as to +banana leaves 'we think nothing of cutting one down, four feet long and +twenty inches wide, of a bright pale green, just to wrap up a cooked yam +or two.' + +The first week in July, with Wadrokala, Mark, and two Malanta men, +Mr. Patteson set forth in the boat that had been left with him, for an +expedition among the other islands, beginning with Saddle Island, or +Valua, which was the proper name. + +The day after leaving Eowa, the weather changed; and as on these +perilous coasts there was no possibility of landing, two days and the +intervening night had to be spent in the open four-oared boat, riding to +a grapnel! + +Very glad they were to get into Port Patteson, and to land in the wet, +'as it can rain in the tropics.' The nearest village, however, was +empty, everybody being gone to the burial wake of the wife of a chief, +and there was no fire to cook the yams, everything dreary and deserted, +but a short walk brought the wet and tired party to the next village, +where they were made welcome to the common house; and after, supping +on yams and chocolate, spent a good night, and found the sea smooth the +next day for a return to head-quarters. + +These first weeks at Mota were very happy, but after that the strain +began to tell. Mr. Patteson had been worn with anxiety for his father, +and no doubt with awe in the contemplation of his coming Episcopate, +and was not in a strong state of health when he left Kohimarama, and the +lack of animal food, the too sparing supply of wine, and the bare board +bed told upon him. On the 24th of July he wrote in a letter to his Uncle +Edward:-- + + +'I have lost six days: a small tumour formed inside the ear about two +inches from the outer ear, and the pain has been very considerable, +and the annoyance great. Last night I slept for the first time for five +nights, and I have been so weary with sleeplessness that I have been +quite idle. The mischief is passing away now. That ear is quite deaf; +it made me think so of dear Father and Joan with their constant trial. I +don't see any results from our residence here; and why should I look for +them? It is enough that the people are hearing, some of them talking, +and a few thinking about what they hear. All in God's own time!' + +Mr. Dudley adds: 'His chief trouble at this time was with one of his +ears. The swelling far in not only made him deaf while it lasted, but +gave him intense and protracted agony. More than once he had to spend +the whole night in walking up and down the room. But only on one +occasion during the whole time do I remember his losing his patience, +and that was when we had been subjected to an unusually protracted +visitation from the "loafers" of the village, who would stretch +themselves at full length on the floor and table, if we would let +them, and altogether conduct themselves in such a manner as to call for +summary treatment, very different from the more promising section. The +half jocular but very decided manner in which he cleared the house on +this occasion, and made them understand that they were to respect our +privacy sometimes, and not make the Mission station an idling place, was +very satisfactory. It was no small aggravation of the pain to feel that +this might be the beginning of permanent deafness, such as would +be fatal to his usefulness in a work in which accuracy of ear was +essential.' + +However, this gradually improved; and another boat voyage was made, +but again was frustrated by the torrents of rain. In fact, it was an +unusually wet and unwholesome season, which told upon everyone. Mark +Chakham, the Nengonese, was brought very near the grave by a severe +attack of dysentery. All the stores of coffee, chocolate, wine and +biscuit were used up. The 'Southern Cross' had been due full a month, +and nothing was heard of her through the whole of September. + +Teaching and conversation went on all this time, trying as it was; +and the people still came to hear, though no one actually undertook to +forsake his idols. + +'I am still hopeful about these people,' is the entry on September 18, +'though all their old customs and superstitions go on just as before. +But (1) they know that a better teaching has been presented to them. (2) +They do not pursue their old habits with the same unthinking-security. +(3) There are signs of a certain uneasiness of mind, as if a struggle +was beginning in them. (4) They have a vague consciousness, some of +them, that the power is passing away from their witchcrafts, sorceries, +&c., by which unquestionably they did and still do work strange effects +on the credulous people, like 'Pharaoh's magicians of old.' + +This was ground gained; and one or two voyages to Vanua Lava and +the other isles were preparatory steps, and much experience had been +acquired, and resulted in this:-- + +'The feasibility of the Bishop's old scheme is more and more apparent +to me. Only I think that in taking away natives to the summer school, it +must be understood that some (and they few) are taken from new islands +merely to teach us some of their languages and to frank us, so that we +may have access in safety to their islands. Should any of them turn out +well, so much the better; but it will not be well to take them with the +expectation of their becoming teachers to their people. But the other +section of the school will consist of young men whose behaviour we have +watched during the winter in their own homes, whose professions we have +had an opportunity of testing--they may be treated as young men on the +way to become teachers eventually to their countrymen. One learns much +from living among a heathen people, and only by living in our pupils' +homes shall we ever know their real characters. Poor fellows! they +are adepts in all kinds of deceitfulness at a very early age, and so +completely in our power on board the schooner and at Kohimarama, that we +know nothing of them as they are.' + +The very paper this is copied from shows how the stores were failing, +for the full quarto sheets have all failed, and the journal is continued +on note paper. + +Not till October 1 was Mr. Patteson's watch by a poor dying woman +interrupted by tidings that a ship was in sight. And soon it was too +plain that she was not the 'Southern Cross,' though, happily, neither +trader nor French Mission ship. In a short time there came ashore +satisfactory letters from home, but with them the tidings that the +little 'Southern Cross' lay in many fathoms water on the New Zealand +coast! + +On her return, on the night of the 17th of June, just as New Zealand +itself was reached, there was a heavy gale from the north-east. A +dangerous shoal of rocks, called the Hen and Chickens, stands out from +the head of Ngunguru Bay; and, in the darkness and mist, it was supposed +that these were safely passed, when the ship struck on the eastern +Chicken, happily on a spot somewhat sheltered from the violence of the +breakers. The two passengers and the crew took refuge in the rigging all +night; and in the morning contrived to get a line to land, on which +all were safely drawn through the surf, and were kindly received by the +nearest English settlers. + +So, after five years' good service, ended the career of the good +'Southern Cross' the first. She had gone down upon sand, and much of +the wreck might have been recovered and made useful again had labour not +been scarce at that time in New Zealand that the Bishop could find no +one to undertake the work, and all he could do was to charter another +vessel to be despatched to bring home the party from Mota. Nor +were vessels fit for the purpose easy to find, and the schooner +'Zillah'--welcome as was the sight of her--proved a miserable substitute +even in mere nautical capabilities, and her internal arrangements were +of course entirely inappropriate to the peculiar wants of the Mission. + +This was the more unfortunate because the very day after her arrival Mr. +Dudley was prostrated by something of a sunstroke. Martin Tehele was +ill already, and rapidly became worse; and Wadrokala and Harper Malo +sickened immediately, nor was the former patient recovered. Mr. Dudley, +Wadrokala and Harper were for many days in imminent danger, and +were scarcely dragged through by the help of six bottles of wine, +providentially sent by the Bishop. Mr. Dudley says:-- + +'During the voyage Mr. Patteson's powers of nursing were severely tried. +Poor Martin passed away before we arrived at Nengone, and was committed +to the deep. Before he died he was completely softened by Mr. Patteson's +loving care, and asked pardon for all the trouble he had given and the +fretfulness he had shown. Poor fellow! I well remember how he gasped out +the Lord's Prayer after Mr. Patteson a few minutes before he died. We +all who had crawled up round his bed joining in with them. + +'Oh, what a long dreary time that was! Light baffling winds continually, +and we in a vessel as different from the "Southern Cross" as possible, +absolutely guiltless, I should think, of having ever made two miles an +hour to windward "in a wind." The one thing that stands out as having +relieved its dreariness is the presence of Mr. Patteson, the visits he +used to pay to us, and the exquisite pathos of his voice as, from the +corner of the hold where we lay, we could hear him reading the Morning +and Evening Prayers of the Church and leading the hymn. These prevented +these long weary wakeful days and nights from being absolutely +insupportable.' + +At last Nengone was reached, and Wadrokala and Harper were there set +ashore, better, but very weak. Here the tidings were known that in Lifu +John Cho had lost his wife Margaret, and had married the widow of +a Karotongan teacher, a very suitable match, but too speedy to be +according to European ideas; and on November 26 the 'Zillah' was off the +Three Kings, New Zealand. + + +'Monday: Nov. 26, 1860. '"Zillah" Schooner, off the Three Kings, N. of +New Zealand. + +'You know pretty well that Kohimarama is a small bay, about one-third +of a mile along the sea frontage, two-and-a-half miles due east of +Auckland, and just opposite the entrance into the harbour, between the +North Head and Eangitoto. The beach is composed entirely of the shells +of "pipi" (small cockles); always, therefore, dry and pleasant to walk +upon. A fence runs along the whole length of it. At the eastern end +of it, a short distance inside this N. (= sea) fence, are the three +cottages of the master and mate and Fletcher. Sam Fletcher is a +man-of-war's man, age about thirty-eight, who has been with us some four +years and a half. He has all the habits of order and cleanliness that +his life as coxswain of the captain's gig taught him; he is a very +valuable fellow. He is our extra man at sea. + +'Each of these cottages has its garden, and all three men are married, +but only the master (Grange) has any family, one married daughter. + +'Then going westward comes a nine-acre paddock, and then a dividing +fence, inside (i.e. to W.) of which stand our buildings. + +'Now our life here is hard to represent. It is not like the life of an +ordinary schoolmaster, still less like that of an ordinary clergyman. +Much of the domestic and cooking department I may manage, of course, +to superintend. I would much rather do this than have the nuisance of a +paid servant. + +'So at 5 A.M., say, I turn out; I at once go to the kitchen, and set the +two cooks of the week to work, light fire, put on yams or potatoes, then +back to dress, read, &c.; in and out all the time, of the kitchen till +breakfast time: say 8 or 8.30. You would be surprised to see how very +soon the lads will do it all by themselves, and leave me or Mr. Kerr to +give all our attention to school and other matters. + +'So you can fancy, Joan, now, the manner of life. My little room with my +books is my snuggery during the middle of the day, and at night I have +also a large working table at one end of the big school-room, covered +with books, papers, &c., and here I sit a good deal, my room being +too small to hold the number of books that I require to have open for +comparison of languages, and for working out grammatical puzzles. Then +I am in and out of the kitchen and store-room, and boys' rooms, seeing +that all things, clothes, blankets, floors, &c., are washed and kept +clean, and doing much what is done in every house.' + +Snuggery no doubt it looked compared with the 'Zillah;' but what would +the 'Eton fellow' of fifteen years back have thought of the bare, +scantily furnished room, with nothing but the books, prints, and +photographs around to recall the tastes of old, and generally a sick +Melanesian on the floor? However, he was glad enough to return thither, +though with only sixteen scholars from ten places. Among them was +Taroniara from Bauro, who was to be his follower, faithful to death. The +following addition was made to the letter to Mr. Edward Coleridge, begun +in Banks Islands:-- + + +'Kohimarama: Dec. 1, 1860. + +'One line, my dear tutor, before I finish off my pile of hastily written +letters for this mail. + +'Alas! alas! for the little schooner, that dear little vessel, our home +for so many months of each year, so admirably qualified for her work. +Whether she may be got off her sandy bed, no one can say. Great expense +would certainly be incurred, and the risk of success great also. + +'I have not yet had time to talk to the Bishop, I only reached New +Zealand on November 28. We cannot, however, well do our work in +chartered vessels [then follows a full detail of the imperfections of +the 'Zillah' and all other Australian merchant craft; then--But, dear +old tutor, even the "Southern Cross" (though what would I give to +see her now at her usual anchorage from the window at which I am now +sitting!) for a time retires into the distance, as I think of what is to +take place (D.V.) in January next. + +'I hoped that I had persuaded the Bishop that the meeting of the General +Synod in February 1862 would be a fit time. I do not see that the Duke's +despatch makes any difference in the choice of the time. But all was +settled in my absence; and now at the Feast of the Epiphany or of +the Conversion of St. Paul (as suits the convenience of the Southern +Bishops) the Consecration is to take place. I am heartily glad that the +principle of consecrating Missionary Bishops will be thus affirmed and +acted upon; but oh! if some one else was to be the Bishop! + +'And yet I must not distrust God's grace, and the gift of the Holy +Spirit to enable me for this work. I try and pray to be calm and +resigned, and I am happy and cheerful. + +'And it is a blessed thing that now three of your old dear friends, once +called Selwyn, Abraham, Hobhouse should be consecrating your own nephew +and pupil, gathered by God's providence into the same part of God's +field at the ends of the earth.' + + +Still with his heart full of the never-forgotten influence of his +mother, he thus begins his home letter of the same date:-- + + +'Kohimarama: Dec. 1. + +'My dearest Father,--I could not write on November 28, but the memory of +that day in 1842 was with me from morning to night. We anchored on that +day at 1 A.M., and I was very busy till late at night. I had no idea +till I came back from the Islands that there was any change in the +arrangements for the consecration in February 1862. But now the Bishops +of Wellington and Nelson have been summoned for the Feast of the +Epiphany, or of the conversion of St. Paul, and all was done in +my absence. I see, too, that you in England have assumed that the +consecration will take place soon after the reception of the Duke's +despatch. + +'I must not now shrink from it, I know. I have full confidence in +your judgment, and in that of the Bishop; and I suppose that if I was +speaking of another, I should say that I saw reasons for it. But depend +upon it, my dear Father, that a man cannot communicate to another the +whole of the grounds upon which he feels reluctant to accept an office. +I believe that I ought to accept this in deference to you all, and I do +so cheerfully, but I don't, say that my judgment agrees wholly with you +all. + +'And yet there is no one else; and if the separation of New Zealand and +Melanesia is necessary, I see that this must be the consequence. So I +regard it now as a certainty. I pray God to strengthen and enable me: I +look forward, thanks to Him, hopefully and cheerfully. I have the love +and the prayers of many, many friends, and soon the whole Church of +England will recognise me as one who stands in special need of grace and +strength from above. + +'Oh! the awful power of heathenism! the antagonism, not of evil only, +but of the Evil One, rather, I mean the reality felt of all evil +emanating from a person, as St. Paul writes, and as our Lord spoke of +him. I do indeed at times feel overwhelmed, as if I was in a dream. Then +comes some blessed word or thought of comfort, and promised strength and +grace. + +'But enough of this. + +'The "Southern Cross" cannot, I think, be got off without great certain +expense and probable risk. I think we shall have to buy another vessel, +and I dare say she may be built at home, but I don't know what is the +Bishop's mind about it.... + +'I shall write to Merton, I don't know why I should needs vacate my +fellowship. I have no change of outward circumstances brought upon me +by my change presently from the name of Presbyter to Bishop, and we want +all the money. + +'What you say about a Missionary Bishop being for five months of the +year within the diocese of another Bishop, I will talk over with the +Bishop of New Zealand. I think our Synodical system will make that +all right; and as for my work, it will be precisely the same in all +respects, my external life altered only to the extent of my wearing a +broader brimmed and lower crowned hat. Dear Joan is investing moneys in +cutaway coats, buckles without end, and no doubt knee-breeches and what +she calls "gambroons" (whereof I have no cognizance), none of which will +be worn more than (say) four or five times in the year. Gambroons and +aprons and lawn sleeves won't go a-voyaging, depend upon it. Just when +I preach in some Auckland church I shall appear in full costume; but the +buckles will grow very rusty indeed! + +'How kind and good of her to take all the trouble, I don't laugh +at that, and at her dear love for me and anxiety that I should have +everything; but I could not help having a joke about gambroons, whatever +they are.... + +'Good-bye once more, my dearest Father. You will, I trust, receive +this budget about the time of your birthday. How I think of you day and +night, and how I thank you for all your love, and perhaps most of all, +not only letting me come to Melanesia, but for your great love in never +calling me away from my work even to see your face once more on earth. + +'Your loving and dutiful son, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Remark upon a high-minded letter is generally an impertinence both to +the writer and the reader, but I cannot help pausing upon the foregoing, +to note the force of the expression that thanks the father for the love +that did not recall the son. What a different notion these two men had +of love from that which merely seeks self-gratification! Observe, +too, how the old self-contemplative, self-tormenting spirit, that was +unhappiness in those days of growth and heart-searching at the first +entrance into the ministry, had passed into humble obedience and trust. +Looking back to the correspondence of ten years ago, volumes of progress +are implied in the quiet 'Enough of this.' + +There were, however, some delays in bringing the three together, and on +the New Year's Day of 1861, the designate writes to Bishop Abraham: +'I dare say the want of any positive certainty as to the time of the +Consecration is a good discipline for me. I think I feel calm now; but +I know I must not trust feelings, and when I think of those islands and +the practical difficulty of getting at them, and the need of so many of +those qualities which are so wonderfully united in our dear Primate, +I need strength from above indeed to keep my heart from sinking. But I +think that I do long and desire to work on by God's grace, and not to +look to results at all.' + +A 'supplementary mail' made possible a birthday letter (the last) +written at 6 A.M. on the 11th of February: 'I wanted of course to write +to you to-day. Many happy returns of it I wish you indeed, for it may +yet please God to prolong your life; but in any case you know well how +I am thinking and praying for you that every blessing and comfort may +be given you. Oh I how I do think of you night and day. When Mrs. Selwyn +said "Good-bye," and spoke of you, I could not stand it. I feel that +anything else (as I fancy) I can speak of with composure; but the verses +in the Bible, such as the passage which I read yesterday in St. Mark x., +almost unnerve me, and I can't wish it to be otherwise. But I feel that +my place is here, and that I must look to the blessed hope of meeting +again hereafter.... + +'Of course no treat is so great to me as the occasional talks with the +Bishop. Oh! the memory of those days and evenings on board the "Southern +Cross." Well, it was so happy a life that it was not good for me, +I suppose, that it should last. But I feel it now that the sense of +responsibility is deepening on me, and I must go out to work without +him; and very, very anxious I am sometimes, and almost oppressed by it. + +'But strength will come; and it is not one's own work, which is the +comfort, and if I fail (which is very likely) God will place some other +man in my position, and the work will go on, whether in my hands or not, +and that is the real point. + +'Some talk I find there has been about my going home. I did not hear +of it until after Mrs. Selwyn had sailed. It was thought of, but it was +felt, as I certainly feel, that it ought not to be.... My work lies +out here clearly; and it is true that any intermission of voyages or +residences in the islands is to be avoided.' + +Mrs. Selwyn had gone home for a year, and had so arranged as to see the +Patteson family almost immediately on her return. Meantime the day drew +on. The Consecration was not by Royal mandate, as in the case of Bishops +of sees under British jurisdiction; but the Duke of Newcastle, then +Colonial Secretary, wrote:--'That the Bishops of New Zealand are at +liberty, without invasion of the Royal prerogative or infringement of +the law of England, to exercise what Bishop Selwyn describes as their +inherent power of consecrating Mr. Patteson or any other person to take +charge of the Melanesian Islands, provided that the consecration should +take place beyond British territory.' + +In consequence it was proposed that the three consecrating Bishops +should take ship and perform the holy rite in one of the isles beneath +the open sky; but as Bishop Mackenzie had been legally consecrated in +Cape Town Cathedral, the Attorney-General of New Zealand gave it as his +opinion that there was no reason that the consecration should not take +place in Auckland. + + +'Kohimarama: Feb. 15, 1861. + +'My dearest Father,--Mr. Kerr, who has just returned from Auckland, +where he spent yesterday, brings me the news that the question of the +Consecration has been settled, and that it will take place (D.V.) on +Sunday week, St. Matthias Day, February 24. + +'I ought not to shrink back now. The thought has become familiar to me, +and I have the greatest confidence in the judgment of the Bishop of New +Zealand; and I need not say how your words and letters and prayers too +are helping me now. + +'Indeed, though at any great crisis of our lives no doubt we are +intended to use more than ordinary strictness in examining our motives +and in seeking for greater grace, deeper repentance, more earnest and +entire devotion to God, and amendment of life, yet I know that any +strong-emotion, if it existed now, would pass away soon, and that I must +be the same man as Bishop as I am now, in this sense, viz., that I shall +have just the same faults, unless I pray for strength to destroy them, +which I can do equally well now, and that all my characteristic and +peculiar habits of mind will remain unchanged by what will only change +my office and not myself. So that where I am indolent now I shall be +indolent henceforth, unless I seek to get rid of indolence; and I shall +not be at all better, wiser, or more consistent as Bishop than I am now +by reason simply of being a Bishop. + +'You know my meaning. Now I apply what I write to prove that any strong +excitement now would be no evidence of a healthy state of mind. I feel +now like myself, and that is not at all like what I wish to be. And so +I thank God that as before any solemn season special inducements to +earnest repentance are put into our minds, so I now feel a special call +upon me to seek by His grace to make a more faithful use of the means of +usefulness which He gives me, that I may be wholly and entirely turned +to Him, and so be enabled to do His will in Melanesia. You know, my +dearest Father, that I do not indeed undervalue the grace of Ordination; +only I mean that the right use of any great event in one's life, as I +take it, is not to concentrate feeling so much on it as earnestness of +purpose, prayer for grace, and for increase of simplicity and honesty +and purity of heart. Perhaps other matters affect me more than my +supposed state of feeling, so that my present calmness may be attributed +to circumstances of which I am partially ignorant; and, indeed, I do +wonder that I am calm when one moment's look at the map, or thought of +the countless islands, almost overwhelms me. How to get at them? Where +to begin? How to find men and means? How to decide upon the best method +of teaching, &c.? But I must try to be patient, and to be content with +very small beginnings--and endings, too, perhaps. + + +'Sunday, Feb. 24, St. Matthias, 10 A.M.--The day is come, my dearest +Father, and finds me, I thank God, very calm. Yesterday, at 6 P.M., in +the little chapel at Taurama, the three Bishops, the dear Judge, Lady +Martin, Mrs. Abraham, Mr. Lloyd and I met together for special prayer. +How we missed Mrs. Selwyn, dear dear Mrs. Selwyn, from among us, and how +my thoughts passed on to you! Evening hymn, Exhortation in Consecration +Service, Litany from the St. Augustine's Missionary Manual, with the +questions in Consecration Service turned into petitions, Psalm cxxxii., +cxxxi., li.; Lesson i Tim. iii.; special prayer for the Elect Bishop +among the heathen, for the conversion of the heathen; and the Gloria in +Excelsis. + +'Then the dear Bishop walked across to me, and taking my hand in both +of his, looking at me with that smile of love and deep deep thought, so +seldom seen, and so deeply prized. "I can't tell you what I feel," he +said, with a low and broken voice. "You know it--my heart is too full! " + +'Ah! the memory of six years with that great and noble servant of God +was in my heart too, and so we stood, tears in our eyes, and I unable to +speak. + +'At night again, when, after arranging finally the service, I was left +with him alone, he spoke calmly and hopefully. Much he said of you, and +we are all thinking much of you. Then he said: "I feel no misgiving in +my heart; I think all has been done as it should be. Many days we three +have discussed the matter. By prayer and Holy Communion we have sought +light from above, and it is, I believe, God's will." Then once more +taking both hands, he kissed my forehead: "God bless you, my dear Coley. +I can't say more words, and you don't desiderate them." + +'"No," said I; "my heart, as yours, is too full for words. I have lived +six years with you to little purpose, if I do not know you full well +now!" + +'And then I walked, in the perfect peace of a still cloudless night--the +moon within two days of full--the quarter of a mile to St. Stephen's +schools, where I slept last night. On the way I met the Bishop of +Wellington and Mrs. Abraham, coming up from St. Stephen's to the +Bishop's house. + +J. C. P.--What a night of peace! the harbour like a silver mirror! + +'B. of W.--Dominus tecum. + +'Mrs. A.--I trust you will sleep. + +'J. C. P.--I thank you; I think so. I feel calm. + + +'Sunday Night, 10 P.M. (Feniton, Sunday, 10.40 A.M.)--It is over--a most +solemn blessed service. Glorious day. Church crowded--many not able to +find admittance; but orderly. More than two hundred communicants. More +to-morrow (D.V.). All day you have been in our minds. The Bishop spoke +of you in his sermon with faltering voice, and I broke down; yet at the +moment of the Veni Creator being sung over me, and the Imposition of +Hands, I was very calm. The Bible presented is the same that you gave +me on my fifth birthday with your love and blessing. Oh! my dear dear +Father, God will bless you for all your love to me, and your love to Him +in giving me to His service. May His heavenly blessing be with you--all +your dear ones for ever! + +'Your most loving and dutiful Son, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop. + + +'February 25th.--I am spending to-day and to-morrow here--i.e., sleeping +at the Judge's, dining and living half at his house, and half at the +Bishop's--quiet and calm it is, and I prize it. The music yesterday was +very good; organ well played. The choirs of the three town churches, +and many of the choral society people, filled the gallery--some eighty +voices perhaps. The Veni Creator the only part that was not good, well +sung, but too much like an anthem. + +'Tagalana, half-sitting, half-kneeling behind me, held the book for the +Primate to read from at the Imposition of Hands--a striking group, I am +told.' + + +Here ends the letter, to which a little must be added from other +pens; and, first, from Mrs. Abraham's letter for the benefit of Eton +friends:-- + + +'The Consecration was at St. Paul's Church, in default of a Cathedral. +Built before the Bishop arrived, St. Paul's has no chancel: and the +Clergy, including a Maori Deacon, were rather crowded within the rail. +Mr. Patteson was seated in a chair in front, ten of his island boys +close to him, and several working men of the rougher sort were brought +into the benches near. We were rather glad of the teaching that none +were excluded. The service was all in harmony with the occasion; and the +sermon gave expression to all the individual and concentrated feeling of +the moment, as well as pointing the Lesson and its teaching. + +'The sermon was on the thought of the Festival: "And they prayed, and +said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of +these two Thou hast chosen." (Acts i. 24.) After speaking of the special +import and need of the prayers of those gathered to offer up their +prayers at the Holy Communion, for those who were to exercise the office +of apostles in their choice, he spoke in words that visibly almost +overpowered their subject:-- + +'"In this work of God, belonging to all eternity, and to the Holy +Catholic Church, are we influenced by any private feelings, any personal +regard? The charge which St. Paul gives to Timothy, in words of awful +solemnity, 'to lay hands suddenly on no man,' may well cause much +searching of heart. 'I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus +Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things, without +preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.' Does our +own partial love deceive us in this choice? We were all trained in +the same place of education, united in the same circle of friends; in +boyhood, youth, manhood, we have shared the same services, and joys, +and hopes, and fears. I received this, my son in the ministry of Christ +Jesus, from the hands of a father, of whose old age he was the +comfort. He sent him forth without a murmur, nay, rather with joy and +thankfulness, to these distant parts of the earth. He never asked even +to see him again, but gave him up without reserve to the Lord's work. +Pray, dear brethren, for your Bishops, that our partial love may not +deceive us in this choice, for we cannot so strive against natural +affection as to be quite impartial." + +'And again, as the Primate, addressing more especially his beloved son +in the ministry, exclaimed, "May Christ be with you when you go forth in +His name, and for His sake, to those poor and needy people," and his eye +went along the dusky countenances of his ten boys, Coleridge Patteson +could hardly restrain his intensity of feeling.' + +Another letter from the same lady to the sisters adds further details to +the scene, after describing the figures in the church:-- + +'Lady Martin, who had never seen the dress (the cassock and rochet) +before, said that Coley reminded her of the figures of some young knight +watching his armour, as he stood in his calm stedfastness, and answered +the questions put to him by the Primate. + +'The whole service was very nicely ordered, and the special Psalm well +chanted. With one exception (which was, alas! the Veni Creator), the +music was good, and Coley says was a special help to him; the pleasure +of it, and the external hold that it gave, helping him out of himself, +as it were, and sustaining him.' + +Lady Martin adds her touch to the picture; and it may perhaps be +recorded for those who may in after times read the history of the first +Bishop of the Melanesian Church, that whatever might be wanting in +the beauty of St. Paul's, Auckland, never were there three Bishops who +outwardly as well as inwardly more answered to the dignity of their +office than the three who stood over the kneeling Coleridge Patteson. + +'I shall never forget the expression of his face as he knelt in the +quaint rochet. It was meek and holy and calm, as though all conflict +was over and he was resting in the Divine strength. It was altogether a +wonderful scene: the three consecrating Bishops, all such noble-looking +men, the goodly company of clergy and Hohua's fine intelligent brown +face among them, and then the long line of island boys, and of St. +Stephen's native teachers and their wives, were living testimonies of +Mission work. Coley had told us in the morning of a consecration he had +seen at Rome, where a young Greek deacon had held a large illuminated +book for the Pope to read the words of Consecration. We had no such +gorgeous dresses as they, but nothing could have been more simply +beautiful and touching than the sight of Tagalana's young face as he did +the same good office. There was nothing artistic about it; the boy came +forward with a wondering yet bright look on his pleasant face, just +dressed in his simple grey blouse. + +'You will read the sermon, so there is no need to talk about it. Your +brother was overcome for a minute at the reference to his father, but +the comfort and favour of His Heavenly Master kept him singularly calm, +though the week before he had undoubtedly had much struggle, and his +bodily health was affected.' + +All the friends who were thus brought together were like one family, +and still called the new Bishop by the never disused abbreviation that +recalled his home. He was the guest of the now retired Chief Justice and +Lady Martin, who were occupying themselves in a manner probably unique +in the history of law and lawyers, by taking charge of the native school +at St. Stephen's. + +The next two were great days of letter writing. Another long full letter +was written to the father, telling of the additional record which +each of the three consecrating Bishops had written in the Bible of his +childhood, and then going into business matters, especially hoping that +the Warden and Fellows of Merton would not suppose that as a Bishop he +necessarily had L5,000 a year and a palace, whereas in fact the see +had no more than the capital of L5,000 required by Government! He had +already agreed with his father that his own share of the inheritance +should go to the Mission; and, as he says, on hearing the amount:-- + +'Hard enough you worked, my dear Father, to leave your children so well +off. Dear old Jem will have enough; and my children now dwell in 200 +islands, and will need all that I can give them. God grant that the day +may come when many of them may understand these things, and rise up and +call your memory blessed! + +'Your words of comfort and blessing come to me with fresh strength just +now, two days only after the time when you too, had you been here, would +in private have laid your hand on my head and called down God's blessing +upon me. I shall never know in this world what I owe to your prayers.' + +There is much, too, of his brother's marriage; and in a separate letter +to the sisters there are individual acknowledgments of each article of +the equipment, gratifying the donor by informing her that the 'cutaway' +coat was actually to be worn that very evening at a dinner party at the +Chief Justice's, and admiring the 'gambroon,' which turned out to be the +material of the cassock, so much as to wish for a coat made of it for +the islands. Apropos of the hat:-- 'You know my forehead is square, so +that an oval hat does not fit; it would hang on by the temples, which +form a kind of right angle with the forehead.' + +Another letter of that 26th was from the Bishop of Wellington to Dr. +Goodford respecting this much-loved old pupil:-- + +'Anything more conscientious and painstaking cannot be conceived than +the way he has steadily directed every talent, every hour or minute +of his life, to the one work he had set before him. However small +or uncongenial or drumdrudgery-like his occupation, however hard, or +dangerous, or difficult, it seemed to be always met in the same calm, +gentle, self-possessed spirit of love and duty, which I should fancy +that those who well knew his good and large-minded, large-hearted +father, and his mother, whom I have always heard spoken of as saintly, +could best understand. Perhaps the most marked feature in his character +is his genuine simplicity and humility. I never saw it equalled in one +so gifted and so honoured and beloved. + +'It is really creditable to the community to see how universal is the +admiration for his character, for he is so very good, so exceedingly +unworldly, and therefore such a living rebuke to the selfishness of the +world; and though so gentle, yet so firm and uncompromising that you +would have supposed he would hardly be popular outside the circle +of friends who know him and understand him. Certainly he is the most +perfect character I ever met.' + +The last day of February was that of the Installation. + +Again Mrs. Abraham must speak:-- + +'On Thursday last we had another happy day at Kohimarama, where Bishop +Patteson was duly installed in the temporary chapel of St. Andrew's +College, as we hope to call it, after the church at Cocksmoor, in "The +Daisy Chain." The morning was grey, and we feared rain would keep our +ladies away, but we made the venture with our willing squire, Mr. M----, +in the "Iris" boat to help us. The pity was, that after all Lady Martin +could not go, as she had an invalid among her Maori flock, whom she +could not trust all day by herself. The day lightened, and our sail was +pleasant. + +'The Primate and Missionary Bishop planted a Norfolk pine in the centre +of the quadrangle--"the tree planted by the water side," &c. The Bishop +then robed and proceeded to chapel, and the Primate led the little +service in which he spoke the words of installation, and the mew Bishop +took the oath of allegiance to him. The Veni Creator was sung, and the +Primate's blessing-given. The island boys looked on from one transept, +the "Iris" sailors from another, and Charlie stood beside me. I am +afraid his chief remembrance of the day is fixed upon Kanambat's tiny +boat and outrigger, which he sat in on the beach, and went on voyages, +in which the owner waded by his side, and saw him (Kanambat) skim along +the waves like a white butterfly. We all dined in hall, after the boys, +on roast beef and plum pudding, melons and water melons, and strolled +about the place and beach at leisure, till it was time to sail back +again.' + +On the Sunday the new Bishop preached at St. Mary's one of the sermons +that broke from him when he was too much excited (if the word may be +used) for his usual metaphysical style. The subject was the promise +of the Comforter, His eternal presence and anointing, and the need of +intercessory prayer, for which the preacher besought earnestly, as one +too young for his office, and needing to increase in the Holy Spirit +more and more. Very far were these from being unrealised words. God's +grace had gone along with him, and had led him through every step and +stage of his life, and so mastered his natural defects, that friends who +only knew him in these years hear with incredulous indignation of those +flaws he had conquered in his younger days. 'Fearless as a man, tender +as a woman, showing both the best sides of human nature,' says one of +the New Zealand friends who knew him best; 'always drawing out the good +in all about him by force of sympathy, and not only taking care that +nothing should be done by others that he would not do himself, but doing +himself what he did not like to ask of them, and thinking that they +excelled him.' Humility, the effort of his life, was achieved at last +the more truly because not consciously. + +The letter to his father was again almost wholly on money matters; but +at the end come two notable sentences:-- + +'How can I thank you for giving me up to this work, and for all the wise +and loving words with which you constantly cheer me and encourage me? +Your blessing comes now to strengthen me, as work and responsibilities +are fast accumulating upon me. I thank God that He enables us at the +two ends of the world to see this matter in the same way, so that no +conflict of duties arises in my mind. + +'This book, "Essays and Reviews," I have, but pray send your copy also; +also any good books that may be produced bearing on that great question +of the Atonement, and on Inspiration, Authority of Scripture, &c. How +sad it is to see that spirit of intellectualism thinking to deal with +religion in forgetfulness of the necessary conditions of humility and +faith! How different from the true gnosis!' + + +'Kohimarama: April 29, 1861. + +'My dearest Father,--As I read your letters of Feb. 21-25, you are, I +trust, reading mine which tell you of what took place on Feb. 24. That +point is settled. I almost fear to write that I am a Bishop in the +Church of Christ. May God strengthen me for the duties of the office to +which I trust He has indeed called me! + +'As I read of what you say so wisely and truly, and dear Joan and Fan +and Aunt James and all, of my having expected results too rapidly at +Mota, I had sitting with me that dear boy Tagalana, who for two months +last winter was in the great sacred enclosure, though, dear lad, not by +his own will, yet his faith was weak, and no wonder. + +'Now, God's holy name be praised for it, he is, I verily believe, in his +very soul, taught by the Spirit to see and desire to do his duty. I feel +more confidence about him than I have done about anyone who has come +into my hands originally in a state of complete heathenism. It is +not that his knowledge only is accurate and clearly grasped, but the +humility, the loving spirit, the (apparent) personal appropriation of +the blessing of having been brought to know the love of God and the +redemption wrought for him by the death of Christ; this is what, as I +look upon his clear truthful eyes, makes me feel so full of thankfulness +and praise. + +'"But Tagalana, if I should die, you used to say that without my help +you should perhaps fall back again: is that true?" + +'"No, no; I did not feel it then as I do now in my heart. I can't tell +how it came there, only I know He can never die, and will always be with +me. You know you said you were only like a sign-post, to point out the +way that leads to Him, and I see that we ought to follow you, but to go +altogether to Him." + +'I can't tell you, my dearest Father, what makes up the sum of my +reasons for thinking that God is in His mercy bringing this dear boy to +be the first-fruits of Mota unto the Christ, but I think that there is +an inward teaching going on now in his heart, which gives me sure hope, +for I know it is not my doing. + +'All you all say about Mota is most true: I never thought otherwise +really, but I wrote down my emotions and impulses rather than my +deliberate thoughts, that my letter written under such strange +circumstances might become as a record of the effect produced day by day +upon us by outward circumstances. + +'What some of you say about self-possession on one's going about among +the people being marvellous, is just what of course appears to me +commonplace. Of course it is wrong to risk one's life, but to carry +one's life in one's hand is what other soldiers besides those of the +Cross do habitually; and no one, as I think, would willingly hurt a hair +of my head in Melanesia, or that part of it where I am at all known. + +'How I think of those islands! How I see those bright coral and sandy +beaches, strips of burning sunshine fringing the masses of forest rising +into ridges of hills, covered with a dense mat of vegetation. Hundreds +of people are crowding upon them, naked, armed, with wild uncouth +cries and gestures; I cannot talk to them but by signs. But they are my +children now! May God enable me to do my duty to them! + +'I have now as I write a deepening sense of what the change must be that +has passed upon me. Again I go by God's blessing for seven months to +Melanesia. All that our experience has taught us we try to remember: +food, medicine, articles of trade and barter. + +'But what may be the result? Who can tell? You know it is not of myself +that I am thinking. If God of His great mercy lead me in His way, to me +there is little worth living for but the going onward with His blessed +work, though I like my talks with the dear Bishop and the Judge. But +others are committed to me--Mr. Pritt and Mr. Kerr go with me. Shall I +find dear old Wadrokala and Harper alive, and if alive, well? + +'And yet, thank God, we go on day by day, so happy, so hopeful! + +'I see two sermons by the Bishop of Oxford, "God's Revelation Man's +Trial," please send them. They bear, I conclude, on the controversy +of the day. I need not tell you that I find a very great interest in +reading these books, or rather at present in talking now and then, when +we meet, with the Judge on the subject of which those books treat. The +books I have not read. But I know no refreshment so great as the reading +any books which deal with these questions thoughtfully. I hope you don't +think it wrong and dangerous for me to do so; pray tell me. I don't +believe that I am wrong in doing it, yet it may be that I read them +as an intellectual treat, and prefer them to thoughtful books on other +subjects, because they deal with a study which I am a little more +conversant with than with history, science, &c. + +'Besides, I do see that we have, many of us, very vague notions of the +meaning of terms which we use, and I see that I must be prepared (I +speak for myself) to expect that a clergyman may not with impunity use a +language wanting in definiteness and precision. It is possible that +men do too passively receive hereditary and conventional opinions +which never have a living reality to them. But this, you know, I do not +confound with the humble submission to authoritative teaching, given +upon authority, to supersede the necessity of every person investigating +for himself the primary grounds of his religious convictions.' + +It is worth noting how the Bishop submits his reading to his father's +approval, as when he was a young boy. Alas! no more such letters of +comfort and counsel would be exchanged. This one could hardly have been +received by that much-loved father. + +Preparations for the voyage were going on; but the 'Dunedin,' the only +vessel to be procured, at best a carthorse to a racer compared with the +'Southern Cross,' was far from being in a satisfactory state, as appears +in a note of 3rd of May to the Bishop of Wellington:-- + +'Here we are still. The only vessel that I could make any arrangement +about not yet returned, and known to be in such a state that the pumps +were going every two hours. I have not chartered her, but only agreed +with the owner a month ago nearly that I would take her at a certain sum +per day, subject to divers conditions about being caulked (which is all +she wants, I have ascertained), being provided with spare sails, spars, +chronometer, boat, &c., and all agreement to be off unless by a certain +day (already past) she was in a state satisfactory to Mr. Kerr. But +there is, I fear, none other, and I am in a difficulty.' + + +Of the same day is a letter to the Rev. Stephen Hawtrey:-- + + +'Taurarua, Auckland: May 6, 1861. + +'My dear Mr. Hawtrey,--I was highly pleased to receive a note from you. +Though I never doubt of the hearty sympathy and co-operation of all Eton +friends (how could you do so with such an annual subscription list?), +yet it is very pleasant and more than pleasant to be reminded by word or +by letter that prayers and wishes are being offered up for Melanesia by +many good men throughout the world. + +'I should like to send a special appeal for a Mission Vessel by the next +mail. We cannot get on without one. Vessels built for freight are to the +"Southern Cross" as a cart-horse to a thoroughbred steed, and we must +have some vessel which can do the work quickly among the multitude of +the isles, and many other reasons there are which we seamen only perhaps +can judge fully, which make it quite essential to the carrying on this +peculiar Mission that we should have a vessel of a peculiar kind. + +'Tagalana, from Mota (Sugar Loaf Island), in the Banks Archipelago, is, +I think, likely by God's great mercy to become the first-fruits of that +cluster of islands unto Christ. He is here for the third time; and I +have infinite comfort in seeing the earnestness of his character, and +the deep sense of what he was, and what he is going to be, so truly +realised. + +'He is now so unlike what still his people are, so bright and open in +manner, and all who see him say, "What is come to the lad, his manner +and very appearance so changed!" "Clothed," thank God, he is, "and in +his right mind," soon to sit, if not already seated, at the feet +of Christ. You may, if you think fit, let your thoughts centre more +especially in him. He, of all who have come into my hands absolutely +stark naked and savage, gives now the greatest ground for hope and +thanksgiving. I shall (D.V.) think of all your dear friends assembled in +your church and house on St. Barnabas Day. May God bless and reward you +all for your work of charity to Melanesia! + +'Very sincerely yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop. + +'P.S.--I hope to baptize that dear boy Tagalana on his own island in the +course of the winter. I should wish to make the service as impressive +as possible, in the presence of as many islanders as I can bring to the +spot, under the shadow of a mighty banyan tree, and above the sparkling +waves of the great Pacific.' + + +The 'Dunedin' was patched up into sailing with the new Bishop for his +cathedral--the banyan tree of Mota. + +It carried him away to his work, away from all knowledge of the blow +that was preparing for him at home, and thinking of the delight that was +in store for his family in a visit from Mrs. Selwyn, who, immediately +after his Consecration, had returned home to spend a year in England on +business. + +Sir John Patteson's happiness in his son's work and worth were far +greater than those of the actual worker, having none of the drawbacks +that consciousness of weakness must necessarily excite. The joy this +gave his heart may, without exaggeration, he deliberately said to have +been full compensation for the loss of the presence so nobly sacrificed. +On January 22 he had written to the Bishop of New Zealand:-- + + +'You write most kindly touching him, dear fellow, and truly I am to be +envied, qui natum haberem tali ingenio praeditum. Not for a moment have +I repented of giving my sanction to his going out to New Zealand; and I +fully believe that God will prosper his work. I did not contemplate his +becoming a Bishop, nor is that the circumstance which gives me the great +satisfaction I feel. It is his devotion to so good a work, and that he +should have been found adequate to its performance; whether as a Bishop +or as a Priest is not of itself of so much importance. + +'Perhaps he may have been consecrated before I am writing this, though I +am puzzled as to the time.... + +'May God bless with the fullest success the labours of both of you in +your high and Christian works!' + + +There had for more than a year been cause of anxiety for Sir John's +health, but it was not the disease that had then threatened which +occasioned the following calm-hearted letter to be written to his son:-- + + +'Feniton Court: March 22, 1861. + +'My own dearest Coley,--I promised always to tell you the truth +respecting myself, and will do so. About a month ago, on my rising from +reading prayers, the girls and the Dawlish party who were here exclaimed +that my voice was broken, at which I laughed. Whitby was in London, but +his partner happened to call, and looking at my throat found it relaxed, +and recommended a mustard poultice on the front. When we came to put it +on, we discovered that the glands of the throat were much swelled and +in hard knots. Whitby returned in two days, and was much alarmed. He +declared that it was serious, and nothing but iodine could check it. +I had been unable to take iodine under Watson some years ago, as it +affected my head tremendously, so he applied it outwardly by painting; +this painting did not reduce them, and he strongly pressed my having +London advice, for he said that if not reduced and the swellings +increased internally, they would press on the windpipe and choke me: it +was somewhat a surgical matter. So on Tuesday the 12th inst. we went +to London, and I consulted Paget. He entirely agreed with Whitby, and +thought it very serious, and ordered iodine internally at all hazards. I +took it, and by God's mercy it agreed with me. Paget wished to talk over +the case with Watson, and they met on the 16th, Saturday. They quite +agreed, and did not conceal from me that if iodine did not reduce the +swellings, and they should increase internally, the result must be +fatal. How soon, or in what particular manner, they could not tell; it +might even become cancerous. They did not wish me to stay in town, +but thought I was better here, and Paget, knowing Whitby, has perfect +confidence in his watching, and will correspond with him, if necessary. +At present there is no reduction of the swellings. The iodine has +certainly lessened the pains in my limbs, but does not seem, so to +speak, to determine to the throat, but it may be there has been hardly +time to say that it will not. My own impression is, that it will not, +and that it is highly improbable that I shall last very long. I mean +that I shall not see 1862, nor perhaps the summer or autumn of this +year. I cannot tell why, but this near prospect of death has not given +me any severe shock, as perhaps it ought to have done. It brings more +than ever to my mind serious recollection of the sins of my youth, and +the shortcomings of my after life in thousands of instances. I have +never been a hardened sinner, but years ago, if I did what was sin, it +smote me, and I tried to repent; yet there has always been in me a want +of fervid love to God, and to my blessed Redeemer for His unspeakable +love in suffering for my sins; but it has been cold--that may have been +the natural constitution of the man, I cannot tell--but I never have +placed my hopes of forgiveness and of blessedness hereafter in +anything but in His merits, and most undeserved goodness in offering me +salvation, if I have not thrown it away. But what shall I say? As the +time approaches, it may please Him in His mercy to give me a warmer +heart, and a more vivid perception of all that He has done for me. If I +were to say that I am not a sinner, the truth would not be in me; and +if I am washed in His blood and cleansed, it is not by any efforts or +merits of my own, but by His unlimited mercy and goodness. Pray for me, +that when the time comes I may not for any fears of death fall from Him. +You know that as far as regards this world and its enjoyments, save the +love of my dear good children, they have sate but lightly upon me for +some time; but it is not because we have nothing that we are unwilling +to leave, therefore we are prepared for that which is to come. Perhaps +it may please God to give me still a short time that I may try more +strenuously to prepare myself. We shall never meet again in this world. +Oh! may Almighty God in His infinite mercy grant us to meet again in His +kingdom, through the merits of our blessed Redeemer.... + +'Oh! my dearest Coley, what comfort I have had in you--what delightful +conversations we have had together, and how thankful we ought to be to +our gracious God for allowing it to be so: and still not less thankful +for the blessings of being watched and comforted and soothed by the dear +girls, and by that dear and good Jem. All so good in their various ways, +and I so little worthy of them...of Francis. That will indeed, humanly +speaking, be a terrible loss to his family, for they want his fatherly +care, and will do so for years. Not so with me; and as I am in my +seventy-second year, it cannot be said that I am cut off prematurely: +but on the contrary, fall like a fruit or a sheaf at its proper +ripeness. Oh! that it may be so spiritually indeed.' + + +Another letter followed the next month:-- + + +'Feniton Court: April 24, 1861. + +'My own dearest Coley,--How many more letters you may receive from me, +God only knows, but, as I think, not many. The iodine fails altogether, +and has produced no effect on the swellings in my throat; on the +contrary, they steadily increase, though not rapidly. Doubtless they +will have their own course, and in some way or other deliver my soul +from the burden of the flesh. Oh! may it by God's mercy be the soul of a +faithful man! Faith and love I think I have, and have long had: but I +am not so sure that I have really repented for my past sins, or only +abandoned them when circumstances had removed almost the temptation +to commit them. Yet I do trust that my repentance has generally been +sincere, and though I may have fallen again, that I may by God's grace +have risen again. I have no assurance that I have fought the good fight +like St. Paul, and that henceforth there is laid up a crown of gold; +yet I have a full and firm hope that I am not beyond the pale of God's +mercy, and that I may have hold of the righteousness of Christ, and may +be partaker of that happiness which he has purchased for His own, by His +atoning blood. No other hope have I; and in all humility I from my heart +feel that any apparent good that I may have done has been His work in me +and not my own. May it please Him that you and I, my dear son, may +meet hereafter, together with all those blessed ones, who have already +departed this life in His faith and fear, in His kingdom above. + +'My head aches occasionally, and is not so clear as it used to be.... +The next mail will bring us more definite news, if indeed I am not +myself removed before then.... I am afraid that you discern by what I +have written that I am become stupid, and though I could never write +decently, yet you will see that continued dull pain in the head, and +other pains in various parts, have made me altogether heavy and stupid. +I have had the kindest letters and messages from various quarters when +it became known, as it is always very soon, that my health was in a +precarious state: one particularly from the Bishop of Lichfield (all +companions in Old Court, King's, you know) which is very consoling. He +says, If not for such as you, for whom did Christ die? I will not go +on in such strains, for it is of no use. Only do not despair of me, my +beloved Son, and believe me always, + +'Your loving Father, + +'J. PATTESON.' + + +'Feniton Court: May 25, 1861. + +'O my own dearest Coley,--Almighty God be thanked that He has preserved +my life to hear from you and others of your actual consecration as a +Missionary Bishop of the Holy Catholic Church: and may He enable you +by His grace and the powerful assistance of His Spirit to bring to +His faith and fear very many who have not known Him, and to keep and +preserve in it many others who already profess and call themselves +Christians. + +'I was too ill to be present at the whole service on Sunday, but I +attended the Holy Sacrament, and hope to do so to-morrow. We have with +us our dear Sarah Selwyn, who came on Thursday: she came in the most +kind and affectionate spirit, the first visit that she could make, that +she might if possible see me: "I will go and see him before he dies." +What delight this has been to me you may easily imagine, and what talk, +and what anecdotes we have had about you and all your circle; for though +your letters have all along let us in wonderfully into your daily life, +yet there were many things to be filled up, which we have now seen more +clearly and more perfectly recollect as long as our lives are spared. + +'What at present intensely fills our hearts and minds is all that took +place on St. Matthias Day, and the day or two before and after. Passages +and circumstances there were, which it is almost wonderful that you all +could respectively bear, some affecting one the more and some the other; +but the absorbing feeling that a great work was then done, and the +ardent trust and prayer that it might turn out to the glory of God, and +the good of mankind, supported every one, I have no doubt. It was +about one of those days that I was first informed of the nature of +the complaint which had just been discovered, and which is bringing me +gradually to the grave. + +'Trinity Sunday.--I am just returned from receiving the Holy Sacrament. +You will do so the same in a few hours, and they may well be joined +together, and probably the last that you and I shall receive together +in this world. My time is probably very short. Dear Sarah will hereafter +tell you more particulars of these few days. Dear Joan and Fanny are +watching me continually; it is hard work for them continually and most +uncertain, but in my mind it cannot be very long. Jem is here helping +them continually, but his wife's mother is grievously ill at a +relation's in Gloucestershire, and I will not have him withdrawn from +her. I hope that next week she may be removed to Jem's new cottage, next +Hyde Park, and then they, Joan and Fanny will watch me, and Jem on a +telegraph notice may come to me. If I dare express a hope, it is that +this state of things may not last long. But I have no desire to express +any hope at all; the matter is in the hands of a good God, who will +order all things as is best.... I would write more, but I am under the +serious impression that I shall be dead before this letter reaches you. + +'May our Almighty God, three Persons, blessed for evermore, grant that +we may meet hereafter in a blessed eternity!' + + +One more letter was written:-- + + +'Feniton Court, Honiton: June 12, 1861. + +'Oh! my dearest Right Reverend well-beloved Son, how I thank God that it +has pleased Him to save my life until I heard of the actual fact of your +being ordained and consecrated, as I have said more than once since I +heard of it. May it please Him to prolong your life very many years, and +to enable you to fulfil all those purposes for which you have been +now consecrated, and that you may see the fruit of your labour of love +before He calls you to His rest in Heaven. But if not, may you have laid +such foundations for the spread of God's Word throughout the countries +committed to your charge, that when it pleases God to summon you hence, +you may have a perfect consciousness of having devoted all your time and +labour, and so far as you are concerned have advanced all the works as +fastly and as securely as it seemed fit to your great Assister, the Holy +Spirit, that they should be advanced. Only conceive that an old Judge of +seventy-two, cast out of his own work by infirmity, should yet live to +have a son in the Holy Office of Bishop, all men rejoicing around +him; and so indeed they do rejoice around me, mingling their loving +expressions at my illness and approaching death.... + +'I shall endeavour to write at intervals between this and July mail. It +tries me to write much at a time. + +'Your loving Father, + +'J. PATTESON.' + + +The calm of these letters was the pervading spirit of Feniton. With +perfect cheerfulness did the aged Judge await the summons, aware that he +carried the 'sentence of death within himself,' and that the manner +of his summons would probably be in itself sudden--namely, one of the +choking fits that increased in frequency. He lived on with his children +and relations round him, spending his time in his usual manner, so +far as his strength permitted--bright, kind, sunny as ever, and not +withdrawing his interest from the cares and pleasures of others, but +glad to talk more deeply, though still peacefully, of his condition and +his hopes. One thing only troubled him. Once he said, and with tears in +his eyes, to his beloved brother-in-law, Sir John Coleridge: 'Woe unto +you when all men shall speak well of you,' adding to this effect, 'Alas! +That this has been my lot without my deserts. It pains me now!' + +But as this popularity had come of no self-seeking nor attempt to win +applause, it was a grief that was soon dispelled. Perhaps if there +was one strong wish, it was to hear of his son's actually having been +received into the order of Bishops, and that gratification was granted +to him. The letters with the record of consecration arrived in time +to be his Whitsuntide joy--joy that he still participated in the +congregation, for though not able to be at church for the whole service, +he still was always present at the celebration of the Holy Communion. + +On the day the letters came there was great peace, and a kind of +awful joy on all the household. For many weeks past, Sir John had not +attempted to read family prayers, but on this evening he desired his +daughters to let him do so. Where in the prayer for missionaries he +had always mentioned, 'the absent member of this family,' he added in a +clear tone, 'especially for John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop.' +That was the father's one note of triumph, the last time he ever led the +household prayers. In a day or two Mrs. Selwyn came to him, and he wrote +the following to the Bishop of New Zealand:-- + + +'Feniton Court: May 24, 1861. + +'My very dear Friend,--Here I am, and I have with me your dear and good +wife, who arrived yesterday. She looks well, and I trust is so. She has +arranged her visits so as to come to me as soon as possible. "I will go +and see him before he die," and I feel sensibly the kindness of it. What +a mercy is it that my life should have been preserved to receive from +my dear son Coley and from you by letter the account of his having been +consecrated by you as Bishop of the true Catholic Church. There were +[accounts?] of that most impressive service, which, had I been present, +would have, I fear, sent me to the floor; and you and Coley must have +had difficulty in holding up at those feeling statements of your having +received him at my old hands. When you so received him, it was known +I was satisfied that his heart was really fixed on this missionary +work--that he felt a call to it. I believe, you know, and I am sure God +knows, that I had not the most distant notion in my mind that it would +lead to his becoming a Bishop, nor do I now rejoice in the result, +simply on account of the honour of the office; but because my confidence +in the honesty and sincerity of his then feelings has been justified, +and that it has pleased God to endow him with such abundant graces. +May it please God that you should continue together in your respective +governments in His Church many years, and that we may all meet together +in his kingdom above! + +'When I parted with him I did not expect to see his face on earth, yet +perhaps I hardly expected that our separation would be so soon, though +I am in my seventy-second year. But in February I discovered these +swellings in my throat; which, humanly speaking, could only be cured by +iodine. Iodine has failed, and other attempts at a cure fail also; and +it is only a question of time when the soul will be delivered from the +burthen of the flesh. So indeed it is with all human beings; but it is +one thing to know this as a general proposition, and another to know +that the particular minister of death has hold of you, and that you are +really only living from day to day. + +'For all your many kindnesses to all of us and to my son, I thank you +from the very bottom of my soul, and pray that we may meet hereafter, +through the merits, and for the sake of our blessed Mediator and +Redeemer Jesus Christ our Lord, that as we have striven on earth to be +followers of Him and His glory, so we may be partakers of it in Heaven. + +'Your loving Friend, + +'J. PATTESON.' + + +The July mail was without a letter from the father. The end had come +in the early morning of June 28, 1861, with a briefer, less painful +struggle than had been thought probable, and the great, sound, wise, +tender heart had ceased to beat. + +There is no need to dwell on the spontaneous honours that all of those +who had ever been connected with him paid to the good old Judge, when he +was laid beside his much-loved wife in Feniton churchyard. Bishop Sumner +of Winchester, the friend of his boyhood, read the funeral service. + +'His works do follow him:' and we turn to that work of his son's in +which assuredly he had his part, since one word of his would have turned +aside the course that had brought such blessing on both, had he not +accepted the summons, even as Zebedee, when he was left by the lake +side, while his sons became fishers of men. + +Unknowing of the tidings in reserve for him, the Bishop was on his +voyage, following the usual course; hearing at Anaiteum that a frightful +mortality had prevailed in many of these southern islands. Measles had +been imported by a trader, and had, in many cases, brought on dysentery, +and had swept away a third of Mr. Geddie's Anaiteum flock. Mr. Gordon's +letters had spoken of it as equally fatal in Erromango, and there were +reports of the same, as well as of famine and war, in Nengone. + +'God will give me men in His time; for could I be cut up into five +pieces already I would be living at Nengone, Lifu, Mai, Mota, and +Bauro!' was the comment on this visit; and this need of men inspired a +letter to his uncle Edward, on a day dear to the Etonian heart:-- + + +'Schooner "Dunedin," 60 tons. + +'In sight of Erromango, New Hebrides: June 4, 1861. + +'My dear Tutor,--Naturally I think of Eton and of you especially to-day. +I hope you have as fine a day coming on for the cricket-match and for +Surley as I have here. Thermometer 81 deg.; Tanna and Erromango, with +their rugged hilly outlines, breaking the line of the bright sparkling +horizon. + +'I managed to charter the vessel for the voyage just in time to escape +cold weather in New Zealand. She is slow, but sound; the captain a +teetotaller, and crew respectable in all ways. So the voyage, though +lengthy, is pleasant. + +'I have some six or seven classes to take, for they speak as many more +languages; and I get a little time for reading and writing, but not +much. + +'I need not tell you how heavily this new responsibility presses on me, +as I see the islands opening, and at present feel how very difficult it +must be to obtain men to occupy this opening-- + +'True, we have not to contend with subtle and highly-elaborated systems +of false religion. It is the ignorantia purae negationis, comparatively +speaking, in some of the islands; yet, generally, there is a settled +system of some kind observed among them, and in the Banks Islands, an +extraordinarily developed religion, which enters into every detail of +social and domestic life, and is mixed up with the daily life of every +person in the archipelago. + +'I think, therefore, that men are needed who have what I may call strong +religious common sense to adapt Christianity to the wants of the various +nations that live in Melanesia, without compromising any truth of +doctrine or principle of conduct--men who can see, in the midst of the +errors and superstitions of a people, whatever fragment of truth or +symptom of a yearning after something better may exist among them, and +make that the point d'appui, upon which they may build up the structure +of Christian teaching. Men, moreover, of industry they must be, for it +is useless to talk of "picking up languages." Of course, in a few days a +man may learn to talk superficially and inaccurately on a few subjects; +but to teach Christianity, a man must know the language well, and this +is learnt only by hard work. + +'Then, again, unless a man can dispense with what we ordinarily call +comfort or luxuries to a great extent, and knock about anywhere in +Melanesian huts, he can hardly do much work in this Mission. The climate +is so warm that, to my mind, it quite supplies the place of the houses, +clothing, and food of old days, yet a man cannot accommodate himself to +it all at once. I don't say that it came naturally to me five years ago, +as it does now, when I feel at home anywhere, and cease to think it +odd to do things which, I suppose, you would think very extraordinary +indeed. + +'But most of all--for this makes all easy--men are wanted who really do +desire in their hearts to live for God and the world to come, and who +have really sought to sit very loosely to this world. The enjoyment, and +the happiness, and the peace all come, and that abundantly; but there is +a condition, and the first rub is a hard one, and lasts a good while. + +'Naturally buoyant spirits, the gift of a merry heart, are a great help; +for oftentimes a man may have to spend months without any white man +within hundreds of miles, and it is very depressing to live alone in the +midst of heathenism. But there must be many many fellows pulling up to +Surley to-night who may be well able to pull together with one on the +Pacific--young fellows whose enthusiasm is not mere excitement of +animal spirits, and whose pluck and courage are given them to stand the +roughnesses (such as they are) of a missionary life. For, dear Uncle, +if you ever talk to any old pupil of yours about the work, don't let him +suppose that it is consistent with ease and absence of anxiety and work. +When on shore at Kohimarama, we live very cosily, as I think. Some might +say we have no society, very simple fare, &c.; I don't think any man +would really find it so. But in the islands, I don't wish to conceal +from anyone that, measured by the rule of the English gentleman's +household, there is a great difference. Why should it, however, be +measured by this standard? I can truly say that we have hitherto always +had what is necessary for health, and what does one need more? though I +like more as much as anyone. + +'How you will wonder at the news of my consecration, and, indeed, well +you may! I would, indeed, that there were a dozen men out here under +whom I was working, if only they were such men as the Primate would have +chosen to the work. + +'But it is done now, and I know I must not shrink from it. Never did I +need the love and prayers of my dear relations and friends as I do now. +Already difficulties are rising up around me, and I am so little fit to +be a leader of work like this. Don't forget, dear Tutor, your old pupil, +who used to copy the dear Bishop's letters in your study from Anaiteum, +Erromango, &c.; and little thought that he would write from these +islands to you, himself the Missionary Bishop. + +'With kind love to all, + +'Your loving old Pupil and Nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +This thoughtful and beautiful letter was written in sight of Erromango, +a sandal-wood station, whence a trader might be found to take charge of +it. The ink was scarcely dry before the full cost of carrying the Gospel +among the heathen was brought before the writer. Not only houses and +brethren must be given up, but the 'yea and his own life also' was now +to be exemplified almost before his eyes. + +The Erromaugo Mission, like that of Anaiteum, came from the Scottish +Kirk. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, as has been seen, had been visited on every +voyage of the 'Southern Cross' during their three years' residence +there, and there was a warm regard between them and the Bishop. It was +then a great shock to hear a Nengone man call out from a sandal-wood +vessel, lying in Dillon's Bay, that they had both been killed! + +It was but too true. The Erromango people had been little inclined to +listen to Mr. Gordon's warnings, and he, a young and eager man, had told +them that to persevere in their murders and idolatries would bring a +judgment upon them. When therefore the scourge of sickness came, as at +Anaiteum, they connected him with it; and it was plain from his diary +that he had for some months known his life to be in danger, but he had +gone about them fearlessly, like a brave man, doing his best for the +sick. + +On May 20 he was in a little wood, putting up a house instead of +one that had been blown down by a hurricane, and he had sent his few +faithful pupils to get grass for the thatch. Nine natives from a village +about three hours' walk distant came to the house where his wife +was, and asked for him. She said he was in the little wood. They went +thither, and while eight hid themselves in the bush, one went forward +and asked for some calico. Mr. Gordon took a bit of charcoal and wrote +on a bit of wood directions to his wife to give the bearer some cotton, +but the man insisted that he must come himself to give out some medicine +for a sick man. Mr. Gordon complied, walking in front as far as the +place where lay the ambush, when the man struck him with a tomahawk on +the spine, and he fell, with a loud scream, while the others leaping out +fell upon him with blows that must have destroyed life at once, yelling +and screaming over him. Another went up to the house. Mrs. Gordon had +come out, asking what the shouts meant. 'Look there!' he said, and as +she turned her head, he struck her between the shoulders, and killed her +as soon as she had fallen. + +Another native had in the meantime rushed down the hill to the +sandal-wood station half a mile off on the beach, and the trader, arming +his natives, came up too late to do more than prevent the murderers from +carrying off the bodies or destroying the house. The husband and wife +were buried in the same grave; the natives fenced it round; and now, +on June 7, eighteen days after, Bishop Patteson read the Burial +Service over it, with many solemn and anxious thoughts respecting the +population, now reduced to 2,500, and in a very wild condition. + +At Mai the Bishop spent two hours the next day, and brought away one old +scholar and one new one. + +At Tariko, where he had been three years before with the Primate, the +Episcopal hat brought the greeting 'Bishop,' as the people no doubt +thought the wearer identical. Of Ambrym there is a characteristic +sentence: 'As we left the little rock pool where I had jumped ashore, +leaving, for prudence sake, the rest behind me in the boat, one man +raised his bow and drew it, then unbent it, then bent it again, but +apparently others were dissuading him from letting fly the arrow. The +boat was not ten yards off, I don't know why he did so; but we must try +to effect more frequent landings.' + +On June 12 Mota was reached, and the next morning the Mission party +landed, warmly welcomed by the inhabitants. The house was found safely +standing and nearly weather-proof. + +'June 13th.--This morning I put up the framework for another small +house, where I shall put Wadrokala, his child-wife, and many of our +boxes. We had to carry up the timber first from the beach, and it was +rather hot work, as also the carpentering, as I chose a place for the +house where no falling bread-fruit or branches of trees would hurt it, +and the sun was so hot that it almost burnt my hand when I took up a +handful of nails that had been lying for ten minutes in the sun. So our +picnic life begins again, and that favourably. I feel the enjoyment of +the glorious view and climate, and my dear lads, Tagalana and Parenga, +from Bauro, are with me, the rest in Port Patteson, &c., coming over +in the vessel to-morrow, which I shall then discharge. I see that the +people are very friendly; they all speak of your bread-fruit tree, your +property. The house had not been entered, a keg of nails inside it not +touched. + +'Tagalana's father is dead. His first words to me were, "Oh that the +Word of God had come in old times to Mota, I should not then cry so much +about him. Yes, it is true, I know, I must be thankful it is come now, +and I must remember that, and try to help others who may die too before +they believe it." + +'"Yes, I am quite your child now! Yes, one Father for us all in Heaven. +You my father here! Yes, I stop always with you, unless you send me +away. They ask me with whom I shall live now; I say with the Bishop." + +'How I was praising and rejoicing in my heart as the dear boy was +speaking: "Yes, I am feeling calm again now. When people die at Mota, +you know they make a great shouting, but soon forget the dead person. +But I am able to be quiet and calm now, as you talk to me about God and +Jesus Christ. Yes, He rose again. Death is not the end. I know you said +it is for those who repent and believe in Christ the Door to enter into +life eternal. How different it all seems then!" + +'When you read this you will say, "Thank God that I sent him out to +Melanesia with my blessing on his head. I too may see Tagalana one day +with Him who is the Father of us all." + +'One soul won to Christ, as I hope and believe, by His love and power, +and if in any degree by my ministry, to God be the praise!' + +The comfort sent home to the sisters with the letter respecting this +voyage is:-- + + +'Mota: June 14, 1861. + +'Now, dear Joan, don't any of you think too much about the murder of Mr. +and Mrs. Gordon, as if my life was exposed to the same kind of risk. + +'Certainly it is not endangered here. It may be true that at places +where I am not known some sudden outbreak may occur; but humanly +speaking, there are not many places that as yet I am able to visit where +I realise the fact of any danger being run. + +'Yet it may happen that some poor fellow, who has a good cause to think +ill of white men, or some mischievous badly disposed man, may let fly a +random arrow or spear some day. + +'If so, you will not so very much wonder, nor be so very greatly +grieved. Every clergyman runs at least as great a risk among the +small-pox and fevers of town parishes. Think of Uncle James in the +cholera at Thorverton.' + +So with the 'Dunedin' dismissed, Bishop Patteson, Mr. Pritt, Mr. +Kerr, and their pupils recommenced their residence at Mota. The Banks +Islanders returned to their homes; and when the Bishop came to Aroa, +Tagalana's native place, three weeks lately the little fellow received +him affectionately, cooked yams, fetched mats, and was not ashamed +before his own people to kneel down, and join audibly in hymn and +prayer. The people begged for Wadrokala or some other teacher to be +placed among them. The Journal continues:-- + +'On Friday, at 8.30, I started, not quite knowing whither I should go, +but soon saw that I could fetch round the south end of Vanua Lava, which +was well. The sea, when it comes through the passage between Mota and +Valua, is heavy, but the boat had great way on her, sailing very fast, +so that I could steer her well, and we did not take very long crossing +to the small reef islands. I passed between Pakea and Vanua Lava (Dudley +Passage), and then we had unexpectedly a very heavy sea, a strong tide +up. I did not like it, but, thank God, all went well. One very heavy sea +in particular I noticed, which broke some twenty yards ahead, and about +the same distance astern of us, while the exact part of it which came +down upon us was only a black wall of water, over which we rode lightly +and dry. I think that it might have swamped us had it broken upon the +boat. My boat is an open four-oared one, 26 feet long, and about five +wide, strong but light. She sails admirably with a common lug sail. +I had one made last summer, very large, with two reefs, so that I can +reduce it to as small a sail as I please. By 4 or 5 P.M. I neared Aruas, +in the bay on the west side of Vanua Lava; the same crowd as usual on +the beach, but I did not haul the boat up. I had a grapnel, and dropped +it some fifty yards from the beach. + +'Somehow I did not much like the manner of some of the people; they did +not at night come into the Ogamal, or men's common eating and sleeping +house, as before, and I overheard some few remarks which I did not quite +like--something about the unusual sickness being connected with this +new teaching--I could not be quite sure, as I do not know the dialect +of Aruas. There were, however, several who were very friendly, and the +great majority were at least quiet, and left us to ourselves. The +next morning I started at about eight, buying two small pigs for two +hatchets, and yams and taro and dried bread-fruit for fish-hooks. I +gave one young man a piece of iron for his attention to us. As we pulled +away, one elderly man drew his bow, and the women and children ran off +into the bush, here, as everywhere almost in these islands, growing +quite thickly some twenty yards above high-water mark. The man did +not let fly his arrow: I cannot tell why this small demonstration took +place.' + +When an arrow was pointed at him, it was Bishop Patteson's custom to +look the archer full in the face with his bright smile, and in many +more cases than are here hinted at, that look of cheery confidence and +good-will made the weapon drop. + +After a few more visits to the coasts of this archipelago the boat +returned to Mota, where Mr. Pritt and Mr. Kerr had kept school every +day, besides getting the station into excellent order and beauty. Their +presence at the head-quarters left the Bishop free to circulate in the +villages, sleeping in the Ogamals, where he could collect the men. They +always seemed pleased and interested, and their pugnacious habits +were decidedly diminishing, though their superstitious practices and +observances were by no means dropped. + +The Diary, on July 24, thus speaks of the way of life; which, however, +was again telling on the health of the party:-- + +'I am so accustomed to sleeping about anywhere that I take little or no +account of thirty, forty, fifty naked fellows, lying, sitting, sleeping +round me. Someone brings me a native mat, someone else a bit of yam; a +third brings a cocoa-nut; so I get my supper, put down the mat (like a +very thin door-mat) on the earth, roll up my coat for a pillow, and make +a very good night of it. I have had deafness in my right ear again for +some days; no pain with it, but it is inconvenient. + +'Several of our lads have had attacks of fever and ague; Wadrokala and +his child of a wife, Bum, a Bauro boy, &c. The island is not at all +unhealthy, but natives cannot be taught caution. I, thank God, am in +robust health, very weather-beaten. I think my Bishop's dress would look +quite out of keeping with such a face and pair of hands! + +'There is much as usual in such cases to encourage and to humble us. +Some few people seem to be in earnest. The great majority do their best +to make me think they are listening. Meanwhile, much goes on in the +island as of old. + +'Sunday, July 28th, 11.45 A.M.--I have much anxiety just now. At this +moment Wadrokala is in an ague fit, five or six others of my party kept +going by quinine and port wine, and one or other sickening almost daily. +Henry Hrahuena, of Lifu, I think dying, from what I know not--I think +inflammation of the brain, induced possibly by exposure to the sun, +though I have not seen him so exposed, and it is a thing I am very +careful about with them. I do what I can in following the directions of +medical books, but it is so hard to get a word from a native to explain +symptoms, &c.; besides, my ear is now, like last year, really painful; +and for two nights I have had little sleep, and feel stupid, and getting +a worn-out feeling. With all this, I am conscious that it is but a +temporary depression, a day or two may bring out the bright colours +again. Henry may recover by God's mercy, the boys become hearty again; +my ear get right. At present I feel that I must rub on as I can, from +hour to hour. + +'If I find from experience that natives of Melanesia, taken to a +different island, however fertile, dry, and apparently healthy, do seem +to be affected by it, I must modify my plans, try as soon as possible +to have more winter schools, and, what is of more consequence, I must +reconsider the whole question of native teachers. If a great amount +of sickness is to be the result of gathering scholars around me at an +island, I could do, perhaps, more single-handed, in health, and with +no one to look after, than with twenty fellows of whom half are causing +continual anxiety on the score of health. Now were I alone, I should +be as brisk as a bee, but I feel weighed down somewhat with the anxiety +about all these fellows about me. + +'I must balance considerations, and think it out. It requires great +attention. It is at times like these that I experience some trials. +Usually my life is, as you know, singularly free from them. + +'July 31st.--Henry died on Sunday about 4 A.M. Wadrokala is better. +The boys are all better. I have had much real pain and weariness from +sleepless nights, owing to the small tumour in my ear. What a sheet of +paper for you to read! And yet it is not so sad either. The boys were +patient and good; Wadrokala takes his ague attacks like a man; and about +Henry I had great comfort. + +'He was about eighteen or nineteen, as I suppose, the son of the great +enchanter in Lifu in old times--the hereditary high priest of Lifu +indeed. He was a simple-minded, gentle, good fellow, not one probably +who would have been able to take a distinct line as a teacher, yet +he might have done good service with a good teacher. We found that +afternoon a slate on which he had written down some thoughts when first +taken ill, showing that he felt that he was sick unto death. Very full +of comfort were his written as well as his spoken words.' + +On August 1, while the Bauro scholars were writing answers to questions +on the Lord's Prayer, a party of men and women arrived, headed by a +man with a native scarf over his shoulders. They had come to be taught, +bringing provisions with them, and eating them, men and women together, +a memorable infringement of one of the most unvarying customs of the +Banks inhabitants; and from the conversation with them and with others, +Bishop Patteson found that the work of breaking down had been attained, +that of building up had to be begun. They must learn that leaving off +heathen practices was not the same thing as adopting the religion of +Christ, and the kind of work which external influences had cut short in +Lifu had to be begun with them. + +'Soon, I think, the great difficulty must be met in Mota of teaching the +Christian's social and domestic life to people disposed to give up +much of their old practices. This is the point at which I suppose most +Missions have broken down. It is a great blessing indeed to reach it, +but the building up of converts is the harder work. Here, for example, +a population of 1,500 people; at present they know all that is necessary +for the cultivation of yams, &c., they build houses sufficient for the +purpose of their present life, they are giving up fighting, losing-faith +in their old charms and contrivances for compassing the death of their +enemies; they will very likely soon be at peace throughout the whole +island. Well, then, they will be very idle, talk infinite scandal, +indulge in any amount of gluttony; professing to believe our religion, +their whole life will contradict that profession, unless their whole +social and domestic life be changed, and a new character infused into +them. It would be a great mistake to suppose that the English aspect +of the Christian's social life is necessarily adapted to such races +as these. The Oriental tendencies of their minds, the wholly different +circumstances of their lives, climate, absence of all poverty or +dependence upon others, &c., will prevent them from ever becoming a +little English community; but not, I trust, their becoming a Christian +community. But how shall I try to teach them to become industrious, +persevering, honest, tidy, clean, careful with children, and all the +rest of it? What a different thing from just going about and teaching +them the first principles of Christianity! The second stage of a Mission +is the really difficult one.' + +A few days after the foregoing observations were written, H.M.S. +'Cordelia,' a war steamer, entered Port Patteson, and Captain Hume +himself came across by boat to Mota, to communicate to Bishop Patteson +his instructions to offer him a cruise in the vessel, render him any +assistance in his power in the Solomon Islands, and return him to +any island he might desire. Letters from the Primate assumed that the +proposal should be accepted; it was an opportunity of taking home the +Bauro and Grera boys; moreover there was a quarrel between English and +natives to be enquired into at Ysabel Island, where the Bishop could be +useful as interpreter; and, as he could leave his two friends to carry +on the school at Mota, he went on board, and very good it was for him, +in the depressed state of health brought on by rude bed and board, to be +the guest on board a Queen's ship and under good medical care. + +For the 'Cordelia' had brought out the letters which gave the first +intimation of his father's state; and without the privacy, and freedom +from toil and responsibility, he could hardly have borne up under the +blow. The first day was bad enough: 'a long busy day on shore with just +one letter read, and the dull heavy sensation of an agony that was to +come, as soon as I could be alone to think.' Arrangements had to be +made; and there was not one solitary moment till 9 P.M. in the cabin +when this loving and beloved son could shut himself in, kneel down, and +recover composure to open the two letters in his father's hand. + +He wrote it all--his whole heart--as of old to the father who had ever +shared his inmost thoughts:-- + +'It may be that as I write, your blessed spirit, at rest in Paradise, +may know me more truly than ever you did on earth; and yet the sorrow +of knowing how bitter it is within may never be permitted to ruffle your +everlasting peace. + +'I may never see you on earth. All thought of such a joy is gone. I +did really cling to it (I see it now) when most I thought I was quite +content to wait for the hope of the great meeting. I will try to +remember and to do what you say about all business matters. + +'I will pray God to make me more desirous and more able to follow the +holy example you leave behind. Oh that the peace of God may be given to +me also when I come to die; though how may I dare to hope for such an +end, so full of faith and love and the patient waiting for Christ! + +'I must go on with my work. This very morning I was anxious, passing +shoal water with the captain and master beside me, and appealing to me +as pilot. I must try to be of some use in the ship. I must try to turn +to good account among the islands this great opportunity. Probably +elasticity of mind will come again now for very pain of body. Oh! how +much more sorrow and heavy weight on my heart! I am quite worn out and +weary. It seems as if the light were taken from me, as if it was no +longer possible to work away so cheerily when I no longer have you to +write to about it all, no longer your approval to seek, your notice to +obtain. + +'I must go on writing to you, my own dearest Father, even as I go on +praying for you. It is a great comfort to me, though I feel that in all +human probability you are to be thought of now as one of the blessed +drawn wholly within the veil. Oh! that we may all dwell together +hereafter for His blessed sake who died for us. Now more than ever your +loving and dutiful Son,' &c. + +Such another letter was written to his sister Fanny; but it is dated +four days later, when he was better in health, and was somewhat +recovered from the first shock; besides which, he felt his office of +comforter when writing to her. So the letter is more cheerful, and is +a good deal taken up with the endeavour to assure the sisters of +his acquiescence in whatever scheme of life they might adopt, and +willingness that, if it were thought advisable, Feniton Court should +be sold. 'This is all cold and heartless,' he says, 'but I must try and +make my view pretty clear.' Towards the end occurs the following:-- + +'Last night, my slight feverish attack over, my ears comfortable, with +the feeling of health and ease returning, I lay awake, thought of dear +Uncle Frank, and then for a long time of dear Mamma. How plainly I saw +her face, and dear dear Uncle James, and I wondered whether dear dear +Father was already among them in Paradise. It is not often that I can +fasten down my mind to think continuously upon those blessed ones; I am +too tired, or too busy; and this climate, you know, is enervating. +But last night I was very happy, and seemed to be very near them. The +Evening Lesson set me off, 1 John iii. How wonderful it is! But all the +evening I had been reading my book of Prayers and Meditations. Do +you know, Fan, at times the thought comes upon me with a force almost +overpowering, that I am a Bishop; and that I must not shrink from +believing that I am called to a special work. I don't think that I dwell +morbidly on this, but it is an awful thought. And then I feel just +the same as of old, and don't reach out more, or aim more earnestly at +amendment of life and strive after fresh degrees of enlightenment and +holiness. But probably I have to learn the lesson, which it may be only +sickness will teach me, of patient waiting, that God will accomplish His +own work in His own time.' + +Some of this is almost too sacred for publication, and yet it is well +that it should be seen how realising the Communion of Saints blessed +the solitary man who had given up home. The next letter is to Sir J. T. +Coleridge:-- + + +'H.M.S. "Cordelia," September 11, 1861. + +'My dearest Uncle,--It is now nearly five weeks since I learnt from +my letters of March and April, brought to me by this ship, the very +precarious state of my dear Father. + +'He has never missed a mail since we have been parted, never once; and +he wrote as he always did both in March and April. I had read a letter +from the good Primate first; because I had to make up my mind whether I +could, as I was desired, take a cruise in this vessel; and in his letter +I heard of my dear Father's state. With what reverence I opened his +letters! With what short earnest prayers to God that I might have +strength supplied and resignation I had kept them till the last. All day +at Mota I had been too busy to read any but the Primate's letters. I +had many matters to arrange...and it was not until night that I could +quietly read my letters in the captain's cabin. My dear Father's words +seem to come to me like a voice from another world. I think from what +he says, and what they all say, that already he has departed to be with +Christ. + +'I think of him and my dear mother, and those dear uncles James and +Frank, so specially dear to me, and others gone before. I think of all +that he has been to me, and yet how can I be unhappy? The great shock to +me was long overpast: it is easy for me to dwell on his gain rather +than my loss; yet how I shall miss his wise loving letters and all the +unrestrained delights of our correspondence. + +'It is not with me as with those dear sisters, or with old Jem. Theirs +is the privilege of witnessing the beauty and holiness of his life to +the end; and theirs the sorrow of learning to live without him. Yet +I feel that the greatest perhaps of all the pleasures of this life is +gone. How I did delight in writing to him and seeking his approval +of what I was about! How I read and re-read his letters, entering so +entirely into my feelings, understanding me so well in my life, so +strangely different from what it used to be. + +'Well, it should make me feel more than ever that I have but one thing +to live for--the good, if so it may please God, of these Melanesian +islands. + +'I cannot say, for you will like to know my feelings, that I felt +so overwhelmed with this news as not to be able to go about my usual +business. Yet the rest on board the vessel has been very grateful to me. +The quiet cheerfulness and briskness will all come again, as I think; +and yet I think too that I shall be an older and more thoughtful man by +reason of this. + +'There has been reported a row at Ysabel Island, one of the Solomon +group, eighteen months ago. This vessel, a screw steamer, ten guns and a +large pivot gun, came to enquire, with orders from the Commodore of the +station to call at Mota and see me, and request me to go with the vessel +if I could find time to do so; adding that the vessel was to take me to +any island which I might wish to be returned to. Now I have long wished +to indoctrinate captains of men-of-war with our notions of the right +way to settle disputes between natives and traders. Secondly, I had a +passage free with my Solomon Islanders, and consequently all October and +half November I may devote to working up carefully (D.V.) the Banks and +New Hebrides group without being under the necessity of going down to +the Solomon Islands. Thirdly, I had an opportunity of going further +to the westward than I had ever been before, and of seeing new ground. +Fourthly, the Primate, I found, assumed that I should go. So here I +am, in great clover, of course: the change from Mota to man-of-war life +being amusing enough. Barring some illness, slight attacks of fever, I +have enjoyed myself very much. The seeing Ysabel Island is a real gain. +I had time to acquire some 200 words and phrases of the language, which +signify to me a great deal more. The language is a very remarkable one, +very Polynesian; yet in some respects distinguished from the Polynesian, +and most closely related to Melanesian dialects. + +'I need not enter into all this. It is my business, you know, to work +at such things, and a word or two often tells me now a good deal of the +secrets of a language--the prominent forms, affixes, &c., &c.; the way +in which it is linked on to other dialects by peculiar terminations, the +law by which the transposition of vowels and consonants is governed in +general. All these things soon come out, so I am very sanguine +about soon, if I live, seeing my way in preparing the way for future +missionaries in the far West. + +'But I must not forget that I have some islands to visit in the next +month or two where the people are very wild, so that I of all people +have least reason to speculate about what I may hope to do a year hence. + +'The real anxiety is in the making up my own mind whether or not I ought +to lower the boat in such a sea way; whether or not I ought to swim +ashore among these fellows crowded there on the narrow beach, &c. + +'When my mind is made up, it is not so difficult then. But, humanly +speaking, there are but few islands now where I realise the fact of +there being any risk; at very many I land with confidence. Yet I could +enumerate, I dare say, five-and-twenty which we have not visited at +all, or not regularly; and where I must be careful, as also in visiting +different parts of islands already known to us in part. Poor poor +people, who can see them and not desire to make known to them the words +of life? I may never forget the Bishop's words in the Consecration +Service:--"Your office is in the highest sense to preach the Gospel to +the poor;" and then his eye glanced over the row of Melanesians sitting +near me. + +'How strange that I can write all this, when one heavy sense of trouble +is hanging vaguely over me. And yet you will be thankful that I can +think, as I trust, heartily of my work, and that my interest is in no +way lessened. It ought to be increased. Yet I scarce realise the fact of +being a Bishop, though again it does not seem unnatural. I can't explain +what I mean. I suppose the fact that I knew for so long before that it +must come some day if I lived, makes the difference now. + +'I don't think, however, that your words will come true of my appearing +in shovel hat, &c., at Heath's Court some fine day. It is very +improbable that I shall ever see the northern hemisphere, unless I see +it in the longitude of New Guinea. + +'I must try to send a few island shells to M----, B----, and Co.; those +little ones must not grow up, and I am sure that you all do not suffer +them to grow up, without knowing something about "old cousin Coley" +tumbling about in a little ship (albeit at present in a war steamer) at +the other end of the world. Seriously, dear Uncle, as they grow older, +it may be some help for them to hear of these poor Melanesians, and of +our personal intercourse with them, so to speak. + +'I have but little hope of hearing, if I return safe to New Zealand at +the end of November, that this disastrous war is over. I fear that +the original error has been overlaid by more recent events, forgotten +amongst them. The Maori must suffer, the country must suffer. Confession +of a fault in an individual is wrong in a State; indeed, the rights of +the case are, and perhaps must be, unknown to people at a distance. We +have no difficulty here in exposing the fallacies and duplicities of the +authors of the war, but we can't expect (and I see that it must be so) +people in England to understand the many details. To begin with, a man +must know, and that well, Maori customs, their national feeling, &c. It +is all known to One above, and that is our only hope now. May He grant +us peace and wisdom for the time to come! + +'I have been reading Helps again this voyage, a worthy book, and +specially interesting to me. How much there is I shall be glad to read +about. What an age it is! America, how is that to end? India, China, +Japan, Africa! I have Jowett's books and "Essays and Reviews." How much +I should like to talk with you and John, in an evening at Heath's Court, +about all that such books reveal of Intellectualism at home. One does +feel that there is conventionalism and unreality in the hereditary +passive acceptance of much that people think they believe. But how on +Jowett's system can we have positive teaching at all? Can the thing +denoted by "entering into the mind of Christ or St. Paul" be substituted +for teaching the Catechism? + +'Not so, writes my dear Father in the depth of his humility and +simplicity, writing to me what a father could scarcely say to a son! +But our peculiar circumstances have brought this blessing to me, that I +think he has often so "reamed out" his heart to me in the warmth of his +love to a son he was never again to see in the body, that I know him +better even than I should have done had I remained at home. + +'So wonderful was my dearest Father's calmness when he wrote on the 24th +of April, that if he was alive to write again in May, I think it not +impossible that he may allude to these matters. If so, what golden words +to be treasured up by me! I have all his letters. You will see, or have +seen him laid by my dear Mother's side. They dwell together now with Him +in Paradise. + +'Good-bye, my dearest Uncle. Should God spare your life, my letters will +be more frequent to you now. + +'My kindest love to Aunt. + +'Your affectionate and grateful Nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +There is little more record of this voyage. There was less heart and +spirit than usual for the regular journalizing letter; but the five +weeks' voyage had been most beneficial in restoring health and energy, +and it had one very important effect upon the Mission, for it was here +that Lieutenant Capel Tilly, R.N., became so interested in the Mission +and its head, as to undertake the charge of the future 'Southern Cross.' +The 'Cordelia' was about to return to England, where, after she was +paid off, Mr. Tilly would watch over the building of the new vessel on a +slightly larger scale than the first, would bring her out to Kohimarama, +and act as her captain. + +So great a boon as his assistance did much to cheer and encourage the +Bishop, who was quite well again when he landed at Mota on September 17, +and found Mr. Pritt convalescent after a touch of ague, and Mr. Kerr so +ill as to be glad to avail himself of Captain Hume's kind offer to take +him back to Auckland in the 'Cordelia.' + +Probably all were acclimatised by this time, for we hear of no more +illness before the 'Sea Breeze,' with Mr. Dudley, came, on the 10th of +October, to take the party off. + +He says:--'The Bishop and Mr. Pritt both looked pale and worn. There +were, however, signs in the island of a great advance in the state of +things of the previous year. An admirable schoolroom had been built; +and in the open space cleared in front of it, every evening some hundred +people would gather, the older ones chatting, the younger ones being +initiated in the mysteries of leap-frog, wrestling, and other English +games, until prayer time, when all stood in a circle, singing a Mota +hymn, and the Bishop prayed with and for them. + +'That voyage was not a long one. We did not go to the Solomon Islands +and the groups to the north, but we worked back through the New +Hebrides, carefully visiting them.' + +Mr. Dudley had brought letters that filled the Bishop's heart to +overflowing, and still it was to his father that he wrote: 'It seems +as if you had lived to see us all, as it were, fixed in our several +positions, and could now "depart in peace, according to His word."' + +The agony and bitterness seem to have been met and struggled through, +as it were, in those first days on board the 'Cordelia.' In this second +letter there is infinite peace and thankfulness; and so there still was, +when, at Norfolk Island, the tidings of the good old man's death met +him, as described in the ensuing letter:-- + + +'"Sea Breeze," one hundred miles south-east of Norfolk Island: 8 A.M. + +'My dearest Sisters,--Joy and grief were strangely mingled together +while I was on shore in Norfolk Island, from 6 P.M. Saturday to 8 P.M. +Sunday (yesterday). + +'I was sitting with Mr. Nobbs (Benjamin Dudley the only other person +present) when he said, "We have seen in our papers from Sydney the news +of the death of your revered Father." He concluded that I must have +known of it. + +'How wonderful it seems to me that it did not come as a great shock. I +showed by my face (naturally) that I had not known before that God had +taken him unto Himself, but I could answer quite calmly, "I thank God. +Do not be distressed at telling me suddenly, as you see you have done +inadvertently. I knew he could not live long. We all knew that he was +only waiting for Christ." + +'And, dear dear John and Fan, how merciful God has been! The last part +of his letter to me, of date June 25, only three days before his +call came, so that I know (and praise God for it) that he was spared +protracted suffering. Shall I desire or wish to be more sorry than I am? +Shall I try to make myself grieve, and feel unhappy? Oh, no; it is of +God's great mercy that I still feel happy and thankful, for I cannot +doubt the depth of my love to him who has indeed been, and that more +than ever of late, the one to whom I clung in the world. + +'I could be quiet at night, sleeping in Mr. Nobbs's house, and yet I +could not at once compose myself to think it all over, as I desired to +do. And then I had much to do, and here was the joy mingling with the +sorrow. + +'For the Norfolk Island people have come to see how wise was the +Primate's original plan, and now they much desire to connect themselves +more closely with the Mission. + +'Mr. and Mrs. Nobbs desire their son Edwin, who was two years at the +Governor's at Sydney, and is now eighteen and a half years old, to be +given wholly to us.... So said Simon Young of his boy Fisher, and so did +three others. All spoke simply, and without excitement, but with deep +feeling. I thought it right to say that they should remain at Norfolk +Island at present, that we all might prove them whether they were indeed +bent upon this work, that we might be able to trust that God had indeed +called them. To the lads I said, "This is a disappointment, I know, but +it is good for you to have to bear trials. You must take time to count +the cost. It is no light thing to be called to the work of a teacher +among the heathen. In giving up your present wish to go immediately, +you are obeying your parents and others older than yourselves, and your +cheerful obedience to them is the best evidence that you wish to act +upon a sense of duty, and not only from impulse; but don't think I wish +to discourage you. I thank Him who has put the good desire into your +hearts. Prove yourselves now by special prayer and meditation." + +'Then came the happy, blessed service, the whole population present, +every confirmed person communicating, my voice trembling at the Fifth +Commandment and the end of the Prayer for the Church Militant, my heart +very full and thankful. I preached to them extempore, as one can preach +to no other congregation, from the lesson, "JESUS gone to be the guest +of a man that is a sinner," the consequences that would result in us +from His vouchsafing to tabernacle among us, and, as displayed in the +Parable of the Pounds, the use of God's gifts of health, influence, +means; then, specifying the use of God's highest gifts of children to be +trained to His glory, quoting 1 Samuel i. 27, 28, "lent to the Lord," I +spoke with an earnestness that felt strange to me at the time. + +'Simon Young said afterwards: "My wife could not consent months ago +to Fisher's going away, but she has told me now that she consents. She +can't withhold him with the thought of holy Hannah in her mind." And I +felt as if I might apply (though not in the first sense) the prophecy +"Instead of thy fathers, thou shalt have children." + +'To add to all, Mr. Nobbs said: "I have quite altered my mind about the +Melanesian school, I quite see that I was mistaken;" and the people are +considering how to connect themselves closely with us. + +'You may imagine, dear Joan, that joy and grief made a strange, yet not +unhappy tumult in my mind. I came away at 3 P.M. (the wind being very +fair) hoping to revisit them, and, by the Bishop of Tasmania's desire, +hold a confirmation in six months' time. How I am longing to hear the +last record of the three days intervening between June 25 and 28, you +may well imagine.... Already, thank God, four months have passed, and +you are recovering from the great shock. Yours is a far harder trial +than mine. May God comfort and bless us all, and bring us to dwell with +our dear parents in heaven, for our blessed Lord's sake. + +'Your very loving Brother, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +And this most touching account from within is supplemented by the +following, by Mr. Dudley, from without:-- + + +'He took it [the tidings of his father's death] quite calmly. Evidently +it had been long expected and prepared for. He was even cheerful in his +quiet grave way. In the evening there was singing got up for him by some +of the Norfolk Islanders, in one of the large rooms of the old barracks. +He enjoyed it; and after it had gone on some time, he thanked them in a +few touching words that went home, I am sure, to the hearts of many of +them, and then we all knelt down, and he prayed extempore. I wish I had +kept the words of that prayer! Everyone was affected, knowing what was +then occupying his mind, but we were still more so next morning, at +the service in church. His voice had that peculiarly low and sweet tone +which always came into it when he was in great anxiety or sorrow, but +his appeal to the congregation was inspiring to the last degree. It was +the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity, and the subject he took was from +the second lesson, the Parable of the Pounds, in St. Luke xix., and so +pointed out the difficulties between the reception of a talent and the +use of it. He showed that the fact of people's children growing up +as wild and careless as heathen was no proof that no grace had been +bestowed upon them; on the contrary, in the baptized it was there, but +it had never been developed; and then came the emphatic assertion, +"The best way of employing our gifts of whatever kind--children, means, +position--is by lending them to the Lord for His service, and then a +double blessing will be returned for that we give. Hannah giving her +child to the Lord, did she repent of it afterwards, think you, when she +saw him serving the Lord, the one upright man of the house of Israel?"' + +No doubt these words were founded on those heartfelt assurances which +stirred his very soul within him that his own father had never for +a moment regretted or mourned over the gift unto the Lord, which had +indeed been costly, but had been returned, 'good measure, pressed +together, and flowing over,' in blessing! can I grieve and sorrow about +my dear dear Father's blessed end?' are the words in a letter to myself +written on the 19th. It further contained thanks for a photograph of +Hursley Church spire and Vicarage, which had been taken one summer +afternoon, at the desire of Dr. Moberly (the present Bishop of +Salisbury), and of which I had begged a copy for him. 'I shall like the +photograph of Hursley Vicarage and Church, the lawn and group upon +it. But most shall I like to think that Mr. Keble, and I dare say Dr. +Moberly too, pray for me and this Mission. I need the prayers of +all good people indeed.' I quote this sentence because it led to a +correspondence with both Mr. Keble and Dr. Moberly, which was equally +prized by the holy and humble men of heart who wrote and received the +letters:-- + + +'St. Andrew's, Kohimarama: November 20, 1861. + +'Thank you, my dearest Sophy, for your loving letters, and all your love +and devotion to him. + +'I fear I do not write to those two dear sisters of mine as they and you +all expect and wish. I long to pour it all out; I get great relief in +talking, as at Taurarua I can talk to the dear Judge and Lady Martin. +She met me with a warm loving kiss that was intended to be as home-like +as possible, and for a minute I could not speak, and then said +falteringly, "It has been all one great mercy to the end. I have heard +at Norfolk Island." But I feel it still pent up to a great extent, and +yet I have a great sense of relief. I fancy I almost hear sometimes +the laboured breathing, the sudden stop--the "thanks be to God, he has +entered into his rest." + +'What his letters are, I cannot even fully say to another, perhaps never +fully realise myself. + +'As I write, the tears come, for it needs but a little to bring them +now, though I suppose the world without thinks that I "bear up," and go +on bravely. + +'But when any little word or thought touches the feelings, the sensitive +rather than the intellectual part of me, then I break down. + +'And yet it seems to bring thoughts and hopes into more definite shape. +How I read that magnificent last chapter of Isaiah last Sunday. I seemed +to feel my whole heart glowing with wonder, and exultation, and praise. +The world invisible may well be a reality to us, whose dear ones there +outnumber now those still in the flesh. Jem's most beautiful, most +intensely affecting letter, with all his thoughtfulness about the grave, +&c., fairly upset me. I let the Judge and Lady Martin read some parts of +it, and they returned it, saying it had quite overcome them. Now all +day I feel really as much as at those moments, only the special +circumstances give more expression at one time than at another to the +inward state of mind. + +'How I treasure up many many of his words and actions! + +'What a history in these words: "All times of the day are alike to me +now; getting near, I trust, the time when it will be all day." + +'Those are the things that break me down. I see his dear face, and hear +him slowly and calmly saying such words of patient trust and faith, and +it is too much. Oh! that I might live as the son of such parents ought +to live! + +'And then I turn to the practical duties again, and get lost in the +unceasing languages and all the rest of it. + +'Now enough--but I write what comes uppermost. + +'Your loving Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Very soon after the return, on the 6th December, 1861, an Ordination +was held at St. Paul's, Auckland, when the Primate ordained two Maori +deacons, and Bishop Patteson, the Rev. Benjamin Dudley. + +Sir William and Lady Martin spent part of this summer in the little +cottage at Kohimarama where the sailing master of the late 'Southern +Cross' had lived: and again we have to thank her for a picture of life +at St. Andrew's. She says:-- + +'The new settlement was then thought to be healthy, and he and his boys +alike rejoiced in the warmth of the sheltered bay, after the keenness +of the air at St. John's on higher ground. The place looked very pretty. +The green fields and hawthorn hedges and the sleek cattle reminded one +of England. As a strong contrast, there was the white shelly beach and +yellow sands. Here the boys sunned themselves in play hours, or fished +on the rocks, or cooked their fish at drift-wood fires. On calm days one +or two would skim across the blue water in their tiny canoes. One great +charm of the place was the freedom and naturalness of the whole party. +There was no attempt to force an overstrained piety on these wild +fellows, who showed their sincerity by coming with the Bishop. By +five in the morning all were astir, and jokes and laughter and shrill +unaccountable cries would rouse us up, and go on all day, save when +school and chapel came to sober them. + +'The Bishop had not lost his Eton tastes, and only liked to see them +play games, and the little fat merry-faced lads were always on the +look-out for a bit of fun with him. One evening a tea-drinking was given +in the hall in honour of us. The Mota boys sung in twilight the story of +the first arrival of the Mission vessel and of their wonder at it. The +air, with a monotonous, not unpleasing refrain, reminded us of some old +French Canadian ditties. I remember well the excitement when the Bishop +sent up a fire balloon. It sailed slowly towards the sea, and down +rushed the whole Melanesian party, shrieking with delight after it. Our +dear friend's own quarters were very tiny, and a great contrast to +his large airy room at St. John's. He occupied a corner house in the +quadrangle, to be close to the boys. Neither bedroom nor sitting-room +was more than ten feet square. Everything was orderly, as was his wont. +Photographs of the faces and places he loved best hung on the walls. +Just by the door was his standing desk, with folios and lexicons. A +table, covered with books and papers in divers languages, and a chair or +two, completed his stock of furniture. The door stood open all day long +in fine weather, and the Bishop was seldom alone. One or other of +the boys would steal quietly in and sit down. They did not need to be +amused, nor did they interrupt his work. They were quite content to be +near him, and to get now and then a kind word or a pleasant smile. It +was the habitual gentle sympathy and friendliness on his part that won +the confidence of the wild timid people who had been brought up in an +element of mistrust, and which enabled them after a while to come and +open their hearts to him. + +'How vividly the whole scene comes back to me as I write! The Bishop's +calm thoughtful face, the dusky lads, the white-shelled square in front, +relieved by a mass of bright geraniums or gay creepers, the little +bed-room with its camp bed, and medicine bottles and good books, and, +too often, in spite of our loving remonstrances, an invalid shivering +with ague, or influenza, in possession. We knew that this involved +broken nights for him, and a soft board and a rug for a couch. He was +overtasking his powers during those years. He was at work generally from +five A.M. to eleven P.M., and this in a close atmosphere; for both the +schoolroom and his own house were ill-ventilated. He would not spare +time enough either for regular exercise. He had a horse and enjoyed +riding, but he grudged the time except when he had to come up to town on +business or to take Sunday services for the English in the country. It +was very natural, as he had all a student's taste for quiet study, yet +could only indulge it by cutting off his own hours for relaxation. He +was constantly called off during the day to attend to practical work, +teaching in school, prescribing for and waiting on the sick, weighing +out medicines, keeping the farm accounts, besides the night classes in +several languages. + +'He was really never so happy as among his boys or his books. He had no +liking for general society, though his natural courteousness made him +shrink from seeming ungracious. He did thoroughly enjoy a real talk with +one or two friends at a time, but even this he denied himself.' + +Fanny Patteson had spent several days at Hursley in the course of the +winter, and the Vicar and Mrs. Keble had greatly delighted in hearing +her brother's letters. The following letter from Mr. Keble was written, +as will be perceived, immediately after hearing the account of the +baptism of the dying child at Mota:-- + + +'Hursley, February 19, 1862. + +'My dear Bishop Patteson,--I seat myself down on a low chair between +the pictures of your uncle and your Metropolitan, and that by command of +your sister, who is on a footstool in the corner opposite, I to send two +words, she 200, or, for aught I know, 2,000, to greet you on the other +side of the world. We have the more right, as your kind sisters have +kept us well up to your Missionary doings from time to time, and we seem +to be very often with you on board or in your islands (I say we, for +my dear wife is more than half of me, as you may well suppose, in such +sympathies), and it seems to me that, perhaps, in the present state +of your island or sea-work you may have more time than by-and-by for +thinking of one and another; anyhow we trust that that may happen which +we ask for every evening--that we may be vouchsafed a part in the holy +prayers which have been that day offered to the Throne of Grace, in +Melanesia or elsewhere. I don't know whether I am right, but I fancy you +at times something between a Hermit and a Missionary. God grant you a +double blessing! and as you are a Bishop besides, you will breathe us a +blessing in return for this, such as it is. Fanny's visit has been, as +you know it would be, most charming and genial to us old folks (not that +my wife ought to be so spoken of), and I shall always think it so kind +of her to have spared us the time when she had so much to do and so +short a time to do it in; but she seems like one going about with a bag +of what Bishop Selwyn calls "hope-seed," and sowing it in everyplace; +yet when one comes to look close at it, it all consists of memories, +chiefly you know of whom. I only wish I could rightly and truly treasure +up all she has kindly told us of your dear Father; but it must be a +special grace to remember and really understand such things. It will be +a most peculiar satisfaction, now that we have had her with us in this +way, to think of you all three together, should God's Providence allow +the meeting of which we understand there is a hope. The last thing she +has told us of is the baptism on St. Barnabas' Day--"the first fruits +of Mota unto Christ." What a thought--what a subject for prayer and +thanksgiving! God grant it may prove to you more than we can ask or +think. + +'Ever yours, my dear Bishop, + +'J. K. + +'Don't trouble yourself to write, but think of us.' + + +Of course there was no obeying this postscript, and the immediate reply +was:-- + + +'My dear dear Mr. Keble,--Few things have ever given me more real +pleasure than the receipt of your letter by this mail. I never doubted +your interest in New Zealand and Melanesia, and your affection for me +for my dear Father's sake. I felt quite sure that prayers were being +offered up for us in many places, and where more frequently than at +Hursley? Even as on this day, five years ago, when I touched the reef +at Guadalcanar, in the presence of three hundred armed and naked men, (I +heard afterwards) prayers were being uttered in the dead of your night +by my dear old governess, Miss Neill, that God would have me in His +safe keeping. But it is most pleasant, most helpful to me, to read your +letter, and to feel that I have a kind of right now to write to you, as +I hope I may do while I live fully and freely. + +'I do not say a word concerning the idea some of you in England seem to +take of my life here. It is very humbling to me, as it ought to be, to +read such a letter from you. How different it is really! + +'If my dear sisters do come out to me for a while, which, after their +letters by this February mail, seems less impossible than before, they +will soon see what I mean: a missionary's life does not procure him any +immunity from temptations, nor from falling into them; though, thanks be +to God, it has indeed its rich and abundant blessings. It is a blessed +thing to draw a little fellow, only six months ago a wild little savage, +down upon one's knee, and hear his first confession of his past life, +and his shy hesitating account of the words he uses when he prays to his +newly-found God and Saviour. These are rare moments, but they do occur; +and, if they don't, why the duty is to work all the same. + +'The intelligence of some of these lads and young men really surprises +me. Some with me now, last October were utterly wild, never had worn +a stitch of clothing, were familiar with every kind of vice. They +now write an account of a Scripture print, or answer my MS. questions +without copy, of course, fairly and legibly in their books, and read +their own language--only quite lately reduced to writing--with ease. +What an encouragement! And this applies to, I think, the great majority +of these islanders. + +'One child, I suppose some thirteen or fourteen years of age, I baptized +on Christmas Day. Three days afterwards I married her to a young man who +had been for some years with us. They are both natives of Nengone, one +of the Loyalty Isles. I administered the Holy Eucharist to her last +Saturday, and she is dying peacefully of consumption. What a +blessed thing! This little one, fresh from Baptism, with all Church +ministrations round her, passing gently away to her eternal rest. She +looks at me with her soft dark eyes, and fondles my hand, and says she +is not unhappy. She has, I verily believe, the secret of real happiness +in her heart. + +'I must write more when at sea. I have very little time here. + +'I hope by God's blessing to make a long round among my many islands +this winter; some, I know, must be approached with great caution. Your +prayers will be offered for me and those with me, I know, and am greatly +comforted by the knowledge of it. + +'Fanny tells me what you have said to her about supplying any deficit +in the money required for our vessel. I feel as if this ought not in one +sense to come upon you, but how can I venture to speak to you on such +matters? You know all that I think and feel about it. Send me more your +blessing. I feel cares and anxieties now. My kind love to Mrs. Keble. + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +Two more notes followed in quick succession to Hursley Vicarage, almost +entirely upon the matter of the new 'Southern Cross,' which was being +built under Mr. Tilly's eye. The two Bishops were scrupulous about +letting Mr. Keble give more than a fair proportion towards the vessel, +which was not to cost more than L3,000, though more roomy than her +lamented predecessor. Meantime the 'Sea Breeze' was 'again to serve for +the winter voyage:-- + + +'St. Barnabas Day, Auckland: 1862. + +'My dear Sisters,--Think of my being ashore, and in a Christian land on +this day. So it is. We sail (D.V.) in six days, as it may be this day +week. The Melanesians are very good and pretty well in health, but we +are all anxious to be in warm climates. I think that most matters are +settled. Primate and I have finished our accounts. Think of his wise +stewardship! The endowment in land and money, and no debts contracted! I +hope that I leave nothing behind me to cause difficulty, should anything +happen. The Primate and Sir William Martin are my executors; Melanesia, +as you would expect, my heir. I may have forgotten many items, personal +reminiscences. Ask for anything, should anything happen. I see no reason +to anticipate it, humanly speaking, but it is always well to think +of such things. I am just going to the little Taurarua chapel to our +Melanesian Commemoration service with Holy Communion. + +'Oh! if it should please God to grant us a meeting here! + +'Great blessings have been given me this summer in seeing the progress +made by the scholars, so great as to make me feel sober-minded and +almost fearful, but that is wrong and faithless perhaps, and yet surely +the trials must come some day. + +'God bless you all, and keep you all safe from all harm. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Bishop.' + + +'Friday, June 27th, 2 P.M.--How you are thinking of all that took place +that last night on earth. He was taking his departure for a long voyage, +rather he was entering into the haven where he would be! May God give +us grace to follow his holy example, his patient endurance of his many +trials, the greatest his constant trial of deafness. + +'I think if the weather be fair, that we shall go off to-morrow. Oh! if +we do meet, and spend, it may be, Christmas together. + +28th, 3 P.M.--The first anniversary of our dear Father's death. How you +are all recalling what took place then! How full of thankfulness for his +gain, far outweighing the sorrow for our loss! And yet how you must +feel it, more than I do, and yet I feel it deeply: but the little fond +memories of the last months, and above all the looks and spoken words +of love, I can't altogether enter into them. His letters are all that +letters can be, more than any other letters can be, but they are not +the same thing in all ways. The Primate has left us to hurry down the +sailing master of the "Sea Breeze." It was a very rough morning, but is +calm now, boats passing and repassing between the shore and the schooner +at anchor off Kohimarama.' + +The habit of writing journals was not at once resumed by Bishop Patteson +when his father was not there to read them; and the chance of seeing his +sisters, no doubt, made him write less fully to them, since they might +be on the voyage when the letters arrived in England. Thus the fullest +record of the early part of the voyage is in a report which he drew up +and printed in the form of a letter to the Rev. J. Keble:-- + +'We chartered the "Sea Breeze" schooner in June last for four months: +she is a vessel of seventy tons register, a little larger than the old +"Southern Cross," and as well suited for our purpose as a vessel can be +which is built to carry passengers in the ordinary way. No voyage can of +course equal in importance those early expeditions of the Primate, when +he sailed in his little schooner among seas unknown, to islands never +before visited, or visited only by the sandal-wood traders. But I never +recollect myself so remarkable a voyage as this last. I do not mean that +any new method was adopted in visiting islands, or communicating with +the natives. God gave to the Bishop of New Zealand wisdom to see and +carry out from the first the plan, which more and more approves itself +as the best and only feasible plan, for our peculiar work. But all +through this voyage, both in revisiting islands well known to us, and in +recommencing the work in other islands, where, amidst the multitude +of the Primate's engagements, it had been impossible to keep up our +acquaintance with the people, and in opening the way in islands now +visited for the first time, from the beginning to the end, it pleased +God to prosper us beyond all our utmost hopes. I was not only able to +land on many places where, as far as I know, no white man had set foot +before, but to go inland, to inspect the houses, canoes, &c., in crowded +villages (as at Santa Cruz), or to sit for two hours alone amidst a +throng of people (as at Pentecost Island), or to walk two and a half +miles inland (as at Tariko or Aspee). From no less than eight islands +have we for the first time received, young people for our school here, +and fifty-one Melanesian men, women, and young lads are now with +us, gathered from twenty-four islands, exclusive of the islands so +long-known to us of the Loyalty Group. When you remember that at Santa +Cruz, e.g., we had never landed before, and that this voyage I was +permitted to go ashore at seven different places in one day, during +which I saw about 1,200 men: that in all these islands the inhabitants +are, to look at, wild, naked, armed with spears and clubs, or bows and +poisoned arrows; that every man's hand (as, alas! we find only too +soon when we live among them) is against his neighbour, and scenes of +violence and bloodshed amongst themselves of frequent occurrence; and +that throughout this voyage (during which I landed between seventy and +eighty times) not one hand was lifted up against me, not one sign +of ill-will exhibited; you will see why I speak and think with real +amazement and thankfulness of a voyage accompanied with results so +wholly unexpected. I say results, for the effecting a safe landing on +an island, and much more the receiving a native lad from it, is, in +this sense, a result, that the great step has been made of commencing an +acquaintance with the people. If I live to make another voyage, I shall +no longer go ashore there as a stranger. I know the names of some of the +men; I can by signs remind them of some little present made, some little +occurrence which took place; we have already something in common, and as +far as they know me at all, they know me as a friend. Then some lad +is given up to us, the language learned, and a real hold on the island +obtained. + +'The most distant point we reached was the large island Ysabel, in the +Solomon Archipelago. From this island a lad has come away with us, and +we have also a native boy from an island not many miles distant from +Ysabel, called Anudha, but marked in the charts (though not correctly) +as Florida. + +'It would weary you if I wrote of all the numerous adventures and +strange scenes which in such a voyage we of course experience. I will +give you, if I can, an idea of what took place at some few islands, to +illustrate the general character of the voyage. + +'One of the New Hebrides Islands, near the middle of the group, was +discovered by Cook, and by him called "Three Hills." The central part of +it, where we have long-had an acquaintance with the natives, is called +by them "Mai." Some six years ago we landed there, and two young men +came away with us, and spent the summer in New Zealand. Their names were +Petere and Laure; the former was a local chief of some consequence. We +took a peculiar interest in this island, finding that a portion of +the population consists of a tribe speaking a dialect of the great +Polynesian language of which another dialect is spoken in New Zealand. +Every year we have had scholars from Mai, several of whom can read and +write. We have landed there times without number, slept ashore three or +four times, and are well known of course to the inhabitants. + +'The other day I landed as usual among a crowd of old acquaintances, +painted and armed, but of that I thought nothing. Knowing them to be +so friendly to us, instead of landing alone, I took two or three of +our party to walk inland with me; and off we started, Mr. Dudley and +Wadrokala being left sitting in the boat, which was, as usual, a short +distance from the beach. We had walked about half a mile before I +noticed something unusual in the manner of the people, and I overheard +them talking in a way that made me suspect that something had happened +which they did not want me to know. Petere had not made his appearance, +though in general the first to greet us, and on my making enquiries for +him, I was told that he was not well. Not long afterwards I overheard +a man say that Petere was dead, and taking again some opportunity that +offered itself for asking about him, was told that he was dead, that he +had died of dysentery. I was grieved to hear this, because I liked +him personally and had expected help from him when the time came for +commencing a Mission station on the island. The distance from the beach +to the village where Petere lived is about one and a half mile, and +a large party had assembled before we reached it. There was a great +lamentation and crying on our arrival, during which I sat down on a +large log of a tree. Then came a pause, and I spoke to the people, +telling them how sorry I was to hear of Petere's death. There was +something strange still about their manner, which I could not quite make +out; and one of our party, who was not used to the kind of thing, did +not like the looks of the people and the clubs and spears. At last one +of them, an old scholar of ours, came forward and said, "The men here do +not wish to deceive you; they know that you loved Petere, and they will +not hide the truth; Petere was killed by a man in a ship, a white man, +who shot him in the forehead." Of course I made minute enquiries as to +the ship, the number of masts, how many people they saw, whether there +was anything remarkable about the appearance of any person on board, &c. +The men standing round us were a good deal excited, but the same story +was told by them all. + +'After a while I walked back to the beach, no indication having been +made of unfriendliness, but I had not gone more than a quarter of a +mile when three men rushed past me from behind, and ran on to the beach. +Meanwhile Mr. Dudley and Wadrokala in the boat were rather uneasy at +the manner of the people standing near them on the reef; and they too +suspected that something unusual had occurred. Presently they saw these +three men rush out of the bush on to the beach and distribute "kava" +(leaves of the pepper plant) among the people, who at once changed their +manner, became quite friendly and soon dispersed. It was quite evident +that a discussion had taken place on shore as to the treatment we were +to receive; and these men on the beach were awaiting the result of the +discussion, prepared to act accordingly. There was scarcely any danger +in our case of their deciding to injure us, because they knew us well; +but had we been strangers we should have been killed of course; their +practice being, naturally enough, to revenge the death of a countryman +on the arrival of the next man who comes from what they suppose to be +their enemies' country. + +'This story may show you that caution is necessary long after the time +that a real friendship has commenced and been carried on. We never can +tell what may have taken place during the intervals of our visits. I +returned to the village, with Mr. Kerr and Mr. Dudley and slept ashore, +thinking it right to restore mutual confidence at once; and there was +not the slightest risk in doing so. + +'Now let me tell you about an island called Ambrym, lying to the +south of Aurora and Pentecost, the two northernmost islands of the New +Hebrides group. + +'Ambrym is a grand island, with a fine active volcano, so active on this +last occasion of our visiting it, that we were covered and half-blinded +by the ashes; the deck was thickly covered with them, and the sea +for miles strewed with floating cinders. We have repeatedly landed in +different parts of the island, but this time we visited an entirely new +place. There was a considerable surf on the beach, and I did not like +the boat to go near the shore, partly on that account, but chiefly +because our rule is not to let the boat approach too near the beach lest +it should be hauled up on shore by the people and our retreat to the +schooner cut off. So I beckoned to some men in a canoe (for I could not +speak a word of the language), who paddled up to us, and took me ashore. + +'As I was wading to the beach, an elderly man came forward from the +crowd to the water's edge, where he stood holding both his arms uplifted +over his head. Directly that I reached him, he took my hand, and put it +round his neck, and turned to walk up the beach. As I walked along with +him through the throng of men, more than three hundred in number, my arm +all the while round his neck, I overheard a few words which gave me some +slight clue as to the character of their language, and a very few words +go a long way on such occasions. We went inland some short distance, +passing through part of a large village, till we came to a house with +figures, idols or not, I hardly know, placed at some height above the +door. + +'They pointed to these figures and repeated a name frequently, not +unlike the name of one of the gods of some of the islands further to the +north; then they struck the hollow tree, which is their native drum, and +thronged close round me, while I gave away a few fish-hooks, pieces of +red braid, &c. I asked the names of some of the people, and of objects +about me, trees, birds, &c. I was particularly struck with two boys who +kept close to me. After some time I made signs that I would return to +the beach, and we began to move away from the village; but I was soon +stopped by some men, who brought me two small trees, making signs that I +should plant them. + +'When I returned to the beach, the two boys were still with me, and I +took their hands and walked on amidst the crowd. I did not imagine that +they would come away with me, and yet a faint hope of their doing so +sprang up in my mind, as I still found them holding my hands, and even +when I began to wade towards the boat still close by my side in the +water. All this took place in the presence of several hundred natives, +who allowed these boys to place themselves in the boat and be taken on +board the schooner. + +'I was somewhat anxious about revisiting an island called Tikopia. +Once we were there, five or six years ago. The island is small, and the +inhabitants probably not more than three hundred or four hundred. They +are Polynesians, men of very large stature, rough in manner, and not +very easily managed. I landed there and waded across the reef among +forty or fifty men. On the beach a large party assembled. I told them +in a sort of Polynesian patois, that I wished to take away two lads from +their island, that I might learn their language, and come back and teach +them many things for their good. This they did not agree to. They said +that some of the full-grown men wished to go away with me; but to this +I in my turn could not agree. These great giants would be wholly +unmanageable in our school at present. I went back to the edge of the +reef--about three hundred yards--and got into the boat with two men; +we rowed off a little way, and I attempted, more quietly than the noisy +crowd on shore would allow, to explain to them my object in coming +to them. After a while we pulled back to the reef, and I waded ashore +again; but I could not induce them to let me take any one away who was +at all eligible for the school. Still I was very thankful to have been +able twice to land and remain half an hour or more on shore among the +people. Next year (D.V.) I may be able to see more of them, and perhaps +may obtain a scholar, and so open the island. It is a place visited +by whalers, but they never land here, and indeed the inhabitants are +generally regarded as dangerous fellows to deal with, so I was all the +more glad to have made a successful visit. + +'Nothing could have been more delightful than the day I spent in making +frequent landings on the north side of Santa Cruz. This island was +visited by Spaniards, under the command of Mendana, nearly three hundred +years ago. They attempted to found a colony there, but after a short +time were compelled, by illness and the death of Mendana and his +successor, to abandon their endeavour. It is apparently a very fertile +island, certainly a very populous one. The inhabitants are very +ingenious, wearing beautiful ornaments, making good bags woven of grass +stained with turmeric, and fine mats. Their arrows are elaborately +carved, and not less elaborately poisoned: their canoes well made and +kept in good order. We never before landed on this island; but the +Primate, long before I was in this part of the world, and two or three +times since, had sailed and rowed into the bay at the north-west end, +called Graciosa Bay, the fine harbour in which the Spaniards anchored. I +went ashore this last voyage in seven different places, large crowds +of men thronging down to the water's edge as I waded to the beach. They +were exceedingly friendly, allowed me to enter the houses, sit down and +inspect their mode of building them. They brought me food to eat; and +when I went out of the houses again, let me examine the large sea-going +canoes drawn up in line on the beach. I wrote down very many names, and +tried hard to induce some young people to come away with me, but after +we had pulled off some way, their courage failed them, and they swam +back to the shore. + +'Two or three of the men took off little ornaments and gave them to +me; one bright pretty boy especially I remember, who took off his shell +necklace and put it round my neck, making me understand, partly by +words, but more by signs, that he was afraid to come now, but would do +so if I returned, as I said, in eight or ten moons. + +'Large baskets of almonds were given me, and other food also thrown into +the boat. I made a poor return by giving some fish-hooks and a tomahawk +to the man whom I took to be the person of most consequence. On shore +the women came freely up to me among the crowd, but they were afraid to +venture down to the beach. Now this is the island about which we have +long felt a great difficulty as to the right way of obtaining any +communication with the natives. This year, why and how I cannot tell, +the way was opened beyond all expectation. I tried hard to get back from +the Solomon Islands so as to revisit it again during the voyage, but we +could not get to the eastward, as the trade-wind blew constantly from +that quarter. + +'At Leper's Island I had just such another day--or rather two days were +spent in making an almost complete visitation of the northern part of +the island--the people were everywhere most friendly, and I am hoping to +see them all again join us soon, when some may be induced to. + +'It would be the work of days to tell you all our adventures. How at +Malanta I picked two lads out of a party of thirty-six in a grand war +canoe going on a fighting expedition--and very good fellows they are; +how we filled up our water-casks at Aurora, standing up to our necks +in the clear cool stream rushing down from a cataract above, with the +natives assisting us in the most friendly manner; how at Santa Maria, +which till this year we never visited without being shot at, I walked +for four or five hours far inland wherever I pleased, meeting great +crowds of men all armed and suspicious of each other--indeed actually +fighting with each other--but all friendly to me; how at Espiritu Santo, +when I had just thrown off my coat and tightened my belt to swim ashore +through something of a surf, a canoe was launched, and without more ado +a nice lad got into our boat and came away with us, without giving me +the trouble of taking a swim at all; how at Florida Island, never before +reached by us, one out of some eighty men, young and old, standing all +round me on the reef, to my astonishment returned with me to the boat, +and without any opposition from the people quietly seated himself by my +side and came away to the schooner; how at Pentecost Island, Taroniara +(a lad whom the Primate in old days had picked up in his canoe paddling +against a strong head wind, and kept him on board all night, and sent +him home with presents in the morning) now came away with me, but +not without his bow and poisoned arrows, of which I have taken safe +possession; how Misial felt sea-sick and home-sick for a day or two, +but upon being specially patronised by the cook, soon declared "that no +place could compare with the galley of a Mission vessel," to the truth +of which declaration the necessity of enlarging his scanty garments soon +bore satisfactory testimony; how at Ysabel the young chief came on board +with a white cockatoo instead of a hawk on his wrist, which he presented +to me with all the grace in the world, and with an enquiry after his +good friend Captain Hume, of H.M.S. "Cordelia," who had kindly taken me +to this island in the winter of 1861.' + +To this may be added some touches from the home letter of August 27, off +Vanikoro:-- + +'I don't deny that I am thankful that the Tikopia visit is well over. +The people are so very powerful and so independent and unmanageable, +that I always have felt anxious about visiting them. Once we were there +in 1856, and now again. I hope to keep on visiting them annually. Sydney +traders have been there, but have never landed; they trade at arm's +length from their boat and are well armed. It is a strange sensation, +sitting alone (say) 300 yards from the boat, which of course can't be +trusted in their hands, among 200 or more of people really gigantic. No +men have I ever seen so large--huge Patagonian limbs, and great heavy +hands clutching up my little weak arms and shoulders. Yet it is not a +sensation of fear, but simply of powerlessness; and it makes one think, +as I do when among them, of another Power present to protect and defend. + +'They perfectly understood my wish to bring away lads. Full-grown +Brobdignag men wished to come, and some got into the boat who were not +easily got out of it again. Boys swam off, wishing to come, but the +elder people prevented it, swimming after them and dragging them back. +It was a very rough, blustering day; but even on such a day the lee side +of the island is a beautiful sight, one mass of cocoa-nut trees, and the +villages so snugly situated among the trees. + +'Just been up the rigging to get a good look at this great encircling +reef at Vanikoro. Green water as smooth as glass, inside the reef for +a mile, and then pretty villages; but there is no passage through the +reef, it is a continuous breakwater. We are working up towards a part +of the reef where I think there may be a passage. Anyhow I am gaining a +good local knowledge of this place, and that saves time another year. + +'The ten lads on board talk six languages, not one of which do I know; +but as I get words and sentences from them, I see how they will "work +in" with the general character of the language of which I have several +dialects. It is therefore not very difficult to get on some little way +into all at once; but I must not be disappointed if I find that +other occupations take me away too much for my own pleasure from this +particular branch of my work.' + +A long letter to Sir John T. Coleridge gives another aspect of the +voyage:-- + + +'"Sea Breeze" Schooner: off Rennell Island. 'Therm. 89 deg. in shade; lat. +11 deg. 40', long. 160 deg. 18' 5". 'September 7, 1862. + +'My dear Uncle,--I can hardly keep awake for the unusually great heat. +The wind is northerly, and it is very light, indeed we are almost +becalmed, so you will have a sleepy letter, indeed over my book I was +already nodding. I think it better to write to you (though on a Sunday) +than to sleep. What a compliment! But I shall grow more wakeful as I +write. Perhaps my real excuse for writing is that I feel to-day much +oppressed with the thought of these great islands that I have been +visiting, and I am sadly disappointed in some of my scholars from San +Cristoval. + +'Leaving New Zealand on June 20th, I sailed to Norfolk Island, where I +held my first Confirmation. By desire of the Bishop of Tasmania, I +act as Bishop for the Norfolk Islanders. This was, as you know, a very +solemn time for me; sixteen dear children were confirmed. Since that +time I have visited very many islands with almost unequalled success, as +far as effecting landings, opening communication, and receiving native +lads are concerned. I have on board natives from many places from which +we have never received them before. Many I have left with Mr. Dudley and +Mr. Pritt on Mota Island at school, but I have now twenty-one, speaking +eleven languages. At many places where we had never landed, I was +received well. + +'The state of things, too, in the Banks Islands is very encouraging. +What do you think of my having two married (after their fashion) couples +on board from the Solomon Islands (San Cristoval and Contrariete)? This +was effected with some difficulty. Both the men are old scholars, of +course. I ought therefore to be most thankful; and yet my heart is +sad because, after promises given by Grariri and his wife, Parenga and +Kerearua (all old scholars, save Mrs. Garm), not one came away with me +yesterday, and I feel grieved at the loss of my dear boys, who can read +and write, and might be taught so much now! It is all very faithless; +but I must tell it all to you, for indeed I do not feel as if I had +any right to expect it otherwise, but in the moment of perceiving and +confessing that it is very good for me, I find out for the first time +how much my heart was set upon having them. + +'And then San Cristoval, sixty miles long, with its villages and +languages, and Malanta over eighty miles long, and Guadalcanar, seventy! +It is a silly thought or a vain, human wish, but I feel as if I longed +to be in fifty or a hundred places at once. But God will send qualified +men in good time. In the meanwhile (for the work must be carried on +mainly by native teachers gathered from each island), as some fall off I +must seek to gain others. Even where lads are only two, or even one year +with mer and then apparently fall back to what they were before, some +good may be done, the old teaching may return upon them some day, and +they may form a little nucleus for good, though not now. + +'As for openings for men of the right sort, they abound. Really if I +were free to locate myself on an island instead of going about to all, I +hardly know to which of some four or five I ought to go. But it is of +no use to have men who are not precisely the kind of men wanted. Somehow +one can't as yet learn to ask men to do things that one does oneself +as a matter of course. It needs a course of training to get rid of +conventional notions. I think that Norfolk Island may supply a few, a +very few fellows able to be of use, and perhaps New Zealand will do so, +and I have the advantage of seeing and knowing them. I don't think that +I must expect men from England, I can't pay them well; and it is so very +difficult to give a man on paper any idea of what his life will be in +Melanesia or Kohimarama. So very much that would be most hazardous to +others has ceased to be so to me, because I catch up some scrap of the +language talked on the beach, and habit has given an air of coolness and +assurance. But this does not come all at once, and you cannot talk +about all this to others. I feel ashamed as I write it even to you. They +bother me to put anecdotes of adventures into our Report, but I cannot. +You know no one lands on these places but myself, and it would be no +good to tell stories merely to catch somebody's ear. It was easier to do +so when the Bishop and I went together, but I am not training up anyone +to be the visitor, and so I don't wish anybody else to go with me. +Besides Mr. Pritt and Mr. Dudley are bad swimmers, and Mr. Kerr not +first-rate. My constant thought is "By what means will God provide for +the introduction of Christianity into these islands," and my constant +prayer that He will reveal such means to me, and give me grace to use +them. + +'What reality there is in such a work as this! What continual need of +guidance and direction! I here see before me now an island stretching +away twenty-five miles in length! Last night I left one sixty miles +long. I know that hundreds are living there ignorant of God, wild men, +cannibals, addicted to every vice. I know that Christ died for them, and +that the message is for them, too. How am I to deliver it? How find an +entrance among them? How, when I have learnt their language, speak to +them of religion, so as not to introduce unnecessary obstacles to the +reception of it, nor compromise any of its commands? + +'Thank God I can fall back upon many solid points of comfort--chiefest +of all, He sees and knows it all perfectly. He sees the islanders too, +and loves them, how infinitely more than I can! He desires to save them. +He is, I trust, sending me to them. He will bless honest endeavours +to do His will among them. And then I think how it must all appear to +angels and saints, how differently they see these things. Already, to +their eyes, the light is breaking forth in Melanesia; and I take great +comfort from this thought, and remember that it does not matter whether +it is in my time, only I must work on. And then I think of the prayers +of the Church, ascending continually for the conversion of the heathen; +and I know that many of you are praying specially for the heathen of +Melanesia. And so one's thoughts float out to India, and China, and +Japan, and Africa, and the islands of the sea, and the very vastness of +the work raises one's thoughts to God, as the only One by whom it must +be done. + +'Now, dear Uncle, I have written all this commonplace talk, not +regarding its dulness in your eyes, but because I felt weary and also +somewhat overwrought and sad; and it has done me much good, and given me +a happy hour. + +'We had our service on board this morning, and the Holy Eucharist +afterwards; Mr. Kerr, two Norfolk Islanders, a Maori, and a Nengone man +present. I ought not to be faint-hearted. My kind love to Aunt and Mary. + +'Your affectionate and dutiful Nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +The climate of Mota had again disagreed with Mr. Dudley, who was laid up +with chronic rheumatism nearly all the time he was there; and the Bishop +returned from his voyage very unwell; but Mr. Pritt happily was strong +and active, and the elder Banks Island scholars were very helpful, both +in working and teaching, so that the schools went on prosperously, and +the custom of carrying weapons in Mota was dropped. + +On November 7 the 'Sea Breeze' was again in harbour; and on the 15th, +after mature consideration, was written this self-sacrificing letter:-- + + +'St. Andrew's: November 15, 1862. + +'My dearest Sisters,--I returned from a voyage unusually interesting and +prosperous on the 7th of this month; absent just nineteen weeks. We were +in all on board seventy-one. + +'I found all your letters from April to August 25. How thankful I am to +see and know what I never doubted, the loving manner in which my first +and later letters about New Zealand were taken. How wise of you to +perceive that in truth my judgment remained all through unaltered, +though my feelings were strongly moved, indeed the good folk here begged +me to reconsider my resolution, thinking no doubt kindly for me that it +would be so great a joy to me to see you. Of course it would; were there +no other considerations that we already know and agree upon, what joy so +great on earth! But I feel sure that we are right. Thank God that we +can so speak, think, and act with increasing affection and trust in each +other! + +'The more I think of it, the more I feel "No, it would not do! It would +not be either what Joan expects or what Fan expects. They look at it in +some ways alike--i.e., in the matter of seeing me, which both equally +long to do. In some ways they regard it differently. But it would not +to one or the other be the thing they hope and wish for. They would +both feel (what yet they would not like to acknowledge) disappointment." +Though, therefore, I could not help feeling often during the voyage, +"What if I hear that they may be with me by Christmas!" yet it was not +exactly unwelcome to hear that you do not come. I recognised at once +your reading of my letters as the right one; and my feelings, strong +as they are, give way to other considerations, especially when, from my +many occupations, I have very little time to indulge them. + +'But for the thought of coming, and your great love to me, I thank you, +dear ones, with all my heart. May God bless you for it!... + +'Good-bye, my dear Sisters; we are together in heart at all events. + +'Your loving Brother, 'J. C. P.' + +The judgment had decided that the elder sister especially would suffer +more from the rough life at Kohimarama than her brother could bear that +she should undergo, when he could give her so little of his society as +compensation, without compromising his own decided principle that all +must yield to the work. Perhaps he hardly knew how much he betrayed +of the longing, even while deciding against its gratification; but his +sisters were wise enough to act on his judgment, and not on their own +impulse; and the events of the next season proved that he had been +right. To Sir John Coleridge he wrote:-- + + +'Kohimarama: November 15, 1862. + +'My dear Uncle,--I should indeed, as you say, delight to have a ramble +in the old scenes, and a good unburthening of thoughts conceived during +the past seven or eight years. + +'And yet you see I could not try the experiment of those dear good +sisters of mine coming out. It would not have been what they expected +and meant to come out to. I am little seen by any but Melanesians, and +quite content that it should be so. I can't do what I want with them, +nor a tenth part of it as it is. I cannot write to you of this last +voyage--in many respects a most remarkable one--indicating, if I am not +over hopeful, a new stage in our Mission work. Many islands yielding +scholars for the first time; old scholars, with but few exceptions, +steadfast and rapidly improving; no less than fifty-seven Melanesians +here now from twenty-four islands, exclusive of the Loyalty Islands, +and five bright Pitcairners, from twenty-four to sixteen, helpful, +good, conscientious lads. There are eight languages that I do not know, +besides all the rest; yet I can see that they are all links in the great +chain of dialects of the great "Pacific language,"--yet dialects very +far removed sometimes from one another. + +'I find it not very easy to comply with reasonable demands from men in +Europe, who want to know about these things. If I had time and ability, +I think I should enjoy really going into philology. I get books sent me +from people such as Max Muller, Grabalentz, &c.; and if I write to them +at all, it is useless to write anything but an attempt at classification +of the dialects; and that is difficult, for there are so many, and +it takes so long to explain to another the grounds upon which I feel +justified in connecting dialects and calling them cognate. It becomes an +instinct almost, I suppose, with people in the trade. + +'But I hardly know how far I ought to spend any time in such things. +Elementary grammars for our own missionaries and teachers are useful, +and the time is well spent in writing them. Hence it is that I do not +write longer letters. Oh! how I enjoy writing un-business letters; but I +can't help it--it's part of my business now to write dull Reports--i.e. +reports that I can't help making dull, and all the rest of it.... + +'I cannot write about Bishop Mackenzie. Mr. Pritt (at 9.30 P.M. the +night we landed) put his head into my room and said, "Bishop Mackenzie +is dead," and I sat and sat on and knelt and could not take it all in! I +cannot understand what the papers say of his modus operandi, yet I know +that it was an error of judgment, if an error at all, and there may be +much which we do not know. So I suspend my opinion.' + +In a letter to myself, written by the same mail, in reply to one in +which I had begged him to consider what was the sight, to a Christian +man, of slaves driven off with heavy yokes on their necks, and whether +it did not justify armed interposition, he replies with arguments that +it is needless now to repeat, but upholding the principle that +the shepherd is shepherd to the cruel and erring as well as to the +oppressed, and ought not to use force. The opinion is given most humbly +and tenderly, for he had a great veneration for his brother Missionary +Bishop. Commenting on the fact that Bishop Selwyn's speech at Cambridge +had made Charles Mackenzie a missionary, and that he would gladly have +hailed an invitation to the Australasian field of labour, the letter +proceeds:-- + +'How wonderful it is to reflect upon the events of the last few years! +Had he come out when I did to New Zealand, I might be now his Missionary +Chaplain; and yet it is well that there should be two missionary +dioceses, and without the right man for the African Mission, there might +have been a difficulty in carrying out the plan. + +'The chapel is not built yet, for I have sixty mouths to feed, and other +buildings must be thought of for health's sake. But I have settled all +that in my will.' + +'In a postscript is mentioned the arrival of some exquisite altar plate +for the College chapel, which had been offered by a lady, who had also +bountifully supplied with chronometers and nautical instruments the +'Southern Cross,' which was fast being built at Southampton. + +The above letter was accompanied by one to Dr. Moberly:-- + + +'St. Andrew's College, Kohimarama: Nov. 18, 1862. + +'My dear Dr. Moberly,--Thank you heartily for writing to me. It is +a real help to me and to others also, I think, of my party to be in +communication with those whom we have long respected, and whose prayers +we now more than ever earnestly ask. We returned on November 7 from a +very remarkable voyage. + +'I was nineteen weeks absent all but a day: sailed far beyond our most +distant island in my previous voyage, landed nearly eighty times amidst +(often) 300 and more natives, naked, armed, &c., and on no less than +thirty or forty places never trodden before (as far as I know) by the +foot of a white man. Not one arm was lifted up against me, not one bow +drawn or spear shaken. I think of it all quietly now with a sort of +wondering thankfulness. + +'From not less than eight islands we have now for the first time +received native lads; and not only are openings being thus made for us +in many directions, but the permanent training of our old scholars is +going on most favourably; so that by the blessing of God we hope, at +all events in the Banks Islands, to carry on continuously the Mission +Schools during the winter and summer also. We have spent the three last +winters here, but it would not be wise to run the risk of the damp hot +climate in the summer. Natives of the island must do this, and thank God +there are natives being raised up now to do it. The enclosed translation +of a note. It is but three or four years since the language was reduced +to writing, and here is a young man writing down his thoughts to me +after a long talk about the question of his being baptized. + +'Four others there are soon, by God's blessing, to be baptized +also--Sarawia from Vanua Lava, Tagalana from Aroa, Pasvorang from +Eowa, Woleg from Mota, and others are pressing on; Taroniara from San +Cristoval, Kanambat from New Caledonia, &c. I tell you their names, for +you will I know, remember them in your prayers. + +'Will you kindly let Mr. Keble see the enclosed note? It does not, of +course, give much idea of the lad's state of mind; but he is thoroughly +in earnest, and as for his knowledge of his duty there can be no +question there. He really knows his Catechism. I have scarcely a minute +to write by this mail. Soon you will have, I hope, a sketch of our last +voyage. We remember you all, benefactors and benefactresses, daily. +Thank you again for writing to me: it humbles me, as it ought to do, to +receive such a letter from you. + +'Very faithfully yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +These names deserve note: Sarawia the first to be ordained of the +Melanesian Church; and Taroniara, who was to share his Bishop's death. +B----, as will be seen, has had a far more chequered course. Tagalana +is described in another letter as having the thoughtfulness of one who +knows that he has the seeds of early death in him; but he, the living +lectern at the consecration, has lived to be the first deacon of his +island of Aroa. + +The ensuing is to the Rev. Derwent Coleridge, at that time Principal +of St. Mark's Training College, Chelsea, upon the question whether that +institution would afford assistants:-- + + +'Auckland, New Zealand: Nov. 15, 1862. + +'My dear Cousin,--You will not be surprised, I hope, to hear from me; +I only wish I had written to you long ago. But until quite recently +we could not speak with so much confidence concerning the Melanesian +Mission, and it is of little use to write vaguely on matters which I am +anxious now to make known to you. + +'The general plan of the Mission you may get some notion of from the +last year's Report (which I send), and possibly you may have heard or +seen something about it in former years. This last voyage of nineteen +weeks, just concluded, has determined me to write to you; for the time +is come when we want helpers indeed, and I think that you will expect me +naturally to turn to you. + +'It is not only that very many islands throughout the South Pacific, +from the Loyalty Islands on to the northwest as far as Ysabel Island in +the Solomon group, are now yielding up scholars and affording +openings for Mission stations, though this indeed is great matter for +thankfulness; but there is, thank God, a really working staff gathered +round us from the Banks Archipelago, which affords a definite field, +already partially occupied with a regular system at work in it; and here +young persons may receive the training most needed for them, actually +on a heathen island, though soon not to be without some few Christians +amongst its population. Now I can say to anyone willing and qualified to +help me:-- + +'In the six summer months there is the central school work in New +Zealand, where now there are with me fifty-one Melanesians from +twenty-four islands, speaking twenty-three languages; and in the six +winter months there is a station regularly occupied on Mota Island, +where all the necessary experience of life in the islands can be +acquired. + +'I am not in any hurry for men. Norfolk Island has given me five young +fellows from twenty-one to sixteen years of age, who already are very +useful. One has been with me a year, another four months. They are +given unreservedly into my hands, and already are working well into our +school, taking the superintendence of our cooking, e.g., off our hands; +with some help from us, they will be very useful at once as helpers on +Mota, doing much in the way of gardening, putting up huts, &c., which +will free us for more teaching work, &c., and they are being educated +by us with an eye to their future employment (D.V.) as missionaries. I +would not wish for better fellows; their moral and religious conduct is +really singularly good--you know their circumstances and the character +of the whole community. But I should be thankful by-and-by to have men +equally willing to do anything, yet better educated in respect of book +knowledge. No one is ever asked to do what we are not willing to do, and +generally in the habit of doing ourselves--cooking, working, &c., &c. +But the Melanesian lads really do all this kind of work now. I have +sixty mouths to fill here now; and Melanesian boys, told out week by +week, do the whole of the cooking (simple enough, of course) for us +all with perfect punctuality. I don't think any particular taste for +languages necessary at all. Anyone who will work hard at it can learn +the language of the particular class assigned to him. Earnest, bright, +cheerful fellows, without that notion of "making sacrifices," &c., +perpetually occurring to their minds, would be invaluable. You know +the kind of men, who have got rid of the conventional notion that more +self-denial is needed for a missionary than for a sailor or soldier, +who are sent anywhere, and leave home and country for years, and think +nothing of it, because they go "on duty." Alas! we don't so read our +ordination vows. A fellow with a healthy, active tone of mind, plenty +of enterprise and some enthusiasm, who makes the best of everything, and +above all does not think himself better than other people because he +is engaged in Mission work--that is the fellow we want. I assume, of +course, the existence of sound religious principle as the greatest +qualification of all. Now, if there be any young persons whom you could +wish to see engaged in this Mission now at St. Mark's, or if you know +of any such and feel justified in speaking to them, you will be doing a +great kindness to me, and, I believe, aiding materially in this work. + +'I should not wish at all any young man to be pledged to anything; as on +my part I will not pledge myself to accept, much less ordain, any man +of whom I have no personal knowledge. But let anyone really in earnest, +with a desire and intention (as far as he is concerned) to join the +Mission, come to me about December or January in any year. Then he +will live at the Mission College till the end of April, and can see for +himself the mode of life at the Central Summer School in New Zealand. +Then let him take a voyage with me, see Melanesians in their own homes, +stop for a while at Mota--e.g. make trial of the climate, &c., &c., and +then let me have my decisive talk with him. + +'If he will not do for the work, I must try and find other employment +for him in some New Zealand diocese, or help to pay his passage home. +I don't think such a person as you would recommend would fail to make +himself useful; but I must say plainly that I would rather not have a +man from England at all, than be bound to accept a man who might not +thoroughly and cordially work into the general system that we have +adopted. We live together entirely, all meals in common, same cabin, +same hut, and the general life and energy of us all would be damaged by +the introduction of any one discordant element. You will probably say, +"Men won't go out on these terms," and this is indeed probable, yet +if they are the right fellows for this work--a work wholly anomalous, +unlike all other work that they have thought of in many respects--they +will think that what I say is reasonable, and like the prospect all +the better (I think) because they see that it means downright work in a +cheery, happy, hopeful, friendly spirit. + +'A man who takes the sentimental view of coral islands and cocoa-nuts, +of course, is worse than useless; a man possessed with the idea that he +is making a sacrifice will never do; and a man who thinks any kind of +work "beneath a gentleman" will simply be in the way, and be rather +uncomfortable at seeing the Bishop do what he thinks degrading to do +himself. I write all this quite freely, wishing to convey, if possible, +some idea to you of the kind of men we need. And if the right fellow is +moved by God's grace to come out, what a welcome we will give him, and +how happy he will soon be in a work the abundant blessings of which none +can know as we know them. There are three clergymen with me. Mr. Pritt, +who came out with the Bishop of Nelson as his chaplain, but who, I am +thankful to say, is regularly part and parcel of the Mission staff; Mr. +Dudley, ordained last year, who for six years has been in the Mission, +and has had the special advantage of being trained under the Primate's +eye; and Mr. Kerr who was also ordained about ten months ago. + +'I give 100 pounds to a clergyman when ordained, increasing it +101 annually to a maximum of 150 pounds. But this depends upon +subscriptions, &c. I could not pledge myself even to this, except in the +case of a man very highly recommended. But of this I will write more. + +'Again let me say that I do not want anyone yet, not this year. I shall +be off again (D.V.) in the beginning of May 1863, for six months; and +if then I find on my return (D.V.) in November, letters from you, either +asking me to write with reference to any young man, or informing me that +one is on the way out, that will be quite soon enough. + +'I need not say I don't expect any such help so soon, if at all. + +'Finally, pray don't think that I underrate the great advantage of +having such persons as St. Mark's produces; but I write guardedly. My +kind love to Mrs. Derwent. + +'Affectionately yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +On the 29th of December, after two pages of affectionate remarks on +various family incidents, the letter proceeds:-- + +'We are having an extra scrubbing in preparation for our visitors on +Thursday, who may wish to be with us on the occasion of the baptism of +our six Banks Islanders; and I am writing in the midst of it, preferring +to sit in the schoolroom to my own room, which is very tiny and very +hot. + +'We have some eight only out of the fifty-one whom I am obliged to treat +rather as an awkward squad, not that they are too stupid to learn, but +that we cannot give them the individual attention that is necessary. +They teach me their language; but I cannot put them into any class where +they could be regularly taught--indeed, they are not young fellows +whom I should bring again. They do the work of introducing us to their +islands, and of teaching us something of their language. So I continue +to give them what little time I can--the real strength of our force +being given to those whom we hope to have here again. + +'We are all on the qui vive about our beautiful vessel, hoping to see it +in about six or eight weeks. It will, please God, be for years the great +means by which we may carry on the Mission if we live; and all the care +that has been spent upon it has been well spent, you may be sure. + +'I don't want to appear as if I expected this to be done in one sense, +but it is only when I think of the personal interest shown in it that I +suppose it right to thank people much. I don't want it to be thought of +any more than you do as a gift to us particular missionaries. It is the +Church carrying on its own work. Yet, as you truly say, private feelings +and interests are not to be treated rudely; and I do think it a +very remarkable thing that some 2,000 pounds should be raised by +subscriptions, especially when one knows that so very few people have an +idea of the work that is being done.' + +'What a blessed New Year's rejoicing in hope here follows:-- + + +'Kohimarama: Jan. 1, 1863. + +'My dearest Sisters,--The first letter of the year to you! Thank God for +bringing us to see it! It is 1 P.M., and at 4.30 P.M. six dear children +(from twenty-two to fourteen) are to be baptized. Everything in one +sense is done; how very little in the other and higher sense! May +Almighty God pour the fulness of His blessing upon them! I sit and look +at them, and my heart is too full for words. They sit with me, and +bring their little notes with questions that they scarcely dare trust +themselves to speak about. You will thank God for giving me such +comfort, such blessings, and such dear children. How great a mercy it +is! How unexpected! May God make me humble and patient through it all! + +'What a sight it would be for you four hours hence! Our party of +sixty-one, visitors from Auckland, the glorious day, and the holy +service, for which all meet. + +'I use Proper Psalms, 89, 96, 126, 145, and for lessons a few verses, 2 +Kings v. 9-15, and Acts viii. 35-9. After the third Collect, the Primate +may say a few words, or I may do so; and then I shall use our usual +Melanesian Collect for many islands, very briefly named; and so conclude +with the Blessing. + +'What this is to me you must try and realise, that you may be partakers +of my joy and thankfulness. To have Christians about me, to whom I can +speak with a certainty of being understood, to feel that we are all +bound together in the blessed Communion of the Body of Christ, to know +that angels on high are rejoicing and evil spirits being chased away, +that all the Banks Islands and all Melanesia are experiencing, as it +were, the first shock of a mighty earthquake, that God who foresees the +end may, in his merciful Providence, be calling even these very children +to bear His message to thousands of heathens, is not it too much? +One's heart is not large enough for it, and confession of one's own +unworthiness breaks off involuntarily into praise and glory! + +'I know, my dear Sisters, that this is most likely one of the great +blessings that precede great trials. I can't expect or wish (perhaps) +always to sail with a fair wind, yet I try to remember that trial must +come, without on that account restraining myself from a deep taste of +the present joy. I can't describe it! + +'Then we have now much that we ever can talk about--deep talk about Mota +and the other islands, and the special temptations to which they must +be exposed; that now is the time when the devil will seek with all his +might to "have" them, and so hinder God's work in the land; that they +have been specially blest by God to be the first to desire to know His +will, and that they have heavy responsibilities. + +'"Yes," they say, "we see man does not know that his room is dirty and +full of cobwebs while it is all dark; and another man, whose room is not +half so dirty, because the sun shines into it and shows the dirt, thinks +his room much worse than the other. That is like our hearts. It is worse +now to be angry than it was to shoot a man a long time ago. But the more +the sun shines in, the more we shall find cobwebs and dirt, long after +we thought the room was clean. Yes, we know what that means. We asked +you what would help us to go on straight in the path, now that we are +entering at the gate. We said prayer, love, helping our countrymen. Now +we see besides watchfulness, self-examination; and then you say we must +at once look forward to being confirmed, as the people you confirmed +at Norfolk Island. Then there is the very great thing, the holy and the +great, the Supper of the Lord." So, evening by evening and day by day, +we talk, this being of course not called school, being, indeed, my great +relaxation, for this is the time when they are like children with a +father. + +'I know I feel it so. Don't take the above as a fair sample of our +talk, for the more solemn words we say about God's Love, Christ's +Intercession, and the Indwelling of the Spirit, I can hardly write down +now. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P. + +'P.S.--Feast of the Epiphany. Those dear children were baptized on +Thursday. A most solemn interesting scene it was!' + +Thoroughly happy indeed was the Bishop at this time. In a note of +February 3 to the Bishop of Wellington, he speaks of the orderly state +of the College:-- + +'Mr. Pritt has made a complete change in the Melanesian school, very +properly through me; not putting himself forward, but talking with +me, suggesting, accepting suggestions, giving the benefit of his great +knowledge of boys and the ways to educate them. All the punctuality, +order, method, &c., are owing to him; and he is so bright and hearty, +thoroughly at ease with the boys, and they with him.' + +The same note announces two more recruits--Mr. John Palmer, a +theological student at St. John's, and Joseph Atkin, the only son of a +settler in the neighbourhood, who had also held a scholarship there. +He had gained it in 1860, after being educated at the Taranaki Scotch +School and the Church of England Grammar School at Parnell, and his +abilities were highly thought of. The Bishop says:-- + +'Joe Atkin, you will be glad to hear, has joined us on probation till +next Christmas, but he is very unlikely to change his mind. He and his +father have behaved in a very straightforward manner. I am not at all +anxious to get fellows here in a hurry. The Norfolk Islanders, e.g., are +in need of training much more than our best Melanesians, less useful as +teachers, cooks, even as examples. This will surprise you, but it is so. + +'I have long suspected that Joe thought about joining us. He tells me, +"You never would give me a chance to speak to you, Sir." + +"Quite true, Joe; I wished the thought to work itself out in your own +mind, and then I thought it right to speak first to your father." + +'I told him that I could offer but "a small and that an uncertain +salary" should he be ordained five years hence; and that he ought to +think of that, that there was nothing worldly in his wishing to secure +a maintenance by-and-by for wife and child, and that I much doubted my +power to provide it. But this did not at all shake either his father or +him. I have a great regard for the lad, and I know you have.' + +From that time forward reading with and talking with 'Joe Atkin' was one +of the chief solaces of the Bishop's life, though at present the young +man was only on trial, and could not as yet fill the place of Mr. +Benjamin Dudley, who, soon after the voyage, married, and returned to +Canterbury settlement. The loss was felt, as appears in the following:-- + + +'Kohimarama; Saturday, 1 P.M., Feb. 7, 1863. + +'My dearest Sisters,--I have a heavy cold, so you must expect a stupid +letter. I am off in an hour or two for a forty-mile ride, to take +to-morrow's services (four) among soldiers and settlers. The worst of it +is that I have no chance of sleep at the end, for the mosquitos near the +river are intolerable. How jolly it would be, nevertheless, if you were +here, and strong enough to make a sort of picnic ride of it. I do it +this way: strap in front of the saddle a waterproof sheet, with my silk +gown, Prayer-book, brush and comb, razor and soap, a clean tie, and +a couple of sea biscuits. Then at about 3 P.M. off I go. About twenty +miles or so bring me to Papakura, an ugly but good road most of the way. +Here there is an inn. I stop for an hour and a half, give the horse a +good feed, and have my tea. At about 7.30 or 8 I start again, and ride +slowly along a good road this dry weather. The moon rises at 9.30, +and by that time I shall be reaching the forest, through which a good +military road runs. This is the part of the road I should like to show +you. Such a night as this promises to be! It will be beautiful. About 11 +I reach a hut made of reeds on the very brink of the river, tether the +horse, give him a feed, which I carry with me from Papakura, light a +fire (taking matches) inside the hut, and try to smoke away mosquitos, +lie down in your plaid, Joan--do you remember giving it to me?--and get +what sleep I can. To-morrow I work my way home again, the fourth service +being at Papakura at 4 P.M., so I ought to be at Kohimarama by 9 P.M., +dead tired I expect. I think these long days tire me more than they did; +and I really do see not a few white hairs, a dozen or so, this is quite +right and respectable. + +'I am writing now because I am tired with this cold, but chiefly because +when I write only for the mail I send you such wretched scrawls, just +business letters, or growls about something or other which I magnify +into a grievance. But really, dear Joan and Fan, I do like much writing +to you; only it is so very seldom I can do so, without leaving undone +some regular part of the day's work. I am quite aware that you want to +know more details about my daily life, and I really wish to supply them; +but then I am so weary when I get a chance of writing, that I let my +mind drift away with my pen, instead of making some effort to write +thoughtfully. How many things I should like to talk about, and which I +ought to write about: Bishops Mackenzie and Colenso, the true view of +what heathenism is, Church government, the real way to hope to get at +the mass of heathens at home, the need of a different education in some +respects for the clergy, &c. But I have already by the time I begin to +write taken too much out of myself in other ways to grapple with +such subjects, and so I merely spin out a yarn about my own special +difficulties and anxieties. + +'Don't mind my grumbling. I think that it is very ungrateful of me to +do so, when, this year especially, I am receiving such blessings; it is +partly because I am very much occupied, working at high pressure, partly +because I do not check my foolish notions, and let matters worry me. I +don't justify it a bit; nor must you suppose that because I am very busy +just now, I am really the worse for it. The change to sea life will +set me all to rights again; and I feel that much work must be done in a +little time, and a wise man would take much more pains than I do to keep +himself in a state fit to do it. + +'I have told you about our manner of life here. Up at 5, when I go round +and pull the blankets, not without many a joke, off the sleeping boys, +many of the party are already up and washing. Then, just before prayers, +I go into the kitchen and see that all is ready for breakfast. Prayers +at 5.45 in English, Mota, Baura, &c., beginning with a Mota Hymn, and +ending with the Lord's Prayer in English. Breakfast immediately after: +at our table Mr. Pritt, Mr. Kerr, and young Atkin who has just joined +us. At the teachers' table, five Norfolk Islanders, Edward (a Maori), +five girls and two of their husbands, and the three girls being placed +at this table because they are girls; Melanesians at the other three +tables indiscriminately. There are four windows, one at the north, three +at the east side. The school and chapel, in one long modern building, +form the corresponding wing on the eastern side of my little room, and +the boys dormitories between. + +'We are daily expecting the vessel, though it will be a quick passage +for her if she comes in the next ten days, and then what a bustle! + +'We send Dudley and his wife away to Canterbury for eight or nine +months; he is so weak as to make the change, which I had urged him to +try for some time past, quite necessary. + +'Next Sunday a Confirmation at Orehunga, eight miles off; back to +Auckland for catechising and Baptism at 3 p.m. and evening service at +6.30, and never a word of either sermon written, and all the school +work! Never mind, a good growl to you is a fine restorative, and really +I get on very well somehow. + +'Well, good-bye, you dear Sisters, + +'Your affectionate Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + + +On the last day of February came the new 'Southern Cross,' and two +delightful notes announced it to the Vicar of Hursley and to myself in +one envelope. + + +'St. Andrew's: Feb. 28, 1863. + +'My dear Cousin,--The "Southern Cross" arrived safely this morning. +Thanks to God! + +'What it is to us even you can hardly tell; I know not how to pour out +my thankfulness. She seems admirably adapted for the work. Mr. Tilly's +report of her performance is most satisfactory: safe, fast, steers well, +and very manageable. Internal arrangements very good; after cabin too +luxurious, but then that may be wanted for sick folk, and as it is +luxurious, why I shall get a soft bed, and take to it very kindly. + +'Pray let dear Mr. Keble and Dr. Moberly know at once how very happy +and thankful I am for this blessing. I know all you good friends at home +will try to picture to yourselves my delight as I jumped on board! + +'The boys are, of course, wild with excitement. It is blowing very hard. +Last night (when we were thinking of them) it was an anxious night for +them close on the coast. + +'I have no time to write more. I thought of Lady... as I looked at +the chronometers and instruments, and of you all as I looked at the +beautiful vessel slipping along through the water with scarce a stitch +of canvas. I pray that she may be spared many years to the Mission, +and that we may have grace to use her, as she ought to be used, to His +glory. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Bishop. + +'You know that you are daily remembered in our prayers. God bless you.' + + +'10.30 P.M., March 1, 1863. + +'My dear Mr. Keble,--One line, though on Sunday night, to tell you of +the safe arrival of the "Southern Cross." You have a large share in her, +and she has a large share in your good wishes and prayers, I am sure. + +'Solemn thoughts on this day, an Ordination Sunday, mingle with the joy +at the coming of this messenger (I trust of mercy and peace). I need not +ask you to pray continually for us, for I know you do so. But indeed, +now is the time when we seem especially to need your prayers. + +'The lads have no lack of intellectual capacity, they not unfrequently +surprise me. Now is the time when they are in the receptive state, and +now especially any error on our part may give a wrong direction to +the early faith of thousands! What an awful thought! We are their only +teachers, the only representatives of Christianity among them. How +inexpressibly solemn and fearful! This is the thought so perpetually +present to me. The training of the future missionaries of Melanesia +is, by God's Providence, placed in our hands. No wonder that I feel +sometimes overwhelmed at the thought! + +'But I know that if God gives me grace to become more simple-minded and +humble, He will order even this aright. You I know will pray more than +ever for me. My kindest regards to Mrs. Keble; I hope she is better. + +'Your affectionate and grateful young Friend, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +Before the first joy of the arrival was over, ere the 'Southern Cross' +could make her first voyage among the multitude of isles, a great +calamity had fallen upon St. Andrew's. Whether it was from the large +numbers, or the effect of the colder climate, or from what cause +could not be told, but a frightful attack of dysentery fell upon the +Melanesians, and for several weeks suffering and death prevailed among +them. How Bishop Patteson tended them during this time can be better +guessed than described. + +Archdeacon Lloyd, who came to assist in the cares of the small party of +clergy, can find no words to express the devotion with which the Bishop +nursed them, comforting and supporting them, never shrinking from the +most repulsive offices, even bearing out the dead silently at night, +lest the others should see and be alarmed. + +Still no mail, except during the voyages, had ever left New Zealand +without a despatch for home; and time was snatched in the midst of all +this distress for a greeting, in the same beautiful, clear minute hand +as usual:-- + + +'Hospital, St. Andrew's: Saturday night, 9 P.M., March 22, 1863. + +'My dearest Brother and Sister,--I write from the dining hall (now our +hospital), with eleven Melanesians lying round me in extremity of peril. +I buried two to-day in one grave, and I baptized another now dying by my +side. + +'God has been pleased in His wisdom and mercy to send upon us a terrible +visitation, a most virulent form of dysentery. Since this day fortnight +I have scarce slept night or day, but by snatching an hour here and +there; others are working quite as hard, and all the good points of our +Melanesian staff are brought out, as you may suppose. + +'The best medical men cannot suggest any remedy. All remedies have been +tried and failed. Every conceivable kind of treatment has been tried +in vain. There are in the hall (the hospital now) at this moment +eleven--eleven more in the little quadrangle, better, but in as anxious +a state as can be; and two more not at all well. + +'I have sent all the rest on board to be out of the way of contagion. +How we go on I scarce know.... My good friend, Mr. Lloyd, is here, +giving great help; he is well acquainted with sickness and a capital +nurse. + +'I have felt all along that it would be good for us to be in trouble; +we could not always sail with a fair wind, I have often said so, and God +has sent the trial in the most merciful way. What is this to the falling +away of our baptized scholars! + +'But it is a pitiful sight! How wonderfully they bear the agony of it. +No groaning. + +'When I buried those two children to-day, my heart was full, I durst not +think, but could only pray and believe and trust in Him. God bless you. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P. + +'O Lord, correct me, but with judgment!' + + +On the 25th, two more were dead, and buried without time to make +coffins, for thirteen still hung between life and death, while fresh +cases were sent from on board ship. Mr. Pritt and Mr. Palmer cooked +nourishing food and prepared rice-water unceasingly; while the others +tended the sick, and the Primate returned from a journey to give his +effective aid. On the night of the 30th, a fifth died unexpectedly, +having only been ill a week, the only scholar from Pentecost Island. One +of these lads, when all hope was over, was wrapped in his white winding +sheet, carried into the chapel, and there baptized by the Bishop, with +choked voice and weeping eyes. + +Over those who had not faith enough to justify him in baptizing them, he +said the following prayers as he laid them in their graves:-- + +'Sentences. Psalms from the Burial Service. + +'Forasmuch as it hath pleased Thee, O Almighty God, to take from amongst +us the souls of these two children committed to our charge, we therefore +commit their bodies to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust +to dust; humbly commending to Thy Fatherly mercy these and all other Thy +children who know not Thee, whom Thou knowest, who art the Father and +Lord of all things in heaven and earth, to whom be all praise and glory, +with Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. +Amen. + +'We humbly beseech Thee, most merciful God, to remember for good the +inhabitants of the islands of Melanesia, and specially we pray God by +the grave of these children, for the dwellers in Vanua Lava and Ambrym +that Thou wouldest cause the light of the Gospel to shine m their +hearts. Give unto Thy servants grace in their sight, that we may go +forth in peace, and return if it be Thy will in safety, to the honour +and glory of Thy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. + +'O Almighty God, Father of Mercy, we cry unto Thee in our sorrow and +distress, most humbly confessing that we have most justly provoked Thy +wrath and heavy indignation. + +'We know, O Lord, that this is a dispensation of mercy, a gift from +Thee, to be used, as all things may be used to Thy glory. Yet, O Lord, +suffer not our unworthiness to hinder Thy work of mercy! + +'O Lord, look down from heaven, visit with Thy tender compassion Thy +children lying under Thy hand in grievous sufferings of body. Restore +them if it be Thy good pleasure to health and strength, or if it be Thy +good will to take them out of this world, receive them to Thy tender +mercies for His blessed sake who died for all men, Thy Son our Lord. + +'Lord's Prayer. Grace.' + +This was written down for use, in great haste, in the same spirit that +breathes through the account of the next death: the entry dated on +Coleridge Patteson's thirty-sixth birthday, April 1, 1863, which must +be transcribed, though much of the detail of this time of trial has been +omitted. + +'Sosaman died at 9 A.M. this day--a dear lad, one of the Banks +Islanders, about ten or twelve years old. As usual I was kneeling by +him, closing his eyes in death. I can see his poor mother's face now! +What will she say to me? she who knows not the Christian's life in +death! Yet to him, the poor unbaptized child, what is it to him? What +a revelation! Yes, the names he heard at our lips were names of real +things and real persons! There is another world! There is a God, a +Father, a Lord Jesus Christ, a Spirit of holiness, a Love and Glory. So +let us leave him, O Father, in Thy hands, who knowest him who knew not +Thee on earth. Thy mercies never fail. Thou hast created all things, and +for Thy pleasure they are and were created. + +'I washed him, and laid him out as usual in a linen sheet. How white it +looked! So much more simple and touching than the coffin--the form just +discernible as it lay where five had lain before; and then I knelt down +in our little chapel; and, I thank God, I could still bless and praise +Him in my heart! + +'How is it that I don't pray more? I pray in one sense less than +usual--am not so long on my knees. I hope it is that I am so worn out, +and so very, very much occupied in tending the sick and dying, but I am +not sure. + +'Anyhow I am sure that I am learning at terrible cost lessons which, it +may be, God would have taught me more gently if I had ears to hear. I +have not in all things depended upon Him, and perpetually sought help +from Him. + +'Oh that my unworthiness may not hinder His work of mercy! + +'If I live, the retrospect of this most solemn time will, I hope, +be very useful. I wonder if I ever went through such acute mental +suffering, and yet, mind! I feel perfectly hardened at times--quite +devoid of sensibility.' + +He said in another letter that he felt that if he relaxed his +self-command for one moment he should entirely break down. To him +writing to his beloved home was what speaking, nay, almost thinking, +would be in another man; it gave an outlet to his feeling, and security +of sympathy. There was something in his spiritual nature that gave him +the faculty of realising the Communion of Saints in its fullest sense, +both with those on earth and in Paradise; and, above all, with his +Heavenly Father, so that he seems as complete an example as ever lived +of the reality of that privilege, in which too often we only express our +belief. + +Sosaman's was the last death. On a fragment of pink paper, bearing the +date of the next day, it is declared that an alleviation in the worst +symptoms had taken place, and that the faces and eyes were less haggard. +'Oh! if it be God's will to grant us now a great deliverance, all glory +be to Him!' + +The deliverance was granted. The next mail brought tidings of +gladness:-- + + +'St. Andrew's: April 17, 1863. + +'My dearest Sisters,--You know the calm yet weary feeling that succeeds +to the period of intense anxiety and constant watchfulness. Six dear +children are taken from us, as you know already. Some twenty-one others +have been very ill, nigh unto death. Two or three are still weak, but +doing well. + +'All the rest are convalescent. Oh! I look at them, to see the loving +bright smile again on their poor wan faces. I don't mind breaking +down now; yet I have experienced no decided reaction; only I am very +indolent, like one who, for six weeks, has not had his usual allowance +of sleep. What abundant cause we have for thankfulness! All the many +hours that I spent in that atmosphere, and yet not a whit the worse for +it. What a sight it was! What scenes of suffering! There seemed to be no +end to it; and yet there was always strength for the immediate work in +hand. Tending twenty-four sick, after hurrying back from burying two +dear lads in one grave, or with a body lying in its white sheet in the +chapel; and once, after a breathless watch of two hours, while they all +slept the sleep of opium, for we dared almost anything to obtain some +rest, stealing at dead of night across the room to the figure wrapped so +strangely in its blanket, and finding it cold and stiff, while one dying +lay close by. It has been a solemn time indeed. And now the brightness +seems to be coming back. + +'I have not yet ceased to think of the probable consequences; but, +speaking somewhat hastily, I do not think that this will much retard the +work. I may have to use some extra caution in some places--e.g., one of +the two first lads brought from Ambrym is dead: one lad, the only one +ever brought from the middle of Whitsuntide Island, is dead; I must be +careful there. The other four came from Mota, Matlavo, Vanua Lava (W. +side), and Guadalcanar; for the six who died came from six islands. + +'One dear lad, Edmund Quintal, sixteen or seventeen years old, was for a +while in a critical state. Fisher Young, a little older, was very unwell +for three or four days. They came from Norfolk Island. + +'The last six weeks have been very unhealthy. We had an unusually hot +dry summer--quite a drought; the wells, for example, were never so +tried. There was also an unusual continuance of north-east winds--our +sultry close wind. And when the dry weather broke up, the rain and damp +weather continued for many days. Great sickness prevailed in Auckland +and the country generally. + +'The Norfolk Islanders, now four in number--Edwin Nobbs, Gilbert +Christian, Fisher Young, and Edmund Quintal--have behaved excellently. +Oh, how different I was at their age! It is pleasant, indeed, to see +them so very much improved; they are so industrious, so punctual, so +conscientious. The fact seems to be that they wanted just what I do hope +the routine of our life has supplied--careful supervision, advice, and, +when needed, reproof. They had never had any training at all. + +'But there was something better--religious feeling--to work on! and the +life here has, by God's blessing, developed the good in them. I am very +hopeful about then now. Not, mind! that any one of them has a notion +of teaching, but they are acquiring habits which will enable them to be +good examples in all points of moral conduct to those of the Melanesians +who are not already like B----, &c. The head work will come by-and-by, I +dare say. + +'April 22.--The storm seems to have passed, though one or two are still +very weak. But there are no active symptoms of disease. How mercifully +God has dealt with us! I have been very seedy for a few days, and am so +still. In spite of two teeth taken out a fortnight ago, my whole jaw has +been paining me much, heavy cold, and I can't get good sleep by reason +of the pain, and I want sleep much. I think I must go to the dentist +again. You see we hope to sail in ten days or so, and I want to be well. + +'We have just washed and scrubbed the hall thoroughly, and once again it +ceases to be our hospital. That looks bright, does not it? You must let +all friends know about us, for I shall not be able to write to many, and +perhaps I shall not have time to write at all. In the midst of all +this, I have so much work about the management of the Mission farm and +property, and the St. John's College estate, and educational prospects.' + +The 'Southern Cross' was at sea again on May 2, and approved herself +entirely to her owners' satisfaction. + +Moreover, another clergyman had come on board for a trial trip, the +Rev. Robert Codrington, a Fellow of Wadham, Oxford, who brought the +University culture which was no small personal pleasure to Bishop +Patteson in the companion of his labours. So that the staff consisted of +Mr. Pritt, Mr. Kerr, Mr. Codrington, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Atkin, besides +Mr. Tilly, whose management of the vessel left the Bishop free from +cares whenever his knowledge of the coast was not needed. Some of the +results of his leisure on the outward voyage here appear:-- + +'I am glad I have read the accounts which Bishop Mackenzie's sister sent +me. I know more about it now. Work and anxiety and necessity for action +all came upon them so rapidly, that there was but little time for +forming deliberate plans. I can well realise the finding oneself +surrounded with a hundred poor creatures, diseased and hungered, the +multitude of questions how to feed, lodge, and clothe them. How far +it is right to sanction their mode of life, &c. One thing I am glad to +notice, that the Bishop abstained from all attempts to convey religious +instruction, because he was not sufficiently acquainted with the +language to know what ideas he might or might not be suggesting. +That was wise, and yet how unlike many hot-headed men, who rush with +unintentional irreverence into very dangerous experiments. + +'I confess, as you know, that there seems to me far too cumbrous and +expensive and talkative a method employed in England, for raising +supplies for that Mission and Columbia, Honolulu, &c. I never think +of all that fuss of the four Universities, and all the meetings and +speeches, without some shame. But united action will come in the +train of real synodical action; and if I understand aright, the last +Convocation of Canterbury accepted all that we are trying for, taking +the right view in the question of Provinces, Metropolitans, position of +Colonial Churches, joint action of the Church at large, &c. Extension of +Episcopate in England. Oh, thanks be to God for it all. What a work for +this branch of the Catholic Church! How can people sit quiet, not give +their all! + +'I like very much Vaughan's work on the Epistle to the Romans. That +is the book to teach young students how to read their Greek Testament. +Accurate scholarship, no private notions imported into the Greek text. +I should like to hear Mr. Keble speak about the law underlying the +superstitions of heathenism, the way to deal with the perversions of +truth, &c. Somehow I get to marvel at and love that first book of Hooker +more and more. It is wonderful. It goes to the bottom of the matter; and +then at times it gives one to see something of the Divine wisdom of the +Bible as one never saw it before. + +'But I fear that I seek too much after a knowledge and understanding of +principles of action which are attainable by a scholar and man of real +reasoning power, but which I am not able to make of practical use, +having neither the brains nor the goodness. This is what I really mean. + +'May 20th.--Any really good book on the New Testament, especially +dealing critically with the Greek text, I certainly wish to have. I +feel that the great neglect of us clergy is the neglect of the continual +study most critically and closely of the grammatical meaning of the +Hebrew and Greek texts. Oh! that in old days I had made myself a good +scholar! Oh! that I did really know Hebrew and Greek well! What a +blessing and delight it would be now! I fear that I shall never be +a good Hebrew scholar, I can't make time for it; but a decent Greek +scholar I hope to be. I work away, but alas I for want of time, only by +fits and starts, at grammars, and such a book as Vaughan's "Epistle to +the Romans," an excellent specimen of the way to give legitimate help to +the student. Trench's books I delight in. The Revision by Five Clergymen +is an assistance. There was a review in the Quarterly the other day on +the Greek Testament, very nearly an excellent one. The ordinary use of +folio commentaries I don't wish to depreciate, but I think it far less +valuable than the diligent study for oneself with the best grammatical +aids of the original text. I always assume an acquaintance with the +true mind and spirit of the Church of England as a substratum of +interpretation. I like Westcott's book on the "Introduction to the Study +of the Gospels." + +'Oh! why, when I sat evening after evening with our dear Father, did +I not ask him on all these points much more than I did? He did talk +of such things! But I suppose it is partly the impulse given to such +studies by the tendency of present religious thought. Yet ought it not +to have been always put forward at Eton and Oxford that the close study +of the text of the Bible is the first duty of a Christian scholar. +I never really thought of it till I came out here, and then other +occupations crowded upon me, and so it was too late to make myself a +scholar. Alas! + +'Now I really think nothing is so great a relaxation tome as a good book +by Trench, or Vaughan, or Ellicott, or Dr. Pusey, and I do enjoy it. +Not that I can keep up my attention for very long so as to make it +profitable, but even then it is delightful, only I must go over it +again, and so it is perhaps time wasted. + +'But I greatly miss the intimate friend with whom to fix what I read by +conversation and communication of mutual difficulties in understanding +passages. I don't often forget points on which the Judge and I have had +a talk, but what I read by myself I read too quickly, and forget. I want +to fix it by subsequent discussion and enquiry with a competent friend. +If I have intelligent young men to read with, that will almost do, +it will easily help me to remember what I have read. It won't be +suggestive, like the Judge's conversation; yet if one tries to teach +conscientiously one does learn a great deal. I am puzzled as to books +for my Norfolk Islanders. I should like much the "Conversations on the +Catechism." Are they published separately? Shall I ask Miss Yonge to +give me a copy? And the "Plain Commentary" would be useful too, if +(which I doubt) it is plain enough.' + + +'"Southern Cross:" May 9, 1863. + +'My dear Joan,--You ask me about qualifications which a man had better +possess for this Mission, so perhaps I had better ask you to enquire of +cousin Derwent Coleridge and of Ernest Hawkins for letters written to +them some six months ago in which (if I remember rightly) I succeeded +as well as I am likely to do now in describing the class of men I should +like some day to have. I dare say they have not kept the letters, I +forgot that, because although they took me some little time to write, +they may have chucked them away naturally enough. Still if they have +them and can find them, it may be worth while for you to keep a copy by +you to show to any person who wishes for information. + +'It is not necessary at all that a man should have a taste for languages +or a faculty of acquiring them. What I want now is not a linguist, but a +well-trained school-master of black boys and men, who will also put his +hand to any kind of work--a kindly, gentle, cheerful, earnest fellow, +who will make light of all little inconveniences, such as necessarily +attend sea life, &c., who is so much of a gentleman that he can afford +to do any kind of work without being haunted by the silly thought that +it "is beneath him," "not his business." That is the fellow for me. He +would have to learn one language, the language of the particular class +given over to him, and I think that a person of any moderate ability +might soon do this with our teaching. If I could get him to take an +interest in the general science of language and to go into philological +points, of course his work would be lighter, and he would have soon the +advantage of knowing dialects cognate to that which he must know. But +that is not necessary. + +'The real thing is to train a certain number of lads in habits of +attention, punctuality, tidiness, &c., to teach them also upon a plan, +which I should show him, to read and write. The religious instruction I +should take, and the closer investigation of the language too, unless he +showed a capacity for going into the nicer points of structure, &c. + +'But somehow a cut and dried teaching machine of a man, however +methodical, and good, and conscientious, won't do. There must be a +vivacity, an activity of mind, a brightness about the man, so that a +lesson shall never be mere drudgery; in short, there must be a real love +in the heart for the scholars, that is the qualification. + +'One man and one only I hope to have some day who ought to be able to +learn scraps at least of many languages, but he will have a different +work to do. No work can be considered to be satisfactorily carried on +while it depends on the life of any one man. Someone to take my place +will come, I hope, some day. He would have to go round the islands with +me, and acquire a knowledge of the whole field of work--the wading and +swimming, the mode of dealing with fellows on a first meeting, &c.; he +will not only have one class to look after, but he must learn the same +kind of lesson that I learnt under the Primate. Where to get such a +man, I'm sure I don't know. He must be of standing and ability to be +acceptable to the others should I die, &c., &c. + +'So we need not speculate about him, and the truth is, I am not in any +hurry to get men from home. We are educating ourselves lads here who +will very likely learn to do this kind of work fairly well. Mr. Palmer +will, I hope, be ordained at Christmas. Young Atkin will be useful some +day. By-and-by if I can get one or two really first-rate men, it will +indeed be a great thing. But who knows anything of me in England? I +don't expect a really able man to come out to work with me. They will go +to other parts of the world kept more before the notice of the public by +committees and meetings and speeches, &c.; and indeed I am very thankful +for it. I am not old nor wise enough to be at the head of a party of +really able men. I must be more fit to lead before I can ask men to +follow. + +'Of course I know that the work, if I chose to speak out, is second to +none in interest and importance, and that very little comparatively is +known about it in England. But it is evidently far better that it should +go quietly on without attracting much notice, and that we all should +remain unknown at all events at present. By-and-by, when by God's +blessing things are more ripe for definite departments of work, and +men can have distinct duties at once assigned to them, and our mode of +carrying on the Mission has been fairly tested, then it will be high +time to think about first-rate men. + +'And, presumptuous and strange as it may seem for me to say it, a man +confessedly second-rate, unfit to hold a position with the best stamp of +English clergymen, I had rather not have. I can get the material cheaper +and made to my own hand out here. + +'Some men are dull though good, others can't get away from their book +life and the proprieties, others are donnish, others are fine gentlemen, +others are weak in health, most have preconceived and, many, mistaken +views about heathenism, and the way to deal with it; some would come out +with the notion that England and English clergymen were born to set the +colonies right. + +'How few would say, "There's a young man for the Bishop, only a +second-class man, no scholar, not remarkable in any way, but he has +learnt his work in a good school, and will go out to him with the +purpose of seeing how he carries on the work, and learning from him." I +don't expect men worth anything to say this. Of course I don't; and +yet you know, Joan, I can't take them on any other terms. No, I prefer +taking promising lads here, and training them up, not with any pledge +that I will employ them in the Mission, but with the promise of giving +them every chance of becoming qualified for it.' + +The voyage was much shorter than had been intended, and its history is +best summed up here:-- + + +'"Southern Cross," Kohimarama: Aug. 6, 1863. + +'My dear Cousin,--This date, from this place, will surprise you. We +returned yesterday, after a short voyage of only three months. I had +arranged my plans for a long voyage, hoping to revisit all our known +islands, and that more than once. We sailed to Norfolk Island, thence +at once to Mota. I spent two days there, and left the Rev. L. Pritt in +charge of the station; Mr. Palmer being with him and the four Norfolk +Islanders, and several old scholars. + +'I spent a fortnight in the Banks Archipelago, returning some scholars, +and taking away others from divers islands; and then went back to Mota, +bringing some sixteen or seventeen lads to the central school. I found +them all pretty well; the whole island at peace, people moving about +everywhere unarmed, and a large school being gathered together. + +'I went off again to the south (the New Hebrides group), returning +scholars who had been in New Zealand, purchasing yams for axes and iron, +&c., to supply the large number of scholars at Mota. The season had been +unfavourable, and the crop of yams in some islands had almost failed. +However, in another fortnight I was again at Mota with some six or seven +tons of yams. I found things lamentably changed. A great mortality +was going on, dysentery and great prostration of strength from severe +influenza. + +'But of those not actually boarding at the station, the state was very +sad indeed. About twenty-five adults were dead already, several of them +regular attendants at school, of whom we were very hopeful. + +'I spent two days and a half in going about the island, the wet +incessant, the ground steaming and reeking with vegetable exhalations. +During those days twenty-seven adults died, fifty-two in all, and many, +many more were dying, emaciated, coughing, fainting; no constitutional +vigour of body, nor any mutton broth, or beef tea, or jellies, or +chickens, or wine, &c. Mr. Pritt did what he could, and more than +I thought could have been done; but what could be done? How could +nourishing food be supplied to dozens of invalids living miles off, +refusing to obey directions in a country which supplies no food to rally +the strength of persons in illness? + +'I decided to remove the whole party at once, explaining to the people +that we were not afraid to share with them the risk of dying, but that +if Mr. Pritt and the others died, there were no teachers left. I felt +that our Banks Island scholars must be removed, and that at once lest +they should die. I could not send the vessel to the Solomon Islands +without me, for Mr. Tilly was completely laid up and unable to move from +rheumatic gout, and no one else on board knows those languages. + +'I could not leave the party at Mota in the sickness, and I could not +well send the vessel to Port Patteson for a time, for the danger was +imminent. So I took them all away, in all thirty-nine. + +'But now the vessel was full, more than sixty on board, and I had +reckoned upon an empty vessel in the hot Santa Cruz and Solomon Island +latitudes. Moreover, the weather was extraordinarily unfavourable--damp, +foul winds, squalls, calms, unhealthy weather. Mr. Tilly was being +greatly pulled down, and everything seemed to point out that the voyage +ought not to be long. I made my mind up, took back the Solomon Island +scholars; and, with heavy sea and baffling winds and one short gale, +sailed back to New Zealand. + +'How mysteriously our plans are overruled for good! I came back to hear +of the war; and to learn to be thankful for my small, very young and +very manageable party. Thirty-three Banks Islanders, the baptized party +and select lads from their islands, one New Caledonian, four Ysabel +lads, constitute this summer's Melanesian school. + +'Don't be disappointed; I was at first, but I had the comfort of having +really no alternative. I had, indeed, a great desire to make a thorough +visitation of Leper's Island, and Santa Cruz especially; but the wind, +usually so fair, was dead against me, we had, so to speak, no trade +winds, and I had to give it up. It was certainly my duty to get to the +south with my invalids as soon as I could, and alter my plans, which, +you know, always are made with a view to divers modifications being +rendered necessary. + +'Training the baptized scholars, and putting into shape such knowledge +as I have of Melanesian tongues, that made a good summer programme, as +I was obliged to content myself with a small party gathered from but few +islands. Concentration v. diffusion I soon began to think a very good +thing. + +'Well, so it is, and now I see great reason to be thankful. Why do we +not always give thanks whether we see the reason or not? + +'The vessel behaves admirably. I have written to Jem at length, and he +must be applied to for my account of her. Pray tell Mr. Keble all this. +I have a most valuable letter from Dr. Moberly, a great delight and +honour to me. It is very kind of him to write; and his view of Church +matters is really invaluable, no papers can give that which his letter +gives, and only he and a very few others could give an opinion which I +so greatly value. He speaks hopefully of Church matters in general, and +there are great reasons surely for thankfulness and hope. + +'Yet men such as he see far and wide, and to their great hearts no very +violent storms are caused by such things as sorely trouble others. He +sees the presumption and weakness, the vain transitory character of that +phase of modern thought which Bishop Colenso represents, and confidently +expects its speedy disappearance. But it does try the earnest, while it +makes shipwreck of the frivolous, and exercises the faith and humility +of all. Even a very poor scholar can see that his reasoning is most +inconclusive, and his reading superficial and inferences illogical. + +'God bless you, my dear Cousin. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +Perhaps this is the fittest place to give Mr. Tilly's description of the +Bishop in his voyages:-- + +'My acquaintance with the late Bishop Patteson began at Port Patteson, +in the Banks Islands, in 1861. He went with us in H.M.S. "Cordelia" to +the Solomon Islands, and after being together some two months we again +left him at Port Patteson on our way back to Auckland. During the time +he was on board the "Cordelia" it was arranged that I was to sail the +new vessel (the present "Southern Cross"), then about to be built by the +Messrs. Wigram, and the size, internal arrangements, &c. were told me +by him. He did not trouble me with much detail, referring me almost +altogether to Bishop Selwyn--and gave no written directions; the little +he said I carefully noted, observing that he spoke as with a thorough +knowledge of the subject (so far as I could be a judge) as to sea-going +qualities, capacity, &c., and to the best of my recollection, I found +that while the vessel was building these few directions were the main +ones to be kept in view. We entered Auckland harbour (from England) +early on the morning of February 28, 1863, and hove to off the North +Head, to wait for the Bishop coming off from Kohimarama before going up +the harbour. It had been blowing hard outside the night before from the +N.E., and there was still much wind, and some sea, even in the harbour. +I was much struck by his appearance and manner. Having to launch his +boat through a surf at Kohimarama beach, he had only on a shirt and +trousers, and was of course drenched. He stepped on board more like +a sailor than a clergyman, and almost immediately made one or two +sailor-like remarks about the vessel, as if he understood her qualities +as soon as he felt her in motion; and he was quite right in what he +said. + +'Before the building of the present vessel he had (I am told) navigated +at different times to and from the islands; of his capacity in this +respect, therefore, others who knew him there can speak. During the time +I remained in the "Southern Cross," he never in any way, to the best +of my recollection, interfered in the navigation or management of the +vessel; but I came to know--almost at once--that his general planning of +a voyage, knowledge of local courses and distances, the method by which +it could be done most quickly and advantageously, and the time required +to do it in, were thorough; and, in fact, I suppose, that almost without +knowing it, in all this I was his pupil, and to the last felt the +comfort of his advice or assistance, as, e.g., when looking out together +from aloft he has seen shoal water more quickly than myself, or has +decided whether certain doubtful appearances ahead were or were not +sufficient to make us alter our course, &c.; and always speaking as no +one who was what sailors call a landsman could have done. There was, of +course, always a great deal of boat work, much of it to be done with a +loaded boat in a seaway, requiring practical knowledge of such matters, +and I do not remember any accidents, such as staving a boat on a reef, +swamping, &c. in all those years; and he invariably brought the boat +out when it was easy for the vessel to pick her up, a matter not +sufficiently understood by many people. This was where Mr. Atkin's +usefulness was conspicuous. Mr. Atkin was a fearless boatman, and the +knowledge of boating he gained with us at sea was well supplemented when +in Auckland, where he had a boat of his own, which he managed in the +most thorough manner, Auckland being at times a rough place for boating. +He (Mr. Atkin) pulled a good and strong oar, and understood well how to +manage a boat under sail, much better in fact than many sailors (who are +not always distinguished in that respect). His energy, and the amount +of work he did himself were remarkable; his manner was quiet and +undemonstrative. He took all charge--it may in a manner be said--of +the boys on board the vessel, regulated everything concerning meals, +sleeping arrangements, &c., how much food had to be bought for them at +the different islands, what "trade" (i.e. hatchets, beads, &c.) it was +necessary to get before starting on a voyage, calculated how long our +supply of water would last, and in fact did so much on board as left the +master of the vessel little to do but navigate. With regard to the +loss the Mission has sustained in Mr. Atkin, speaking from my personal +knowledge of his invaluable services on a voyage, I can safely say +there is no one here now fitted to take his place. He had always capital +health at sea, and was rarely sea-sick, almost the only one of the party +who did not suffer in that way. And his loss will be the more felt now, +as those who used to help in the boat are now otherwise employed as +teachers, &c.; and as Norfolk Island is a bad place to learn boating, +there is great need of some one to take his place, for a good boat's +crew is a necessity in this work as may be readily understood when the +boat is away sometimes for the greater part of the day, pulling and +sailing from place to place. At those places where the Bishop landed +alone, Mr. Atkin gradually acquired the experience which made him so fit +to look after the safety of the boat and crew. In this manner he, next +to the Bishop, became best known to the natives throughout the islands, +and was always looked for; in fact, at many places they two were perhaps +only recognised or remembered. + +'Bishop Patteson was hardly what could be called a good sailor in +one sense of the word; rough weather did not suit him, and although I +believe seldom if ever actually sea-sick, he was now and then obliged to +lie down the greater part of the day, or during bad weather. He used to +read and write a great deal on board, and liked to take brisk walks +up and down the deck, talking to whoever happened to be there. He was +orderly and methodical on board, liked to see things in their places, +and was most simple in all his habits. He always brought a good stock of +books on board (which we all made use of), but very few clothes. + +'The living on board was most simple, much the same as the crew, +those in the cabin waiting on themselves (carrying no steward), until +gradually boys used to volunteer to do the washing up, &c. School with +all the boys was kept up when practicable; but the Bishop was always +sitting about among them on the deck, talking to one and another, and +having classes with him in the cabin. There were regular morning +and evening native and English prayers. The sermons on Sundays +were specially adapted for the sailors, and listened to with marked +attention, as indeed they well might be, being so earnest, simple, and +suitable. + +'Speaking for myself, I used to look forward to the voyage as the time +when I should have the privilege of being much with him for some months. +While on shore at Kohimarama I saw but comparatively little of him, +except at meals; but during the voyage I saw of course a great deal of +him, and learned much from him--learned to admire his unselfishness +and simplicity of mode of life, and to respect his earnestness and +abilities. His conversation on any subject was free and full; and those +on the few nights when quietly at anchor they could be enjoyed more, +will be long remembered. Of his manner to Melanesians, others will, no +doubt, say enough, but I may be excused for mentioning one scene that +very much struck me, and of which I am now the only (white) one left +who was present at it. We were paying a visit for the first time to an +island, and--the vessel being safe in the offing--the Bishop asked me if +I would go with them as he sometimes did on similar occasions. We pulled +in to a small inner islet among a group, where a number of (say 200) +natives were collected on the beach. Seeing they looked as if friendly, +he waded on shore without hesitation and joined them; the reception was +friendly, and after a time he walked with them along the beach, we in +the boat keeping near. After a while we took him into the boat again, +and lay off the beach a few yards to be clear of the throng, and be able +to get at the things he wanted to give them, they coming about the boat +in canoes; and this is the fact I wished to notice--viz., the look on +his face while the intercourse with them lasted. I was so struck with +it, quite involuntarily, for I had no idea of watching for anything of +the sort; but it was one of such extreme gentleness, and of yearning +towards them. I never saw that look on his face again, I suppose because +no similar scene ever occurred again when I happened to be with him. It +was enough in itself to evoke sympathy; and as we pulled away, though +the channel was narrow and winding, yet, as the water was deep, we +discussed the possibility of the schooner being brought in there at some +future time. I am quite aware of my inability to do justice to that side +of the Bishop's character, of which, owing to the position in which I +stood to him as master of the Mission vessel, I have been asked to say +a few words. There are others who know far better than myself what his +peculiar qualifications were. His conduct to me throughout the time +was marked by an unvarying confidence of manner and kindliness in our +everyday intercourse, until, gradually, I came to think I understood +the way in which he wished things done, and acted in his absence with +an assurance of doing his wishes, so far as I could, which I never +had attained to before with anyone else, and never shall again. And, +speaking still of my own experience, I can safely say the love we grew +to feel for him would draw such services from us (if such were needed) +as no fear of anyone's reproof or displeasure ever could do. And perhaps +this was the greatest privilege, or lesson, derived from our intercourse +with him, that "Love casteth out fear!" + +'Tiros. CAPEL TILLY. + + +'Auckland: October 28, 1872.' + +This letter to Mr. Derwent Coleridge follows up the subject of the +requisites for missionary work:-- + + +'"Southern Cross," Kohimarama: August 8, 1863. + +'My dear Cousin,--Thank you for a very kind letter which I found here on +my return from a short three months' voyage in Melanesia. You will, I am +sure, give me any help that you can, and a young man trained under your +eye would be surely of great use in this work. I must confess that I +distrust greatly the method adopted still in some places of sending out +men as catechists and missionaries, simply because they appear to be +zealous and anxious to engage in missionary work. A very few men, well +educated, who will really try to understand what heathenism is, and will +seek, by God's blessing, to work honestly without prejudice and without +an indiscriminating admiration for all their own national tastes +and modes of thought--a few such men, agreeing well together and +co-operating heartily, will probably be enabled to lay foundations for +an enduring work. I do not at all wish to apply hastily for men--for any +kind of men--to fill up posts that I shall indeed be thankful to occupy +with the right sort of men. I much prefer waiting till it may please +God to put it into the head of some two or three more men to join the +Mission--years hence it may be. We need only a few; I don't suppose that +ten years hence I should (if alive) ever wish to have more than six or +eight clergy; because their work will be the training of young natives +to be themselves teachers, and, I pray God, missionaries in due time. I +am so glad that you quite feel my wants, and sympathise with me. It is +difficult to give reasons--intelligible to you all at a distance--for +everything that I may say and do, because the circumstances of this +Mission are so very peculiar. But you know that I have always the +Primate to consult with as to principles; and I must, for want of a +better course, judge for myself as to the mode of working them out in +detail. + +'Two plans are open for obtaining a supply of young men. First, I may +receive some few ready-trained men, who nevertheless will have to +learn the particular lessons that only can be taught here on the spot. +Secondly, I may have youths of (say) sixteen to eighteen years of age, +sent out from such a school as Stephen Hawtrey's for example, who will +come with a good general knowledge of ordinary things, and receive a +special training from myself. I think, too, that New Zealand will now +and then supply an earnest, active-minded young fellow--who will be a +Greek or Latin scholar, yet may find a useful niche in which he may +be placed. At present I have means only to maintain one or two such +persons, and this because I am able to use the money my dear Father +left me for this purpose. Indeed, I have no other use for it. The money +received on public account would not keep the Mission in its present +state, and the expenditure ought to be increased by maintaining +more scholars and teachers. I don't forget what you say about the +philological part of my business. My difficulty is this, mainly: that it +is next to impossible to secure a few hours of continuous leisure. You +can have no idea of the amount of detail that I must attend to: seeing +everything almost, and having moreover not a few New Zealand matters +to employ my time, besides my Melanesian work. I have, I suppose, a +considerable amount of knowledge of Melanesian tongues, unknown by name +to anyone else perhaps; I quite feel that this ought not to die with +me, if anything should suddenly happen to me. I hoped this summer to +put together something; but now there is this Maori war, and an utterly +unsettled state of things. I may have to leave New Zealand with my +Melanesians almost any day. But I will do what I can, and as soon as I +can. Again: I find it so hard to put on paper what I know. I could talk +to a philologist, and I fancy that I could tell him much that would +interest him; but I never wrote anything beyond a report in my life, and +it is labour and grief to me to write them--I can't get on as a scribe +at all. Then, for two or three years I have not been able to visit some +islands whose language I know just enough of to see that they supply +a valuable link in the great Polynesian chain. One might almost get +together all the disjecta membra and reconstruct the original Polynesian +tongue. But chiefly, of course, my information about Melanesia may be +interesting. I have begun by getting together numerals in forty quite +unknown dialects. I will give, at all events, short skeleton grammars +too of some. But we have no time. Why, I have from five hundred to +two thousand or more carefully ascertained words in each of several +dialects, and of course these ought to be in the hands of you all +at home. I know that, and have known it for years; but how to do it, +without neglecting the daily necessary work? + +'Again: the real genius of the language, whatever it may be, is learned +when I can write down what I overhear boys saying when they are talking +with perfect freedom, and therefore idiomatically, about sharks, +cocoa-nuts, yams, &c. All translations must fail to represent a language +adequately, and most of all the translation into a heathen language of +religious expressions. They have not the ideas, and the language cannot +be fairly seen in the early attempts to make it do an unaccustomed work. + +'I remember more of you and my Aunt than you suppose. Even without the +photograph (which I am very glad to have--thank you for it), I could +have found you and Aunt out in a crowd. I can't say that I remember my +own generation so well. + +'Thank you again for writing so kindly. + +'Always, my dear Cousin, + +'Affectionately yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Missionary Bishop.' + + +The next mail carried the reply to Johanna's sympathy with the troubles +of the time of sickness in the early part of the year. + + +'August 28, 1863. + +'My dear Joan,--Very full of comfort to have all your kind loving +thoughts and words about our sickness. I know you thought and talked +much about it, and indeed it was a very heavy visitation viewed in one +way, though in another (and I really can't analyze the reason why) there +was not only peace and calmness, but eyen happiness. I suppose one +may be quite sure one is receiving mercies, and be thankful for them, +although one is all the time like a man in a dream. I can hardly think +of it all as real. But I am sure that God was very, very merciful to us. +There was no difficulty anywhere about the making known the death of the +lads to their relatives. I did not quite like the manner of the people +at Guadalcanar, from which island poor Porasi came; and I could not get +at the exact place from which Taman came, though I landed on the same +island north and south of the beach from which I brought him. + +'I do not at all think that any interruption of the work has been +occasioned by it. It was very unfortunate that I could not, last voyage, +make visits (and long ones too, as I had hoped) to many islands where +in the voyage before I had met with such remarkable tokens of good-will, +especially Leper's Island and Santa Cruz, but I think that if I can make +a regular good round next time, it may be all as well. I imagine that +in a great many islands it would now take a good deal to shake their +confidence in us. At the same time it was and is a matter of great +regret that I did not at once follow up the openings of the former year, +and by returning again to the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands (as in +the contemplated six months' voyage I intended to do), strengthen the +good feeling now existing. Moreover, many scholars who were here last +year would have come again had I revisited them and picked them up +again. But the Mota sickness, the weather, and Mr. Tilly's illness made +it more prudent to return by what is on the whole the shorter route, +i.e., to the west of New Caledonia. + +'You should have been with me when, as I jumped on shore at Mota, I took +Paraskloi's father by the hand. That dear lad I baptized as he lay in +his shroud in the chapel, when the whole weight of the trial seemed, +as it were, by a sudden revelation to manifest itself, and thoroughly +overwhelmed and unnerved me. I got through the service with the tears +streaming down my cheeks, and my voice half choked. He was his father's +pride, some seventeen years old. A girl ready chosen for him as his +wife. "It is all well, Bishop, he died well. I know you did all you +could, it is all well." He trembled all over, and his face was wet with +tears; but he seemed strangely drawn to us, and if he survives this +present epidemic, his son's death may be to him the means in God's hands +of an eternal life. Most touching, is it not, this entire confidence? + +'At Aruas, the small island close to Valua, from which dear Sosaman +came, it was just the same; rather different at the west side of +Vanua Lava, where they did not behave so well, and where (as I heard +afterwards) there had been some talk of shooting me; but nothing +occurred while I was on shore with them to alarm me. + +'At Ambrym I landed with Talsil (Joval, from the same place, had died), +a great crowd, all friendly, walked into the village and sat down, +speechifying by the principal man, a presentation to me of a small pig; +but such confidence that this man came back with me on board, where I +gave him presents. I much wished to land at Taman's place, but could not +do so, though I tried twice, without causing great delay. + +'I could have brought away any number of scholars from almost any of +these islands, probably from all. I have great reason to regret not +having revisited Ambrym and other islands, but I think that a year +hence, if alive, I may feel that it is better as it is. + +'These Norfolk Islanders, four of them, I take as my children, for I +can't fairly charge them (except Edwin Nobbs) to the Mission, and I wish +to give Norfolk Island some help, as it is really, though not by letters +patent, part of my charge. Edwin Nobbs is a thoroughly good fellow, and +Fisher Young is coming on very well. + +'Now, my dearest Joan, good-bye. My hats will come no doubt in good +time, my present chapeau is very seedy, very limp and crooked and +battered; as near green as black almost--a very good advertisement +of the poverty of the Mission. But if I go about picking up gold +in Australia, I shall come out in silk cassock and all the +paraphernalia--very episcopal indeed! + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Herewith was a letter for Dr. Moberly:-- + +'St. Andrew's College, Kohimarama: August 29, 1863. 'My dear Dr. +Moberly,--Thank you for a very kind and most interesting letter written +in May. I know that you can with difficulty find time to write at all, +and thank you all the more. If you knew the real value to us of such +letters as you have now sent, containing your impressions and opinions +of things in general, men, books, &c., you would be well rewarded for +your trouble, I assure you. To myself, I must say to you, such letters +are invaluable; they are a real help to me, not only in that they supply +information from a very good authority on many questions which I much +desire to understand, but even more because I rise up or kneel down +after reading them, and think to myself, "how little such men who so +think of me really know me; how different I ought to be," and then it is +another help to me to try and become by God's grace less unlike what you +take me to be. Indeed, you must forgive me for writing thus freely. I +live very much alone as far as persons of the same language, modes of +thought, &c., are concerned. I see but little (strange as it may seem to +you) even of my dear Primate. We are by land four or five miles apart, +and meet perhaps once or twice a month for a few minutes to transact +some necessary business. His time is, of course, fully occupied; and +I never leave this place, very seldom even this little quadrangle, and +when other work does not need immediate attention (a state of things at +which I have not arrived as yet), there are always a dozen new languages +to be taken up, translations to be made, &c. So that when I read +a letter which is full of just such matters as I think much of, I +naturally long to talk on paper freely with the writer. Were I in +England, I know scarcely any place to which I would go sooner than +Winchester, Hursley, Otterbourne, and then I should doubtless talk as +now I write freely. All that you write of the state of mind generally in +England on religious questions is most deeply interesting. What a matter +of thankfulness that you can say, "With all the sins and shortcomings +that are amongst us, there is an unmistakeable spreading of devotion and +the wish to serve God rightly on the part of very many." + +'Then, the Church preferments have lately been good; Bishop Ellicott, +one of your four coadjutors in the revision of the A. V., especially. +I know some part of his Commentary, and am very glad to find that you +speak so very highly of it. What a contrast to be sure between such work +as his and Jowett's and Stanley's! Jowett actually avows a return to +the old exploded theory of the inaccurate use of language in the +Greek Testament. This must make men distrust him sooner or later as an +interpreter of Scripture. I thank you heartily for your offer of sending +me Bishop Ellicott's Commentary, but I hardly like you to send me so +valuable a gift. What if you substitute for it a copy of what you have +written yourself, not less valuable to me, and less expensive to you? I +hardly like to write to ask favours of such people as Bishop Ellicott; +I mean I have no right to do so; yet I almost thought of asking him to +send a copy of his Commentaries to us for our library. I have ventured +to write to Dean Trench: and I am pretty sure that Mr. Keble will send +me his "Life of Bishop Wilson." But pray act as you wish. I am very +grateful to you for thinking of it at all; and all such books whether +yours or his will be used and valued, I can undertake to say. My good +friend Kidding knows that I was, alas! no scholar at Eton or Oxford. I +have sought to remedy this in some measure as far as the Greek Testament +is concerned, and there are some excellent books which help one much; +yet I can never make myself a good scholar, I fear; one among many +penalties I pay for want of real industry in old days. + +'Miss Yonge will hear from my sisters, and you from her, I have no +doubt, my very scanty account of a very uninteresting voyage. I see +everywhere signs of a change really extraordinary in the last few years. +I can tell no stories of sudden conversions, striking effects, &c. But +I know that in twenty, thirty, perhaps forty places, where a year or two +ago no white man could land without some little uncertainty as to his +reception, I can feel confident now of meeting with friends; I can walk +inland--a thing never dreamt of in old days, sleep ashore, put myself +entirely into their hands, and meet with a return of the confidence on +their part. We have, too, more dialects, talk or find interpreters in +more places; our object in coming to them is more generally known--and +in Mota, and two or three other small islands of the Banks group, there +is almost a system of instruction at work. The last voyage was a failure +in that I could not visit many islands, nor revisit some that I longed +to land at for the second or third time. But I don't anticipate any +difficulty in reestablishing (D. V.) all the old familiarity before +long. No doubt it is all, humanly speaking, hazardous where so much +seems to depend upon the personal acquaintance with the people. + +'By-and-by I hope to have some young man of character and ability enough +to allow of his being regarded as my probable successor, who may always +go with me--not stop on any one island--but learn the kind of work I +have to do; then, when I no longer can do the work, it will be taken up +by a man already known to the various islanders. + +'I have not touched on many points in your letter. Again, thank you for +it: it is very kind of you to write. I must send a line to Dr. Eidding. + +'I am, my dear Dr. Moberly, + +'Yours very truly, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Bishop.' + + +The next of the closely written sheets that every mail carried was +chiefly occupied with the Maori war and apostasy, on which this is not +the place to enter, until the point where more personal reflections +begin. + +'How all this makes me ponder about my own special work I need not say. +There is not the complication of an English colony, it is true; that +makes a great difference. + +'My own feeling is that one should teach positive truth, the plain +message of Christianity, not attacking prejudices. Conviction as it +finds its way into the heart by the truth recommending itself will do +the work of casting out the old habits. I do not mean to say that the +devil is not in a special way at work to deceive people to follow lying +delusions. But all error is a perversion of truth; it has its existence +negatively only, as being a negation of truth. But God is truth, and +therefore Truth is ----. Now this is practically to be put, it seems to +me, in this way. Error exists in the mind of man, whom God has created, +as a perversion of truth; his faculties are constructed to apprehend +and rest satisfied with truth. But his faculties are corrupted, and +the devil supplies a false caricature of truth, and deceives him to +apprehend and rest satisfied with a lie. But inasmuch as his nature, +though damaged, is not wholly ruined by the Fall, therefore it is still +not only possible for him to recognise positive truth when presented +to him, but he will never rest satisfied with anything else--he will be +restless and uneasy till he has found it. + +'It is because I feel that it is more natural to man to follow truth +than error ("natural" being understood to mean correspondent to the +true nature) that I believe the right thing is to address oneself to +the principle in a man which can and will recognise truth. Truth +when recognised expels error. But why attack error without positively +inculcating truth? I hope it does not bore you for me to write all this. +But I wish you to learn all that may explain my way of dealing with +these questions.' + +The next day, October 25, a headache gives the Bishop a reason for +indulging himself, while waiting for his pupils, in calling up and +setting down a realisation of his sisters' new home at St. Mary Church, +where for the time he seems to go and live with them, so vividly does he +represent the place to himself. His first return to his own affairs is +a vision that once more shows his unappeased craving for all appliances +'for glory and for beauty' in the worship of God. + +'I may some day have a connection with Mary Church marbles. Sometimes +I have a vision--but I must live twenty years to see more than a +vision--of a small but exceedingly beautiful Gothic chapel, rich inside +with marbles and stained glass and carved stalls and encaustic tiles and +brass screen work. I have a feeling that a certain use of really good +ornaments may be desirable, and being on a very small scale it might be +possible to make a very perfect thing some day. There is no notion of my +indulging such a thought. It may come some day, and most probably long +after I am dead and gone. It would be very foolish to spend money upon +more necessary things than a beautiful chapel at present, when in fact +I barely pay my way at all. And yet a really noble church is a wonderful +instrument of education, if we think only of the lower way of regarding +it. Well, you have a grand church, and it is pleasant to think of dear +dear Father having laid the stone, and of Cousin George. What would +he say now to Convocation and Synods, and the rapid progress of the +organisation of the Church? + +'I think that what you say, Fan, about my overvaluing the world's +opinion is very true. Self-consciousness and a very foolish sinful +vanity always have been and are great sources of trial to me. How often +I have longed for that simplicity and truthfulness of character that +we saw so beautifully exemplified in our dear Father! How often I think +that it is very good for me that I am so wanting in all personal gifts! +I should be intolerable! I tell you this, not to foster such feelings by +talking of them, but because we wish to know and be known to each +other as we are. It is a very easy thing to be a popular preacher here, +perhaps anywhere. You know that I never write a really good sermon, but +I carry off platitudes with a sort of earnest delivery, tolerably clear +voice, and with all the prestige of being a self-devoted Missionary +Bishop. Bless their hearts! if they could see me sipping a delicious +cup of coffee, with some delightful book by my side, and some of my lads +sitting with me, all of them really loving one, and glad to do anything +for one! + +'A less self-conscious person could do what I can hardly do without +danger. I see my name in a book or paper, and then comes at once a +struggle against some craving after praise. I think I know the fault, +but I don't say I struggle against it as I ought to do. It is very hard, +therefore, for me to write naturally about work in which I am myself +engaged. But I feel that a truthful account of what we see and hear +ought to be given, and yet I never speak about the Mission without +feeling that I have somehow conveyed a false impression.' + + +Again there was a time of sickness. The weather alternated between keen +cutting winds and stifling heat; and there was much illness among the +colonists, as well as a recurrence of the dreadful disease of the former +year among the scholars of St. Andrew's, though less severe, and one +boy died after fourteen days' sickness, while two pulled through with +difficulty. In the midst came the Ember Week, when Mr. Palmer was +ordained Deacon; and then the Bishop collapsed under ague, and spent the +morning of Christmas Day in bed, but was able to get up and move into +chapel for the celebration, and afterwards to go into hall and see the +scholars eat their Christmas dinner. + +In the letter he wrote in the latter part of the day, he confessed that +'he felt older and less springy;' though, as he added, there was +good reason for it in the heavy strain that there had been upon him +throughout the year, though his native, scholars were all that he could +desire. + +A few days' holiday and change at the Primate's brought back spirits and +strength; but the question whether under any circumstances New Zealand +would be a safe residence for the great body of Melanesian scholars +was becoming doubtful, and it seemed well to consider of some other +locality. Besides, it was felt to be due to the supporters of the +Mission in Australia to tell them personally how great had been the +progress made since 1855; and, accordingly, on one of the first days of +February, Bishop Patteson embarked in a mail steamer for Sydney, but +he was obliged to leave six of his lads in a very anxious state with +a recurrence of dysentery. However, the Governor, Sir George Grey, had +lent his place on the island of Kawau, thirty miles north of Auckland, +to the party, so that there was good hope that change would restore the +sick. + +'Fancy me,' says the Journal of February 6, 'on board a screw steamer, +252 feet long, with the best double cabin on board for my own single +use, the manager of the company being anxious to show me every +attention, eating away at all sorts of made dishes, puddings, &c., and +lounging about just as I please on soft red velvet sofas and cushions.' + +The rest and good living were the restorative he needed; and, in spite +of anxiety about the patients at home, he enjoyed and profited by it. + +On February 6, Sydney was reached, but the Bishop sailed on at once for +his farthest point. At Melbourne, on the 11th, he quaintly declares, +after describing his kind reception: 'I feel at present a stranger among +strangers; no new thing to me, especially if they are black, and begin +by offering me cocoa-nut instead of bread and butter. This place +looks too large for comfort--like a section of London, busy, bustling, +money-making. There are warm hearts somewhere amid the great stores and +banks and shops, I dare say. But you know it feels a little strange, +and especially as I think it not unlikely that a regular hearty Church +feeling may not be the rule of the place. Still I am less shy than I +was, and with real gentlemen feel no difficulty in discussing points on +which we differ. + +It is the vulgar uneducated fellow that beats me. The Melanesians, laugh +as you may at it, are naturally gentlemanly and courteous and well-bred. +I never saw a "gent" in Melanesia, though not a few downright savages. I +vastly prefer the savage.' + +Melbourne was, however, to be taken on the return; and he went on to +Adelaide, where Bishop Short and the clergy met him at the port, and he +was welcomed most heartily. The Diocesan Synod assembled to greet him, +and presented an address; and there were daily services and meetings, +when great interest was excited, and tangibly proved by the raising of +about L250. He was perfectly astonished at the beauty and fertility +of the place, and the exceeding luxuriance of the fruit. One bunch +of grapes had been known to weigh fourteen pounds. As to the style of +living with all ordinary English comforts and attendance, he says:--'I +feel almost like a fish out of water, and yet I can't help enjoying it. +One very easily resumes old luxurious habits, and yet the thought of +my dear boys, sick as I fear some must be, helps to keep me in a sober +state of mind.' + +On St. Matthew's Day he assisted at an Ordination: and on the 27th +returned to Melbourne for three weeks, and thence to Sydney. His time +was so taken up that his letters are far more scanty and hurried than +usual. + +'I have been running no little risk of being spoilt, and I don't say +that I have come off uninjured. In Melbourne I was told by the Dean (the +Bishop is in England) and by Judge Pohlman (an excellent good man) +that they remembered no occasion during the twenty-two years of sojourn +(before Melbourne was more than a village) when so much interest had +been shown in Christian work, especially Mission work. This is a thing +to be very thankful for. I felt it my duty to speak strongly to them on +their own duties, first to Aborigines, secondly to Chinese (of whom some +40,000 live in Victoria), thirdly to Melanesians. I did not aim only at +getting money for Melanesia; I took much higher ground than that. But +the absence of the ordinary nonsense about startling conversions, rapid +results, &c., and the matter-of-fact unsentimental way of stating the +facts of heathenism, and the way to act upon it, did, no doubt, produce +a very remarkable effect. + +'I need not tell you that I did pray for strength to make good use +of such unexpected and very unusual opportunities. Crowded meetings, +nothing before like it in Melbourne or the provinces. I did not feel +nervous, much to my surprise; I really wonder at it, I had dreaded it +much. + +'It was a sight to see St. George's Hall crowded, children sitting on +the floor, platform, anywhere, and very many adults (about 500) besides. +Now you know my old vanity. Thank God, I don't think it followed me very +much here. There was a strong sense of a grand opportunity, and the need +of grace to use it.' + +The enthusiasm at Victoria resulted in 350 pounds, and pledges of future +assistance; and at Sydney there was the like grand meeting, the like +address, and hearty response; and the Churches of Australia pledged +themselves to bear the annual expenses of the voyages of the 'Southern +Cross.' A number of young clerks and officials, too, united in an +arrangement by which she could be insured, high as was the needful rate. + +The preaching and speeches produced an immense feeling, and the after +review of the expedition is thus recorded:-- + +'As for my sermons in Australia, I found to my surprise that every +minute was so occupied that I could not make time to write; and as for +doing so in New Zealand before I started, why, I systematized and put +into the printer's hands, in about four months, grammars, &c., more or +less complete, of seventeen languages, working up eight or ten more in +MS.! + +'I had to preach extempore for the most part: I did not at all like it, +but what could I do? Sermons and speeches followed like hail--at least +one, sometimes two on week-days, and three on Sundays. I preached on +such points as I had often talked out with the Primate and Sir William, +and illustrated principles by an occasional statement of facts drawn +from missionary experience. + +'Now, old Fan, as you know, the misery of self-consciousness and conceit +clings to me. I can't, as dear old father could, tell you what actually +occurred without doing myself harm in the telling of it. + +'It pleased God to make me able to say all through what I think it was +good for people to hear. All meetings and services (with a few, very few +exceptions, from heavy rains, &c.) were crowded. I could not in a few +minutes speak with any degree of completeness on subjects which for +years had occupied my thoughts: I was generally about an hour and +a half, occasionally longer--I tried to be shorter. But people were +attentive and interested all through. At Melbourne, it was said that +1,500 children (at a meeting for them) were present, and 500 adults, +including many of the most educated people. All, children included, were +as still as mice for an hour and a half, except occasional cheers. + +'But generally there was little excitement. I did not, as you can +suppose, take the sensation line; spoke very rapidly, for I had no time +to spare--but clearly and quietly, sometimes gravely, sometimes with +exceeding earnestness, and exposed sophistries and fallacies and errors +about the incapacity of the black races, &c. There were times when I +lost all sense of nervousness and self, and only wished that 10,000 +people had been present, for I felt that I was speaking out, face to +face, plain simple words of truth. + +'The effect at the time was no doubt very remarkable. The Dean of +Melbourne, e.g., said publicly that no such earnestness in religious, +matters had ever been exhibited there. The plan of Mission work was +simple, practicable, commended itself to hard-headed men of business. +Many came to hear who had been disgusted with the usual sentimentalism +and twaddle, the absence of knowledge of human nature, the amount of +conventional prejudice, &c. They were induced to come by friends who +represented that this was something quite different, and these men +went away convinced in many cases, seconding resolutions and paying +subscriptions. + +'I said what was true, that I was the mouthpiece of the Bishop of New +Zealand; that I could speak freely of the plan of the Mission, for it +was not my plan, &c. How I was carried through it all, I can't say. I +was unusually well, looked and felt bright, and really after a while +enjoyed it, though I was always glad when my share in the speechifying +was over. Yet I did feel it a blessing, and a privilege, to stand up +there and speak out; and I did speak out, and told them their plain +duties, not appealing to feelings, but aiming at convincing the +judgment. I told 1,500 people in church at Sydney, "I speak as to wise +men, judge ye what I say." Do you know, Fan, I almost feel that if I +live a few years I ought to write a book, unless I can get the Primate +to do it? So much that is self-evident to us, I now see to be quite +unknown to many good educated men. I don't mean a silly book, but a very +simple statement of general principles of Christian work, showing the +mode that must be adopted in dealing with men as partakers of a +common nature, coupled with the many modifications and adaptations to +circumstances which equally require special gifts of discernment and +wisdom from on high. Then occasional narratives, by way of illustration, +to clench the statement of principles, might be introduced; but I can't +write, what I might write if I chose, folios of mere events without +deducing from them some maxims for Christian practice.' + +The impression produced was deep and lasting at all the Australian +capitals, including Brisbane. + +A plan was even set on foot for transferring a part of the Melanesian +school to a little island not far from the coast of Queensland, in a +much warmer climate than Kohimarama, where it was thought Australian +natives might be gathered in. + +Here is the description of the place, written a day or two after the +return to New Zealand:-- + + +'St. Andrew's: April 27, 1864. + +'My dear Cousin,--I returned on the 24th from Australia. I visited the +dioceses of Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. Everywhere I met +with great encouragement; and indeed, I thank God that (as I had hoped) +the special work of the Mission became the means of exciting +unusual interest in the work of the Church generally. It was a great +opportunity, a great privilege in the crowded meetings to tell people +face to face their duties, to stand up as the apologist of the despised +Australian black, and the Chinese gold-digger, and the Melanesian +islander. + +'All the Primate had taught me--what heathenism is, how to deal with +it, the simple truisms about the "common sin, common redemption," the +capacity latent in every man, because he is a man, and not a fallen +angel nor a brute beast, the many conventional errors on Mission +(rather) ministerial work--many, many things I spoke of very fully and +frequently. I felt it was a great responsibility. How strange that I +forgot all my nervous dread, and only wished there could be thousands +more present, for I knew that I was speaking words of truth, of hope, +and love; and God did mercifully bless much that He enabled, me to say, +and men's hearts were struck within them, though, indeed, I made no +effort to excite them. + +'Much may result from it. We may have a branch school on the S.W. +of Curtis Island, on the east coast of Queensland, healthy, watered, +wooded, with anchorage, about 25 deg. S. latitude, a fair wind to and from +some of the islands; to which place I could rapidly carry away sick +persons. + +'There I could convey two hundred or more scholars, in the same time +required to bring sixty to New Zealand; there yams can be grown; there +it may be God's will that a work may be commenced at length among the +remnant that is left of the Australian blacks. The latter consideration +is very strongly urged upon me by the united voice of the Australian +Churches, by none more strongly than by the Bishop of Sydney. I dare to +hope that the communion of the Australian and New Zealand Churches will +be much strengthened by the Mission as a link. What blessings, what +mercies! + +'This will not involve an abandonment of St Andrew's, but the work must +expand. I think Australia will supply near 1,000 pounds a year, perhaps +more before long. + +'To teach me that all is in His hands, we have again had a visitation +from dysentery. It has been very prevalent everywhere, no medical men +remember such a season. We have lost from consumption two, and from +dysentery six this year; in fourteen months not less than fourteen: more +than in all the other years put together. Marvellous to relate, all our +old baptized and confirmed scholars are spared to us. Good-bye, and God +ever bless and keep you. + +'Your affectionate cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON, Bishop.' + + +One of these deaths was that of Kareambat, the little New Caledonian +confided to the Bishop of New Zealand by poor Basset. He had been +christened on the previous Epiphany. + +No doubt this grief on coming home increased the effect of this year of +trial. Indeed even on the voyage there had been this admission, 'Somehow +I don't feel right with all this holiday; I have worked really very +hard, but "change of work is the best holiday." I don't feel springy. I +am not so young as I was, that's the truth of it, and this life is not +likely to be a long one. Yet when used up for this work, absence of +continual anxiety and more opportunity of relaxation may carry a man on +without his being wholly useless!' + +The Maori war was a constant grief and anxiety to all the friends on +shore, and there was thus evidently much less elasticity left to meet +the great shock that was preparing for the voyagers in the expedition of +1864. Mr. Codrington was not of the party, having been obliged to go to +England to decide whether it was possible to give himself wholly to the +Mission; and the staff therefore consisted of Mr. Pritt, Mr. Kerr, and +Mr. Palmer, with Mr. Joseph Atkin, whose journal his family have kindly +put at my disposal. + +The endeavour was to start after the Ascension Day Communion, but things +were not forward enough. May was not, however, very far advanced before +the 'Southern Cross' was at sea. + +On May 17, Norfolk Island was visited, and Edwin Nobbs and Fisher Young +had what proved to be their last sight, of their home and friends. The +plan was to go on to Nengone and Erromango, take up the stores sent to +the latter place from Sydney, drop the two clergymen at Mota, and after +a stay there, go to the New Hebrides, and then take up the party, and if +possible leave them to make experiment of Curtis Island, while going to +those Santa Cruz islands for which he always seems to have had such a +yearning. + +'I feel as usual,' he finishes the letter sent from Norfolk Island, +'that no one can tell what may be the issue of such voyages. I pray and +trust that God will mercifully reveal to me "what I ought to do, and +give me grace and power to fulfil the same." + +'I have now been for some time out of the way of this kind of work, but +I hope that all may be safely ordered for us. It is all in His hands; +and you all feel, as I try to do, that there should be no cause for +anxiety or trouble. + +'Yet there are moments when one has such an overwhelming sense of one's +sins and negligences provoking God to chastise one. I know that His +merciful intention towards men must be accomplished, and on the whole +I rest thankfully in that, and feel that He will not suffer my utter +unworthiness to hinder His work of love and goodness.' + +At Mota, Mr. Atkin's journal shows to what work a real helper needed to +be trained:-- + +'The Mission-house had lost its roof in a gale of wind. The epidemic +that was raging last year did not seem to have continued long after with +such violence; some more of the people were dead, but not very many. +We took off all the Mota boys, and things that were wanted in three +boat-loads, the last time leaving the Bishop. There was, fortunately, +very little surf, and we got nothing wet, but as the tide was high, we +had to carry the things over the coral reefs with the water a little +above our knees. + +'About an hour later we dropped anchor at Vanua Lava. On Saturday +morning I went ashore with the boat, and got water for washing and sand +for scrubbing decks, and several tons of taro and yams discharged on +board the vessel. Then made another trip, left all the boys on shore +for a holiday, and took off twelve or fourteen cwt. of yams, taro, and +cocoa-nuts. After dinner and washing up, went to fetch boys back. Where +we bought the yams there was such a surf breaking that we could not haul +the boat on the beach, and we had to wade and carry them out. After we +got on board, we had a bathe. Two of the Solomon Islanders distinguished +themselves by jumping off the fore-yard, and diving under the ship. +Mr. Tilly and the mates had been stowing, and the rest of us had been +getting yams all day, and if our friends could have seen us then, +haggard-looking and dirty, singing choruses to nigger melodies, how +shocked they would have been! + +'Next Thursday went across to Mota, took the Bishop on board, and sailed +south as fast as possible. + +'Sunday morning we were at the entrance of the passage between Ambrym +and Mallicolo, without a breath of wind. We had service at 10 A.M.; and +in the afternoon, psalms and hymns and chants in the cabin, the Bishop +doing most of the singing. + +'June 6th.--On Monday morning we landed at the old place at Tariko. We +began to buy some yams. The Bishop and William Pasvorang went ashore, +and the rest of us stayed in the boat, keeping her afloat and off +the reefs. Unfortunately the place where we landed was neutral ground +between two tribes, who both brought yams to the place to sell. One +party said another was getting too many hatchets, and two or three drew +off and began shooting at the others. One man stood behind the Bishop, +a few feet from him, and fired away in the crowd with a will. The +consternation and alarm of both parties were very ludicrous. Some of +each set were standing round the boat, armed with bows and arrows, but +they were so frightened that they never seemed to think of using them, +but ran off as hard as they could scamper to the shallow water, looking +over their shoulders to see if the enemies' arrows were after them. One +arrow was fired at the Bishop from the shore, and one hit the boat just +as we pushed off. + +'The Bishop himself says of this fray:--"I was in the middle, one man +only remained by me, crouching under the lee of the branch of the tree, +and shooting away from thence within a yard of me. I did not like to +leave the steel-yard, and I had to detach it from the rope with which +it was tied to the tree, and the basket too was half full of yams and +heavy, so that it was some time before I got away, and walked down the +beach, and waded to the boat, shooting going on all round at the time; +no one shooting at me, yet as they shot on both sides of me at each +other, I was thankful to get well out of it. I thought of him who +preserves from 'the arrow that flieth by day,' as He has so mercifully +preserved so many of us from 'the sickness.'" Now don't go and let this +little affair be printed.' + +At Parama there was a friendly landing. At Sopevi Mr. Atkin says: 'We +could not find the landing place where the Bishop two years ago found +several people. We saw three or four on the shore. They were just the +same colour as the dust from the volcano. What a wretched state they +must be in! If they go to the neighbouring-isles they will be killed as +enemies, and if they stay at home they are constantly suffocated by +the ashes, which seemed to have fallen lately to the depth of more than +afoot.' + +At Mallicolo a landing place was found, and an acquaintance begun +by means of gifts of calico. At Leper's Island St. Barnabas Day was +celebrated by bringing off two boys, but here again was peril. The +Bishop writes:-- + +'The people, though constantly fighting, and cannibals and the rest of +it, are to me very attractive, light-coloured, and some very handsome. +As I sat on the beach with a crowd about me, most of them suddenly +jumped up and ran off. Turning my head I saw a man (from the boat they +saw two men) a few yards from me, corning to me with club uplifted. I +remained sitting, and held out a few fish-hooks to him, but one or two +men jumped up and seizing him by the waist forced him off. After a few +minutes (lest they should think I was suspicious of them), I went back +to the boat. I found out from the two young men who went away with +me from another place, just what I expected to hear, viz. that a poor +fellow called Moliteum was shot dead two months ago by a trader for +stealing a bit of calico. The wonder was, not that they wanted to avenge +the death of their kinsman, but that the others should have prevented +it. How could they possibly know that I was not one of the wicked +set? Yet they did discriminate; and here again, always by the merciful +Providence of God, the plan of going among the people unarmed and +unsuspiciously has been seen to disarm their mistrust and to make them +regard me as a friend.' + +Curtis Island was inspected, but there was no possibility of leaving a +party to make experiment on it; and then the 'Southern Cross' sailed for +the Santa Cruz cluster, that group whose Spanish name was so remarkable +a foreboding of what they were destined to become to that small party +of Christian explorers. Young Atkin made no entry in his diary of those +days, and could never bear to speak of them; and yet, from that time +forward, his mind was fully made up to cast in his lot with the Mission. + +It was on August 15 that the first disaster at these islands took +place. Not till the 27th could the Bishop--on his sister Fanny's +birthday--begin a letter to her, cheering himself most touchingly with +the thought of the peace at home, and then he broke off half way, and +could not continue for some days:-- + +'My dearest Fan,--You remember the old happy anniversaries of your +birthday--the Feniton party--the assembly of relations--the regular +year's festivity. + +'No doubt this anniversary brings as much true happiness, the assurance +of a more abiding joy, the consciousness of deeper and truer sympathy. +You are, I hope, to pass the day cheerfully and brightly with perhaps +---- and ---- about you.... Anyhow, I shall think of you as possibly all +together, the remnant of the old family gathering, on a calm autumn day, +with lovely South Devon scenery around you. + +'The day comes to me in the midst of one of the deepest sorrows I have +ever known--perhaps I have never felt such sorrow...perhaps I have +never been so mercifully supported under it. It is a good and profitable +sorrow I trust for me: it has made so much in me reveal itself as +hollow, worldly, selfish, vainglorious. It has, I hope, helped to +strip away the veil, and may be by God's blessing the beginning of more +earnest life-long repentance and preparation for death. + +'On August 15 I was at Santa Cruz. You know that I had a very remarkable +day there three years ago. I felt very anxious to renew acquaintance +with the people, who are very numerous and strong. + +'I went off in the boat with Atkin (twenty), Pearce (twenty-three or +twenty-four years old), Edwin Nobbs, Fisher Young, and Hunt Christian, +the last three Norfolk Islanders. Atkin, Edwin and Fisher have been with +me for two or three years--all young fellows of great promise, Fisher +perhaps the dearest of all to me, about eighteen, and oh! so good, so +thoroughly truthful, conscientious, and unselfish! + +'I landed at two places among many people, and after a while came back +as usual to the boat. All seemed pleasant and hopeful. At the third +place I landed amidst a great crowd, waded over the broad reef +(partially uncovered at low water), went into a house, sat down for some +time, then returned among a great crowd to the boat and got into it. I +had some difficulty in detaching the hands of some men swimming in the +water. + +'Well, when the boat was about fifteen yards from the reef, on +which crowds were standing, they began (why I know not) to shoot at +us.--(Another letter adds) 300 or 400 people on the reef, and five or +six canoes being round us, they began to shoot at us.--I had not shipped +the rudder, so I held it up, hoping it might shield off any arrows that +came straight, the boat being end on, and the stern, having been backed +into the reef, was nearest to them. + +'When I looked round after a minute, providentially indeed, for the +boat was being pulled right into a small bay on the reef, and would have +grounded, I saw Pearce lying between the thwarts, with the long shaft +of an arrow in his chest, Edwin Nobbs with an arrow as it seemed in his +left eye, many arrows flying close to us from many quarters. Suddenly +Fisher Young, pulling the stroke oar, gave a faint scream; he was shot +through the left wrist. Not a word was spoken, only my "Pull! port +oars, pull on steadily." Once dear Edwin, with the fragment of the +arrow sticking in his cheek, and the blood streaming down, called out, +thinking even then more of me than of himself, "Look out, sir! close to +you!" But indeed, on all sides they were close to us! + +'How we any of us escaped I can't tell; Fisher and Edward pulled on, +Atkin had taken Pearce's oar, Hunt pulled the fourth oar. By God's mercy +no one else was hit, but the canoes chased us to the schooner. In about +twenty minutes we were on board, the people in the canoes round the +vessel seeing the wounded paddled off as hard as they could, expecting +of course that we should take vengeance on them. But I don't at all +think that they were cognisant of the attack on shore.' + + +Several letters were written about this adventure; but I have thought +it better to put them together, every word being Bishop Patteson's own, +because such a scene is better realised thus than by reading several +descriptions for the most part identical. What a scene it is! The +palm-clad island, the reef and sea full of the blacks, the storm of long +arrows through the air, the four youths pulling bravely and steadily, +and their Bishop standing over them, trying to ward off the blows with +the rudder, and gazing with the deep eyes and steadfast smile that had +caused many a weapon to fall harmless! + +Pearce, it should be observed, was a volunteer for the Mission then on a +trial-trip. + +There was an even more trying time to come on board. The Bishop +continues:-- + +'I drew out the arrow from Pearce's chest: a slanting wound not going +in very deep, running under the skin, yet of apparently almost fatal +character to an ignorant person like myself; Five inches were actually +inside him. The arrow struck him almost in the centre of the chest and +in the direction of the right breast. There was no effusion of blood, +he breathed with great difficulty, groaning and making a kind of hollow +sound, was perfectly composed, gave me directions and messages in case +of his death. I put on a poultice and bandage, and leaving him in charge +of some one, went to Fisher. The wrist was shot through, but the upper +part of the arrow broken off and deep down; bleeding profuse, of which +I was glad; I cut deeply, though fearing much to cut an artery, but I +could not extract the wooden arrow-head. At length getting a firm hold +of the projecting point of the arrow on the lower side of his wrist, +I pulled it through: it came out clean. The pain was very great, he +trembled and shivered: we gave him brandy, and he recovered. I poulticed +the wound and went to Edwin. Atkin had got out the splinter from his +wound; the arrow went in near the eye and came out by the cheek-bone: +it was well syringed, and the flow of blood had been copious from the +first. The arrows were not bone-headed, and not poisoned, but I well +knew that lock-jaw was to be dreaded. Edwin's was not much more than +a flesh wound. Fisher's being in the wrist, frightened me more: their +patience and quiet composure and calm resignation were indeed a strength +and comfort to us all. + +'This was on Monday, August 15. All seemed doing well for a day or two, +I kept on poultices, gave light nourishing food, &c. But on Saturday +morning Fisher said to me, "I can't make out what makes my jaws feel so +stiff." + +'Then my heart sank down within me, and I prayed earnestly, earnestly +to God. I talked to the dear dear lad of his danger, night and day we +prayed and read. A dear guileless spirit indeed. I never saw in so young +a person such a thorough conscientiousness as for two years I witnessed +in his daily life, and I had long not only loved but respected him. + +'We had calm weather and could not get on. By Saturday the jaws were +tight-locked. Then more intense grew the pain, the agony, the whole body +rigid like a bar of iron! Oh! how I blessed God who carried me through +that day and night. How good he was in his very agonies, in his fearful +spasms, thanking God, praying, pressing my hand when I prayed and +comforted him with holy words of Scripture. None but a well-disciplined, +humble, simple Christian could so have borne his sufferings: the habit +of obedience and faith and patience; the childlike unhesitating trust in +God's love and fatherly care, supported him now. He never for a moment +lost his hold upon God. What a lesson it was! it calmed us all. It +almost awed me to see in so young a lad so great an instance of God's +infinite power, so great a work of good perfected in one young enough to +have been confirmed by me. + +'At 1 A.M. (Monday) I moved from his side to my couch, only three yards +off. Of course we were all (I need not say) in the after cabin. He said +faintly, "Kiss me. I am very glad that I was doing my duty. Tell my +father that I was in the path of duty, and he will be so glad. Poor +Santa Cruz people!" Ah! my dear boy, you will do more for their +conversion by your death than ever we shall by our lives. And as I lay +down almost convulsed with sobs, though not audible, he said (so Mr. +Tilly afterwards told me), "Poor Bishop!" How full his heart was of love +and peace, and thoughts of heaven. "Oh! what love," he said. The last +night when I left him for an hour or two at 1 A.M. only to lie down in +my clothes by his side, he said faintly (his body being then rigid as +a bar of iron), "Kiss me, Bishop." At 4 A.M. he started as if from a +trance; he had been wandering a good deal, but all his words even +then were of things pure and holy. His eyes met mine, and I saw the +consciousness gradually coming back into them. "They never stop singing +there, sir, do they?"--for his thoughts were with the angels in heaven. +Then, after a short time, the last terrible struggle, and then he fell +asleep. And remember, all this in the midst of that most agonizing, it +may be, of all forms of death. At 4 A.M. he was hardly conscious, not +fully conscious: there were same fearful spasms: we fanned him and +bathed his head and occasionally got a drop or two of weak brandy or +wine and water down. Then came the last struggle. Oh! how I thanked God +when his head at length fell back, or rather his whole body, for it was +without joint, on my arm: long drawn sighs with still sadder contraction +of feature succeeded, and while I said the Commendatory Prayer, he +passed away. + +'The same day we anchored in Port Patteson, and buried him in a quiet +spot near the place where the Primate and I first landed years ago. +It seems a consecration of the place that the body of that dear child +should be resting there. + +'Some six years ago, when Mrs. Selwyn stopped at Norfolk Island she +singled him out as the boy of special promise. For two or three years he +had been with me, and my affection flowed out naturally to him. God had +tried him by the two sicknesses at Kohimarama and at Mota, and by his +whole family returning to Pitcairn. I saw that he had left all for this +work. He had become most useful, and oh! how we shall miss him! + +'But about five days after this (August 22) Edwin's jaws began to +stiffen. For nine or ten days there was suspense, so hard to bear. Some +symptoms were not so bad, it did not assume so acute a form. I thought +he ought to be carried through it. He was older, about twenty-one, six +feet high, a strong handsome young man, the pride of Norfolk Island, +the destined helper and successor (had God so willed) of his father, the +present Clergyman. The same faith, the same patience, the same endurance +of suffering. + +'On Friday, September 2, I administered the Holy Communion to him +and Pearce. He could scarce swallow the tiniest crumb. He was often +delirious, yet not one word but spoke of things holy and pure, almost +continually in prayer. He was in the place where Fisher had died, the +best part of the cabin for an invalid. Sunday came: he could take no +nourishment, stomach and back in much pain: a succession of violent +spasms at about 10.30 A.M., but his body never became quite rigid. The +death struggle at 1 A.M. September 5, was very terrible. Three of us +could scarcely hold him. Then he sank back on my arm, and his spirit +passed away as I commended his soul to God. Then all motionless. After +some minutes, I said the first prayer in the Burial Service, then +performed the last offices, then had a solemn talk with Pearce, and +knelt down, I know not how long. + +'We buried him at sea. All this time we were making very slow progress; +indeed the voyage has been very remarkable in all respects. Pearce +seems to be doing very well, so that I am very hopeful about him. The +temperature now is only 72 degrees, and I imagine that his constitution +is less liable to that particular disease. Yet punctured wounds are +always dangerous on this account. + +'Patience and trust in God, the same belief in His goodness and love, +that He orders all things for our good, that this is but a proof of His +merciful dealing with us: such comforts God has graciously not withheld. +I never felt so utterly broken down, when I thought, and think, of the +earthly side of it all; never perhaps so much realised the comfort and +power of His Presence, when I have had grace to dwell upon the heavenly +and abiding side of it. I do with my better part heartily and humbly +thank Him, that He has so early taken these dear ones by a straight +and short path to their everlasting home. I think of them with blessed +saints, our own dear ones, in Paradise, and in the midst of my tears I +bless and praise God. + +'But, dear Fan, Fisher most of all supplied to me the absence of earthly +relations and friends. He was my boy: I loved him as I think I never +loved any one else. I don't mean more than you all, but in a different +way: not as one loves another of equal age, but as a parent loves a +child. + +'I can hardly think of my little room at Kohimarama without him. I +long for the sight of his dear face, the sound of his voice. It was +my delight to teach him, and he was clever and so thoughtful and +industrious. I know it is good that my affections should be weaned from +all things earthly. I try to be thankful, I think I am thankful really; +time too will do much, God's grace much more. I only wonder how I have +borne it all. "In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, +Thy comforts have refreshed my soul." Mr. Tilly has been and is full of +sympathy, and is indeed a great aid. He too has a heavy loss in these +two dear ones. And now I must land at Norfolk Island in the face of the +population crowding the little pier. Mr. Nobbs will be there, and the +brothers and sisters of Edwin, and the uncles and aunts of Fisher. + +'Yet God will comfort them; they have been called to the high privilege +of being counted worthy to suffer for their Savior's sake. However much +I may reproach myself with want of caution and of prayer for guidance +(and this is a bitter thought), they were in the simple discharge of +their duty. Their intention and wish were to aid in bringing to those +poor people the Gospel of Christ. It has pleased God that in the +execution of this great purpose they should have met with their deaths. +Surely there is matter for comfort here! + +'I can't write all this over again.... I have written at some length to +Jem also; put the two letters together, and you will be able to realise +it somewhat. + +'This is a joint letter to you and Joan. It was begun on your birthday, +and it has been written with a heavy, dull weight of sorrow on my heart, +yet not unrelieved by the blessed consciousness of being drawn, as I +humbly trust, nearer to our most merciful Father in heaven, if only by +the very impossibility of finding help elsewhere. It has not been a time +without its own peculiar happiness. How much of the Bible seemed endued +with new powers of comfort.... How true it is, that they who seek, +find. "I sought the Lord, and He heard me." The closing chapters of the +Gospels, 2 Corinthians, and how many other parts of the New Testament +were blessings indeed! Jeremy Taylor's "Life of Christ," and "Holy +Living and Dying," Thomas a Kempis, most of all of course the +Prayer-book, and such solemn holy memories of our dear parents and +uncles, such blessed hopes of reunion, death brought so near, the +longing (if only not unprepared) for the life to come: I could not be +unhappy. Yet I could not sustain such a frame of mind long; and then +when I sank to the level of earthly thoughts, then came the weary +heartache, and the daily routine of work was so distasteful, and I felt +sorely tempted to indulge the "luxury of grief." But, thanks be to God, +it is not altogether an unhealthy sorrow, and I can rest in the full +assurance that all this is working out God's purposes of love and mercy +to us all--Melanesians, Pitcairners, and all; and that I needed the +discipline I know full well.... + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + + +It was not possible to touch at Norfolk Island, each attempt was baffled +by the winds; and on September 16 the 'Southern Cross' anchored at +Kohimarama, and a sad little note was sent up to the Primate with the +announcement of the deaths and losses. + +In spite of the comfort which, as this note said, Patteson felt 'in the +innocence of their lives, and the constancy of their faith' unto the +death, the fate of these two youths, coming at the close of a year +of unusual trial, which, as he had already said, had diminished his +elasticity, had a lasting effect. It seemed to take away his youthful +buoyancy, and marked lines of care on his face that never were effaced. +The first letter after his return begins by showing how full his heart +was of these his children:-- + + +'Kohimarama: Sunday, September 18, 1864. + +'My dearest Fan,--I must try to write without again making my whole +letter full of dear Edwin and Fisher. That my heart is full of them you +can well believe. + +'These last five weeks have taught me that my reading of the Bible was +perhaps more intellectual and perhaps more theological than devotional, +to a dangerous extent probably; anyhow I craved for it as a revelation +not only of truth, but of comfort and support in heavy sorrow. It may be +that when the sorrow does not press so heavily, the Bible cannot speak +so wonderfully in that particular way of which I am writing, and it is +right to read it theologically also. + +'But yet it should always be read with a view to some practical result; +and so often there is not a special, though many general points which +may make our reading at once practical. Then comes the real trial, and +then comes the wondrous power of God's Word to help and strengthen. + +'Now it helps me to know where I am, to learn how others manage to see +where they are. + +'All that you say about self-consciousness, &c., can't I understand it! +Ah! when I saw the guileless pure spirit of those two dear fellows ever +brightening more and more for now two years. I had respected them as +much as I loved them. I used to think, "Yes, we must become such as +they; we too must seek and pray for the mind of a little child." + +'And surely the contemplation of God is the best cure. How admirable +Jeremy Taylor is on those points! Oh that he had not overlaid it all +with such superabundant ornamentation of style and rhetoric. But it is +the manner of the age. Many persons I suppose get over it, perhaps +like it; but I long for the same thoughts, the same tenderness and +truthfulness, and faithful searching words with a clear, simple, not +unimaginative diction. Yet his book is a great heritage. + +'Newman has a sermon on Contemplation or Meditation, I forget which; and +my copy is on board. But I do hope that by praying for humility, with +contemplation of God's majesty and love and our Savior's humility and +meekness, some improvement may be mercifully vouchsafed to me. + +'To dwell on His humiliation, His patience, that He should seek for +heavenly aids, accept the ministration of an angel strengthening Him, +how full of mystery and awe! and yet written for us! And yet we are +proud and self-justified and vainglorious! + +'The Archbishop of York, in "Aids to Faith," on the Death of Christ, has +some most solemn and deep remarks on the Lord's Agony. I don't know that +it could ever be quite consistent with reverence to speak on what is +there suggested. Yet if I could hear Mr. Keble and Dr. Pusey (say) +prayerfully talking together on that great mystery, I should feel that +it might be very profitable. But he must be a very humble man who should +dare to speak on it. Yet read it, Fan, it cannot harm you; it is very +awful, it is fully meant that He was sinless, without spot, undefiled +through all. It makes the mystery of sin, and of what it cost to redeem +our souls, more awful than ever. + +'And then, surely to the contemplation of God and the necessary contrast +of our own weakness and misery, we add the thought of our approaching +death, we anticipate the hours, the days, it may be the weeks and +months, even the years of weariness, pain, sleeplessness, thirst, +distaste for food, murmuring thoughts, evil spirits haunting us, +impatient longings after rest for which we are not yet prepared, the +thousand trials, discomforts, sadnesses of sickness--yes, it must come +in some shape; and is it to come as a friend or an enemy to snatch us +from what we love and enjoy, or to open the gates of Paradise? + +'I humbly thank God that, while I dare not be sure that I am not +mistaken, and suppose that if ready to go I should be taken, the thought +of death at a distance is the thought of rest and peace, of more blessed +communion with God's saints, holy angels and the Lord. Yet I dare not +feel that if death was close at hand, it might not be far otherwise. +How often the "Christian Year," and all true divinity helps up here! Why +indulge in such speculations? Seek to prepare for death by dying daily. +Oh! that blessed text: Be not distracted, worry not yourselves about the +morrow, for the morrow shall, &c. How it does carry one through the day! +Bear everything as sent from God for your good, by way of chastisement +or of proving you. Pusey's sermon on Patience, Newman's on a Particular +Providence, guarding so wisely against abuse as against neglect of the +doctrine. How much to comfort and guide one! and then, most of all, the +continual use of the Prayer-book. Do you often use the Prayer at the +end of the Evening Service for Charles the Martyr? Leave out from "great +deep...teach us to number"--and substitute "pride" for "splendour." +Leave out "according to... blessed martyr." In the Primate's case, it is +a prayer full of meaning, and it may have a meaning for us all. + +'Once more, the love of approbation is right and good, but then it +must be the love of the approbation of God and of good men. Here, as +everywhere, we abuse His gift; and it is a false teaching which bids +us suppress the human instinct which God implanted in us, but a true +leading, which bids us direct and use it to its appointed and legitimate +use. On this general subject, read if you have not read them, and you +can't read them too often, Butler's Sermons; you know, the great +Butler. I think you will easily get an analysis of them, such as Mill's +"Analysis of Pearson on the Creed," which will help you, if you want it. +Analyse them for yourself, if you like, and send me out your analysis +to look at. There is any amount of fundamental teaching there and the +imprimatur of thousands of good men to assure us of it. + +'I think, as I have written to Joan, that if I were with you, after the +first few days my chiefest delight would be in reading and talking over +our reading of good books. Edwin and Fisher were beginning to +understand thoughtful books; and how I did delight in reading with them, +interspersing a little Pitcairn remark here and there! Ah! never more! +never more! But they don't want books now. All is clear now: they live +where there is no night, in the Glory of God and of the Lamb, resting +in Paradise, anticipating the full consummation of the Life of the +Resurrection. Thanks be to God, and it may not be long--but I must not +indulge such thoughts. + +'I feel better, but at times this sad affliction weighs me down much, +and business of all kinds seems almost to multiply. Yet there are many +many comforts, and kindest sympathy. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + + +Just at this time heavy sorrow fell upon Bishop Hobhouse of Nelson; and +the little council of friends at Auckland decided that Bishop Patteson +should go at once to do his best to assist and comfort him, and bring +him back to Auckland. There was a quiet time of wholesome rest at +Nelson; and the effects appeared in numerous letters, and in the +thinking out of many matters on paper to his sisters. + +'Oh! how I think with such ever-increasing love of dear Fisher and +Edwin! How I praised God for them on All Saints' Day. But I don't expect +to recover spring and elasticity yet awhile. I don't think I shall ever +feel so young again. Really it is curious that the number of white hairs +is notably increased in these few weeks (though it is silly to talk +about it. Don't mention it!), and I feel very tired and indolent. No +wonder I seem to "go softly." But I am unusually happy down in the +depths, only the surface troubled. I hope that it is not fancy only that +makes the shortness and uncertainty of this life a ground of comfort +and joy. Perhaps it is, indeed I think it is, very much a mere cowardly +indolent shirking of work. + +'Did I say I thought I might some day write a book? It will be some day +indeed. It seems funny enough to think of such a thing. The fact is, it +is much easier to me to speak than to write. I think I could learn +with a good deal of leisure and trouble to write intelligibly, but not +without it. I am so diffusive and wanting in close condensed habits +of thought. How often I go off in a multitude of words, and really say +nothing worthy to be remembered. + +'How I should enjoy, indeed, a day or two at Hursley with Mr. and Mrs. +Keble. A line from him now and then, if he can find time, would be a +great delight to me; but I know that he thinks and prays, and that is +indeed a great happiness. + +'Oh, the blessing of such thoughts as All Saints' Day brings!--and now +more dear than ever, every day brings!--"Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, +martyrs, and every spirit made perfect in the faith of Christ," as an +old Liturgy says. And the Collects in the Burial Service! How full, how +simple and soothing, how full of calm, holy, tender, blessed hopes and +anticipations! + +'So you think the large Adelaide photograph very sad. I really don't +remember it; I fancy I thought it a very fair likeness. But you know +that I have a heavy lumpy dull look, except when talking--indeed, then +too for aught I know--and this may be mistaken for a sad look when it +is only a dull stupid one. You can't get a nice picture out of an ugly +face, so it's no use trying, but you are not looking for that kind of +thing. You want to see how far the face is any index of the character +and life and work. + +I don't think it odd that I should look careworn. I have enough to make +me so! And yet if I were with you now, brightened up by being with you, +you would say, "How well he looks!" And you would think I had any amount +of work in me, as you saw me riding or walking or holding services. And +then I had to a very considerable extent got over that silly shyness, +which was a great trial and drawback to me of old, and sadly prevented +me from enjoying the society of people (at Oxford especially) which +would have done me much good. But without all these bodily defects, I +should have been even more vain, and so I can see the blessing and +mercy now, though how many times I have indulged murmuring rebellious +thoughts! + +'Perhaps I shall live ten or twenty years, and look back and say, "I +recollect how in '64 I really almost thought I should not last long." +But don't fancy that I am morbidly cherishing such fancies. Only I like +you all to know me as I am changing in feeling from time to time. There +is quite enough to account for it all.' + +A few days later he returned to Auckland, and thence wrote to me a +letter on the pros and cons of a move from New Zealand. The sight of +ships and the town he had ceased to think of great importance, and older +scholars had ceased to care for it, and there was much at that time to +recommend Curtis Island to his mind. The want of bread-fruit was the +chief disadvantage he then saw in it, but he still looked to keeping up +Kohimarama for a good many years to come. I cannot describe how tender +and considerate he was of feelings he thought I might possibly have of +disappointment that St. Andrew's was not a successful experiment as far +as health was concerned, evidently fearing that I had set my hopes on +that individual venture, and that my feelings might be hurt if it had to +be deserted. + +The next letters are a good deal occupied with the troubles incident +to the judgment upon 'Essays and Reviews.' He took a view, as has been +seen, such as might be expected of the delicate refining metaphysical +mind, thinking out points for itself, and weighing the possible value +of every word, and differed from those who were in the midst of the +contest, and felt some form of resistance and protest needful. He +was strongly averse to agitation on the subject, and at the same time +grieved to find himself for the first time, to his own knowledge, not +accepting the policy of those whom he so much respected; though the +only difference in his mind from theirs was as to the manner of the +maintenance of the truth, and the immediate danger of error going +uncondemned--a point on which his remote life perhaps hardly enabled him +to judge. + +All these long letters and more, which were either in the same tone, +or too domestic to be published, prove the leisure caused by having an +unusually small collection of pupils, and happily all in fair health; +but with Christmas came a new idea, or rather an old one renewed. +Instead of only going to Norfolk Island, on sufferance from the Pitcairn +Committee, and by commission from the Bishop of Tasmania, a regular +request was made, by Sir John Young, the Governor of Australia, that +the Pitcairners might be taken under his supervision, so that, as far +as Government was concerned, the opposition was withdrawn which had +hindered his original establishment there, though still Curtis Island +remained in the ascendency in the schemes of this summer. The ensuing +is a reply to Sir John Coleridge's letter, written after hearing of the +attack at Santa Cruz:-- + + +'Kohimarama: March 3, 1865. + +'My dearest Uncle,--Many many thanks for your letter, so full of comfort +and advice. I need not tell you that the last budget of letters revived +again most vividly not only the actual scene at Santa Cruz, but all the +searchings of heart that followed it. I believe that we are all agreed +on the main point. Enough ground has been opened for the present. +Codrington was right in saying that the object of late has been to fill +up gaps. But some of the most hazardous places to visit lie nearest +to the south, e.g. some of the New Hebrides, &c., south of the Banks +Islands. My notion is, that I ought to be content even to pass by +(alas!) some places where I had some hold when I had reason to feel +great distrust of the generally kind intentions of the people (that is +a dark sentence, but you know my meaning). In short, there are very few +places where I can feel, humanly speaking, secure against this kind of +thing. It is always in the power of even one mischievous fellow to do +mischief. And if the feeling of the majority might be in my favour, yet +there being no way of expressing public opinion, no one cares to take +an active part in preventing mischief. It is not worth his while to get +into a squabble and risk his own life. + +'But I shall be (D.V.) very cautious. I dare say I was becoming +presumptuous: one among the many faults that are so discernible. It is, +dear Uncle, hard to see a wild heathen party on the beach, and not try +to get at them. It seems so sad to leave them. But I know that I ought +to be prudent, even for my own sake (for I quite suppose that, humanly +speaking, my life is of consequence for a few years more), and I +can hardly bear the thought of bringing the boat's crew, dear good +volunteers, into danger. Young Atkin, the only son of my neighbour, +behaved admirably at Santa Cruz, and is very staunch. But his parents +have but him and one daughter, and I am bound to be careful indeed. +But don't think me careless, if we get into another scrape. There is +scarcely one island where I can fully depend upon immunity from all +risk. There was no need to talk so much about it all before. + +'As to Curtis Island, I need not say that I have no wish indeed to take +Australian work in hand. I made it most clear, as I thought, that +the object of a site on Curtis Island was the Melanesian and not the +Australian Mission. I offered only to incorporate Australian blacks, if +proper specimens could be obtained, into our school, regarding in +fact East Australia as another Melanesian island. This would only have +involved the learning a language or two, and might have been of some +use. I did not make any pledge. But I confess that I think some such +plan as this one only feasible one. I don't see that the attempts at +mission work are made on the most hopeful plan. But I have written to +the Brisbane authorities, urging them to appropriate large reserves for +the natives. I tell them that it is useless for them to give me a few +acres and think they are doing a mission work, if they civilize the +native races off their own lands. In short, I almost despair of doing +anything for blacks living on the same land with whites. Even here in +New Zealand, the distrust now shown to us all, to our religion even, +is the result in very great measure of the insolent, covetous behaviour +exhibited by the great majority of the white people to the Maori. Who +stops in Australia to think whether the land which he wants for his +sheep is the hunting ground of native people or not? + +'I confess that while I can't bear to despair and leave these poor souls +uncared for, I can't propose any scheme but one, and who will work that? +If, indeed, one or two men could be found to go and live with a tribe, +moving as they move and really identifying himself with their interests! +But where are such men, and where is a tribe not already exasperated by +injurious treatment? + +'It was the statement for our mode of action which commended itself so +much to people in Australia, that they urged me to try and do something. +But I answered as I have now written; and when at one meeting in Sydney +I was asked whether I would take Australians into my school, I said, +"Yes, if I can get the genuine wild man, uncontaminated by contact with +the white man." I can't, in justice to our Melanesian scholars, take the +poor wretched black whose intercourse with white men has rendered him a +far more hopeless subject to deal with than the downright ferocious yet +not ungenerous savage. "If," was the answer, "you can get them, I will +pay for them." + +'Indeed, dear Uncle, I don't want more but less work on my hands: yet +as I look around, I see (as far as I can judge) so great a want of that +prudence and knowledge and calm foresight that the Primate has shown +so remarkably, that I declare I do think his plan is almost the only +reasonable one for dealing with black races. Alas! you can't put hearty +love for strangers into men's hearts by paying them salaries. + +'I think that in two or three years I may, if I live, have some +preparatory branch school at Curtis Island. If it should clearly +succeed, then I think in time the migration from New Zealand might +take place. I do not think two schools in two different countries would +answer. We want the old scholars to help us in working the school; we +can't do without them, and the old scholars can't be trained without +the younger ones, the material on whom their teaching, and training +faculties must be exercised. + +'You all know how deeply I feel about dear Mr. Keble! + +'Thank God, we have as yet no dysentery. I baptized last week a lad +dying of consumption. There are many blessings, as all clergymen know, +in having death scenes so constantly about one; and the having to do +everything for these dear fellows makes one love them so.... + +'Your affectionate and dutiful Nephew, + +'J. C. P.' + + +The above sentence refers to the paralytic attack Mr. Keble had on +November 30, 1864. Nevertheless, almost at that very time, he was +writing thus:-- + + +'Penzance: March 7, 1865. + +'My dear and more than dear Bishop,--It would be vain for me to write to +you, if I pretended to do more than just express my heart's wish that +I could say something of the doings and sufferings which now for years +past we of course associate with your name, so as to encourage and +support you in your present manifold distress. But (especially for +reasons known only to myself) I must leave that altogether to Him who +helps His own to do and suffer. One thing only I would say, that to us +at our great distance it looks as if the sanguis martyrum were being to +you as the semen Ecclesiae, and you know how such things were hailed in +the time of St. Cyprian. May it please God before long to give you some +visible earnest of this sure blessing! but I suppose that if it tarry, +it may be the greater when it comes. Our troubles as a Church, though of +a different kind, are not small. The great point with me is, lest, if in +our anxiety to keep things together, we should be sinfully conniving +at what is done against the faith, and so bringing a judgment upon +ourselves. I do not for a moment think that by anything which has yet +been done or permitted our being as a Church is compromised (though +things look alarmingly as if it might be before long), but I fear +that her well-being is more and more being damaged by our entire and +conscious surrender of the disciplinary part of our trust, and that if +we are apathetic in such things we may forfeit our charter. There is no +doubt, I fear, that personal unbelief is spreading; but I trust that +a deeper faith is spreading also; it is (at Oxford, e.g.) Pusey and +Moberly, &c., against the Rationalists and other tempters. As to the +question of the Bible being (not only containing) the Word, I had no +scruples in signing that Declaration. One thought which helped me was, +the use made in the New Testament of the Old, which is such as to show +that we are not competent judges as to what passages convey deep moral +or religious meanings or no. Another, that in every instance where +one had the means of ascertaining, so far as I have known, the Bible +difficulty has come right: therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that +so it would be in all the rest, if we knew the right reading and the +right interpretation of the words. And as to what are called the Divine +and Human Elements, I have seemed to help myself with the thought +that the Divine adoption (if so be) of the human words warrants their +truthfulness, as a man's signature makes a letter his own; but whether +this is relevant, I doubt. My wife and I are both on the sick list, and +I must now only add that we never forget you. + +'Ever yours, + +'J. K. + + +Nothing has hitherto been said of this term at St. Andrew's: so here is +an extract from a letter to one of the cousinhood, who had proposed +a plan which has since been carried out extensively and with good +effect:-- + +'The difficulty about scholars appropriated to certain places or +parishes is this: I cannot be sure of the same persons remaining with +me. Some sickness in an island, some panic, some death of a relative, +some war, or some inability on my part from bad weather or accident to +visit an island, may at any time lose me a scholar. Perhaps he may be +the very one that has been appropriated to some one, and what am I to +say then? + +'This year we have but thirty-eight Melanesians, we ought to have sixty. +But after dear Edwin and Fisher's wounds, I could not delay, but hurried +southwards, passing by islands with old scholars ready to come away. +This was sad work, but what could I do? + +'I will gladly assign, to the best of my power, scholars whom I think +likely to remain with me to various places or persons; but pray make +them understand that their scholar may not always be forthcoming. +Anyhow, their alms would go to the support of some Melanesian, who would +be their scholar as it were for the time being. + +'You would perhaps feel interested in knowing that the Gospel of St. +Luke has been printed in the Mota language, to a great extent by our +scholars, and that George Sarawia is printing now the Acts, composing +it, and doing press-work and all. Young Wogale (about thirteen) prints +very fairly, and sent off 250 copies of a prayer, which the Bishop of +Nelson wanted for distribution, of which everything was done by him +entirely. They both began to learn about last November. + +'When morning school is over at 10 A.M., all hands, "dons" and all, +are expected to give their time to the Mission till 12.45. Mr. Pritt +is general overlooker (which does not mean doing nothing himself) of +domestic work: kitchen, garden, farm, dairy, &c. You know that we have +no servants. Mr. Palmer prints and teaches printing. Atkin works at +whatever may be going on, and has a large share of work to get ready for +me, and to read with me: Greek Testament, 12 to 12.45, Greek and Latin +from 2 to 3. So all the lads are busy at out-door work from 10 to 12.45; +and I assure you, under Mr. Pritt's management, we begin to achieve +considerable results in our farm and garden work. We are already +economising our expenditure greatly by keeping our own cows, for which +we grow food (a good deal artificial), and baking our own bread. We sell +some of our butter, and have a grand supply of milk for our scholars, +perhaps the very best kind of food for them. + +'If we can manage to carry on a winter's school here with some ten or +twelve of the lads left under Mr. Pritt's charge, while I go off with +the rest, I really think that the industrial department may become +something considerable. It is an essential part of the system, for we +must begin with teaching habits of order, punctuality, &c:, in respect +of those things with which they have already some acquaintance. No +Melanesian can understand why he is to sit spelling away at a black +board; and he is not like a child of four or five years old, he must +be taught through his power of reasoning, and perceiving the meaning +of things. Secondly, we can gradually invest the more advanced scholars +with responsible duties. There are the head cooks in the various weeks, +the heads of departments in garden work, &c., &c. As these lads and +men are being trained (we hope) to teach others, and as we want them to +teach industry, decency, cleanliness, punctuality, to be, and to teach +others to be honest, and careful, and thoughtful, so we find all these +lessons are learnt more in the industrial work than in the mere book +work, though that is not neglected. Indeed school, in the restricted +sense of the word, is going on for four or four and a half hours a day. + +'The main difficulty remains, of retaining our hold upon boys. Oh that I +could live permanently in twenty islands at once! But I can't do so even +in one; and all the letter-writing and accounts, and, worst of all, +the necessity for being trustee for matters not a bit connected with +Melanesia, because there is no one else, interferes sadly with my +time. I think I could work away with the languages, &c., and really do +something with these fellows, but I never get a chance. I never have two +days together which I can spend exclusively at Melanesian work. And I +ought to have nothing whatever to distract me. Twenty languages calling +for arrangement and comparison causes confusion enough!' + +These interruptions made the Kohimarama life trying. 'As for +correspondence,' says the birthday despatch to Fanny, 'why this mail +my letters to Victoria alone are twelve, let alone Sydney, Brisbane, +Adelaide, Tasmania, New Zealand, and England. Then three sermons a week, +occasional services, reading up for a most difficult session of General +Synod, with really innumerable interruptions from persons of all kinds. +Sometimes I do feel tempted to long for Curtis Island merely to get +away from New Zealand! I feel as if I should never do anything here. +Everything is in arrears. I turn out of a morning and really don't know +what to take up first. Then, just as I am in the middle of a letter (as +yesterday) down comes some donkey to take up a quarter of an hour (lucky +if not an hour) with idle nonsense; then in the afternoon an invasion +of visitors, which is worst of all. That fatal invention of "calling"! +However, I never call on anyone, and it is understood now, and people +don't expect it. I have not even been to Government House for more than +a year! + +'There, a good explosion does one good! But why must idle people +interfere with busy men? I used to make it up by sitting up and getting +up very early indeed; but somehow I feel fit for nothing but sleeping +and eating now.' + +After an absence of three weeks at the General Synod at Christchurch, +the Bishop took up such of his party as were to return, and sailed home, +leaving those whom he thought able to brave the winter with Mr. and Mrs. +Pritt, on one of the first days of June. The first visit was one to the +bereaved family at Norfolk Island, whence a brief note to his brother on +the 9th begins:-- + +'Nothing can be more comforting to me than the loving patient spirit +of these dear people. Poor Mr. and Mrs. Nobbs and all the brothers and +sisters so good and so full of kindness to me. It was very trying when +I first met them yesterday. They came and kissed me, and then, poor +things, fairly gave way, and then I began to talk quietly about Edwin +and Fisher, and they became calm, and we knelt and prayed together.' + +After landing the Bishop at Mota, the others crossed to Port Patteson +where they found Fisher Young's grave carefully tended, kept clear of +weeds, and with a fence round it. After establishing Mr. Palmer at the +station at Mota, the Bishop re-embarked for Santa Maria, where, at the +north-east--Cock Sparrow Point, as some one had appropriately called +it--the boat was always shot at; but at a village called Lakona, the +people were friendly, and five scholars had come from thence, so the +Bishop ventured on landing for the night, and a very unpleasant night +it, was--the barrack hut was thronged with natives, and when the heat +was insufferable and he tried to leave it, two of his former scholars +advised him strongly to remain within. + +It was bad weather too, and there was some difficulty in fetching him +off, and he was thankful that the wet had hindered more than 300 or 400 +natives from collecting; there was no possibility of speaking to them +quietly, for the sight of the boat suggested trading, and they flocked +round as he was fetched off, half a dozen swimming out and begging to go +to New Zealand. He took three old scholars and one new one, and sent the +others off with fish-hooks, telling them that if they would not behave +at Lakona as he liked, he would not do as they liked. However, no arrows +were shot. + +Then while the 'Southern Cross,' with Mr. Tilly and Mr. Atkin, went on +to land the Solomon Island scholars, the work at Mota was resumed in +full force. It seems well worth while to dwell on the successive steps +in the conversion of this place, and the following letter shows the +state of things in the season of 1865:-- + + +'Mota: July 4, 1865. + +'My dearest Sisters and Brother,--I must write a joint letter for all, +with little notes if I have anything more special for anyone of you. I +wish you could see this place. The old hut is queer enough certainly, +quite open on one side, and nearly so on another, but it is +weather-tight in the middle, with forms to sit on and a table or two +like a kitchen table, on which I read and write by day, and sleep by +night. Last night we killed five lizards; they get on the roof and drop +down and bite pretty severely, so seeing these running all about, we +made a raid upon them, poor things. The great banyan tree is as grand +as ever, a magnificent tree, a forest in itself, and the view of the sea +under its great branches, and of the islands of Matlavo and Valua, is +beautiful. + +'At daylight I turn off my table and dress, not elaborately--a flannel +shirt, old trousers and shoes; then a yam or two is roasted on the +embers, and the coffee made, and (fancy the luxury here in Mota!) +delicious goat's milk with it. Then the morning passes in reading, +writing, and somewhat desultory talking with people, but you can't +expect punctuality and great attention. Then at one, a bit of biscuit +and cheese (as long as the latter lasts). Mr. Palmer made some bread +yesterday. Then generally a walk to meet people at different villages, +and talk to them, trying to get them to ask me questions, and I try to +question them. Then at 6 P.M., a tea-ation, viz., yam and coffee, and +perhaps a crab or two, or a bit of bacon, or some good thing or other. +But I forgot! this morning we ate a bit of our first full-grown and +fully ripe Mota pine-apple (I brought some two years ago) as large and +fine as any specimens I remember in hot-houses. If you mention all these +luxuries, we shall have no more subscriptions, but you may add that +there is as yet no other pineapple, though our oranges, lemons, citrons, +guavas, &c., are coming on. Anyone living here permanently might make a +beautiful place indeed, but it becomes sadly overgrown in our absence, +and many things we plant are destroyed by pigs, &c. + +'Then after tea--a large party always witnessing that ceremony--there is +an hour or so spent in speaking again to the people, and then I read a +little with Wadrokala and Carry. Then Mr. Palmer and I read a chapter of +Vaughan on the Revelation, then prayers, and so to bed. It seems as if +little was done--certain talks with people, sometimes many, sometimes +few; yet, on the whole, I hope an increased acquaintance with our +teaching. You can well understand that the consciousness of sin and the +need of a Redeemer may be talked about, but cannot be stated so as +to make one feel that one has stated it in the most judicious and +attractive manner. Of course it is the work of God's Spirit to work this +conviction in the heart. But it is very hard so to speak of it as +to give (if you can understand me) the heathen man a fair chance of +accepting what you say. Forgetfulness of God; ingratitude to the Giver +of life, health, food; ignorance of the Creator and the world to come, +of the Resurrection and Life Everlasting, are all so many proofs to +us of a fallen and depraved state. But the heathen man recognises some +outward acts as more or less wrong; there he stops. "Yes, we don't fight +now, nor quarrel, nor steal so much as we used to do. We are all right +now." + +'"Are you? I never taught you to think so. You tell me that you believe +that the Son of God came down from heaven. What did He come for? What is +the meaning of what you say that He died for us?" + +'It is the continual prayer and effort of the Christian minister +everywhere, that God would deepen in his own heart the sense of sin, and +create it in the mind of the heathen. And then the imperfect medium of a +language very far from thoroughly known! It is by continual prayer, the +intercession of Christ, the power of the Spirit (we well know) that the +work must be carried on. How one does understand it! The darkness seems +so thick, the present visible world so wholly engrosses the thoughts, +and yet, you see, there are many signs of progress even here, in changed +habits to some extent, in the case of our scholars, real grounds of hope +for the future. One seems to be doing nothing, yet surely if no change +be wrought, what right have we to expect it. It is not that I looked for +results, but that I seek to be taught how to teach better. The Collect +for the first Sunday after Epiphany is wonderful. + +'It requires a considerable effort to continually try to present to +oneself the state of the heathen mind, to select illustrations, &c., +suitable to his case. And then his language has never been used by him +to set forth these new ideas; there are no words which convey the ideas +of repentance, sin, heartfelt confession, faith, &c. How can there be, +when these ideas don't exist? Yet somehow the language by degrees +is made the exponent of such ideas, just as all religious ideas are +expressed in English by words now used in their second intention, which +once meant very different and less elevated ideas. + +'I find everywhere the greatest willingness to listen. Everywhere I take +my pick of boys, and now for any length of time. That is the result of +eleven scholars remaining now in New Zealand. Everyone seems to wish to +come. I think I shall take away five or six young girls to be taught at +Kohimarama, to become by and by wives for scholars. Else the Christian +lad will have to live with a heathen girl. But all this, if carried out +properly, would need a large number of scholars from only one island. At +Curtis Island, indeed (should it answer and supply plenty of food), we +might hope to have a school some day of 300 or 400, and then thirty or +forty from each island could be educated at once; but it can't be so in +New Zealand. And a good school on an island before a certain number are +trained to teach could not, I think, be managed successfully. I feel +that I must concentrate more than hitherto. I must ascertain--I have +to some extent ascertained--the central spots upon which I must chiefly +work. This is not an easy thing, nevertheless, to find out, and it has +taken years. Then using them as centres, I must also find out how far +already the dialect of that spot may extend, how far the people of the +place have connections, visiting acquaintances, &c. elsewhere, and to +use the influence of that place to its fullest extent. Many islands +would thus fall under one centre, and thus I think we may work. My mind +is so continually, day and night, I may say, working on these points, +that I dare say I fill up my letters with nothing else. But writing on +these points helps me to see my way.' + + +On July 7, an expedition to Aroa seems to have overtired Bishop +Patteson, and a slight attack of fever and ague came on. One of his +aunts had provided him with a cork bed, where, after he had exerted +himself to talk to his many visitors, he lay 'not uncomfortably.' He +was not equal to going to a feast where he hoped to have met a large +concourse, and after a day of illness, was taken back to Mota in the +bottom of the boat; but in another week more revived, and went on with +his journal, moralising on the books he had been reading while laid up. + +'I looked quite through Bishop Mackenzie's life. What a beautiful +story it is! what a truthful, simple, earnest character, and that +persuasiveness that only real humility and self-forgetfulness and +thoughtfulness can give. Then his early desire to be useful, his +Cambridge life, the clear way in which he was being led on all through. +It is very beautiful as an illustration of the best kind of help that +God bestows on His children. Here was one so evidently moulded and +fashioned by Him, and that willingly, for so it must be, and his life +was just as it should be, almost as perfect perhaps as a life can be. +What if his work failed on the Shire? First, his work has not failed to +begin with, for aught we know; and secondly his example is stimulating +work everywhere. I shall indeed value his Thomas a Kempis. [A copy sent +home from the Zambesi stained with the water of the Shire, and sent to +the Bishop by Miss Mackenzie]. + +The ship returned with tidings that the more important scholars would +be ready to come back after a short holiday with their friends, and the +Bishop embarked again on the 29th. At Mai he landed, and slept ashore, +when little Petere, the son of the young man whose death had so nearly +been revenged on the Bishop, a boy of eight years old, did the honours +as became a young chief, and announced, 'I am going to New Zealand with +you.' No one made any attempt to prevent him; but the old scholars did +not show themselves helpful, and only one of them, besides three more +new ones, came away. The natives were personally friendly, but there was +no sign of fighting being lessened among them. + +At Whitsuntide there was a brisk trade in yams, but no scholars were +brought away; the parents would not part with any young enough to be +likely to be satisfactory pupils, nor would the one last year's scholar +come. Here intelligence was received that a two-masted ship had been +at Leper's Island, a quarrel had taken place and some natives had been +shot. It was therefore decided that it would not be safe to land, but +as the vessel sailed along the coast, numerous canoes came out, bringing +boars' tusks for sale. Three boys who had been taken on a cruise of six +weeks the year before, eagerly came on board, and thirty or forty more. +All the parents were averse to letting them go, and only two ended by +being brought away: Itole, a young gentleman of fourteen or so, slim +and slight, with a waist like a wasp, owing to a cincture worn night +and day, and his hair in ringlets, white with coral-lime; his friend a +little older, a tall, neat-limbed fellow, not dark and with little of +the negro in his features. + +A letter to me was written during this cruise, from which I give an +extract:-- + +'It was a great delight to me to receive a letter from Mr. Keble, by +the February mail from England. How kind of him to write to me; and his +words are such a help and encouragement. + +'I dare say I shall see Merivale's Lectures soon. Nothing can well be +so wonderful, as a proof of God's hand controlling and arranging all the +course of history to those who need it, as a subject for adoration and +praise, to those who need not such proof, than the vast preparation made +for the coming of Christ and the spreading of the Gospel. To popularise +this the right way, and bring it home to the thought of many who have +not time nor inclination for much reading, must be a good work. I +suppose that all good Church histories deal with that part of the +subject; it is natural for the mere philosopher to do so. + +'And think how the early Alexandrian teachers used the religious +yearnings of the East to draw men to the recognition of their wants, +supplied and satisfied only in Christianity. Often it is the point +d'appui that the Missionary must seek for. There is an element of faith +in superstition; we must fasten on that, and not rudely destroy the +superstition, lest with it we destroy the principle of faith in things +and beings unseen. I often think, that to shake a man's faith in his +old belief, however wrong it may be, before one can substitute something +true and right, is, to say the least, a dangerous experiment. But +positive truth wins its way without controversy, while error has no +positive existence, and there is a craving for truth deep down in the +heathen heart. + +'Do you remember that grand passage of Hooker, where he says that he +cannot stand to oppose all the sophisms of Romanism, only that he will +place against it a structure of truth, before which, as Dagon before the +Ark, error will be dashed in fragments? + +'In our work (and so I suppose in a Sunday school) one must think out +each step, anticipate each probable result, before one states anything. +It is of course full of the highest interest. Can't you fancy a party of +twenty or thirty dark naked fellows, when (having learnt to talk freely +to them) I question them about their breakfast and cocoa-nut trees, +their yams and taro and bananas, &c., "Who gave them to you? Can you +make them grow? Why, you like me and thank me because I give you a few +hatchets, and you have never thought of thanking Him all these long +years." + +'"It is true, but we didn't think." + +'"But will you think if I tell you about Him?" + +'"He gave them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons." + +'How it takes one back to the old thoughts, the true philosophy of +religion. Sometimes I lie awake and think "if Jowett and others could +see these things!" + +'And yet, if it is not presumptuous in me to say so, I do think +that this work needs men who can think out principle and supply any +thoughtful scholar or enquirer with some good reason for urging this +or that change in the manners and observances of the people. Often as +I think of it, I feel how greatly the Church needs schools for +missionaries, to be prepared not only in Greek and Latin and manual +work, but in the mode of regarding heathenism. It is not a moment's work +to habitually ask oneself, "Why feel indignant? How can he or she +know better?" It is not always easy to be patient and to remember the +position which the heathen man occupies and the point of view from which +he must needs regard everything brought before him. + +'Thank you for Maclear's book. It is a clear statement of the leading +facts that one wishes to know, a valuable addition to our library. +You know, no doubt, a book which I like much, Neander's "Light in Dark +Places." + +'I shall remember about Miss Mackenzie's memoir of that good Mrs. +Robertson. I wonder that men are not found to help Mr. Robertson. Here, +as you know, the climate (as in Central Africa) is our difficulty. I +think sometimes I make too much of it, but really I don't see how a man +is to stand many months of it. But I can't help thinking and hoping that +if that difficulty did not exist I could see my way to saying, "Now, +a missionary is wanted for these four or five or six islands, one for +each, and a younger man as fellow-helper to that missionary," and they +would be forthcoming. + +'Yet doubtless I don't estimate fairly the difficulties and hardships +as they appear to the man who has never left England, and is not used +to knocking about. I should have felt the same years ago but for the +thought of being with the Primate, at least I suppose so. + +'Well, I have written a very dull letter, but the place from which it +comes will give it some interest. I really think that not Mota only, but +the Banks Islands are in a hopeful state. + +'Next year (D.V.) Mr. Palmer will try the experiment of stopping here +for eight or ten months. I almost dare to hope that a few years may make +great changes. Yet it seems as if nothing were done in comparison with +what remains to be done. + +'Sarah, Sarawia's wife, pronounced that as she was always ill at home, +she would risk the New Zealand winter; two more married pairs came, and +four little maidens to be bred up under Mrs. Pritt, girls from twelve to +eight years old, of whom Sarah was quite able to take charge.' + +There was the usual proportion of lads from various islands; but the +most troublesome member of the community seems to have been Wadrokala's +three years old daughter. 'I have daily to get Wadrokala and Carry to +prevent their child from being a nuisance to everybody.' But this might +have been a difficulty had she been white. + +This large party had to be taken to the Solomon Isles to complete the +party, sailing in company with the 'Curacoa,' the Commodore's ship, when +the local knowledge and accurate surveying done by Mr. Tilly and Mr. +Kerr proved very valuable, and Sir William Wiseman gave most kind and +willing assistance. + +Since his short interview with the Bishop off Norfolk Island, he had +been cruising in the New Hebrides. There some of the frequent outrages +of the traders had made the people savage and suspicious, and one of the +Missionaries of the London Missionary Society living at Tanna had been +threatened, driven away across the island, and his property destroyed. +He had appealed for protection as a British subject, and Sir William +Wiseman had no choice but to comply; so after warning had been sent to +the tribe chiefly concerned to quit their village, it was shelled and +burnt. No one seems to have been hurt, and it was hoped that this +would teach the natives to respect their minister--whether to love his +instruction was another question. + +This would not have been worth mentioning had not a letter from on board +the 'Curacoa' spoken of chastising a village for attacking a Missionary. +It went the round of the English papers, and some at once concluded +that the Missionary could be no other than the Bishop. Articles +were published with the usual disgusting allusions to the temptation +presented by a plump missionary; and also observing with more justice +that British subjects had no right to run into extraordinary peril and +appeal to their flag for protection. + +Every friend or relative of Bishop Patteson knew how preposterous the +supposition was, and his brother took pains to contradict the rumour. +As a matter of fact, as his letters soon proved, he was not only not in +company with the 'Curacoa' at the time, but had no knowledge either of +the outrage or the chastisement, till Sir William Wiseman mentioned it +to him when they were together at Sydney. + +At Ysabel or Mahya, the party was made up to sixty, seven married +couples and seven unmarried girls among them. The female population +was stowed away at night in the after cabins, with 'arrangements quite +satisfactory to them, as they were quite consistent with propriety, but +which would somewhat startle unaccustomed folk.' + +The 'Curapoa' stood in the offing while Sta. Cruz was visited, or rather +while the 'Southern Cross' approached, for the Bishop thought it +better not to risk landing; but numerous canoes came off, and all the +curiosities were bought which were offered in hopes of reestablishing +a friendly relation. There was reason to think the people of this group +more than usually attached to the soil, and very shy and distrustful, +owing perhaps to the memories left by the Spaniards. + +Thence the 'Southern Cross' sailed across for an inspection of Curtis +Island, and again with a favourable impression; but the Brisbane +Parliament had just been prorogued, everyone was taking holiday, and the +Bishop therefore gave up his visit to that place, and sent the vessel +straight home to Auckland with her cargo of souls, while he returned to +Sydney to carry on the same work as in the former year. Here one great +delight and refreshment to him was a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Mort at their +beautiful home at Greenoaks. What a delight it must have been to +find himself in a church built by his host himself! 'one of the most +beautiful things I have seen, holds about 500 people; stained glass, +carved stalls, stone work, &c.,--perfect.' And the house, 'full of +first-rate works of art, bronzes, carvings, &c.,' was pleasant to the +eyes that had been so enthusiastic in Italy and Germany, and had so +long fasted from all beauty but that of Nature, in one special type. The +friends there were such as to give life and spirit to all these external +charms, and this was a very pleasant resting place in his life. To Sir +John Coleridge he writes:-- + +'I am having a real holiday. This place, Greenoaks, the really +magnificent place of my good friends Mr. and Mrs. Mort, is lovely. The +view of the harbour, with its land-locked bays, multitude of vessels, +wooded heights, &c., is not to be surpassed; and somehow I don't +disrelish handsome rooms and furniture and pictures and statues and +endless real works of art in really good taste. + +'One slips into these ways very readily. I must take care I am not +spoilt. Everyone, from the governor downwards, lays himself out to make +my visit pleasant. They work me hard on Sundays and week days, but it +is a continual round of, I don't deny, to me, pleasurable occupation. +Kindly people asked to meet me, and the conversation always turned to +pleasant and useful subjects: Church government, principles of Mission +work, &c. These colonies, unfortunate in many ways, are fortunate in +having governors and others in high position who are good men, and the +class of people among whom my time is spent might (me judice) hold its +position among the best English society. + +'I am very intimate with some few families, drop in and set the young +ladies down to play Beethoven and Mendelssohn, and it is a nice change, +and refreshes me.' + +From Sydney the Bishop went to Adelaide and Melbourne, and these five +weeks in Australia obtained about 800 pounds for the Mission; the Bishop +of Sydney had hoped to raise more, but there had been two years of +terrible drought and destruction of cattle, and money was not +abundant. The plan of sending Australian blacks to be educated with +the Melanesians was still entertained; but he had not much hope of this +being useful to the tribes, though it might be to the individuals, and +none of them ever were sent to him. + +But what had a more important effect on the Mission was a conference +between Sir William Wiseman and Sir John Young, the Governor of New +South Wales, resulting in an offer from the latter of a grant of land +on Norfolk Island for the Mission, for the sake of the benefit to the +Pitcairners; at the same time the Commodore offered him a passage in the +'Curacoa' back to Auckland, touching at Norfolk Island by the way. The +plan was carried out, and brought him home in time for Christmas, to +find all and prosperous under Mr. Pritt at St. Andrew's. His mind was +nearly made up on the expedience of a change to a place which was likely +to suit both English and tropical constitutions alike, and he hoped to +make the experiment the ensuing winter with Mr. Palmer and a small body +of scholars. + + + + +CHAPTER X. THE EPISCOPATE AT KOHIMARAMA. 1866. + + + +The removal of his much-loved correspondent did not long withhold the +outpouring of Bishop Patteson's heart to his family; while his work was +going on at the College, according to his own definition of education +which was given about this time in a speech at St. John's: 'Education +consists in teaching people to bear responsibilities, and laying the +responsibilities on them as they are able to bear them.' + +Meanwhile, he wrote as follows to Miss Mackenzie, on receiving the book +she had promised to send him as a relic of her brother:-- + + +'January 1, 1866. + +'My dear Miss Mackenzie,--I have this evening received your brother's +Thomas a Kempis, and your letter. I valued the letter much, as a true +faithful record of one whom may God grant that I may know hereafter, if, +indeed, I may be enabled to follow him as he followed Christ. And as +for the former, what can I say but I hope that the thought of your dear +brother may help me to read that holy book in something of the spirit in +which he read and meditated on it. + +'It seems to bring me very near to him in thought. Send me one of his +autographs to paste into it. I don't like to cut out the one I have in +the long letter to the Scottish Episcopal Church, which you kindly sent +me. + +'I found, too, in one of Mr. Codrington's boxes, a small sextant for me, +which, being packed with the Thomas a Kempis, I think may have been your +brother's. Do you really mean this for me too? If so, I shall value it +scarcely less than the book. Indeed, I think that, divided as I am from +all relations and home influences and affections, I cling all the more +to such means as I may still enjoy of keeping up associations. I like +to have my father's watch-chain in use, and to write on his old desk. +I remember my inkstand in our drawing-room in London. So I value much +these memorials of the first Missionary Bishop of the Church of England, +in modern days at all events, and night by night as I read a few lines +in his book, and think of him, it brings me, I hope, nearer in spirit to +him and to others, who, like him, have done their duty well and now rest +in Christ. + +'We are pretty well now (Jan. 20), but one very promising lad sank last +week in low fever; a good truthful lad he was, and as I baptized him at +midnight shortly before he died, I felt the great blessing of being able +with a very clear conscience to minister to him that holy sacrament; and +so he passed away, to dwell, I trust, with his Lord. + +'What a revelation to that spirit in its escape from the body! But I +must not write on. With many thanks once again for these highly-valued +memorials of your brother, + +'I remain, my dear Miss Mackenzie, + +'Very truly yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The sandal-wood referred to in the following letter was the brother's +gift to a church, All Saints, Babbicombe, in which his sisters were +deeply interested, and of which their little nephew laid the first +stone:-- + + +'St. Matthias' Day. + +'My dearest Sisters,--You are thinking of me to-day, I know, but you +hardly know that in an hour or two I hope the Primate will ride down and +baptize nine of our Melanesian scholars. + +'The last few weeks have been a happy, though of course an anxious time, +and now to-day the great event of their lives is to take place. May God +grant that the rest of their lives may be like this beginning! + +'We avoid all fuss. I don't like anyone being here but the Primate and +Mrs. Selwyn, yet I think some dozen more may come, though I don't like +it. I need not say that making a scene on such occasions is to my +mind very objectionable. I could much prefer being quite alone. I have +translated some appropriate Psalms, but the 2nd and 57th they hardly +know as yet quite well; so our service will be Psalms 96, 97, 114; 1st +lesson 2 Kings, v. 9--15, Magnificat; 2nd lesson Acts viii. 5-12, +and the Baptismal Service. Henry Tagalana reads the first, and George +Sarawia the second lesson. Then will come my quiet evening, as, I trust, +a close of an eventful day. I have your English letters of December, +with the news of Johnny laying the stone. I am thankful that that good +work is begun. Sir John Young writes to me that I can have a gift of 100 +acres at Norfolk Island, with permission to buy more. I think that, all +being well, I shall certainly try it with a small party next summer, the +main body of scholars being still brought to Kohimarama. + +'The sandal-wood is not yet gone! But, my dear Joan, the altar of +sandal-wood! If it is to be solid and not veneered, why, L50 would not +buy it at Erromango. It sells in Sydney for about L70 a ton, and it is +very heavy wood. However, I will send some of the largest planks I ever +saw of the wood, and it is now well seasoned. It cost me L14 merely to +work it into a very simple lectern, so hard is the grain. + +'What has become of the old Eton stamp of men? Have you any in +England? I must not run the risk of the Mission being swamped, by +well-intentioned, but untaught men. We must have gentlemen of white +colour, or else I must rely wholly, as I always meant to do chiefly, on +my black gentlemen; and many of them are thorough gentlemen in feeling +and conduct, albeit they don't wear shoes. + +'It was a most impressive service. The dear Primate looking worn and +somewhat aged, very full of feeling; the two most advanced, George and +Henry, in their surplices, reading the Lessons; the nine candidates +looking so reverent and grave, yet not without self-possession. + +'As he signed each one with the sign of the Cross, his left hand resting +on the head of each, the history of the Mission rushed into my mind, the +fruit of the little seed be sowed when, eight years ago, he thought it +wisest not to go ashore at Mota, and now more than twenty Christians of +the Banks Islands serve God with prayers night and day. + +'What would you have thought, if you could have been there? Our little +chapel looked nice with the red hangings and sandal-wood lectern. + +'Then we had a quiet cup of tea, and the old and new baptized party had +a quiet talk with me till 8.30, when I sent them away. + +'And then after an hour I was alone. That I should have been already +five years a Bishop, and how much to think of and grieve over, something +too to be thankful for. Perhaps after all, dear Edwin and Fisher stand +out most clearly from all the many scenes and circumstances. + +'And now what is to come? This move to Norfolk Island? Or what? +"Something," you say; "perhaps in time showing the Governor that the +Melanesians are not so very wild." But it is another Governor; and so +far from the Melanesians being wild, it is expressly on the ground that +the example of the school will be beneficial that I am asked to go! + +'Tell all who may care to know it about our St. Matthias' Day, I must +give myself the pleasure of writing one line to Mr. Keble. I won't write +many lest I weary him, dear good man. I like to look at his picture, and +have stuck the photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Keble which Charlotte Yonge +sent me into the side of it. How I value his prayers and thoughts for us +all! + +'Your loving brother, + +'J. C. P. + +'P.S.--No terms of full communion between the Home and the Colonial +Church can be matter of Parliamentary legislation. It is the "One Faith, +One Lord," that binds us together; and as for regulating the question +of colonially ordained clergy ministering in English dioceses, you had +better equalise your own Church law first for dealing with an Incumbent +and a Curate.' + + +'Auckland: Tuesday in Holy Week. + +'My dear Uncle,--I have long owed you a letter, but I have not written +because I have had an unusual time of distraction. Now, all my things +being on board the "Southern Cross," I am detained by a foul wind. We +can do nothing till it changes; and I am not sorry to have a few quiet +hours, though the thought of a more than usually serious separation from +the dear Primate and Mrs. Selwyn, Sir William and Lady Martin, hangs +over my head rather gloomily. Still I am convinced, as far as I can +be of such matters, that this move to Norfolk Island is good for the +Mission on the whole. It has its drawbacks, as all plans have, but the +balance is decidedly in favour of Norfolk Island as against New Zealand. +I have given reasons at length for this opinion in letters to Joan and +Fan, and also, I think, to Charlotte Yonge, who certainly deserves to +know all my thoughts about it. + +'But I may shortly state some of them, in case you may not have heard +them, because I should like this step to approve itself to your mind:-- + +'1. Norfolk Island is 600 miles hearer to Melanesian islands than +Auckland, and not only nearer in actual distance, but the 600 miles from +Norfolk Island to Auckland are the cold and boisterous miles that must +be passed at the extremities of the voyages with no intervening lands to +call at and obtain a change for our large party on board. + +'2. The difficulty usually is to get westward when sailing from New +Zealand, by the North Cape of New Zealand, because the prevalent winds +are from the west. So that usually the passage to Norfolk Island is a +long-one. + +'3. New Zealand is much to the east of Norfolk Island, and to go from +the Loyalty, New Hebrides, Banks, and Santa Cruz groups to New Zealand, +it is necessary to make a long stretch out to the N.E. (the trades +blowing from about S.E. by E.), standing down to S. on the other tack. +But Norfolk Island is almost due S. of other those groups. + +'4. I cannot come back from the islands during my winter voyage to New +Zealand, it is too distant; the coast is dangerous in the winter season +and the cold too great for a party of scholars first coming from the +tropics. But I can go backwards and forwards through the islands and +Norfolk Island during the five winter months. It is not wise to sail +about in the summer, hurricanes being prevalent then. + +'5. As I can only make one return from the islands to New Zealand in +the year, I can only have a school consisting of (say) sixty Melanesians +brought in the very crowded vessel + (say) thirty left in New Zealand +for the winter; and I dare not attempt to leave many, for so much care +is needed in the cold season. But in Norfolk Island I can have a school +of any number, because I can make separate voyages thither from the +Banks and Solomon Islands, &c., each time bringing a party of sixty, if +I think fit. + +'6. The productions of Norfolk Island include the yam, taro (Caladium +esculentum), sweet potato, sugar-cane, banana, almond, orange, +pine-apple, coffee, maize. Only cocoa-nut and bread-fruit are wanting, +that natives of Melanesia care much about. + +'7. There is no necessity for so violent a contrast as there must be in +New Zealand between the life with us and in their homes in respect of +dress, food, and houses. + +'Light clothing and an improved style of native house and more cleanly +way of eating their food--not of cooking it, for they are cleanly +already in that--may be adopted, and more easily perpetuated in their +own homes than the heavy clothing necessary here, and the different +style of houses and more English food. + +'This is very important, because with any abrupt change of the outer +man, there is sometimes a more, very more natural abandonment of the +inner thoughts and disposition and character. Just as men so often lose +self-respect when they take to the bush life; or children who pray by +their own little bedside alone, leave off praying in "long chamber," the +outward circumstances being altered. + +'I have for years thought that we seek in our Missions a great deal +too much to make English Christians of our converts. We consciously and +unanimously assume English Christianity (as something distinct I mean +from the doctrines of the Church of England), to be necessary; much as +so many people assume the relation of Church and State in England to +be the typical and normal condition of the Church, which should be +everywhere reproduced. Evidently the heathen man is not treated fairly +if we encumber our message with unnecessary requirements. + +'The ancient Church had its "selection of fundamentals"--a kind of +simple and limited expansion of the Apostles' Creed for doctrine and +Apostolic practice for discipline. + +'Notoriously the Eastern and Western mind misunderstood one another. The +speculative East and the practical West could not be made to think after +the same fashion. The Church of Christ has room for both. + +'Now any one can see what mistakes we have made in India. Few men think +themselves into the state of the Eastern mind, feel the difficulties +of the Asiatic, and divine the way in which Christianity should be +presented to him. + +'We seek to denationalise these races, as far as I can see; whereas +we ought surely to change as little as possible--only what is clearly +incompatible with the simplest form of Christian teaching and practice. + +'I don't mean that we are to compromise truth, but to study the native +character, and not present the truth in an unnecessarily unattractive +form. + +'Don't we overlay it a good deal with human traditions, and still more +often take it for granted that what suits us must be necessary for them, +and vice versa. + +'So many of our missionaries are not accustomed, not taught to think +of these things. They grow up with certain modes of thought, hereditary +notions, and they seek to reproduce these, no respect being had to the +utterly dissimilar character and circumstances of the heathen. + +'I think much about all this. Sir William Martin and I have much talk +about it; and the strong practical mind of the Primate, I hope, would +keep me straight if I was disposed to theorise, which I don't think is +the case. + +'But Christianity is the religion for humanity at large. It takes in all +shades and diversities of character, race, &c. + +'The substratum of it is, so to say, inordinate and coextensive with the +substratum of humanity--all men must receive that. Each set of men must +also receive many thing of secondary, yet of very great importance +for them; but in this class there will be differences according to the +characteristic differences of men throughout the world. + +'I can't explain myself fully; but, dear Uncle, I think there is +something in what I am trying to say. + +'I want to see more discrimination, more sense of the due proportion, +the relative importance of the various parts which make up the sum of +extra teaching. + +'There is so great want of order in the methods so often adopted, +want of arrangement, and proper sequence, and subordination of one to +another. + +'The heathen man will assume some arbitrary dictate of a missionary to +be of equal authority and importance with a moral command of God, unless +you take care. Of course the missionary ought not to attempt to impose +any arbitrary rule at all; but many missionaries do, and usually justify +such conduct on the ground of their "exceptional position." + +'But one must go much further. If I tell a man just beginning to +listen, two or three points of Christian faith, or two or three rules of +Christian life, without any orderly connection, I shall but puzzle him. + +'Take, e.g., our English Sunday, I am far from wishing to change the +greater part of the method of observing it in England. + +'I hope the Melanesian Christians may learn to keep holy the Lord's Day. +But am I to begin my teaching of a wild Solomon Islander at that end; +when he has not learned the evil of breaking habitually the sixth, +seventh, and eighth Commandments? + +'I notice continually the tendency of the teaching of the very men who +denounce "forms" to produce formation. + +'It is nearest to the native mind; it generates hypocrisy and mere +outward observance of certain rules, which, during the few years that +the people remain docile on their first acceptance of the new teaching, +they are content to submit to. + +'I see the great difficulty of making out all this. It necessitates +the leaving so very much to the discretion of the pioneer. Ergo the +missionary must not be the man who is not good enough for ordinary work +in England, but the men whom England even does not produce in large +numbers with some power of dealing with these questions. + +'It is much better and safer to have a regular well-known rule to act +by; but I don't see how you can give me, e.g., precise directions. It +seems to me that you must use great care in selecting your man, and then +trust him fully. + +'I hope it is not an excess of self-conceit and self-reliance which +makes me pass by, rather lightly, I confess, some of the advice that +very well-intentioned people occasionally volunteer to missionaries. I +have had (D. Gr.) the Primate and Sir William Martin's men, who know what +heathenism is, and the latter of whom has deeply studied the character +of the various races of the world. + +'I mean that when some one said, "Do you really mean to place those +savage Melanesians among the immaculate Pitcairners?" the natural +answer seemed to me to be, "I am not aware that you ever saw either a +Pitcairner or a Melanesian." I thought it rather impertinent. The truth +is, that the great proportion of our Melanesian scholars in our school, +i.e., not standing alone, but helped by the discipline of the school, +are quite competent to set an example to the average Pitcairners. But +this I mark only as an illustration of my meaning. Occasionally I hear +of some book or sermon or speech in which sound views (as I venture to +call them) are propounded on these points. + +'Always your loving and grateful Nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The next letter was called forth by my sorrowful communication of the +shattered state of both my dear friends; of whom, one, at the very +time that my Cousin wrote, was already gone to his rest, having been +mercifully spared the loneliness and grief we had feared for him. + + +'St. Andrew's: April 24, 1866. + +'My dear Cousin,--I write a line at once in reply to a letter of January +29, for I see that a great sorrow is hanging over you, is perhaps +already fallen on you, and I would fain say my word of sympathy, +possibly of comfort. + +'One, perhaps, of the great blessings that a person in my position +enjoys is that he must perforce see through the present gloom occasioned +by loss of present companionship on to the joy beyond. I hear of the +death of dear Uncle, and friends, and even of that loving and holy +Father of mine, and somehow it seems all peace, and calmness, and joy. +It would not be so were I in England, to actually experience the sense +of loss, to see the vacant seat, and miss the well-known voice; but it +is (as I see) a great and most blessed alleviation to the loss of their +society here below. You feel that when those loving hearts at Hursley +can no longer be a stay and comfort to you here, you will have a sense +almost of desolation pressing on you. You must, we all have, many trials +and some sorrows, and I suppose Hursley has always been to you a city of +refuge and house of rest. + +'But I think the anticipation is harder than the reality. For him, but +how can I speak of such as he is? Why should we feel anxiety? Surely he +is just the man upon whom we should expect some special suffering, which +is but some special mark of love and (may we not say in such a case?) of +approbation. Some special aid to a very close conformity to the mind and +character of Christ, to be sent in special love and mercy. + +'I always seem to think that in the case of good men the suffering is +the sure earnest of special nearness to God. It surely--if one may dare +so to speak, and the case of Job warrants it, and the great passage +"Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you" (all)--is true that +God is glorified in the endurance of sufferings which He lays upon the +saints. And if dear Mr. Keble must suffer this last blow, as all through +his life he has felt the care of the Churches pressing sorely on him, +and has even had to comfort the weary, and guide the wayward, and to +endure disappointment, and to restrain the over zealotish, and +reprove the thoughtless, and bear in his bosom the infirmities of many +people--why must we be unhappy about him, and why mourn for ourselves? +God forbid! It is only one mark of the cross stamped upon him, only one +more draught of the cup of the lacking measures of the afflictions of +Christ. But you must, more than I, know and feel all this; and it is +only in attempting to put before your eyes your own thoughts, that I +have written this. For, indeed, I do sympathise with you, and I think +how to me, who knew him so little yet yield to no one in deep reverence +and love for him, his departure would be almost what the passing away of +one of those who had seen the Lord must have been to those of old time; +yet our time is not so very long now, and may be short, and we have had +this blessed example for a long time, and there is on all accounts far +more cause for joy than for sorrow. + +'You must not think me unkind to Miss Mackenzie, because I have written +to Fan to say that my letters and anecdotes are not to be fishes to swim +in her "Net." It may be unwise in me to write all that kind of thing, +but it does such an infinity of harm by its reflex action upon us who +are engaged in this work. And I can write brotherly letters, if they are +to be treated as public property. I could not trust my own brother to +make extracts from my letters. No one in England can be a judge of +the mischief that the letters occasion printed contrary to my wish by +friends. We in the Mission think them so infinitely absurd, one-sided, +exaggerated, &c., though we don't mean to make them so when we write +them. + +'We are all well, thank God, except a good fellow called Walter +Hotaswol, from Matlavo (Saddle Island), who is in a decline. He has had +two bad haemorrhages; but he is patient, simple-minded, quite content +to die, and not doubting at all his Father's love, and his Saviour's +merits, so I cannot grieve for him, though he was the one, humanly +speaking, to have led the way in his home. + +'You know that I sympathise with all your anxieties about Church +matters. Parliamentary legislation would be the greatest evil of all. +All your troubles only show that synodical action, and I believe with +the laity in the Synod, is the only cure for these troubles. + +'God bless you, my dear Cousin, + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +To the sisters he wrote at the same time:-- + +'I hear from Miss Yonge that Mrs. Keble is very ill--dying. But, as I +wrote to her, why should such things grieve us? He will soon rejoin her, +and so it is all peace and comfort. He was seventy-five, I think, last +St. Mark's Day, and I began a letter to him, but it was not fair to +him to give him the trouble of reading it, and I tore it up. He knows +without it how I do love and revere him, and I cannot pluck up courage +to ask for some little book which he has used, that there may be a +sort of odour of sanctity about it, just as Bishop Mackenzie's Thomas a +Kempis, with him on the Zambesi, is on my table now.' + + +Before going forth with this 'lonely watcher' upon his voyage, the +description of this season's work with his scholars must be given from a +Report which he brought himself to write for the Eton Association. After +saying how his efforts were directed to the forming a number of native +clergy in time to work among their own people, he continues:--'When +uncivilised races come into contact with civilised men, they must either +be condemned to a hopeless position of inferiority, or they must be +raised out of their state of ignorance and vice by appealing to those +powers within them which God intended them to use, and the use of which +will place them by His blessing in the possession of whatever good +things may be denoted by the words Religion and Civilisation. + +'Either we may say to our Melanesian scholars, "You can't expect to be +like us: you must not suppose that you can ever cease to be dependent on +us, you must be content always to do as you are told by us, to be like +children, as in malice so in knowledge; you can never be missionaries, +you may become assistant teachers to English missionaries whom you must +implicitly obey, you must do work which it would not be our place to do, +you must occupy all the lower and meaner offices of our society;"--or, +if we do not say this (and, indeed, no one would be likely to say it), +yet we may show by our treatment of our scholars that we think and mean +it. + +'Or we may say what was, e.g., said to a class of nineteen scholars who +were reading Acts ix. + +'"Did our Lord tell Saul all that he was to do?" + +'"No." + +'"What! not even when He appeared to him in that wonderful way from +Heaven?" + +'"No." + +'"What did the Lord say to him?" + +'"That he was to go into Damascus, and there it would be told him what +he was to do." + +'"What means did the Lord use to tell Saul what he was to do?" + +'"He sent a man to tell him." + +'"Who was he?" + +'"Ananias." + +'"Do we know much about him?" + +'"No, only that he was sent with a message to Saul to tell him the +Lord's will concerning him and to baptize him." + +'"What means did the Lord employ to make His will known to Saul?" + +'"He sent a disciple to tell him." '"Did He tell him Himself +immediately?" + +'"No, He sent a man to tell him." + +'"Mention another instance of God's working in the same way, recorded in +the Acts." + +'"The case of Cornelius, who was told by the angel to send for Peter." + +'"The angel then was not sent to tell Cornelius the way of salvation?" + +'"No, God sent Peter to do that." + +'"Jesus Christ began to do the same thing when He was on earth, did He +not, even while He was Himself teaching and working miracles?" + +'"Yes; He sent the twelve Apostles and the seventy disciples." + +'"But what is the greatest instance of all, the greatest proof to us +that God chooses to declare His will through man to man?" + +'"God sent His own Son to become man." + +'"Could He not have converted the whole world in a moment to the +obedience of faith by some other way?" + +'"Yes." + +'"But what did He in His wisdom choose to do?" + +'"He sent His Son to be born of the Virgin Mary, to become man, and to +walk on this earth as a real man, and to teach men, and to die for men." + +'"What does Jesus Christ call us men?" + +'"His brethren." '"Who is our Mediator?" + +'"The Man Christ Jesus." + +'"What means does God employ to make His will known to us?" + +'"He uses men to teach men." + +'"Can they do this by themselves?" + +'"No, but God makes them able." + +'"How have you heard the Gospel?" + +'"Because God sent you to us." + +'"And now, listen. How are all your people still in ignorance to hear +it? What have I often told you about that?" + +'Whereupon the scholars looked shy, and some said softly, "We must teach +them." + +'"Yes, indeed you must!" + +'And so the lesson ended with questioning them on the great duty and +privilege of prayer for God's Holy Spirit to give them both the will and +the power to do the work to which God is calling them. + +'So we constantly tell them "God has already been very merciful to you, +in that He has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. He +has enabled you to receive the knowledge of His will, and to understand +your relations to Him. He has taught you to believe in Him, to pray to +Him, to hope for salvation through the merits of His Son's death and +resurrection. He has made you feel something of the power of His love, +and has taught you the duty of loving Him and serving your brother. He +calls upon you now to rouse yourself to a sense of your true position, +to use the gifts which He has given you to His glory and the good of +your brethren. Don't suppose that you are unable to do this. You +are unable to do it, as you were unable to believe and love Him by +yourselves, but He gives you strength for this very purpose that you may +be able to do it. You can do it through Christ, who strengtheneth you. +Our fathers were not more able to teach their people once than you to +teach your people now!" + +'We make no distinction whatever between English and Melanesian members +of the Mission as such. No Melanesian is excluded from any office of +trust. No classification is made of higher and lower kinds of work, of +work befitting a white man and work befitting a black man. English +and Melanesian scholars or teachers work together in the school, +printing-office, dairy, kitchen, farm. The senior clergyman of the +Mission labours most of all with his own hands at the work which +is sometimes described as menial work; and it is contrary to the +fundamental principle of the Mission that anyone should connect with the +idea of white man the right to fag a black boy. + +'Young men and lads come to us and say, "Let me do that. I can't write +the languages, or do many things you or Mr. Pritt or Mr. Palmer do, so +let me scrub your floor, or brush your shoes, or fetch some water." +And of course we let them do so, for the doing it is accompanied by no +feeling of degradation in their minds; they have seen us always doing +these things, and not requiring them to do them as if it were the +natural work for them, because they are black, and not proper for us, +because we are white. + +'Last night, a young man, sitting by the fire, said to the Bishop, "They +want you to stop with them in my land." + +'"I wish with all my heart I could." + +'"Yes, I know, you must go to so many places." + +'"But they are different in your land now." + +'"Oh! yes, they don't fight now as they used to do; they don't go about +armed now." + +'"Well, that is a thing to be thankful for. What is the reason of it, do +you think? " + +"Why they know about you, and see you now and then, and Henry Tagalana +talked to them, and I talked a little to them, and they asked me about +our ways here, and they want to learn." + +'"Well, there are now five of you from your island, and you must try +hard to learn, that you may teach them, for remember you must do it, if +God spares your life."' + +'During the year 1865 a great advance was made in the industrial +department of our work. About seventeen acres of land were taken in hand +and worked by Mr. Pritt, with the Melanesian lads. We have our own +dairy of thirteen cows, and, besides supplying the whole Mission party, +numbering in all seventy-seven persons, with abundance of milk, we sell +considerable quantities of butter. We grow, of course, our own potatoes +and vegetables, and maize, &c., for our cows. The farm and dairy work +affords another opportunity for teaching our young people to acquire +habits of industry.' + +Cooking, farm, gardening, dairy-work, setting out the table, &c., +were all honourable occupations, and of great importance in teaching +punctuality and regularity, and the various arts and decencies of life +to the youths, who were in time to implant good habits in their native +homes. Their natural docility made them peculiarly easy to manage and +train while in hand; the real difficulty was that their life was so +entirely different from their home, that there was no guessing how deep +the training went, and, on every voyage, some fishes slipped through the +meshes of the net, though some returned again, and others never dropped +from their Bishop's hands. But he was becoming anxious to spare some of +his scholars the trial of a return to native life; and, as the season +had been healthy, he ventured on leaving twenty-seven pupils at St. +Andrew's with Mr. and Mrs. Pritt, among them George and Sarah Sarawia. + +After Trinity Sunday, May 27, the 'Southern Cross' sailed, and the +outward voyage gave leisure for the following letter to Prof. Max +Muller, explaining why he could not make his knowledge of languages of +more benefit to philology while thus absorbed in practical work:-- + + +'"Southern Cross," off Norfolk Ireland: June 6, 1866. + +'My dear Friend,--I am about to tire your patience heavily. For I +must find you some reasons for doing so little in making known these +Melanesian dialects, and that will be wearisome for you to read; and, +secondly, I cannot put down clearly and consecutively what I want to +say. I have so very little time for thinking out, and working at any +one subject continuously, that my whole habit of mind becomes, I fear, +inaccurate and desultory. I have so very many and so very different +occupations, and so much anxiety and so many interruptions, as the +"friction" that attends the working, of a new and somewhat untried +machine.' + +'You know that we are few in number; indeed (Codrington being absent) +I have but two clergymen with me, and two young men who may be ordained +by-and-by. Besides, had I the twenty troublesome men, whom you wish to +banish into these regions, what use would they or any men be until they +had learnt their work? And it must fall to me to teach them, and that +takes again much of my time; so that, as a matter of fact, there are +many things that I must do, even when all is going on smoothly; and +should sickness come, then, of course, my days and nights are spent +in nursing poor lads, to whom no one else can talk, cheering up poor +fellows seized with sudden nervous terror, giving food to those who will +take it from no one else, &c. + +'Then the whole management of the Mission must fall upon me; though I am +most thankful to say that for some time Mr. Pritt has relieved me from +the charge of all domestic and industrial works. He does everything of +that kind, and does it admirably, so that our institution really is a +well-ordered industrial school, in which kitchen work, dairy work, farm +work, printing, clothes making and mending, &c., are all carried on, +without the necessity of having any foreign importation of servants, +who would be sure to do harm, both by their ideas as to perquisites (= +stealing in the minds of our Melanesians), and by introducing the idea +of paid labour; whereas now we all work together, and no one counts any +work degrading, and still less does any one qua white consider himself +entitled to fag a Melanesian. + +'Mr. Tilly, R.N., has also quite relieved me from my duties as skipper, +and I have no trouble about marine stores, shipping seamen, navigating +the vessel now. I cannot be too thankful for this; it, saves me time, +anxiety, and worry; yet much remains that I must do, which is not +connected with peculiar work directly. + +'I can't refuse the Bishop of New Zealand when he presses me (for want +of a better man) to be trustee of properties, and to engage in managing +the few educational institutions we have. I can't refuse to take some +share in English clerical work while on shore; indeed, in 1865, my good +friend Archdeacon Lloyd being ill, I took his parish (one and a half +hour distant from Kohimarama), the most important parish in Auckland, +for some three months; not slacking my Melanesian work, though I could +only avoid going back by hard application, and could make no progress. +Then I must attend our General Synod; and all these questions concerning +the colonial churches take some time to master, and yet I must know what +is going on. + +'Then I must carry on all the correspondence of the Mission. I am always +writing letters. Every L5 from any part of New Zealand or Australia I +must acknowledge; and everyone wants information, anecdotes, &c., which +it vexes my soul to have to supply, but who else can do it? Then I keep +all the accounts, very complicated, as you would say if you saw my big +ledger. And I don't like to be altogether behindhand in the knowledge +of theological questions, and people sometimes write to me, and their +letters need to be answered carefully. Besides, take my actual time +spent in teaching. Shall I give you a day at Kohimarama? + +'I get in the full summer months an hour for reading by being dressed +at 5.30 A.M. At 5.30 I see the lads washing, &c., 7 A.M. breakfast all +together, in hall, 7.30 chapel, 8-9.30 school, 9.30-12.30 industrial +work. During this time I have generally half an hour with Mr. Pritt +about business matters, and proof sheets are brought me, yet I get a +little time for preparing lessons. 12.45 short service in chapel, 1 +dinner, 2-3 Greek Testament with English young men, 3-4 classics with +ditto, 5 tea, 6.30 evening chapel, 7-8.30 evening school with divers +classes in rotation or with candidates for Baptism or Confirmation, +8.30-9 special instruction to more advanced scholars, only a few. 9-10 +school with two other English lay assistants. Add to all this, visitors +interrupting me from 4-5, correspondence, accounts, trustee business, +sermons, nursing sick boys, and all the many daily unexpected little +troubles that must be smoothed down, and questions inquired into, and +boys' conduct investigated, and what becomes of linguistics? So much +for my excuse for my small progress in languages! Don't think all this +egotistical; it is necessary to make you understand my position. + +'If I had spare time, leisure for working at any special work, perhaps +eleven years of this kind of life have unfitted me for steady sustained +thought. And you know well I bring but slender natural qualifications +to the task. A tolerably true ear and good memory for words, and now +something of the instinctive insight into new tongues, but that is +chiefly from continual practice. + +'But when I attempt to systematise, I find endless ramifications of +cognate dialects rushing through my brain, by their very multitude +overwhelming me, and though I see the affinities and can make practical +use of them, I don't know how to state them on paper, where to begin, +how to put another person in my position. + +'Again, for observation of the rapid changes in these dialects, I have +not much opportunity. For no one in Melanesia can be my informant. It +is not easy where so many dialects must be known for practical purposes, +for the introductory part of Mission work, to talk to some wild naked +old fellow, and to make him understand what I am anxious to ascertain. +It is a matter that has no interest for him, he never thought of it, +he doesn't know my meaning, what have we in common? How can I rouse him +from his utter indifference, even if I know his language so well as to +talk easily, not to a scholar of my own, but to an elderly man, with +none but native ideas in his head? + +'All that I can do is to learn many dialects of a given archipelago, +present their existing varieties, and so work back to the original +language. This, to some extent, has been done in the Banks group, and +in the eastern part of the Solomon Isles. But directly I get so far as +this, I am recalled to the practical necessity of using the knowledge +of the several dialects rather to make known God's truth to the heathen +than to inform literati of the process of dialectic variation. Don't +mistake me, my dear friend, or suspect me of silly sentimentalism. But +you can easily understand what it is to feel "God has given to me only +of all Christian men the power of speaking to this or that nation, and, +moreover, that is the work He has sent me to do." Often, I don't deny, +I should like the other better. It is very pleasant to shirk my evening +class, e.g. and spend the time with Sir William Martin, discussing some +point of Melanesian philosophy. But then my dear lads have lost two +hours of Christian instruction, and that won't do. + +'I don't need to be urged to do more in working out their languages. I +am quite aware of the duty of doing all that I can in that way, and I +wish to do it; but there are only twenty-four hours in the day and night +together! I feel that it is a part of my special work, for each grammar +and dictionary that I can write opens out the language to some other +than myself. But I am now apologising rather for my fragmentary way of +writing what I do write by saying that what I find enough, with my +help given in school to enable one of my party to learn a dialect, I am +almost obliged to regard as a measure of the time that I ought to spend +on it. + +'Another thing, I have no outline provided for me, which I can fill up. +My own clear impression is that to attempt to follow the analogy of +our complicated Greek and Latin grammars would not only involve certain +failure, but would mislead people altogether. I don't want to be hunting +after a Melanesian paulo-post-futurum. I had rather say, "All men qua +men think, and have a power of expressing their thoughts. They have +wants and express them. They use many different forms of speech in +making that statement, if we look superficially at the matter, not so if +we look into it," and so on. Then, discarding the ordinary arrangement +of grammars, explain the mode of thought, the peculiar method of +thinking upon matters of common interest, in the mind of the Melanesian, +as exhibited in his language. An Englishman says, "When I get there, it +will be night." But a Pacific Islander says, "I am there, it is night." +The one says, "Go on, it will soon be dark." The other, "Go on, it has +become already night." Anyone sees that the one possesses the power of +realising the future as present, or past; the other now whatever it may +have been once, does not exercise such power. A companion calls me at +5.30 A.M., with the words, "Eke! me gong veto," (Hullo! it is night +already). He means, "Why, we ought to be off, we shall never reach +the end of our journey before dark." But how neatly and prettily he +expresses his thought! I assure you, civilised languages, for +common conversational purposes needed by travellers, &c., are clumsy +contrivances! Of course you know all this a hundred times better than I +do. I only illustrate my idea of a grammar as a means of teaching others +the form of the mould in which the Melanesian's mind is cast. I think +I ought to go farther, and seek for certain categories, under which +thought may be classified (so to say), and beginning with the very +simplest work on to the more complicated powers. + +'But I haven't the head to do this; and suppose that I did make such a +framework, how am I to fill it in so as to be intelligible to outsiders? +For practical purposes, I give numerals, personal, possessive, and +demonstrative pronouns, the mode of qualifying nouns, e.g., some +languages interpose a monosyllable between the substantive and +adjective, others do not. The words used (as it is called) as +prepositions and adverbs, the mode of changing a neuter verb into a +transitive or causative verb, usually by a word prefixed, which means do +or make, e.g., die, do-die, do-to-the-death, him. + +'Then I teach orally how the intonation, accentuation, pause in +the utterance, gesticulation, supply the place of stops, marks of +interrogation, &c. + +'Then giving certain nouns, verbs, &c., make my English pupils construct +sentences; then give them a vocabulary and genuine native stories, not +translations at all, least of all of religious books, which contain very +few native ideas, but stories of sharks, cocoa-nuts, canoes, fights, +&c. This is the apparatus. This gives but little idea of a Melanesian +dialect to you. I know it, and am anxious to do more. + +'This last season I have had some three or four months, during which I +determined that I must refuse to take so much English work, &c. I sat +and growled in my den, and of course rather vexed people, and perhaps, +for which I should be most heartily grieved, my dear friend and leader, +the Bishop of New Zealand. But I stuck to my work. I wrote about a dozen +papers of phrases in as many dialects, to show the mode of expressing in +those dialects what we express by adverbs and prepositions, &c. This is, +of course, the difficult part of a language for a stranger to find +out. I also printed three, and have three more nearly finished in MS., +vocabularies of about 600 words with a true native sehdia on each word. +The mere writing (for much was written twice over) took a long time. And +there is this gained by these vocabularies for practical purposes: these +are (with more exceptions, it is true, than I intended) the words which +crop up most readily in a Melanesian mind. Much time I have wasted, and +would fain save others from wasting, in trying to form a Melanesian +mind into a given direction into which it ought, as I supposed, to have +travelled, but which nevertheless it refused to follow. Just ten years' +experience has, of course, taught me a good deal of the minds of these +races; and when I catch a new fellow, as wild as a hawk, and set to work +at a new language, it is a great gain to have even partially worked out +the problem, "What words shall I try to get from this fellow?" Now I go +straight to my mark, or rather I am enabling, I hope, my young friends +with me to do so, for of course, I have learnt to do so myself, more +or less, for some time past. Many words may surprise you, and many +alterations I should make in any revision. I know a vast number of words +not used in these vocabularies, in some languages I daresay five times +the number, but I had a special reason for writing only these. The rest +must come, if I live, by-and-by. + +'Of course these languages are very poor in respect of words belonging +to civilised and literary and religious life, but exceedingly rich in +all that pertains to the needs and habits of men circumstanced as +they are. I draw naturally this inference, "Don't be in any hurry to +translate, and don't attempt to use words as (assumed) equivalents of +abstract ideas. Don't devise modes of expression unknown to the language +as at present in use. They can't understand, and therefore don't use +words to express definitions." + +But, as everywhere, our Lord gives us the model. A certain lawyer asked +Him for a definition of his neighbour, but He gave no definition, only +He spoke a simple and touching parable. So teach, not a technical word, +but an actual thing. + +'Why do I write all this to you? It is wasting your time. But I prose +on.--(A sheet follows on the structure of the languages.) + +'Well, I have inflicted a volume on you. We are almost becalmed after a +weary fortnight of heavy weather, in which we have been knocked about +in every direction in our tight little 90-ton schooner. And my head is +hardly steady yet, so excuse a long letter, or rather long chatty set of +desultory remarks, from + +'Your old affectionate Friend, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +A little scene from Mr. Atkin's journal shows how he had learnt to talk +to natives. He went ashore with the Bishop and some others at Sesaki for +yams:-- + +'It has been by far the pleasantest day of the kind that I have seen +here. The people are beginning to understand that they can do no better +than trade fairly with us, and to-day they on the whole behaved very +well. A very big fellow had been ringing all the changes between +commanding and entreating me to give him a hatchet (I was holding the +trade bag). When he found it was no use, he said, "I was a bad man, and +never gave anything." I said "Yes, I was." He said the Bishops were very +good men, they gave liberally. He had better go and ask the Bishop for +something, for he was a good man, though I was not.' + +After landing Mr. Palmer at Mota, the vessel went onto the Solomon +Isles, reaching Bauro on the 27th:-- + +'About 8.30 in the evening the boat was lowered, and the party pulled +towards the village, which was the home of Taroniara, in a fine clear +moonlit night, by the fires which people had lit for the people on +shore, and directed by Taroniara himself to the opening in the reef. +They landed in the midst of a group of dark figures, some standing in a +brook, some by the side under a large spreading tree, round a fire fed +by dry cocoa-nut leaves; and in the background were tall cocoa-nuts with +their gracefully drooping plumes, and the moon behind shining through +them made the shade seem darker and deeper as the flashing crests of the +surf, breaking on the reef, made the heaving sea beyond look murkier. It +was a sight worth going a long way to see,' so says Mr. Atkin's journal. + +The next sight was, however, still more curious. The Bishop relented so +far towards 'the Net,' as to write an account of it on purpose for it. +Ysabel Island is, like almost all the rest, divided among many small +communities of warlike habits. And some years previously the people of +Mahaga, the place with which he was best acquainted, had laid an ambush +for those of Hogirano, killed a good many, and, cutting off their +heads, had placed them in a row upon stones, and danced round them in a +victorious suit of white-coral lime. However, a more powerful tribe, not +long after, came down upon Mahaga and fearfully avenged the massacre of +Hogirano. All were slain who could not escape into the bush; and when +the few survivors, after days and nights of hunger, ventured back, they +found the dwellings burnt, the fruit trees cut down, the yam and taro +grounds devastated, and more than a hundred headless bodies of their +kindred lying scattered about. + +This outrage had led to the erection of places of refuge in the tops of +trees; and Bishop Patteson, who had three Mahagan scholars, went ashore, +with the hope of passing the night in one of these wonderful places, +where the people always slept, though by day they lived in the ordinary +open bamboo huts. + +After landing in a mangrove swamp, and wading through deep mud, he found +that the Mahaga people had removed from their old site, and had built a +strong fortification near the sea; and close above, so as to be reached +by ladders resting on the wall, were six large tree-houses. + +It had been raining heavily for a day or two, and the paths were so deep +in mud that the bed of a water-course was found preferable to them. The +bush had been cleared for some distance before the steep rocky mound +where the village stood, surrounded by a high wall of stones, in which +one narrow entrance was left, approached by a fallen trunk of a tree +lying over a hollow. The huts were made of bamboo canes, and the floors, +raised above the ground, were nearly covered with mats and a kind of +basket work. + +The tree-houses, six in number, were upon the tops of trees of great +height, 50 feet round at the base, and all branches cleared off till +near the summit, where two or three grew out at right angles, something +after the manner of an Italian stone pine:-- + +'From the top of the wall the ladder that led to one of these houses was +60 feet long, but it was not quite upright, and the tree was growing at +some little distance from the bottom of the rock, and the distance by +a plumb line from the floor of the verandah to the ground on the lower +side of the tree was 94 feet. The floor of the house, which is made +first, was 23 feet long and about 11 broad; a narrow verandah is left at +each end, and the inside length of the house is 18 feet, the breadth +10 feet, the height to the ridge pole 6 feet. The floor was of bamboo +matted, the roof and sides of palm-leaf thatch. The ladders were +remarkable contrivances: a pole in the centre, from 4 to 6 inches in +diameter, to which were lashed by vines cross pieces of wood, about +two feet long. To steady these and hold on by were double shrouds of +supple-jacks. The rungs of the ladder were at unequal distances, 42 upon +the 50 feet ladder.' + +The Bishop and Pasvorang, who had gone ashore together, beheld men, +women, and children running up and down these ladders, and walking about +the bare branches, trusting entirely to their feet and not touching with +their hands. The Bishop, in his wet slippery shoes, did not think it +right to run the risk of an accident: and though Pasvorang, who was as +much at home as a sailor among the ropes of the 'Southern Cross,' made +the ascent, he came down saying, 'I was so afraid, my legs shook. +Don't you go, going aloft is nothing to it;' but the people could not +understand any dread; and when the Bishop said, 'I can't go up there. +I am neither bird nor bat, and I have no wings if I fall,' they thought +him joking. At the same time he saw a woman with a load on her back, +quietly walking up a ladder to another tree, not indeed so lofty as that +Pasvorang had tried, but as if it were the most natural thing in the +world, and without attempting to catch hold with her hands. + +'At night,' says the Bishop, 'as I lay ignominiously on the ground in +a hut, I heard the songs of the women aloft as voices from the clouds, +while the loud croaking of the frogs, the shrill noise of countless +cicadas, the scream of cockatoos and parrots, the cries of birds of many +kinds, and the not unreasonable fear of scorpions, all combined to keep +me awake. Solemn thoughts pass through the mind at such times, and from +time to time I spoke to the people who were sleeping in the hut with me. +It rained heavily in the night, and I was not sorry to find myself at 7 +A.M. on board the schooner.' + +The next day was spent in doing the honours of the ship, a crowd on +board all day; and on July 2 the Bishop landed again with Mr. Atkin, +and mounted up to this wonderful nest, where all these measurements +were made. It proved much more agreeable to look at from below than +to inhabit 'the low steaming bamboo huts--the crowds, the dirt, the +squalling of babies--you can't sit or stand, or touch anything that is +not grimy and sooty and muddy. It is silly to let these things really +affect one, only that it now seems rather to knock me up. After such +a day and night I am very tired, come back to our little ship as to a +palace, wash, and sit down on a clean, if not a soft stool, and am free +for a little while from continual noise and the necessity of making talk +in an imperfectly known language. + +'It is really curious to see how in some way our civilised mode of life +unfits one for living among these races. It is not to be denied that the +want of such occupations as we are employed in is a large cause of their +troubles. What are they to do during the long hours of night, and on +wet, pouring days? They can't read, they can't see in their huts to do +any work, making baskets, &c. They must lie about, talking scandal and +acquiring listless indolent habits. Then comes a wild reaction. The +younger people like excitement as much as our young men like hunting, +fishing, shooting, &c. How can they get this? Why, they must quarrel and +fight, and so they pass their time. It does seem almost impossible to do +much for people so circumstanced; yet it was much the same in Mota and +elsewhere, where things are altered for the better.' + +It was bad and trying weather, and it was well to have only two old +Banks Islanders on board, besides three Ysabel lads. The Bishop +had plenty of time for writing; and for the first time in his life +'pronounced himself forward with that Report which was always on his +mind.' He goes on: 'I read a good deal, but I don't say that my mind is +very active all the time, and I have some schooling. Yet it is not easy +to do very much mental work. I think that I feel the heat more than I +used to do, but that may be only my fancy. + +'You meantime are, I hope, enjoying fine summer weather. Certainly it +must be a charming place that you have, close to that grand Church +and grand scenery. I think my idea of a cosy home is rather that of +a cottage in the Isle of Wight, or, better still, a house near such a +Cathedral as Wells, in one of the cottages close to the clear streams +that wind through and about the Cathedral precincts. But I can form +no real notions about such things. Only I am pretty sure that there +is little happiness without real hard work. I do long sometimes for +a glorious Cathedral service, for the old chants, anthems, not for +"functions" and "processions," &c. I have read Freeman's pamphlet on +"Ritual" with interest; he really knows what he writes about, and has +one great object and a worthy one, the restoration of the universal +practice of weekly communion as the special Sunday service. That all +our preachifying is a wide departure from the very idea of worship +is self-evident, when it is made more than a necessary part of the +religious observance of the Lord's Day, and catechising is worth far +more than preaching (in the technical sense of the word).' + +A first visit was paid to Savo; where numerous canoes came out to meet +them, one a kind of state galley, with the stem and stern twelve feet +high, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and ornamented with white shells +(most likely the ovum or poached egg), and containing the chief men of +the island. The people spoke the Ysabel language, and the place seemed +promising. + +Some little time was spent in beating up to Bauro; where the Bishop +again landed at Taroniara's village, and slept in his hut, which was as +disagreeable as all such places were:--'Such a night always disturbs +me for a time, throws everything out of regular working order; but it +always pays, the people like it, and it shows a confidence in them which +helps us on. + +'I was disappointed though in the morning, when Taroniara declined to +come with me to this place. + +'My people say, "Why do you go away?"--the old stupid way of getting out +of an engagement.' However, two others came to 'this place,' which was a +hut in the village of Wango, which the Bishop had hired for ten days for +the rent of a hatchet. + +'A very sufficient rent too, you would say, if you could see the place. +I can only stand upright under the ridge pole, the whole of the oblong +is made of bamboo, with a good roof that kept out a heavy shower last +night. There is a fresh stream of water within fifteen yards, where I +bathed at 9 P.M. yesterday; and as I managed to get rid of strangers +by 8.30, it was not so difficult to manage a shift into a clean and dry +sleeping shirt, and then, lying down on Aunt William's cork-bed (my old +travelling companion), I slept very fairly. + +'People about the hut at earliest dawn; and the day seems long, the +sustained effort of talking, the heat, the crowd, and the many little +things that should not but do operate as an annoyance, all tire one +very much. But I hope that by degrees I may get opportunities of talking +about the matter that I come to talk about. Just now the trading with +the vessel, which is detained here by the weather, and surprise at my +half-dozen books, &c., prevent any attention being paid to anything +else. + +'7 P.M.--The vessel went off at 10.30 A.M. I felt for a little while +rather forlorn, and a little sinking at the heart. You see I confess it +all, how silly! Can't I after so many years bear to be left in one sense +alone? I read a little of you know what Book, and then found the feeling +pass entirely away. + +'But, more than that, the extreme friendliness of the people, the real +kindness was pleasant to me. One man brought his child, "The child of us +two, Bishop." Another man, "These cocoa-nut trees are the property of us +two, remember." A third, "When you want yams, don't you buy them, tell +me." + +'But far better still. Many times already to-day have I spoken to the +people; they have so far listened that they say, "Take this boy, and +this boy, and this boy. We see now why you don't want big men, we see +now that you can't stop here long, what for you wish for lads whom you +may teach, we see that you want them for a long time. Keep these lads +two years." + +'"Yes, two or three or four. By-and-by you will understand more and more +my reason." + +'Then came the talks that you too may experience when dealing with some +neglected child in London, or it may be in the country; but which, under +the cocoa-nut tree, with dark naked men, have a special impressiveness. +It was the old lesson, of the Eternal and Universal Father, who has not +left Himself without witness in that He gives us all rain from Heaven, +&c., and of our ingratitude, and His love; of His coming down to point +out the way of life, and of His Death and Rising again; of another +world, Resurrection, and Judgment. All interrupted, now and then, by +exclamations of surprise, laughter, or by some one beginning to talk +about something that jarred sadly on one's ear, and yet was but natural. +But I do hope that a week may pass not unprofitably. In one sense, I +shall no doubt be glad when it is over; but I think that it may, by +God's great goodness, be a preparation for something more to come. + +'Last night, my little hired hut being crowded as usual, they all cried +out at once "Numu" (earthquake). I should not the least have known that +anything had occurred. I said I thought it was a pig pushing against the +bamboo wall of the hut. They say that they have no serious shocks, but +very many slight ones. Crocodiles they have too, but, they say, none in +this stream. + +'July 22nd.--It is 9 P.M., the pleasantest time, in one sense, of my +twenty-four hours, for there are only two people with me in the hut. + +'My arrangements are somewhat simple; but I am very comfortable. +Delicious bathes I have in the stream: yams and fish are no bad fare; +and I have some biscuit and essence of coffee, and a few books, and am +perfectly well. The mode of life has become almost natural to me. I +am on capital terms with the people, and even the babies are no longer +afraid of me. Old and young, men and women, boys and girls about me of +course all day; and small presents of yams, fish, bananas, almonds, show +the friendliness of the people when properly treated. But the bunches of +skulls remain slung up in the large canoe houses, and they can be wild +enough when they are excited.' + +[The home diary continues, on the 26th]:--'I am expecting the schooner, +and shall be glad to get off if it arrives to-day, for it is very fine. +I don't think I could do any good by staying a few days more, so I might +as well be on my way to Santa Cruz. If I were here for good, of course +I should be busy about many things that it would be useless to attempt +now, e.g., what good would it be to induce half-a-dozen boys to learn +"a," when I should be gone before they could learn "b"? So I content +myself with making friends with the people, observing their ways, and +talking to them as I can. It is hot, now at 8.30 A.M. What will it be at +2 P.M.? But I may perhaps be able to say something to cheer me up. +One of the trials of this kind of thing is that one seems to be doing +nothing. Simply I am here! Hardly in one hour out of the twenty-four am +I sure to be speaking of religion. Yet the being here is something, +the gaining the confidence and goodwill of the people. Then comes the +thought, who is to carry this on? And yet I dare not ask men to come, +for I am certain they would after all my pains find something different +from what they expect. + +My death would very likely bring out some better men for the work, with +energy and constructive power and executive genius, all of which, guided +by Divine Wisdom, seem to be so much wanted! But just now, I don't see +what would become of a large part of the work if I died. I am leaving +books somewhat more in order; but it is one thing to have a book to help +one in acquiring a language, quite another to speak it freely, and to be +personally known to the people who speak it. + +'11th Sunday after Trinity.--Off Anudha Island, 4 P.M. Thermometer 88 deg. +in the empty cabin, everyone being on deck. Well, dear old Joan and +Fan, refreshed by--what do you think? O feast of Guildhall and Bristol +mayors! Who would dream of turtle soup on board the "Southern Cross" in +these unknown seas? Tell it not to Missionary Societies! Let no platform +orator divulge the great secret of the luxurious self-indulgent life of +the Missionary Bishop! What nuts for the "Pall Mall Gazette"! How would +all subscriptions cease, and denunciations be launched upon my devoted +head, because good Mr. Tilly bought, at San Cristoval, for the price of +one tenpenny hatchet, a little turtle, a veritable turtle, with green +fat and all the rest of it, upon which we have made to-day a most regal +feast indeed. + +'But seriously. There has been much to make me hopeful, and something to +disappoint me, since I last wrote.' + +The two days at Santa Cruz were hopeful--[Mr. Atkin says that the +natives came on board with readiness and stole with equal readiness; but +this was all in a friendly way]--and a small island, named Piteni, was +visited, and judged likely to prove a means of reaching the larger isle. + +The disappointment is not here mentioned, unless it was the missing some +of the Ysabel scholars, and bringing away only three; but this mattered +the less, as the Banks Island party, which, as forming a nucleus, was +far more important, was now considerable. Sixty-two scholars were the +present freight, including nine little girls, between eight and twelve, +mostly betrothed to old pupils. + +At Malanta, a new village called Saa was visited. The 'harbour' was a +wall of coral, with the surf breaking upon it, but a large canoe showed +the only accessible place, and this was exposed to the whole swell of +the Pacific. + +'The natives,' writes Mr. Atkin, 'held the boat in water up to their +knees, but the seas that broke thirty yards outside washed over their +shoulders and sometimes their heads. We might have taken away half the +people of the village, and had no trouble in getting two nice-looking +little boys. About 320 miles from Norfolk Island, one of these little +boys, Wate, playing, fell overboard: we were going ten knots at the +time, right before the wind; it was a quarter of an hour before we +picked him up, as it took five minutes to stop the vessel and ten to get +to him. Wate seemed all the better for his ducking.' This little Wate +became Mr. Atkin's especial child, his godson and devoted follower. + +On October 2, Norfolk Island was reached, and there, a wooden house +having been conveyed thither by H.M.S. 'Falcon,' Mr. Palmer and fifteen +scholars were placed to spend the winter. The Pitcairners welcomed +the Mission, but were displeased at the Government assuming a right to +dispose of the land which they had fancied entirely their own. + +One of the letters written separate from the journal during this voyage +gives a commission for photographs from the best devotional prints, for +the benefit chiefly of his young colonial staff:--'I have not the +heart to send for my Lionardo da Vinci,' (he says), that much valued +engraving, purchased at Florence, and he wishes for no modern ones, save +Ary Scheffer's 'Christis Consolator,' mentioning a few of his special +favourites to be procured if possible. For the Melanesians, pictures of +ships, fishes, and if possible tropical vegetation, was all the art yet +needed, and beads, red and blue, but dull ones; none not exactly like +the samples would be of any use. 'It is no good sending out any "fancy" +articles such as you would give English children. "Toys for savages" are +all the fancies of those who manufacture such toys for sale. Of course, +any manufacturer who wishes to give presents of knives, tools, hatchets, +&c., would do a great benefit, but then the knives must be really strong +and sharp.' + +I have concluded the letters of the island voyage, before giving +those written on the homeward transit from Norfolk Island, whither the +'Falcon' had conveyed the letters telling of the departure of both Mr. +and Mrs. Keble. The first written under this impulse was of course to +Sir John Coleridge, the oldest friend:-- + + +'At Sea, near Norfolk Island: October 3, 1866. + +'My dear, dear Uncle,--How can I thank you enough for telling me so much +of dear saintly Mr. Keble and his wife? He has been, for my dear father +and mother's sakes, very loving to me, and actually wrote me two short +letters, one after his seizure, which I treasure. How I had grown +to reverence and love him more and more you can easily believe; and +yesterday at Norfolk Island, whither some letters had been sent, I read +with a very full heart of the peaceful close of such a holy life. And +I do love to think too of you and him, if I may speak freely of such as +you; and the weight attached to all you say and do (you two I mean) in +your several occupations seems at all events one hopeful sign among +not a few gloomy ones. I suppose you and Mr. Keble little estimated the +influence which even a casual word or sentence of yours exercises upon +a man of my age, predisposed (it is true) to hearken with attention and +reverence.... + +'Is it possible that fifty years hence any similar event, should there +be such, which should so "stir the heart of the country" (as you say +about Mr. Keble's death), might stimulate people to raise large sums +for the endowment of a Church about to be, or already separated from the +State? I can't avoid feeling as if God may be permitting the extension +of the Colonial Churches, partly and in a secondary sense that so the +ground may be travelled over on a small scale before the Church at home +may be thrown in like manner upon its own resources. The alliance is a +very precarious one surely, and depends upon the solemn adherence to a +fiction. It is extraordinary that some Colonial Bishops should seek to +reproduce the state of things which is of course peculiar to England, +the produce of certain historical events, and which can have no +resemblance whatever to the circumstances of our Colonies. + +'The mail closes just after our arrival; and I am very busy at first +coming on shore with such a party. Goodbye for the present, my dear dear +Uncle, + +'Your loving and grateful Nephew, 'J. C. P.' + + +To me the condolence was:-- + + +'October 6, 1866. + +'And so, my dear Cousin, the blow has fallen upon you, and dear Mr. and +Mrs. Keble have passed away to their eternal rest. I found letters at +Norfolk Island on October 2, not my April letters, which will tell me +most about him, but my May budget. + +'How very touching the account is which my Uncle John sends me of dear +Mrs. Keble, so thankful that he was taken first, so desirous to go, yet +so content to stay! And how merciful it has all been. Such a calm holy +close to the saintly life. May God bless and support all you who feel +the bereavement! Even I feel that I would fain look for one more letter +from him, but we have his "Christian Year," and other books. Is it not +wonderful that all the wisdom and love and beauty of the "Christian +Year," to say nothing of the exquisite and matured poetry, should have +been given to him so early in life? Why, as I gather, the book was +finished in the year 1825, though not published till 1827. He wrote it +when he was only 33 years old, and for 45 years he lived after he was +capable of such a work. Surely such a union of extreme learning, wisdom, +and scholarship, with humility and purity of heart and life has very +seldom been found. Everyone wishes to say something to everyone else of +one so dear to all, and no one can say what each and all feel. We ought +indeed to be thankful, who not only have in common with all men his +books, but the memory of what he was personally to us. + +'The change must needs be a great one to you. I do feel much for you +indeed. But you will bear it bravely; and many duties and the will and +power to discharge them occupy the mind, and the elasticity comes back +again after a time. I know nothing of the Keble family, not even how +they were related to him, so that my interest in Hursley is connected +with him only. Yet it will always be a hallowed spot in the memory of +English Churchmen. You will hear the various rumours as to who is to +write his life, &c. Let me know what is worth knowing about it. + +'Kohimarama. Anchored on October 8, after an absence of exactly six +weeks; all well on board and ashore. + +'Thanks be to God for so many mercies. The mail is gone, and alas! all +my letters and newspapers were sent off a few days since in the "Brisk" +to Norfolk Island. We passed each other. They did not expect me back so +soon, so I have no late news, and have no time to read newspapers. + +'May God bless you, my dear Cousin, + +'Your affectionate Cousin, 'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +In spite of this deep veneration for Mr. Keble and for his teachings, +Bishop Patteson did not embrace to the full the doctrine which had been +maintained in 'Eucharistic Adoration,' and which he rightly perceived to +lie at the root of the whole Ritualistic question. His conclusions had +been formed upon the teachings of the elder Anglican divines, and his +predilections for the externals of worship upon the most reverent and +beautiful forms to which he had been accustomed before he left home. + +After an All Saints' Communion, the following letter was written:-- + + +'All Saints' Day, 1866. + +'My dear Cousin,--You know why I write to you on this day. The Communion +of Saints becomes ever a more and more real thing to us as holy and +saintly servants of God pass beyond the veil, as also we learn to know +and love more and more our dear fellow-labourers and fellow-pilgrims +still among us in the flesh. + +'Such a day as this brings, thanks be to God, many calm, peaceful +memories with it. Of how many we may both think humbly and thankfully +whose trials and sorrows are over for ever, whose earthly work is done, +who dwell now in Paradise and see His Face, and calmly wait for the +great consummation. To you the sense of personal loss must be now--it +will always be--mixed up with the true spirit of thankfulness and +joy; but remember that as they greatly helped you, so you in no slight +measure have received from God power to help others, a trust which I +verily believe you are faithfully discharging, and that the brightness +of the Christian life must be not lost sight of in our dealings +with others, would we really seek to set forth the attractiveness of +religion. + +'I don't mean that I miss this element in any of your writings; rather +I am thankful to you because you teach so well how happiness and joy +are the portion of the Christian in the midst of so much that the world +counts sorrow and loss. But I think that depression of mind rapidly +communicates itself, and you must be aware that you are through your +books stamping your mind on many people. + +'Do you mind my saying all this to you? only I would fain say anything +that at such a time may, if only for a minute, help to keep the bright +side before you. The spirit of patience did seem so to rest upon him +and his dear saintly wife. The motto of the Christian Year seemed to +be inwoven into his life and character. I suppose he so well knew the +insignificance of what to us mortals in our own generation seems so +great, that he had learned to view eternal truths in the light of Him +who is eternal. He fought manfully for the true eternal issues, and +everything else fell into its subordinate place. Is not one continually +struck with his keen sense of the proportion of things? He wastes no +time nor strength in the accidents of religion; much that he liked and +valued he never taught as essential, or even mentioned, lest it might +interfere with essentials. + +'Oh! that his calm wise judgment, his spiritual discernment, may be +poured out on many earnest men who I can't help thinking lack that +instinct which divinely guided the early Church in the "selection of +fundamentals." We must all grieve to see earnest, zealous men almost +injuring the good cause, and placing its best and wisest champions in an +unnecessarily difficult position, because they do not see what I suppose +Mr. Keble did see so very clearly. + +'I know that these questions present themselves somewhat differently +to those situated severally as you and we are. But it is, I suppose, by +freely interchanging amongst ourselves thoughts that the general balance +is best preserved. Pray, when you have time, write freely to me on such +matters if you think it may be of use to do so. The Church everywhere +ought to guard, and teach, and practise what is essential. In +non-essentials I suppose the rule is clear. I will eat no meat, &c. + +'And now good-bye, my dear Cousin; and may God ever bless and comfort +you. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Sir William and Lady Martin had just paid their last visit to +Kohimarama, and here is the final record by Lady Martin's hand of the +pleasant days there spent:-- + +'One more visit we paid to our dear friend in November 1866, a few +months before he left Kohimarama for Norfolk Island. He invited my dear +husband specially for the purpose of working together at Hebrew, +with the aid of the lights they thought our languages throw on its +grammatical structure. + +'The Bishop was very happy and bright. He was in his new house, a great +improvement upon the stuffy quarters in the quad. His sitting-room +was large and lofty, and had French windows which opened on a little +verandah facing the sea. + +'The Mission party were most co-operative, and would not let the Bishop +come into school during the three weeks of our stay, so he had a working +holiday which he thoroughly enjoyed. The weather was lovely, the boys +were all well, and there was no drawback to the happiness of that time. +At seven the chapel bell rang and we walked across with him to the +pretty little chapel. The prayers and hymn were in Mota, the latter a +translation by the Bishop of the hymn "Now that the daylight fills the +sky." The boys all responded heartily and were reverent in demeanour. +After breakfast the two wise men worked steadily till nearly one. We +were not allowed to dine in Hall as the weather was very warm, and we +inveigled the Bishop to stay out and be our host. + +'A quaint little procession of demure-looking little maidens brought our +dinner over. They were grave and full of responsibility till some word +from 'Bisop' would light up their faces with shy smiles. + +'What pleasant walks we had together before evening chapel under the +wooded cliffs or through the green fields. Mr. Pritt had by this time +brought the Mission farm into excellent working order by the aid of the +elder lads alone. Abundance of good milk and butter (the latter getting +ready sale in town) and of vegetables. His gifts too in school-keeping +were invaluable. + +'I wish I could recall some of the conversations with our dear friend. A +favourite topic was concerning the best modes of bringing the doctrines +of the Christian religion clearly and fully within the comprehension +of the converts. Some of their papers written after being taught by him +showed that they did apprehend them in a thoughtful intelligent way. + +'At half-past six we had a short service, again in Mota, in chapel, and +then we rarely saw our dear friend till nine. He would not neglect any +of his night classes. At half-past nine the English workers gathered +together in the Bishop's room for prayers and for a little friendly +chat. Curiously enough, the conversation I most distinctly remember was +one with him as we rode up one Saturday from Kohimarama to St. John's +College. I got him to describe the game of tennis, and he warmed up and +told me of games he had played at. + +'How that cheery talk came to mind as I drove down the same road last +year just after fine weather had come! It was the same season, and the +hedges on each side of the narrow lane were fragrant as then with may +and sweet briar.' + + + + +CHAPTER XI. ST. BARNABAS COLLEGE, NORFOLK ISLAND. 1867--1869. + + + +A new phase of Coleridge Patteson's life was beginning with the year +1867, when he was in full preparation for the last of his many changes +of home, namely, that to Norfolk Island, isolating him finally from +those who had become almost as near kindred to him, and devoting him +even more exclusively to his one great work. No doubt the separation +from ordinary society was a relief, and the freedom from calls to +irregular clerical duty at Auckland was an immense gain; but the lack +of the close intercourse with the inner circle of his friends was often +felt, and was enhanced by the lack of postal communication with Norfolk +Island, so that, instead of security of home tidings by every mail, +letters and parcels could only be transmitted by chance vessels touching +at that inaccessible island, where there was no harbour for even the +'Southern Cross' to lie. + +But the welfare of the Mission, and the possible benefit to the +Pitcairners, outweighed everything. It is with some difficulty that the +subject of this latter people is approached. They have long been the +romance of all interested in Missionary effort, and precious has been +the belief that so innocent and pious a community existed on the face +of the earth. And it is quite true that when they are viewed as the +offspring of English mutineers and heathen Tahitians, trained by a +repentant old sailor, they are wonderful in many respects; and +their attractive manners and manifest piety are sure to strike their +occasional visitors, who have seldom stayed long enough to penetrate +below the surface. + +But it has been their great disadvantage never to have had a much higher +standard of religion, morals, civilisation, or industry set before them, +than they had been able to evolve for themselves; and it is a law of +nature that what is not progressive must be retrograde. The gentle +Tahitian nature has entirely mastered the English turbulence, so that +there is genuine absence of violence, there is no dishonesty; and +drunkenness was then impossible; there is also a general habit of +religious observance, but not including self-restraint as a duty, while +the reaction of all the enthusiastic admiration expressed for this +interesting people has gendered a self-complacency that makes them the +harder to deal with. Parental authority seems to be entirely wanting +among them, the young people grow up unrestrained; and the standard of +morality and purity seems to be pretty much what it is in a neglected +English parish, but, as before said, without the drunkenness and +lawlessness, and with a universal custom of church-going, and a great +desire not to expose their fault to the eyes of strangers. The fertile +soil, to people of so few wants, and with no trade, prevents the +necessity of exertion, and the dolce far niente prevails universally. +The Government buildings have fallen into entire ruin, and the breed +of cattle has been allowed to become worthless for want of care. The +dwellings are uncleanly, and the people so undisciplined that only their +native gentleness would make their present self-government possible; and +it is a great problem how to deal with them. + +The English party who were to take up their abode on Norfolk Island +consisted of the Bishop, the Rev. Mr. Palmer, who was there already, +Mr. Atkin, and Mr. Brooke. The Rev. R. Codrington was on his way from +England with Mr. Bice, a young student from St. Augustine's, Canterbury; +but Mr. and Mrs. Pritt had received an appointment at the Waikato, +and left the Mission. The next letter to myself tells something of the +plans:-- + + +'January 29, 1867. + +'My dear Cousin,--I enclose a note to Miss Mackenzie, thanking her for +her book about Mrs. Robertson. It does one good to read about such a +couple. I almost feel as if I should like to write a line to the good +man. There was the real genuine love for the people, the secret of +course of all missionary success, the consideration for them, the power +of sympathy, of seeing with the eyes of others, and putting oneself +into their position. Many a time have I thought: "Yes, that's all right, +that's the true spirit, that's the real thing." + +'Oh that men could be trained to act in that way. It seems as if mere +common sense would enable societies and men to see that it must be so. +And yet how sadly we mismanage men, and misuse opportunities. + +'Men should be made to understand that they cannot receive training for +this special Mission work except on the spot; at the institution the +aim should be to give them a thorough grounding in Greek and Latin, the +elements of Divinity, leaving out all talk about experiences, and all +that can minister to spiritual pride, and delude men into the idea that +the desire (as they suppose) to be missionaries implies that they are +one whit better than the baker and shoemaker next door. + +'The German system is very different. The Moravians don't handle their +young candidates after this fashion. + +'Now Mr. Robertson and his good wife refresh one by the reality and +simplicity of their life, the simple-mindedness, the absence of all cant +and formalism. I mean the formal observance of a certain set of views +about the Sabbath, about going to parties, about reading books, &c., the +formal utterance of an accepted phraseology. + +'Would that there were hundreds such! Would that his and her example +might stir the hearts of many young people, women as well as men! Well, +I like all that helps me to know him and her in the book, and am much +obliged to Miss Mackenzie for it. + +'We have had a trying month, unusually damp close weather, and influenza +has been prevalent. Many boys had it, one little fellow died. He was +very delirious at last, and as he lay day and night on my bed we had +often to hold him. But one night he was calm and sensible, and with +Henry Tagalana's help I obtained from him such a simple answer or two to +our questions that I felt justified in baptizing him. He was about ten +years old, I suppose one of our youngest. + +'Last Saturday, at 12.45 A.M., he passed away into what light, and +peace, and knowledge, and calm rest in his Saviour's bosom! we humbly +trust. God be praised for all His mercies! It was touching, indeed, to +hear Henry speaking to his little friend. He spoke so as to make me feel +very hopeful about his work as a teacher being blessed, his whole heart +on his lips and in his voice and manner and expression of face. + +'But, my dear Cousin, often I think that I need more than ever your +prayers that I may have the blessing for which we pray in our +Collect for the First Sunday after Epiphany: grace to use the present +opportunities aright. My time may be short; we are very few in number: +now the young English and Melanesian teachers ought to be completely +trained, that so, by God's blessing, the work may not come to nought. +Codrington's coming ought to be a great gain in this way. A right-minded +man of age and experience may well be regarded as invaluable indeed. +I so often feel that I am distracted by multitudinous occupations, and +can't think and act out my method of dealing with the elder ones, so +as to use them aright. So many things distract--social, domestic, +industrial matters and general superintendence, and my time is of course +always given to anyone who wants it. + +'The change to Norfolk Island, too, brings many anxious thoughts and +cares, and the state of the people there will be an additional cause of +anxiety. I think that we shall move en masse in April or May, making two +or three trips in the schooner. Palmer has sixteen now with him there. I +shall perhaps leave ten more for the winter school and then go on to +the islands, and return (D.V.) in October, not to New Zealand, but to +Norfolk Island; though, as it is the year of the meeting of the General +Synod, i.e., February 1868, I shall have to be in New Zealand during +that summer. You shall have full information of all my and our +movements, as soon as I know myself precisely the plan. + +'And now good-bye, my dear Cousin; and may God ever bless and keep you. +I think much of you, and of how you must miss dear Mr. Keble. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. P.' + + +'Sunday, February 10, 1867. + +'My dear old Fan,--No time to write at length. We are pretty well, but +coughs and colds abound, and I am a little anxious about one nice lad, +Lelenga, but he is not very seriously ill. + +'I have of course occasional difficulties, as who has not? +Irregularities, not (D. Gr.) of very serious nature, yet calling for +reproof; a certain proportion of the boys, and a large proportion of the +girls careless, and of course, like boys and girls such as you know of +in Devonshire, not free from mischief. + +'Indeed, it is a matter for great thankfulness that, as far as we know, +no immorality has taken place with fifteen young girls in the school. +We take of course all precautions, rooms are carefully locked at +night. Still really evil-minded young persons could doubtless get +into mischief, if they were determined to do so. Only to-day I spoke +severely, not on this point, but on account of some proof of want of +real modesty and purity of feeling. But how can I be surprised at that? + +'All schoolmaster's work is anxious work. It is even more so than the +ordinary clergyman's work, because you are parent and schoolmaster at +once. + +'You may suppose that as time approaches for Codrington and Bice to +arrive, and for our move to Norfolk Island, I am somewhat anxious, and +have very much to do. Indeed, the Norfolk Island people do sadly want +help. + +'Your affectionate Brother. + +'J. C. P. + +'P. S.--You may tell your boys at night school, if you think it well, +that no Melanesian I ever had here would be so ungentlemanly as to throw +stones or make a row when a lady was present.' + + +'St. Matthias Day, 1867. + +'My dearest Joan and Fan,--The beginning of the seventh year of my +Bishop's life! How quickly the time has gone, and a good deal seems to +have taken place, and yet (though some experience has been gained) but +little sense have I of real improvement in my own self, of "pressing +onwards," and daily struggles against faults. But for some persons it is +dangerous to talk of such things, and I am such a person. It would tend +to make me unreal, and my words would be unreal, and soon my thoughts +and life would become unreal too. I am conscious of very, very much that +is very wrong, and would astonish many of even those who know me best, +but I must use this consciousness, and not talk about it any more. + +'I am in harness again for English work. How can I refuse? I am writing +now between two English services. + +'Indeed, no adequate provision is made here for married clergymen with +families; L300 a year is starvation at present prices. Men can't live +on it; and who can work vigorously with the thought ever present to him, +"When I die, what of my wife and family?" What is to be done? + +'I solve the difficulty in Melanesian work by saying, "Use Melanesians." +I tell people plainly, "I don't want white men." + +'I sum it all up thus: They cost about ten times as much as the +Melanesian (literally), and but a very small proportion do the work as +well. + +'I was amused at some things in your December letters. How things do +unintentionally get exaggerated! I went up into the tree-house by a very +good ladder of bamboos and supple-jacks, quite as easily as one goes +up the rigging of a ship, and my ten days at Bauro were spent among +a people whose language I know, and where my life was as safe and +everybody was as disposed to be friendly as if I had been in your house +at Weston. But, of course, it is all "missionary hardships and trials." +I don't mean that you talk in this way. + +'Our first instalment of scholars with Messrs. Atkin and Brooke will go +off (D.V.) about March 21. Then my house is taken down; the boys who +now live in it having been sent off: and on the schooner's return about +April 15, another set of things, books, houses, &c. Probably a third +trip will be necessary, and then about May 5 or 6 I hope to go. It will +be somewhat trying at the end. But I bargain for all this, which of +course constitutes my hardest and most trying business. The special +Mission work, as most people would regard it, is as nothing in +comparison. Good-bye, and God bless you. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + + +On March 5 Mr. Codrington safely arrived, bringing with him Mr. Bice. +The boon to the Bishop was immense, both in relief from care and in the +companionship, for which he had henceforth to depend entirely on his own +staff. The machinery of the routine had been so well set in order by Mr. +Pritt that it could be continued without him; and though there was no +English woman to superintend the girls, it was hoped that Sarah Sarawia +had been prepared by Mrs. Pritt to be an efficient matron. + + +'Kohimarama: March 23, 1867. + +'My dear Cousin,--Our last New Zealand season, for it may be our last, +draws near its close. On Monday, only two days hence, the "Southern +Cross" sails (weather permitting) with our first instalment. Mr. Palmer +has got his house up, and they must stow themselves away in it, three +whites and forty-five blacks, the best way they can. The vessel takes +besides 14,000 feet of timber, 6,000 shingles for roofing, and boxes of +books, &c., &c., without end. + +'I hope she may be here again to take me and the remaining goods, live +and inanimate, in about eighteen or twenty days. I can't tell whether I +am more likely to spend my Easter in New Zealand or Norfolk Island. + +'I see that in many ways the place is good for us. The first expense +is heavy. I have spent about L1,000 already, sinking some of my private +money in the fencing, building, &c., but very soon the cost of all +the commissariat, exclusive of the stores for the voyage, and a little +English food for the whites, will be provided. Palmer has abundance of +sweet potatoes which have been planted in ground prepared by our lads +since last October. The yam crop is coming on well: fish are always +abundant. + +'I think that in twelve months' time we ought to provide ourselves with +almost everything in the island. The ship and the clergymen's stipends +and certain extras will always need subscriptions, but we ought at once +to feed ourselves, and soon to export wool, potatoes, corn (maize I +mean), &c. + +'I never forget about the idea of a chapel. At present the Norfolk +Island Chapel will be only a wing of my house: which will consist of +two rooms for myself, a spare room for a sick lad or two, and a large +dormitory which, if need be, can be turned into a hospital, and the +other end a wing in the chapel, 42 x 18 feet, quite large enough for +eighty or more people. The entrance from without, and again a private +door from my sitting room. All is very simple in the plan. It seem +almost selfish having it thus as a part of my dwelling house; but it +will be such a comfort, so convenient for Confirmation and Baptism and +Holy Communion classes, and so nice for me. Some ladies in Melbourne +give a velvet altar cloth, Lady S. in Sydney gives all the white linen: +our Communion plate, you know, is very handsome. Some day Joan must send +me a solid block of Devonshire serpentine for my Font, such a one as +there is at Alfington, or Butterfield might now devise even a better. + +'But I think, though I have not thought enough yet, that in the diocese +of Norfolk Island, and in the islands, the running stream of living +water and the Catechumens "going down" into it is the right mode of +administering the holy sacrament. The Lectern and the small Prayer-desk +are of sandal-wood from Erromango. + +'It will be far more like a Church than anything the Pitcairners have +ever seen. Perhaps next Christmas--but much may take place before +then--I may ordain Palmer Priest, Atkin and Brooke Deacons, and there +may be a goodly attendance of Melanesian communicants and candidates for +baptism. If so, what a day of hope to look forward to! And then I think +I see the day of dear George Sarawia's Ordination drawing nigh, if God +grant him health and perseverance. He is, indeed, and so are others, +younger than he, all that I could desire. + +'So, my dear Cousin, see what blessings I have, how small our trials +are. They may yet come, but it is now just twelve years, exactly twelve +years on Monday, since I saw my Father's and Sisters' faces, and how +little have those years been marked with sorrows. My lot is cast in a +good land indeed. I read and hear of others, such as that noble Central +African band, and I wonder how men can go through it all. It comes to +me as from a distance, not as to one who has experienced such things. We +know nothing of war, or famine, or deadly fever; and we seem now to have +a settled plan of work, one of the greatest comforts of all; but while +I write thus brightly I don't forget that a little thing (humanly +speaking) may cause great reverses, delays, and failures. + +'I am very glad you understand my unwillingness to write, and still more +to print over much about our proceedings. I do speak pretty freely in +New Zealand and Australia, from whence I profess and mean to draw our +supplies. + +'Accurate information is all very well, but to convey an idea of our +life and work is quite beyond my powers. Still, everything that helps +the ordinary men and women of England to look out into the world a bit, +and see that the Gospel is a power of God, is good. + +'And now, good-bye, my dear Cousin. May God bless and keep you. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +On Lady Day the Bishop wrote to his sisters:-- + +'This day, twelve years ago, I saw your faces for the last time; and so +I told Mary Atkin, my good young friend's only sister, as we stood on +the beach just now, watching the 'Southern Cross' carrying away her only +brother and some forty other people to Norfolk Island. + +The first detachment is therefore gone; I hope that we, the rest, will +follow in about sixteen or eighteen days. I think back over these twelve +years. On the whole, how smoothly and easily they have passed with +me! Less of sorrow and anxiety than was crowded into one short year of +Bishop Mackenzie's life. I have been reading Mr. Rowley's book on the +University Mission to Central Africa, and am glad to have read it. +They were indeed fine gallant fellows, full of faith and courage and +endurance. + +'As I write, some dozen boys are on the roof, knocking away the +shingles, i.e., the wooden tiles of roofing, a carpenter is taking down +all that needs some more skilled handiwork. In a week the house will all +be tied up in bundles of boarding, battens, about 14,000 or 15,000 feet +of timber in all. Yesterday I was with the Primate; I went up indeed +on Monday afternoon, as the "Southern Cross" sailed with thirty-one +Melanesians at 11 A.M., and I could get away. It was rather a sad day. I +was resigning trusts, and it made the departure from New Zealand appear +very real. + +'April 1st.--My fortieth birthday. It brings solemn thoughts. Last night +I had to take the service at St. Paul's, and as I came back I thought +of many things, and principally of how very different I ought to be from +what I am. + +'All are well here at Kohimarama. My house knocked down and arrangements +going on, the place leased to Mr. Atkin, Joe Atkin's father, my trusts +resigned, accounts almost made up, many letters written, business +matters arranged.' + + +In a few days more the last remnant of St. Andrew's was broken up; and +the first letter to the Bishop of New Zealand was written from Norfolk +Island before the close of the month:-- + + +'St. Barnabas' Mission School: April 29, 1867. + +My dear Primate,--We had a fair wind all the way, and having shortened +sail during all Friday so as not to reach Norfolk Island in the +night, made the lead at 5 A.M. on Saturday morning. But a sad casualty +occurred; we lost a poor fellow overboard, one of the seamen. He ought +not to have been lost, and I blame myself. He was under the davits of +the boat doing something, and the rope by which he was holding parted; +the life-buoy almost knocked him as he passed the quarter of the vessel, +and I, instead of jumping overboard, and shouting to the Melanesians to +do the same, rushed to the falls. The boat was on the spot where his cap +was floating within two and a half minutes of the time he fell into the +sea, but he was gone. + +'Fisher in the hurry tore his nail by letting the falls run through his +hand too fast. I was binding it up, the boat making for the poor fellow +faster than any swimmer could have done. How it was that he did not lay +hold of the buoy, or sank so soon, I can't say; the great mistake was +not jumping overboard at once. This is a gloomy beginning, and made us +all feel very sad. He was not married and was a well-behaved man. + +'It was blowing fresh on Saturday, but we anchored under Nepean Island, +and by hard work cleared the vessel by 5 P.M.; all worked hard, and all +the things were landed safely. Palmer, with the cart and boys, was on +the pier, and the things were carted and carried into the store as they +arrived. I came on shore about 5, found all well and hearty, the +people very friendly, nothing in their manner to indicate any change of +feeling. + +'I walked up to our place. It is, indeed, a beautiful spot. Palmer has +worked with a will. I was surprised to see what was done. Some three and +a half acres of fine kumaras, maize, yams, growing well; a yam of ten +pounds weight, smooth and altogether Melanesian, just taken up, not +quite ripe, so the boys say they will grow much bigger. Abundant supply +of water, though the summer has been dry. + +'Much of the timber has been carted up, more has been stacked at the top +of the hill. This was carried by the boys, and will be carted along the +pine avenue; a good deal is still near the pines, but properly stacked. +I see nothing anywhere thrown about, even here not a chip to be seen, +all buried or burnt, and the place quite neat though unfinished. + +'1. House, on the plan of my old house just taken down by Gray, but much +larger. + +'2. Kitchen of good size. + +'3. Two raupo outhouses. + +'4. Cow-shed. + +'I find it quite assumed here that the question is settled about our +property here; but I have not thought it desirable to talk expressly +about it. They talk about school, doctor, and other public arrangements +as usual. + +'It seems that it was on St. Barnabas Day that, after Holy Communion, +we walked up here last year and chose the site of the house. The people +have of their own accord taken to call the place St. Barnabas; and as +this suits the Eton feeling also, and you and others never liked St. +Andrew's, don't you think we may adopt the new name? Miss Yonge won't +mind, I am sure. + +'I could not resist telling the people that you and Mrs. Selwyn might +come for a short time in September next to see them, and they are really +delighted; and so shall we be, I can tell you indeed.... + +'Your affectionate + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The time for the island voyage was fully come; and, after a very brief +stay in the new abode, the Bishop sailed again for Mota, where the old +house was found (May 8) in a very dilapidated condition; and vigorous +mending with branches was needed before a corner could be patched up +for him to sleep on his table during a pouring wet night, having first +supped on a cup of tea and a hot yam, the latter brought from the +club-house by one of his faithful adherents; after which an hour and +a half's reading of Lightfoot on the Epistle to the Galatians made him +forget every discomfort. + +There had, however, been a renewal of fighting of late; and at a village +called Tasmate, a man named Natungoe had ten days previously been shot +in the breast with a poisoned arrow, and was beginning to show those +first deadly symptoms of tetanus. He had been a well-conducted fellow, +though he had hitherto shown indifference to the new teaching; and it +had not been in a private quarrel that he was wounded, but in a sudden +attack on his village by some enemies, when a feast was going on. + +On that first evening when the Bishop went to see him it was plain that +far more of the recent instruction had taken root in him than had been +supposed. 'He showed himself thoroughly ready to listen, and manifested +a good deal of simple faith. He said he had no resentment against the +person who had shot him, and that he did wish to know and think about +the world to come. He accepted at once the story of God's love, shown in +sending Jesus to die for us, and he seemed to have some apprehension of +what God must be, and of what we are--how unlike Him, how unable to make +ourselves fit to be with Him. He certainly spoke of Jesus as of a living +Person close by him, willing and able to help him. He of his own accord +made a little prayer to Him, "Help me, wake me, make my heart light, +take away the darkness. I wish for you, I want to go to you, I don't +want to think about this world."' + +Early the next morning the Bishop went again, taking George Sarawia with +him. The man said, 'I have been thinking of what you said. I have been +calling on the Saviour (i Vaesu) all night.' The Bishop spoke long +to him, and left Sarawia with him, speaking and praying quietly and +earnestly. + +Meanwhile continues the diary:-- + +'I went to the men in the village, and spoke at length to them: "Yes, +God will not cast out those who turn to Him when they are called, but +you must not suppose that it is told us anywhere that He will save those +who care nothing about Him through their years of health, and only +think about Him and the world to come when this world is already passing +away." + +'How utterly unable one feels to say or do the right thing, and the +words fall so flat and dull upon careless ears!' + +Every day for ten days the poor sufferer Natungoe was visited, and he +listened with evident faith and comprehension. On May 15 the entry is:-- + +'I was so satisfied with his expressions of faith in the Saviour, of +his hope of living with Him; he spoke so clearly of his belief in Jesus +having been sent from the Great Creator and Father of all to lead us +back to Him, and to cleanse us from sin, which had kept us from our +Father, by His Death for us; he was so evidently convinced of the truth +of our Lord's Resurrection and of the resurrection of us all at the last +day--that I felt that I ought to baptize him. I had already spoken to +him of Baptism, and he seemed to understand that, first, he must believe +that the water is the sign of an inward cleansing, and that it has +no magical efficacy, but that all depended on his having faith in the +promise and power of God; and second, that Jesus had commanded those who +wished to believe and love Him to be baptized. + +'The expression Nan ive Maroo i Vaesu, "I wish for the Saviour," +had been frequently used by him; and I baptized him by the name of +Maroovaesu, a name instantly substituted for his old name Natungoe by +those present. + +'I have seen him again to-day; he cannot recover, and at times the +tetanus spasms are severe, but it is nothing like dear Fisher's case. He +can still eat and speak; women sit around holding him, and a few people +sit or lie about in the hut. It looks all misery and degradation of the +lowest kind, but there is a blessed change, as I trust, for him.' + +On Sunday the 19th the last agony had come. He lay on a mat on the +ground, in the middle of the village, terribly racked by convulsions, +but still able in the intervals to speak intelligibly, and to express +his full hope that he was going to his Saviour, and that his pain would +soon be over, and he would be at rest with Him, listening earnestly to +the Bishop's prayers. He died that night. + +In the meantime, the Bishop had not neglected the attacking party. Of +them, one had been killed outright, and two more were recovering from +their wounds, and it was necessary to act as pacificator. + +'Meanwhile, I think how very little religion has to do directly +with keeping things quiet; in England (for example) men would avenge +themselves, and steal and kill, were it not for the law, which is, +indeed, an indirect result of religion; but religion simply does not +produce the effect, i.e. men are not generally religious in England or +Mota. I have Maine's Book of "Ancient Law" among the half-dozen books I +have brought on shore, and it is extremely interesting to read here.' + +How he read, wrote, or did anything is the marvel, with the hut +constantly crowded by men who had nothing to do but gather round, in +suffocating numbers, to stare at his pen travelling over the paper. +'They have done so a hundred times before,' he writes, actually under +the oppression, 'but anything to pass an hour lazily. It is useless to +talk about it, and one must humour them, or they will think I am vexed +with them.' + +The scholars, neatly clothed, with orderly and industrious habits, were +no small contrast: 'But I miss as yet the link between them and the +resident heathen people. I trust and pray that George and others may, +ere long, supply it. + +'But it is very difficult to know how to help them to change their mode +of life. Very much, even if they did accept Christianity, must go on +as before. Their daily occupations include work in the small gardens, +cooking, &c., and this need not be changed. + +'Then as to clothing. I must be very careful lest they should think +that wearing clothes is Christianity. Yet certain domestic changes +are necessary, for a Christian life seems to need certain material +arrangements for decency and propriety. There ought to be partition +screens in the hut, for example, and some clothing is desirable no +doubt. A resident missionary now could do a good deal towards showing +the people why certain customs, &c., are incompatible with a Christian +life. His daily teaching would show how Christ acted and taught, and +how inconsistent such and such practices must be with the profession of +faith in Him. But regulations imposed from without I rather dread, they +produce so often an unreasoning obedience for a little while only. + +The rules for the new life should be very few and very simple, and +carefully explained. "Love to God and man," explained and illustrated as +the consequence of some elementary knowledge of God's love to us, shown +of course prominently in the giving His own Son to us. There is no lack +of power to understand simple teaching, a fair proportion of adults take +it in very fairly. I was rather surprised on Friday evening (some sixty +or seventy being present) to find that a few men answered really rather +well questions which brought out the meaning of some of our Saviour's +names. + +'"The Saviour?" + +'"The saving His people." + +'"Not all men? And why not all men? And from what poverty, sickness, +&c., here below?" + +'"From their sins." + +'"What is sin?" + +'"All that God has forbidden." + +'"What has He forbidden? Why? Because He grudges us anything? Why do you +forbid a child to taste vangarpal ('poison'), &c. &c.?" + +'"The Way," "the Mediator," "the Redeemer," "the Resurrection," "the +Atoner," "the Word." Some eight days' teaching had preceded this; but I +dare say there are ten or fifteen people here now, not our scholars, +who can really answer on these points so as to make it clear that they +understand something about the teaching involved in these names. Of +course, I had carefully worked out the best way to accept these names +and ideas in Mota; and the illustrations, &c., from their customs made +me think that to some extent they understood this teaching. + +'Of course the personal feeling is as pleasant as can be, and I think +there is something more: a real belief that our religion and our habits +are good, and that some day they will be accepted here. A considerable +number of people are leading very respectable lives on the whole. But +I see that we must try to spend more time here. George Sarawia is being +accepted to some extent as one whom they are to regard as a teacher. +He has a fair amount of influence. But in this little spot, among about +1,500 people, local jealousies and old animosities are so rife, that the +stranger unconnected with any one of them has so far a better chance of +being accepted by all; but then comes, on the other hand, his perfect +knowledge and our comparative ignorance of the language and customs of +the people. We want to combine both for a while, till the native teacher +and clergyman is fully established in his true position. + +'It is a curious thing that the Solomon Islanders from the south-east +part of that group should have dropped so much behind the Banks +Islanders. I knew their language before I knew the language of Mota, +they were (so to say) my favourites. But we can't as yet make any +impression upon them. The Loyalty Islanders have been suffered to +drop out; and so it is that all our leading scholars, all who set good +examples, and are made responsible for various duties, are (with the +sole exception of Soro, from Mai Island, New Hebrides) from the +Banks group. Consequently, their language is the lingua franca of the +school--not that we made it so, or wished it rather than any other to be +so; indeed Bauro is easier, and so are some others: but so it is. It is +an excellent thing, for any Melanesian soon acquires another Melanesian +language, however different the vocabulary may be. Their ideas and +thoughts and many of their customs are similar, the mode of life is +similar, and their mode of expressing themselves similar. They think in +the same way, and therefore speak in the same way. Their mode of life +is natural; ours is highly artificial. We are the creatures of a +troublesome civilisation to an extent that one realises here. When I go +ashore for five weeks, though I could carry all my luggage, yet it +must comprise a coffee-pot, sugar, biscuits, a cork bed, some tins of +preserved meat, candles, books, and my hut has a table and a stool, +and I have a cup, saucer, plate, knife, fork, and spoon. My good friend +George, who I think is on the whole better dressed than I am, and +who has adopted several of our signs of civilisation, finds the food, +cooking, and many of the ways of the island natural and congenial, and +would find them so throughout the Pacific. + +'May 2lst.--The morning and evening school here is very nice. I doubt if +I am simple enough in my teaching. I think I teach too much at a time; +there is so much to be taught, and I am so impatient, I don't go slowly +enough, though I do travel over the same ground very often. Some few +certainly do take in a good deal. + +'A very hot day, after much rain. This morning we took down our old +wooden hut, that was put up here by us six years ago. Parts of it are +useless, for in our absence the rain damaged it a good deal. I mean to +take it across to Arau, Henry Tagalana's little island, for there, even +in very wet weather, there is little fear of ague, the soil being light +and sandy. It would be a great thing to escape from the rich soil and +luxuriant vegetation in the wet months, if any one of us spent a long +time here. It was hot work, but soon over. It only took about two and +a half hours to take down, and stack all the planks, rafters, &c. Two +fellows worked well, and some others looked on and helped now and then. + +'I have had some pleasant occupation for an hour or so each day in +clearing away the bush, which in one year grows up surprisingly here. +Many lemon, citron, and orange trees that we planted some years ago. +cocoa-nut trees also, were almost, some quite overgrown, quite hidden, +and our place looked and was quite small and close; but one or two hours +for a few days, spent in clearing, have made a great difference. I have +planted out about twenty-five lemon suckers, and as many pine-apples, +for our old ones were growing everywhere in thick clumps, and I have to +thin them out. + +'Yesterday was a great day; we cut down two large trees, round one of +which I had carelessly planted orange, lemon, and cocoa-nut trees, so +that we did not know how to fell it so as to avoid crushing some fine +young trees; but the tree took the matter into its own hands, for it was +hollow in the centre, and fell suddenly, so that the fellows holding the +rope could not guide it, and it fell at right angles to the direction we +had chosen, but right between all the trees, without seriously hurting +one. It quite reminds me of old tree-cutting days at Feniton; only here +I see no oaks, nor elms, nor beeches, nor firs, only bread-fruit trees +and almond trees, and many fruit-bearing trees--oranges, &c., and guavas +and custard-apples--growing up (all being introduced by us), and the two +gigantic banyan trees, north and south of my little place. It is so very +pretty! + +'I don't trouble myself much about cooking. My little canteen is +capital; and I can make myself all sorts of good things, if I choose to +take the trouble, and some days I do so. I bake a little bread now and +then, and natter myself it is uncommonly good; and one four-pound tin of +Bloxland's preserved meat from Queensland has already lasted me twelve +days, and there is about half of it remaining. He reckons each pound +well soaked and cooked to be equal to three pounds, and I think he is +right. A very little of this, with a bit of yam deliciously cooked, +and brought to me each day as a present by some one from their cooking +ovens, makes a capital dinner. Then I have some rice and sugar for +breakfast, a biscuit and coffee, and a bit of bread-fruit perhaps; and +all the little delicacies are here--salt, pepper, mustard, even to a +bottle of pickles--so I am pretty well off, I think. + +'I find that the white ant, or an insect like it, is here. The plates +of our old hut are quite rotten, the outside still untouched, all within +like tinder. They call the insect vanoa; it is not found in New Zealand, +but it is a sad nuisance in Australia. + +'I do not read much here this time, so much of every day is taken up +with talking to the people about me. That is all right, and I generally +can turn the talk to something that I wish them to hear, so it is all +in the way of business here. And I am glad to say that my school, and +conversations and lessons, need some careful preparation. I have spent +some time in drawing up for myself a little scheme of teaching for +people in the state of my friends here. I ought of course to have done +it long ago, and it is a poor thing now. I cannot take a real pleasure +in teaching, and so I do it badly. I am always, almost always, glad when +school is over, though sometimes I get much interested myself, though +not often able to interest others. + +'I am reading some Hebrew nearly every day, and Lightfoot on the +Galatians, Tyler's "Researches into the Early History of Mankind," +Dollinger's "First Ages of the Church," and "Ecce Homo." I tried Maine's +"Ancient Law," but it is too tough for the tropics, unless I chance +to feel very fresh. I generally get an hour in the evening, if I am +sleeping at home. + +'May 23rd.--I suppose anyone who has lived in a dirty Irish +village--pigs, fowls, and children equally noisy and filthy, and the +parents wild, ignorant, and impulsive--may have some notion of this kind +of thing. You never get a true account, much less a true illustration of +the real thing. Did you happen to see a ridiculous engraving on one of +the S. P. Gr. sheets some years ago, supposed to be me taking two Ambrym +boys to the boat? (Footnote: No such engraving can be found by the S. P. +Gr. It was probably put forth in some other publication.) Now it is much +better not to draw at all than to draw something which can only mislead +people. If Ambrym boys really looked like those two little fellows, and +if the boat with bland-looking white men could quietly be pulled to the +beach, and if I, in a respectable dress, could go to and from the boat +and the shore, why the third stage of Mission work has been reached +already! I don't suppose you can picture to yourselves the real state +of things in this, and in many of these islands, and therefore the great +difficulty there is in getting them out of their present social, or +unsocial, state! + +'To follow Christian teaching out in detail, to carry it out from the +school into the hut, into the actual daily life of the dirty naked +women, and still dirtier though not more naked children; to get the men +really to abandon old ways from a sense of responsibility and duty and +love to God, this of course comes very slowly. I am writing very lazily, +being indeed tired with heat and mosquitos. The sun is very hot again +to-day. I have no thermometer here, but it feels as if it ought to be +90 deg. in the shade. + +'May 25th.--George Sarawia spent yesterday here, and has just gone to +his village. He and I had a good deal of conversation. I copied out for +him the plan of teaching drawn up from books already printed in their +language. He speaks encouragingly, and is certainly recognised as one +who is intended to be the teacher here. No one is surprised that he +should be treated by me in a very different way from anyone else, with +a complete confidence and a mutual understanding of each other. He is a +thoroughly good, simple-minded fellow, and I hope, by God's blessing, he +may do much good. He told me that B---- wants to come with me again; but +I cannot take him. As we have been living properly, and for the sake +of the head school and our character in the eyes of the people here, I +cannot take him until he shows proof of a real desire to do his duty. I +am very sorry for it. I have all the old feeling about him; and he is +so quick and intelligent, but he allows himself again and again to be +overcome by temptation, hard I dare say to withstand; but this conduct +does disqualify him for being chosen to go with us. I am leaving behind +some good but dull boys, for I can't make room as yet for them, and I +must not take an ill-conducted fellow because he is quick and clever. He +has some sort of influence in the place from his quickness, and from his +having acquired a good deal of riches while with us. He says nothing, +according to Sarawia, for or against our teaching. Meanwhile, he lives +much like a somewhat civilised native. Poor fellow! I sent a message to +him by George that if he wished to see me, I should be very willing to +have a talk with him. + +'Yesterday we made some sago. A tree is cut down in its proper stage of +growth, just when it begins to flower. The pith is pulled and torn into +shreds and fibres, then the juice is squeezed out so as to allow it to +run or drip into some vessel, while water is poured on the pith by some +one assisting the performer. The grounds (as say of coffee) remain at +the bottom when the water is poured off, and an hour of such a sun as +we had yesterday dries and hardens the sago. It is then fit for use. I +suppose that it took an hour and a half to prepare about a slop-basin +full of the dried hard sago. I have not used it vet. We brought tapioca +here some years ago, and they used it in the same way, and they had +abundance of arrow-root. On Monday I will make some, if all is well. Any +fellow is willing to help for a few beads or fish-hooks, and they do all +the heavy work, the fetching water, &c. + +'I never saw anything like the pigeons in the great banyan tree close +by. They eat its berries, and I really think there are at times more +than a hundred at once in it. Had I a gun here I think I might have +brought down three or four at a shot yesterday, sitting shot of course, +but then I should shoot "for the pot." Palmer had his gun here last +year, and shot as many as he wanted at any time. The bats at night are +innumerable; they too eat the banyan berries, but chiefly the ripening +bread-fruit. The cats we brought here have nearly cleared the place of +the small rats which used to abound here; but lizards abound in this +hut, because it is not continually smoke-dried. + +'Last night I think some of the people here heard some rather new +notions, to them, about the true relation of man and woman, parent and +child, &c. They said, as they do often say, "Every word is true! how +foolish we are!" But how to get any of them to start on a new course is +the question. + +'Ascension Day, May 30th.--There is a good deal of discussion going on +now among the people. I hear of it not only from our old scholars, but +from some of the men. I have been speaking day by day more earnestly to +the people; always reading here and there verses of the Gospels or the +Acts, or paraphrasing some passage so that they may have the actual +words in which the message is recorded. They say, "This is a heavy, +a weighty word," and they are talking, as they say, night after night +about it. Some few, and they elderly men, say, "Let us talk only about +our customs here." Others say, "No, no; let us try to think out the +meaning of what he said." A few come and ask me questions, only a few, +not many are in earnest, and all are shy. Many every night meet in +Robert Pantatun's house, twenty-five or thirty, and ask him all manner +of questions, and he reads a little. They end with prayer. + +'They have many strange customs and superstitious observances peculiar +to this group. They have curious clubs, confraternities with secret +rites of initiation. The candidate for admission pays pigs and native +money, and after many days' seclusion in a secret place is, with great +ceremony, recognised as a member. No woman and none of the uninitiated +may know anything of these things. + +'In every village there is a Sala Goro, a place for cooking, which only +those who have "gazed at the sacred symbol" may frequent. Food cooked +there may not be eaten by one uninitiated, or by women or children. +The path to the Sala Goro is never trodden by any woman or matanomorous +("eye closed"). When any ceremony is going on the whole of the precincts +of the Sala Goro are sacred. At no time dare any woman eat with any man, +no husband with his wife, no father with his daughter as soon as she is +no longer a child. + +'Of course such a system can be used by us in two ways. I say, "You have +your method of assembling together, and you observe certain customs in +so doing; so do we, but yours is an exclusive and selfish system: your +secret societies are like our clubs, with their entrance fees, &c. But +Christ's society has its sacred rite of admission, and other mysteries +too, and it is for all who wish to belong to it. He recognises no +distinction of male or female, bond or free." + +'Some of the elder men are becoming suspicious of me. I tell them +plainly that whatever there may be in their customs incompatible with +the great law of Love to God and man must come to nought. "You beat and +terrify matanomorous in order to make them give, that you may get pigs +and native money from them. Such conduct is all wrong, for if you beat +or frighten a youth or man, you certainly can't love him." + +'At the same time I can't tell how far this goes. If there were a real +ceremony of an idol or prayer to it, of course it would be comparatively +easy to act in the matter; but the ceremony consists in sticking a +curious sort of mitre, pointed and worked with hair, on the head of the +candidate, and covering his body with a sort of Jack-in-the green wicker +work of leaves, &c., and they joke and laugh about it, and attach, +apparently, no religious significance to it whatever. + +'I think it has the evil which attends all secret societies, that it +tends to produce invidious distinctions and castes. An instinct impels +men to form themselves into associations; but then Christ has satisfied +that instinct legitimately in the Church. + +'Christianity does meet a human instinct; as, e.g., the Lord's Supper, +whatever higher and deeper feelings it may have, has this simple, but +most significant meaning to the primitive convert, of feasting as a +child with his brethren and sisters at the Father's Board. + +'The significance of this to people living as more than half the human +beings in the world are living still, is such as we have lost the power +of conceiving; the Lord's Supper has so long had, so to say, other +meanings for many of us. Yet to be admitted a member of God's family, +and then solemnly at stated times to use this privilege of membership, +strengthening the tie, and familiarising oneself more and more with the +customs of that heavenly family, this surely is a very great deal of +what human instinct, as exhibited in almost universal customs, requires. + +'There are depths for those who can dive into them; but I really think +that in some of these theological questions we view the matter solely +from our state of civilisation and thought, and forget the multitudes of +uneducated, rude, unrefined people to whom all below the simple meaning +is unmeaning. May I not say to Robert Pantatun, "Christ, you know, gave +His Body and Blood for us on the Cross, He gives them to you now, for +all purposes of saving you and strengthening your spiritual life, while +you eat and drink as an adopted child at your Father's Table"? + +'It is the keeping alive the consciousness of the relation of all +children to God through Christ that is needed so much. And with these +actual sights before me, and you have them among you in the hundreds of +thousands of poor ignorant creatures, I almost wonder that men should +spend so much time in refining upon points which never can have a +practical meaning for any persons not trained to habits of accurate +thought and unusual devotion. But here I am very likely wrong, and +committing the very fault of generalizing from my own particular +position. + +'June 4th.--I was greatly pleased, on Friday evening last which George +Sarawia spent here with me, to hear from him that he had been talking +with the Banks Islanders at Norfolk Island, and on board ship, about +a plan which he now proposed to me. I had indeed thought of it, but +scarcely saw my way. It is a new proof of his real earnestness, and of +his seeking the good of his people here. The plan is this:-- + +'G. S. "Bishop, we have been talking together about your buying some +land here, near your present place, where we all can live together, +where we can let the people see what our mode of life is, what our +customs are, which we have learnt from you." + +'J. C. P. "Capital, George, but are you all willing to give up your +living in villages among your own particular relations?" + +'G. S. "Yes, we all agreed about it. You see, sir, if we live scattered +about we are not strong enough to hold our ground, and some of the +younger ones fall back into their old ways. The temptations are great, +and what can be expected of one or two boys among eighty or ninety +heathen people?" + +'J. C. P. "Of course you know what I think about it. It is the very +thing I have always longed for. I did have a general school here, as you +know." + +'G. S. "Yes, but things are different now. People are making enquiries. +Many young fellows want to understand our teaching, and follow it. If we +have a good large place of our own there, we can carry on our own mode +of living without interfering with other people." + +'J. G. P. "Yes, and so we can, actually in the midst of them, let them +see a Christian village, where none of the strange practices which are +inconsistent with Christianity will be allowed, and where the comforts +and advantages of our customs may be actually seen." + +'G. S. "By-and-by it will be a large village, and many will wish to live +there, and not from many parts of Mota only." + +'Well, I have told you, I suppose, of the fertility of this island, and +how it is far more than sufficient to supply the wants of the people. +Food is wasted on all sides. This very day I have plucked ten large +bread-fruits, and might have plucked forty now nearly ripe, simply that +the bats may not get them. I gave them away, as I can't eat more than a +third part of one at a meal. + +'So I went with George on Saturday, and we chose such a beautiful +property, between Veverao and Maligo, I dare say about ten acres. Then +I spoke to the people here, explaining my wishes and motives. To-day we +have been over it with a large party, that all might be done publicly +and everybody might hear and know. The land belongs to sixteen different +owners; the cocoa-nut trees, breadfruit, almond, and other fruit-trees +are bought separately. + +'They all agree; indeed, as they have abundance of space of spare land +just as good all about, and they will get a good stock of hatchets, +pigs, &c., from me, for this land, there is not much doubt about that. +But it is pleasant to hear some of them say, "No, no, that is mine and +my son's, and he is your boy. You can have that for nothing." + +'I shan't take it; it is safer to buy, but it is pleasant to see the +kind feeling. + +'If it be God's will to prosper this undertaking, we should begin next +year with about fifteen of our own scholars, and a goodly number of +half-scholars, viz., those who are now our regular scholars here, but +have not been taken to New Zealand. + +'Fencing, clearing, &c., could go on rapidly. Many would help, and small +payments of beads and fish-hooks can always secure a man's services. + +'I should build the houses with the material of the island, save only +windows, but adopt of course a different shape and style for them. The +idea would be to have everything native fashion, but improved, so as to +be clearly suitable for the wants of people sufficiently civilised. All +that a Christian finds helpful and expedient we ought to have, but to +adopt English notions and habits would defeat my object. The people +could not adopt them, there would be no teaching for them. I want to be +able to say: "Well, you see, there is nothing to prevent you from having +this and that, and your doing this and that." + +'We must have some simple rules about cleanliness, working hours, &c., +but all that is already familiar to those who have been with us at +Kohimarama and Norfolk Island. Above all, I rejoice in the thought that +the people understand that very soon this plan is to be worked by George +Sarawia. He is to be the, so to say, head of the Christian village. I +shall be a kind of Visitor. Palmer will, of course, be wanted at first, +but must avoid the fault of letting the people, our own pupils as well +as others, become dependent upon us. The Paraguay Mission produced +docile good-natured fags for the missionaries, but the natives had +learnt no self-respect, manliness, nor positive strength of character. +They fought well, and showed pluck when the missionaries armed them, +but they seem to have had no power of perpetuating their newly-learnt +customs, without the continual guidance of the missionaries. It may be +that such supervision is necessary; but I do not think it is so, and I +should be sorry to think it is so.' + +As usual, the Mota climate told on the health of the party, there was +general influenza, and the Bishop had a swelling under his left arm; +but on Whitsunday the 'Southern Cross,' which had been to set down the +Solomon Islanders, returned, and carried him off. Vanua Lava was touched +at, and a stone, carved by John Adams, put up at Fisher Young's grave, +which was found, as before, well kept in order. Then the round of the +New Hebrides was made; but new volunteers were refused, or told to wait +ten moons, as it was an object to spend the first season in the new +locality with tried scholars. + +At 'the grand island, miscalled Leper's,' the Bishop slept ashore for +the first time, and so also at Whitsuntide. + +At Espiritu Santo much friendliness was shown, and a man would not take +a present Mr. Atkin offered, because he had nothing, to pay for it. +Santa Cruz, as usual, was disappointing, as, Mr. Atkin says, the only +word in their mouths, the only thought in their heads, was 'iron;' +they clamoured for this, and would not listen; moreover, their own +pronunciation of their language was very indistinct, owing to their +teeth being destroyed by the use of the betel-nut, so that they all +spoke like a man with a hot potato in his mouth. + +'So again we leave this fine island without any advance, as far as we +can see, having been made. I may live to think these islanders very +wild, and their speech very difficult, yet I know no more of them +now than I did years ago. Yet I hope that some unforeseen means for +"entering in among" them may be given some day. Their time is to come, +sooner or later, when He knows it to be the right time.' + +Savo was then touched at; and the Bishop slept ashore at Florida, and +left Mr. Brooke there to the hospitality of three old scholars for a few +days, by way of making a beginning. The observations on the plan show a +strange sense of ageing at only forty:-- + +'He speaks the language fairly; and his visit will, I hope, do good. Of +course he will be tired, and will enjoy the quiet of the schooner after +it. I know what that is pretty well, and it takes something to make one +prefer the little vessel at sea to any kind of shore life. However, +he has youth and cheery spirits at command, and that makes life on an +island. A man whose tastes naturally are for books, &c., rather than +for small talk, and who can't take much interest in the very trifling +matters that engage the attention of these poor fellows, such a man +finds it very tiring indeed sometimes, when a merry bright good-natured +fellow would amuse himself and the natives too. + +'In these introductory visits, scarcely anything is done or said that +resembles Mission work as invented in stories, and described by the very +vivid imagination, of sensational writers. The crowd is great, the noise +greater, the heat, the dirt, the inquisitiveness, the endless repetition +of the same questions and remarks, the continual requests for a +fish-hook, for beads, &c.--this is somewhat unlike the interesting +pictures, in a Missionary Magazine, of an amiable individual very +correctly got up in a white tie and black tailed coat, and a group of +very attentive, decently-clothed and nicely-washed natives. They are +wild with excitement, not to hear "the good news," but to hear how the +trading went on: "How many axes did they sell? How many bits of iron?" + +'You say, "Why do you trade at all?" Answer: In the first visits that we +make we should at once alienate all the goodwill of the people from us +unless we so far complied with their desire to get iron tools, or to +trade more or less with them. As soon as I can I give presents to three +or four leading men, and then let the buying curiosities be carried on +by the crew and others; but not to trade at all would be equivalent to +giving up hope of establishing any intercourse with the people. + +'But in new islands, and upon our first visits, if we do get a chance +of saying something amid the uproar, what can we say about religion +that will be intelligible to men whose language has never been used to +express any thought of ours that we long to communicate, and whose minds +are pre-occupied by the visit of the vessel, and the longing for our +articles of trade? Sometimes we do try to say a few words; sometimes +we do a little better, we get a hearing, some persons listen with some +interest; but usually, if we can merely explain that we don't come to +trade, though we trade to please them, that we wish to take lads and +teach them, we are obliged to be satisfied. "Teach them! teach them +what?" think the natives. Why, one old hatchet would outweigh in their +minds all that boy or man can gain from any teaching. What appreciable +value can reading, writing, wearing clothes, &c., have in their eyes? So +we must in first visits (of which I am now thinking) be thankful that +we can in safety sleep on shore at all, and regard the merely making +friends with the people as a small beginning of Mission work. + +'Poor fellows! they think it very strange! As you lie down in the dark +and try to sleep, you presently feel hands stroking your arms and +legs, and feeling you about to make sure that the stranger has the same +allowance of arms and legs that they have; and you overhear such quaint +remarks as you lie still, afraid to let them know that you are awake, +lest they should oblige you to begin talking over again the same things +that you have already said twenty times.' + +Mr. Brooke stayed four days at Florida; and came away with three former +pupils, and four new ones, one of them grown up, a relative of the +leading man of the island. Taroniara was the only Bauro scholar brought +away this time; but so many were taken from Mota that the whole party +numbered thirty-seven, seven of them girls, all betrothed to one or +other of the lads. The entire colony at St. Barnabas, including English, +was thus raised to seventy, when the 'Southern Cross' returned thither +in August. On the 23rd, Bishop Patteson writes:-- + +'I wish you could see this place and the view from this room. I have +only got into it within this hour. The carpenters are just out of it. +You know that I left Palmer here about eleven months ago, on the return +from that island voyage. He had sixteen lads with him, of whom eleven +were good stout fellows. + +'He did work wonderfully. The place I chose for the site of the station +is about three miles from the settlement--the town, as the people call +it. If you have a map of the island, you will see Longridge on the +western part of it. Follow on the principal road, which goes on beyond +Longridge in a N. and NW. direction, and about a mile beyond Longridge +is our station. The top of Mount Pitt is nearly opposite our houses, of +which two are now habitable, though not finished. The third, which is +the house at Kohimarama which I had for one year, and in which Sir W. +and Lady Martin spent ten days, will be begun on Monday next, I hope. +The labour of getting all these things from New Zealand and then landing +them (for there is no harbour), and then carting them up here (for there +are no really good horses here, but the two I bought and sent down), +was very considerable. Palmer and his boys worked admirably. He was +industrious indeed. He and they lived at first in a little cottage, +about three-quarters of a mile from our place, i.e., about a quarter of +a mile from Longridge. During the first month, while they had no cart or +horses as yet (for I had to send them down from Auckland), they +fenced in some lands (the wire for which I had bought at Sydney, and +a man-of-war brought it hither), planted yams (which grow excellently, +such a crop never was seen here) and sweet potatoes, melons, vegetables, +&c. Meanwhile, the timber for the houses was being sent as I had +opportunity, a large quantity having been already taken to Norfolk +Island in a man-of-war. Luckily, timber was selling very cheap at +Auckland. + +'After this first month, Palmer set to work at house building. He built +entirely by himself, save the chimney and some part of the shingling +(wooden roofing). As yet, no rooms have any ceiling or lining; they +might by innocent people be thought to resemble barns, but they are +weather-proof, strong, and answer all present purposes. The verandah, +about 8 feet broad, is another great room really. + +'I am still buying and sending down bricks, timber, &c. Two Auckland +carpenters, thoroughly steady men, left Norfolk Island, about three +weeks after we left it, for the Melanesian islands. They have been +putting up my special building. We have no doors like hall doors, as +all the rooms open with glass doors on to the verandah, and they are the +doors for going in and out. Comprenez-vous? The ground slopes away from +these two houses for some 200 yards or more to a little stream; and this +slope is all covered with sweet potatoes and vegetables, and Codrington +and Palmer have planted any number of trees, bushes, flowers, &c. +Everything grows, and grows luxuriantly. Such soil, such a climate! + +'By-and-by I shall have, I hope, such myrtles and azaleas, kalmias and +crotons, and pine-apples and almond trees, bananas and tree-ferns, and +magnolias and camellias, &c., all in the open air. + +'The ground slopes up beyond the little stream, a beautiful wooded bank, +wooded with many kinds of trees and bushes, large Norfolk Island pines; +cattle and sheep stray about. Oh! how very pretty it is! And then beyond +and above this first slope, the eye travels along the slopes of the Pitt +to its summit, about 1,000 feet, a pretty little hill. It is, indeed, +a calm peaceful scene, away from noise and bustle, plenty of pleasant +sounds of merry boys working in the gardens, and employing themselves +in divers ways. The prospect is (D. Gr.) a very happy one. It is some +pleasure to work here, where the land gives "her increase" indeed. + +'All seem very happy and well pleased with the place. I don't see how +it can be otherwise, and yet to the young people there may be something +attractive in society. But the young ones must occasionally go to +Auckland or Sydney, or whithersoever they please, for a two or three +months' holiday. For me, what can I desire more than this place affords? +More than half of each year spent here if I live, and quietly, with any +amount of work, uninterrupted work, time for quiet reading and thought. +This room of mine in which I now am sitting is magnifique, my dear Joan; +seriously, a very good room. You see it will be full of boys and girls; +and I must have in it many things, not books only, for the general use +of all here, so that I determined to make it a nice place at once. + +'This room then, nicely lined, looking rather like a wooden box, it +is true, but clean and airy, is 22 feet x 14 feet 6 in., and the wall +plates 9 feet 6 in. high, the ceiling coved a little, so as to be nearly +14 feet high in the centre. What do you think of that for a room? It +has a fire-place, and wide verandah, which is nearly 6 feet above the +ground, so that I am high and dry, and have all the better view too, +quite a grand flight of steps--a broad ladder--up into my house. The +Mahaga lads and I call it my tree-house. + +'Then I have one great luxury. I thought I would have it, and it is +so nice. My room opens into the Chapel by red baize swinging doors; my +private entrance, for there is a regular porch where the rest go in. + +'Service at 7 A.M. and 8 P.M. But it is always open, boys come in of a +morning to say their private prayers, for sleeping together in one room +they have little privacy there. And I can go in at all hours. Soon it +will become a sacred spot to us. It is really like a Chapel. + +'August 27th.--Your birthday, my dear old Fan! God bless you, and +grant you all true happiness, and the sense of being led onwards to the +eternal peace and joy above. The parting here is a long one; and likely +to be a parting for good, as far as this world is concerned. + +'Last night was the coldest night that they have had during the whole +winter; the thermometer touched 43 deg.--Codrington has regular registering +thermometers, so you see what a charming climate this is for us. Palmer +was here all the summer, and he says that the heat, though great as +marked by thermometer, was never trying, relaxing, and unfitting for +work, as at Kohimarama.' + +Thus began the first period of the residence in Norfolk Island; where +Mr. Codrington's account of the way of life shall supplement the +above:-- + +'When the Bishop returned in August 1867, our party consisted of +himself, Mr. Palmer in Deacon's orders, and myself, Mr. Atkin and Mr. +Brooke already experienced in the work, and Mr. Bice, who had with +myself lately arrived from England. The whole number of Melanesians was +about sixty; among the eldest of these the most intelligent and advanced +of the few then baptized, George, Henry, B----, Robert and Edward. There +were then, I think, thirteen baptized, and two Communicants. To this +elder class, the Bishop, as far as I can recollect, devoted the greater +part of his time. He said that now for the first time he was able +without interruption to set to work to teach them, and he certainly made +great progress in those months. I remember that every evening they used +to sit in Chapel after prayers, and consider what difficulty or question +they should propound to him; and he would come in after a time, and, +after hearing the question, discuss the subject, discourse upon it, and +end with prayer. They were at the time, I remember, much impressed by +this; and those who were the most advanced took in a great deal of an +elevated strain of doctrine which, no doubt, passed over the heads of +the greater number, but not without stirring up their hearts. + +'It became a regular custom on the evening before the Communion Sunday, +i.e., every other Sunday, to give the Communicants instruction and +preparation after the Chapel service. At this time there was no Sunday +sermon in Chapel. The Bishop used to say that the preaching was done +in the school; but much of his school was of a hortatory kind in the +Chapel, and often without taking off the surplice. + +'At this time I should add that he used from time to time to have other +boys with him to school, and particularly Solomon Islanders, whose +languages he alone could generally speak. He had also a good deal with +him the second set of eight Banks Islanders, who were by this time +recognised Catechumens. + +'There were other occupations of the Bishop's time, besides his school +with Melanesians. The hour from 12 to 1 was devoted to instruction given +to the two young men, one from New Zealand and one a son of Mr. Nobbs, +who were working with the Mission; and on alternate days to the younger +members of the Mission, who were being prepared for Ordination. + +'The reading with the younger clergy continued to be to the last one +of the most regular and most fruitful of the Bishop's engagements. The +education which Mr. Atkin had for many years received from the Bishop +had set him considerably above the average of young English clergy, +not only in scholarship and information, but also in habits of literary +industry. The Bishop, with his own great interest in Hebrew, enjoyed +very much his Hebrew reading with Mr. Atkin and Mr. Bice. + +'The Bishop also began as soon as he could to pay attention to the +teaching of the young Norfolk Islanders. He preached very often in their +Church, and went down on Wednesdays to take a class of candidates for +Confirmation. He said, and I believe with truth, that he wasted a great +deal of time in preparing his lessons with the candidates for Ordination +or younger clergy; that is, he looked up the subject in some book, and +read on and on till he had gone far beyond the point in search of which +he started, and had no time left to take up the other points which +belonged to the subject he had in view. I should say he was always a +desultory scholar, reading very much and to very great purpose, but +being led continually from one subject or one book to another long +before coming to an end of the first. He was always so dissatisfied with +what he did, that whereas there are remaining several beginnings of one +or two pages on one subject or another, there is no paper of his which +is more than a fragment--that is, in English. There is one series of +Notes on the Catechism in Mota complete. In those days I was not myself +able to converse sufficiently in Mota to learn much from the elder boys +about the teaching they were receiving; but it was evident that they +were much impressed and stirred up, they spent much time with their +books by themselves, and one could not fail to form a high estimate of +the work that was going on. Now they say they never had school like that +before or since. The Bishop was, in fact, luxuriating in the unbroken +opportunity of pouring out instruction to intelligent and interested +scholars. I think it was altogether a happy time to him; he enjoyed the +solitude, the advantages of the move to the island were apparent in the +school work, and were anticipated in the farm, and the hope of doing +something for the Pitcairn people, which I believe had much to do with +fixing the Mission here, was fresh.' + +This judgment is thoroughly borne out by the Bishop's own letter to his +sisters of October 27, wherein it appears how considerable an element of +his enjoyment and comfort was Mr. Codrington's own companionship, partly +as a link with the younger members of the little community:-- + +'Do I feel doubtful about an early Communion Service, Codrington, when I +broach the matter, takes it up more eagerly almost than I do; and then +I leave him to talk with the others, who could hardly differ from me on +such a point if they wished to do so, but will speak freely to him. +Not that, mind, I am aware of there being anything like a feeling of +distance between me and them, but necessarily they must just feel that +I am forty and their Bishop, and so I might perhaps influence them too +much, which would be undesirable. + +'Then I can talk with him on matters which of course have special +interest for me, for somehow I find that I scarcely ever read or think +on any points which do not concern directly my work as clergyman or +language-monger. It is very seldom that I touch a book which is not a +commentary on the Bible or a theological treatise, scarcely ever, and of +course one likes to talk about those things of which one's mind is full. +That made the talks with the Judge so delightful. Now young people, of +course, have their heads full (as I used to have mine) of other things, +and so my talk would be dull and heavy to them. + +'No doubt, if you had me at home you would find that I am pretty full of +thoughts on some points, but not very well able to express myself, and +to put my thoughts into shape. It is partly want of habit, because, +except as one speaks somewhat dictatorially to pupils, I do not arrange +my ideas by conversing with others--to a great extent, from want of +inclination, i.e., indolence, and also I have not the brains to think +out a really difficult subject. I am amused occasionally to see what a +false estimate others form of me in that way. You see it has pleased +God to give me one faculty in rather an unusual degree, that of learning +languages, but in every other respect my abilities are very moderate +indeed. Distance exaggerates of course, and I get credit with some folks +for what if I had it would simply be a gift and no virtue in me; but +I attain anything I work at with very considerable labour, and my mind +moves very sluggishly, and I am often very dull and stupid. You may +judge, therefore, of the great advantage of having a bright, cheery, +intelligent, well-informed man among us, without whom every meal would +be heavy and silent, and we should (by my fault) get into a mechanical +grind.... + +'As for your own worthy Brother, I don't think I knew what rest meant +till I got here. I work, in one sense, as hard as before, i.e., from +early morn till 10 P.M., with perhaps the intermission of a hour and +a half for exercise, besides the twenty minutes for each of the three +meals; and did my eyes allow it, I could go on devouring books much +later. But then I am not interrupted and distracted by the endless +occupation of the New Zealand life. Oh! how utterly distasteful to me +were all those trustee meetings, those English duties of all kinds, and +most of all, those invasions of Kohimarama by persons for whom I could +get up no interest. I am not defending these idiosyncrasies as if they +were all right, but stating what I felt and what I feel. I am indeed +very happy here; I trust not less useful in my way. School of course +flourishes. You would be surprised at the subjects that I and my first +class work at. No lack of brains! Perhaps I can express it briefly by +saying that I have felt for a year or more the need of giving them +the Gospel of St. John. Because they were ready, thank God, for those +marvellous discourses and arguments in that blessed Gospel, following +upon the record of miracles wrought or events that happened. + +'Of course the knowledge of the facts must come first, but there was +always in school with me--either they have it as a natural gift, or my +teaching takes naturally that line--a tendency to go deeper than the +mere apprehension of a fact, a miracle wrought, or a statement made. +The moral meaning of the miracle, the principle involved in the less +important expression of it, or particular manifestation of it, these +points always of late I am able to talk about as to intelligent and +interested listeners. I have these last six weeks been translating St. +John; it is nearly done. Think, Fan, of reading, as I did last night, to +a class of fifteen Melanesian Christians, the very words of St. John vi. +for the first time in their ears! They had heard me paraphrase much of +it at different times. I don't notice these things, unless (as now) I +chance to write about them. After 6 P.M. Chapel, I remain with some of +the lads, the first class of boys, men, and women, every night, and in +addition, the second class every other night (not on the nights when I +have had them from 7 to 8). I used to catechise them at first, starting +the subject myself. Now, I rejoice to say, half goes very quickly in +answering questions, of which they bring me plenty. + +Then, at about 8.50 or 9, I leave them alone in the Chapel (which opens, +as you know, into my sitting-room), and there they stay till past 10, +talking over points among themselves, often two or three coming in to +me, "Bishop, we can't quite make out this." What do they know and ask? +Well, take such a subject as the second Psalm, and they will answer you, +if you ask them, about prophecy and the prophetic state. Test them as to +the idea they form of a spiritual vision of something seen, but not with +the fleshly eye, and they will say, "Yes, our minds have that power of +seeing things. I speak of Mota, it is far off, but as I speak of it, I +see my father and my mother and the whole place. My mind has travelled +to it in an instant. I am there. Yes, I see. So David, so Moses, so St. +Peter on the housetop, so St. Paul, caught up into the third heaven, so +with his mind." + +'"But was it like one of our dreams?" + +'"Yes and No--Yes, because they were hardly like waking-men. No, because +it was a real true vision which God made them see." + +'Ask them about the object of prophecy, and they will say, in quaint +expression, it is true, what is tantamount to this--it was not only a +prediction of things to come, but a chief means of keeping before the +minds of the Jews the knowledge of God's true character as the moral +Governor of their nation, and gradually the knowledge was given of His +being the Lord and Ruler of all men. The Prophet was the teacher of the +present generation as well as the utterer of truths that, when fulfilled +in after ages, would teach future ages. + +'I mention these fragmentary sentiments, merely to show you how I can +carry these fellows into a region where something more than memory must +be exercised. The recurrence of the same principles upon which God deals +with us is an illustration of what I mean; e.g., the Redemption out of +Egypt from the Captivity and the Redemption involve the same principle. +So the principle of Mediation runs through the Bible, the Prophet, +Priest, King, &c. Then go into the particular Psalm, ask the meaning of +the words, Anointed, Prophet, Priest, King--how our Lord discharged and +discharges these offices. What was the decree? The Anointed is His Son. +"This day have I begotten Thee"--the Eternal Generation--the Birth from +the grave. His continual Intercession. Take up Psalm cx., the Priest, +the Priest for ever, not after the order of Aaron. Go into the Aaronical +Priesthood. Sacrifices, the idea of sacrifice, the Mosaic ritual, its +fulfilment; the principle of obedience, as a consequence of Faith, +common to Old and New Testaments, as, indeed, God's Moral Law is +unchangeable, but the object of faith clearly revealed in the New +Testament for the first time, &c., &c. + +'Christ's Mediatorial reign, His annihilation of all opposition in the +appointed time, the practical Lesson the Wrath of the Lamb. + +'Often you would find that pupils who can be taught these things seem +and are very ignorant of much simpler things; but they have no knowledge +of books, as you are aware, and my object is to teach them pretty fully +those matters which are really of the greatest importance, while I may +fill up the intervening spaces some day, if I live. To spend such energy +as they and I have upon the details of Jewish history, e.g., would be +unwise. The great lessons must be taught, as, e.g., St. Paul in 1 Cor. +x. uses Jewish history. + +'October 15, I finished my last chapter of St. John's Gospel in the +Mota language; we have also a good many of the Collects and Gospels +translated, and some printed. What is better than to follow the Church's +selection of passages of Scripture, and then to teach them devotionally +in connection with the Collects? + +'Brooke works away hard at his singing class in the afternoon. We sing +the Venite, Magnificat, Nunc dimittis, &c., in parts, to single and +double chants, my old favourite "Jacob's" for the Venite, also a fine +chant of G. Elvey's. They don't sing at all well, but nevertheless, +though apt to get flat, and without good voices, there is a certain body +of sound, and I like it. Brooke plays the harmonium nicely. + +'The Norfolk Island people, two or three only, have been here at evening +service, and are extremely struck with the reverence of the Melanesians. + +'I work away with my Confirmation class, liking them personally, but +finding no indication of their having been taught to think in the least. +It is a relief to get back to the Melanesians.' + +The visit of the Bishop of New Zealand which had been hoped for, had +been prevented by the invitation to attend the Synod of the Church held +at Lambeth, in the autumn of 1867, and instead of himself welcoming his +friends, Bishop Patteson was picturing them to himself staying with +his sisters at Torquay, and joining in the Consecration Services of the +Church of All Saints, at Babbicombe, where the altar stood, fragrant +with the sandal wood of the Pacific isles. The letters sent off by an +opportunity in November were to family and friends, both in England. The +one to his sister Joanna narrates one of those incidents that touched +the Bishop most deeply:-- + +'On Friday last we had such a very, very solemn service in our little +Chapel. Walter Hotaswol, from Matlavo Island, is dying--he has long been +dying, I may say--of consumption. For two winters past he has remained +with us rather than in his own island, as he well knew that without +good food and care he would sink at once. Years ago he was baptized, and +after much time spent in preparation, Tuesday, at 7.30 A.M., was the day +when we met in Chapel. Walter leant back in a chair. The whole service +was in the Mota language, and I administered the Holy Communion to +eleven of our Melanesian scholars, and last of all to him. Three others +I trust I may receive to Holy Communion Sunday next. Is not this a +blessed thing? I think of it with thankfulness and fear. My old text +comes into my mind--"Your heart shall fear and be enlarged." I think +there is good hope that I may baptize soon seven or eight catechumens.' + +The letter to Bishop Selwyn despatched by the same vessel on November +16, gives the first hint of that 'labour traffic' which soon became the +chief obstacle to the Mission. + +After describing an interview with an American captain, he +continues:--'Reports are rife of a semi-legalised slave-trading between +the South Sea Islands and New Caledonia and the white settlers in +Fiji. I have made a little move in the matter. I wrote to a Wesleyan +Missionary in Fiji (Ovalau) who sent me some books. I am told that +Government sanctions natives being brought upon agreement to work for +pay, &c., and passage home in two years. We know the impossibility of +making contracts with New Hebrides or Solomon natives. It is a +mere sham, an evasion of some law, passed, I dare say, without any +dishonourable intention, to procure colonial labour. If necessary I will +go to Fiji or anywhere to obtain information. But I saw a letter in a +Sydney paper which spoke strongly and properly of the necessity of the +most stringent rules to prevent the white settlers from injuring the +coloured men.' + +So first loomed the cloud that was to become so fatal a darkening of +the hopes of the Mission, all the more sad because it was caused by +Christian men, or men who ought to have been Christian. It will be seen, +however, that Bishop Patteson did not indiscriminately set his face +against all employment of natives. Occupation and training in civilised +customs were the very things he desired for them, but the whole question +lay in the manner of the thing. However, to him as yet it was but a +report, and this Advent and Christmas of 1867 were a very happy time. A +letter to me describes the crowning joy. + + +'Norfolk Island: Christmas Day, 1867. + +'My dear Cousin,--One line to you to-day of Christmas feelings and +blessings. Indeed, you are daily in my thoughts and prayers. You would +have rejoiced could you have seen us last Sunday or this morning at 7 +A.M. Our fourteen Melanesian Communicants so reverent, and (apparently) +earnest. On Sunday I ordained Mr. Palmer Priest, Mr. Atkin and Mr. +Brooke Deacons. + +'The service was a solemn one, in the Norfolk Island Church, the people +joining heartily in the first ordination they had seen; Codrington's +sermon excellent, the singing good and thoroughly congregational, +and the whole body of confirmed persons remaining to receive the Holy +Communion. Our own little Chapel is very well decorated (Codrington +again the leader) with fronds of tree-ferns, arums, and lilies; +"Emmanuel, God amemina" (with us), in large letters over the altar. + +'And now (9.30P.M.) they are practising Christmas hymns in Mota for our +11 A.M. service. Then we have a regular feast, and make the day a really +memorable one for them. The change from the old to the new state of +things, as far as our Banks Islanders are concerned, is indeed most +thankworthy. I feel that there is great probability of George Sarawia's +ordination before long. This next year he will be left alone (as far as +we whites are concerned) at Mota, and I shall be able to judge, I hope, +of his fitness for carrying on the work there. If it be God's will to +give him health of body and the will and power to serve Him, then he +ought to be ordained. He is an excellent fellow, thoughtful, sensible, +and my right hand among the Melanesians for years. His wife, Sara +Irotaviro, a nice gentle creature, with now a fine little boy some seven +months old. She is not at all equal to George in intelligence, and is +more native in habits, &c. But I think that she will do her best. + +'You know I have long felt that there is almost harm done by trying +to make these islanders like English people. All that is needful for +decency and propriety in the arrangement of houses, in dress, &c., +we must get them to adopt, but they are to be Melanesian, not English +Christians. We are so far removed from them in matters not at +all necessarily connected with Christianity, that unless we can +denationalise ourselves and eliminate all that belongs to us as English, +and not as Christians, we cannot be to them what a well-instructed +fellow-countryman may be. He is nearer to them. They understand him. He +brings the teaching to them in a practical and intelligible form. + +'I hope and pray that dear old George may be the first of such a band +of fellow-workers. Others--Henry Tagalana, who is, I suppose, about +eighteen, Fisher Pantatun, about twenty-one, Edward Wogale (George's own +brother), about sixteen, Robert Pantatun, about eighteen--are excellent, +all that I could wish; and many younger ones are coming up. They stay +with us voluntarily two or three years now without any going home, and +the little ones read and write surprisingly well. They come to me very +often and say, "Bishop, I wish to stop here again this winter." + +'They come for help of the best kind. They have their little printed +private prayers, but some are not content with this. Marosgagalo came +last week with a slip of paper-- + +'"Well, Maros, what is it?" + +'He is a shy little fellow who has been crippled with rheumatism. + +'"Please write me my prayer." + +'And as my room opens into the Chapel, and they are told to use that at +all times (their sleeping-rooms not allowing much privacy), I know how +they habitually come into it early (at 5 A.M.) and late at night for +their private prayers. You cannot go into the Chapel between 5 and 6.30 +A.M. without seeing two or three kneeling about in different corners. As +for their intelligence, I ought to find time to send you a full account +of them, translations of their answers, papers, &c., but you must be +content to know that I am sure they can reason well upon facts and +statements, that they are (the first class) quite able to understand all +the simpler theological teaching which you would expect Communicants and +(I pray) future clergymen to understand. Of some six or seven I can thus +speak with great confidence, but I think that the little fellows may +be better educated still, for they are with us before they have so much +lee-way to make up--jolly little fellows, bright and sharp. The whole +of the third Banks Island class (eight of them) have been with me for +eighteen months, and they have all volunteered to stay for eighteen +months more. They ought to know a great deal at the end of that time, +then they will go home almost to a certainty only for two or three +months, and come back again for another long spell. + +'All this is hopeful, and we have much to be thankful for indeed; but I +see no immediate prospect of anything like this in the other islands at +present. We know very many of the islanders and more or less of their +languages; we have scholars who read and write, and stop here with us, +and who are learning a good deal individually, but I have as yet no +sense of any hold gained upon the people generally. We are good friends, +they like us, trust young people with us, but they don't understand our +object in coming among them properly. The trade and the excitement of +our visit has a good deal to do with their willingness to receive us and +to give us children and young men. They behave very well when here, and +their people treat us well when we are with them. But as yet I see no +religious feeling, no apprehension of the reality of the teaching: they +know in one sense, and they answer questions about the meaning of the +Creed, &c., but they would soon fall again into heathen ways, and their +people show no disposition to abandon heathen ways. In all this there is +nothing to surprise or discourage us. It must be slow work, carried on +without observation amidst many failures and losses and disappointments. +If I wished to attribute to secondary causes any of the results we +notice, I might say that our having lived at Mota two or three months +each year has had a great deal to do with the difference between the +Banks and the other islanders. + +'It may be that, could we manage to live in Bauro, or Anudha, or Mahaga, +or Whitsuntide, or Lepers' Island, or Espiritu Santo, we might see +soon some such change take place as we notice in Mota; but all that is +uncertain, and such thoughts are useless. We must indeed live in those +other islands as soon as we can, but it is hard to find men able to do +so, and only a few of the islands are ripe for the attempt. + +'I feel often like a horse going his regular rounds, almost +mechanically. Every part of the day is occupied, and I am too tired +at night to think freshly. So that I am often like one in a dream, +and scarcely realise what I am about. Then comes a time when I wish to +write, e.g. (as to you now) about the Mission, and it seems so hard to +myself to see my way, and so impossible to make others see what is in +my mind about it. Sometimes I think these Banks Islanders may be +evangelists beyond the limits of their own islands. So many of the +natives of other islands live here with them, and speak the language of +Mota, and then they have so much more in common with them than with us, +and the climate and food and mode of life generally are familiar to them +alike. I think this may come to pass some day; I feel almost sure that +I had better work on with promising islanders than attempt to train up +English boys, of which I once thought. I am more and more confirmed +in my belief that what one wants is a few right-minded, well-educated +English clergymen, and then for all the rest trust to native agency. + +'When I think of Mr. Robertson and such men, and think how they work +on, it encourages me. And so, where do I hear of men who have so many +comforts, so great immunity from hardship and danger as we enjoy? This +is nothing to the case of a London parish. + +'Fanny has sent me out my old engravings, which I like to look at once +more, although there is only one really good one among them, and yet +I don't like to think of her no longer having them. I have also a nice +selection of photographs just sent out, among which the cartoons from +Hampton Court are especially good. That grand figure of St. Paul at +Athens, which Raphael copied from Masaccio's fresco, always was a +favourite of mine. + +'I feel at home here, more so than in any place since I left England; +but I hope that I may be able to spend longer intervals in the islands +than the mere sixteen or eighteen weeks of the voyage, if I have still +my health and strength. But I think sometimes that I can't last always; +I unconsciously leave off doing things, and wake up to find that I am +shirking work. + +'Holy Innocents' Day.--I don't think I have sufficiently considered your +feelings in suffering the change of name in the Mission School that +took place, and I am rather troubled about it. I came back from the last +voyage to find that as I had selected a site for the buildings on St. +Barnabas Day, which was, by a coincidence, the day I spent here on my +outward voyage in 1866, the people had all named the place St. +Barnabas. Then came the thought of the meetings on St. Barnabas, and +the appropriateness of the Missionary Apostle's name, and I, without +thinking enough about it, acquiesced in the change of name. I should +have consulted you,--not that you will feel yourself injured, I well +know; but for all that, I ought to have done it. It was the more due +to you, because you won't claim any right to be consulted. I am really +sorry for it, and somewhat troubled in mind. (Footnote: 'He need not +have been sorry. I give this to show his kind, scrupulous consideration; +but I, like everyone else, could not help feeling that it was more +fitting that the germ of a missionary theological college should not +bear a name even in allusion to a work of fiction.) + +'The occasional notices of Mr. and Mrs. Keble in your letters, and the +full account of him and her as their end drew nigh, is very touching. +How much, how very much there is that I should like to ask him now! How +I could sit at his feet and listen to him! These are great subjects that +I have neither time nor brains to deal with, and there is no one +here who can give me all the help I want. I think a good deal about +Ritualism, more about Union, most about the Eucharistic question; but +I need some one with whom to talk out these matters. When I have +worked out the mind of Hooker, Bull, Waterland, &c., and read Freeman's +"Principles," and Pusey's books, and Mr. Keble's, &c., then I want +to think it out with the aid of a really well-read man. It is clearly +better not to view such holy subjects in connection with controversy; +but then comes the thought--"How is Christendom to be united when this +diversity exists on so great a point?" And then one must know what the +diversity really amounts to, and then the study becomes a very laborious +and intricate enquiry into the ecclesiastical literature of centuries. +Curiously enough, I am still waiting for the book I so much want, Mr. +Keble's book on "Eucharistic Adoration." I had a copy, of course, but I +lent it to some one. I lose a good many books in that way. + +'The extraordinary change in the last thirty years will of course mark +this time hereafter as one of the most noticeable periods in the history +of the Church, indeed one can't fail to see it, which is not always +the case with persons living in the time of great events. The bold, +outspoken conduct of earnest men, the searching deeply into principles, +the comparative rejection of conventionalities, local prejudices, +exclusive forms of thought and practice, must strike everyone. But +one misses the guiding, restraining hand...the man in the Church +corresponding to "the Duke" at one time in the State, the authority. + +'One thing I do think, that the being conversant only with thoughtful +educated Christians may result in a person ignoring the simpler idea of +the Eucharist which does not in the least divest it of its mysterious +character, but rather, recognising the mystery, seeks for no solution of +it. How can I teach my fifteen Melanesian Communicants the points which +I suppose an advanced Ritualist would regard as most essential? But I +can give them the actual words of some of the ancient, really ancient, +Liturgies, and teach them what Christ said, and St. Paul said, and the +Church of England says, and bid them acquiesce in the mystery. + +'Yet I would fain know more. I quite long for a talk with Mr. Keble. +Predisposed on every account to think that he must be right, I am not +sure that I know what he held to be the truth, nor am I quite sure that +I would see it without much explanation; but to these holy men so much +is revealed that one has no right to expect to know. What he held was in +him at all events combined with all that a man may have of humility, and +learning, and eagerness for union with God.' + + +This letter was sent with these:-- + + +'Norfolk Island: December 16, 1867. + +'My dear Mr. Atkin,--The "Pacific" arrived on Friday after a quick +passage. All our things came safely. She leaves to-morrow for Sydney, +and we are in a great hurry. For (1) we have three mails all at once, +and I have my full share of letters, public and private; and (2) we have +had last week our first fall of rain for some three and a half months, +and we are doing our best to plant kumaras, &c., which grow here +wonderfully, if only they get anything like a fair chance. + +'Joe as usual is foremost at all work; fencing, well-sinking, &c. And +he proves the truth of the old saying, that "the head does not suffer by +the work of the hand." His knowledge of Scripture truth, of what I +may fairly call the beginning of theological studies, gives me great +comfort. I am quite sure that in all essentials, in all which by God's +blessing tends to qualify a man for teaching faithfully, and with +sufficient learning and knowledge of the Word of God, he is above the +average of candidates for ordination in England. + +'I don't say that he would pass the kind of examination before an +English Bishop so well as a great many--they insist a good deal on +technical points of historical knowledge, &c.--but in all things really +essential--in his clear perception of the unity of the teaching of the +Bible; in his knowledge of the Greek Testament, in his reading with me +the Articles, Prayer Book, &c., I am convinced that he is well fitted +to do his work well and truly. We have had more than one talk on deeper +matters still, on inward feelings and thoughts, on prayer and the +devotional study of God's Word, and divinity in general. I feel +the greatest possible thankfulness and happiness as I think of his +ordination, and of what, by the grace of God, he may become to very many +both heathens and Christians, if his life be spared. + +'Once again, my dear friends, I thank you for giving him to this work. +He is the greatest conceivable comfort and help to me. I always feel +when he is walking or working with others, that there is one on whose +steadiness and strong sense of duty I can always rely. May God bless him +with His richest blessings.... + +'On Sunday next (D.V.) we shall not forget you, as I well know your +thoughts and prayers will be with us; and we sing "Before JEHOVAH'S +awful Throne" to the Old Hundredth; 2nd, No. 144 of the Hymnal, after +third Collect; and before sermon, 3rd, No. 143; after sermon, 4th, No. +19; after Litany, 5th, Veni Creator to All Saints. + +The ordination will be in the Norfolk Island Church.--My kind regards to +Mrs. Atkin and Mary. + +'Always, my dear friend, very truly yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +'December 16, 1867. + +'My dear Miss Mackenzie,--Your brother's pedometer reached me safely +three days ago. I feel most truly unworthy to receive such gifts. I have +now his sextant, his pedometer, and, most precious of all, his "Thomas +a Kempis"; they ought to help me to think more of him, and his holy +example. Your letter commenting on the published life makes me know +him pretty well. He was one to love and honour; indeed, the thorough +humility and truthfulness, the single-mindedness of the man, the simple +sense of duty and unwearied patience, energy, and gentleness--indeed +you must love to dwell on the memory of such a brother, and look forward +with hope and joy to the reunion. + +'We are fast settling ourselves into our headquarters here. Our +buildings already sufficient to house eighty or one hundred Melanesians. +We are fencing, planting, &c., &c., vigorously, and the soil here repays +our labours well. The yam and sweet potatoes grow excellently, and +the banana, orange, lemon, and nearly all semi-tropical fruits and +vegetables. I think that our commissariat expenditure will soon be very +small, and we ought to have an export before long. + +'Two things seem to be pretty clear: that there is no lack of capacity +in the Melanesian, and no probability of any large supply of English +teachers and clergymen, even if it were desirable to work the Mission +with foreign rather than native clergymen. My own mind is, and has long +been in favour of the native pastorate; but it needs much time to work +up to such a result. + +'All our party are well in health, save one good fellow, Walter +Hotaswol, who is dying of consumption, in faith and hope. "Better," he +says, "to die here with a bright heart than to live in my own land with +a dark one." It is a solemn Ember week for us. + +'I remain, dear Miss Mackenzie, very truly yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON. + +'I quite agree with you that you cannot educate tropical and +semi-tropical people in England; and you don't want to make them English +Christians, you know.' + + +Walter's history is here completed:-- + + +'January 22, 1868. + +'My dear Cousin,--I write you a line: I have not time for more in +addition to my other epistle, to tell you that I purpose to baptize, +on Sunday next, eight Melanesian youths and one girl. You will, I +know, thank God for this. Indeed I hope (though I say it with a kind +of trembling and wonder) that a succession of scholars is now regularly +established from the Banks Islands. + +'These nine are being closely followed by some ten or twelve more, +younger than they, averaging from seven to eleven years, who all read +and write and know the elements of Christian teaching, but you should +see them, bright merry little fellows, and the girls too, full of +play and fun. Yet so docile, and obedient, and good-tempered. They all +volunteer to stay here again this winter, though they have not been +at home since they first left it, in July and August 1866. They have a +generation of Christians--I mean one of our generations--some two dozen +or more, to help them; they have not the brunt of the battle to bear, +like dear George and Henry and others; and because, either here or +there, they will be living with Christians; I need not, I think, subject +them to a probation. Next year (D.V.) they may be baptized, and so the +ranks are being filled up. + +'I would call the girl Charlotte were she a favourite of mine, but I +wait in hopes that a nicer girl (though this one is good and nice too) +may be baptized by your and Mrs. Keble's name. You may well believe that +my heart and mind are very full of this. May God grant that they may +continue His for ever! + +'I confirm on the same day fourteen Norfolk Islanders. + +'Walter Hotaswol, from Matlavo, the southern part of Saddle Island, died +on the evening of the Epiphany: a true Epiphany to him, I trust. He +was remarkably gentle and innocent for one born in a heathen land. His +confession, very fully made to me before his first Communion, was very +touching, simply given, and, thank God, he had been wonderfully kept +from the sins of heathenism. With us, his life for years was blameless. +He died almost without pain, after many weeks of lingering in +consumption, I verily believe in full faith in his Saviour and his God. + +'During his last illness, and for a short time before he actually +took to his bed, he frequently received the Holy Communion. And very +remarkable were his words to me the day after his first Communion. I was +sitting by him, when he said, apropos of nothing, "Very good!" + +'"What is very good, Walter?" + +'"The Lord's Supper." + +'"Why do you think so?" + +'"I can't talk about it. I feel it here (touching his heart), I don't +feel as I did!" + +'"But you have long believed in Him." + +'"Yes, but I feel different from that; I don't feel afraid for death. My +heart is calm (me masur kal, of a calm following a gale)." His look +was very earnest as he added: "I do believe that I am going to Him." +Presently, "Bishop!" + +'"Well." + +'"Last night--no, the night before I received the Lord's Supper, I saw a +man standing there, a tanum liana (a man of rank, or authority). He said +Your breath is bad, I will give you a new breath.'" + +'"Yes." + +'"I thought it meant, I will give you a new life. I thought it must be +JESUS." + +'He was weak, but not wandering. "Yes, better to die here with a bright +heart than to live in my old home with a dark one." + +'January 28th.--The nine young Christians were baptized on Sunday +evening; a very touching and solemn service it was, very full of +comfort. It may be that now, in full swing of work, I am too sanguine, +but I try to be sober-minded, thankful, and hopeful. I try, I say--it is +not easy. + +'God bless you, my dear Cousin, and as I pray for you, so I know you +pray for us. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +A long letter to James Patteson, which was begun a few days later, goes +into the man's retrospect of the boy's career:-- + + +'March 3rd.--I think often of your boys. Jack, in two or three years, +will be old enough for school, and I suppose it must make you anxious +sometimes. I look back on my early days, and see so much, so very much +to regret and grieve over, such loss of opportunities, idleness, &c., +that I think much of the way to make lessons attractive to boys and +girls. I think a good deal may be done simply by the lessons being given +by the persons the children love most, and hence (where it can be done) +the mother first, and the father too (if he can) are the best people. +They know the ways of the child, they can take it at the right times. Of +course, at first it is the memory, not the reasoning power, that must be +brought into exercise. Young children must learn by heart, learn miles +which they can't understand, or understand but very imperfectly. I think +I forget this sometimes, and talk to my young Melanesians as I should to +older persons. But I feel almost sure that children can follow a simple, +lively account of the meaning and reasons of things much more than one +is apt to fancy. And I don't know how anything can be really learnt +that is not understood. A great secret of success here is an easy and +accurate use of illustration--parabolic teaching. + +'Every day of my life I groan over the sad loss I daily experience in +not having been grounded properly in Latin and Greek. I have gone on +with my education in these things more than many persons, but I can +never be a good scholar; I don't know what I would not give to have been +well taught as a boy. And then at Eton, any little taste one might have +had for languages, &c., was never called out. + +My fault again, but I can't help thinking that it was partly because +the reason of a rule was never explained. Who ever taught in school the +difference between an aorist and a perfect, e.g.? And at college I was +never taught it, because it was assumed that I knew it. I know that +at ten, fifteen, or twenty, I should not in any case have gone into +languages as I do now. But I might have learnt a good deal, I think. +A thoroughly good preparatory school is, I dare say, very difficult to +find. I would make a great point, I think, to send a boy to a good +one; not to cram him or make a prig of him, but simply to give him the +advantage which will make his whole career in life different from what +it will be if his opening days pass by unimproved. Cool of me, Jem, to +write all this; but I think of this boy, and my boyish days, and what I +might have been, and am not. + +'I was always shallow, learned things imperfectly, thought I knew a +thing when I knew scarce any part of it, scrawling off common-place +verses at Eton, and, unfortunately, getting sent up for them. I had a +character which passed at school and at home for that of a fair scholar. +Thence came my disgrace at being turned out of the select, my bad +examination for the Balliol scholarship, my taking only a second, &c. +Nothing was really known! Pretty quick in seizing upon a superficial +view of a matter, I had little patience or determination to thoroughly +master it. The fault follows me through life. I shall never, I fear, be +really accurate and able to think out a matter fully. The same fault I +see in my inner life. But it is not right to talk perhaps too much of +that, only I know that I get credit for much that I don't do, and +for qualities which I don't possess. This is simple truth, not false +humility. Some gifts I have, which, I thank God, I have been now taught +to employ with more or less of poverty in the service.' + + +The vessel that took away the above despatches brought the tidings of +New Zealand's beloved Primate being appointed to the See of Lichfield. +It was another great wrench to the affectionate heart, as will be seen +in this filial reply to the intelligence:-- + + +'2nd Sunday in Lent, 10 P.M. + +'My dear, dear Bishop,--I don't think I ever quite felt till now what +you have been to me for many a long year. Indeed, I do thank God that I +have been taught to know and dearly love you; and much I reproach myself +(not now for the first time) that I have been wilful, and pained you +much sometimes by choosing for myself when I ought to have followed your +choice. I could say much, but I can't say it now, and you don't desire +it. You know what I think and feel. Your letter of the 3rd reached me +last night. I don't yet realise what it is to me, but I think much more +still of those dear people at Taurarua. It is perfectly clear to my +mind that you could not have acted otherwise. I don't grudge you to the +Mother Church one atom! + +'I write at this time because I think you may possibly be soon beginning +your first Ordination Service in your Cathedral. It was almost my first +thought when I began to think quietly after our 8 P.M. prayers. And I +pray for those whom you may be leading to their work, as so often you +have laid your hands on me. I understand Bishop Andrewes' [Greek text] +now. + +'What it must have been to you and still is!... + +'This move to Norfolk Island does make a great difference, no doubt. And +full well I know that your prayers will be around us; and that you will +do all that mortal man can do for us and for the islands. Indeed, you +must not trouble yourself about me too much. I shall often need you, +often sadly miss you, a just return for having undervalued the blessing +of your presence. But I do feel that it is right. I humbly pray and +trust that God's blessing may be on us all, and that a portion of your +spirit may be with us. + +'More than ever affectionately yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The tidings had come simultaneously with the history of the Consecration +of All Saints, Babbicombe, for indeed the Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn were +staying with Joanna and Fanny Patteson for the Octave Services when +the first offer arrived. So that the two mails whose contents were +transported together to Norfolk Island contained matter almost +overwhelming for the brother and friend, and he had only one day in +which to write his answers. To the sisters the assurance is, 'Only be +quite comforted about me!' and then again, 'No, I don't grudge him one +bit. There is no room for small personal considerations when these great +issues are at stake.' + +'I don't think I quite know yet what it is to me. I can't look at his +photograph with quite dry eyes yet. But I don't feel at all sad or +unhappy. You know the separation, if God, in His mercy, spare me at +last, can't be long; and his prayers are always around us, and he is +with us in spirit continually, and then it will be such joy and delight +to me to watch his work. + +'I think with such thankfulness of the last Holy Week; the last Easter +Sunday spent wholly with him. I think too, and that sadly enough, of +having pained him sometimes by being self-willed, and doing just what he +has not done, viz., chosen for myself when I ought to have followed him. + +'Do you remember when, on the morning of Mamma's death, we came into the +study where Uncle and Aunt Frank were, and our dear Father in his great +faith and resignation said, with broken voice, "I thank God, who spared +her to me so long"? Surely I may with far greater ease say, "I thank God +for the blessing for now thirteen, years of his example and loving care +of me." Had he been taken away by death we must have borne it, and we +can bear this now by His grace.' + +The thought engrossed him most completely. It is plain in all his +letters that it was quite an effort to turn his mind to anything but the +approaching change. His Primate had truly been a 'Father in God' to him. +His affections had wound themselves about him and Mrs. Selwyn, and the +society that they formed together with Sir William and Lady Martin had +become the next thing to his home and family. Above all, the loneliness +of sole responsibility was not complete while the Primate was near to +be consulted. There had been an almost visible loss of youth and +playfulness ever since the voyages had been made without the leader +often literally at the helm; and though Bishop Patteson had followed his +own judgment in two decided points--the removal to Norfolk Island, and +the use of Mota language instead of English, and did not repent having +done so, yet still the being left with none to whom to look up as an +authority was a heavy trial and strain on mind and body, and brought on +another stage in that premature age that the climate and constant toil +were bringing upon him when most men are still in the fulness of their +strength. + +The next letter spoke the trouble that was to mark the early part of the +year 1868 as one of sickness and sorrow. + + +'Our two Ambrym boys are coming out; and I am hopeful as to some more +decided connection with the north face of the Island. Mahaga lads +very promising, but at present Banks Islanders much ahead of the rest. +Indeed, of some of them, I may say that while they have no knowledge of +many things that an English lad ought to know, yet they have a very fair +share of intelligence concentrated on the most important subject, and +know a good deal about it. They think.' + +Then follows a working out of one of the difficult questions that always +beset missionaries respecting the heathen notions--or no notions--about +wedlock. Speaking of the persons concerned, the journal continues:-- + +'They were not able to understand--and how can a man and woman, or +rather a girl and boy, understand--what we understand by marriage. +They always saw men and women exchanging husbands and wives when they +pleased, and grew up in the midst of such ideas and practices, so that +there never was a regular contract, nor a regularly well-conceived and +clearly-understood notion of living together till "death us do part" in +their minds. You will say, "And yet they were baptized." Yes, but I did +not know so much about heathen ways then, and, besides, read St. Paul +to the Corinthians, and see how the idea of sanctity of marriage, and +of chastity in general is about the last idea that the heathen mind +comprehends. Long after the heathen know that to break the sixth, +eighth, even the ninth and tenth Commandments is wrong, and can +understand and practically recognise it to be so, the seventh is a +puzzle to them. At the best they only believe it because we say that it +is a Commandment of God. Look at the Canons of the early Church on the +question; look how Luther sanctioned the polygamy, the double marriage, +of the Landgrave of Hesse! So that although now, thank God, our scholars +understand more of what is meant by living with a woman, and the +relation of husband and wife is not altogether strange to them, yet +it was not so at first, and is not likely to be so with any but our +well-trained scholars for a long time.' + + +'Norfolk Island: March 26, 1868. 'My dearest Sisters,--How you are +thinking of me this anniversary? Thirteen years since I saw your dear +faces and his face. Oh! how thankful I am that it is so long ago. It +was very hard to bear for a long long time. Last night as I lay awake +I thought of that last Sunday, the words I said in church (how absurdly +consequential they seem to me now), the walk home, calling to see C. L., +parting with the Vicar and M., the last evening--hearts too full to say +what was in them, the sitting up at night and writing notes. And then +black Monday! Well, I look back now and see that it was very hard at +first, and I don't deny that I found the mere bodily roughnesses very +trying at first, but that has long past. My present mode of life is +agreeable to me altogether now. Servants and company would be a very +great bore indeed. So even in smaller ways, you see, I have all that I +can desire. I always try to remember that I may miss these things, and +specially miss you if it should please God to send any heavy sickness +upon me. I dare say I should be very impatient, and need kind soothing +nurses. But I must hope for the best. + +'Just now we have some anxiety. There has been and is a bad typhoid +fever among the Pitcairners: want of cleanliness, no sewerage, or very +bad draining, crowded rooms, no ventilation, the large drain choked up, +a dry season, so that the swampy ground near the settlement has been +dry, these are secondary causes. For two months it has been going on. I +never anticipated such a disease here. + +'But the fever is bad. Last night two died, both young women of about +twenty. Two, one a married man of thirty, with five children, the other +a girl of twelve, had died before. I have been backwards and forwards, +but no one else of the party. The poor people like to see me. For three +weeks I have felt some anxiety about four or five of our lads, and they +have been with me in my room. I don't like the symptoms of one or two of +them. But it is not yet a clear case of the fever.' + + +'Easter Eve.--Dear Sisters, once more I write out of a sick hospital. +This typhoid fever, strongly marked, as described in Dr. Watson's books, +Graye's edition of Hooper's "Vade Mecum," and, as a very solemn lesson +of Lent and Holy Week, seven Pitcairners have died. For many weeks the +disease did not touch us; we established a regular quarantine, and used +all precautions. We had, I think, none of the predisposing causes of +fever at our place. It is high, well-drained, clean, no dirt near, +excellent water, and an abundant supply of it; but I suppose the whole +air is impregnated with it. Anyhow, the fever is here. + +'April 23rd.--My house consists, you know, of Chapel, my rooms, and +hospital. This is the abode of the sick and suspected. The hospital is +a large, lofty, well-ventilated room; a partition, 6 feet high, only +divides it into two; on one side are the sick, on the other side sleep +those who are sickening. + +'As yet twenty have been in my quarters. Of these seven are now in +Codrington's house, half-way between hospital and ordinary school life. +They are convalescents, real convalescents. You know how much so-called +convalescents need care in recovering from fever, but these seven have +had the fever very slightly indeed, thank God; the type of the disease +is much less severe than it was at first. One lad of about sixteen, Hofe +from Ysabel Island, died last Friday morning. The fever came on him with +power from the first. He was very delirious for some days, restless, +sleepless, then comatose. The symptoms are so very clearly marked, and +my books are so clear in detail of treatment, that we don't feel much +difficulty now about the treatment, and the nursery and hospital work we +are pretty well used to. + +'Barasu, from Ysabel Island, who was near dying on Thursday week, a +fortnight ago to-day, has hovered between life and death. I baptized him +at 9 P.M. on Holy Thursday (the anniversary of Mr. Keble's death). John +Keble: rather presumptuous to give such a name, but I thought he would +not have been named here by it for many hours. He is now sitting by the +hospital fire. I have just fed him with some rice and milk; and he is +well enough to ask for a bit of sweet potato, which he cannot yet hold, +nor guide his hand to his mouth. He has had the regular fever, and is +now, thank God, becoming convalescent. No other patient is at present +in a dangerous state; all have the fever signs more or less doubtful. No +one is at present in a precarious state. It has been very severe in +the town, and there are many cases yet. Partly it is owing to the utter +ignorance or neglect of the most ordinary rules of caution and nursing. +Children and men and women all lie on the ground together in the fever +or out of it. The contagion fastens upon one after another. In Isaac +Christian's house, the mother and five children were all at one time in +a dangerous state, wandering, delirious, comatose. Yet the mortality has +been small. Only seven have died; some few are still very ill, yet the +character of the fever is less severe now. We had some sharp hospital +work for a few days and nights, all the accompaniments of the decay of +our frail bodies. Now we have a respite. Codrington, Palmer, and I take +the nursing; better that the younger ones, always more liable to take +fever, should be kept out of contagion; to no one but I have gone among +the sick in town, or to town at all. We are all quite well. + +'Beef tea, chicken broth, mutton broth, wine, brandy, milk to any +extent, rice, &c.--Palmer manufactures all. The Pitcairners, most +improvident people, are short of all necessary stores. I give what I +can, but I must be stingy, as I tell them, for I never anticipated an +attack of typhus here. They will, I trust, learn a lesson from it, and +not provoke a recurrence of it by going on in their old ways. + +'I don't deny that at times I have been a good deal depressed: about +Holy Week and Easter Week was the worst time. Things are much brighter +now; though I fully expect that several others, perhaps many others, +will yet have the attack, but I trust and fancy it may be only in a +modified form. We have regular Chapel and school, but the school is a +mild affair now; I who am only in bed from 12.30 or 1 to 5, and in the +hospital all day, cannot be very bright in school. I just open a little +bit of my red baize door into Chapel, so that the sick in my room join +in the service. Nice, is it not? + +'This will greatly unsettle plans for the voyage. The "Southern Cross" +is expected here about May 10; but I can't leave any sick that may want +my care then, and I can't take back to the islands any that are only +just convalescent, or indeed any of the apparently healthy who may yet +have the seeds of the fever in them. It would be fearful if it broke out +on the islands. I must run no risk of that; so I think that very likely +I may keep the whole party here another year, and make myself a short +visitation. I suppose that the Bishop will come to New Zealand, and I +must try to meet him; I should like to see his face once more; but if +he doesn't come, or if I can't (by reason of this sickness) go to meet +him--well, I shall be spared the parting if I don't have the joy of the +meeting, and these things are not now what they once were. + +'April 28th.--Barasu (John Keble) died this morning as I read the +Commendatory Prayer by his side. He had a relapse some five days ago, +how we cannot say, he was always watched day and night. I had much +comfort in him, he was a dear lad, and our most hopeful Ysabel scholar. +His peaceful death, for it was very peaceful at the last, may work +more than his life would have done; some twenty others convalescent, or +ailing, or sick. At this moment another comes to say that he feels out +of sorts; you know that sensation, and how one's heart seems to stop for +a minute, and then one tries to look and speak cheerfully. + +'April 29th.--I read the Service over another child to-day, son of James +and Priscilla Quintall, the second child they have lost within a few +days, and Priscilla herself is lying ill of the fever. Poor people, I +did what little I could to comfort them; the poor fellow is laid up +too with a bad foot; a great many others are very ill, some young ones +especially. + +'May 5th.--Jemima Young sent for me yesterday morning. I was with her +the day before, and she was very ill. I reached the room at 11.45, and +she died at noon. [Jemima Young had been particularly bright, pleasant, +and helpful when Mrs. Selwyn was on the island]. + +'May 7th.--The sick ones doing pretty well. You must not think it is all +gloom, far from it, there is much to cheer and comfort us. The hearty +co-operation of these excellent fellow-workers is such a support, and is +brought out at such times. + +'We are going on with divers works, but not very vigorously just now. We +are sawing the timber for our large hall: the building still to be put +up, and then our arrangements will be complete for the present. + +'Then our fencing goes on. We have one large field of some ninety or one +hundred acres enclosed, the sea and a stream bounding two sides, and two +other fields of about forty and twenty acres. I have good cart mares and +one cart horse, a riding mare which I bought of Mr. Pritt, and Atkin has +one also, eleven cows, and as many calves, poultry (sadly destroyed +by wild cats) and pigs, and two breeding sows, and a flock of fifty +well-bred sheep imported. These cost me L4. 10s. a head; I hope they +are the progenitors of a fine flock. The ram cost L12. We have plenty +of work, and must go on fencing and subdividing our fields. Most of +the land is wooded; but a considerable quantity can easily be cleared. +Indeed 200 or 300 acres are clear now of all but some smaller stuff +that can easily be removed. A thick couch-grass covers all. It is not +so nutritious as the ordinary English grasses; but cattle, sheep, and +horses like it, only a larger quantity is needed by each animal. It +gives trouble when one wants to break it up, it is such a network of +roots; but once out of the ground and the soil clear, and it will grow +anything. Our crops of sweet potatoes are excellent. The ordinary potato +does very well too; and maize, vegetables of all sorts, many fruit +trees, all the semi-tropical things, capitally; guavas by the thousand, +and very soon I hope oranges; lemons now by thousands, melons almost a +weed, bananas abundant; by-and-by coffee, sugar-cane, pineapples (these +last but small), arrowroot of excellent quality. Violets from my +bed, and mignonette from Palmer's, scent my room at this minute. The +gardeners, Codrington, Palmer, and Atkin, are so kind in making me +tidy, devising little arrangements for my little plot of ground, and my +comfort and pleasure generally. Well, that is a nice little chat with +you. Now it is past 8 P.M., and the mutton broth for Clement and Mary is +come. I must feed my chicks. Excellent patients they are, as good as can +be. They don't make the fuss that I did in my low fever when I was so +savage with your doves that would go on cooing at my window, don't you +remember? + +'My dear Bishop will be touched by the confidence in him shown by +his late Diocesan Synod in entrusting to him the nomination of his +successor. It was clearly the right thing to do. As for me, no one who +knows anything about it or me would dream of removing me from Melanesia, +as long as I have health and strength, and still less of putting me into +another diocese. When I break down, or give up, it will not be to hold +any other office, as I think. + +'May 8th.--All going on pretty well, thank God. Mary is weak, but I +think better; did not wander last night. Clement, with strong typhoid +symptoms, yet, at all events, not worse. But he is a very powerful, +thickset fellow, not a good subject for fever. I feel that I am +beginning to recover my interest in things in general, books, &c. For +two months I was entirely occupied with hospital work, and with visiting +daily the sick Pitcairners, and I was weary and somewhat worn out. Now I +am better in mind and body; some spring in me again. This may be to +fit me for more trials in store; but I think that the sunshine has come +again.' + +There were, however, two more deaths--the twins of Mwerlau. Clement died +on the 24th of May; the other brother, Richard, followed him a fortnight +later. They were about seventeen, strong and thick-set; Clement had made +considerable progress during his two years of training, and had been +a Communicant since Christmas. Before passing to the other topics with +which, as the Bishop said, he could again be occupied, here is Mr. +Codrington's account of this period of trouble:-- + +'A great break in the first year was caused by the visitation of typhus +fever in the earlier part of 1868. This disease, brought as I always +believed by infection from a vessel that touched here, first attacked a +Norfolk Islander who did not live in the town. He was ill in the middle +of February, others of the Pitcairn people soon after. The Bishop began +at once to visit the sick very diligently, and continued to visit them +throughout, though after a time our own hospital was full. Our first +case was on the llth of March, and our last convalescents did not go out +until near the end of June. For some time there was hard work to be +done with nursing the sick. The Bishop had the anxiety and the charge +of medically treating the sick. Mr. Nobbs, as always, was most kind in +giving the benefit of his experience, but he was too fully occupied with +the care of his own flock to be able to help us much. It was agreed, as +soon as we saw the disease was among us, that the three elder members of +the Mission should alone come into communication with the sick. We kept +watch in turns, but the Bishop insisted on taking a double share, i.e., +he allowed us only to take regular watches in the night, undertaking the +whole of the day's work, except during the afternoon when he was away +with the Pitcairn people. He seemed quite at home in the hospital, +almost always cheerful, always very tender, and generally very decided +as to what was to be done. He was fond of doctoring, read a good deal of +medical books, and knew a good deal of medical practice; but the weight +of such a responsibility as belonged to the charge of many patients in a +fever of this kind was certainly heavy upon him. The daily visit to the +Pitcairn people on foot or on horseback was no doubt a relief, though +hard work in itself. Of the four lads we lost, two, twins, had been some +time christened, one was baptized before his death, the first who died +had not been long with the Mission. It is characteristic of Bishop +Patteson that I never heard him say a word that I remember of religion +to one of the sick. On such things he would not, unless he was obliged, +speak except with the patient alone. + +'Before the sickness was quite over, the "Southern Cross" arrived for +the winter voyage. The danger of carrying infection to the islands could +not be incurred, and the vessel was sent back to Auckland for a time.' + +The letters she carried back refer again to the growing anxiety about +the 'labour traffic.' + +'May 6th.--I am corresponding with a Wesleyan Missionary in Ovalau +(Fiji) on a matter that you may see mentioned some day in the papers, a +very questionable practice of importing from the Southern New Hebrides +(principally Tanna) natives to work on the cotton plantations of white +settlers in Fiji. It is all, as I am assured, under the regulation of +the Consul at Ovalau, and "managed" properly. But I feel almost sure +that there is, or will be, injuries done to the natives, who (I am sure) +are taken away under false pretences. The traders don't know the Tannese +language, and have no means of making the people understand any terms, +and to talk of any contract is absurd. Yet, a large number of Tanna men, +living on really well-conducted plantations, owned by good men, might +lead to a nucleus of Christian Tannese. So says Mr. M. True, say I, if +(!) you can find the good planters and well-conducted plantations. Mr. +M. assures me that they (the Wesleyan Missionaries) are watching the +whole thing carefully. He writes well and sensibly on the whole, and +kindly asks me to visit his place, and judge for myself. + +'Tanna is in the hands of the Nova Scotia Presbyterians--Mr. Greddie, +Inglis, and others; but the adjacent islands we have always visited and +considered ours, and of course a plague of this kind soon spreads. +My letter to Mr. Attwood on the matter was read by Sir John Young and +Commodore Lambert, and they expressed a warm interest in the matter. Mr. +M. says that they think it would be well to accept some rule of conduct +in the matter from the Commodore, which is, I think, likely to do good.' + +By the 15th of June the glad intelligence was received that the hospital +had been empty for a fortnight; and the house that was to have been +carried to Mota was put up for the married couples, for whom it afforded +separate sleeping rooms, though the large room was in common. Two +weddings were preparing, and B---- and his wife had become reconciled. + +'We may hope that this time it is not a case of two children, then +unbaptized, living together, heathen fashion, obeying mere passion, +ignorant of true love, but a sober, somewhat sad reunion of two clever +and fairly-educated grown-up people, knowing much of life and its sad +experience, understanding what they are about, and trying to begin again +with prayer to God and purposes of a good life.' + +This time of convalescence was a time of great progress. A deep +impression had been made on many, and there was a strong spirit of +enquiry among them. The Bishop then began a custom of preaching to his +black scholars alone after the midday service, dismissing his five or +six white companions after prayers, because he felt he could speak +more freely and go more straight to the hearts of his converts and +catechumens if he had no other audience. + +The other inhabitants of the island suffered long after the St. Barnabas +scholars were free, and deaths continued. It was impossible to enforce +on such an undisciplined race the needful attention to cleanliness, or +even care of the sick; the healthy were not kept apart, nor was the food +properly prepared for the sick. It was impossible to stir or convince +the easy-going tropical nature, and there was no authority to enforce +sanitary measures, so the fever smouldered on, taking first one, then +another victim, and causing entire separation from St. Barnabas, except +as far as the Bishop was concerned. + +Meantime, a house was being put up to receive Mr. Palmer's intended +wife, the daughter of that Mr. Ashwell who had shared in the disastrous +voyage when the 'Southern Cross' had been wrecked. She had been brought +up to Mission work, and was likely to be valuable among the young girls. +After this announcement, the Bishop continues:-- + +'My mind is now made up to take the great step of ordaining dear George +Sarawia, for nine years my pupil, and for the last three or four my +friend and helper. Codrington is only surprised that he is not ordained +already. Humanly speaking, there can be no doubt of his steadfastness. +He is, indeed, a thoroughly good conscientious man, humble without +servility, friendly and at his ease without any forwardness, and he has +a large share of good sense and clear judgment. Moreover, he has long +held a recognised position with all here and in New Zealand, and for the +last two years the Mota people and the neighbouring islanders have quite +regarded him as one whom they recognise as their leader and teacher, one +of our own race, yet not like us--different; he knows and does what we +can't do and don't know. + +'They quite look upon him as free from all the difficulties which attend +a man's position as inheriting feuds, animosities, &c. He goes anywhere; +when the island may be in a disturbed state, no one would hurt him; he +is no partisan in their eyes, a man of other habits and thoughts and +character, a teacher of all. + +'I think, oh! with such feelings of thankfulness and hope too, of +the first Melanesian clergyman! I should almost like to take him to +Auckland, that the Bishop might ordain him; but he ought to be ordained +here, in the presence of the Melanesians; and in the hasty confusion of +the few weeks in New Zealand, George would be at a sad loss what to do, +and the month of October is cold and raw. But you may get this just in +time to think of his Ordination, and how you will pray for him! His +wife Sara is a weakly body, but good, and she and I are, and always +have been, great friends. She has plenty of good sense. Their one +child, Simon, born in Norfolk Island some fourteen months ago, is a very +nice-looking child, and healthy enough. + +Meantime the spirit of enquiry and faith was making-marked progress. +Mr. Codrington says: 'The stir in the hearts and minds of those already +christened might be called a revival, and the enquiring and earnest +spirit of many more seemed to be working towards conversions. During +this time, there might be seen on the cliff or under the trees in the +afternoon, or on Sundays, little groups gathered round some of the elder +Christians, enquiring and getting help. It was the work that George +evidently was enabled to do in this way that convinced everyone that the +time had quite come for his Ordination. It is worth mentioning that +the boys from one island, and one individual in particular, were much +influenced by the last conversations of the first Christian who died +here (Walter Hotaswol), who had told his friends to be "sure that all +the Bishop had told them was true."' + +This quickening and its results are further described in the ensuing +letter, wherein is mention of the Bauro man Taroniara, the most +remarkable of the present conversions, and destined three years after to +die with the Bishop and Mr. Atkin. + + +'June 20, 9 P.M., 1868. + +'My dear Sisters,--You know how I am thinking of him to-day. Seven years +ago! I think that he seems more and more present to my mind than ever. +How grateful it is to me to find the dear Bishop ever recurring to +him in his sermons, &c.; but indeed we all have the great blessing and +responsibility of being his children. The thought of meeting him again, +if God be so merciful, comes over me sometimes in an almost overpowering +way: I quite seem to see and feel as if kneeling by his side before the +Great Glory, and even then thinking almost most of him. And then, so +many others too--Mamma, Uncle James, Frank, &c., and you, dear Joan, +think of your dear Mother. It seems almost too much. And then the mind +goes on to think of the Saints of God in every generation, from one +of the last gathered in (dear Mr. Keble) to the very first; and as we +realise the fact that we may, by God's wonderful mercy, be companions, +though far beneath the feet, of Patriarchs, and Apostles, and Martyrs, +and even see Him as He is--it is too great for thought! and yet, thank +God, it is truth. + +'My heart is full too of other blessed thoughts. There seems to be a +stirring of heart among our present set of scholars, the younger ones I +mean; they come into my room after evening Chapel and school, one or +two at a time, but very shy, sit silent, and at last say very softly, +"Bishop, I wish to stop here for good." + +'"Why?" + +'"I do wish to be good, to learn, to be like George and Henry and the +rest." + +'This morning I baptized Charlotte and Joanna. Charlotte will be married +to Fisher on Wednesday, when Benjamin and Marion will also be married. +Oh, what blessings are these! I spoke earnestly of the service in my +preachment. + +'Taroniara, from San Cristoval, said to me the other night, "Bishop, +why is it that now I think as I never thought before? I can't tell quite +what I think. You know I used to be willing to learn, but I was easily +led away on my own island; but I think that I shall never wish again +to listen to anything but the Word of God. I know I may be wrong, but I +think I shall never be inclined to listen to anything said to me by +my people to keep me from you and from this teaching. I feel quite +different: I like and wish for things I never really used to care for; I +don't care for what I used to like and live for. What is it?" + +'"What do you think it is?" + +'"I think--but it is so (mava) great--I think it is the Spirit of God in +my heart." + +'As for the Mota and Matlavo fellows, and the girls too, they have now +good examples before them, and one and all wish to stop here as long +as I please. And that being so, the return to their homes not being +a return to purely heathen islands, I trust that they may soon be +baptized. So my heart is full of thankfulness and wonder and awe. + +'All this time I write with a full sense of the uncertainty of this and +every human work. I know the Bishop is preaching on failures, and I try +to think he is preaching to me. + +'July 2nd, 8 A.M.--My dear Sisters, what a day we had yesterday! so +full of happiness and thankfulness. It was the wedding-day of Fisher and +Charlotte, Benjamin and Marion. + +'The chapel was so prettily dressed up by Mr. Codrington and Mr. Bice, +under whose instructions some of the lads made evergreen ornaments, &c., +large white arums and red flowers also. + +'At 7 A.M. Morning-Prayers, as usual. At 9.30 the wedding. All the +Melanesians in their places in Chapel; and as we came into the Chapel +from my room, the 100th Psalm was chanted capitally. Mr. Codrington said +he never was present at so thoroughly devotional a wedding. It was a +really solemn religious service. + +'Then I gave good presents to everyone in the school, even the smallest +boys came in for a knife, beads, &c. Then cricket, for the day was +beautifully fine, though it is midwinter. And all sorts of fun we +had. Then a capital dinner, puddings, &c. Then cricket, running races, +running in sacks (all for prizes), then a great tea, 7 P.M. Chapel, +then native dances by a great bonfire. Then at 10 P.M. hot coffee and +biscuits, then my little speech, presenting all our good wishes to the +married couples, and such cheering, I hope it may be well remembered. +The deeper feeling of it all is bearing fruit. Already lads and young +men from the Solomon Islands say, "We begin to see what is meant by a +man and woman living together." The solemnity of the service struck them +much. + +'The bridegrooms wore their Sunday dresses, nice tidy trousers of dark +tweed, Crimean shirt, collar and tie, and blue serge coat. The brides, +white jackets trimmed with a bit of red, white collar and blue skirts. +All the answers quietly and reverently made; the whole congregation +answering "Amen" to the word of blessing in an unmistakeable way. The +67th Psalm was chanted, of course. + +'My plan is to have Psalms, with reading and singing to suit each day, +regarded as commemorative of the great facts and doctrines, so that +every week we read in chapel about forty Psalms, and sing about twelve +hymns. These are pretty well known by heart, and form already a very +considerable stock of Scriptural reference. The Resurrection and the +Gift of the Spirit, the Nativity, Manifestation, Betrayal, Ascension, +Crucifixion, Burial, with the doctrines connected with them, come in +this way every week before their minds. I translated Psalms chosen with +reference to this plan, and wrote hymns, &c. in the same way. + +'I wish you could have been with us yesterday. It was really a +strikingly solemn service. Then our fortnightly 7 A.M. Communions, our +daily 7 A.M. and 7 P.M. Services, our Baptisms, yes and our burials too, +all are so quiet, and there is so much reverence. You see that they have +never learnt bad habits. A Melanesian scholar wouldn't understand how +one could pray in any other posture than kneeling. + +'The evening Catechumen classes, so happy. And then the dear fellows at +their private prayers. The Chapel is always open, you know, and in the +early morning and late evening little knots of three and four, or eight +and ten, are kneeling about, quietly saying their prayers. The sick +lads--dear Clement and Richard who died--as long as they could move, +knelt up in hospital to say their prayers, and all but quite the new +comers did the same. It was touching to see them, weak and in much pain, +yet I did not of course tell them that they might as well pray as they +lay on their rugs. Better for them even if it did a little exhaust them. +It is no mere formal observance of a rule, for there never has been any +rule about it. I have given them short simple prayers, and they first +learn to kneel down with me here in my room, or with Codrington in his +room, &c. But I merely said (long ago at Kohimarama), "You know you can +always go into the Chapel whenever you like." + +'Sometimes I do wish you could see them; but then unless you could talk +with them, and indeed unless you knew the Melanesian mind and nature, +you couldn't estimate these things rightly. + +'But never did I feel so hopeful, though my old text is ever in my mind, +Isaiah lx. 5: "Thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged." That's exactly +it. + +'July 18th.--To-morrow I baptize Taroniara, of San Cristoval, a young +man full of promise. He has a wife and little girl of about four years +old. He may become, by God's blessing, the teacher of the people of his +island.' + +(From a letter of the same date to myself, I add the further particulars +about one who was to teach by his death instead of his life, and for +whom the name of the first martyr was chosen):-- + +'He has been with me for some years, always good and amiable; but too +good-natured, too weak, so that he did not take a distinct line with his +people. He is a person of some consequence in his neighbourhood. Now +he gives all the proofs that can well be given of real sincerity. He +wonders himself, as he contrasts his present with his former thoughts. +I feel, humanly speaking, quite convinced that he is thoroughly in +earnest. His wife and little child are in the islands. "How foolish of +me not to have listened to you, and brought them here at once. Then we +could stop here for good." But he will return with them, all being well, +or without them, if anything has happened to them, and I see in him, as +I hope and pray, the pioneer for San Cristoval at last. + +'(Resuming the home letter.) The language of Mota now is beginning to be +a very fair channel for communicating accurate theological teaching. +We have, of course, to a large extent made it so by assigning deeper +meanings to existing words (we have introduced very few words). This is +the case in every language. On Sunday night, if you had been here, and +been able to understand my teaching on St. John vi. to the Communicants, +you would have been surprised, I think. Something of Hooker's fifth book +was being readily taken in by several of those present. An Old Testament +history they don't learn merely as certain events. They quickly take up +the meaning, the real connection. I use the "Sunday Teaching," or work +them at all events on that plan. Well, you mustn't say too much of the +bright side of the picture. It is so easy to misunderstand. + +'The time has been bad for our "lambing." We have thirty-five lambs, +looking well, and have lost, I think, nine. Yesterday a great event +occurred. One of the cart-mares foaled; great was the satisfaction of +the Melanesians at the little filly. Calves are becoming too common, as +we have now fourteen or fifteen cows, and five more are owing to us for +goods which the people take in exchange--not money, which would not suit +them as well. We have fenced in plenty of grass, and I don't wan't to +pay any more for keep. Of course, we use a good deal of salt beef +on shore here, as well as seek to supply the "Southern Cross" on her +voyages. + +'It is pleasant to walk about and see the farm and gardens thriving. +All being well, we shall have some 300 bananas next year, lots of +sugar-canes; many fruit trees are being planted, pine-apples, coffee, +&c. Guavas grow here like weeds. I don't care for these things; but the +others do, and of course the scholars rejoice in them. + +'I think of the islands, and see them in my waking dreams, and it seems +as if nothing was done. But I think again of what it was only a very +short time ago, and oh! I do feel thankful indeed, and amazed, and +almost fearful. I should like much, if I am alive and well, to see my +way to spending more of my time on the islands. But the careful training +of picked scholars for future missionaries is, I am sure, the most +important part of our work (though it must be combined as much as +possible with residence in the islands). If I could feel that the school +was well able to get on without me, I would be off to the islands for +a good spell. On the other hand, I feel most strongly that my chief +business is to make such provision as I may for the multiplication of +native missionaries, and the future permanent development and extension +of the Mission; and to do this, our best scholars must be carefully +trained, and then we may hope to secure a competent staff of native +clergymen for the islands. + +'Mind, I am not disposed to act in a hasty way. Only I don't mean to +let conventional notions about an English clergyman hinder my providing +Melanesian islands with a Melanesian ministry. These scholars of ours +know very much more, and I imagine possess qualifications of all +kinds for their work in Melanesia, greater than the majority of the +missionaries in the old missionary times. + +'How many men did good work who could hardly read, only repeat a few +portions of the Service-book, &c.! + +'I need not say that we wish to educate them up to the maximum point +of usefulness for their practical work. But, given earnestness and +steadfastness of character, a fair amount of teaching power, and a sound +knowledge of fundamental truths, of the Church Services, and the meaning +and spirit of the Prayer-book, and we may surely trust that, by God's +grace, they may execute the office of the Ministry to the glory of God, +and the edification of the Church. + +'They have now in Mota, in print, St. Luke, the Acts; soon will have St. +John, which is all ready; the Prayer-book, save some of the Psalms, and +a few other small portions. And in MS. they have a kind of manual of +the Catechism, abstract of the Books of the Old Testament, papers on +Prophecy, &c., &c. All this work, once done in Mota, is, without very +much labour, to be transferred into Bauro, Mahaga, Mara, &c., &c. as I +hope; but that is in the future.' + +In the birthday letter to his sister Fanny, his chilly nature confesses +that August cold was making itself felt; and it was becoming time for +him to make a journey to the settled world, both on account of a small +tumour under his eyelid, and of the state of his teeth. Moreover, no +letters from home had reached him since the 2nd of March. But he writes +on the 7th of September to his brother:-- + +'This does not a bit distress me. I like the freedom from all external +excitement. It gives me uninterrupted time from my own work; and the +world does not suffer from my ignorance of its proceedings. How you +exist with all the abominations of daily papers, I can't imagine. Your +life in England seems to be one whirl and bustle, with no real time for +quiet thought and patient meditation, &c. And yet men do think and do +great things, and it doesn't wear them out soon either. Witness Bishops +and Judges, &c., living to eighty and even ninety in our own days. + +'I like quiet and rest, and no railroads and no daily posts; and, above +all, no visitors, mere consumers of time, mere idlers and producers of +idleness. So, without any post, and nothing but a cart on wheels, save +a wheelbarrow, and no visitors, and no shops, I get on very happily and +contentedly. The life here is to me, I must confess, luxurious, because +I have what I like, great punctuality, early hours, regular school work, +regular reading, very simple living; the three daily meals in hall take +about seventy minutes all put together, and so little time is lost; and +then the climate is delightful. Too cold now, but then I ought to be in +the islands. The thermometer has been as low as 56 deg. in my room; and I +am standing in my room and writing now with my great coat on, the +thermometer being 67 deg.. + +'You know that I am not cut out for society, never was at my ease in +it, and am glad to be out of it. I am seldom at my ease except among +Melanesians: they and my books are my best companions. I never feel the +very slightest desire for the old life. You know how I should like to +see you dear ones, and...[others by name] but I couldn't stand more than +a week in England, if I could transplant myself there in five minutes! +I don't think this augurs any want of affection; but I have grown into +this life; I couldn't change it without a most unpleasant wrench.' + +The letter was at this point, when the 'Southern Cross' arrived, on +September 10, to carry off the Bishop and Mr. Palmer: the one to the +General Synod, and to take leave of his most loved and venerated friend; +the other, to fetch his bride. + +He arrived on the 18th of the month, looking ill, and much worn and even +depressed, more so than Lady Martin had ever seen him, for the coming +parting pressed heavily upon him. The eye and teeth were operated upon +without loss of time, and successfully; but this, with the cold of the +voyage, made him, in his own word, 'shaky,' and it was well that he was +a guest at Taurarua, with Lady Martin to take care of him, feed him on +food not solid, and prevent him on the ensuing Sunday from taking more +than one of the three services which had been at once proffered to him. + +It was no small plunge from the calm of St. Barnabas. 'We agree,' said +Lady Martin, in a note within his envelope, 'that we cannot attempt to +write letters just now. We are in a whirl, mental and bodily; one bit +of blue sky has just shown itself, viz. that Coley may possibly stay on +with us for a week or two after the Selwyns have left us. This really is +proeter spem, and I mean to think that it will come to pass.' + +But in all this bustle, he found time to enclose a kind little note to +me; showing his sympathy with the sorrow of that summer, in my mother's +illness:-- + + +'Auckland. October 3, 1868. + +'I add one line, my dear Cousin, to assure you of my prayers being +offered for you, now more especially when a heavy trial is upon you and +a deep sorrow awaiting you. May God comfort and bless you! Perhaps the +full experience of such anxiety and the pressure of a constant weight +may, in His good Providence, qualify you more than ever to help others +by words put into your mouth out of your own heart-felt troubles. + +'Yet in whatever form the sorrow comes, there is the blessing of knowing +that she is only being mysteriously prepared for the life of the world +to come. There is no real sorrow where there is no remorse, nor misery +for the falling away of those we love. You have, I dare say, known (as +I have) some who have the bitterness of seeing children turn out badly, +and this is the sorrow that breaks one down.' + +It was during these spring days of October, that last Sunday before the +final parting, that being hindered by pouring rain from going with +the Primate, who was holding a farewell service with the sick at the +hospital, Bishop Patteson said the prayers in the private chapel. After +these were ended (Lady Martin says), 'he spoke a few words to us. +He spoke of our Lord standing on the shore of the Lake after His +Resurrection; and he carried us, and I think himself too, out of the +heaviness of sorrow into a region of peace and joy, where all conflict +and partings and sin shall cease for ever. It was not only what he said, +but the tones of his musical voice, and expression of peace on his own +face, that hushed us into a great calm. One clergyman, who was present, +told Sir William Martin that he had never known anything so wonderful. +The words were like those of an inspired man. + +'Three days after, our dear friends sailed. I will not dwell on the +last service at St. Paul's Church, when more than four hundred persons +received the Holy Communion, where were four Bishops administering +in the body of the church and the transepts; but in the chancel, the +Primate and his beloved son in the faith were partaking together for the +last time of the Bread of Life. + +'From the Church we accompanied our beloved friends to the ship, and +drove back on a cold, dry evening, a forlorn party, to the desolate +house. But from that time dear Bishop Patteson roused himself from his +natural depression (for to whom could the loss be greater than to him?) +and set himself to cheer and comfort us all. How gentle and sympathising +he was! He let me give him nourishing things, even wine--which he had +long refused to take--because I told him Mrs. Selwyn wished him to have +it. Many hearts were drooping, and he no longer shrank from society, but +went about from one to another in the kindest manner. I do not know how +we could have got on without him. He loved to talk of the Bishop. In his +humility he seemed to feel as if any power of usefulness in himself had +been gained from him. It was like him to think of our Auckland poor at +this time. They would so miss the Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn. He prayed me +to draw L50 a year for the next year or two, to be spent in any way I +should think best. And he put it as a gift from his dear Father, who +would have wished that money of his invested here should be used in part +for the good of the townspeople. This did not include his subscriptions +to the Orphan Home and other charities.' + +To make his very liberal gifts in time of need in the name of his +Father, was his favourite custom; as his former fellow-labourer, the +Rev. B. T. Dudley, found when a case of distress in his own parish in +the Canterbury Settlement called forth this ready assistance. + +Perhaps the young Church of New Zealand has never known so memorable or +so sorrowful a day as that which took from her her first Bishop: a day +truly to be likened to that when the Ephesians parted with their Apostle +at Miletus. The history of this parting Bishop Patteson had himself to +read on Saturday, October 17, the twenty-seventh anniversary of Bishop +Selwyn's Consecration. It was at the Celebration preceding the last +meeting of the Synod, when Collect, Epistle, and Gospel were taken from +the Order for the Consecration of Bishops; and as the latter says,--'He +has always told me to officiate with him, and I had, by his desire, to +read Acts xx. for the Epistle. I did read it without a break-down, but +it was hard work.' Then followed the Sunday, before described by Lady +Martin; and on Tuesday the 20th, that service in St. Mary's--the parting +feast:-- + +'Then,' writes the younger Bishop, 'the crowded streets and wharf, for +all business was suspended, public offices and shops shut, no power of +moving about the wharf, horses taken from the carriage provided for the +occasion, as a mixed crowd of English and Maoris drew them to the wharf. +Then choking words and stifled efforts to say, "God bless you," and so +we parted! + +'It is the end of a long chapter. I feel as if "my master was taken from +my head." + +'Ah! well, they are gone, and we will try to do what we can. + +'I feel rather no-how, and can't yet settle down to anything!' + +But to the other sister on the same day comes an exhortation not to be +alarmed if friends report him as 'not up to the mark.' How could it +be otherwise at such a time? For truly it was the last great shock his +affections sustained. In itself, it might not be all that the quitting +home and family had been; but not only was there the difference between +going and being left behind, but youth, with its spirit of enterprise +and compensation, was past, and he was in a state to feel the pain of +the separation almost more intensely than when he had walked from the +door at Feniton, and gathered his last primrose at his mother's grave. +Before leaving Auckland, the Bishop married the Rev. John Palmer to Miss +Ashwell; and while they remained for a short time in New Zealand, he +returned for the Ember Week. + + +'St. Thomas, Norfolk Island: December 21, 1868. + +'My dear Cousin,--I must write you a few lines, not as yet in answer to +your very interesting letter about Mr. Keble and about Ritualism, &c., +but about our great event of yesterday. + +'George Sarawia was ordained Deacon in our little chapel, in the +presence of fifty-five Melanesians and a few Norfolk Islanders. With him +Charles Bice, a very excellent man from St. Augustine's, was ordained +Deacon also. He has uncommon gifts of making himself thoroughly at +home with the Melanesians. It comes natural to him, there is no effort, +nothing to overcome apparently, and they of course like him greatly. He +speaks the language of Mota, the lingua franca here, you know. + +'But what am I to say of George that you cannot imagine for yourself? It +was in the year 1857 that the Bishop and I first saw him at Vanua Lava +Island. He has been with us now ten years; I can truly say, that he has +never given me any uneasiness. He is not the cleverest of our scholars; +but no one possesses the confidence of us all in the same degree. True, +he is the oldest of the party, he can hardly be less than twenty-six +years old, for he had been married a year when first we saw him; but it +is his character rather than his age which gives him his position. For a +long time he has been our link with the Melanesians themselves whenever +there was something to be done by one of themselves rather than by us +strangers. Somehow the other scholars get into a way of recognising +him as the A 1 of the place, and so also in Mota and the neighbouring +islands his character and reputation are well known. The people expect +him to be a teacher among them, they all know that he is a person of +weight. + +'The day was warm and fine. + +'At 7.20 A.M. we had the Morning Service, chanting the 2nd Psalm. I +read Isa. xlii. 5-12 for the First Lesson, and 1 Tim. iii. 8-13 for the +Second, and the Collect in the Ordination Service before the Prayer of +St. Chrysostom. Mr. Codrington, as usual, read the prayers to the end of +the third Collect, after which we sang our Sunday hymn. + +'At 11 A.M. we began the Ordination Service. One Epiphany hymn, my short +sermon, then Mr. Codrington presented the candidates, speaking Mota for +one and English for the other. The whole service was in Mota, except +that I questioned Bice, and he answered in English, and I used the +English words of Ordination in his case. George was questioned and +answered in Mota, and then Bice in English, question by question. Mr. +Nobbs was here and a few of the people, Mr. Atkin, Mr. Brooke, so we +made a goodly little party of seven in our clerical supper. + +'What our thoughts were you can guess as we ordained the first +Melanesian clergyman. How full of thankfulness, of awe, of wonderment, +the fulfilment of so much, the pledge of it, if it be God's will, of so +much more! And not a little of anxiety, too--yet the words of comfort +are many; and it does not need much faith, with so evident a proof of +God's Love and Power and Faithfulness before our very eyes, to trust +George in His Hands. + +'The closing stanzas of the Ordination Hymn in the "Christian Year" +comforted me as I read them at night; but I had peace and comfort, thank +God, all through. + +'Others, too, are pressing on. I could say, with truth, to them in the +evening in the Chapel, "This is the beginning, only the beginning, the +first fruit. Many blossoms there are already. I know that God's Spirit +is working in the hearts of some of you. Follow that holy guidance, I +pray always that you may be kept in the right way, and that you may be +enabled to point it out to others, and to guide them in it." + +'And yet no words can express what the recoil of the wave heathenism is, +but "when the enemy shall come in like a flood," and it has indeed its +own glorious word of Promise. It is like one who was once a drunkard and +has left off drinking, and then once more tastes the old deadly poison, +and becomes mad for drink; or like the wild furious struggles (as I +suppose) of poor penitents in penitentiaries, when it seems as if the +devil must whirl them back into sin. You know we see things which +look like "possession," a black cloud settling down upon the soul, +overwhelming all the hopeful signs for a time. And then, when I have my +quiet talk with such an one (and only very few, and they not the best +among us), he will say, "I can't tell, I didn't mean it. It was not I. +What was it?" And I say, "It was the devil, seeking to devour you, to +drag you back into the old evil dark ways." "It is awful, fearful." +"Then you must gird your loins and pray the more, and remember that you +are Christ's, that you belong to Him, that you are God's child, that +Satan has no right to claim you now. Resist him in this name, in the +strength of the Spirit whom Christ has sent to us from the Father, and +he will flee from you." + +'It is of course the same more or less with us all, but it comes out +in, a shape which gives it terrible reality and earnestness. Only think, +then, more than ever, of them and of me, and pray that "the Spirit of +the Lord may lift up a standard against the enemy." At times we do seem +to realise that it is a downright personal struggle for life or death.' + +There the writer paused, and the next date is + +'Christmas Day, 1868. + +'My dearest Sisters,--What a happy happy day! At 12.5 A.M. I was awoke +by a party of some twenty Melanesians, headed by Mr. Bice, singing +Christmas carols at my bedroom door. It is a glass window, opening on to +the verandah. How delightful it was! I had gone to bed with the Book +of Praise by my side, and Mr. Keble's hymn in my mind; and now the Mota +versions, already familiar to us, of the Angels' Song and of the "Light +to lighten the Gentiles," sung too by some of our heathen scholars, took +up as it were the strain. Their voices sounded so fresh and clear in the +still midnight, the perfectly clear sky, the calm moon, the warm genial +climate. + +'I lay awake afterwards, thinking on the blessed change wrought in their +minds, thinking of my happy happy lot, of how utterly undeserved it was +and is, and (as is natural) losing myself in thoughts of God's wonderful +goodness and mercy and love. + +'Then at 4.45 A.M. I got up, a little later perhaps than usual. +Codrington and Brooke were very soon at work finishing the decorations +in the Chapel; branches of Norfolk Island pines, divers evergreens, +pomegranates and oleanders and lilies (in handfuls) and large snow-white +arums; on the altar-table arums above, and below lilies and evergreens. +Oleanders and pomegranates marked the chancel arch. The rugs looked very +handsome, the whole floor at the east end is covered with a red baize or +drugget to match the curtains. + +'7 A.M., Holy Communion. Six clergymen in surplices and fifteen other +communicants. At 10 A.M., a short, very bright, joyful service, the +regular Morning Prayers, Psalms xcv. xix. cx. all chanted. Proper +Lessons, two Christmas hymns. + +'Then games, cricket, prisoner's base, running races. Beef, pork, +plum-puddings. + +'Now we shall soon have evening Chapel, a great deal of singing, a +few short words from me; then a happy, merry, innocent evening, native +dances, coffee, biscuit, and snapdragons to finish with. + +'If you had been here to-day, you would indeed have been filled with +surprise and thankfulness and hope. There is, I do think, a great deal +to show that these scholars of ours so connect religion with all that +is cheerful and happy. There is nothing, as I think, sanctimonious about +them. They say, "We are so happy here! How different from our lands!" + +'And I think I can truly say that this is not from want of seriousness +in those of an age to be serious. + +'I pour this out to you in my happy day--words of hope and joy and +thankfulness! But remember that I feel that all this should make me +thoughtful as well as hopeful. How can I say but what sorrow and trial +may even now be on their way hither? But I thank God, oh! I do thank +Him for his great love and mercy, and I do not think it wrong to give my +feelings of joy some utterance.' + +With this year the Eucharist was administered weekly, the Melanesians +still attending fortnightly; but it proved to have been a true +foreboding that a sorrow was on its way:-- + +'January 8th.--A very joyful Christmas, but a sad Epiphany! + +'U---, dearer to me than ever, has (I now hear from him) been putting +himself in the way of temptation. I had noticed that he was not like +himself, and spoke to him and warned him. I told him that if he wished +to be married at once, I was quite willing to marry him; but he said +they were too young, and yet he was always thinking of the young +fiancee. Alas! he had too often (as he says) put himself in the way +of temptation with his eyes open, and he fell. He was frightened, +terrified, bewildered. + +'Alas! it is our first great sorrow of the kind, for he was a +Communicant of nearly three years' standing. Yet I have much comfort. + +'I can have no doubt, 1st, that a fall was necessary, I believe fully. +His own words (not suggested by me) were, "I tempted God often, and He +let me fall; I don't mean He was the cause of it, it is of course only +my fault; but I think I see that I might have gone on getting more and +more careless and wandering further and further from Him unless I had +been startled and frightened." And then he burst out, "Oh! don't send me +away for ever. I know I have made the young ones stumble, and destroyed +the happiness of our settlement here. I know I must not be with you all +in Chapel and school and hall. I know I can't teach any more, I know +that, and I am miserable, miserable. But don't tell me I must go away +for ever. I can't bear it!" + +'I did manage to answer almost coldly, for I felt that if I once let +loose my longing desire to let him see my real feeling, I could not +restrain myself at all. "Who wishes to send you away, U--? It is not me +whom you have displeased and injured." + +'"I know. It is terrible! But I think of the Prodigal Son. Oh! I do long +to go back! Oh! do tell me that He loves me still." + +'Poor dear fellow! I thought I must leave him to bear his burthen for a +time. We prayed together, and I left him, or rather sent him away from +my room, but he could neither eat nor sleep. + +'The next day his whole manner, look, everything made one sure (humanly +speaking) that he was indeed truly penitent; and then when I began to +speak words of comfort, of God's tender love and compassion, and told +him how to think of the Lord's gentle pity when He appeared first to +the Magdalene and Peter, and when I took his hand in the old loving way, +poor fellow, he broke down more than ever, and cried like a child. + +'Ah! it is very sad; but I do think he will be a better, more steadfast +man: he has learnt his weakness, and where to find strength, as he +never had before. And the effect on the school is remarkable. That there +should be so much tenderness of conscience and apprehension of the guilt +of impurity among the children of the heathen in among many brought up +in familiarity with sin, is a matter for much thankfulness.' + +To this may well be added an extract from Joseph Atkin's journal, +showing his likemindedness both in thoughtfulness and charity:-- + +'I feel quite sure that we must be prepared for many such cases. The +whole associations and training of the early lives of these people must +influence them as long as they live. The thought of what my mother and +sister would think, never occur to them as any influence for good; and +although this may be said to be a low motive for doing right, it is a +very powerful one, and it is more tangible because it is lower. + +'The Bishop, in speaking of it to-day, told the boys that they ought not +to do right to please him, but because it was right to please God; but I +can't help thinking that pleasing the Bishop may and can help the +other very much. Is it not right for a child to do right to please its +parents, and for older children too to be helped by the thought that +they are pleasing those they love and honour? + +'We had a council to-day of all the Church members to talk about how +U---- was to be treated. For himself, poor fellow, I should think +kindness would be harder to bear than neglect. + +'Mr. Codrington says, "On this occasion all the male Communicants went +together to some little distance, where a group of boulders under the +pines gave a convenient seat. The Bishop set out the case, and asked +what was the opinion of the elder boys as to the treatment of the +offender. They were left alone to consider; and when we came back, they +gave their judgment, that he should not eat in the hall at what may be +called the high table, that he should not teach in school, and should +not come into Chapel." + +'This was of course what was intended, but the weight of the sentence so +given was greater with the school, and a wholesome lesson given to the +judges. How soon the Bishop's severity, which never covered his pity, +gave way to his affection for one of his oldest and dearest pupils, and +his tenderness for the penitent, and how he took a large share of blame +upon himself, just where it was not due, can well be understood by all +who knew him.' + +There was soon a brighter day. On January 25, writes Mr. Atkin:-- + +'We had a great day. In the morning some who were baptized last summer +were confirmed, and at night there were baptized three girls and +thirteen boys. Most of them were quite little fellows. I don't think any +of us will easily forget their grave and sober but not shy looks, as one +by one they stepped up to the Bishop. I think that all understood and +meant what they said, that Baptism was no mere form with them, but a +real solemn compact. All who were in my class (nine), or the Sunday +morning school, were baptized in the evening. While we were standing +round the font, I thought of you at home, and half wished that you +could have seen us there. I was witness for my son (Wate); he was called +Joseph, so that I shall lose my name that I have kept so long.' + +Joseph Wate, the little Malanta boy, was always viewed by the Atkin +family as a kind of child, and kept up a correspondence with his +godfather's sister, Mother Mary as he called her. + +On the same day the Bishop wrote to Judge Pohlman:-- + +'My very dear Friend,--I must not let our correspondence drop, and the +less likely it seems to be that we may meet, the more I must seek to +retain your friendship, by letting you know not only the facts that +occur here, but my thoughts and hopes and fears about them.' + +(Then, after mentioning the recent transgression, the letter continues +respecting the youth.) + +'His fright and terror, his misery and deep sorrow, and (I do believe) +godly repentance, make me say that he is still, as I trust, one of our +best scholars. But it is very sad. For three weeks he did not come even +into chapel with us. He not only acquiesced, but wished that it should +be so. + +'Last Saturday evening he was readmitted, without any using of fine +names. I did as a matter of fact do what was the practice of the early +Christians, and is recognised in our Ash Wednesday service now. It was +very desirable that great notice should be taken of the commission of +an act which it is hard for a heathen to understand to be an act of sin, +and the effect upon the whole school of the sad and serious way in which +this offence was regarded has been very good. + +'In the circumstances it is so easy to see how the discipline of the +early Church was not an artificial, but a necessary system, though by +degrees elaborated in a more complicated manner. But I find, not seldom, +that common sense dictates some course which afterwards I come across +in Bingham, or some such writer, described as a usage of the early +Christians. + +'In our English nineteenth century life such practices could hardly be +reintroduced with benefit. Yet something which might mark open offences +with the censure of the Christian Body is clearly desirable when you can +have it; and of course with us there is no difficulty whatever. + +'I cannot be surprised, however deeply grieved at this sad occurrence; +and though it is no comfort to think how many English persons would +think nothing of this, and certainly not show the deep compunction and +sorrow which this poor fellow shows, yet, as a matter of fact, how few +young Englishmen are there who would think such an act, as this young +Melanesian thinks it to be, a grievous sin against God, and matter for +continual sorrow and humiliation. So I do rejoice that he is sorrowing +after a godly sort. + +'In other respects there is a very hopeful promising appearance just +now. We number seven clergymen, including myself. We have a very +efficient band of Melanesian teachers, and could at this moment work a +school of 150 scholars. + +'George Sarawia will (D.V.) start with a little company of Christian +friends at his own island. The scholars from all the different islands +fraternise excellently well, and in many cases the older and more +advanced have their regular chums, by private arrangement among +themselves, whom they help, and to whose islands they are quite prepared +to be sent, if I think fit so to arrange; and I really do believe that +from the Banks Islands we may send out missionaries to many of the +Melanesian islands, as from Samoa and Karotonga they have gone out +to the islands of the Eastern Pacific. Humanly speaking, I see no +difficulty in our drawing into our central school here any number of +natives that we can support, from the New Hebrides, Banks and Solomon +Islands, and I trust soon from the Santa Cruz Islands also. + +'Here must be the principal work, the training up missionaries and +steadfast Christian men and women, not of ability sufficient to become +themselves missionaries, but necessary to strengthen the hands of their +more gifted countrymen. This training must be carried on here, but with +it must be combined a frequent visitation and as lengthened sojourns in +the islands as possible. The next winter we hope that the Rev. J. Atkin +will be some time at San Cristoval, the Rev. C. H. Brooke at Florida, +the Rev. J. Palmer at Mota. But I am more than ever convinced that +the chiefest part of our work is to consist in training up Melanesian +clergymen, and educating them up to the point of faithfully reproducing +our simple teaching. We must hope to see native self-supporting +Melanesian Churches, not weak indolent Melanesians dependent always +on an English missionary, but steadfast, thoughtful men and women, +retaining the characteristics of their race so far as they can +be sanctified by the Word of God in prayer, and not force useless +imitations of English modes of thought and nineteenth century +civilisation. + +'It is sometimes a consequence of our national self-conceit, sometimes +of want of thought, that no consideration is shown to the characteristic +native way of regarding things. But Christianity is a universal +religion, and assimilates and interpolates into its system all that is +capable of regeneration and sanctification anywhere. + +'Before long I hope to get something more respectable in the way of +a report printed and circulated. It seems unreasonable to say so, but +really I have very little time that I can spare from directly Melanesian +work, what with school, translations, working out languages, and (thank +God) the many, many hours spent in quiet interviews with Melanesians +of all ages and islands, who come to have private talks with me, and to +tell me of their thoughts and feelings. These are happy hours indeed. I +must end. Always, my dear friend, affectionately and sincerely yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The readmission thus mentioned was by the imposition of hands, when the +penitent was again received, and his conduct ever since has proved his +repentance true. + +February brought Mr. and Mrs. Palmer to their new home, and carried +away Mr. Codrington for a holiday. The budget of letters sent by this +opportunity contained a remarkable one from young Atkin. Like master, +like scholar:-- + + +'February 24, 1869. + +'My dear Mother,--You must not think about my coming back; I may have to +do it, but if I do, it will seem like giving up the object of my life. +I did not enter upon this work with any enthusiasm, and it is perhaps +partly from that cause that I am now so attached to it that little short +of necessity would take me away; my own choice, I think, never. I know +it is much harder for you than for me. I wish I could lighten it to you, +but it cannot be. It is a great deal more self-denial for you to spare +me to come away than for me to come away. You must think, like David, "I +will not offer unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing." +If you willingly give Him what you prize most, however worthless the +gift may be, He will prize it for the willingness with which it is +given. If it had been of my own choosing that I came away, I should +often blame myself for having made a selfish choice in not taking harder +and more irksome work nearer home, but it came to me without choosing. I +can only be thankful that God has been so good to me.' + + +Well might the Bishop write to the father, 'I thank you in my heart for +Joe's promise.' + +How exactly his own spirit, in simple, unconscious self-abnegation and +thorough devotion to the work. How it chimes in with this, written on +the self-same morning to the Bishop of Lichfield:-- + + +'St. Matthias Day, 6.45 A.M., 1869. + +My dear Bishop,--You do not doubt that I think continually of you, yet +I like you to have a line from me to-day. We are just going into Chapel, +altering our usual service to-day that we may receive the Holy Communion +with special remembrance of my Consecration and special prayer for a +blessing on the Mission. There is much to be thankful for indeed, +much also that may well make the retrospect of the last eight years a +somewhat sad and painful one as far as I am myself concerned. It +does seem wonderful that good on the whole is done. But everything is +wonderful and full of mystery.... + +'It is rather mean of me, I fear, to get out of nearly all troubles by +being here. Yet it seems to me very clear that the special work of the +Mission is carried on more conveniently (one doesn't like to say more +successfully) here, and my presence or absence is of no consequence when +general questions are under discussion.... + +'Your very affectionate + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The same mail brought a letter to Miss Mackenzie, with much valuable +matter on Mission work:-- + + +'February 26, 1869. + +'Dear Miss Mackenzie,--I have just read your letter to me of April 1867, +which I acknowledged, rather than answered, long ago. + +'I can't answer it as it deserves to be answered now. I think I have +already written about thirty-five letters to go by this mail, and my +usual work seldom leaves me a spare hour. + +'But I am truly thankful for the hopes that seem to show themselves +through the mists, in places where all Christian men must feel so +strong an interest. I do hope to hear that the new Bishopric may soon +be founded, on which Mr. Robertson and you and others have so set your +hearts. That good man! I often think of him, and hope soon to send him, +through you, L10 from our Melanesian offertory. + +'You know we have, thank God, thirty-nine baptized Melanesians here, of +whom fifteen are communicants, and one, George Sarawia, a clergyman. He +was ordained on December 20. + +'There are many little works usually going ons which I don't consider it +fair to reckon among the regular industrial work of the Mission. I pay +the young men and lads and boys small sums for such things, and I +think it right to teach the elder ones the use of money by giving them +allowances, out of which they buy their clothing, &c., when necessary, +all under certain regulations. I say this that you may know that our +weekly offertory is not a sham. No one knows what they give, or whether +they give or not. A Melanesian takes the offertory bason, and they give +or not as they please. I take care that such moneys as are due to them +shall be given in 3d., 4d., and 6d. pieces. + +'Last year our offertory rather exceeded L40, and it is out of this that +my brother will now pay you L10 for the Mackenzie fund. I write all this +because you will like to think that some of this little offertory comes +bond fide from Melanesians. + +'...You take me to mean, I hope, that Christianity is the religion for +mankind at large, capable of dealing with the spiritual and bodily needs +of man everywhere. + +'It is easy for us now to say that some of the early English Missions, +without thinking at all about it, in all probability, sought to impose +an English line of thought and religion on Indians and Africans. Even +English dress was thought to be almost essential, and English habits, +&c., were regarded as part of the education of persons converted through +the agency of English Missions. All this seems to be burdening the +message of the Gospel with unnecessary difficulties. The teacher +everywhere, in England or out of it, must learn to discriminate between +essentials and non-essentials. It seems to me self-evident that +the native scholar must be educated up to the highest point that is +possible, and that unless one is (humanly speaking) quite sure that he +can and will reproduce faithfully the simple teaching he has received, +he ought not to teach, much less to be ordained. + +'All our elder lads and girls here teach the younger ones, and we know +what they teach. Their notes of our lessons are brought to me, books +full of them, and there I see what they know; for if they can write down +a plain account of facts and doctrines, that is a good test of their +having taken in the teaching. George Sarawia's little essay on the +doctrine of the Communion is to me perfectly satisfactory. It was +written without my knowledge. I found it in one of his many note-books +accidentally. + +'As for civilisation, they all live entirely with us, and every +Melanesian in the place, men and women, boys and girls, three times a +day take their places with all of us in hall, and use their knives and +forks, plates, cups and saucers (or, for the passage, one's pannikins) +just as we do. George and two others, speaking for themselves and their +wives, have just written out, among other things, in a list which I told +them to make out: plates, cups, saucers, knives, forks, spoons, tubs, +saucepans, kettles, soap, towels, domestic things for washing, ironing, +&c. + +'The common presents that our elder scholars take or send to their +friends include large iron pots for cooking, clothing, &c. They build +improved houses, and ask for small windows, &c., to put in them, boxes, +carpet bags for their clothes, small writing desks, note-books, ink, +pens. They keep their best clothes very carefully, and on Sundays and +great days look highly respectable. And for years we know no instance +of a baptized Melanesian throwing aside his clothing when taking his +holiday at home. + +'As far as I can see my way to any rule in the matter, it is this: all +that is necessary to secure decency, propriety, cleanliness, health, +&c., must be provided for them. This at once involves alteration of the +houses, divisions, partitions. People who can read and write, and cut +out and sew clothes, must have light in their houses. This involves a +change of the shape and structure of the hut. They can't sit in clean +clothes on a dirty floor, and they can't write, or eat out of plates +and use cups, &c., without tables or benches, and as they don't want +to spend ten hours in sleep or idle talk, they must have lamps for +cocoa-nut and almond oil. + +'These people are not taught to adopt these habits by word of mouth. +They live with us and do as we do. Two young married women are sitting +in my room now. I didn't call them in, nor tell them what to do. "We +didn't quite understand what you said last night." "Well, I have written +it out,--there it is." They took, as usual, the MS., sat down, just +as you or anyone would do, at the table to read it, and are now making +their short notes of it. Anyone comes in and out at any time, when not +at school, chapel, or work, just as they please. We each have our own +sitting-room, which is in this sense public property, and of course they +fall into our ways. + +'There is perhaps no such thing as teaching civilisation by word +of command, nor religion either. The sine qua non for the +missionary--religious and moral character assumed to exist--is the +living with his scholars as children of his own. And the aim is to lift +them up, not by words, but by the daily life, to the sense of their +capacity for becoming by God's grace all that we are, and I pray God a +great deal more; not as literary men or scholars, but as Christian men +and women, better suited than we are for work among their own people. +"They shall be saved even as we." They have a strong sense of and +acquiescence in, their own inferiority. If we treat them as inferiors, +they will always remain in that position of inferiority. + +'But Christ humbled Himself and became the servant and minister that He +might make us children of God and exalt us. + +'It is surely very simple, but if we do thus live among them, they must +necessarily accept and adopt some of our habits. Our Lord led the life +of a poor man, but He raised His disciples to the highest pitch of +excellence by His Life, His Words, and His Spirit, the highest that +man could receive and follow. The analogy is surely a true one. +And exclusiveness, all the pride of race must disappear before such +considerations. + +'But it is not the less true that He did not make very small demands +upon His disciples, and teach them and us that it needs but little +care and toil and preparation to be a Christian and a teacher of +Christianity. The direct contrary to this is the truth. + +'The teacher's duty is to be always leading on his pupils to higher +conceptions of their work in life, and to a more diligent performance +of it. How can he do this if he himself acquiesces in a very imperfect +knowledge and practice of his duty? + +'"And yet the mass of mediaeval missionaries could perhaps scarce read." +That may be true, but that was not an excellence but a defect, and the +mass of the gentry and nobility could not do so much. They did a great +work then. It does not follow that we are to imitate their ignorance +when we can have knowledge. + +'But I am wasting your time and mine. + +'Yours very truly, + +'J. C. PATTESON. + +'P.S.--George and his wife and child, Charles and his wife, Benjamin and +his wife, will live together at Mota on some land I have bought. A good +wooden house is to be put up by us this winter (D.V.) with one large +room for common use, school, &c., and three small bed-rooms opening on +to a verandah. One small bed-room at the other end which any one, two or +three of us English folks can occupy when at Mota. I dare say, first and +last, this house will cost seventy or eighty pounds. + +'Then we hope to have everything that can be sown and planted with +profit in a tropical climate, first-class breed of pigs, poultry, &c., +so that all the people may see that such things are not neglected. These +things will be given away freely-settings of eggs, young sows, seeds, +plants, young trees, &c. All this involves expense, quite rightly too, +and after all, I dare say that dear old George will cost about a sixth +or an eighth of what we English clergymen think necessary. I dare say +L25 per annum will cover his expenses.' + + +On Easter Sunday the penitent was readmitted to the Lord's Table. A +happy letter followed:-- + + +'Easter Tuesday, 1869. + +'My dearest Sisters,--Another opportunity of writing. I will only say a +word about two things. First, our Easter and the Holy Week preceding +it; secondly, how full my mind has been of Mr. Keble, on his two +anniversaries, Holy Thursday and March 29. And I have read much of the +"Christian Year," and the two letters I had from him I have read again, +and looked at the picture of him, and felt helped by the memory of his +holy saintly life, and I dared to think that it might be that by God's +great mercy in Christ, I might yet know him and other blessed Saints in +the Life to come. + +'Our Holy Week was a calm solemn season. All the services have long been +in print. Day by day in school and chapel we followed the holy services +and acts of each day, taking Ellicott's "Historical Lectures" as a +guide. + +'Each evening I had my short sermonet, and we sought to deepen the +impressions made evidently upon our scholars by whatever could make it a +real matter of life and death to them and us. Then came Good Friday and +Easter Eve, during which the Melanesians with Mr. Brooke were busily +engaged in decorating the Chapel with fronds of tree-ferns, bamboo, +arums, and oleander blossoms. + +'Then, at 7 A.M. on Easter Morning, thirty of us--twenty-one, thank God, +being Melanesians--met in Chapel for the true Easter Feast. + +'Then, at 11 A.M., how we chanted Psalms ii, cxiii, cxiv, and Hymn, and +the old Easter Hallelujah hymn to the old tune with Mota words. Then at +7 P.M. Psalms cxviii, cxlviii, to joyful chants, and singing Easter and +other hymns. + +'So yesterday and so to-day. The short Communion Service in the morning +with hymn, and in the evening we chant Psalm cxviii, and sing out our +Easter hymn. Ah well! it makes my heart very full. It is the season of +refreshing, perhaps before more trails. + +'Dear U---- was with us again on Easter morn, a truly repentant young +man, I verily believe, feeling deeply what in our country districts is +often not counted a sin at all to be a foul offence against his Father +and Saviour and Sanctifier. + +'Six were there for their first Communion, among them honest old Stephen +Taroniara, the first and only communicant of all the Solomon Isles--of +all the world west of Mota, or east of any of the Bishop of Labuan's +communicants. Think of that! What a blessing! What a thought for praise +and hope and meditation! + +'I sit in my verandah in the moonlight and I do feel happy in spite of +many thoughts of early days which may well make me feel unhappy. + +'But I do feel an almost overpowering sensation of thankfulness and +peace and calm tranquil happiness, which I know cannot last long. It +would not, I suppose, be good: anyhow it will soon be broken by some +trial which may show much of my present state to be a delusion. Yet +I like to tell you what I think, and I know you will keep it to +yourselves. + +'Good-bye, and all Easter blessings be with you. + +'Your loving brother, + +'J. C. PATTESON ' + + +The island voyage was coming near, and was to be conducted, on a larger +scale, after the intermission of a whole year. Mr. Brooke was to make +some stay at Florida, Mr. Atkin at Wango in Bauro, and the Bishop +himself was to take the party who were to commence the Christian +village at Mota, while Mr. Codrington and Mr. Bice remained in charge +of twenty-seven Melanesians. The reports of the effects of the labour +traffic were becoming a great anxiety, and not only the Fiji settlers, +but those in Queensland were becoming concerned in it. + +The 'Southern Cross' arrived in June, but the weather was so bad that, +knocking about outside the rocks, she sustained some damage, and could +not put her freight ashore for a week. However, on the 24th she sailed, +and put down Mr. Atkin at Wango, the village in Bauro where the Bishop +had stayed two years previously. + +Mr. Atkin gives a touching description of Taroniara's arrival:-- + +'Stephen was not long in finding his little girl, Paraiteka. She was +soon in his arms. The old fellow just held her up for the Bishop to +see, and then turned away with her, and I saw a handkerchief come out +privately and brush quickly across his eyes, and in a few minutes he +came back to us.' + +The little girl's mother, for whose sake Taroniara had once refused +to return to school, had been carried off by a Maran man; and as the +heathen connection had been so slight, and a proper marriage so entirely +beyond the ideas of the native state, it was thought advisable to leave +this as a thing of heathen darkness, and let him select a girl to be +educated into becoming fit for his true wife. + +Besides Stephen, Joseph Wate and two other Christian lads were with Mr. +Atkin, and he made an expedition of two days' visit to Wate's father. At +Ulava he found that dysentery had swept off nearly all the natives, and +he thought these races, even while left to themselves, were dying out. +'But,' adds the brave man in his journal, 'I will never, I hope, allow +that because these people are dying out, it is of no use or a waste of +time carrying the Gospel to them. It is, I should rather say, a case +where we ought to be the more anxious to gather up the fragments.' + +So he worked on bravely, making it an object, if he could do no more, to +teach enough to give new scholars a start in the school, and to see who +were most worth choosing there. He suffered a little loss of popularity +when it was found that he was not a perpetual fountain of beads, +hatchets, and tobacco, but he did the good work of effecting a +reconciliation between Wango and another village named Hane, where he +made a visit, and heard a song in honour of Taroniara. He was invited +to a great reconciliation feast; which he thus describes, beginning with +his walk to Hane by short marches:-- + +'We waited where we overtook Taki, until the main body from Wango came +up. They charged past in fine style, looking very well in their holiday +dress, each with his left hand full of spears, and one brandished in the +right. It looked much more like a fighting party than a peace party; +but it is the custom to make peace with the whole army, to convince the +enemy that it is only for his accommodation that they are making peace, +and not because they are afraid to fight him. It was about 12 o'clock +when we reached the rendezvous. There was a fine charge of all, except +a dozen of the more sedate of the party; they rattled their spears, and +ran, and shouted, and jumped, even crossing the stream which was the +neutral ground. We halted by the stream for some time; at last some Hane +people came to their side; there was a charge again almost up to them, +but they took it coolly. At about 10 o'clock the whole body of the Hane +men came, and two or three from Wango went across to them. I was tired +of waiting, and asked Taki if I should go. "Yes, and tell them to bring +the money," he said. + +'While I was wading through the stream, the Hane men gathered up and +advanced; I turned back with them. They rushed, brandishing their +spears, to within ten or twelve paces of the Wango party, who had joined +into a compact body, and so seated themselves as soon as they saw the +movement. + +'Kara, a Hane man, made his speech, first running forwards and +backwards, shaking his spear all the time; and at the end, he took out +four strings of Makira money, and gave it to Taki. Hane went back across +the stream; and Wango went through the same performance, Taki making the +speech. He seemed a great orator, and went on until one standing by +him said, "That's enough," when he laughed, and gave over. He gave four +strings of money, two shorter than the others, and the shortest was +returned to him, I don't know why; but in this way the peace was +signed.' + +After nineteen days, during which the Bishop had been cruising about, +Mr. Atkin and his scholars were picked up again, and likewise Mr. +Brooke, who had been spending ten days at Florida with his scholars, +in all thirty-five; and then ensued a very tedious passage to the +Banks Islands, for the vessel had been crippled by the gale off Norfolk +Island, and could not be pressed; little canvas was carried, and the +weather was unfavourable. + +However, on September 6, Mota was safely reached; and great was the joy, +warm the welcome of the natives, who eagerly assisted in unloading the +vessel, through storms of rain and surf. + +The old station house was in entire decay; but the orange and lemon +trees were thirty feet high, though only the latter in bearing. + +The new village, it was agreed, should bear the name of Kohimarama, +after the old home in New Zealand, meaning, in Maori, 'Focus of Light.' +After landing the goats, the Bishop, Mr. Atkin, and five more crossed +to Valua. They were warmly welcomed at Ara, where their long absence +had made the natives fancy they must all be dead. The parents of Henry, +Lydia, and Edwin were the first to approach the boat, eager to hear +of their children left in Norfolk Island; and the mother walked up the +beach with her arm round Mr. Atkin's neck. But here it appeared that the +vessels of the labour traffic had come to obtain people to work in the +cotton plantations in Queensland, and that they had already begun to +invite them in the name of the Bishop, whose absence they accounted for +by saying his ship had been wrecked, he had broken his leg, he had gone +to England, and sent them to fetch natives to him. No force had been +used as yet, but there was evident dread of them; and one vessel had +a Mota man on board, who persuaded the people to go to Sydney. About +a hundred natives had been taken from the islands of Valua, Ara, and +Matlavo, and from Bligh Island twenty-three were just gone, but Mota's +inaccessibility had apparently protected it. It will be remembered that +it has a high fortification of coral all round the beach, with but one +inconvenient entrance, and that the people are little apt to resort to +canoes. This really has hitherto seemed a special Providence for this +nucleus of Christianity. + +They spent the night at Ara, making a fire on the sandy beach, where +they boiled their chocolate, and made gravy of some extract of meat +to season their yam, and supped in public by firelight, reclining upon +mats. Afterwards they went up to the Ogamal, or barrack tent: it was not +an inviting bed-chamber, being so low that they could only kneel upright +in it, and so smoky that Stephen remarked, 'We shall be cooked ourselves +if we stay here,' proving an advance in civilisation. One of the private +houses was equally unattractive, and the party slept on the beach. + +The next morning they started to walk round the island: taking two cork +beds, a portmanteau and a basket of provisions; stopping wherever a few +people were found, but it was a thinly peopled place, and the loss of +the men carried off was sensibly felt. + +One village had had a fight with a boat's crew from Sydney. They made no +secret of it, saying that they would not have their men taken away; and +they had been sharp enough to pour water into the guns before provoking +the quarrel. + +Further on there was a closer population, where the Bishop was +enthusiastically welcomed, and an Ogamal was found, making a good +shelter for the night. Then they returned to Ara, where Mr. Atkin notes, +in the very centre of the island, a curious rock, about 200 feet high, +and on the top, 20 or 30 feet from the nearest visible soil, a she-oak +stump, and two more green and flourishing a little below. The rock was +of black scoriae, too hot in the middle of the day to sit upon, and near +it was a pool of water. 'Such water, so rotten.' The water used by the +visitors had been brought from Auckland. The natives do not trouble +water much, I don't think they ever drink it, and they certainly don't +look as if they ever washed. + +On the following day they recrossed to Vanua Lava, where they spent a +quiet calm Sunday in the vessel, landing in the afternoon to see Fisher +Young's grave, which they found well kept and covered with a pretty blue +creeper. + +The next Sunday they spent at Kohimarama: beginning with Celebration at +7.30 A.M., and in the afternoon making the circuit of the island, about +ten miles. In one place Mr. Atkin bent over the edge of the natural sea +wall, and saw the sea breaking 150 or 200 feet below! + +After a fortnight spent in this manner, he and the other two clergymen +carried off their Melanesians to Norfolk Island, leaving the Bishop to +be fetched away in a month's time. Here is the letter written during his +solitude:-- + + +'Kohimarama, Mota Island: September 23, 1869. + +'My dearest Joan and Fan,--Here I am sitting in a most comfortable house +in our new Kohimarama, for so the Melanesians determine to call our +station in Mota. The house is 48 feet by 18, with a 9-foot verandah on +two sides. It has one large room, a partition at each end, one of which +is subdivided into two small sleeping rooms for George and his wife, +and Charles and his wife. There is no ceiling, so that we have the full +advantage of the height of the house, and plenty of ventilation, as +the space beyond where the roof comes down upon the wall plates is left +open. + +'The verandah is a grand lounging place; very commodious for school +also, when other classes fill the large room, and a delightful place to +sit or lie about on in this genial warm climate. These bright moonlight +nights are indeed delicious. The mosquito gives no trouble here to speak +of. The cocoa-nut trees, the bread-fruit trees, yam gardens, and many +kinds of native trees and shrubs, are all around us; the fine wooded +hill of Mota shows well over the house. The breeze always plays round +it; and though it is very hot, it is only when the wind comes from +the north and north-west, as in the midsummer, that the heat is of an +oppressive and sickly nature. + +'About twenty lads and young men live here, and about forty attend daily +school; but I think there is every indication of all Mota sending its +young people here as soon as we have our crops of yams, &c., &c., to +provide sufficient food. Improved native huts will, I think, soon be +built over our little estate here. + +'Many girls I hope to take to Norfolk Island. They could hardly be +brought together with safety to this place yet. The parents see and +admit this, and consent to my taking them. I tell them that their sons +will not marry ignorant heathen girls (their sons I mean who have +been and are still with us); that all the young fellows growing up at +Kohimarama must have educated wives provided for them, and that I must +therefore take away many young girls with me to Norfolk Island. The +fashion here is to buy at an early age young girls for their sons, +though occasionally a girl may be found not already betrothed, but +almost grown up. I now say, "I want to train up wives for my sons," and +the fashion of the place allows of my buying or appropriating them. You +would be amused to see me engaged in this match-making. It is all the +same a very important matter, for clearly it is the best way to secure, +as I trust, the introduction of Christian family life among these +people. + +'George and I are satisfied that things are really very promising here. +Of course, much old heathen ignorance, and much that is very wrong, will +long survive. So you recollect perhaps old Joe (great-Uncle Edward's +coachman) declaring that C. S. as a witch, and there is little proof of +practical Christianity in the morals of our peasants of the west, and of +Wales especially. + +'It is not that one should acquiesce in what is wrong here, but one +ought not to be surprised at it. Public opinion, the constraint of law, +hereditary notions, are more effective in preventing the outbreak of +evil passions into criminal acts in very many cases and districts in +England. + +'Now these restraints are, indeed, indirect consequences of +Christianity, but do not imply any religion in the individuals who are +influenced by them. These restraints don't exist here. If they did, I +think these Mota people now would live just as orderly decent lives as +average English folk. Christianity would not be a vigorous power in the +one case or in the other. Exceptional cases would occur here and there. + +'If I am asked for proofs of the "conversion" of this people, I should +say, "Conversion from what to what?" and then I should say, "Ask any +close observer in England about the commercial and social morality +existing in not only the most ignorant ranks of society: how much is +merely formal, and therefore, perhaps, actually detrimental to a true +spirit of religion!" Here you don't find much that you associate with +religion in England, in the external observances of it; but there are +not a few ignorant people (I am not speaking of our trained scholars) +who are giving up their old habits, adopting new ways, accepting a +stricter mode of life, foregoing advantages of one kind and another, +because they believe that this "Good news," this Gospel, is true, and +because the simple truths of Christianity are, thank God, finding some +entrance into their hearts. + +'I dread the imposition from without of some formal compliances with the +externals of religion while I know that the meaning and spirit of +them cannot as yet be understood. Can there be conceived anything more +formal, more mischievous, than inculcating a rigid Sabbatarian view of +the Lord's Day upon a people who don't know anything about the Cross +and the Resurrection? Time enough to talk about the observance when +the people have some knowledge of the vital living truth of a spiritual +religion. + +'So about clothing. If I tried to do it, I think I could make the people +here buy, certainly accept, and wear, clothing. With what result at +present? That they would think that wearing a yard of unbleached calico +was a real evidence of the reception of the new teaching. + +'Such things are, in this stage of Mission work, actually hurtful. The +mind naturally takes in and accepts the easy outward form, and by such +treatment you actually encourage it to do so, and to save itself the +trouble of thinking out the real meaning and teaching which must of +course be addressed to the spirit. + +'These outward things all follow as a matter of course after a time, as +consequences of the new power and light felt in the soul; but they may +be so spoken of as to become substitutes for the true spiritual life, +and train up a people in hypocrisy. + +'I beg your pardon really for parading all these truisms. Throw it in +the fire. + +'I don't for a moment mean or think that religion is to be taught by +mere prudence and common sense. But a spiritual religion is imperilled +the moment that you insist upon an unspiritual people observing outward +forms which are to them the essence of the new teaching. Anything +better than turning heathens into Pharisees! What did our Lord call the +proselytes of the Pharisee and the Scribe? + +'And while I see and love the beauty of the outward form when it is +known and felt to be no more than the shrine of the inward spiritual +power; while I know that for highly advanced Christians, or for persons +trained in accurate habits of thought, all that beauty of holiness is +needful; yet I think I see that the Divine wisdom of the Gospel would +guard the teacher against presenting the formal side of religion to the +untaught and ignorant convert. "God is a Spirit, and they that worship +Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth," is the great lesson for +the heathen mind chained down as it is to things of sense. + +'"He that hateth his brother is a murderer:" not the outward act, but +the inward motive justifies or condemns the man. Every day convinces +me more and more of the need of a different mode of teaching than +that usually adopted for imperfectly taught people. How many of your +(ordinary) parishioners even understand the simple meaning of the +Prayer-book, nay, of their well-known (as they think) Gospel miracles +and parables? Who teaches in ordinary parishes the Christian use of the +Psalms? Who puts simply before peasant and stone-cutter the Jew and his +religion, and what he and it were intended to be, and the real error and +sin and failure?--the true nature of prophecy, the progressive teaching +of the Bible, never in any age compromising truth, but never ignoring +the state, so often the unreceptive state, of those to whom the truth +must therefore be presented partially, and in a manner adapted to rude +and unspiritual natures? What an amount of preparatory teaching is +needed! What labour must be spent in struggling to bring forth things +new and old, and present things simply before the indolent, unthinking, +vacant mind! How much need there is of a more special training of the +Clergy even now! Many men are striving nobly to do all this. But think +of the rubbish that most of us chuck lazily out of our minds twice a +week without method or order. It is such downright hard work to teach +well. Oh! how weary it makes me to try. I feel as if I were at once +aware of what should be attempted, and yet quite unable to do it! + +'St. Michael's Day.--[After an affectionate review of most of his +relations at home.]--When the Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn pressed me a good +deal to go with them to England, it obliged me a little to analyse my +feelings. You won't suspect me of any want of longing to see you, when +I say that it never was a doubtful matter to me for five minutes. I saw +nothing to make me wish to go to England in comparison with the crowd +of reasons for not doing so. They, good people, thought it would be rest +and refreshment to me. Little they know how a man so unlike them takes +his rest! I am getting it here, hundreds of miles out of reach of any +white man or woman, free from what is to me the bother of society. I am +not defending myself; but it is true that to me it is a bore, the very +opposite of rest, to be in society. I like a good talk with Sir William +Martin above anything, but I declare that even that is dearly purchased +by the other accompaniments of society. + +'And I could not spend a quiet month with you at Weston. I should have +people calling, the greatest of all nuisances, except that of having +to go out to dinner. I should have to preach, and perhaps to go to +meetings, all in the way of my business, but not tending to promote +rest. + +'Seriously, I am very well now; looking, I am sure, and feeling stronger +and stouter than I was in New Zealand in the winter. So don't fret +yourself about me, and don't think that I shouldn't dearly love to chat +awhile with you. What an idle, lazy letter. You see I am taking my rest +with you, writing without effort.' + +He was looking well. Kohimarama must be more healthily situated than the +first station, for all his three visits there were beneficial to him; +and there seems to have been none of the tendency to ague and low fever +which had been the trouble of the first abode. + +Mr. Codrington and Mr. Bice came back in the schooner early in October, +and were landed at Mota, while the Bishop went for a cruise in the New +Hebrides; but the lateness of the season and the state of the vessel +made it a short one, and he soon came back with thirty-five boys. +Meanwhile, a small harmonium, which was to be left with the Christian +settlement, had caused such an excitement that Mr. Bice was nearly +squeezed to death by the crowds that came to hear it. He played nearly +all day to successive throngs of men, but when the women arrived, they +made such a clatter that he was fain to close the instrument. Unbleached +calico clothing had been made for such of the young ladies as were to be +taken on board for Norfolk Island, cut out by the Bishop and made up by +Robert, William, and Benjamin, his scholars; and Mr. Codrington says, +'It was an odd sight to see the Bishop on the beach with the group of +girls round him, and a number of garments over his arm. As each bride +was brought by her friends, she was clothed and added to the group. + +'Esthetically, clothes were no improvement. "A Melanesian clothed," +the Bishop observes, "never looks well; there is almost always a stiff, +shabby-genteel look. A good specimen, not disfigured by sores and +ulcers, the well-shaped form, the rich warm colour of the skin, and +the easy, graceful play of every limb, unhurt by shoe or tight-fitting +dress, the flower stuck naturally into the hair, &c., make them look +pleasant enough to my eye. You see in Picture Bibles figures draped as I +could wish the Melanesians to be clothed."' + +To continue Mr. Codrington's recollections of this stay in Mota:-- + +'I remember noticing how different his manner was from what was common +at home. His eyes were cast all about him, keeping a sharp look-out, and +all his movements and tones were quick and decisive. In that steaming +climate, and those narrow paths, he walked faster than was at all +agreeable to his companions, and was dressed moreover in a woollen coat +and waistcoat all the time. In fact, he thoroughly enjoyed the heat, +though no doubt it was weakening him; he liked the food, which gave him +no trouble at all to eat, and he liked the natives. + +'He felt, of course, that he was doing his work all the while; but the +expression of his countenance was very different while sitting with a +party of men over their food at Mota, and when sitting with a party in +Norfolk Island. + +'The contrast struck me very much between his recluse studious life +there, and his very active one at Mota, with almost no leisure to read, +and very little to write, and with an abundance of society which was a +pleasure instead of a burthen. + +'I think that the alert and decisive tone and habit which was so +conspicuous in the islands, and came out whenever he was roused, was not +natural to his disposition, but had been acquired in early years in a +public school, and faded down in the quiet routine of St. Barnabas, and +was recalled as occasion required with more effort as time went on. No +doubt, his habitual gentleness made his occasional severity more felt, +but at Mota his capacity for scolding was held in respect. I was told +when I was last there, that I was no good, for I did not know how to +scold, but that the Bishop perfectly well understood how to do it. +Words certainly would never fail him in twenty languages to express his +indignation, but how seldom among his own scholars had he to do it in +one!' + +This voyage is best summed up in the ensuing letter to one of the +Norfolk relations:-- + + +'"Southern Cross" Schooner, 20 miles East of Star Island. + +'My dear Cousin,--We are drawing near the end of a rather long cruise, +as I trust, in safety. We left Norfolk Island on the 24th June, and we +hope to reach it in about ten days. We should have moved about in less +time, but for the crippled state of the schooner. She fell in with a +heavy gale off Norfolk Island about June 20th-23rd; and we have been +obliged to be very careful of our spars, which were much strained. +Indeed, we still need a new mainmast, main boom, and gaff, a main +topmast, foretopmast, and probably new wire rigging, besides repairs of +other kinds, and possibly new coppering. Thank God, the voyage has been +so far safe, and, on the whole, prosperous. We sailed first of all to +the Banks Islands, only dropping two lads at Ambrym Island on our way. +We spent a week or more at Mota, while the vessel was being overhauled +at the harbour in Vanua Lava Island, seven miles from Mota. It was a +great relief to us to get the house for the station at Mota out of the +vessel, the weight of timber, &c., was too much for a vessel not built +for carrying freight. After a few days we left Mr. Palmer, George +Sarawia, and others at Mota, busily engaged in putting up the house, a +very serious matter for us, as you may suppose. + +'Our party was made up of Mr. Atkin, Mr. Brooke, and two Mota volunteers +for boat work, and divers Solomon Islanders. We were absent from Mota +about seven years, during which time we visited Santa Cruz, and many of +the Solomon Isles. Mr. Atkin spent three weeks in one of the isles, +and Mr. Brooke in another, and we had more than thirty natives of the +Solomon Islands on board, including old scholars, when we left Ulava, +the last island of the Solomon group at which we called. + +'Mr. Palmer, Mr. Atkin, and Mr. Brooke went on to Norfolk Island, the +whole number of Melanesians on board being sixty-two. I had spent a very +happy month at Mota when the vessel returned from Norfolk Island +both with Mr. Codrington and Mr. Bice on board, bringing those of the +Melanesians (nearly thirty in all) who chose to stay on Norfolk Island. +Then followed a fortnight's cruise in the New Hebrides, and now with +exactly fifty Melanesians on board from divers islands, we are on our +way to Norfolk Island. We have fourteen girls, two married, on board, +and there are ten already at Norfolk Island. This is an unusual number; +but the people understand that the young men and lads who have been +with us for some time, who are baptized and accustomed to decent orderly +ways, are not going to marry heathen wild girls, so they give up these +young ones to be taught and qualify to become fit wives for our rapidly +increasing party of young men. + +'It is quite clear that we must aim at exhibiting, by God's blessing, +Christian family life in the islands, and this can only be done by +training up young men and women. + +'Three married couples, all Communicants, live now at Kohimarama, the +station at Mota. George has two children, Benjamin one. It is already +a small specimen of a little Christian community, and it must be +reinforced, year by year, by accessions of new couples of Christian men +and women. + +'About twenty lads live at the station, and about forty more come daily +to school. It may grow soon into a real working school, from which the +most intelligent and best conducted boys may be taken to Norfolk Island +for a more complete education. I am hopeful about a real improvement in +Mota and elsewhere. + +'But a new difficulty has lately been caused by the traders from Sydney +and elsewhere, who have taken many people to work in the plantations +at Brisbane, Mimea, (New Caledonia), and the Fiji Islands, actual +kidnapping, and this is a sad hindrance to us. I know of no case of +actual violence in the Banks Islands; but in every case, they took +people away under false pretences, asserting that "the Bishop is ill +and can't come; he has sent us to bring you to him." "The Bishop is in +Sydney, he broke his leg getting into his boat, and has sent us to take +you to him," &c., &c. In many of these places some of our old scholars +are found who speak a little English, and the traders communicated with +them. + +'In most places where any of our young people happened to be on shore, +they warned their companions against these men, but not always with +success. Hindrances there must be always in the way of all attempts to +do some good. But this is a sad business, and very discreditable to the +persons employed in it and the Government which sanctions it, for they +must know that they cannot control the masters of the vessels engaged +in the trade; they may pass laws as to the treatment the natives are to +receive on the plantations, as to food, pay, &c., the time of service, +the date of their being taken home, but they know that the whole thing +is dishonest. The natives don't intend or know anything about any +service or labour; they don't know that they will have to work hard, and +any regular steady work is hard work to South Sea Islanders. They are +brought away under false pretences, else why tell lies to induce them to +go on board? + +'I dare say that many young fellows go on board without much persuasion. +Many causes may be at work to induce them to do so, e.g., sickness in +the island, quarrels, love of excitement, spirit of enterprise, &c., but +if they knew what they were taken for, I don't think they would go. + +'November 2nd.--In sight of Norfolk Island. All well on board. + +'November 6th.--Yesterday we all landed safely, and found our whole +party quite well. Our new hall is finished, and in good time to receive +134 Melanesians.' + +Before the full accumulation of letters arrived from Auckland, a report +by a passing ship from Sydney stirred the hermit Bishop deeply, and +elicited the following warm congratulation:-- + + +'Norfolk Island: November 17, 1869. + +'My dear Dr. Moberly,--Since my return--a fortnight since--from the +islands a rumour has reached us, brought hither in a small trader, that +the Bishop of Winchester has resigned his see, and that you are his +successor. It is almost too good to be true. I am waiting with great +anxiety for a vessel expected soon; I have had no English news since +letters of April. But in all seriousness, private news is of small +moment compared with the news of what is to become of that great +Diocese. And especially now, when almost all the south of England is so +sadly in want of officers to command the Church's army. Exeter, Bath and +Wells, Salisbury, Chichester (very old), and till now (if this rumour be +true) Winchester, from old age or sickness almost, if not quite, unfit +for work. If indeed I hear that God's Providence has placed you in +charge of that great see, it will give a different hue to the prospect, +dreary enough, I confess, to me; though I hope I am mistaken in my +gloomy forebodings of the results of all those many Dioceses being +so long without active Bishops. Salisbury of course I except, and +Chichester is a small Diocese comparatively, and the good Bishop, I +know, works up to the maximum of his age and strength. But if this be a +true rumour, and I do sincerely trust and pray that it may be so, indeed +it will give hope and courage and fresh life and power to many and many +a fainting soul. If I may presume to say so, it is (as Mrs. Selwyn wrote +to me when he was appointed to Lichfield) "a solemn and anxious thing +to undertake a great charge on the top of such great expectations." But +already there is one out here anyhow who feels cheered and strengthened +by the mere hope that this story is true; and everywhere many anxious +men and women will lift up their hearts to God in thankfulness, and in +earnest prayers that you may indeed do a great work to His glory and to +the good of His Church in a new and even greater sphere of usefulness. +No doubt much of my thoughts and apprehensions about the religious and +social state of England is very erroneous. I have but little time +for reading about what is going on, and though I have the blessing of +Codrington's good sense and ability, yet I should like to have more +persons to learn from on such matters. I am willing and anxious to +believe that I am not cheerful and faithful enough to see the bright +side as clearly as I ought. Your letters have always been a very great +help to me; not only a great pleasure, much more than a pleasure. I felt +that I accepted, occasionally even that I had anticipated, your remarks +on the questions of the day, the conduct of parties and public men, +books, &c. It has been a great thing for me to have my thoughts guided +or corrected in this way. + +'Your last present to me was your volume of "Bampton Lectures," of which +I need not say how both the subject and the mode of treating it make +them especially valuable just now. And there is a strong personal +feeling about the work and writings of one where the public man is +also the private friend, which gives a special zest to the enjoyment of +reading a work of this kind. + +'Certainly it is one of the many blessings of my life that I should +somehow have been allowed to grow into this degree of intimacy with you, +whom I have always known by name, though I don't remember ever to have +seen you. I think I first as a child became familiar with your name +through good Miss Rennell, whom I dare say you remember: the old Dean's +daughter. What a joy this would have been to dear Mr. and Mrs. Keble; +what a joy it is to Charlotte Yonge; and there may be others close to +Winchester whose lives have been closely bound tip with yours. + +'But, humanly speaking, the thing is to have Bishops who can command the +respect and love and dutiful obedience of their clergy and laity alike. + +'One wants men who, by solid learning, and by acquaintance too with +modern modes of criticism and speculation, by scholarship, force of +character, largeness of mind, as well as by their goodness, can secure +respect and exercise authority. It is the lawlessness of men that +one deplores; the presumption of individual priests striking out for +themselves unauthorised ways of managing their parishes and officiating +in their churches. And, if I may dare to touch on such a subject, is +there not a mode of speaking and writing on the Holy Eucharist prevalent +among some men now, which has no parallel in the Church of England, +except, it may be, in some of the non-jurors, and which does not express +the Church of England's mind; which is not the language of Pearson, and +Jackson, and Waterland, and Hooker, no, nor of Bull, and Andrewes, and +Taylor, &c.? I know very little of such things--very little indeed. +But it is oftentimes a sad grief to me that I cannot accept some of the +reasonings and opinions of dear Mr. Keble in his book on "Eucharistic +Adoration." I know that I have no right to expect to see things as such +a man saw them: that most probably the instinctive power of discerning +truth--the reward of a holy life from early childhood--guided him where +men without such power feel all astray. But yet, there is something +about the book which may be quite right and true, but does not to me +quite savour of the healthy sound theology of the Church of England; +the fragrance is rather that of an exotic plant; here and there I +mean--though I feel angry with myself for daring to think this, and to +say it to you, who can understand him. + +'November 27th.--I leave this as I wrote it, though now I know from our +mails, which have come to us, that you are Bishop of Salisbury, not +of Winchester. I hardly stop to think whether it is Winchester or +Salisbury, so great is my thankfulness and joy at the report being +substantially true. Though it did seem that Winchester was a natural +sphere for you, I can't help feeling that at Salisbury you can do (D.V.) +what perhaps scarcely any one else could do. And now I rejoice that you +have had the opportunity of speaking with no uncertain sound in your +"Bampton Lectures." Anyone can tell what the Bishop of Salisbury holds +on the great questions of Church Doctrine and Church Government. The +diocese knows already its Bishop, not only by many former but by his +latest book. Surely you will have the confidence of all Churchmen, and +be blessed to do a great work for the glory of God and the edification +of the Church. + +'And now, my dear Bishop of Salisbury, you will excuse my writing on +so freely, too freely I fear. I do like to think of you in that most +perfect of Cathedrals. I hope and trust that you will have ere long, +right good fellow-workers in Exeter, Winton, and Bath and Wells. + +'But in the colonies you have a congeries of men from all countries, and +with every variety of creed, jumbled up together, with nothing whatever +to hold them together--no reverence--no thoughts of the old parish +church, &c. They are restless, worldly people to a great extent, +thinking of getting on, making money. To such men the very idea of the +Church as a Divine Institution, the mystical Body of the Lord, on which +all graces are bestowed, and through whose ministrations men are trained +in holiness and truth, is wholly unknown. The personal religion of many +a man is sincere; his position and duty as a Churchman he has never +thought about. I wish the clergy would master that part, at all events, +of your Lectures which deals with this great fundamental point, and +then, as they have opportunity, teach it to their people. And by-and-by, +through the collective life of the Church in its synods, &c., many will +come to see it, we may hope. + +'I think that I may give you a cheering account of ourselves. I was +nineteen weeks in the islands--met with no adventures worth mentioning, +only one little affair which was rather critical for a few minutes, but +ended very well--and in some of the Solomon Islands made more way than +heretofore with the people. We have 134 Melanesians here and a baby. +George Sarawia and his wife and two children, and two other married +couples--all Communicants--are at Mota, in a nice place, with some +twenty-two lads "boarding" with them, and about thirty more coming to +daily school. + +'The vessel was much knocked about in a violent gale in June off Norfolk +Island, and we had to handle her very carefully. The whole voyage was +made with a mainmast badly sprung, and fore topmast very shaky. Mr. +Tilly was very watchful over the spars, and though we had a large share +of squally weather, and for some days, at different times, were becalmed +in a heavy swell, the most trying of all situations to the gear of a +vessel, yet, thank God, all went well, and I have heard of the schooner +safe in Auckland harbour. About forty of our Melanesians here are +Solomon Islanders, from seven different islands; a few came from the New +Hebrides, the rest from the Banks Islands. We are already pretty well +settled down to our work. Indeed, it took only a day or two to get +to work; our old scholars are such great helpers to us. We number six +clergymen here (G. Sarawia being at Mota). Ten or twelve of the sixth +form are teachers. If you care to hear more; I must refer you to a +letter just written to Miss Yonge. But it is not easy to write details +about 134 young people. Their temptations are very great when they +return to their islands; every inducement to profligacy, &c., is held +out to them. One of our young baptized lads fell into sinful ways, and +is not now with us. He was not one of whom we had great expectations, +though we trusted that he would go on steadily. Many others, thank God, +were kept pure and truthful in the midst of it all, refusing even to +sleep one night away from our little hut, and in some cases refusing +even to leave the schooner. "No, I will wait till I am married," said +two lads to me, who were married here to Christian girls on November +24th, "and then go ashore for a time with my young wife. I don't think +I should yield, but I don't want to put myself in the way of such +temptations." And so, when I had naturally expected that they would take +their six weeks' holiday on shore, while the "Southern Cross" went from +Mota to Norfolk Island and back (during my stay at Mota), they remained +on board, rejoining me, as they were two of my boating crew, for the +New Hebrides trip! This was very comforting. And when I married three +couples on November 24th, and knew that they were pure, youths and girls +alike, from the great sin of heathenism, you can well think that my +heart was very full of thankfulness and hope. + +'I must end my long letter. How will you find time to read it? Send me +some day a photograph of your beautiful Cathedral. + +'Yours very faithfully, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Before the letter to which Bishop Moberly is referred, Mr. Codrington's +bit about the weddings seems appropriate:-- + +'These wedding days were great festivals, especially before many had +been seen. The Chapel was dressed with flowers, the wedding party in +as new and cheerful attire as could be procured, the English Marriage +Service translated into Mota. We make rings out of sixpences or +threepenny bits. The place before is full of the sound of the hammer +tapping the silver on the marlingspike. The wedding ceremony is +performed with as much solemnity as possible, all the school present in +their new clothes and with flowers in their hair. There is even a kind +of processional Psalm as the wedding party enters the Chapel. There is +of course a holiday, and after the service they all go off, taking with +them the pig that has been killed for the feast. An enormous quantity of +plum pudding awaits them when, in the evening, they come back to prayers +and supper. Rounds of hearty cheers, led off by the Bishop, used +to complete the day. Weddings of this kind between old scholars, +christened, confirmed, and trustworthy, represented much anxiety and +much teaching and expense, but they promise so much, and that so near of +what has been worked for, that they have brought with them extraordinary +pleasure and satisfaction.' + + +'Norfolk Island: November 24, 1869. + +'My dear Cousin,--To-day we married three young couples: the +bridegrooms. Robert Pantatun, William Pasvorang, and Marsden Sawa, who +have been many years with us, and are all Communicants; the brides, +Emily Milerauwe, Lydia Lastitia, and Rhoda Titrakrauwe, who were +baptized a year ago. + +'The Chapel was very prettily dressed up with lilies and many other +flowers. The bridegrooms wore white trousers, shirts, &c., the brides +wore pretty simple dresses and flowers in their hair. We crowded as many +persons as possible into our little Chapel. Mr. Nobbs and some ten +or twelve of our Pitcairn friends were all the visitors that we could +manage to make room for. + +'Great festivities followed, a large pig was killed yesterday and eaten +to-day, and Mr. Palmer had manufactured puddings without end, a new kind +of food to many of the present set of scholars, but highly appreciated +by most of them. Then followed in the evening native dances and songs, +and a supper to end with, with cheers for the brides and bridegrooms. + +'There are now six married couples here, three more at Mota, and one or +two more weddings will take place soon. Very fortunately, a vessel came +from Auckland only three or four days ago, the first since the "Southern +Cross," in June, It brought not only five mails for us English folk, +but endless packages and boxes for the Mission, ordered by us long ago, +stores, clothing, &c. We had all ordered more or less in the way of +presents for scholars, and though we keep most of these treasures for +Christmas gifts, yet some are distributed now. + +'These presents are for the most part really good things. It is quite +useless for kind friends to send presents to Melanesians as they would +do to an English lad or girl. To begin with, most of our scholars are +grown up, and are more like English young people of twenty or eighteen +years old than like boys and girls, and not a few are older still; and +secondly, no Melanesian, old or young, cares a rush about a toy. They, +boys and girls, men and women, take a practical view of a present, and +are the very reverse of sentimental about it, though they really do like +a photograph of a friend. But a mere Brummagem article that won't stand +wear is quite valueless in their eyes. + +'Whatever is given them, cheap or dear, is estimated according to its +usefulness; and whatever is given, though it may cost but a shilling, +must be good of its kind. For example, a rough-handled, single-bladed +knife, bought for a shilling, they fully appreciate; but a knife with +half-a-dozen blades, bought for eighteen-pence, they would almost throw +away. And so about everything else. I mention this as a hint to kind +friends. They do like to hear that people think of them and are kind to +them, but they don't understand why useless things should be sent from +the other end of the world when they could buy much better things with +their own money out of the mission store here. + +'They are very fond of anything in the way of notebooks, 8vo and 12mo +sizes (good paper), writing-cases (which must be good if given at all), +patent safety inkstands--these things are useful on board ship, and can +be carried to the islands and brought back again safely. Work-baskets +or boxes for the girls, with good serviceable needles, pins, thread, +scissors, thimbles, tapes, &c. &c., not a plaything. Here we can buy for +them, or keep in the store for them to buy, many things that are much +too bulky to send from a distance, the freight would be ruinous. The +"Southern Cross" brings them usually to us. Such things I mean as good +carpet-bags, from 5s. to 10s., stout tin boxes with locks and keys, +axes, tools, straw hats, saucepans, good strong stuff (tweed or +moleskin) for trousers and shirts, which they cut out and make up for +themselves, quite understanding the inferior character of "slop" work, +good flannel for under-shirts, or for making up into Crimean shirts, +Nottingham drill, good towelling, huckaback, &c., ought to be +worth while to send out, and if bought in large quantities at the +manufacturer's, it would pay us to get it in England, especially if the +said manufacturer reduced the price a little in consequence of the use +to be made of his goods. + +'Dull small blue beads are always useful, ditto red. Bright glittering +ones are no use, few Melanesians would take them as a gift. Some +islanders like large beads, as big or bigger than boys' marbles. These +are some hints to any kind people who may wish to contribute in kind +rather than in money. + +'Mr. Codrington has given these fellows a great taste for gardening. +Much of their spare hours (which are not many) are spent in digging up, +fencing in and preparing little pieces of land close about the station, +two or three lads generally making up a party, and frequently the party +consists of lads and young men from different islands. Then they have +presents of seeds, cuttings, bulbs, &c., from Mr. Codrington chiefly, +and Mrs. Palmer and others contribute. Some of these little gardens are +really very nicely laid out in good taste and well looked after. They +have an eye to the practically useful here too, as every garden has its +stock of bananas, and here and there we see the sugar-cane too. + +'From 3.30 P.M. to 6 P.M. is the play time, although they do not all +have this time to themselves. For three lads must milk from 5 to 6, one +or two must drive in the cows, seven or eight are in the kitchen, three +or four must wash the horses, one must drive the sheep into the +fold, all but the milkers have only their one week of these diverse +occupations. There are about twelve head cooks, who choose their helpers +(the whole school, minus the milkers and two or three overlookers, being +included), and so the cooking work comes only once in twelve weeks. The +cooks of the one week drive up the cows and water the horses the next +week, and then there is no extra work, that is, nothing but the +regular daily work from 9.30 A.M. after school to 1 P.M. Wednesday is +a half-holiday, Saturday a whole holiday. There are six milkers, one of +whom is responsible for the whole. One receives 2s. 0d. per week, his +chief mate 1s. 6d., and the other four 1s. each. They take it in turns, +three each week. This is the hardest work in one sense; it brings them +in from their play and fishing, or gardening, &c., and so they are paid +for it. We do not approve of the white man being paid for everything, +and the Melanesian being expected to work habitually extra hours for +nothing. There are many other little extra occupations for which we take +care that those engaged in them shall have some reward, and as a +matter of fact a good deal of money finds its way into the hands of the +storekeeper, and a very fair amount of 3d., 4d. and 6d. pieces may be +seen every Sunday in the offertory bason. + +'Perhaps I should say that we have seldom seen here any indications of +these Melanesians expecting money or presents; but we want to destroy +the idea in their minds of their being fags by nature, and to help them +to have some proper self-respect and independence of character. We see +very little in them to make us apprehensive of their being covetous or +stingy, and indisposed to give service freely. + +'School hours 8-9.20, 2-3.30, singing 7-8 P.M., chapel 6.45 A.M., 6.30 +P.M. + +'Of the 134 Melanesians, besides the baby, ten are teachers, and with +their help we get on very fairly. There are sixteen of us teachers in +all, so that the classes are not too large. + +'Mr. Codrington takes at present the elder Banks Islanders, Mr. Palmer +the next class, and Mr. Bice the youngest set of boys from the same +group. + +'Mr. Atkin takes the Southern Solomon Islanders, and Mr. Brooke those +from the northern parts of the same group. I have been taking some +Leper's Islanders and Maiwo or Aurora Islanders as new comers, and other +classes occasionally. + +'Out of so many we shall weed out a good number no doubt. At present we +don't condemn any as hopelessly dull, but it will not be worth while to +spend much time upon lads who in five months must go home for good, and +some such there must be; we cannot attempt to teach all, dull and clever +alike. We must make selections, and in so doing often, I dare say, make +mistakes. But what can we do? + +'Our new hall is a great success. We had all the framework sawn out +here; it is solid, almost massive work, very unlike the flimsy wooden +buildings that are run up in a week or two in most colonial villages. +It is so large that our party of 145, plus 9 English, sit in the aisles +without occupying any part of the middle of the room. This gives us +ample accommodation for the present. Indeed we might increase our +numbers to 200 without any more buildings being necessary. The married +people give the most trouble in this respect, as they have their +separate rooms, and four or five married couples take up more room than +three times the number of single folk. However we have here room for +all, I am thankful to say, though we must build again if more of our +young people take it into their heads to be married. They pass on +quickly, however, when married, into the next stage, the life in their +own islands, and so they leave their quarters here for some successors. + +'I hope you can understand this attempt at a description, but I never +could write properly about such things, and never shall do so, I +suppose. I like the life, I know, a great deal better than I can write +about it. Indeed, it is a quiet restful life here, comparatively. Some +anxieties always, of course, but, as compared with the distractions of +New Zealand life, it is pleasant indeed. We have very few interruptions +here to the regular employment of our time, and need not waste any of +it in visits or small talk, which seems to be a necessary, though most +wearisome part of civilised life. + +'Your namesake goes on well; not a clever girl, but very steady and +good; her sister and brother are here; the sisters are much alike +in character and ability, the brother is sharper. You will, I know, +specially think of George Sarawia and his wife Sarah at Mota, with +Charles and Ellen, Benjamin and Marion. They are all Communicants, +but the temptations which surround them are very great, and early +familiarity with heathen practices and modes of thought may yet deaden +the conscience to the quick apprehension of the first approaches of sin. +They do indeed need the earnest prayers of all. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +How many sons who have lost a mother at fifteen or sixteen dwell on the +thought like this affectionate spirit, twenty-seven years later? + + +'Advent Sunday, November 20, 1869. + +'It is a solemn thing to begin a new year on the anniversary of our dear +Mother's death. I often think whether she would approve of this or that +opinion, action, &c. Wright's painting is pleasant to look upon. I stand +in a corner of my room, at father's old mahogany desk. Her picture and +his, the large framed photographs from Richmond's drawing, and a good +photograph of the Bishop are just above. I wish you could see my room. I +write now on December 3, a bright summer day, but my room with its +deep verandah is cool and shady. It is true that I refuse carpet and +curtains. They only hold dust and make the room fusty. But the whole +room is filled with books, and those pictures, and the Lionardo da Vinci +over the fireplace, and Mr. Boxall's photograph over it, and his +drawing vis-a-vis to it at the other end of the room, and by my window a +splendid gloxinia with fine full flowers out in a very pretty porcelain +pot, both Mr. Codrington's gift. On another glass stand (also his +present) a Mota flower imported here, a brilliant scarlet hibiscus, +and blossoms of my creepers and bignonia, most beautiful. So fresh +and pretty. The steps of the verandah are a mass of honeysuckle. The +stephanotis, with the beautiful scented white flowers and glossy leaves, +covers one of the posts. How pleasant it is. Everyone is kind, all are +well, all are going on well just now. Such are missionary comforts. +Where the hardships are I have not yet discovered. Your chain, dear +Joan, is round my neck, and the locket (Mamma's) in which you, Fan, put +the hair of you five, hangs on it. + +'I am dipping my pen into the old silver inkstand which used to be in +the front drawing-room. Every morning at about 5 A.M. I have a cup +of tea or coffee, and use Grandmamma Coleridge's old-fashioned silver +cream-jug, and the cup and saucer which Augusta sent out years ago, +my old christening spoon, and the old silver tea-pot and salver. Very +grand, but I like the old things. + +'This day fortnight (D.V.) I ordain J. Atkin and C. H. Brooke Priests. + +'I have no time to answer your April and September letters. I rejoice +with all my heart to hear of Dr. Moberly's appointment. What a joyful +event for Charlotte Yonge. That child Pena sent me Shairp's (dear old +Shairp) book, which I wanted. I must write to Sophy as soon as I can. +You will forgive if I have seemed to be, or really have been, unmindful +of your sorrows and anxieties. Sometimes I think I am in too great a +whirl to think long enough to realise and enter into all your doings. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + + +The intended letter to Mrs. Martyn was soon written. The death there +referred to was that of Mrs. William Coleridge, widow of the Bishop of +Barbadoes:-- + + +'Norfolk Island: December 14, 1869. + +'My dear Sophy,--I should be specially thinking of you as Christmas +draws nigh with its blessed thoughts, and hopes, and the St. Stephen's +memories in any case I should be thinking of you. But now I have lately +received your long loving letter of last Eastertide, partly written in +bed. + +Then your dear child's illness makes me think greatly (and how +lovingly!) of you three of the three generations. Lastly, I hear of dear +Aunt William's death. You know that I had a very great affection for +her, and I feel that this is a great blow probably to you all, though +dear Aunty (as I have noticed in all old persons, especially when good +as well as old) takes this quietly, I dare say. The feeling must be, +"Well, I shall soon meet her again; a few short days only remain." + +'I suppose that you, with your quarter of a century's widowhood, still +feel as if the waiting time was all sanctified by the thought of the +reunion. Oh! what a thought it is: too much almost to think that by +His wonderful mercy, one may hope to be with them all, and for ever; +to behold the faces of Apostles, and Apostolic men, and Prophets, and +Saints, holy men and women; and, as if this were not enough, to see +Him as He is, in His essential perfections, and to know Him. One can't +sustain the effort of such a thought, which shows how great a change +must pass on one before the great Consummation. Well, the more one can +think of dear Father and Mother, and dear dear Uncle James and Uncle +Frank, and Cousin George, and Uncle and Aunt William, others too, uncles +and aunts, and your dear Fanny, and your husband, though it would be +untrue to say I knew him, taken so early--the more one thinks of them +all the better. And I have, Sophy, so many very different ones to think +of Edwin and Fisher, and so many Melanesians taken away in the very +first earnestness and simplicity of a new convert's faith. How many have +died in my arms--God be thanked--in good hope! + +'If by His great mercy there be a place for me there, I feel persuaded +that I shall there find many of those dear lads, whom indeed I think of +with a full heart, full of affection and thankfulness. + +'I have been reading the "Memoir of Mr. Keble," of course with extreme +interest. It is all about events and chiefly about persons that one has +heard about or even known. I think we get a little autobiography of our +dear Uncle John in it too, for which I don't like it the less. + +There are passages, as against going to Borne, which I am glad to see in +print; they are wanted now again, I fear. I am glad you like Moberly's +"Bampton Lectures." His book on "The Great Forty Days," his best +book (?) after all, has the germ of it all. I am so thankful for his +appointment to Salisbury. I dare say you know that he is kind enough to +write to me occasionally; and he sends me his books, one of the greatest +of the indirect blessings of being known to Mr. Keble. I do very little +in the way of reading, save that I get a quiet hour for Hebrew, 5-6 +A.M., and I do read some theology. In one sense it is easier reading to +me than other books, history, poetry, because, though I don't know much +about it, I know nothing about them. + +'My pleasure would be, if with you, in talking over such little insight +as I may have received into the wondrous harmony and symmetry of the +whole Bible, by tolerably close examination of the text of the Greek, +and to some extent of the Hebrew. The way in which a peculiar word +brings a whole passage or argument en rapport with a train of historical +associations or previous statements is wonderful; e.g., the verb of +which Moses is formed occurs only in Exodus ii. 10, 2 Samuel xxii. 17, +Psalm xviii. 16. See how the magnificent description of the Passage of +the Red Sea in Psalm xviii. is connected with Moses by this one word. +These undesigned coincidences, and (surely) proofs of inspiration are +innumerable. + +'I do delight in it: only I want more help, far more. We have great +advantages in this generation. Dear Uncle James had no Commentary, +one might almost say, on Old Testament or New Testament. Ellicott, +Wordsworth, and Alford on the New Testament were not in existence; and +the Germans, used with discrimination, are great helps. An orthodox +Lutheran, one Delitzsch (of whom Liddon wrote that Dr. Pusey thinks +highly of his Hebrew scholarship), helps me much in Isaiah. He has +sucked all the best part out of Vitringa's enormous book, and added +much minute, and I am told correct criticism. And how grand it is! This +morning--it is now 6.15 A.M.--I have been reading part of that wonderful +chapter xxvi. + +'It strikes me that the way to teach a class or a congregation is to +bring out the doctrine from the very words of Scripture carefully, +critically examined and explained. Only think, Sophy, of the vague +desultory way in which we all, more or less, read; and we have accepted +a phraseology without enquiring to a great extent, and use words to +which we attach no definite meaning. Few in the congregation could +draw out in clear words what they mean when they talk of faith, +justification, regeneration, conversion, &c. &c. All language denoting +ideas and thoughts is transferred to the region of the mind from +denoting at first only external objects and sensations. This is in +accordance with the mystery of all, the union of mind and matter--which +no pagan philosopher could comprehend--the extreme difficulty of solving +which caused Dualism and Asceticism on the one hand, and neglect of all +bodily discipline on the other. Mind and matter must be antagonistic, +the work of different beings: man must get rid of his material part to +arrive at his true end and perfection. + +'So some said, "Mortify, worry the body, which is essentially and +inherently evil." "No," said others, "the sins of the body don't hurt +the mind; the two things are distinct, don't react on one another." +(St. Paul deals with all this in the Colossians.) The Incarnation is the +solution or the culmination of the mystery. + +'What a prose! but I meant, that people so often use words as if the use +of a word was equivalent to the knowledge of the thought which, in the +mind of an accurate thinker, accompanies the utterance of the word. + +'I should think that three-fourths of what we clergymen say is +unintelligible to the mass of the congregation. We assume an +acquaintance with the Bible and Prayer-book, thought, and a knowledge of +the meaning of words which few, alas! possess. We must begin, then, with +the little ones; as far as I see, all children are apt to fail at the +point when they ought to be passing from merely employing the memory (in +learning by heart, e.g., the Catechism) by exercising the reasoning and +thinking faculty. + +'"Well now, you have said that very well, now let us think what it +means." + +'How well Dr. Pusey says, in his Sermons, "Not altogether intentional +deliberate vice, but thoughtlessness is destroying souls." + +'I run on at random, dear Sophy, hoping to give you one and a half +hour's occupation on a sick bed or couch, and because, as you say, this +is the only converse we are likely to have on earth. + +'I think I am too exclusively fond of this reading, very little else +interests me. I take up a theological book as a recreation, which is, +perhaps, hardly reverent, and may narrow the mind; but even Church +history is not very attractive to me. I like Jackson and Hooker, and +some of the moderns, of whom I read a good many; and I lose a good deal +of time in diving into things too deep by half for me, while I forget or +don't learn simple things. + +'All this modern rage for reviews, serials, magazines, I can't abide. +My mind is far too much distracted already, and that fragmentary mode of +reading is very bad for many people, I am sure. + +'Naturally enough at forty-two years of age ninety-nine hundredths +of the "lighter" books seem to me mere rubbish. They come to me +occasionally. However, there are younger ones here, so it isn't sheer +waste to receive such donations: they soon get out of my room. Not, +mind you, that I think this the least evidence of my being wiser, or +employing my time more carefully than other folk. Only I want you to +know what I am, and what I think. + +'Pena has sent me a nice book which I wanted: 1st. Because I have a +great personal liking for Shairp, a simple-minded, affectionate man, +with much poetical feeling and good taste-a kindly-natured man. 2nd. +Because he writes in an appreciative kind of way, and is the +very opposite of .... whom I can't stand with his insufferable +self-sufficiency, and incapacity for appreciating the nobler, simpler, +more generous natures who are unlike him. Well! that is fierce. But +there is a school of men whom I can't stand. Their nature repels me, and +I hardly wish to like them; which is an evil feeling. + +'I shall add a line in a few days. + +'My very dearest love to Aunty--dear Aunty; and if I can't write to +Pena, give her my best love and thanks for her book. + +'Dear Sophy, your loving Cousin, + +'J. C. P.' + + +Two other letters, one to each of the sisters, were in progress at +this time. To Joanna, who had been grieved for the poor girl whose +transgression had occurred in the beginning of the year, he says:-- + +'About Semtingvat, you must be comforted about her. For a poor child +who, two short years before, had assumed as a matter of course that a +woman simply existed to be a man's slave in every kind of way, her fault +could not, I think, be regarded as very great. Indeed, there was much +comfort from the first; and since that time they not only have gone +on well, but I do believe that their religious character has been +much strengthened by the kind of revelation they then obtained of what +Christianity really does mean. Anyhow, all notice the fact that U---- +has improved very much, and they all sing Semtingvat's praises. I had no +difficulty about marrying them after a little while. I spoke openly in +chapel to everyone about it. Their wedding was not as other weddings--no +festivity, no dressing of the chapel, no feast, no supper and fun and +holiday. It was perfectly understood to be in all respects different +from a bright, happy wedding. But it was quite as much for the sake of +all, for the sake of enforcing the new teaching about the sanctity of +marriage, that we made so very much of what (as men speak) was under the +circumstances a comparatively light fault, less than an impure thought +on the part of such as have been taught their duty from their childhood. + +'I am almost confused with the accounts from England. All seems in a +state of turmoil and confusion; all the old landmarks being swept away +by a deluge of new opinions as to all matters civil and ecclesiastical. +I don't think that we ought to refuse to see these signs of a change in +men's mode of regarding great political and religious questions. A man +left high and dry on the sand-bank of his antiquated notions will do +little good to the poor folk struggling in the sea way, though he is +safer as far as he is himself concerned by staying where he is than by +plunging in to help them. + +'It is a critical time in every sense. Men and women can hardly be +indifferent; they must be at the pains of making up their minds. As for +us clergy, everywhere but in Norfolk Island, we must know that people +are thinking of matters which all were content a few years ago to +keep back in silence, and that they expect us to speak about them. How +thankful I am that we fortunate ones are exempt from this. Yet in my way +I, too, try to think a bit about what is going on; and I don't want +to be too gloomy, or to ignore some good in all this ferment in men's +minds. It is better than stagnation and indolent respectability. There +is everywhere a consciousness of a vast work to be done, and sincere +efforts are made to do it. I suppose that is a fact; many, many poor +souls are being taught and trained for heaven through all these various +agencies which seem to a distant and idle critic to be so questionable +in some ways. + +'Of old one thought that the sober standard of Church of England +divinity was the rule to which all speculations should be reduced; and +one thought that Pearson, Hooker, Waterland, Jeremy Taylor also, and +Andrewes, and Bull, and Jackson, and Barrow, &c., stood for the idea of +English divinity. Now we are launched upon a wider sea. Catholic usage +and doctrine take the place of Church of England teaching and practice; +rightly, I dare say, only it may be well to remember that men who can +perhaps understand a good deal of the English divines, can hardly be +supposed to be equally capable of understanding the far wider and +more difficult range of ecclesiastical literature of all ages and all +writers. + +'Everyone knows and is struck by the fact that passages of old writers +are continually quoted by men of quite different schools of thought +in favour of their own (different) views. Clearly they can't both +understand the mind and spirit of these writers; and the truth is, isn't +it, that only they who by very long study, and from a large share of the +true historical imagination, sympathise with and really enter into the +hearts and minds of these writers, are competent to deal with and decide +upon such wide and weighty matters? + +'It seems to me as if men who are in no sense divines, theologians, or +well read, speak strongly and use expressions and teach doctrines which, +indeed, only very few men should think of uttering or teaching. + +'And yet, don't think I wish to be only an exclusive Anglican, without +sympathy for East or West; still less that I wish to ignore the Catholic +Church of the truly primitive times; but I take the real, so to say, +representative teaching of the Church of England to be the divinity +of the truly primitive Church, to which our formularies and reformers +appeal. I know, moreover, that our dear Father accepted Jackson and +Waterland; and I don't feel disposed to disparage them, as it is the +fashion to do nowadays. Few men, in spite of occasional scholastic +subtlety, go so deep in their search right down into principles as +Jackson. Few men so analyse, dissect, search out the precise, exact +meaning of words and phrases, so carry you away from vague generalities +to accurate defined meanings and doctrines. He had an honest and clear +brain of his own, though he was a tremendous book-worm; and I think +he is a great authority, though I know about him and his antagonism to +Rome. I don't fear to weary you by this kind of talk; but don't I wish +I could hear three or four of our very best men discuss these points +thoroughly. In all sincerity I believe that I should be continually +convinced of error, shallow judgments, and ignorance. But then I should +most likely get real light on some points where I would fain have it.' + +To this unconscious token of humility, another must be added, from the +same letter, speaking of two New Zealand friends:--'To me she has always +been kindness itself, with her husband overrating me to such an amusing +extent that I don't think it hurt even my vanity.' + +Full preparation was going on for the ordination, of the two priests. + +No special account of the actual service seems to have been written; and +the first letter of January was nearly absorbed by the tidings of the +three Episcopal appointments of the close of 1869, the Oxford choice +coming near to Bishop Patteson by his family affections, and the +appointment to Exeter as dealing with his beloved county at home. + +And now, before turning the page, and leaving the period that had, on +the whole, been full of brightness, will be the best time to give Mr. +Codrington's account of the manner of life at St. Barnabas, while the +Bishop was still in his strength:-- + +'Certainly one of the most striking points to a stranger would have been +the familiar intercourse between the Bishop and his boys, not only +the advanced scholars, but the last and newest comers. The kindly and +friendly disposition of the Melanesians leads to a great deal of free +and equal familiarity even where there are chiefs, and the obsequious +familiarity of which one hears in India is here quite unknown. +Nevertheless, I doubt very much whether other Melanesians live in +the same familiarity with their missionaries--e.g., Carry, wife of +Wadrokala, writes thus:--"I tremble very much to write to you, I am not +fit to write to you, because, does an ant know how to speak to a cow? We +at Nengone would not speak to a great man like you; no, our language is +different to a chief and a missionary." + +'Making every allowance, and, looking at the matter from within, that +perfect freedom and affectionateness of intercourse that existed with +him seems very remarkable. + +'The secret of it is not far to seek. It did not lie in any singular +attractiveness of his manner only, but in the experience that everyone +attracted gained that he sought nothing for himself; he was entirely +free from any desire to be admired, or love of being thought much of, as +he was from love of commanding for the sake of being obeyed. The great +temptations to missionaries among savage people, as it seems, are +to self-esteem, from a comparison of themselves with their European +advantages and the natives among whom they live; and to a domineering +temper, because they find an obedience ready, and it is delightful to be +obeyed. Bishop Patteson's natural disposition was averse to either, and +the principles of missionary work which he took up suited at once his +natural temper and his religious character. He was able naturally, +without effort, to live as a brother among his black brothers, to be the +servant of those he lived to teach. The natural consequence of this was, +the unquestioned authority which he possessed over those with whom he +lived on equal terms. No one could entertain the idea that anything was +ordered from a selfish motive, for any advantage to himself, or that +anything was forbidden without some very good reason. This familiarity +with a superior, which is natural with Melanesians, is accompanied, +especially in Banks Islanders, with a very great reserve about anything +that touches the feelings or concerns character. Thus a boy, who would +use the Bishop's room as if it were his own, coming in unasked, to read +or write, or sit by the fire there, would with very great difficulty get +over the physical trembling, which their language implies, that would +come upon him, if he wished to speak about his own feelings on religious +matters, or to tell him something which he well knew it was his duty to +make known. When one knows how difficult it is to them to speak openly, +their openness with the Bishop is more appreciated, though he indeed +often enough complained of their closeness with him. The real affection +between the boys and the Bishop required no acquaintance with the +character of either to discern, and could surprise no one who knew +anything of the history of their relation one to another. It is well +known that he wished his elder boys to stand in the place of the sixth +form of a public school; and to some extent they did so, but being +mostly Banks Islanders, and Banks Islanders being peculiarly afraid of +interfering with one another, his idea was never reached. Still no +doubt a good deal is attained when they arrive rather at the position of +pupil-teacher in a National School; and this at least they occupy very +satisfactorily, as is shown by the success with which so large a school +has been carried on since the Bishop's death. No doubt the Ordination +of more from among their number would go far to raise them in their own +estimation. + +'In truth, the carrying out of the principle of the equality of black +and white in a missionary work, which is the principle of this mission, +is very difficult, and cannot be done in all particulars in practice +by anyone, and by most people, unless brought up to it, probably not at +all. Nevertheless, it is practicable, and, as we think, essential, and +was in all main points carried out by Bishop Patteson. But the effect of +this must not be exaggerated. It is true that we have no servants, yet a +boy regularly brought water, &c., for the Bishop, and a woman regularly +swept and cleaned his rooms, and received regular wages for it. +The Bishop never cooked his dinner or did any such work except upon +occasions on which a bachelor curate in England does much of the kind, +as a matter of course. The extraordinary thing is that it is, as he at +any rate supposed, the custom in other missions to make scholars and +converts servants as a matter of course; and the difference lies not in +the work which is done or not done by the one party or the other, but +in the social relation of equality which subsists between them, and the +spirit in which the work is asked for and rendered. + +'The main thing to notice about the Bishop is that there was nothing +forced or unnatural in his manner of taking a position of equality, and +equality as real in any way as his superiority in another. Consequently, +there was never the least loss of dignity or authority on his part. + +'There never was visible the smallest diminution of freedom and +affection in the intercourse that went on. It required some knowledge +in one respect to appreciate the extraordinary facility with which he +conversed with boys from various islands. A stranger would be struck +with his bright smiles and sweet tones as he would address some little +stranger who came into his room; but one who knew a little of the +languages alone could know with what extraordinary quickness he +passed from one language to another, talking to many boys in their own +language, but accommodating his tongue with wonderful readiness to +each in succession. It would be hard to say how many languages he could +speak; those which he spoke quite freely, to my knowledge, were not so +many: Mota, Bauro, Mahaga, and Nengone, certainly; some others no doubt +quite readily when among the people who spoke them; and very many only +with a small vocabulary which was every instant being enlarged. It does +not appear to me that his scientific philological acquirements were +extraordinary; but that his memory for words giving him such a command +of vocabulary, and so wide a scope for comparison, and his accurate and +delicate ear to catch the sounds, and power of reproducing them, were +altogether wonderful and very rarely equalled. A man of his faculty of +expression and powers of mind could not speak like a native; he spoke +better than a native, than a native of Mota at least. That is that, +although no doubt he never was quite master of the little delicate +points of Mota scholarship, which no one not a native can keep quite +right, and no native can account for, yet his vocabulary was so large +and accurate, and his feeling of the native ways of looking at things +and representing them in words so true, that he spoke to them more +clearly and forcibly than even any native spoke, and with the power of +an educated mind controlling while following the native taste. He was an +enthusiast, no doubt, about these languages, and jealous of their claim +to be considered true language, and not what people suppose them to be, +the uncouth jargon of savages. I will only say that his translations +of some of the Psalms into Mota are as lofty in their diction and as +harmonious in their rhythm, in my estimation, as anything almost I read +in any language. This no doubt sounds exaggerated, and must be taken +only for what it is worth. + +'It was probably in a great measure because his natural power of +acquiring languages was so extraordinary, and needed so very little +labour in him, that he did so very little to put on paper what he knew +of all those many tongues. All there is in print I have put together. +Besides this, he carried the same unfortunate way of leaving off what he +had begun into these notes on language also. In the year '63-'64 he got +printed a number of small grammatical papers in almost all the languages +he knew, because he felt he ought not to subject them to the risk +of being lost. Another reason why he did not go into any laborious +manuscript or printing work with the various languages was, that he +saw as time went on, first, that it was so very uncertain what language +would come in practice into request; and, secondly, that one +language would suffice for the use, in practice, of all natives of a +neighbourhood. For example, the language of part of Mae (Three Hills), +in the New Hebrides, was once studied and well known. Nothing whatever +came of the intercourse with that island, once so constant, I don't know +why, and now the people themselves are destroyed almost, and hopes of +doing them good destroyed by the slave trade. And, secondly, the use +of the Mota language in our ordinary intercourse here has very much +diminished the need for any one's knowing a particular language beyond +the missionary who has charge of the boys who speak it. Thus the Bishop +rather handed over the language of Bauro to Mr. Atkin, of Florida to Mr. +Brooke, of Leper's Island to Mr. Price; and as the common teaching of +all boys who belonged to either of the principal groups into which the +school fell went on in Mota, there was no practical use in the other +tongues the Bishop knew, except in his voyages, and in giving him more +effectual powers of influencing those to whom he could speak in their +own tongue. Besides, he saw so clearly the great advantage, on the one +hand, of throwing together in every possible way the boys from all the +islands, which was much helped by the use of one language, and, on the +other hand, the natural tendency in a group of boys from one island or +neighbourhood to keep separate, and of the teacher of a particular set +to keep them separate with himself, that, without saying much about +it, he discouraged the printing of other languages besides Mota, and +in other ways kept them rather in the background. How things would have +arranged themselves if Mota had not by circumstances come into such +prominence I cannot say, but the predominance of Mota came in with the +internal organisation of the Mission by Mr. Pritt. It is impossible for +one who knew Bishop Patteson intimately, and the later condition of the +Mission intimately, to lose sight for long of Mr. Pritt's influence and +his useful work.' + +Perhaps this chapter can best be completed by the external testimony +of a visitor to Norfolk Island, given in a letter to the Editor of the +'Australian Churchman':-- + +'Daily at 7 A.M. the bell rings for chapel about one minute, and +all hands promptly repair thither. In spite of the vast varieties of +language and dialect spoken by fifty or sixty human beings, collected +from twenty or thirty islets of the Pacific main, no practical +difficulty has been found in using the Mota as the general language +in Chapel and school, so that in a short time a congregation of twenty +languages are able to join in worship in the one Mota tongue, more or +less akin to all the rest, and a class of, say, nine boys, speaking +by nature five different languages, easily join in using the one Mota +language, just as a Frenchman, a German, a Russian, a Pole, an Italian, +and an Englishman, all meeting in the same cafe or railway carriage, on +the same glacier or mountain top, might harmoniously agree to use the +French language as their medium of communication. So the service is +conducted in Mota with one exception only. The collect for the day is +read in English, as a brief allowable concession to the ears and hearts +of the English members of the Mission. The service consists of +the greater part of the Church of England Service translated. +Some modifications have been made to suit the course of religious +instruction. The Psalms are chanted and hymns sung in parts, and always +in admirable tune, by the congregation. Noteworthy are the perfect +attention, the reverent attitude, the hearty swing and unison of the +little congregation, a lesson, I felt with shame, to many of our white +congregations. + +'Immediately after service clinks out the breakfast bell, and, with +marvellous promptitude and punctuality, whites and blacks, lay and +clerical, are seen flocking to the mess-room. The whites sit at the +upper end of the table, but beyond the special privilege of tea, all +fare alike, chiefly on vegetables: yams or sweet potatoes, and carrots +or vegetable marrows, as may suit the season, with plenty of biscuit +for more ambitious teeth, and plenty of milk to wash it down. Soon +afterwards comes school for an hour and a half. Then work for the boys +and men, planting yams, reaping wheat, mowing oats, fencing, carting, +building, as the call may be, only no caste distinction or ordering +about; it is not go and do that, but come and do this, whether the +leader be an ordained clergyman, a white farm bailiff, or a white +carpenter. This is noteworthy, and your readers will gain no clear idea +of the Mission if they do not seize this point, for it is no matter of +mere detail, but one of principle. The system is not that of the ship +or the regiment, of the farm or the manufactory of the old country, but +essentially of the family. It is not the officer or master saying "Go" +but the father or the brother saying "Come." And to this, I firmly +believe, is the hearty cheerful following and merry work of the blacks +chiefly due. At 1 P.M. is dinner, much the same as breakfast. Meat, +though not unknown, is the weak point of the Mission dietary. In the +afternoon, work. At 6, tea. In the evening, class again for an hour +or two; this evening class being sometimes a singing lesson, heartily +enjoyed by the teacher. I forget precisely when the boys have to prepare +matter arising out of the lessons they have received viva voce. + +'There are evening prayers, and bed-time is early. Noteworthy are the +happy conjunctions of perfect discipline with perfect jollity, the +marvellous attainment of a happy familiarity which does not "breed +contempt." + +'I presume I need scarcely say to your readers that besides education +in reading, writing, and arithmetic, through the medium of the Mota +language, instruction in the Holy Scriptures and the most careful +explanations of their meaning and mutual relation, forms a main part of +the teaching given. The men and boys of the senior classes take notes; +notes not by order expressly to be inspected, but, so to say, private +notes for the aid of their memories; and from the translation given to +me by Bishop Patteson of some of these, I should say that few, if any, +of the senior class of an English Sunday School could give anything like +so close, and sometimes philosophical, an explanation of Scripture, and +that sometimes in remarkably few words. + +'There remains to be noticed one most effectual means of doing good. +After evening school, the Bishop, his clergy, and his aides, retire +mostly into their own rooms. Then, quietly and shyly, on this night or +the other night, one or two, three or four of the more intelligent of +the black boys steal silently up to the Bishop's side, and by fits +and starts, slowly, often painfully, tell their feelings, state their +difficulties, ask for help, and, I believe, with God's blessing, rarely +fail to find it. They are not gushing as negroes, but shy as Englishmen; +we Englishmen ought, indeed, to have a fellow-feeling for these poor +black boys and help them with all our hearts. + +'Such is the routine for five of the six work days. Saturday is whole +holiday, and all hands go to fish if the sea permits; if not, to play +rounders or what not. Merry lads they are, as ever gladdened an English +playground. + +'On Sunday, the early Chapel is omitted. The full Liturgy is divided +into two services--I forget the laws--and a kind of sermon in Mota is +given; and in the afternoon, the Bishop, or one of the ordained members +of the Mission, usually goes down to the town to relieve Mr. Nobbs in +his service for the Pitcairners. + +'As regards the manual work of the station, this general principle is +observed--women for washing and house-work; the men for planting and +out-of-door work; but no one, white or black, is to be too grand to do +his share. The Bishop's share, indeed, is to study and investigate and +compare the languages and necessary translations, but no one is to +be above manual labour. No one, because he is a white man, is to say, +"Here, black fellow, come and clean my boots." "Here, black people, +believe that I have come to give you a treasure of inestimable price. +Meantime, work for me, am I not your superior? Can I not give you money, +calico, what not?" + +'This Christian democracy, if I may so call it, has worked well in the +long run.' + +This observer does seem to have entered well into the spirit of the +place; and there can be no doubt that the plan and organisation of the +Mission had by this time been well tested and both found practicable, +and, as at present worked, more than ordinarily successful. The college +was in full working order, with a staff of clergy, all save one formed +under the Bishop, one native deacon and two teachers living with their +wives in a population that was fast becoming moulded by the influence +of Christianity, many more being trained up, and several more islands +in course of gradual preparation by the same process as was further +advanced in Mota. + +Such were the achievements which could be thankfully recounted by the +end of 1869. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. THE LAST EIGHTEEN MONTHS. 1870-1871. + + + +The prosperous days of every life pass away at last. Suffering and +sorrow, failure and reverse are sure to await all who live out anything +like their term of years, and the missionary is perhaps more liable than +other men to meet with a great disappointment. 'Success but signifies +vicissitude,' and looking at the history of the growth of the Church, it +is impossible not to observe that almost in all cases, immediately upon +any extensive progress, there has followed what seems like a strong +effort of the Evil One at its frustration, either by external +persecution, reaction of heathenism, or, most fatally and frequently +during the last 300 years, from the reckless misdoings of unscrupulous +sailors and colonists. The West Indies, Japan, America, all have the +same shameful tale to tell--what wonder if the same shadow were to be +cast over the Isles of the South? + +It is one of the misfortunes, perhaps the temptations of this modern +world, that two of its chief necessaries, sugar and cotton, require a +climate too hot for the labour of men who have intelligence enough to +grow and export them on a large scale, and who are therefore compelled, +as they consider, to employ the forced toil of races able to endure +heat. The Australian colony of Queensland is unfit to produce wheat, but +well able to grow sugar, and the islands of Fiji, which the natives have +implored England to annex, have become the resort of numerous planters +and speculators. There were 300 white inhabitants in the latter at the +time of the visit of the 'Curacoa' in 1865. In 1871 the numbers were +from 5,000 to 6,000. Large sheep farms have been laid out, and sugar +plantations established. + +South Sea Islanders are found to have much of the negro toughness and +docility, and, as has been seen, when away from their homes they are +easily amenable, and generally pleasant in manner, and intelligent. +Often too they have a spirit of enterprise, which makes them willing to +leave home, or some feud with a neighbour renders it convenient. Thus +the earlier planters did not find it difficult to procure willing +labourers, chiefly from those southern New Hebrides, Anaiteum, Tanna, +Erromango, &c., which were already accustomed to intercourse with +sandal-wood traders, had resident Scottish or London missionaries, and +might have a fair understanding of what they were undertaking. + +The Fiji islanders themselves had been converted by Wesleyan +Missionaries, and these, while the numbers of imported labourers were +small, did not think ill of the system, since it provided the islanders +with their great need, work, and might give them habits of industry. +But in the years 1868 and 1869 the demand began, both in Queensland and +Fiji, to increase beyond what could be supplied by willing labour, and +the premium, L8 a head, on an able-bodied black, was sufficient to tempt +the masters of small craft to obtain the desired article by all possible +means. Neither in the colony nor in Fiji were the planters desirous of +obtaining workers by foul means, but labour they must have, and they +were willing to pay for it. Queensland, anxious to free herself from +any imputation of slave-hunting, has drawn up a set of regulations, +requiring a regular contract to be made with the natives before they are +shipped, for so many years, engaging that they shall receive wages, and +be sent home again at the end of the specified time. No one denies that +when once the labourer has arrived, these rules are carried out; he is +well fed, kindly treated, not over worked, and at the end of three or +five years sent home again with the property he has earned. + +A recent traveller has argued that this is all that can be desired, and +that no true friend of the poor islander can object to his being taught +industry and civilisation. Complaints are all 'missionary exaggeration,' +that easy term for disposing of all defence of the dark races, and as +to the difficulty of making a man, whose language is not understood, +understand the terms of a contract--why, we continually sign legal +documents we do not understand! Perhaps not, but we do understand enough +not to find ourselves bound to five years' labour when we thought we +were selling yams, or taking a pleasure trip. And we have some means +of ascertaining the signification of such documents, and of obtaining +redress if we have been deceived. + +As to the boasted civilisation, a sugar plantation has not been found +a very advanced school for the American or West Indian negro, and as a +matter of fact, the islander who has fulfilled his term and comes home, +bringing tobacco, clothes, and fire-arms, only becomes a more dangerous +and licentious savage than he was in his simplicity. It is absolutely +impossible, even if the planters wished it, to give any instruction to +these poor fellows, so scattered are the settlements, so various the +languages on each, and to send a man home with guns and gunpowder, and +no touch of Christian teaching, is surely suicidal policy. + +Yet, as long as the natives went in any degree willingly, though the +Missionaries might deplore their so doing for the men's own sakes, and +for that of their islands, it was only like a clergyman at home seeing +his lads engage themselves to some occupation more undesirable than they +knew. Therefore, the only thing that has been entreated for by all the +missions of every denomination alike in the South Seas, has been such +sufficient supervision of the labour traffic as may prevent deceit or +violence from being used. + +For, in the years 1869 and 1870, if not before, the captains of the +labour ships, finding that a sufficient supply of willing natives could +not be procured, had begun to cajole them on board. When they went +to trade, they were thrust under hatches, and carried off, and if the +Southern New Hebrides became exhausted, and the labour ships entered +on those seas where the 'Southern Cross' was a welcome visitor, these +captains sometimes told the men that 'the Bishop gave no pipes and +tobacco, he was bad, they had better hold with them.' Or else 'the +Bishop could not come himself, but had sent this vessel to fetch them.' +Sometimes even a figure was placed on deck dressed in a black coat, with +a book in his hand, according to the sailors' notion of a missionary, +to induce the natives to come on deck, and there they were clapped under +hatches and carried off. + +In 1870, H.M.S. 'Rosario,' Captain Palmer, brought one of these vessels, +the 'Daphne,' into Sydney, where the master was tried for acts of +violence, but a conviction could not be procured, and, as will be seen +in the correspondence, Bishop Patteson did not regret the failure, as he +was anxious that ships of a fair size, with respectable owners, should +not be deterred from the traffic, since the more it became a smuggling, +unrecognised business, the worse and more unscrupulous men would be +employed in it. + +But decoying without violence began to fail; the natives were becoming +too cautious, so the canoes were upset, and the men picked up while +struggling in the water. If they tried to resist, they were shot at, and +all endeavours at a rescue were met with the use of firearms. + +They were thus swept off in such numbers, that small islands lost almost +all their able-bodied inhabitants, and were in danger of famine for +want of their workers. Also, the Fiji planters, thinking to make the men +happier by bringing their wives, desired that this might be done, but it +was not easy to make out the married couples, nor did the crews trouble +themselves to do so, but took any woman they could lay hands on. +Husbands pursued to save the wives, and were shot down, and a deadly +spirit of hatred and terror against all that was white was aroused. + +There is a still lower depth of atrocity, but as far as enquiry of the +Government at Sydney can make out, unconnected with labour traffic, but +with the tortoise-shell trade. Skulls, it will be remembered, were the +ornament of old Iri's house at Bauro, and skulls are still the trophies +in the more savage islands. It seems that some of the traders in +tortoise-shell are in the habit of assisting their clients by conveying +them in their vessels in pursuit of heads. There is no evidence that +they actually do the work of slaughter themselves, though suspicion +is strong, but these are the 'kill-kill' vessels in the patois of the +Pacific, while the kidnappers are the 'snatch-snatch.' Both together, +these causes were working up the islanders to a perilous pitch of +suspicion and exasperation during the years 1870, 1871, and thus were +destroying many of the best hopes of the fruit of the toils of all these +years. But the full extent of the mischief was still unknown in Norfolk +Island, when in the midst of the Bishop's plans for the expedition of +1870 came the illness from which he never wholly recovered. + +Already he had often felt and spoken of himself as an elderly man. Most +men of a year or two past forty are at the most vigorous period of their +existence, generally indeed with the really individual and effective +work of their lives before them, having hitherto been only serving their +apprenticeship; but Coleridge Patteson had begun his task while in early +youth, and had been obliged to bear at once responsibility and active +toil in no ordinary degree. Few have had to be at once head of a +college, sole tutor and steward, as well as primary schoolmaster all at +once, or afterwards united these charges with those of Bishop, examining +chaplain and theological professor, with the interludes of voyages which +involved intense anxiety and watchfulness, as well as the hardships +of those unrestful nights in native huts, and the exhaustion of the +tropical climate. No wonder then that he was already as one whose work +was well-nigh done, and to whom rest was near. And though the entrance +into that rest was by a sudden stroke, it was one that mercifully spared +the sufferings of a protracted illness, and even if his friends pause to +claim for it the actual honours (on earth) of martyrdom, yet it was no +doubt such a death as he was most willing to die, full in his Master's +service--such a death as all can be thankful to think of. And for +the like-minded young man who shared his death, only with more of the +bitterness thereof, the spirit in which he went forth may best be seen +in part of a letter written in the January of 1870, just after his +Ordination:-- + +'The right way must be to have a general idea of what to aim at, and to +make for the goal by what seem, as you go, the best ways, not to go on a +course you fixed to yourself before starting without having seen it. It +is so easy for people to hold theories, and excellent ones too, of the +way to manage or deal with the native races, but the worst is that when +you come to work the theory, the native race will never be found what it +ought to be for properly carrying it out. I am quite sure that nothing +is to be done in a hurry; a good and zealous man in ignorance and haste +might do more harm in one year than could be remedied in ten. I would +not root out a single superstition until I had something better to put +in its place, lest if all the weeds were rooted up, what had before been +fertile should become desert, barren, disbelieving in anything. Is not +the right way to plant the true seed and nourish it that it may take +root, and out-grow and choke the weeds? My objection to Mission reports +has always been that the readers want to hear of "progress," and the +writers are thus tempted to write of it, and may they not, without +knowing it, be at times hasty that they may seem to be progressing? +People expect too much. Those do so who see the results of Mission work, +who are engaged in it; those do so who send them. We have the precious +seed to sow, and must sow it when and where we can, but we must not +always be looking out to reap what we have sown. We shall do that +"in due time" if we "faint not." Because missionary work looks like a +failure, it does not follow that it is. + +'Our Saviour, the first of all Christian Missionaries, was thirty years +of His life preparing and being prepared for His work. Three years +He spake as never man spake, and did not His work at that time look +a failure? He made no mistakes either in what He taught or the way of +teaching it, and He succeeded, though not to the eyes of men. Should not +we be contented with success like His? And with how much less ought we +not to be contented! So! The wonder is that by our means any result is +accomplished at all.' + +These are remarkable words for a young man of twenty-seven, full of +life, health, and vigour, and go far to prove the early ripening of a +spirit chastened in hopes, even while all was bright. + +In the latter part of February, Bishop Patteson, after about six days +of warning, was prostrated by a very severe attack of internal +inflammation, and for three days--from the 20th to the 22nd--was in +considerable danger as well as suffering. Mr. Nobbs's medical knowledge +seems, humanly speaking, to have brought him through, and on the 28th, +when an opportunity occurred of sending letters, he was able to write +a note to his brother and sisters--weak and shattered-looking writing +indeed, but telling all that needed to be told, and finishing with 'in +a few days (D.V.) I may be quite well;' then in a postscript: 'Our most +merciful Father, Redeemer and Sanctifier is merciful indeed. There was a +time when I felt drawing near the dark valley, and I thought of Father, +Mother, of Uncle Frank, and our little ones, Frankie and Dolly,'--a +brother and sister who had died in early infancy. + +But it was not the Divine will that he should be well in a few days. Day +after day he continued feeble; and suffering much, though not so acutely +as in the first attack, Mr. Nobbs continued to attend him, and the +treatment was approved afterwards by the physicians consulted. All the +clergy took their part in nursing, and the Melanesian youths in turn +watched him day and night. He did not leave his room till the beginning +of April, and then was only equal to the exertion of preparing two lads +for Baptism and a few more for Confirmation. On Easter Sunday he was +able to baptize the first mentioned, and confirm the others; and, the +'Southern Cross' having by this time arrived for the regular voyage, he +embarked in her to obtain further advice at Auckland. + +Lady Martin, his kind and tender hostess and nurse, thus describes his +arrival:-- + +'We had heard of his illness from himself and others, and of his being +out of danger in the middle of March. We were therefore much surprised +when the "Southern Cross," which had sailed a fortnight before for +Norfolk Island, came into the harbour on the morning of the 25th of +April, and anchored in our bay with the Bishop's flag flying. We went +down to the beach with anxious hearts to receive the dear invalid, and +were greatly shocked at his appearance. His beard, which he had allowed +to grow since his illness, and his hair were streaked with grey; his +complexion was very dark, and his frame was bowed like an old man's. + +'The Captain and Mr. Bice almost carried him up the hill to our house. +He was very thankful to be on shore, and spoke cheerfully about the +improvement he had made on the voyage. It was not very apparent to us +who had not seen him for two years. Even then he was looking worn and +ill, but still was a young active man. He seemed now quite a wreck. For +the first fortnight his faithful attendant Malagona slept in his room, +and was ready at all hours to wait upon his beloved Bishop. Day by day +he used to sit by the fire in an easy chair, too weak to move or to +attend to reading. He got up very early, being tired of bed. His books +and papers were all brought out, but he did little but doze.' + +Yet, in his despatch of the 2nd of May, where the manuscript is as firm, +clear, and beautiful as ever, only somewhat less minute, he says that he +had improved wonderfully on the voyage, though he adds that the doctor +told him, 'At an office, they would insure your life at fifty, instead +of forty-three years of age.' + +Dr. Goldsboro had, on examination, discovered a chronic ailment, not +likely, with care and treatment, to be dangerous to life, but forbidding +active exertion or horse exercise, and warning him that a sudden jar +or slip or fall on rugged ground would probably bring on acute +inflammation, which might prove fatal after hours of suffering. + +After, in the above-mentioned letter, communicating his exact state, he +adds:--'The pain has been at times very severe, and yet I can't tell +you of the very great happiness and actual enjoyment of many of those +sleepless nights; when, perhaps at 2 A.M., I felt the pain subsiding, +and prayer for rest, if it were His will, was changed into thanksgiving +for the relief; then, as the fire flickered, came restful, peaceful, +happy thoughts, mingled with much, I trust, heart-felt sorrow and +remorse. And Psalms seemed to have a new meaning, and prayers to be so +real, and somehow there was a sense of a very near Presence, and I felt +almost sorry when it was 5.30, and I got up, and my kind Melanesian +nurse made me my morning cup of weak tea, so good to the dry, furred +tongue. + +'Well, that is all past and gone; and now the hope and prayer is, that +when my time is really come, I may be better prepared to go. + +'Sir William and Lady Martin are pretty well; and I am in clover here, +getting real rest, and gaining ground pretty well. I have all confidence +in the prudence of the other missionaries and leave the work thankfully +in their hands, knowing well Whose work it is, and to Whose guidance and +protection we all trust.' + +On the 9th, in a letter sent by a different route, he adds:-- + +'So I think it will come to my doing my work on Norfolk Island just as +usual, with only occasional inconvenience or discomfort. But I think I +shall have to forego some of the more risky and adventurous part of the +work in the islands. This is all right. It is a sign that the time is +come for me to delegate it to others. I don't mean that I shall not take +the voyages, and stop about on the islands (D.V.) as before. But I must +do it all more carefully, and avoid much that of old I never thought +about. Yet I think it will not, as a matter of fact, much interfere with +my work. + +'I have, you understand, no pain now, only some discomfort. The fact +that I can't do things, move about, &c., like a sound healthy person +is not a trial. The relief from pain, the _resty_ feeling, is such a +blessing and enjoyment that I don't seem, as yet at all events, to care +about the other.' + +So of that restful state Lady Martin says: 'Indeed it was a most happy +time to us, and I think on the whole to him. It was a new state of +things to keep him without any pricks of conscience or restlessness on +his part. He liked to have a quiet half-hour by the fire at night; +and before I left him I used to put his books near him: his Bible, his +Hebrew Psalter, his father's copy of Bishop Andrewes. Sometimes I would +linger for a few minutes to talk about his past illness. He used to +dwell specially on his dear father's nearness to him at that time. +He spoke once or twice with a reverent holy awe and joy of sleepless +nights, when thoughts of God had filled his soul and sustained him. + +'His face, always beautiful from the unworldly purity of its expression, +was really as the face of an angel while he spoke of these things and of +the love and kindness he had received. He seemed to have been standing +on the very brink of the river, and it was yet doubtful whether he was +to abide with us. Now, looking back, we can see how mercifully God was +dealing with His servant. A time of quiet and of preparation for death +given to him apart from the hurry of his daily life, then a few months +of active service, and then the crown. + +'At the end of a fortnight (?--you must please to rectify dates) the +"Southern Cross" sailed again, with Mr. Bice and Malagona on board; +when, just as we were expecting she would have reached Norfolk Island, +she was driving back into the harbour.' + +The following letter to the Bishop of Lichfield gives an account of her +peril:-- + + +'Taurarua: May 11, 1870. + +'My dear Bishop,--I have to tell you of another great mercy. The +"Southern Cross" left Auckland on May 3--fair wind and fine weather. + +'On May 5 she was within 185 miles of Norfolk Island. + +'Then came on a fearful gale from the east and northeast to north-west. +They were hove-to for three days, everything battened down; port boat +and davits carried away by a sea; after a while the starboard boat +dashed to pieces. + +'Malagona, my nurse at Norfolk Island, who was brought up for a treat, +was thrown completely across the cabin by one lurch, when she seemed +almost settling down. It was dark. The water in the cabin, which +had come through the dead-light, showed a little phosphoric glimmer. +"Brother," he said to Bice, "are we dying?" "I don't know; it seems like +it. We are in God's hands." "Yes, I know." + +'Mr. (Captain) Jacobs was calm and self-possessed. He even behaved +excellently. Once, all on deck were washed into the lee scuppers, and +one man washed overboard; but he held a rope, and with it and the recoil +was borne in again upon the deck. Lowest barometer, 28 deg. 65'! We were +startled yesterday at about 4 P.M. with the news of the reappearance of +the vessel. I think that some L30 and the replacing the boats will pay +damages, but one doesn't think of that. + +'We hope to get, at all events, one ready-made boat, so as to cause no +delay. The good people at Norfolk Island will be anxious if the vessel +does not reappear soon. + +'Auckland, June 6th--"Southern Cross" could not sail till May 23. If I +am not found by them at Norfolk Island on their return, they are to come +on for me. I hope to make a two months' cruise. + +'General health quite well, no pain for weeks past. Dr. Goldsboro' says +I shall be better in a hot climate; but he won't let me out of his hands +yet. + +'I really think I shall do very well by-and-by. + +'Your very affectionate + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +'The repairs took some time (continues Lady Martin). The delay must have +been very trying to the Bishop in his weak state, as it threw out all +the plans for the winter voyage; but he showed no signs of fretfulness +or of a restless desire to go himself to see after matters. The winter +was unusually cold after the vessel sailed again; and I used to wonder +sometimes whether he lay awake listening to the wind that howled in +gusts round the house; he may have, but certainly there was always a +look of unruffled calm and peace on his face when we met in the morning. + + +'Tis enough that Thou shouldst care Why should I the burden bear? + + +'Our dear friend mended very slowly. It was more than a month before he +could bear even to be driven up to Bishop's Court to receive the Holy +Communion in the private Chapel, and some time longer before he could +sit through the Sunday services. I cannot be sure whether he went first +on Ascension Day. His own letters may inform you. I only remember how +thankful and happy he was to be able to get there. He had felt the +loss of the frequent Communions in which he could join all through his +illness.' + +He was making a real step towards recovery, and by the 10th of June he +was able to go and stay at St. Sepulchre's parsonage with Mr. Dudley, +and attend the gathering at the Bishop of Auckland's Chapel on St. +Barnabas Day; but the calm enjoyment and soothing indifference which +seems so often a privilege of the weakness of recovery was broken by +fuller tidings respecting the labour traffic that imperilled his work. A +schooner had come in from Fate with from fifteen to twenty natives +from that and other islands to work in flax mills; and a little later a +letter arrived from his correspondent in Fiji, showing to what an extent +the immigration thither had come, and how large a proportion of the +young men working in the sugar plantations had been decoyed from home on +false pretences. + +This was the point, as far as at the time appeared in New Zealand. If +violence had then begun, no very flagrant instances were known; and the +Bishop was not at all averse to the employment of natives, well knowing +how great an agent in improvement is civilisation. But to have them +carried off without understanding what they were about, and then set to +hard labour, was quite a different thing. + +'The difficulty is (he writes) to prove in a court of law what everyone +acknowledges to be the case, viz., that the natives of the islands are +inveigled on board these vessels by divers means, then put under the +hatches and sold, ignorant of their destination or future employment, +and without any promises of being returned home. + +'It comes to this, though of course it is denied by the planters and the +Queensland Government, which is concerned in keeping up the trade. + +'There will always be some islanders who from a roving nature, or from a +necessity of escaping retaliation for some injury done by them, or from +mere curiosity, will paddle off to a ship and go on board. But they +can't understand the white men: they are tempted below to look at some +presents, or, if the vessel be at anchor, are allowed to sleep on board. +Then, in the one case, the hatches are clapped on; in the other, sail is +made in the night, and so they are taken off to a labour of which they +know nothing, among people of whom they know nothing! + +'It is the regulation rather than the suppression of the employment of +native labourers that I advocate. There is no reason why some of these +islanders should not go to a plantation under proper regulations. My +notion is that-- + +'1. A few vessels should be licensed for the purpose of conveying these +islanders backwards and forwards. + +'2. That such vessels should be in charge of fit persons, heavily bound +to observe certain rules, and punishable summarily for violating them. + +'3. That the missionaries, wherever they be situated, should be informed +of the names of the vessels thus licensed, of the sailing masters, &c. + +'4. That all other vessels engaged in the trade should be treated as +pirates, and confiscated summarily when caught. + +'5. That a small man-of-war, commanded by a man fit for such work, +should cruise among the islands from which islanders are being taken. + +'6. That special legislative enactments should be passed enabling the +Sydney Court to deal with the matter equitably. + +'Something of this kind is the best plan I can suggest. + +'It is right and good that the "Galatea" should undertake such work; and +yet we want a little tender to the "Galatea" rather than the big vessel, +as I think my experience of large vessels is that there is too much of +routine; and great delay is occasioned by the difficulty of turning a +great ship round, and you can't work near the shore, and even if chasing +a little vessel which could be caught at once in the open sea, you +may be dodged by her among islands. Yet the sense of the country is +expressed very well by sending "Captain Edinburgh" himself to cruise +between New Caledonia, Fiji, and the Kingsmill Islands, for the +suppression of the illegal deportation of natives. So reads the despatch +which the Governor showed me the other day. He asked me to give such +information as might be useful to the "Galatea."' + +With the Governor, Sir George Bowen, an old Oxford friend, Bishop +Patteson spent several days, and submitted to him a memorial to +Government, on the subject, both at home and in Queensland, stating the +regulations, as above expressed. + +The 'Rosario,' Captain Palmer, had actually captured the 'Daphne,' a +vessel engaged in capturing natives, and brought her into Sydney, where +the master was tried; but though there was no doubt of the outrage, it +was not possible to obtain a conviction; and a Fiji planter whom the +Bishop met in Auckland told him that the seizure of the 'Daphne' would +merely lead to the exclusion of the better class of men from the trade, +and that it would not stop the demand for native labourers. It would +always pay to 'run' cargoes of natives into the many islets of Fiji; and +they would be smuggled into the plantations. And there the government +was almost necessarily by the whip. 'I can't talk to them,' said the +planter; 'I can only point to what they are to do; and if they are lazy, +I whip them.' + +It was no wonder that Mr. Dudley thought the Bishop depressed; and, +moreover, he over-exerted himself, walking a mile and a half one day, +and preaching in the little Church of St. Sepulchre's. He longed to +return to St. Barnabas, but was in no state to rough it in a common +little sailing vessel, so he waited on. 'I am very lazy,' he says: 'I +can't do much work. Sir William and I read Hebrew, and discuss many +questions in which his opinion is most valuable. I have business letters +to write, e.g., about the deportation of islanders and about a clergyman +whom the Melbourne people are helping to go to Fiji.... This is perhaps +a good trial for me, to be sitting lazily here and thinking of others at +work!' + +This was written about the middle of July, when the convalescent had +regained much more strength, and could walk into town, or stand to read +and write according to his favourite custom, as well as thoroughly enjoy +conversations with his hosts at Taurarua. + +'I never saw (observes Lady Martin) a larger charity united to a more +living faith. He knew in Whom he believed; and this unclouded confidence +seemed to enable him to be gentle and discriminating in his judgments on +those whose minds are clouded with doubt. + +'It was pleasant to see how at this time his mind went back to the +interests which he had laid aside for years. He liked to hear bits of +Handel, and other old masters, and would go back to recollections of +foreign travels and of his enthusiasm for music and art as freshly and +brightly as he had done in the first days of our acquaintance. But this +was only in the "gloaming" or late in the evening when he was resting in +his easy chair. + +'At the end of July we were expecting a young relation and his bride to +spend a week with us before returning to England, and we gave the Bishop +the option of going to Bishop's Court for the time, where he was always +warmly welcomed. Some years before, he would certainly have slipped away +from the chatter and bustle; but now he decided to remain with us, and +throw himself into the small interests around, in a way which touched +and delighted the young couple greatly. He put away his natural +shrinking from society and his student ways, and was willing to enjoy +everything as it came. We had a curious instance at this time of the +real difficulty the Bishop felt about writing sermons. He had not +attempted to preach, save at Mr. Dudley's Church; but a week or two +before he left us, Archdeacon Maunsell came to beg of him to preach at +St. Mary's, where he had often taken service formerly. He promised to +do so without any apparent hesitation, and said afterwards to us that he +could not refuse such a request. So on Wednesday he began to prepare a +sermon. He was sitting each morning in the room where I was at work, and +he talked to me from time to time of the thoughts that were in his mind. +The subject was all that was implied in the words, "I have called thee +by thy name," the personal knowledge, interest, &c.; and I was rejoicing +in the treat in store, when, to my dismay, I saw sheet after sheet, +which had been written in his neat, clear hand as though the thoughts +flowed on without effort, flung into the fire. "I can't write," was +said again and again, and the work put by for another day. At last, on +Saturday morning, he walked up to the parsonage to make his excuses. +Happily Dr. Maunsell would not let him off, so on Sunday the Bishop, +without any notes or sermon, spoke to us out of the fulness of his heart +about the Mission work, of its encouragements and its difficulties. He +described, in a way that none can ever forget who heard the plaintive +tones of his voice and saw his worn face that day, what it was to be +alone on an island for weeks, surrounded by noisy heathen, and the +comfort and strength gained then by the thought that we who have the +full privileges of Christian worship and communion were remembering such +in our prayers. + +'Our young friends sailed on Sunday, August 7; and we expected the +Bishop to sail the next day, but the winds were foul and boisterous, and +we had him with us till Friday morning, the 12th. Those last days were +very happy ones. His thoughts went back to Melanesia and to his work; +and every evening we drew him to tell of adventures and perils, and to +describe the islands to us in a way he had scarcely ever done before. I +think it was partly to please our Maori maiden, who sat by his side on a +footstool in the twilight, plying him with questions with so much lively +natural interest that he warmed up in return. Generally, he shrank +into himself, and became reserved at once if pressed to tell of his +own doings. He spoke one evening quite openly about his dislike to ship +life. We were laughing at some remembrance of the Bishop of Lichfield's +satisfaction when once afloat; and he burst into an expression of +wonder, how anyone could go to sea for pleasure. I asked him what he +disliked in particular, and he answered, Everything. That he always felt +dizzy, headachy, and unable to read with comfort; the food was greasy, +and there was a general sense of dirt and discomfort. As the time drew +nigh for sailing, he talked a good deal about the rapidly growing evil +of the labour trade. He grew very depressed one day, and spoke quite +despondingly of the future prospects of the Mission. He told us of one +island, Vanua Lava, I think, where, a few years ago, 300 men used to +assemble on the beach to welcome him. Now, only thirty or forty were +left. He saw that if the trade went on at the same rate as it had been +doing for the last year or two, many islands would be depopulated, and +everywhere he must expect to meet with suspicion or open ill will.' + +'The next morning the cloud had rolled away, and he was ready to go +forth in faith to do the work appointed him, leaving the result in God's +hands. We accompanied him to the boat on Friday morning. Bishop and Mrs. +Cowie came down, and one or two of the clergy, and his two English boys +who were to go with him. + +'It was a lovely morning. We rejoiced to see how much he had improved +in his health during his stay. He had been very good and tractable about +taking nourishment, and certainly looked and was all the better for +generous diet. He had almost grown stout, and walked upright and +briskly. Sir William parted with him on the beach, where we have had +so many partings; and I meant to do so too, but a friend had brought +another boat, and invited me to come, so I gladly went off to the +"Southern Cross," which was lying about half-a-mile off. The Cowies were +very anxious to see the vessel, and the Bishop showed them all about. I +was anxious to go down to his cabin, and arrange in safe nooks comforts +for his use on the voyage. In half an hour the vessel was ready to sail. +One last grasp of the hand, one loving smile, and we parted--never to +meet again on earth.' + + +So far this kind and much-loved friend! And to this I cannot but add an +extract from the letter she wrote to his sisters immediately after the +parting, since it adds another touch to the character now ripened:-- + +'I think you are a little mistaken in your notion that your brother +would feel no interest in your home doings. He has quite passed out of +that early stage when the mind can dwell on nothing but its own sphere +of work. He takes a lively interest in all that is going on at home, +specially in Church matters, and came back quite refreshed from Bishop's +Court with all that Bishop Cowie had told him. + +'What he would really dread in England would be the being lionised, and +being compelled to speak and preach here, there, and everywhere. And yet +he would have no power to say nay. But the cold would shrivel him up, +and society--dinners, table talk--would bore him, and he would pine for +his warmth and his books. Not a bit the less does he dearly love you +all.' + +The brother and sisters knew it, and forebore to harass him with +remonstrances, but resigned themselves to the knowledge that nothing +would bring him home save absolute disqualification for his mission. + +His own last letter from Taurarua dwells upon the enjoyment of his +conversations with Sir William Martin and Bishop Cowie; and then goes +into details of a vision of obtaining young English boys to whom a good +education would be a boon, bringing them up at St. Barnabas, and then, +if they turned out fit for the Mission there, they would be prepared--if +not, they would have had the benefit of the schooling. + +Meantime the 'Southern Cross,' with three of the clergy, had made the +voyage according to minute directions from the Bishop. Mr. Atkin made +his yearly visit to Bauro. He says:-- + +'I hardly expected that when we came back we should have found the peace +still unbroken between Wango and Hane, but it is. Though not very good +friends, they are still at peace. In the chief's house I was presented +with a piece of pork, about two pounds, and a dish of tauma (their +favourite), a pudding made of yams, nuts, and cocoa-nut milk, and cooked +by steaming. Fortunately, good manners allowed me to take it away. +Before we left the village, it took two women to carry our provisions. A +little boy came back with us, to stay with Taki. The two boys who ought +to have come last year are very anxious to do so still. + +'July 12th.--We anchored the boat on the beach at Tawatana, and I went +into the oka (public house) to see the tauma prepared for the feast. +There were thirty-eight dishes. The largest, about four feet long, stood +nearly three feet high. I tried to lift one from the ground, but could +not; it must have been five hundredweight; the smallest daras held +eighty or a hundred pounds. I calculated that there was at least two +tons. When freshly made it is very good, but at these feasts it is +always old and sour, and dripping with cocoa-nut oil. The daras, or +wooden bowls, into which it is put, are almost always carved and inlaid +with mother-of-pearl shell. + +'There was a great crowd at the landing-place at Saa (Malanta) to meet +us. Nobody knew Wate at first, but he was soon recognised. The boat was +pulled up into a little river, and everything stealable taken out. We +then went up to the village, passing some women crying on the way; here, +as at Uleawa, crying seems to be the sign of joy, or welcome. Wate's +father's new house is the best I have seen in any of these islands. It +has two rooms; the drawing-room is about forty-five feet long by thirty +wide, with a roof projecting about six feet outside the wall at the end +and four feet at the eaves; the bed-room is about eighteen feet wide, +so that the whole roof covers about seventy feet by forty. Wate's father +lives like a chief of the olden time, with large property, but nothing +of his own; all that he has or gets goes as soon as he gets it to his +retainers. + +'August 3rd.--Went to Heuru. The bwea began about ten o'clock. A bwea +means a stage, but the word is used as we speak of "the stage." There +is a stage in this case about three feet square, twenty feet from the +ground, walled in to three feet height on three sides, with a ladder of +two stout poles. On the bwea sit or stand two or three men, on either +side having a bag; visitors run up the ladder, put their money or +porpoise teeth into the bags if small, give it to the men if large; +and, if their present is worth it, make a speech a little way down the +ladder. A party from a village generally send up a spokesman, and when +he has done go up in a body and give their money. Taki was orator for +Waiio, and I led the party with my present of beads, which if red or +white pass as money. The object of a bwea is to get money, but it may +only be held on proper occasions. The occasion of this was the adoption +of a Mara lad by the chief man at Heuru; to get money to pay the lad's +friends he held a bwea that all his friends might help him. As he was +a connection of Taki's, and Waiio is the richest of the settlements, +he got great spoils from thence.... At Tawatana the young men put on +petticoats of cocoa-nut leaves, and danced their graceful "mao." I had +only seen it before at Norfolk Island; it is very pretty, but must be +very difficult to learn; they say that not many know it. At Nora they +danced another most dirty dance: all the performers were daubed from +head to foot with mud, and wore masks covered with mud and ashes; the +aim of the dance, as far as I could see, was to ridicule all sorts +of infirmities and imbecilities, tottering, limping, staggering, and +reeling, but in time and order. One man had a basket of dripping mud +on his head which was streaming down his face and back all the time. A +great point is that the actors should not be recognised. Mr. Brooke was +likewise dropped at Florida. After this the rest of the party had gone +on to Mota, where George Sarawia was found working away well at +his school, plenty of attendants, and the whole place clean, +well-ventilated, and well-regulated. + +A watch sent out as a present to Sarawia was a delight which he could +quite appreciate, and he had sent back very sensible right-minded +letters. Of Bishop Patteson's voyage the history is pieced together from +two letters, one to the sisters, the other to the Bishop of Lichfield. +Neither was begun till September, after which they make a tolerably full +diary. + +'More than five weeks have passed since I left New Zealand, more than +three since I left Norfolk Island. Mr. Codrington and I reached Mota on +the morning of the eighth day after leaving Norfolk Island. I spent but +half an hour on shore with George Sarawia and his people; sailed across +to Aroa and Matlavo, where I landed eight or ten of our scholars; and +came on at once to the Solomon Islands. On Sunday morning (September 4) +what joy to find Mr. Atkin well and hearty! + +'Mr. Brooke, who took up his abode at the village of Mboli, had with him +Dudley Lankana and Richard Maru, but they were a good deal absorbed by +their relations, and not so useful to him as had been hoped, though they +kept out of heathen habits, and remained constant to their intention of +returning. + +'"Brooke," says the Bishop, "knows and speaks the one language of +Anudha very well, for there is but one language, with a few dialectical +varieties of course." + +'A nice little house was built for him at Mboli, which I have always +thought to be a very healthy place. + +'The coral grit and sand runs a long way in shore under cocoa-nut +groves, but there is no very dense undergrowth. The wind when easterly +blows freely along and is drawn rather upon the shore there. Two miles +to windward of Mboli is the good harbour of Sara, where the vessel +anchored with us. + +'Brooke's house was raised on poles, five feet from the ground; the +floor made of neat smooth bamboos, basket-worked. He had his table and +two benches, one easy cane chair, cork bed, boxes, harmonium, and plenty +of food. + +'Close to his house is the magnificent kiala, or boat house, about +180 feet long, 42 high, and about as many feet broad, a really grand, +imposing place. Here Brooke, in surplice, with his little band, had his +Sunday services, singing hymns, and chanting Psalms, in parts, in the +presence of from 150 to 300, once nearly 400 people, to whom he spoke of +course, usually twice, making two sermonets. + +'The island is unlike any other; much more open, much less bush, but it +is not coral crag that crops out, but almost bare reddish rock, with but +little soil on it, and the population, which is large, finds it hard to +procure food. + +'Three brothers, Takua, Savai, and Dikea, are the principal men. Local +chiefs exercise some small authority in each village. Anudha, or Aunta, +is properly the name of a small island, for there is no one great +mainland, but many islands separated by very narrow salt-water creeks +and rivers, along which a skiff may be sculled. + +'Brooke has been over every part of it. His only difficulties arose from +jealousy on the part of Takua and Savai, who, living at Mboli, were +very wroth at his not being their tame Pakeha, at his asserting his +independence, his motive in coming to teach all, and make known to all +alike a common message. Especially they were indignant at his making +up small parties of boys from different parts of the island, as they +of course wanted to monopolise him, and through him the trade. He has +evidently been firm and friendly too, keeping his temper, yet speaking +out very plainly. The result, as far as bringing boys goes, is that +we have now thirteen on board, including Dudley and Richard, from six +different parts of the island. But so vexed was Takua, that he would not +fulfil his promise of sending his two little girls. + +'The fortnight spent in the Solomon Islands has been very fine; +winds very light, and very little rain. We have at length got Stephen +Taroniara's child, a little girl of about seven years old, Paraitaku, +from the old grandmother and aunts. So, thank God, she will be brought +up as a Christian child. She is a dear little thing. + +'This work of Mr. Atkin and Mr. Brooke in the easterly and more +north-westerly parts of the Solomon Islands respectively, is the nearest +approach that has yet been made to regular missionary operations there. +Our short visits in the "Southern Cross," or my short three to ten days' +visits on shore are all useful as preparing the way for something more. +But it is the quiet, lengthened staying for some months among these +islanders that gives opportunities for knowing them and their ways. They +do everything with endless talk and discussion about it; and it is only +by living with, and moving about constantly among them, that any hold +can be gained over them. I think that the Mission is now in a more +hopeful state than ever before in these islands. + +'Our parties of scholars are large. They trust quite little fellows +with us, and for any length of time. True, these little fellows cannot +exercise any influence for years to come; but if we take young men or +lads of sixteen or eighteen years old, it needs as many years to qualify +them (with heathen habits to be unlearned, and with the quickness of +apprehension of new teaching already gone) for being useful among their +people as would suffice for the arrival of these young children at +mature age.' + +Three Tikopian giants had made a visit at Mota in the course of this +year, attracted by the fame of the hospitality and fertility of the +place. George Sarawia had got on well with them, and tried to keep them +to meet the Bishop, but one of them fell sick, and the others took him +away. This was hailed as a possible opening to those two curious +isles, Oanuta and Tikopia, in so far as the 'Southern Cross' work was +concerned. The Bishop continues, to his former Primate:-- + +'On the whole, things seem to be going on favourably. The Banks +Islanders are very shy now of the vessels sent to carry off men to Fiji +or Queensland. They will find their way into the Solomon Islands soon. +One, indeed, a cutter, has taken about twenty men from Ulava. They were +all kept under hatches. We warn the people wherever we go. + +'The pressing question now is how to supply our young men and women, +married Christian couples, with proper occupations to prevent their +acquiescing in an indolent, useless, selfish life. + +'When their "education is finished," they have no profession, no need +to work to obtain a livelihood for themselves, wives, and children. They +can't all be clergymen, nor all even teachers in such a sense as to make +it a calling and occupation. + +'Some wants they have--houses fit for persons who like reading and +writing, a table, a bench, a window becomes necessary. Coral lime houses +would be good for them. They make and wear light clothing, they wash and +cook on new principles, &c.; but these wants are soon supplied. Only +a practical sense of the duty of helping others to know what they have +been taught will keep them from idleness and its consequences. And how +few of us, with no other safeguard against idleness, would be other than +idle! + +'Some, I think, may be helped by being associated with us, and with +their friends of the Solomon Isles, New Hebrides, in spending some +months on shore, where they would soon acquire a fair knowledge of the +language, and might be of great use to less advanced friends. This would +be a real work for them. Just as Mission work is the safeguard of +the settled Church, so it must be the safeguard of these young native +Churches. + +'No doubt the Missionary spirit infused into the Samoan and Karotongan +Churches kept them living and fruitful. I am trying to think upon these +points. + +'If the contrast be too violent between the Mission station with its +daily occupations and the island life, it becomes very difficult for the +natives to perpetuate the habits of the one amidst the circumstances of +the other. + +'The habits acquired at Norfolk Island ought to be capable of being +easily transferred to the conditions of the Melanesian isles. + +'They ought, I think, to wear (in the hot summer and on week days) light +loose clothing, which could be worn at home; or clothing of the same +shape and fit (though perhaps of warm materials) might be worn. + +'The circumstances of the two places must be different, but we must +minimise the difference as much as possible. + +'I often think of the steady-going English family, with regular family +prayers, and attendance twice at Church on Sunday, and the same people +spending two months on the Continent. No opportunity is made for family +prayers before the table d'hote breakfast; and at least one part of the +Sunday is spent in the Roman Catholic Cathedral, or in a different way +from the home use. And if this be so with good respectable folk among +ourselves, what must be the effect of altered circumstances on our +Melanesians? + +'It is not easy to keep up the devotional life on shore at home, or in +the islands, or on board ship with the same regularity. And where +the convert must be more dependent than we ought to be on external +opportunities, the difficulty is increased. So if the alteration be as +little as possible, we gain something, we make it easier to our scholars +to perpetuate uninterruptedly the Norfolk Island life. + +'To live with them and try to show them how, on their island, to keep up +the religious life unchanged amidst the changed outward circumstances is +a good way, but then we can't live among them very long, and our example +is so often faulty. + +'Curiously do these practical difficulties make us realise that there +may really be some benefit in artificial wants; and that probably the +most favourable situation for the development of the human character is +a climate where the necessaries of life are just sufficiently difficult +of production to require steady industry, and yet that nature should not +be so rigorous as to make living so hard a matter as to occupy the whole +attention, and dwarf the mental faculties.' + +How remarkable, is the date of the following thoughts, almost like a +foreboding:-- + +'September 19th, 10 A.M. (to the sisters).--We are drawing near Santa +Cruz, about 100 miles off. How my mind is filled with hopes, not +unmingled with anxiety. It is more than eleven years since we sought to +make an opening here, and as yet we have no scholar. Last year, I went +ashore at a large village called Taive, about seven miles from the scene +of our disaster. Many canoes came to us from that spot, and we stood in +quite close in the vessel, so that people swam off to us. + +'They are all fighting among the various villages and neighbouring +islets of the Reef Archipelago, twenty miles north of the main island. +It is very difficult what to do or how to try to make a beginning. +God will open a door in His own good time. Yet to see and seize on the +opportunity when given is difficult. How these things make one feel more +than ever the need of Divine guidance, the gift of the Spirit of +Wisdom and Counsel and ghostly strength. To human eyes it seems almost +hopeless. Yet other islanders were in a state almost as hopeless +apparently. Only there is a something about Santa Cruz which is probably +very unreal and imaginary, which seems to present unusual difficulties. +In a few days, I may, by God's goodness, be writing to you again about +our visit to the group. And if the time be come, may God grant us some +opening, and grace to use it aright! + +'At Piteni, Matama, Nupani, Analogo, I can talk somewhat to the people, +who are Polynesians, and speak a dialect connected with the Maori of New +Zealand. I think that the people of Indeni (the native name for Santa +Cruz) are also more than half Polynesians; but I don't know a single +sentence of their language properly. I can say nothing about it. They +destroy and distort their organs of pronunciation by excessive use of +the betel-nut and pepper leaf and lime, so that no word is articulately +pronounced. It is very hard to catch the sounds they make amidst the +hubbub on deck or the crowds on shore; yet I think that if we had two +or three lads quietly with us at Norfolk Island, we should soon make out +something. + +'Don't think I am depressed by this. I only feel troubled by the sense +that I frequently lose opportunities from indolence and other faults. I +am quite aware that we can do very little to bring about an introduction +to these islanders; and I fully believe that in some quite unexpected +way, or at all events in some way brought about independently of our +efforts, a work will be begun here some day, in the day when God sees it +to be fit and right. + + +(To the Bishop of Lichfield.) + + +'September 27th.--Leaving Santa Cruz we came to this group from Ulava +with light fair winds; left Ulava on Saturday at 6 P.M., and sighted the +island, making the west side of Graciosa Bay on the next Wednesday; sea +quite smooth; thermometer reached 92 degrees. + +'Sunday.--Very calm, but a light breeze took us into Nukapu. A canoe +came off, I made them understand that it was our day of rest, and that +I would visit them atainu (to-morrow), a curious word. I gave a few +presents, and we slowly sailed on. + +'Monday, 6 A.M.--Off Piteni, canoe off, went ashore, low tide, got into +a canoe, and so reached the beach, people well behaved, much talk of +taking lads, quite well understood. The speech is (you remember) very +Maori indeed. There were some nice lads, but no one came away. Four +canoes from Taumaho were here, and two Piteni men came back from Taumaho +while I was on shore. + +'At Nukapu at 2.30 P.M. High water, went in easily over the reef by a +short cut, not by our old winding narrow passage. I was greatly pleased +by the people asking me on board, "Where is Bisambe?" "Here I am." "No, +no, the Bisambe tuai (of old). Your mutua (father). Is he below? Why +doesn't he come up with some hatchets?" + +'So you see they remember you. A tall middle-aged man, Moto, said that +he was with us in the boat in 1859, and he and I remembered the one-eyed +man who piloted us. + +'I went here also into the houses. Here is a quaint place; many things, +not altogether idols, but uncanny, and feared by the people. Women +danced in my honour, people gave small presents, &c., but no volunteers. +I could talk with them with sufficient ease; and took my time, lying at +my ease on a good mat with cane pillow, Anaiteum fashion. I told them +that they had seen on board many little fellows from many islands; that +they need not fear to let their children go; that I could not spend time +and property in coming year by year and giving presents when they were +unwilling to listen to what I said, but they only made unreal promises, +put boys in the boat merely to take them out again, and so we went away +atrakoi.' + +There is a little weariness of spirits--not of spirit--in the +contemporaneous words to the home party:-- + +'I don't know what to write about this voyage. You have heard all about +tropical vegetation, Santa Cruz canoes, houses, customs, &c. If indeed I +could draw these fellows, among whom I was lying on a mat on Monday; if +you could see the fuzzy heads, stained white and red, the great shell +ornaments on the arms, the round plate of shell as big as a small dinner +plate hanging over the chest, the large holes in the lobes of the ears +rilled with perhaps fifteen or twenty rings of tortoise-shell hung on to +one another; the woven scarves and girdles stained yellow with turmeric +and stamped with a black pattern: then it would make a curious sight for +you; and your worthy brother, much at his ease, lying flat on his back +on two or three mats, talking to the people about his great wish to take +away some of the jolly little fellows to whom he was giving fish-hooks, +would no doubt be very "interesting." But really all this has become so +commonplace, that I can't write about it with any freshness. The volcano +in this group, Tenakulu, is now active, and was a fine sight at night, +though the eruption is not continuous as it was in 1859. + +'October 9th--Near Ambrym [to the Bishop]. Some people from Aruas, the +large western bay of Vanua Lava, had been taken by force to Queensland +or Fiji. The natives simply speak of "a ship of Sydney." + +'Wednesday.--Aroa and Matlavo. 'Henry Tagalana and Joanna and their baby +Elizabeth, William Pasvorang and Lydia, and six others, all baptized, +and four communicants among them, had spent five weeks on shore; a very +nice set. Six of them lived together at Aroa, had regular morning and +evening prayers, sang their hymns, and did what they could, talking to +their people. Codrington went over in a canoe, and spent four days with +them, much pleased. We brought three scholars for George from thence. + +'Thursday, Mota.--Codrington says the time is come, in his opinion, for +some steps to be taken to further the movement in Mota. Grown-up people +much changed, improved, some almost to be regarded as catechumens. + +'We left Mota, bringing all that were to come; indeed, we scarcely know +what it is nowadays to lose a boy or man--a great blessing. There had +been another visit of eleven canoes of Tikopians; friendly, though +unable to converse, and promising to return again in two months. + +'October 11th.--A topsail schooner in sight, between Ambrym and +Paama--one of those kidnapping vessels. I have any amount of (to me) +conclusive evidence of downright kidnapping. But I don't think I could +prove any case in a Sydney Court. They have no names painted on some of +their vessels, and the natives can't catch nor pronounce the names of +the white men on board. They describe their appearance accurately, and +we have more than suspicions about some of these fellows. + +'The planters in Queensland and Fiji, who create the demand for +labourers, say that they don't like the kidnapping any more than I do. +They pay occasionally from L6 to L12 for an "imported labourer," and +they don't want to have him put into their hands in a sullen irritable +state of mind.' + +Touching at Nengone, the Bishop saw Mr. Creagh, who had recently visited +New Caledonia, whither Basset, the poor chief who had been banished +to Tahiti for refusing to receive a French priest, had been allowed to +return, on the Emperor Napoleon forbidding interference with Protestant +missionaries or their converts. + +Wadrokala and his wife and child were brought away, making up a number +of 65 black passengers, besides the 60 scholars already at Norfolk +Island. The weather throughout the voyage had been unusually still, with +frequent calms, the sea with hardly any swell. And this had been +very happy for the Bishop; but he was less well than when he had left +Taurarua, and was unequal to attending the General Synod in New Zealand, +far more so to another campaign in Australia, though he cherished the +design of going to see after the condition of the labourers in Fiji. + +He finishes his long letter to his former Primate:-- + +It is perhaps cowardly to say that I am thankful that I am not a +clergyman in England. I am not the man even in a small parish to stand +up and fight against so many many-headed monsters. I should give in, and +shirk the contest. The more I pray that you may have strength to endure +it. I don't think I was ever pugnacious in the way of controversy; and I +am very very thankful to be out of it.' + +Indeed, the tone of the references to Church matters at home had become +increasingly cautious; and one long letter to Mrs. Martyn he actually +tore up, lest it should do harm. His feeling more and more was to wish +for patience and forbearance, and to deprecate violent words or hasty +actions--looking from his hermit life upon all the present distress more +as a phase of Church history that would develop into some form of good, +and perhaps hardly sensible of the urgency of the struggle and defence. +For peace and shelter from the strife of tongues was surely one of the +compensating blessings conferred on him. But, as all his companions +agree, he was never the same man again after his illness. There was a +lower level of spirits and of energy, a sensitiveness to annoyances, and +an indisposition to active exertion, which distressed him. + +His day began as early as ever, and was mapped out as before, for +classes of all kinds, Hebrew and reading; but he seldom left his +room, except for Chapel and meals, being unable to take much out-door +exercise. He did not see so much of his elder scholars as before, +chiefly because the very large number of newer pupils made it necessary +to employ them more constantly; but he never failed to give each of them +some instruction for a short time every day, though with more +effort, for indeed almost everything had become a burthen to him. Mr. +Codrington's photograph taken at this time shows how much changed and +aged he had become. The quiet in which he now lived resulted in much +letter-writing, taking up correspondences that had slumbered in more +busy times, as his mind flew back to old friends: though, indeed, the +letters given in the preceding Memoir must not be taken by any means to +represent the numbers he wrote. When he speaks of sending thirty-five by +one mail, perhaps only one or two have come into my hands; and of those +only such portions are of course taken as illustrate his life, work, +character, and opinions without trenching on the reserve due to +survivors. Thus multitudes of affectionate letters, participating in +the joys and sorrows of his brother, his cousins and friends, can +necessarily find no place here; though the idea of his character is +hardly complete without direct evidence of the unbroken or more truly +increasing sympathy he had with those whom he had not met for sixteen +years, and his love for his brother's wife and children whom he had +never seen. + +Soon after his return to Norfolk Island came a packet with a three +months' accumulation of home despatches. He read and replied in his old +conversational way, with occasionally a revelation of his deep inner +self:-- + +'I have been thinking, dear old Fan, about your words, "there would be +a good deal to give and take if you came home for a time;" less perhaps +now than before I was somewhat tamed by my illness. I see more of the +meaning of that petition, "from all blindness of heart, from pride, +vainglory, and hypocrisy; and from all uncharitableness." + +'Alas! you don't know what a misspent life I looked back upon, never +losing hold, God be praised, of the sure belief in His promises +of pardon and acceptance in Christ. I certainly saw that a want +of sympathy, an indifference to the feelings of others, want of +consideration, selfishness, in short, lay at the bottom of very much +that I mourned over. + +'There is one thing, that I don't mention as an excuse for a fault which +really does exist, but simply as a fact, viz., that being always, even +now, pressed for time, I write very abruptly, and so seem to be much +more positive and dogmatic than I hope, and really think, is the case. +I don't remember ever writing you a letter in which I was able to write +but as I would have talked out the matter under discussion in all its +bearings. This arises partly from impatience, my pen won't go fast +enough; but as I state shortly my opinion, without going through the +reasons which lead me to adopt it, no doubt much that I say seems to be +without reason, and some of it no doubt is.' + +I need make no excuse for giving as much as possible of the +correspondence of these last few months, when--though the manner of his +actual departure was violent, there was already the shadow, as it were, +of death upon him. + +To Sir J. T. Coleridge the letter was:-- + + +'December 9, 1870. + +'My dearest Uncle,--How long it is since I wrote to you!... And yet it +is true that I think more often of you than of anyone, except Jem, Joan +and Fan. In fact, your name meets me so often in one way or another--in +papers from England, and much more in books continually in use, that +I could not fail to think of you if I had not the true, deep love that +brings up the old familiar face and voice so often before my eyes.... + +'I wish I could talk with you, or rather hear you answer my many +questions on so many points. I get quite bewildered sometimes. It is +hard to read the signs of our times; so hard to see where charity +ends and compromise begins, where the old opinion is to be stoutly +maintained, and where the new mode of thought is to be accepted. I +suppose there always was some little difference among divines as to +"fundamentals," and no ready-made solution exists of each difficult +question as it emerges. + +'There is reason for that being so, because it is part of our duty and +trial to exercise our own power of discretion and judgment. But so +much now seems to be left to individuals, and so little is accepted on +authority. In Church matters I have for years thought Synods to be +the one remedy. If men meet and talk over a difficulty, there is a +probability of men's understanding each other's motives, and thus +preserving charity. If one-twentieth part of a diocese insists upon +certain observances which nineteen-twentieths repudiate, it seems clear +that the very small minority is put out of court. Yet how often the +small minority contains more salt than the large majority! + +'I know indeed I am speaking honestly, that I am not worthy to +understand dear Mr. Keble on many points. "The secret of our Lord" +is with such men, and we fail to understand him, nous autres I mean, +outside the sanctuary. Yet there is, I must confess it to you, my dear +uncle, a something about his book on Eucharistic Adoration which has the +character to me of foreign rather than of English divinity. I don't +want to be exclusive, far from it. I don't want to be Anglican versus +Primitive; but yet somehow, to me, there is a something which belongs +more to French or Italian than to English character about some parts of +the book. It is no doubt because I can't see what to his eye was plain.' + +[An account of the voyage follows as before given.] 'The islanders +are beginning to find out the true character of the many small +vessels cruising among them, taking away people to the plantations in +Queensland, Fiji, &c. So now force is substituted for deceit. Natives +are enticed on board under promises (by signs of course, for nowhere can +they talk to them) of presents, tempted down below into the hold to get +tomahawks, beads, biscuit, &c., then the hatches are clapped on, and +they are stolen away. I have to try and write a statement about it, +which is the last thing I can do properly.' + +[Then the history of the weddings and baptisms.] 'There is another +pleasant feature to be noticed. The older scholars, almost all of whom +are Banks Islanders, talk and arrange among themselves plans for helping +natives of the islands. Thus Edward Wogale, of Mota, volunteers to go +to Anudha, 300 or 400 miles off, to stay there with his friend Charles +Sapinamba of that island, to aid him in working among his people. Edward +is older and knows more than Charles. They talk in Mota, but Edward will +soon have to speak the tongue of Anudha when living there. B---- and his +wife offer to go to Santa Maria, Robert Pantatun and his wife to go to +Matlavo, John Nonono to go to Savo, and Andrew Lalena also. This is +very comforting to me. It is bona fide giving up country and home. It is +indicative of a real desire to make known the Gospel to other lands. +So long as they will do this, so long I think we may have the blessed +assurance that God's Holy Spirit is indeed working in their hearts. Dear +fellows! It makes me very thankful. + +'My clerical staff is increased by a Mr. Jackson, long a friend and +supporter of the Mission.... + +'Atkin is a steady-going fellow, most conscientious, with a good +head-piece of his own, diligent and thoughtful rather than quick. He +and Bice read Hebrew daily with me, and they will have soon a very fair +knowledge of it. Joe Atkin knows his Greek Testament very fairly indeed: +Ellicott, Trench, Alford, Wordsworth and others are in use among us. + +'I wish you could see some of these little fellows. It is, I suppose, +natural that an old bachelor should have pleasure in young things about +him, ready-made substitutes for children of his own. I do like them. +With English children, save and except Pena, I never was at my ease, +partly I think from a worse than foolish self-consciousness about so +ugly a fellow not being acceptable to children. Anyhow, I don't feel +shy with Melanesians; and I do like the little things about me, even +the babies come to me away from almost anyone, chiefly, perhaps, because +they are acquainted at a very early age with a corner of my room where +dwells a tin of biscuits. + +'To this day I shut up and draw into my shell when any white specimen +of humanity looms in sight. How seldom do one's natural tastes coincide +with one's work. And I may be deceiving myself all along. It is true +that I have a very small acquaintance with men; not so very small an +acquaintance with men passed from this world who live in their books; +and some living authors I read--our English Commentators are almost all +alive. + +'I think that I read too exclusively one class of books. I am not drawn +out of this particular kind of reading, which is alone really pleasant +and delightful to me, by meeting with persons who discuss other matters. +So I read divinity almost if not quite exclusively. I make dutiful +efforts to read a bit of history or poetry, but it won't do. My +relaxation is in reading some old favourite, Jackson, Hooker, Jeremy +Taylor, &c. Not that I know much about them, for my real studying time +is occupied in translating and teaching. And so I read these books, +and others some German, occasionally (but seldom) French: Reuss, for +example, and Guizot. And on the whole I read a fair amount of Hebrew; +though even now it is only the narrative books that I read, so to say, +rapidly and with ease. + +'I wish some of our good Hebrew scholars were sound Poly- and Melanesian +scholars also. I believe it to be quite true that the mode of thought of +a South Sea islander resembles very closely that of a Semitic man. And +their state of mental knowledge or ignorance, too. It is certainly a +mistake to make the Hebrew language do the work of one of our elaborated +European languages, the products of thoughts and education and literary +knowledge which the Hebrew knew nothing of. A Hebrew grammar constructed +on the principle of a Greek or a Latin grammar is simply a huge +anachronism. + +'How did the people of the time of Moses, or David, or Jeremiah think? +is the first question. How did they express their thoughts? is the +second. The grammar is but the mode adapted in speech for notifying and +communicating thoughts. That the Jew did not think, consequently did +not speak, like a European is self-evident. Where are we to find people, +children in thought, keenly alive to the outer world, impressible, +emotional, but devoid of the power of abstract thought, to whom long +involved processes of thought and long involved sentences of speech are +unknown? Consequently, the contrivances for stringing together dependent +clauses don't exist. Then some wiseacre of an 18th or 19th century +German writes a grammar on the assumption that a paulo-post-futurum is +necessarily to be provided for the unfortunate Israelite who thought and +talked child's language. Now, we Melanesians habitually think and +speak such languages. I assure you the Hebrew narrative viewed from the +Melanesian point of thought is wonderfully graphic and lifelike. The +English version is dull and lifeless in comparison. No modern Hebrew +scholar agrees with any other as to the mode of construing Hebrew. +Anyone makes anything out of those unfortunately misused tenses. +Delitzsch, Ewald, Gesenius, Perowne, Thrupp, Kay too, give no rule by +which the scholar is to know from the grammar whether the time is past, +present, or future, i.e., whether such and such a verse is a narrative +of a past fact or the prophecy of a future one. It is much a matter of +exegesis; but exegesis not based on grammar is worth very little. + +'Really the time is not inherent in the tense at all. But that is a +strong assertion, which I think I could prove, give me time and a power +of writing clearly. Sir William Martin is trying to prove it. + +'All languages of the South Seas are constructed on the same principle. +We say, "When I get there, it will be right." But all South Sea +Islanders, "I am there, and it is right." The time is given by something +in the context which indicates that the speaker's mind is in past, +present, or future time. "In the beginning God made" rightly, so, but +not because the tense gives the past sense, for the same tense very +often can't have anything to do with a past sense, but in the beginning +indicates a past time. + +'The doctrine of the Vaw conversive is simply a figment of so-called +grammarians; language is not an artificial product, but a natural mode +of expressing ideas. + +'And if they assume that Hebrew has a perfect and imperfect, or past and +future (for the grammars use all kinds of names), why on earth +should people who have, on their showing, a past tense, use a clumsy +contrivance of turning a future tense into a past, and vice versa? + +'If people had remembered that language is not a trick invented and +contrived by scholars at their desks, but a natural gift, simple at +first, and elaborated by degrees, they could not have made such a mess. + +'The truth is, I think, that such a contrivance was devised to make +Hebrew do what European scholars decided it must do, these very men +being ignorant of languages in a simple uncivilised form. + +'But, my dear Uncle, what a prose! Only, as I think a good deal about +it, you will excuse it, I know. + +'Well, it is time for the weddings! The Chapel looks so pretty, and +(you can't believe it) so do the girls, Emma, Eliza, and Minnie, to be +married to Edwin, Mulewasawasa, Thomas. The native name is a baptismal +one, nevertheless, and a good fellow he is, my head nurse in my illness. + +'I can't write about politics. Then comes the astounding news of this +fearful war. What am I to say to my Melanesians about it? Do these +nations believe in the Gospel of peace and goodwill? Is the Sermon +on the Mount a reality or not? Is such conduct a repudiation of +Christianity or not? Are nations less responsible than individuals? What +possible justification is there for this war? It is fearful, fearful on +every ground. Oh, this mighty belauded nineteenth-century civilisation! + +'Yet society has improved in some ways. Even war is not without its +accompaniment of religion. And it brings out kindly sympathy and +stimulates works of charity. But what a fearful responsibility lies +upon the cause of the war. It is hard to acquit Louis Napoleon of being +really the cause. + +'There would be great pleasure in seeing all the younger ones, not equal +of course to that of seeing you all; but as I get older in my ways and +habits, I think that my mind goes back more to the young ones. True, I +have a large family about me, 145 Melanesians here now. Yet there is +the want of community of thought on some subjects, and the difficulty +of perfectly easy communication with them. No Melanesian tongue is like +English to me. + +'I wrote a first sheet, but filled it up with mere stupid thoughts about +questions of the day, not worth sending. And this long letter, badly +written, too, will weary your eyes. + +'I must end. My kindest love to Aunt, Mary, and all. Always, my dearest +Uncle, + +'Your loving and grateful Nephew, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Two letters of December 12 follow; the first to Bishop Abraham. + + +Mrs. Palmer's picture of the brides, at the last of the weddings the +Bishop so enjoyed, may be acceptable. It went to Mrs. Abraham by the +same opportunity:-- + +'Three were married a short time before Christmas; they, with five +others, were baptized on Advent Sunday. They had been here about +thirteen months, and had got on very well during that time, improved in +every way. I think some of them are loveable girls, and it is pleasant +to see them so happy and at home here. + +'They were a queer-looking set when they first came, or I suppose I +thought them so. + +'I got some of the older girls to give them a good wash all over in warm +water, and then gave them the new clothes. They looked at me in such a +curious way. They had heard of me, "Palmer's wife," from the others, but +had not seen an Englishwoman before. A few days after they came, I ran +into their room with my hair down, and they exclaimed with wonder "We +ura ras" ("very good"), almost shouting, and then I told them to +feel it, and some kissed it with gentle reverence, as though it were +something very extraordinary. + +'They are very kind and obliging in doing anything I want. They have +to be looked after a good bit, but are very obedient. I did not imagine +they would give so little trouble. They are great chatterboxes, and very +noisy, but all in an innocent way. They seldom quarrel among themselves. +I don't think their feelings are so strong as those of the Maoris, +either of love or hate. + +'I wish you could have been present at the baptism. They looked so +solemn, and spoke out very distinctly. They wore white calico jackets, +and the Font was prettily decorated. The whole service was impressive, +and not less so our good Bishop's voice and manner. They looked very +nice, and it was amusing to see how they took it. Only one could I get +to look in the glass; and she said the flowers were too large: the other +two only submitted to being beautified.' + + +I return to the Bishop's correspondence:-- + + +'Norfolk Island: Fourth Sunday in Advent, 1870. + +'My dearest Joan,--I am choosing--a strange moment to write in. It is +8.30 A.M., and in an hour I am going to the New Church, built by the +Pitcairners, to ordain Mr. C. Bice, Priest. I was up as usual early this +morning, and I am not well, and feeling queer, and having already +read and had Morning Chapel Service, I take now this means of quieting +myself. You see it is nearly three miles to the "town;" the service will +be nearly three hours; I don't quite know how I shall get through it. +I thought of having the service here; but our little Chapel won't hold +even our Melanesian party (80 out of 145) who attend public prayers, and +of course the islanders want to see, and it is good for them to see an +ordination. + +'This is my first expedition to the town since I came from the islands, +I shall have a horse in case I am very tired, but I would rather walk +all the way if I can. + +'Just now I am headachy, and seedy too; but I think it is all coming +right again. I hope to have a bright happy Christmas. + +'After this day's Ordination we shall number one Bishop, six Priests, +and one Deacon. There are three or four Melanesians who ought soon to be +ordained; and if it is possible for me to spend two or three months this +next winter at Mota, I must read with George, and perhaps ordain him +Priest. It troubles me much that during all these summer months there +can be no administration of the Holy Communion, though there are six +communicants, besides George, now living for good at Mota. There will be +four or five next year taking up their abode at the neighbouring island +of Aroa. + +'Dear Joan! At such times as these, when one is engaged in a specially +solemn work, there is much heart-searching, and I can't tell you how my +conscience accuses me of such systematic selfishness during many long +years. I do see it now, though only in part. I mean, I see how I was all +along making self the centre, and neglecting all kinds of duties, social +and others, in consequence. + +'I think that self-consciousness, a terrible malady, is one's misfortune +as well as one's fault. But the want of any earnest effort at correcting +a fault is worse perhaps than the fault itself. And I feel such great, +such very great need for amendment here. This great fault brings its +punishment in part even now. I mean, there is a want of brightness, +cheerfulness, elasticity of mind about the conscious man or woman. He +is prone to have gloomy, narrow, sullen thoughts, to brood over fancied +troubles and difficulties; because, making everything refer to and +depend on self, he naturally can get none of that comfort which they +enjoy whose minds naturally turn upwards for help and light. + +'In this way I do suffer a good deal. My chariot-wheels often drag very +heavily. I am not often in what you may call good spirits. And yet I +am aware that I am writing now under the influence of a specially +depressing disorder, and that I may misinterpret my real state of mind. +No one ought to be happier, as far as advantages of employment in a good +service, and kindness of friends, &c., can contribute to make one happy. +And, on the whole, I know my life is a happy one. I am sure that I have +a far larger share of happiness than falls to the lot of most people. +Only I do feel very much the lack, almost the utter lack of just that +grace which was so characteristic of our dear Father, that simplicity +and real humility and truthfulness of character! + +'Well, one doesn't often say these things to another person! But it is +a relief to say them. I know the remedy quite well. It is a very +simple case for the doctor to deal with; but it costs the patient just +everything short of life, when you have to dig right down and cut out by +the roots an evil of a whole life standing. I assure you that it is hard +work, because these feelings of ours are such intangible, untractable +things! It is hard to lay hold of, and mould and direct them. + +'But I pray God that I may not willingly yield to these gloomy unloving +feelings. As often as I look out of myself upon Him, His love and +goodness, then I catch a bright gleam. I think that you will not suspect +me of being in a morbid state of mind. You will say, "Poor old fellow! +he was seedy and depressed when he wrote all that." And that's true, but +not the whole truth. I have much need of your prayers, indeed, for grace +and strength to correct faults of which I am conscious, to say nothing +of unknown sin. + +'The Ordination is over, a quiet solemn service. The new Church, which I +had not seen, is very creditable to the people, who built it themselves. +It is wooden, about thirty-six or thirty-eight feet high, will hold 500 +people well. + +'Mr. Nobbs preached a very good sermon. I got on very well. Singing very +good. Five Priests assisting in this little place! + +'Christmas Eve.--What a meaning one of my favourite hymns (xxxviii. in +"Book of Praise") has, when one thinks of this awful war, how hard to +realize the suffering and misery; the rage and exasperation; the pride +and exaltation! How hard to be thankful enough for the blessings of +peace in this little spot! + +'Our Chapel is beautifully decorated. A star at the east end over +the word Emmanuel, all in golden everlasting flame, with lilies and +oleanders in front of young Norfolk Island pines and evergreens. + +'Seven new Communicants to-morrow morning. And all things, God be +praised, happy and peaceful about us. All Christmas blessings and joys +to you, dear ones! + +'Christmas Day, 3 P.M.--Such a happy day! Such a solemn, quiet service +at 7 A.M., followed by a short joyous 11 A.M. service. Christmas Hymn, +one with words set to the tune for "Hark! the herald Angels sing." + +'You know we never have the Litany on Sundays, because everybody is in +Chapel twice a day, and we of course have it on Wednesday and Friday, +and every native Communion Sunday, i.e., every alternate Sunday; we have +no Communion Service at 11 A.M. as our Communicants have been in Chapel +at the 7 o'clock service; so to-day, the Lessons being short, the +service, including my short service, was over by 11.20. + +'Now we have a week's holiday, that is, no school; though I think it +is hard work, inasmuch as the preparing plans for school lessons, +rearranging classes, sketching out the work, is tiring to me. + +'Then I have such heaps of letters, which do worry me. But, on the other +hand, I get much quiet time for some reading, and I enjoy that more than +anything. Ten of our party were in Chapel at 11 A.M. with us for the +first time. You know that we don't allow everyone to come, but only +those that we believe to be aware of the meaning of Prayer, and who can +read, and are in a fair way to be Catechumens. All these ten will, I +hope, be baptized this summer. + +'We are obliged, seriously, to think of a proper Chapel. The present one +is 45 ft. by 19 ft. and too small. It is only a temporary oblong room; +very nice, because we have the crimson hangings, handsome sandal-wood +lectern, and some good carving. But we have to cram about eighty +persons into it, and on occasions (Baptisms and Confirmations, or at +an Ordination) when others come, we have no room. Mr. Codrington +understands these things well, and not only as an amateur archaeologist; +he knows the principle of building well in stone and wood. Especially +useful in this knowledge here, where we work up our own material to +a great extent. Our notion--his notion rather--is to have stone +foundations and solid stone buttresses to carry a light roof. Then the +rest will be wood. It ought to be about sixty feet by thirty, exclusive +of chancel and apse. When we get all the measurements carefully made, +we shall send exact accounts of the shape and size of the windows, and +suggest subjects for stained glass by Hardman, or whoever might now be +the best man. I hope that it won't cost very much, Lperhaps 500. + +December 21st.--We have not had a fine Christmas week, heavy rain and +hot winds. But the rain has done much good. The Norfolk Islanders have +much influenza, but we are at present quite free from it. + +'Yesterday I spent two hours in training and putting to rights my +stephanotis, which now climbs over half my verandah. I have such +Japanese lilies making ready to put forth their splendours. Two or three +azaleas grow well. Rhododendrons won't grow well. My little pines grow +well, and are about seven feet high. It is very pleasant to see the +growth of these things when I return from the voyage. The "pottering +about" the little gardens, the park-like paddocks, with our sheep and +cattle and horses, gives me some exercise every day. I go about quietly, +and very often by myself, with a book. After thinking of all kinds +of things and persons, I think that my increased and increasing +unwillingness to write is one proof of my not being so strong or +vigorous. I can't tell you what an effort it is to me to write a +business letter; and I almost dread a long effusion from anyone, +because, though I like reading it, I have the thought of the labour of +answering it in my mind. + +'Then again, I who used to be so very talkative, am taciturn now. +Occasionally, I victimize some unfortunate with a flow of language about +some point of divinity, or if I get a hearer on South Sea languages, I +can bore him with much satisfaction to myself. But I am so stupid about +small talk. I cannot make it. When I have to try with some Norfolk +Islander, e.g. it does weary me so! Mind, I don't despise it. But +instead of being a relaxation, it is of all things the hardest work to +me. I am very dull in that way, you know. And sometimes I think people +must take me to be sullen, for I never know how to keep the talk going. +Then if I do talk, I get upon some point that no one cares for, and bore +everybody. So here, too, I fall back on my own set of friends, who are +most tolerant of my idiosyncrasies, and on my Melanesians who don't +notice them. + +'Your loving Brother, + +'J. C. P.' + +In spite of this distaste for writing, a good many letters were sent +forth during the early months of 1871, most of them the final ones to +each correspondent. The next, to Miss Mackenzie, is a reply to one +in which, by Bishop Wilkinson's desire, she had sought for counsel +regarding the Zulu Mission, especially on questions that she knew by +experience to be most difficult, i.e., of inculcating Christian modesty, +and likewise on the qualifications of a native ministry:-- + + +'Norfolk Island: Jan. 26, 1871. + +'My dear Miss Mackenzie,--In addition to a very long and interesting +letter of yours, I have a letter from my sister, who has just seen you +at Havant, so I must lose no more time in writing. + +'First, let me say that I am as sure as I can be of anything that I +have not registered, that I wrote to thank you for the prints long ago. +Indeed, all these many gifts of yours are specially valuable as having +been once the property of your brother, of whom it seems presumptuous +for me to speak, and as having actually been used in Mission work in so +distant a part of the world. + +'I need not say that "Thomas a Kempis," his sextant, and his pedometer, +are among my few real valuables. For the use of the prints, I can't say +much on my own knowledge. My classes are for the most part made up of +lads and young men, teachers, or preparing for Confirmation or Holy +Communion; one class, always of younger ones, being prepared for +Baptism; and sometimes youths, newcomers, when we have to take in hand a +new language. Those prints are not of much use, therefore, to my special +classes. Most of them have passed beyond the stage of being taught by +pictures, though they like to look at them. But Mrs. Palmer has been +using them constantly with the girls' classes, and so with the less +advanced classes throughout the school. + +'One difficulty will to the end be, that by the time we can talk freely +to our scholars, and they can understand their own language employed +as a vehicle for religious teaching, they are not sufficiently supplied +with books. True, we have translations of such parts of the Bible as +quite enable us to teach all that a Christian need know and do; but I +often wish for plenty of good useful little books on other subjects, +and I don't see my way to this. Our own press is always at work printing +translations, &c. It is not easy to write the proper kind of book in +these languages, and how are they to be printed? We haven't time to +print them here, and who is to correct the press elsewhere? The great +fact in your letter is the account of Bishop Wilkinson's Consecration. I +am heartily glad to hear of it, and I will send, if I can, now, if not, +soon, an enclosure to him for you to forward. I doubt if I can help him +by any means as to qualifications of candidates for Holy Orders, &c. Our +work is quite in a tentative state, and I am sometimes troubled to see +that this Mission is supposed to be in a more advanced state than is +really the case. + +'For example, the report of a man going ashore dressed as a Bishop with +a Bible in his hand to entice the natives away, assumes islands to be +in a state where the conventional man in white tie and black-tail coat +preaches to the natives. My costume, when I go ashore, is an old Crimean +shirt, a very ancient wide-awake. Not a syllable has in all probability +ever been written, except in our small note-books, of the language of +the island. My attention is turned to keeping the crowd in good-humour +by a few simple presents of fish-hooks, beads, &c. Only at Mota is there +a resident Christian; and even there, people who don't know what Mota +was, and what a Melanesian island, for the most part, alas! still is, +would see nothing to indicate a change for the better, except that the +people are unarmed, and would be friendly and confiding in their manner +to a stranger. + +'I hardly know how to bring my Melanesian experience to bear upon +Zululand. The immorality, infanticide, superstition, &c., seem to be as +great in a Melanesian island as in any part of the heathen world. And +with our many languages, it is not possible for us to-know the "slang" +of the various islands. + +'We must be cheery about it all. Just see what the old writers, e.g. +Chrysostom, say about Christian (nominally) morals and manners at +wedding feasts, and generally. Impurity is the sin, par excellence, of +all unchristian people. Look at St. Paul's words to the Corinthians and +others. And we must not expect, though we must aim at, and hope, and +pray for much that we don't see yet. + +'What opportunity will Bishop Wilkinson have for testing the practical +teaching power and steady conduct of his converts? + +'Many of our Melanesians have their classes here, and we can form an +opinion of their available knowledge, how far they can reproduce what +they know, &c. We can see, too, whether they exercise any influence over +the younger ones. + +'Twelve (this season) are counted as sixth form, or monitors, or +whatever you please to call them. [Then ensues an account of the +rotation of industrial work, &c.] + +'The other day I was examining an Ysabel lad, not formally in school, +but he happened to be in my room, as they are always hanging about (as +you know). He knew much more than I expected: "Who taught you all this? +I am very well pleased." + +'"Wogale," was the answer. + +'Edward Wogale is George Sarawai's own brother, volunteering now to go +to Anudha (Florida), near Ysabel Island. If I see that a young man +(by his written notes, little essays so to say, analysis of lessons) +understands what he has been taught; and if I see (by the proficiency +of his pupils) that he can reproduce and communicate this teaching to +others, then one part of the question of his fitness is answered. If +he has been here for years, always well conducted, and if when at home +occasionally he has always behaved well and resisted temptation; and +perhaps I should add, if he is respectably married, or about to be +married, to a decent Christian girl, then we may hope that the matter of +moral fitness may be hopefully settled. Assuming this, and thank God, I +believe I may assume that it is the case with several here now, as soon +as a Deacon is required in any place that he is willing to work in, I +should not hesitate to ordain him; but I can't specify exactly what +his qualifications ought to be, because I can't undertake to settle the +difficult question of what constitutes absolutely essential teaching +for a Christian, i.e., the doctrine of fundamentals. Practically one +can settle it; and that quite as well as in England, where there is, and +must be any amount of inequality in the attainments and earnestness of +the candidates, and where no examination can secure the fitness or even +the mental capacity of the minister. + +'I say to myself, "Here is an island or a part of an island from which +we have had a good many scholars. Some married ones are going back to +live permanently. They are Christians, and some are Communicants. They +wish to do what they can to get the young ones about them for regular +school and to talk to the older people. They all have and can use their +Prayer-books. The people are friendly. Is there one among them of whom I +can (humanly speaking) feel sure that, by God's blessing, he will lead a +good life among them, and that he can and will teach them faithfully the +elements of Christian truth and practice? If we all agree that there is +such a one, why not ordain him?" + +'But I want to see people recognising the office of Deacon as something +very distinct indeed from that of the Priest. It is a very different +matter indeed, when we come to talk about candidates for Priest's +orders. + +'Again, look at the missionary clergy of old times. No doubt in +mediaeval times so much stress was laid upon the mere perfunctory +performance of the ministerial act, as apart from careful teaching of +the meaning and purport of the act, that the mediaeval missionary is so +far not a very safe model for us to imitate. + +'But I suppose that multitudes of men did good work who could no more +comprehend nor write out the result of lessons that Edward, Henry, +Edmund, Robert and twenty others here are writing out, than our English +peasant can comprehend a learned theological treatise. + +'And we must consider the qualifications of one's native clergy in +relation to the work that they have to do. They have not to teach +theology to educated Christians, but to make known the elements of +Gospel truth to ignorant heathen people. If they can state clearly and +forcibly the very primary leading fundamental truths of the Gospel, and +live as simple-minded humble Christians, that is enough indeed. + +'Perhaps this is as likely to make the Bishop understand my notions on +the subject as any more detailed account of the course of instruction. I +really have not time to copy out some ten or twelve pages of some older +lad's note-book. I think you would be satisfied with their work. I don't +mean, of course, the mere writing, which is almost always excellent, but +there is a ready apprehension of the meaning of any point clearly put +before them, which is very satisfactory. I am now thinking of the +twenty or thirty best among our 145 scholars. This is a confused, almost +unintelligible scrawl; but I am busy, and not very fresh for work. + +'Yours very truly, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +A letter to Bishop Abraham was in hand at the same time, full of replies +to the information in one newly received from this much valued friend. +After deploring an attack of illness from which Mrs. Abraham had been +suffering, comes the remark-- + +'You know what one always feels, that one can't be unhappy about good +people, whatever happens to them. I do so enjoy your talk about Church +works in England. It makes the modern phraseology intelligible. I know +now what is meant by "missions" and "missioners" and "retreats." + +'I was thinking lately of George Herbert at Hereford, as I read the four +sermons which Vaughan lately preached there, one on the Atonement, which +I liked very much indeed. The Cathedral has been beautifully restored, +has it not? Then, I think of you in York Minster on November 20, with +that good text from Psalm xcvi. I read your letter on Tuesday; on which +day our morning Psalms in Chapel are always chanted, xcv., xcvi., xcvii. +The application seems very natural, but to work out those applications +is difficult. The more I read sermons, and I read a good many, the more +I wonder how men can write them! + +'Mind, I will gladly pay Charley ten shillings a sermon, if he will copy +it out for me. It will do the boy good. Dear old Tutor used to fag me +to write copies of the Bishop's long New Zealand letters, as I wrote a +decent hand then. Don't I remember a long one from Anaiteum, and how I +wondered where on earth or sea Anaiteum could be! + +'I want to hear men talk on these matters (the Eucharistic question) who +represent the view that is least familiar to me. And then I feel, when +it comes to a point of Greek criticism, sad regret and almost remorse at +my old idleness and foolish waste of time when I might have made myself +a decent scholar. I cram up passages, instead of applying a scholarly +habit of mind to the examination of them. And now too, it is harder than +ever to correct bad habits of inattention, inaccuracy, &c. I am almost +too weary oftentimes to do my work anyhow, much less can I make an +effort to improve my way of doing it. But I must be content, thankful to +get on somehow or other, and to be able to teach the fellows something. + +'It is quite curious to see how often one is baffled in one's attempts +to put oneself en rapport with the Melanesian mind. If one can manage +it, they really show one that they know a good deal, not merely by +heart, or as matter of memory, that is worth little; but they show that +they can think. But often they seem utterly stupid and lost, and one is +perplexed to know what their difficulty can possibly be. One thing is +clear, that they have little faculty of generalization. As you know, +they seldom have a name for their island, but only names for each tiny +headland, and bay, and village. The name for the island you must learn +from the inhabitants of another island who view the one whose name you +are seeking as one because, being distant, it must appear to them in +its oneness, not in its many various parts. Just so, they find it very +difficult to classify any ideas under general heads. Ask for details, +and you get a whole list of them. Ask for general principles, and only a +few can answer. + +'For example, it is not easy to make them see how all temptations to sin +were overcome in the three representative assaults made upon Him in the +wilderness; how love is the fulfilling of the Law; or how the violation +of one Commandment is the violation (of the principle) of all. + +'Then they have much difficulty (from shyness partly, and a want of +teaching when young) in expressing themselves. They really know much +that only skilful questioning, much more skilful than mine, can get out +of them. It wants--all teaching does--a man with lots of animal spirits, +health, pluck, vigour, &c. Every year I find it more difficult.' + + +To another of the New Zealand friends who had returned to England there +was a letter on Jan. 31:-- + + +'My dear Mr. Lloyd,--I must send you a line, though I have little to +say. And I should be very sorry if we did not correspond with some +attempt at regularity. + +'What can one think of long without the mind running off to France? What +a wonderful story it is! Only Old Testament language can describe +it, only a Prophet can moralise upon it. It is too dreadful in its +suddenness and extent. One fears that vice and luxury and ungodliness +have destroyed whatever of chivalry and patriotism there once was in +the French character. To think that this is the country of St. Louis +and Bayard! The Empire seems almost systematically to have completed +the demoralisation of the people. There is nothing left to appeal to, +nothing on which to rally. It is an awful thing to see such judgments +passing before our very eyes. So fearful a humiliation may do something +yet for the French people, but I dread even worse news. It nearly came +the other day to a repetition of the old Danton and Robespierre days. + +'Here we are going on happily.... I would give something to spend a +quiet Sunday with you in your old Church. How pleasant to have an old +Church. + +'Always yours affectionately, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +My own last letter came at the same time:-- + + +'Norfolk Island: February 16th, 1871. + +'My dear Cousin,--I must not leave your letter of last October without +an instalment of an answer, though this is only a chance opportunity of +sending letters by a whaler, and I have only ten minutes. + +'Your account of the Southampton Congress is a regular picture. I thinly +I can see the Bishops of Winton, Sarum, and Oxon; and all that you say +by way of comment on what is going off in the Church at home interests +me exceedingly. You can't think what a treat your letters are. + +'You see Mr. Codrington is the only one of my age, and (so to say) +education here, and so to commune with one who thinks much on these +matters, which of course have the deepest interest for me, is very +pleasant and useful. On this account I do so value the Bishop of +Salisbury's letters, and it is so very kind of him to write to me in the +midst of the overwhelming occupations of an English diocese. + +'I don't think you have mentioned Dr. Vaughan. I read his books with +much interest. He doesn't belong to the Keble theology; but he seems to +me to be a thoughtful, useful, and eminently practical writer. He +seems to know what men are thinking of, and to grapple with their +difficulties. I am pleased with a little book, by Canon Norris, "Key +to the New Testament": the work of a man who has read a good deal, and +thought much. + +'He condenses into a 2s. 6d. book the work of years. + +'You are all alive now, trying to work up your parochial schools to +"efficiency" mark--rather you were doing so, for I think there was +only time allowed up to December 31, 1870. I hope that the efforts were +successful. At such times one wishes to see great noble gifts, men of +great riches giving their L10,000 to a common fund. Then I remember that +the claims and calls are so numerous in England, that very wealthy men +can hardly give in that way. + +'Certainly I am spared the temptation myself of seeing the luxury and +extravagance which must tempt one to feel hard and bitter, I should +fear. We go on quietly and happily. You know our school is large. Thank +God, we are all well, save dear old Fisher, who met with a sad boating +accident last week. A coil of the boat raft caught his ankle as the +strain was suddenly tightened by a rather heavy sea, and literally +tore the front part of his foot completely off, besides dislocating and +fracturing the ankle-bone. He bears the pain well, and he is doing very +well; but there may be latent tetanus, and I shall not feel easy for ten +days more yet. + +'His smile was pleasant, and his grasp of the hand was an indication of +his faith and trust, as he answered my remark, "You know Fisher, He does +nothing without a reason: you remember our talk about the sparrows and +the hairs of our heads." + +'"I know," was all he said; but the look was a whole volume.... + +'Your Charlotte is Fisher's wife, you know, and a worthy good creature +she is. Poor old Fisher, the first time I saw tears on his cheeks was +when his wife met him being carried up, and I took her to him. + +'The mail goes. Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +It may as well be here mentioned that Fisher Pantatun escaped tetanus, +lived to have his limb amputated by a medical man, who has since come to +reside at Norfolk Island, and that he has been further provided with a +wooden leg, to the extreme wonder and admiration of his countrymen at +Mota, where he has since joined the Christian community. + +The home letter, finished the last, had been begun before the first, on +Feb. 11, 'My birthday,' as the Bishop writes, adding:--'How as time goes +on we think more and more of him and miss him. Especially now in these +times, with so many difficult questions distressing and perplexing men, +his wise calm judgment would have been such a strength and support. You +know I have all his letters since I left England, and he never missed +a mail. And now it is nearly ten years since he passed away from this +world. What would he say to us all? What would he think of all that has +taken place in the interval? Thank God, he would certainly rejoice in +seeing all his children loving each other more and more as they grow +older and learn from experience the blessedness and infrequency of such +a thoroughly united, happy set of brothers and sisters. Why, you have +never missed a single mail in all these sixteen years; and I know, in +spite of occasional differences of opinion, that there is really more +than ever of mutual love, and much more of mutual esteem than ever. +There is no blessing like this. And it is a special and unusual +blessing. And surely, next to God, we owe it to our dear parents, and +perhaps especially to him who was the one to live on as we grew up into +men and women. What should I have done out here without a perfect trust +in you three, and without your letters and loving remembrances in boxes, +&c.? I fancy that I should have broken down altogether, or else have +hardened (more than I have become) to the soft and restful influences of +the home life. I see some people really alone in these countries, really +expatriated. Now I never feel that; partly because I have your letters, +partly because I have the knowledge that, if ever I did have to go to +England, I should find all the old family love, only intensified and +deepened. I can tell you that the consciousness of all this is a great +help, and carries one along famously. And then the hope of meeting +by-and-by and for ever!' + + +'True to the kindred points of heaven and home.' Surely such loyalty of +heart, making a living influence of parents so long in their graves, has +been seldom, at least, put on record, though maybe it often and often +has existed. + + +Again, on March 8:--'Such a fit came over me yesterday of old memories. +I was reading a bit of Wordsworth (the poet). + +I remembered dear dear Uncle Frank telling me how Wordsworth came over +to Ottery, and called on him, and how he felt so honoured; and so I felt +on thinking of him, and the old (pet) names, and most of all, of course, +of Father and Mother, I seemed to see them all with unusual clearness. +Then I read one of the two little notes I had from Mr. Keble, which live +in my "Christian Year," and so I went on dreaming and thinking. + +'Yes, if by His mercy I may indeed be brought to the home where they +dwell! But as the power of keen enjoyment of this world was never mine, +as it is given to bright healthy creatures with eyes and teeth and limbs +sound and firm, so I try to remember dear Father's words, that "he did +not mean that he was fit to go because there was little that he cared +to stop here for." And I don't feel morbid like, only with a diminished +capacity for enjoying things here. Of the mere animal pleasures, eating +and drinking are a serious trouble. My eyes don't allow me to look about +much, and I walk with "unshowing eye turned towards the earth." I don't +converse with ease; there is the feeling of difficulty in framing words. +I prefer to be alone and silent. If I must talk, I like the English +tongue least of all. Melanesia doesn't have such combinations of +consonants and harsh sounds as our vernacular rejoices in. If I speak +loud, as in preaching, I am pretty clear still; but I can't read at all +properly now without real awkwardness. + +'I am delighted with Shairp's "Essays" that Pena sent me. He has the +very nature to make him capable of appreciating the best and most +thoughtful writers, especially those who have a thoughtful spirit of +piety in them. He gives me many a very happy quiet hour. I wish such a +book had come in my way while I was young. I more than ever regret that +Mr. Keble's "Praelectiones" was never translated into English. I am sure +that I have neglected poetry all my life for want of some guide to the +appreciation and criticism of it, and that I am the worse for it. If you +don't use Uncle Sam's "Biographia Literaria," and "Literary Remains," I +should much like to have them. + +'Do you, Fan, care to have any of my German books? I have, indeed, +scarce any but theological ones. But no one else reads German here, and +I read none but the divinity; and, indeed, I almost wish I had them in +translations, for the sake of the English type and paper. My eyes don't +like the German type at all. + +'Moreover, now (it was not so years ago), all that is worth reading +in their language is in a good serviceable English dress, and passed, +moreover, through the minds of clear English thinkers--and the Germans +are such wordy, clumsy, involved writers. A man need not be a German +scholar to be well acquainted with all useful German theology. Doellinger +is almost the only clear, plain writer I know among them. Dorner, the +great Lutheran divine, gives you about two pages and a half of close +print for a single sentence--awful work, worse than my English!... But I +know that if I read less, and thought more, it would be better. Only it +is such hard work thinking, and I am so lazy! I was amused at hearing, +through another lad, of Edward Wogale's remark, "This helping in +translation" (a revisal of the "Acts" in Mota) "is such hard work!" +"Yes, my boy, brain work takes it out of you." I wish I had Jem's power +of writing reports, condensing evidence into clear reliable statements. +Lawyers get that power; while we Clergymen are careless and inaccurate, +because, as old Lord Campbell said, "there is no reply to our sermons." + +'What would I give to have been well drilled in grammar, and made an +accurate scholar in old days! Ottery School and Eton didn't do much for +me in that way, though of course the fault was chiefly in myself. + +'But most of all, I think that I regret the real loss to us Eton boys +of the weekly help that Winchester, Rugby, and Harrow boys had from +Moberly, Arnold, and Vaughan in their sermons! I really think that might +have helped to keep us out of harm! + +'It is now 4.30 P.M., calm and hot. Such a tiger-lily on my table, +and the pretty delicate achimenes, and the stephanotis climbing up the +verandah, and a bignonia by its side, with honeysuckle all over the +steps, and jessamine all over the two water-tanks at the angle of the +verandah. The Melanesians have, I think, twenty-nine flower gardens, and +they bring the flowers, &c.--lots of flowers, and the oleanders are a +sight! Some azaleas are doing well, verbenas, hibiscus of all kinds. +Roses and, alas! clove carnations, and stocks, and many of the dear old +cottage things won't grow well. Scarlet passion flowers and splendid +Japanese lilies of perfect white or pink or spotted. The golden one I +have not yet dared to buy. They are most beautiful. I like both the +red and the yellow tritoma; we have both. But I don't think we have the +perfume of the English flowers, and I miss the clover and buttercup. And +what would I give for an old-fashioned cabbage rose, as big as a saucer, +and for fresh violets, which grow here but have little scent, and lilies +of the valley! Still more, fancy seeing a Devonshire bank in spring, +with primroses and daisies, or meadows with cowslip and clover and +buttercups, and hearing thrushes and blackbirds and larks and cuckoos, +and seeing trout rise to the flies on the water! There is much +exaggeration in second-rate books about tropical vegetation. You +are really much better off than we are. No trees equal English oaks, +beeches, and elms, and chestnuts; and with very little expense and +some care, you have any flowers you like, growing out of doors or in a +greenhouse. You can make a warmer climate, and we can't a colder one. +But we have plenty to look at for all that. There, what a nice hour I +have spent in chatting with you!' + +This same dreamy kind of 'chat,' full of the past, and of quiet +meditation over the present, reminding one of Bunyan's Pilgrims in the +Land of Beulah, continues at intervals through the sheets written while +waiting for the 'Southern Cross.' Here is a note (March 14) of the +teaching:-- + +'I am working at the Miracles with the second set, and I am able to +venture upon serious questions, viz. the connection between sin and +physical infirmity or sickness, the Demoniacs, the power of working +miracles as essential to the Second Adam, in whom the prerogative of the +Man (the ideal man according to the idea of his original condition) was +restored. Then we go pretty closely into detail on each miracle, and try +to work away till we reach a general principle or law. + +'With another class I am making a kind of Commentary on St. Luke. With a +third, trying to draw out in full the meaning of the Lord's Prayer. +With a fourth, Old Testament history. It is often very interesting; but, +apart from all sham, I am a very poor teacher. I can discourse, or talk +with equals, but I can't teach. So I don't do justice to these or any +other pupils I may chance to have. But they learn something among us +all.' + +He speaks of himself as being remarkably well and free from the +discomforts of illness during the months of March and April: and these +letters show perfect peace and serenity of spirit; but his silence and +inadequacy for 'small talk' were felt like depression or melancholy by +some of his white companions, and he always seemed to feel it difficult +to rouse himself. To sit and study his Hebrew Isaiah with Delitzsch's +comment was his chief pleasure; and on his birthday, April 1, Easter +Eve, and the ensuing holy days, he read over all his Father's letters +to him, and dwelt, in the remarks to his sisters, upon their wisdom and +tenderness. + +Mr. Codrington says: 'Before starting on the voyage he had confirmed +some candidates in the Church in town: on which occasion he seemed to +rouse himself with difficulty for the walk, and would go by himself; +but he was roused again by the service, and gave a spirited and eloquent +address, and came back, after a hearty meal and lively conversation, +much refreshed in mind and body. This was on Palm Sunday. On Easter +Day he held his last confirmation of three girls and two Solomon Island +boys. + +Then came the 'Southern Cross,' bringing with her from New Zealand a box +with numerous books and other treasures, the pillow that the old Bishop +of Exeter was leaning on when he died; a photograph, from the Bishop +of Salisbury, of his Cathedral, and among the gifts for the younger +Melanesians, a large Noah's ark, which elicited great shouts of delight. + +'Well! [after mentioning the articles in order] all these things, and +still more the thought of the pains taken and the many loving feelings +engaged in getting them together, will help me much during the coming +months. All the little unexpected things are so many little signs of the +care and love you always have for me, and that is more than their own +value, after all. I always feel it solemn to go off on these voyages. +We have had such mercies. Fisher is doing quite well, getting about +on crutches; and that is the only hospital case we have had during the +whole summer.' + +Then follows:-- + +'April 27th.--We start in a few hours (D.V.). The weather is better. +You have my thoughts and hopes and prayers. I am really pretty well: and +though often distressed by the thought of past sins and present ones, +yet I have a firm trust in God's mercy through Christ, and a reasonable +hope that the Holy Spirit is guiding and influencing me. What more can I +say to make you think contentedly and cheerfully about me? God bless you +all!' + +So the last voyage was begun. The plan was much the same as usual. On +the way to Mota, the Bishop landed on Whitsuntide Island, and there was +told that what the people called a 'thief ship' had carried off some of +their people. Star Island was found nearly depopulated. On May 16, +the Bishop, with Mr. Bice and their scholars, landed at Mota, and the +'Southern Cross' went on with Mr. Brooke to Florida, where he found that +the 'Snatch-snatch' vessels, as they were there called, had carried off +fifty men. They had gone on board to trade, but were instantly clapped +under hatches, while tobacco and a hatchet were thrown to their friends +in the canoe. Some canoes had been upset by a noose from the vessel, +then a gun was fired, and while the natives tried to swim away, a boat +was lowered, which picked up the swimmers, and carried them off. One man +named Lave, who jumped overboard and escaped, had had two fingers held +up to him, which he supposed to mean two months, but which did mean two +years. + +It was plain that enticing having failed, violence was being resorted +to; and Mr. Brooke was left to an anxious sojourn, while Mr. Atkin +returned to Mota on his way to his own special charge at Bauro. He says, +on June 9:-- + +'The Bishop had just come back from a week's journeying with William in +his boat. They had been to Santa Maria, Vanua Lava, and Saddle Island; +the weather was bad, but the Bishop, although he is tired, does not +think he is any the worse for his knocking about. He is not at all well; +he is in low spirits, and has lost almost all his energy. He said, while +talking about the deportation of islanders to Fiji, that he didn't know +what was to be done; all this time had been spent in preparing teachers +qualified to teach their own people, but now when the teachers were +provided, all the people were taken away. The extent to which the +carrying off of the natives has gone is startling. It certainly is time +for us to think what is to be done next. I do not think that it is an +exaggerated estimate, others would say it is under the mark, that one +half the population of the Banks Islands over ten years of age have been +taken away. I am trying not to expect anything about the Solomon Islands +before we are there, but we have heard that several vessels have +cargoes from there. If the people have escaped a little longer for their +wildness, it will not be for long. + +'The Bishop still remained at Mota, while I went back to the Solomon +Islanders. The cliffs of Mota, and perhaps the intelligence of the +people, had comparatively protected it, though Port Patteson had become +a station of the "labour ships." The village of Kohimarama was not a +disappointment.' + +Bishop Patteson proceeds:-- + +'Things are very different. I think that we may, without danger, baptize +a great many infants and quite young children--so many parents are +actually seeking Christian teaching themselves, or willing to give +their children to be taught. I think that some adults, married men, may +possibly be baptized. I should think that not less than forty or fifty +are daily being taught twice a day, as a distinct set of Catechumens. +Besides this, some of the women seem to be in earnest. + +'About two hours and a half are spent daily by me with about +twenty-three grown-up men. They come, too, at all hours, in small +parties, two or three, to tell their thoughts and feelings, how they are +beginning to pray, what they say, what they wish and hope, &c. + +'There is more indication than I ever saw here before of a "movement," +a distinct advance, towards Christianity. The distinction between +passively listening to our teaching, and accepting it as God's Word +and acting upon it, seems to be clearly felt. I speak strongly and +habitually about the necessity of baptism. "He that believeth, and is +baptized" &c. Independently of the doctrinal truth about baptism, +the call to the heathen man to take some step, to enter into some +engagement, to ally himself with a body of Christian believers by some +distinct act of his own, needing careful preparation, &c., has a meaning +and a value incalculably great. + +'"Yes, JESUS is to us all a source of pardon, light, and life, all these +treasures are in Him. But he distributes these gifts by His Spirit in +His appointed ways. You can't understand or receive the Gospel with a +heart clinging to your old ways. And you can't remake your hearts. He +must do it, and this is His way of doing it. You must be born again. You +must be made new men." + +'But why write all this, which is so commonplace? + +'I feel more than ever the need of very simple, very short services for +ignorant Catechumens. + +'They used to throng our morning and evening prayer, perhaps 130 being +present, for about that number attend our daily school; but they could +not understand one sentence in ten of the Common Prayer-book. And it is +bad for people to accustom themselves to a "formal" service. So I have +stopped that. We baptized people have our regular service and at the end +of my school, held in the dark, 7-8.30 P.M., in the verandah, we kneel +down, and I pray extempore, touching the points which have formed the +lesson. + +'I don't like teaching these adults who can't read a form of private +prayer. I try to make them understand that to wish earnestly is to pray; +that they must put what they wish for clearly before their own minds, +and then pray to God for it, through Christ. But I must try to supply +progressive lessons for the Catechumens and others, with short prayers +to be read by the teacher at the end (and beginning, too, perhaps) of +the lesson. Much must depend on the individual teacher's unction and +force. + +'Well, I hope and trust to be able to tell you two months hence of some +of these people being baptized. Only three adults have been baptized +here on the island, and all three were dying. + +'It is very comforting to think that all of us have been engaged in this +Mota work, Dudley, and Mr. Pritt, and Mr. Kerr, too, and all our present +staff have had much to do with it. Especially I think now of three young +men, all married, who came to me lately, saying, "All these years (an +interval of six or seven years) we have been thinking now and then about +what we heard years ago, when we were with you in New Zealand for a few +months." They are now thoroughly in earnest, as far as I can judge, and +their wives, as I hope, move along with them. How one old set must have +influenced them a long time ago. Bice, who speaks Mota very well, was +very energetic during his fortnight here. He is now gone on with Mr. +Brooke and Mr. Atkin that he may see the work in the Solomon Isles. I +meant to go; but there seemed to be a special reason why I should stay +here just now, vessels seeking labourers for Fiji and Queensland are +very frequently calling at these islands. + +'Mr. Thurston, late Acting Consul at Fiji, was with me the day before +yesterday. He has taken a very proper view of this labour question; +and he assures me that the great majority of the Fiji planters are very +anxious that there should be no kidnapping, no unfair treatment of the +islanders. I have engaged to go to Fiji (D.V.) at the end of my island +work, i.e., on my return to Norfolk Island, probably about the end of +September. I shall go there in the "Southern Cross," send her on to her +summer quarters in New Zealand, and get from Fiji to New Zealand, after +six or eight weeks in Fiji, in some vessel or other. There are about +4,000 or 5,000 white people in Fiji, mostly Church of England people, +but (as I suppose) not very clearly understanding what is really meant +by that designation. It is assumed that I am to act as their Bishop; and +I ought to have been there before. But really a competent man might work +these islands into a Bishopric before long. + +'We must try to follow these islanders into Fiji or Queensland. But how +to do it? On a plantation of, say, one hundred labourers, you may find +natives of eight or ten islands. How can we supply teachers at the rate +of one for every fifteen or twenty people? And there are some 6,000 or +7,000 islanders already on the Fiji plantations, and I suppose as many +in Queensland. + +'Some one knowing several languages, and continually itinerating from +one plantation to another, might do something; but I don't think a +native clergyman could do that. He must move about among white people +continually in the boats, &c. I ought to do it; but I think my day has +gone by for that kind of thing. + +'I hope to judge of all this by-and-by. It might end in my dividing +my year into Melanesian work as of old, and Melanesian work in Fiji, +combined with the attempt to organise the white Church of England +community, and only a month or two's work in Norfolk Island. To do this +I must be in pretty good health. I may soon find out the limit of my +powers of work, and then confine myself to whatever I find I can do with +some degree of usefulness. We ought to make no attempt to proselytise +among the Fiji natives, who have been evangelised by the Wesleyans. But +there is work among our Western Pacific imported islanders and the white +people. + +'Norfolk Island could be quite well managed without me. Mr. Codrington +could take that entirely into his own hands. I might spend a month or +two there, and confirm Melanesians and Norfolk Islanders, and quietly +fall into a less responsible position and be a moveable clergyman in +Fiji or anywhere else, as long as my strength lasts. + +'Norfolk Island certainly was rather my resting-place. But I think I +am becoming more and more indifferent to that kind of thing. A tropical +climate suits me, and Fiji is healthy--no ague. Dysentery is the chief +trouble there. These are notions, flying thoughts, most likely never to +be fully realised. Indeed, who can say what may befall me?' + +Never to be fully realised! No. He, who in broken health so freely and +simply sacrificed in will his cherished nook of rest on earth for a life +so trying and distasteful, was very near the 'Rest that remaineth for +the people of God.' + +On June 26, the first public baptism in Mota took place, of one man, the +Bishop and Sarawia in surplices in front of their verandah, the people +standing round; but unfortunately it was a very wet day, and the rush of +rain drowned the voices, as the Bishop made his convert Wilgan renounce +individually and by name individual evil fashions of heathenism, just as +St. Boniface made the Germans forsake Thor and Odin by name. There were +twenty-five more nearly ready, and a coral-lime building was finished, +'like a cob wall, only white plaster instead of red mud,' says the +Devonshire man. It was the first Church of Mota, again reminding us of +the many 'white churches' of our ancestors; and on the 25th of June at +7 A.M., the first Holy Eucharist was celebrated there. It is also +the place of private prayer for the Christians and Catechumens of +Kohimarama. + +The weather was exceedingly bad, drenching rain continually, yet the +Bishop continued unusually well. His heart might well be cheered, when, +on that Sunday evening in the dark, he was thus accosted:-- + +'I have for days been watching for a chance of speaking to you alone! +Always so many people about you. My heart is so full, so hot every word +goes into it, deep deep. The old life seems a dream. Everything seems to +be new. When a month ago I followed you out of the Said Goro, you said +that if I wanted to know the meaning and power of this teaching, I must +pray! And I tried to pray, and it becomes easier as every day I pray as +I go about, and in the morning and evening; and I don't know how to pray +as I ought, but my heart is light, and I know it's all true, and my mind +is made up, and I have been wanting to tell you, and so is Sogoivnowut, +and we four talk together, and all want to be baptized.' + +This man had spent one season at St. John's, seven years before; but on +his return home had gone back to the ordinary island life, until at last +the good seed was beginning to take root. + +The next Sunday, the 2nd of July, ninety-seven children were baptized, +at four villages, chosen as centres to which the adjacent ones could +bring their children. It was again a wet day, but the rain held up at +the first two places. The people stood or sat in a great half-circle, +from which the eldest children, four or five years old, walked out in a +most orderly manner, the lesser ones were carried up by their parents, +and out of the whole ninety-seven only four cried! The people all +behaved admirably, and made not a sound. At the last two places there +was a deluge of rain; but as sickness prevailed in them, it was not +thought well to defer the Baptism. + +'It was a day full of thankful and anxious feelings. I was too tired, +and too much concerned with details of arrangements, new names, &c., to +feel the more contemplative devotional part of the whole day's services +till the evening. Then, for I could not sleep for some hours, it came on +me; and I thought of the old times too, the dear Bishop's early visits, +my own fourteen years' acquaintance with this place, the care taken +by many friends, past and present members of the Mission. The Sunday +Collects as we call them, St. Michael's, All Saints', Saint Simon and +St. Jude's calmed me, and my Sunday prayer, (that beautiful prayer in +the Ordination of Priests, 'Almighty God and Heavenly Father,' slightly +altered) was very full of meaning. So, thank God, one great step has +been taken, a great responsibility indeed, but I trust not rashly +undertaken.' + +On July 4 the 'Southern Cross' returned, and the cruise among the New +Hebrides was commenced. Mr. Bice was left to make a fortnight's visit at +Leper's Island; and the Bishop, going on to Mai, found only three men on +the beach, where there used to be hundreds, and was advised not to go to +Tariko, as there had been fighting. + +At Ambrym there was a schooner with Mr. Thurston on board, and +fifty-five natives for Fiji. On the north coast was the 'Isabella,' +with twenty-five for Queensland. The master gave Captain Jacob his +credentials to show to the Bishop, and said the Bishop might come on +board and talk to the people, so as to be convinced they came willingly, +but weighed anchor immediately after, and gave no opportunity; and one +man who stood on the rail calling out 'Pishopa, Pishopa,' was dragged +back. + +Mr. Bice was picked up again on the 17th, having been unmolested during +his visit; but two of the 'Lepers,' who had been at Espiritu Santo, had +brought back a fearful story that a small two-masted vessel had there +been mastered by the natives, and the crew killed and eaten in revenge +for the slaughter of some men of their own by another ship's company +some time back. + +On the voyage he wrote to the Bishop of Lichfield:-- + + +'Off Tariko. Sloop: July 8, 1871. + +'My dear Bishop,--Towards the end of April I left Norfolk Island, and +after a six days' passage reached Mota. I called at Ambrym (dropping +three boys) at three places; at Whitsuntide; at Leper's Island, dropping +seven boys; Aurora, two places; Santa Maria, where I left B----, and +so to Mota on the day before Ascension Day, and sent the vessel back at +once to Norfolk Island for the Solomon Island scholars. All our Aroa +and Matlavo party wished to spend Ascension Day with us; and after Holy +Communion they went across with Commodore William Pasvorang in a good +whale boat, which I brought down on the deck of the schooner, and which +Willy looks after at Aroa. We want it for keeping up a visitation of the +group. + +'Bice, ordained Priest last Christmas, was with me. We found George and +all well, George very steady and much respected. Charles Woleg, Benjamin +Vassil and James Neropa, all going on well. The wives have done less +than I hoped; true, they all had children to look after, yet they might +have done more with the women. [Then as before about the movement.] + +'After a week I went off in the boat, leaving Bice at Kohimarama, +the Mota station. I went to B---- first at the north-east part of the +island; back to Tarasagi (north-east point); sailed round to Lakona, our +old Cock Sparrow Point, where B---- and I selected one or two boys to +stay with him at Tarasagi. Thence we sailed to Avreas Bay, the great bay +of Vanua Lava, B---- going back to Tarasagi by land. Heavy sea and rain; +reached land in the dark 8 P.M., thankful to be safe on shore. + +'On to Aroa, where I spent two days; Willie and Edwin doing what they +can. Twenty children at school; but the island is almost depopulated, +some seven hundred gone to Brisbane and Fiji. I did not go to +Uvaparapara; the weather was bad, I was not well, and I expected the +"Southern Cross" from Norfolk Island. Next day, after just a week's +trip in the boat, I got to Mota; and the next day the "Southern +Cross" arrived with Joe Atkin and Brooke and some twenty-four Solomon +Islanders, many of them pressing to stay at Norfolk Island, where about +eighty scholars in all are under the charge of Codrington, Palmer, and +Jackson. + +'I sent Bice on in the "Southern Cross," as he ought to see something of +his brethren's work in the north and west. I had just a month at Mota, +very interesting. + +'I hope to spend three weeks more at Mota, if this New Hebrides trip +is safely accomplished, and to baptize the rest of the children, and +probably some ten or fifteen adults. All seem thoroughly in earnest. +Some of the first scholars, who for years have seemed indifferent, are +now among my class of thirty-three adults. It would be too long a story +to tell you of their frequent private conversations, their stories, +their private prayers, their expressions of earnest thankfulness that +they are being led into the light. + +'Some of the women, wives of the men, are hopeful. George's old mother +said to me, "My boys are gone; George, Woleg, Wogale--Lehna died a +Christian; Wowetaraka (the first-born) is going. I must follow. I listen +to it all, and believe it all. When you think fit, I must join you," +i.e. be baptized. + +'It is very comforting that all the old party from the beginning are +directly (of course indirectly also) connected with this movement. +Some of those most in earnest now came under the influence of the early +workers, Dudley, Mr. Pritt, &c. + +'We need this comfort. + +'From Mota some thirty or more have gone or been taken away, but the +other islands are almost depopulated. Mr. Thurston, late Acting Consul +in Fiji, was at Mota the other day seeking labourers. He says that about +3,000 natives from Tanna and Uvaparapara are now in Fiji, and Queensland +has almost as many. + +'He admits that much kidnapping goes on. He, with all his advantages of +personal acquaintance with the people and with native interpreters +on board, could only get about thirty. Another, Captain Weston, a +respectable man who would not kidnap, cruised for some weeks, and left +for Fiji without a single native on board. How then do others obtain +seventy or one hundred more? + +'But the majority of the Fiji settlers, I am assured, do not like these +kidnapping practices, and would prefer some honest way of obtaining men. +Indeed, many natives go voluntarily. + +'In the Solomon Isles a steamer has been at Savo and other places, +trying to get men. + +'Three or four of these vessels called at Mota while I was there. On one +day three were in sight. They told me they were shot at at Whitsuntide, +Sta. Maria, Vanua Lava, &c. And, indeed, I am obliged to be very +careful, more so than at any time; and here, in the North Hebrides, I +never know what may happen, though of course in many places they know +me. + +'We are now at our maximum point of dispersion: Brooke at Anudha, J. +Atkin at or near San Cristoval, Gr. Sarawia at Mota, B---- at Santa +Maria, Bice at Leper's Island, Codrington at Norfolk Island, I on board +"Southern Cross." + +'Leper's Island is very pleasant; I longed to stay there. All the people +wanting to come with us, and already discriminating between us and the +other white visitors, who seem to have had little or no success there. + +'July 21st.--At anchor, Lakona, west side of Santa Maria. Pleasant to +be quietly at anchor on our old "shooting ground." We anchored for a day +and a night at Ambrym, near the east point, very safe and comfortable +place. Nine lads from five villages are on board. I bought about three +and a half tons of yams there. Anchored again at the end of Whitsuntide, +where I am thankful to say we have at last received two lads, one a +very pleasant-looking fellow. That sad year of the dysentery, 1862, when +Tanau died and Tarivai was so ill, two out of only three scholars from +the island, made them always unwilling to give up lads. + +'Next day at Leper's Island. Anchored a night off Wehurigi, the east end +of the high land, the centre part of the island. + +'Bice was quite feted by the people. We brought away three old and +twelve new scholars, refusing the unpromising old scholars. There is, I +hope, a sufficient opening now at Ambrym and Leper's Island to justify +my assigning these islands to Jackson and Bice respectively. + +'Our plan now is to take very few people indeed from the Banks Islands +to Norfolk Island, as they have a permanent school and resident +clergyman at Mota. The lads who may turn out clever and competent +teachers are taken to Norfolk Island, none others. + +'We must take our large parties from islands where there is as yet no +permanent teacher: Ambrym, Leper's Island, the Solomon Islands. + +'Meanwhile the traders are infesting these islands, as Captain Jacobs +says, "like mosquitoes." Three vessels anchored at Mai during the day +I was there. Three different vessels were at Ambrym. To-day I saw four, +three anchored together near the north-east side of Santa Maria. B---- +saw six yesterday. + +'The people now refuse to go in them, they are much exasperated at their +people being kept away so long. Sad scenes are occurring. Several white +men have been killed, boats' crews cut off, vessels wrecked. + +'We shall hear more of such doings; and really I can't blame the +islanders. They are perfectly friendly to friends; though there is much +suspicion shown even towards us, where we are not well known. + +'As far as I can speak of my own plans, I hope to stay at Mota for a +time, till the "Southern Cross" returns from Norfolk Island; then go to +the Solomon Islands; return by way of Santa Cruz and probably Tikopia, +to Mota; thence to Norfolk Island; thence probably to New Zealand, to +take the steamer for Fiji. We have no chart on board of Fiji; and I +don't think it right to run the risk of getting somehow to Levuka with +only the general chart of the South Pacific, so I must go, as I think, +to New Zealand, and either take the steamer or procure charts, and +perhaps take Mr. Tilly as pilot. I don't like it; it will be very cold; +but then I shall (D.V.) see our dear Taurarua friends, the good Bishop +and others, and get advice about my Fiji movements. The Church of +England folk there regard me as their Bishop, I understand; and the +Bishops of Sydney and Melbourne assume this to be the fitting course. A +really able energetic man might do much there, and, in five years, would +be Bishop of Levuka. + +'This is all of Melanesia and myself; but you will like to have this +scrawl read to you. + +'How I think of you as I cruise about the old familiar places, and think +that you would like to have another trip, and see the old scenes with +here and there, thank God, some little changes for the better. Best +love, my dear dear Bishop, to Mrs. Selwyn, William and John. + +'Your very affectionate + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +About forty, old scholars and new, had been collected and brought back +to Mota; where, after landing the Bishop, Captain Jacobs sailed back +to Norfolk Island, carrying with him the last letters that were to be +received and read as from a living man. All that follow only came in +after the telegram which announced that the hand that had written them +was resting beneath the Pacific waters. But this was not until it had +been granted to him to gather in his harvest in Mota, as will be seen:-- + + +'Mota: July 31, 1871. + +'My dearest Sisters,--You will be glad to know that on my return hither +after three weeks' absence, I found no diminution of strong earnest +feeling among the people. George Sarawia had, indeed, been unable to do +very much in the way of teaching 60 or 90 men and women, but he had done +his best, and the 100 younger people were going on with their schooling +regularly. I at once told the people that those who wished to be +baptized must let me know; and out of some 30 or 40 who are all, I +think, in earnest, 15, and some few women are to be baptized next +Sunday. These will be the first grown-up people, save John Wilgan, +baptized in Mota, except a few when in an almost dying state. They think +and speak much of the fact that so many of their children have been +baptized, they wish to belong to the same set. But I believe them all +to be fairly well instructed in the great elementary truths. They can't +read; all the teaching is oral, no objection in my eyes. It may be +dangerous to admit it, but I am convinced that all that we can do is to +elevate some few of the most intelligent islanders well, so that they +can teach others, and be content with careful oral teaching for the +rest. How few persons even among ourselves know how to use a book! And +these poor fellows, for I can only except a percentage of our scholars, +have not so completely mastered the mechanical difficulty of reading as +to leave their minds free for examination of the meaning and sense of +what they read. I don't undervalue a good education, as you know. But +I feel that but few of these islanders can ever be book-learned; and +I would sooner see them content to be taught plain truths by qualified +persons than puzzling themselves to no purpose by the doubtful use of +their little learning. You know that I don't want to act the Romish +Priest amongst them. I don't want to domineer at all. And I do teach +reading and writing to all who come into our regular school, and I make +them read passages to verify my teaching. At the same time, I feel that +the Protestant complaint of "shutting up the Bible from the laity," is +the complaint of educated persons, able to read, think, and reflect. + +'The main difficulty is, of course, to secure a supply of really +competent teachers. George, Edward, Henry, Robert, and some three or +four others are trustworthy. I comfort myself by thinking that a great +many of the mediaeval Clergy certainly did not know as much nor teach as +well. + +'Yesterday I baptized 41 more children and infants on again an +unpropitious day. I was obliged to leave 42 to be baptized at some +future time. The rain poured down. The people will bring them over +to-morrow. The whole number of infants and children will amount to 230 +or more, of adults to perhaps 25 or 30. You will pray earnestly for +them that they may lead the rest of their lives "according to this +beginning." + +'There is much talk, something more than talk, I think, about putting up +a large church-house here, on this side of the island (north-west side) +and of a school-house, for church also, on the south-east side. + +'We have all heavy coughs and colds; and I have had two or three very +disturbed nights, owing to the illness of one of the many babies. The +little thing howls all night. + +'All our means of housing people are exhausted. People flock here for +the sake of being taught. Four new houses have been built, three are +being built. We shall have a large Christian village here soon, I hope +and trust. At present every place is crammed, and 25 or 30 sleep on the +verandah. The little cooking house holds somehow or other about 24 boys; +they pack close, not being burdened with clothes and four-posters. I +sleep on a table, people under and around it. I am very well, barring +this heavy cold and almost total loss of voice for a few hours in the +morning and evening. + +'August 1st.--Very tired 7 A.M., Prayers 7.20-8.20, school 8.20-10; +baptized 55 infants and young children. Now it is past 1; a boisterous +day, though as yet no rain. I had a cup of cocoa at 6.30, and at 10.30 +a plate of rice and a couple of eggs, nice clean fare. The weather is +against me, so cold, wet, and so boisterous. I got a good night though, +for I sent Mrs. Rhoda and her squalling baby to another house, and so +slept quietly. + +'I am sorry that teaching is so irksome to me. I am, in a sense, at it +all day. But there is so much to be done, and the people, worthy souls, +have no idea that one can ever be tired. After I was laid down on my +table, with my air-pillow under my head and my plaid over me, I woke up +from a doze to find the worthy Tanoagnene sitting with his face towards +me, waiting for a talk about the rather comprehensive subject of +Baptism. + +'And at all odd times I ought to be teaching George and others how to +teach, the hardest work of all. I think what a life a real pedagogue +must have of it. There is so much variety with me, so much change and +holiday, and so much that has its special interest. + +'The "Southern Cross" has been gone a week. I hope they have not this +kind of weather. If they have, they are getting a good knocking about, +and they number about 55 on board. + +'August 6th.--To-day there is no rain, for the first time for weeks. It +blew a heavy gale all night, and had done so with heavy rain for some +days before. + +'At 8 A.M. to-day I baptized 14 grown men, one an old bald man, and +another with a son of sixteen or so, five women and six lads, taught +entirely in George's school. Afterwards, at a different service, 7 +infants and little children were baptized. 238 + 5 who have died have +now been baptized since the beginning of July. To-day's service was very +comforting. I pray and trust that these grown-up men and women may be +kept steadfast to their profession. It is a great blessing that I could +think it right to take this step. You will, I know, pray for them; their +position is necessarily a difficult one. + +'It is 2 P.M., and I feel tired: the crowds are gone, though little +fellows are as usual sitting all round one. I tell them I can't talk; +I must sit quietly, with Charlotte Yonge's "Pupils of St. John the +Divine." Dear me, what advantage young folks have nowadays, though +indeed the dangers of these times far outweigh those of our young days. + +'I suppose Lightfoot's "Commentaries" hardly come in your way. They are +critical and learned on the Greek of St. Paul's Epistles. But there are +dissertations which may be read by the English reader. He seems to me to +be a very valuable man, well fitted by his learning, and moderation, and +impartiality, and uncontroversial temper to do much good. His sympathies +with the modern school of thought are, I fancy, beyond me. + +'There is no doubt that Matthew Arnold says much that is true of the +narrowness, bigotry, and jealous un-Christian temper of Puritanism; and +I suppose no one doubts that they do misrepresent the true doctrine of +Christianity, both by their exclusive devotion to one side only of the +teaching of the Bible, and by their misconception of their own favourite +portions of Scripture. The doctrine of the Atonement was never in +ancient times, I believe, drawn out in the form in which Luther, Calvin, +Wesley, and others have lately stated it. + +'The fact of the Atonement through the Death of Christ was always +clearly stated; the manner, the "why," the "how" man's Redemption and +Reconciliation to God is thus brought about, was not taught, if at all, +after the Protestant fashion. + +'Oxenham's "History of the Catholic Doctrine of the Atonement" is a +fairly-written statement of what was formerly held and taught. Such +words as "substitution," "satisfaction," with all the ideas introduced +into the subject from the use of illustrations, e.g. of criminals +acquitted, debts discharged, have perplexed it perhaps, rather than +explained, what must be beyond explanation. + +'The ultra-Calvinistic view becomes in the mind and language of the +hot-headed ignorant fanatic a denial of God's Unity. "The merciful Son +appeasing the wrath of the angry Father" is language which implies two +Wills, two Counsels in the Divine Mind (compare with this John iii. 16). + +I suppose that an irreverent man, being partly disgusted with the +popular theology, having no scruples about putting aside Inspiration, +&c., and conceiving that he himself is an adequate representative of +the nineteenth century's intelligence, and that the nineteenth century's +intelligence is most profound and infallible, sets to work to demolish +what is distasteful to himself, and what the unerring criticism of the +day rejects, correcting St. Paul's mistakes, patronising him whenever he +is fortunate enough to receive the approbation of the great thinkers +of our day, and so constructs a vague "human" religion out of the +Christianity which he criticises, eliminating all that lies beyond +the speculative range of the mind, and that demands assent by its own +authority as God's Revelation. I don't know how to state briefly what I +mean. + +'I think I can understand that this temper of mind is very prevalent in +England now, and that I can partly trace the growth of it. Moreover, I +feel that to ignore, despise, or denounce it, will do no good. + +'As a matter of fact, thousands of educated men are thinking on these +great matters as our fathers did not think of them. Simplicity of +belief is a great gift; but then the teaching submitted to such simple +believers ought to be true, otherwise the simple belief leads them into +error. How much that common Protestant writers and preachers teach is +not true! Perhaps some of their teaching is untrue absolutely, but it is +certainly untrue relatively, because they do not hold the "proportion +of the faith," and by excluding some truths and presenting others in an +extravagant form they distort the whole body of truth. + +'But when a man not only points out some of the popular errors, +but claims to correct St. Paul when he Judaizes, and to do a little +judicious Hellenizing for an inspired Apostle, one may well distrust the +nineteenth century tone and spirit. + +'I do really and seriously think that a great and reverently-minded man, +conscious of the limits of human reason--a man like Butler--would find +his true and proper task now in presenting Christian teaching in an +unconventional form, stripped of much error that the terms which we all +employ when speaking doctrine seem unavoidably to carry with them. + +'Such a man might ask, "What do you mean by your theory of Substitution, +Satisfaction, &c.?" "Where do you find it?" "Prove it logically from the +Bible." "Show that the early Church held it." + +'Butler, as you know, reproved the curiosity of men who sought to find +out the manner of the Atonement. "I do not find," he says, "that it is +declared in the Scriptures." He believed the fact, of course, as his +very soul's treasure. "Our ignorance," he says, "is the proper answer to +such enquiries." + +'At the same time, no one now can do, it seems, what another +Butler might do, viz., deal with the Bible as the best of the +nineteenth-century men wish to hear a divine deal with it. He would +never make mere assertions. He would never state as a proved truth, to +be presented to a congregation's acceptance, a statement or a doctrine +which really equalled only an opinion of Wesley or any other human +teacher. He would never make arbitrary quotations from Scripture, and +try to prove points by illogical reasoning, and unduly pressing +texts which a more careful collation of MSS. has shown to be at least +doubtful. And by fairness and learning he would win or conciliate +right-minded men of the critical school. What offends these men is the +cool reckless way in which so many preachers make the most audacious +statements, wholly unsupported by any sound learning and logical +reasoning. A man makes a statement, quotes a text or two, which he +doesn't even know to be capable of at least one interpretation different +from that which he gives to it; and so the critical hearer is disgusted, +and no wonder. + +'One gain of this critical spirit is, that it makes all of us Clergy +more circumspect in what we say, and many a man looks at his Greek +Testament nowadays, and at a good Commentary too, before he ventures to +quote a text which formerly would have done duty in its English dress +and passed muster among an uncritical congregation. Nowadays every +clergyman knows that there are probably men in his congregation who +know their Bible better than he does, and as practical lawyers, men of +business, &c., are more than his match at an argument. It offends such +men to have a shallow-minded preacher taking for granted the very points +that he ought to prove, giving a sentence from some divine of his school +as if it settled the question without further reference even to the +Bible. + +'This critical spirit becomes very easily captious; and a man needn't be +unbelieving because he doesn't like to be credulous. Campbell's book +on the Atonement is very hard, chiefly because the man writes such +unintelligible English. I think Shairp in his "Essays," gives a good +critique as far as it goes on the philosophical and religious manner of +our day. + +'Alexander Knox says somewhere in his correspondence with Bishop Jebb +that he couldn't understand the Protestant theory of Justification. And +it does seem to be often stated as if the terms employed in describing a +mere transaction could adequately convey the true power and meaning of a +Divine mystery. + +'But I only puzzle you, I dare say, and certainly I am liable to the +charge of not writing intelligible English. I can tell you I am glad +enough that I am not called on to preach on these subjects after the +fashion that a preacher in England must go to work. + +'It is a cool thing to say, but I do believe that what half our +English congregations want is just the plain simple teaching that our +Melanesians get, only the English congregations wouldn't stand it.' + + +A letter to Arthur Coleridge is of the same date:-- + + +'Mota Island: August 6, 1871-- + +'My dear Arthur,--I have had a busy day, having baptized thirty-two +persons, of whom twenty-five are adults; and then the crowd, the +incessant talking, teaching, and the anxious feeling which attend any +step of so much importance as the Baptism from heathenism. Fourteen +of the men are married, two are elderly, several are middle-aged, +five women are among the number. I believe that God's spirit is indeed +working in the hearts of these people. Some twelve or thirteen years +have passed, and only now have I felt that I could take the step of +baptizing the infants and young children here, the parents promising +that they shall be sent to school as they grow up. About 200 young +children have during the past month been baptized: things seem hopeful. +It is very happy work; and I get on pretty well, often very tired, but +that doesn't matter. + +'I could wish all my good friends were here, that those who have been +enabled to contribute to this end might see for themselves something +of the long hoped for beginning of a new state of things in this little +island. + +'August 11.--In a little more than a month 248 persons have been +baptized here, twenty-five of them adults, the rest infants and young +children. I am very sorry to think that I must leave them soon, for I +expect the "Southern Cross" in a few days; and I must go to the Solomon +Islands, from them to Santa Cruz Island, and so to Norfolk Island, +calling here on the way. Then I am off to the Fiji Islands for, I +suppose, a month or six weeks. There are some 6,000 or 7,000 white +people there, and it is assumed by them and the Church people in this +part of the world that I must be regarded as their Bishop. Very soon a +separate Bishop ought to be at work there, and I shall probably have to +make some arrangement with the settlers. Then, on the other hand, I want +to look into the question of South Sea Islanders who are taken to the +Fiji plantations. + +'How far I can really examine into the matter, I hardly know. But many +of the settlers invite me to consider the matter with them. + +'I believe that for the most part the islanders receive good treatment +when on the plantations, but I know that many of them are taken away +from their islands by unfair means. + +'The settlers are only indirectly responsible for this. The traders and +sailing masters of the vessels who take away the islanders are the most +culpable. But the demand creates the supply. + +'Among all my multifarious occupations here, I have not much time for +reading; I am never alone night or day. I sleep on a table, with some +twelve or more fellows around me; and all day long people are about me, +in and out of school hours. But I have read, for the third time I think, +Lightfoot's "Galatians"--and I am looking forward to receiving his book +on the Ephesians. He doesn't lay himself out to do exactly the work +that Bishop Ellicott has done so excellently, and his dissertations are +perhaps the most valuable part of his work. He will gain the ear of the +men of this generation, rather than Ellicott; he sympathises more with +modern modes of thought, and is less rigid than Ellicott. But he seems +very firm on all the most essential and primary points, and I am indeed +thankful for such a man. I don't find much time for difficult reading; +I go on quietly, Hebrew, &c. I have many good books on both Old and New +Testaments, English and German, and some French, e.g. Keuss and Guizot. + +'I like to hear something of what this restless speculative scientific +generation is thinking and doing. But I can't read with much pleasure +the fragmentary review literature of the day. The "Cornhill" and that +class of books I can't stand, and sketchy writings. The best specimens +of light reading I have seen of late are Charlotte Yonge's "Pupils of +St. John the Divine," and Guizot's "St. Louis," excellent. + +'I did read, for it was put on board, Disraeli's novel. I was on my back +sea-sick for four days; what utter rubbish! clever nonsense! And I have +read Mr. Arnold's "St. Paul and Protestantism." He says some clever +things about the Puritan mind, no doubt. But what a painful book it is: +can't he see that he is reducing all that the spirit of a man must needs +rest on to the level of human criticism? simply eliminating from the +writings of the Apostles, and I suppose from the words of the Saviour, +all that is properly and strictly Divine.--[Then follows much that has +been before given.]--How [winding up thus] thankful I am that I am far +away from the noise and worry of this sceptical yet earnest age! + +'There is something hazy about your friend Davis's writings. I know some +of his publications, and sympathise to a very considerable extent with +him. But I can't be sure that I always understand him: that school has a +language of its own, and I am not so far initiated as to follow. + +'I can't understand Maurice, much as I respect him. It is simply wasting +my time and my brains to attempt to read him; he has great thoughts, +and he makes them intelligible to people less stupid than me, and many +writers whom I like and understand have taken their ideas from him; but +I cannot understand him. And I think many of his men have his faults. At +least I am so conceited as to think it is not all my fault. + +'Do you know two little books by Norris, Canon of Bristol, "Key to the +Gospel History," and a Manual on the Catechism? + +'They are well worth reading, indeed I should almost say studying, so as +to mould the teaching of your young ones upon them. + +'How you would be amused could you see the figures and scenes which +surround me here! To-day about 140 men, women, lads and girls are +working voluntarily here, clearing and fencing the gardens, and digging +the holes for the yams, and they do this to help us in the school; we +have two pigs killed, and give them a bit of a feast. The feeling is +very friendly. A sculptor might study them to great advantage, though +clothing is becoming common here now. Our thirty-four baptized adults +and our sixteen or twenty old scholars wear decent clothing, of course. + +'Well, I must leave off. + +'I think very often of you, your wife and children, and, indeed, of you +all. It would be very nice to spend a few weeks with you, but I should +not get on well in your climate. + +'The heat seems to suit me better, and I am pretty well here. Indeed I +am better than I have been for more than a year, though I have a good +deal of discomfort. + +'Good-bye, dear Arthur. How often I think of your dear dear Father. + +'Your affectionate Cousin, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +To the sisters, the journal continues--recording, on August 14, the +Baptism of twelve men and women the day before, the Communion of +sixteen at 7 A.M., the presence of fifty-six baptized persons at morning +service. More than 100 were working away the ensuing day in preparing +yam gardens for Kohimarama, while two pigs were stewing in native ovens +to feast them afterwards; and the Bishop was planting cocoa-nut trees +and sowing flower seeds, or trying experiments with a machine for +condensing water, in his moments of relaxation, which were few, though +he was fairly well, and very happy, as no one can doubt on reading +this:-- + +'Lots of jolly little children, and many of them know me quite well and +are not a bit shy. They are often very sad-looking objects, and as they +don't get regularly washed, they often have large sores and abscesses, +poor little things. But there are many others--clean-skinned, reddish +brown, black-eyed, merry little souls among them. The colour of the +people is just what Titian and the Venetian painters delighted in, the +colour of their own weather-beaten Venetian boatmen, glowing warm rich +colour. White folks look as if they were bleached and had all the colour +washed out of them. + +'Some of the Solomon Islanders are black, and some of the New Hebrides +people glossy and smooth and strong-looking; but here you seldom see any +very dark people, and there are some who have the yellow, almost olive +complexion of the South European. Many of the women are tattooed from +head to foot, a regular network of a bluish inlaid pattern. It is not +so common with the men, rather I ought to say very unusual with them, +though many have their bodies marked pretty freely.' + +On the 17th sixteen more adults were baptized, elderly men, whose sons +had been baptized in New Zealand coming in, and enemies resigning deadly +feuds. + +The work in Mota is best summed up in this last letter to Bishop +Abraham, begun the day after what proved the final farewell to the flock +there, for the 'Southern Cross' came in on the 19th, and the last voyage +was at once commenced:-- + + +"'Southern Cross": Sunday, August 20, 1871. + +'My dear dear Friends,--Yesterday the "Southern Cross" came to me at +Mota, twenty-seven days after leaving that island for Norfolk Island +with some fifty Melanesians on board under charge of Bice. + +'Into what a new world your many kind affectionate letters take me! +And how good it must be for me to be taught to think more than I, alas! +usually do, about the trials and sorrows of others. + +'I have had such a seven weeks at Mota, broken by a three weeks' course +in the New Hebrides, into two portions of three and four weeks. + +'Last year we said in our Report, that the time seemed to be come when +we should seek to move the people in Mota to do more than assent to the +truth of our words and the blessings promised in the Gospel, when +we should urge them to appropriate to themselves those blessings, by +abandoning their ignorant heathen ways, and embracing Christianity. + +'That time has come in the good Providence of God, in answer to His +all-prevailing Intercession, and hastened (who can doubt it?) by the +prayers of the faithful everywhere--your Whit-Sunday thoughts and +prayers, your daily thoughts and prayers, all contributing to bring +about a blessed change indeed in the little island. + +'In these two months I have baptized 289 persons in Mota, 231 children +and infants, seventeen of the lads and boys at Kohimarama, George +Sarawia's school, and forty-one grown and almost all married men and +women. + +'I have tried to proceed cautiously and to act only when I had every +human probability of a personal conviction and sincere desire to embrace +Christian teaching and to lead a Christian life. I think the adult +candidates were all competently instructed in the great truths. + +'I feel satisfied of their earnestness, and I think it looks like a +stable, permanent work. Yet I need not tell you how my old text is ever +in my mind, "Thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged." Now more than +ever are your prayers needed for dear old George Sarawia and his infant +Church. + +'I never had such an experience before. It is something quite new to me. +Classes regularly, morning and evening, and all day parties coming to +talk and ask questions, some bringing a wife or child, some a brother, +some a friend. We were 150 sleeping on the Mission premises, houses +being put up all round by people coming from a distance. + +'Scarce a moment's rest, but the work so interesting and absorbing, that +I could scarcely feel weariness. The weather for six out of the seven +weeks was very rainy and bad generally; but I am and was well, very +well--not very strong, yet walking to Gatava and back, five or six +miles, on slippery and wet paths, and schooling and talking all day. + +'The actual services were somewhat striking. The behaviour of the people +reverent and quiet during the infants' and children's baptisms; and +remarkably so during the baptisms of adults. + +'You can understand the drift of my teaching: trying to keep to the +great main truths, so as not to perplex their minds with a multiplicity +of new thoughts. + +'I think that I shall have to stay a few days at Mota on my return +(D.V.) from Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands, as there are still many +Catechumens. + +'I am half disposed to ordain George Priest on my return (D.V.) Yet on +the whole I think it may be better to wait till another year. But I am +balancing considerations. Should any delay occur from my incapacity to +go to Mota, which I don't at all anticipate, it would be a serious thing +to leave such a work in the hands of a Deacon, e.g. ten communicants are +permanent dwellers now in Mota; and I really believe that George, though +not learned, is in all essentials quite a fit person to be ordained +Priest. This growth of the work, owing, no doubt, much to him, is a +proof of God's blessing on him. + +'I pray God that this may be a little gleam of light to cheer you, dear +friends, on your far more toilsome and darksome path. It is a little +indeed in one sense; yet to me, who know the insufficiency of the +human agency, it is a proof indeed that the Gospel is dunamis Theou eis +soterian. + +'I can hardly realize it all yet. It is good to be called away from it +for a month or two. I often wished that Codrington, Palmer, and the rest +could be with me: it seemed selfish to be witnessing by myself all this +great happiness--that almost visible victory over powers of darkness. + +'There is little excitement, no impulsive vehement outpouring of +feeling. People come and say, "I do see the evil of the old life; I +do believe in what you teach us. I feel in my heart new desires, new +wishes, new hopes. The old life has become hateful to me; the new life +is full of joy. But it is so mawa (weighty), I am afraid. What if after +making these promises I go back?" + +"What do you doubt--God's power and love, or your own weakness?" + +'"I don't doubt His power and love; but I am afraid." + +'"Afraid of what?" '"Of falling away." + +'"Doesn't He promise His help to those who need it?" + +'"Yes, I know that." '"Do you pray?" + +'"I don't know how to pray properly, but I and my wife say--God, make +our hearts light. Take away the darkness. We believe that you love us +because you sent JESUS to become a Man and die for us, but we can't +understand it all. Make us fit to be baptized." + +'"If you really long to lead a new life, and pray to God to strengthen +you, come in faith, without doubting." + +'Evening by evening my school with the baptized men and women is the +saying by heart (at first sentence by sentence after me, now they know +them well) the General Confession, which they are taught to use in the +singular number, as a private prayer, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the +ten Commandments (a short version). They are learning the Te Deum. They +use a short prayer for grace to keep their baptismal vows. + +'I think that they know fairly well the simpler meaning of these various +compendiums of Prayer, Faith and Duty. But why enter into details? You +know all about it. And, indeed, you have all had your large share, so to +say, in bringing about this happy change. + +'And then I turn from all this little secluded work to the thoughts of +England and France, the Church at home, &c.... + +'I have now read the "Guardian's" account of the civil war in France. +There is nothing like it to be read of, except in the Old Testament +perhaps. It is like the taking of Jerusalem. + +'It is an awful thing! most awful! I never read anything like it. Will +they ever learn to be humble? I don't suppose that even now they admit +their sins to have brought this chastening on them. It is hard to say +this without indulging a Pharisaic spirit, but I don't mean to palliate +our national sins by exaggerating theirs. Yet I hardly think any mob but +a French or Irish mob could have done what these men did. + +'And what will be the result? Will it check the tendency to +Republicanism? Will Governments unite to put down the many-headed +monster? Will they take a lesson from the fate of Paris and France? Of +course Republicanism is not the same thing as Communism. But where are +we to look for the good effects of Republicanism? + +'August 22nd.--The seventh anniversary of dear Fisher's death. May God +grant us this year a blessing at Santa Cruz! + +'Your affectionate + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +The last letter to the beloved sister Fanny opened with the date of her +never-forgotten birthday, the 27th of August, though it was carried +on during the following weeks; and in the meantime Mr. Atkin, Stephen, +Joseph and the rest were called for from Wango, in Bauro, where they had +had a fairly peaceable stay, in spite of a visit from a labour traffic +vessel, called the 'Emma Bell,' with twenty-nine natives under hatches, +and, alas! on her way for more. After picking the Bauro party up, the +Bishop wrote to the elder Mr. Atkin:-- + + +'Wango Bay (at anchor): August 25, 1871. + +'My dear Mr. Atkin,--You may imagine my joy at finding Joe looking +really well when we reached this part of the world on the 23rd. I +thought him looking unwell when he spent an hour or two with me at Mota, +about ten weeks since, and I begged him to be careful, to use quinine +freely, &c. He is certainly looking now far better than he was then, and +he says that he feels quite well and strong. There is the more reason to +be thankful for this, because the weather has been very rough, and +rain has been falling continually. I had the same weather in the Banks +Islands; scarcely a day for weeks without heavy rain. Here the sandy +soil soon becomes dry again, it does not retain the moisture, and so far +it has the advantage over the very tenacious clayey soil of Mota. + +'Nearly all the time of the people here has been spent--wasted, perhaps, +we should say--in making preparations for a great feast: so that Joe +found it very hard to gain the attention of the people, when he tried +to point out to them better things to think of than pigs, native money, +tobacco and pipes. Such advance as has been made is rather in the +direction of gaining the confidence and good-will of the people all +about, and in becoming very popular among all the young folks. Nearly +all the young people would come away with him, if the elders would allow +them to do so. I have no doubt that much more has been really effected +than is apparent to us now. Words have been said that have not been +lost, and seed sown that will spring up some day. Just as at Mota, now, +after some twelve or thirteen years, we first see the result in the +movement now going on there, so it will be, by God's goodness, some day +here. There at Mota the good example of George Sarawia, the collective +result of the teaching of many years, and the steady conduct, with one +exception, of the returned scholars, have now been blessed by God to +the conversion of many of the people. We no longer hesitate to baptize +infants and young children, for the parents engage to send them to +school when they grow up, and are themselves receiving instruction in a +really earnest spirit. + +'Many, too, of those who have for some time abandoned the old ways, but +yet did not distinctly accept the new teaching, have now felt the "power +of the Gospel;" and though many candidates are still under probation, +and I sought to act with caution, and to do all that lay in my power +to make them perceive the exceeding solemnity of being baptized, the +weighty promises, the great responsibility, yet I thought it right to +baptize not less than forty-one grown men and women, besides seventeen +lads of George's school, about whom there could be no hesitation. It +has, indeed, been a very remarkable season there. I spent seven weeks +broken by a New Hebrides trip of three weeks' duration into two periods +of three and four weeks. Bice was with me for the first three weeks; +and with a good many of our scholars turned into teachers here, we three +(Bice, George, and I) kept up very vigorous school: a continual talking, +questioning, &c., about religion, were always going on day and night. +Many young children and infants were baptized, about 240 in all + 41 + +17. + +'You will, I am sure, pray more than ever for George and all these +converts to Christianity, that they may be strengthened and guarded +against all evil, and live lives worthy of their profession. We hope to +spend two or three days there on our return (D.V.); and if so, Joe will +write you his impressions. Meanwhile, I tell him what I fully believe, +that no one hearty effort of his to benefit these poor people is thrown +away. Already they allow us to take boys, and perhaps this very day we +may go off with two young girls also. And all this will result in some +great change for the better some day. + +'You will want to hear a word about myself. I am much better, partly I +confess owing to the warmth of the climate, which certainly agrees with +me. I may feel less well as we draw by-and-by to the south once more. + +'I can't take strong exercise, and that is a privation. It did me good, +and I feel the want of it; but I am much better than I was a year or ten +months ago, and I do my work very fairly, and get about better than I +expected. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Atkin and Mary, and believe me to +be + +'Your very sincere Friend, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +Mr. Brooke and Edward Wogale had had a far more trying sojourn at +Florida. + +'Wogale suffered much from his eyes; and the labour ships were +frequently on the coast--all the three varieties: the fairly conducted +one with a Government agent on board; the "Snatch-snatch," which only +inveigled, but did not kill without necessity; and the "Kill-kill," +which absolutely came head-hunting. It was a dreary eleven weeks. + +'On July 11, a "Sydney vessel," as the natives called it, was on the +west of the island, and nine natives were reported to Mr Brooke as +having been killed, and with so much evidence that he had no doubt on +the subject. + +'On the 13th Takua came to him to say the "Kill-kill" vessel had +anchored four miles off. What was he to do? + +'"How was it you and Bisope came first, and then these slaughterers? Do +you send them?" + +'Mr. Brooke advised them to remain on shore; but if the strangers landed +and wanted to kill or burn them, to fight for their lives. "Your words +are the words of a chief," said Takua. + +'This ship, however, sailed away; but on August 13 another came, much +like the "Southern Cross," and canoes went out to her, in one of them +Dudley Lankona. These returned safely, but without selling their fruit; +and Dudley related that the men said, "Bishop and Brooke were bad, but +they themselves were good, and had pipes and tobacco for those who would +go with them." + +'These, however, went away without doing them harm, only warning them +that another vessel which was becalmed near at hand was a "killer," and +the people were so uneasy about her that Mr. Brooke went on board, +and was taken by the captain for a maker of cocoa-nut oil. He was +a Scotchman, from Tanna, where he had settled, and was in search of +labourers; a good-natured friendly kind of person on the whole, though +regarding natives as creatures for capture. + +'"If I get a chance to carry a lot of them off," he said, "I'll do it; +but killing is not my creed." + +'Mr. Brooke hinted that the natives might attack him, and he pointed to +six muskets. "That's only a few of them. Let them come. We'll give it +them pretty strong." + +'He was rather taken aback when he found that he was talking to a +clergyman. "Well, wherever you go nowadays there's missionaries. Who +would have thought you'd got so far down?" + +'And he looked with regret at Mr. Brooke's party of natives in their +canoes, and observed, "Ah! my fine fellows, if your friend was not here +I'd have the whole lot of you: what a haul!" + +'He said the other ship was from Queensland, and had a Government agent +on board, of whom he spoke with evident awe. + +'On Mr. Brooke's return, Takua and Dikea were furbishing up old guns +which some incautious person on board the "Curacoa" had given them, +and they were disappointed to find that there could be no attack on the +vessel.' + +She, however, was scarcely gone before, at the other end of the island, +Vara, four out of five men were killed by a boat's crew. The survivor, +Sorova, told Mr. Brooke that he and one companion had gone out in one +canoe, and three more in another, to a vessel that lay near the shore. +He saw four blacks in her, as he thought Ysabel men. A white man came +down from the boat, and sat in the bow of Sorova's canoe, but presently +stood up and capsized both canoes, catching at Sorova's belt, which +broke, and the poor fellow was thus enabled to get away, and shelter +himself under the stern of the canoe, till he could strike out for land; +but he saw a boat come round from the other side of the ship, with four +men--whether whites or light-coloured islanders was not clear--but they +proceeded to beat his companions with oars, then to fall on them with +tomahawks, and finally cut off their heads, which were taken on board, +and their bodies thrown to the sharks. + +These men evidently belonged to that lowest and most horrible class +of men-stealers, who propitiate the chiefs by assisting them in +head-hunting. + +Of course the island was full of rage, and on the 26th again another +brig was in sight. Spite of warning, desire to trade induced five men to +put off in a canoe. Two boats came down, and placed themselves on either +side. Mr. Brooke could not watch, but a fierce shout arose from the +crowd on shore, they rushed to the great canoe house, and a war fleet +was launched, Dikea standing up in the foremost, with a long ebony spear +in his hand. Fortunately they were too late: the boats were hauled up, +and the brig went off at full sail. Whether the five were killed or +carried captive is not clear. + +The whole place was full of wailing. Revenge was all the cry. 'Let not +their pigs be killed,' said Takua; 'we will give them to Bisope, he +shall avenge us.' His brother Dikea broke out: 'My humour is bad because +Bisope does not take us about in his vessel to kill-kill these people!' + +When, two days later, the 'Southern Cross' was unmistakeably in sight, +Takua said, 'Let Bisope only bring a man-of-war, and get me vengeance +on my adversaries, and I shall be exalted like--like--like our Father +above!' + +The residence of Mr. Brooke in the island, and the testimony of their +own countrymen to the way of life in Norfolk Island, had taught the +Floridians to separate the Bishop from their foes; but it could scarcely +be thus in places where confidence in him had not been established. + +The Bishop meanwhile wrote on:-- + +'The New Zealand Bishops have sent me a kind letter, a round robin, +urging me to go to England; but they are ignorant of two things:-- 1st, +that I am already much better; 2nd, that I should not derive the benefit +generally to my spirits, &c. from a visit to England as they would, and +take it for granted that I should do so. + +'They use only one other argument, viz., that I must rest after some +years' work. That is not so. I don't feel the pressure of work for a +very simple reason, viz., that I don't attempt to work as I used to do. + +'But just now, it is quite clear that I must not go, unless there were a +very obvious necessity for it. For, 1st, Mota needs all the help we can +give; 2nd, several Melanesians are coming on rapidly to the state +when they ought to be ordained; 3rd, we are about to start (D.V.) new +stations at Ambrym, Leper's Island, and Savo; 4th, the school is so +large that we want "all hands" to work it; 5th, I must go to Fiji, and +watch both Fiji and Queensland; 6th, after the 1872 voyage, we shall +need, as I think, to sell this vessel, and have another new one built +in Auckland. The funds will need careful nursing for this. But I will +really not be foolish. If I have a return of the bad symptoms, I will go +to Dr. Goldsboro', and if he advises it strongly, will go to England. + +'The deportation of natives is going on to a very great extent here, as +in the New Hebrides and Banks Islands. Means of all kinds are employed: +sinking canoes and capturing the natives, enticing men on board, and +getting them below, and then securing hatches and imprisoning them. +Natives are retaliating. Lately, two or three vessels have been taken +and all hands killed, besides boats' crews shot at continually. A man +called on me at Mota the other day, who said that five out of seven in +the boat were struck by arrows a few days before. The arrows were +not poisoned, but one man was very ill. It makes even our work rather +hazardous, except where we are thoroughly well known. I hear that a +vessel has gone to Santa Cruz, and I must be very cautious there, for +there has been some disturbance almost to a certainty. + +'Whatever regulations the Government of Queensland or the Consul of Fiji +may make, they can't restrain the traders from employing unlawful +means to get hold of the natives. And I know that many of these men +are utterly unscrupulous. But I can't get proofs that are sufficient to +obtain a verdict in a court of law. + +'Some islands are almost depopulated; and I dread the return of these +"labourers," when they are brought back. They bring guns and other +things, which enable them to carry out with impunity all kinds of +rascality. They learn nothing that can influence them for good. They are +like squatters in the bush, coming into the town to have their fling. +These poor fellows come back to run riot, steal men's wives, shoot, +fight, and use their newly acquired possessions to carry out more +vigorously all heathen practices. + +'September 3rd.--At anchor: Savo Island: Sunday. The experiment of +anchoring at Sara (Florida) and this place answers well. The decks +were crowded and crammed; but the people behaved very well, barring the +picking up of everything they could lay hands upon, as is natural to +many persons whose education has been neglected. + +'Yesterday I took Wadrokala (of Nengone) to the village here, where he +is to live with some of our old scholars from these parts, and try to +begin a good work among the people. He has four baptized friends, a +married couple being two, and three other very good lads, to start with. +It was a long and very hot walk. A year ago I could not have got through +it. I was tired, but not over-tired. + +'And now we have had Holy Communion; and this afternoon we take our +party on shore: Wadrokala's wife Carry, and Jemima, their daughter of +eight or nine. There is no fighting or quarrelling here now. I know all +the people, so I leave them with good hope.' + + +On the 7th, Joseph Atkin began a letter as follows:-- + + +'Our Bishop is much improved in health and strength. His stay at Mota +has put new life into him again; the whole island is becoming Christian. + +'The Bishop is now very strong and clear about establishing permanent +schools on the islands; I fear in almost too great a hurry. The great +requisite for a school is a native teacher; and generally, if not +always, a teacher ought, as George was at Mota, to be well supported by +a little band of native converts, who, if their teaching, in the common +use of the word, is not much, can, by their consistent lives, preach a +continual sermon, that all who see may understand. What is the use of +preaching an eloquent sermon on truth to a people who do not know what +it means, or purity of which they have never dreamt? Their ears take +in the words, they sound very pleasant, and they go away again to their +sin; and the preacher is surprised that they can do so. I do not forget +the power of the Spirit to change men's hearts, but do not expect the +Holy Spirit to work with you as He never worked with anyone else, but +rather as He always has worked with others.... If in looking into the +history of Missions, you find no heathen people has been even nominally +and professionally Christianised within, say, ten or fifteen years, why +not be content to set to work to try that the conversion of those to +whom you are sent may be as thorough and real as possible in that time, +and not to fret at being unable to hurry the work some years?'.... + + +This letter too was destined never to be finished, though it was +continued later, as will be seen. + + +The Bishop's next letter is dated-- + +'September 16th.--Off the Santa Cruz group, some twenty miles distant. +To-morrow, being Sunday, we stay quietly some way off the islands; +and on Monday (D.V.) we go to Nukapu, and perhaps to Piteni too, wind +permitting. You can enter into my thoughts, how I pray God that if it be +His will, and if it be the appointed time, He may enable us in His +own way to begin some little work among these very wild but vigorous +energetic islanders. I am fully alive to the probability that some +outrage has been committed here by one or more vessels. The master of +the vessel that Atkin saw did not deny his intention of taking away from +these or from any other islands any men or boys he could induce to come +on board. I am quite aware that we may be exposed to considerable risk +on this account. I trust that all may be well; that if it be His will +that any trouble should come upon us, dear Joseph Atkin, his father and +mother's only son, may be spared. But I don't think there is very much +cause for fear; first, because at these small reef islands they know me +pretty well, though they don't understand as yet our object in coming +to them, and they may very easily connect us white people with the other +white people who have been ill-using them; second, last year I was on +shore at Nukapu and Piteni for some time, and I can talk somewhat with +the people; third, I think that if any violence has been used to the +natives of the north face of the large island, Santa Cruz, I shall hear +of it from these inhabitants of the small islets to the north, Nukapu, +and Piteni, and so be forewarned. + +'If any violence has been used, it will make it impossible for us to go +thither now. It would simply be provoking retaliation. One must say, +as Newman of the New Dogma, that the progress of truth and religion +is delayed, no one can say how long. It is very sad. But the Evil One +everywhere and always stirs up opposition and hindrance to every attempt +to do good. And we are not so sorely tried in this way as many others.' + +Contrary winds--or rather a calm, with such light wind as there was, +contrary--kept the vessel from approaching the island for four days +more, while the volcano made every night brilliant, and the untiring pen +ran on with affectionate responses to all that the last home packet had +contained, and then proceeded to public interests:-- + +'Then the great matters you write about--the great social and religious +crisis in England now. Moreover, who can estimate the effect of this +German and French war upon the social state of Europe? Possibly a +temporary violent suppression in North Germany of Republican principles, +a reaction, an attempt to use the neutrality of England as a focus for +political agitation. And then the extravagant luxury side by side with +degrading poverty! It is a sad picture; and you who have to contemplate +it have many trials and troubles that are in one sense far away from me. + +'September 19th.--Here we are becalmed; for three days we have scarcely +made ten miles in the direction we want to go. It is not prudent to go +near the large island, unless we have a good breeze, and can get away +from the fleets of canoes if we see reason for so doing. We may have one +hundred and fifty canoes around us, and perhaps sixty or eighty strong +men on deck, as we had last year; and this year we have good reason +for fearing that labour vessels have been here. Many of the people here +would distinguish between us and them; but it is quite uncertain, for +we can't talk to the people of the large island, and can't therefore +explain our object in so doing. 'Yesterday, being becalmed, a large +canoe, passing (for there was occasionally a light air from the north) +from Nupani to Santa Cruz, came near us. It could not get away, and the +"Southern Cross" could not get near it. So we went to it in the boat. I +can talk to these Nupani people, and we had a pleasant visit. They knew +my name directly, and were quite at ease the moment they were satisfied +it was the Bishop. They will advertise us, I dare say, and say a good +word for us, and we gave them presents, &c. + +'I shall be thankful if this visit ends favourably, and oh! how thankful +if we obtain any lads. It seems so sad to leave this fine people year +after year in ignorance and darkness, but He knows and cares for them +more than we do. 'The sun is nearly vertical; thermometer 91 deg., and 88 deg. +at night; I am lazy, but not otherwise affected by it, and spend my day +having some, about an hour's, school, and in writing and reading. + +'I think that the Education question has been more satisfactorily +settled than I dared to hope a year ago. A religious, as opposed to +an irreligious education has been advisedly chosen by the country, and +denominationalism (what a word!) as against secularism. Well, that's +not much from a Christian country; but it isn't the choice of an +anti-Christian, or even of a country indifferent to Christianity. + +'Mrs. Abraham and Pena have sent me Shairp's little book on "Religion +and Culture." It is capital; and if you knew the man you would not +wonder at his writing such sensible, thoughtful books. He is one of the +most "loveable" beings I ever knew. His good wholesome teaching is about +the best antidote I have seen to much of the poison circulating about in +magazines and alluring ignorant, unsound people with the specious name +of philosophy. And he is always fair, and credits his opponents with all +that can possibly be imagined to extenuate the injury they are doing by +their false and faithless teaching.' + + +Here the letter suddenly ceases. No doubt this last sentence had given +the last impulse towards addressing the old Balliol friend above named, +now Principal of St. Andrew's, in the following:-- + + +'"Southern Cross" Mission Schooner, + +'In the Santa Cruz Group, S.W. Pacific: September 19. + +'My dear Principal,--You won't remember my name, and it is not likely +that you can know anything about me, but I must write you a line and +thank you for writing your two books (for I have but two) on "Studies on +Poetry and Philosophy," and "Religion and Culture." + +'The "Moral Dynamic" and the latter book are indeed the very books +I have longed to see; books that one can put with confidence and +satisfaction into the hands of men, young and old, in these stirring and +dangerous times. + +'Then it did me good to be recalled to old scenes and to dream of old +faces. + +'I was almost a freshman when you came up to keep your M.A. term; and as +I knew some of the men you knew, you kindly, as I well remember, gave +me the benefit of it. As John Coleridge's cousin and the acquaintance +of John Keate, Cumin, Palmer, and dear James Eiddell, I came to know men +whom otherwise I could not have known, and of these how many there still +are that I have thought of and cared for ever since! + +'You must have thought of Riddell, dear James Riddell, when you wrote +the words in p. 76 of your book on "Religion and Culture": "We have +known such." Yes, there was indeed about him a beauty of character that +is very very rare. Sellar is in the north somewhere, I think I have seen +Essays by him on Lucretius. + +'I think that he is Professor at some University. I am ashamed to know +so little about him. Should you see him, pray remember me most kindly +to him. As year after year passes on, it is very pleasant to think there +are men on the other side of the world that I can with a certainty count +upon as friends. + +'I find it difficult to read much of what is worth reading nowadays, and +I have little taste for magazines, &c., I confess. + +'But I know enough of what is working in men's minds in Europe to be +heartily thankful for such thoughtful wholesome teaching as yours. + +'Indeed, you are doing a good work, and I pray God it may be abundantly +blessed. + +'I remain, my dear Friend, + +'Very sincerely yours, + +'J. C. PATTESON.' + + +This is the last letter apparently finished and signed! + +To the Bishop of Lichfield the long journal-letter says:-- + + +'Tenakulu (the volcano) was fine last night, but not so fine as on that +night we saw it together. But it was very solemn to look at it, and +think how puny all man's works are in comparison with this little +volcano. What is all the bombardment of Paris to those masses of fire +and hundreds of tons of rock cast out into the sea? "If He do but touch +the hills, they shall smoke." + +'And now what will the next few days bring forth? It may be God's will +that the opening for the Gospel may be given to us now. Sometimes I feel +as if I were almost too importunate in my longings for some beginning +here; and I try not to be impatient, and to wait His good time, knowing +that it will come when it is the fulness of time. Then, again, I am +tempted to think, "If not soon, if not now, the trading vessels will +make it almost impossible, as men think, to obtain any opening here." +But I am on the whole hopeful, though sometimes faint-hearted. + +'To day's First Lesson has a good verse: Haggai, ii. 4;l and there is +Psalm xci. also.' + +Then follows a good deal about further plans, and need of men; ending +with the decision that the present 'Southern Cross' ought to be sold, +and that a new one could be built at Auckland for L2,000, which the +Bishop thought he could obtain in New Zealand and Australia. + +'Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O +Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people +of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord +of hosts.' + +A much smaller additional vessel would be useful; and he merrily says:-- + +'You don't know an amiable millionaire, with a nice quick yacht from 70 +to 120 tons, to be given away, and sent out to Auckland free of expense, +I suppose. + +'We must give up all idea of our Chapel for a time, but we can do +without it. And a vessel is necessary.' + +The last of this letter is on Delitzsch and Biblical criticism, but too +much mixed up with other persons' private affairs for quotation. + +Reading Hebrew with Mr. Atkin, or studying Isaiah alone, had been the +special recreation throughout the voyage. + +His scholar Edward Wogale has given a touch of that last morning of the +20th:-- + +'And as we were going to that island where he died, but were still in +the open sea, he schooled us continually upon Luke ii. iii. up to +vi., but he left off with us with his death. And he preached to us +continually at Prayers in the morning, every day, and every evening on +the Acts of the Apostles, and he spoke as far as to the seventh chapter, +and then we reached that island. And he had spoken admirably and very +strongly indeed to us, about the death of Stephen, and then he went up +ashore on that island Nukapu.' + +That island Nukapu lay with the blue waves breaking over the circling +reef, the white line of coral sand, the trees coming down to it; and +in the glowing sun of September 20, the equatorial midsummer eve, four +canoes were seen hovering about the reef, as the 'Southern Cross' tried +to make for the islet. + +Mr. Brooke says that this lingering had seemed to intensify the Bishop's +prayer and anxiety for these poor people; and, thinking that the unusual +movements of the vessel puzzled the people in the canoes, and that they +might be afraid to approach, he desired that at 11.30 A.M. the boat +should be lowered, and entered it with Mr. Atkin, Stephen Taroniara, +James Minipa, and John Nonono. He sat in the stern sheets, and called +back to Mr. Brooke: 'Tell the captain I may have to go ashore.' Then he +waited to collect more things as presents to take on shore, and pulled +towards the canoes; But they did not come to meet the boat, and seemed +undecided whether to pull away or not. The people recognized the Bishop; +and when he offered to go on shore they assented, and the boat went on +to a part of the reef about two miles from the island, and there met two +more canoes, making six in all. The natives were very anxious that they +should haul the boat up on the reef, the tide being too low for her to +cross it, but, when this was not consented to, two men proposed to take +the Bishop into their boat. + +It will be remembered that he had always found the entering one of their +canoes a sure way of disarming suspicion, and he at once complied. Mr. +Atkin afterwards said he thought he caught the word 'Tabu,' as if in +warning, and saw a basket with yams and other fruits presented; and +those acquainted with the customs of the Polynesians--the race to +which these islanders belonged--say that this is sometimes done that +an intended victim may unconsciously touch something tabu, and thus may +become a lawful subject for a blow, and someone may have tried to warn +him. + +There was a delay of about twenty minutes; and then two canoes went with +the one containing the Bishop, the two chiefs, Moto and Taula, who had +before been so friendly to him, being in them. The tide was so low that +it was necessary to wade over the reef, and drag the canoes across to +the deeper lagoon within. The boat's crew could not follow; but they +could see the Bishop land on the beach, and there lost sight of him. + +The boat had been about half-an-hour drifting about in company with the +canoes, and there had been some attempt at talk, when suddenly, at about +ten yards off, without any warning, a man stood up in one of them, +and calling out, 'Have you anything like this?' shot off one of the +yard-long arrows, and his companions in the other two canoes began +shooting as quickly as possible, calling out, as they aimed, 'This for +New Zealand man! This for Bauro man! This for Mota man!' The boat was +pulled back rapidly, and was soon out of range, but not before three out +of the four had been struck; James only escaped by throwing himself back +on the seat, while an arrow had nailed John's cap to his head, Mr. Atkin +had one in his left shoulder, and poor Stephen lay in the bottom of +the boat, 'trussed,' as Mr. Brooke described it, with six arrows in the +chest and shoulders. + +It was about two hours since they had left the ship when they reached +it again: and Mr. Atkin said, 'We are all hurt? as they were helped +on board; but no sooner had the arrow-head, formed of human bone, and +acutely sharp, been extracted, than he insisted on going back to find +his Bishop. He alone knew the way by which the reef could be crossed in +the now rising tide, so that his presence was necessary. Meantime Mr. +Brooke extracted as best he might the arrows from poor Stephen. + +'We two Bisope,' said the poor fellow, meaning that he shared the same +fate as the Bishop. + +As Joseph Wate, a lad of fifteen, Mr. Atkin's Malanta godson and pupil, +wrote afterwards, 'Joe said to me and Sapi, "We are going to look for +the Bishop, are you two afraid?" + +'"No, why should I be afraid?" + +'"Very well, you two go and get food for yourselves, and bring a beaker +full of water for us all, for we shall have to lie on our oars a long +time to-day."' + +The others who pulled the boat were Charles Sapinamba, a sailor, and +Mr. Bongarde, the mate, who carried a pistol, for the first time in the +records of the 'Southern Cross.' + +They had long to wait till the tide was high enough to carry them +across the reef, and they could see people on shore, at whom they gazed +anxiously with a glass. + +About half-past four it became possible to cross the reef, and then two +canoes rowed towards them: one cast off the other and went back; the +other, with a heap in the middle, drifted towards them, and they rowed +towards it. + +'But' (says Wate), 'when we came near we two were afraid, and I said to +Joe, "If there is a man inside to attack us, when he rises up, we shall +see him."' + +Then the mate took up his pistol, but the sailor said, 'Those are the +Bishop's shoes.' + +As they came up with it, and lifted the bundle wrapped in matting into +the boat, a shout or yell arose from the shore. Wate says four canoes +put off in pursuit; but the others think their only object was to secure +the now empty canoe as it drifted away. The boat came alongside, and +two words passed, 'The body!' Then it was lifted up, and laid across the +skylight, rolled in the native mat, which was secured at the head and +feet. The placid smile was still on the face; there was a palm leaf +fastened over the breast, and when the mat was opened there were five +wounds, no more. + +The strange mysterious beauty, as it may be called, of these +circumstances almost makes one feel as if this were the legend of a +martyr of the Primitive Church; but the fact is literally true, and can +be interpreted, though probably no account will ever be obtained from +the actors in the scene. + +The wounds were, one evidently given with a club, which had shattered +the right side of the skull at the back, and probably was the first, and +had destroyed life instantly, and almost painlessly; another stroke +of some sharp weapon had cloven the top of the head; the body was also +pierced in one place; and there were two arrow wounds in the legs, but +apparently not shot at the living man, but stuck in after his fall, and +after he had been stripped, for the clothing was gone, all but the boots +and socks. In the front of the cocoa-nut palm, there were five knots +made in the long leaflets. All this is an almost certain indication that +his death was the vengeance for five of the natives. 'Blood for blood' +is a sacred law, almost of nature, wherever Christianity has not +prevailed, and a whole tribe is held responsible for the crime of one. +Five men in Fiji are known to have been stolen from Nukapu; and +probably their families believed them to have been killed, and believed +themselves to be performing a sacred duty when they dipped their weapons +in the blood of the Bisope, whom they did not know well enough to +understand that he was their protector. Nay, it is likely that there had +been some such discussion as had saved him before at Mai from suffering +for Petere's death; and, indeed, one party seem to have wished to keep +him from landing, and to have thus solemnly and reverently treated his +body. + +Even when the tidings came in the brief uncircumstantial telegram, there +were none of those who loved and revered him who did not feel that such +was the death he always looked for, and that he had willingly given his +life. There was peace in the thought even while hearts trembled with +dread of hearing of accompanying horrors; and when the full story +arrived, showing how far more painless his death had been than had +he lived on to suffer from his broken health, and how wonderfully the +unconscious heathen had marked him with emblems so sacred in our eyes, +there was thankfulness and joy even to the bereaved at home. + +The sweet calm smile preached peace to the mourners who had lost his +guiding spirit, but they could not look on it long. The next morning, +St. Matthew's Day, the body of John Coleridge Patteson was committed +to the waters of the Pacific, his 'son after the faith,' Joseph Atkin, +reading the Burial Service. + +Mr. Atkin afterwards wrote to his mother. He had written to his father +the day before; but the substance of his letter has been given in the +narrative:-- + + +'September 21, 1871. + +'My dear Mother,--We have had a terrible loss, such a blow that we +cannot at all realise it. Our Bishop is dead; killed by the natives at +Nukapu yesterday. We got the body, and buried it this morning. He was +alone on shore, and none of us saw it done. We were attacked in the boat +too, and Stephen so badly wounded that I am afraid there is small hope +of his recovery. John and I have arrow wounds, but not severe. Our +poor boys seem quite awe-stricken. Captain Jacobs is very much cut +up. Brooke, although not at all well, has quite devoted himself to the +wounded, and so has less time to think about it all. + +'It would only be selfish to wish him back. He has gone to his rest, +dying, as he lived, in his Master's service. + +It seems a shocking way to die; but I can say from experience that it is +far more to hear of than to suffer. In whatever way so peaceful a life +as his is ended, his end is peace. There was no sign of fear or pain on +his face--just the look that he used to have when asleep, patient and a +little wearied. "What a stroke his death will be to hundreds!" What his +Mission will do without him, God only knows Who has taken him away. His +ways are not as our ways. Seeing people taken away, when, as we think, +they are almost necessary to do God's work on earth, makes one think +that we often think and talk too much about Christian work. What God +requires is Christian men. He does not need the work, only gives it to +form or perfect the character of the men whom He sends to do it. + +'Stephen is in great pain at times to-night; one of the arrows seems +to have entered his lungs, and it is broken in, too deep to be got out. +John is wounded in the right shoulder, I in the left. We are both maimed +for the time; but, if it were not for the fear of poison, the wounds +would not be worth noticing. I do not expect any bad consequences, but +they are possible. What would make me cling to life more than anything +else is the thought of you at home; but if it be God's will that I am to +die, I know He will enable you to bear it, and bring good for you out of +it. + +'Saturday, 23rd.--We are all doing well. Stephen keeps up his strength, +sleeps well, and has no long attacks of pain. We have had good breezes +yesterday and to-day--very welcome it is, but the motion makes writing +too much labour. Brooke and Edward Wogale are both unwell--ague, I +believe, with both of them; and Brooke's nerves are upset. He has slept +most of to-day, and will probably be the better for it.'.... + +His private journal adds:-- + +'September 21st.--Buried the Bishop in the morning. The wounded all +doing well, but Stephen in pain occasionally. Calm day, passed over a +reef in the morning, about eighteen miles north of Nukapu, nine fathoms +on it. Thermometer ninety-one degrees yesterday and to-day. Began +writing home at night. Began reading Miss Yonge's "Chaplet of Pearls." + +'Friday, 22nd.--A light breeze came up in the evening, which freshened +through the night, and carried us past Tenakulu. Stephen doing very +well, had a good night, and has very little pain to-day. A breeze +through the day, much cooler. I am dressing my shoulder with brine. Read +some sermons of Vaughan's, preached at Doncaster during Passion Week. + +'Saturday, 23rd.--Breeze through the day. A few showers of rain. +Brooke and Wogale down with ague; gave Wogale ipecacuanha and quinine +afterwards. Read Mota prayers in evening. All wounds going on well. +Finished "Chaplet of Pearls," and wrote a little. + +'Sunday, 24th.--This morning the wind went round to N.E. and N. and then +died away. We were 55 miles W. of the Torres Islands at noon. Brooke +took English and Mota morning Prayers. I celebrated Holy Communion +afterwards. John came into cabin; I went out to Stephen. + +'Brooke and Wogale both better, but B---- quite weak.' + +During that Celebration, while administering the Sacred Elements, Mr. +Atkin's tongue stumbled and hesitated over some of the words. + +Then the Mota men looked at one another, and knew what would follow. + +He knew it himself too, and called to Joseph Wate, his own special +pupil, saying (as the lad wrote to Mr. Atkin the elder), 'Stephen and I +again are going to follow the Bishop, and they of your country--! Who is +to speak to them?' + +'I do not know.' + +Then he said again, 'It is all right. Don't grieve about it, because +they did not do this thing of themselves, but God allowed them to do +it. It is very good, because God would have it so, because He only looks +after us, and He understands about us, and now He wills to take away us +two, and it is well.' + +There was much more for that strong young frame to undergo before the +vigorous life could depart. The loss was to be borne. The head of the +Mission, who had gone through long sickness, and lain at the gates of +the grave so long, died almost painlessly: his followers had deeply +to drink of the cup of agony. The night between the 26th and 27th was +terrible, the whole nervous system being jerked and strained to pieces, +and he wandered too much to send any message home; 'I lost my wits since +they shot me,' he said. Towards morning he almost leapt from his berth +on the floor, crying 'Good-bye.' + +Mr. Brooke asked if he would have a little Sal volatile. + +'No.' + +'A little brandy?' + +'No.' + +'Do you want anything?' + +'I want nothing but to die.' + +Those were his last words. He lay convulsed on a mattress on the floor +for about an hour longer, and was released on the morning of the 29th. + +Stephen, with an arrow wound in the lungs, and several more of these +wounds in the chest, could hardly have lived, even without the +terrible tetanus. He had spent his time in reading his Mota Gospel and +Prayer-book, praying and speaking earnestly to the other men on board, +before the full agony came on. He was a tall, large, powerfully framed +man; and the struggles were violent before he too sank into rest on +the morning of the 28th, all the time most assiduously nursed by Joseph +Wate. On St. Michael's Day, these two teachers of poor Bauro received at +the same time their funeral at sea. + +John Coleridge Patteson was forty-four years and a half old. + +Joseph Atkin, twenty-nine. + +Stephen Taroniara probably twenty-five--as he was about eighteen when +he joined the Mission in 1864. His little girl will be brought up at +Norfolk Island; his wife Tara, to whom he had been married only just +before his voyage, became consumptive, and died January, 1873, only +twenty minutes after her Baptism. As one of the scholars said, "Had the +songs of the angels for joy of her being made a child of God finished +before they were again singing to welcome her an inheritor of the +kingdom of heaven?" + +John Nonono showed no symptoms of tetanus, but was landed at Mota to +recover under more favourable circumstances than the crowded cabin could +afford. + +Calms and baffling winds made the return to this island trying and +difficult, and Mota was not reached till the 4th of October. George +Sarawia was still perfectly satisfactory; and his community, on the +whole, going on hopefully. Want of provisions, which Mota could not +supply, made the stay very brief; and after obtaining the necessary +supplies at Aurora, the 'Southern Cross' brought her sad tidings to +Norfolk Island on the 17th. That day Mrs. Palmer wrote:-- + + +'On Monday afternoon, 15th, Mr. Codrington went for a ride to the other +side of the island, and there espied the schooner, eight miles off. He +rode home quickly, and soon the shouting and racing of the boys told us +that the vessel had come. They were all at arrowroot-making. Never, +I think, had the whole party, English and natives, seemed in higher +spirits. Mr. Bice walked to the settlement, to see if she was far in +enough to land that night; we asked him to call and tell us on his way +home. + +'Next morning Mr. Bice rode down to see if it really was the schooner, +and was back to breakfast, all thinking we should soon see them come up. + +'Mr. Codrington and Mr. Bice got their horses ready to ride down, and I +got the rooms ready, when, in an hour, a Norfolk Island boy rode up to +say the flag was half-mast high.' + +'We told the boys and girls something was wrong, to stop their joyous +shouting and laughing; and then I waited till Mr. Jackson returned, and +all he could say was, "Only Brooke has come!"' + +What more shall I tell? Comments on such a life and such a death are +superfluous; and to repeat the testimonies of friends, outpourings of +grief, and utterances in sermons is but to weaken the impression of the +reality! + +There is pain too in telling the further fate of Nukapu. H.M.S. +'Rosario,' Commander Markham, then cruising in the Southern Pacific, +touched at Norfolk Island, and Captain Markham undertook at once to go +to the island and make enquiries. + +A protest was drawn up and signed by all the members of the Mission +against any attempt to punish the natives for the murder; and Captain +Markham, a kind, humane, and conscientious man, as no one can doubt, +promised that nothing of the kind should be attempted. + +But the natives could not but expect retaliation for what they had done. +There was no interpreter. They knew nothing of flags of truce; and when +they saw a boat approaching, full of white men, armed, what could they +apprehend but vengeance for 'Bisope'? So they discharged a volley of +arrows, and a sergeant of marines was killed. This was an attack on the +British flag, and it was severely chastised with British firearms. It +is very much to be doubted whether Nukapu will ever understand that her +natives were shot, not for killing the Bishop, but for firing on the +British flag. For the present the way is closed, and we can only echo +Fisher Young's sigh, 'Poor Santa Cruz people!' + +Bishop Patteson's will bequeathed his whole inheritance to the +Melanesian Mission, and appointed that the senior Priest should take +charge of it until another Bishop should be chosen. + +The Rev. Robert Codrington, therefore, took the management, though +refusing the Episcopate; and considering the peculiar qualifications +needful for a Melanesian Bishop, which can only be tested by actual +experiment on physical as well as moral and spiritual abilities, it has, +up to the present moment (May 1873), been thought better to leave the +See vacant, obtaining episcopal aid from the Bishop of Auckland. + +But this implies no slackness nor falling off in the Mission. By God's +good providence, Coleridge Patteson had so matured his system that it +could work without him. Mr. Codrington and the other clergy make their +periodic voyages in the 'Southern Cross.' Kohimarama flourishes under +George Sarawia, who was ordained Priest at Auckland on St. Barnabas Day, +1873. Bishop Cowie has paid a visit to Norfolk Island, and ordained +as Deacons, Edward Wogale, Robert Pantatun, Henry Tagalana, to work in +Mota, Santa Maria, and Ara. Joseph Wate remains the chief teacher of the +lads from Bauro; but there is much to be done before the work in that +island can be carried on. The people there seem peculiarly devoid of +earnestness; and it is remarkable that though they were among the first +visited, and their scholars the very earliest favourites, Stephen has +been the only one whose Christianity seems to have been substantial. But +the sight of his patient endurance had the same effect on those who +were with him in the ship as Walter Hotaswol's exhortations had had on +himself, and several of them began in earnest to prepare for Baptism. + +The English staff of the Mission has been recruited by the Rev. John +R. Selwyn, and the Rev. John Still, as well as by Mr. Kenny from New +Zealand. And there is good hope that 'He who hath begun a good work will +perform it unto the day of the Lord.' + +As to the crimes connected with the murder, the Queen herself directed +the attention of Parliament to it in her Speech at the commencement of +the Session of 1872. The Admiralty do what in them lies to keep watch +over the labour vessels by means of Queen's ships; and in Queensland, +regulations are made; in Fiji, the British Consul endeavours to examine +the newly arrived, whether they have been taken away by force. But +it may be feared that it will not be possible entirely to prevent +atrocities over so wide a range; though if, as Bishop Patteson +suggested, all vessels unregistered, and not committed to trustworthy +masters, were liable to be seized and confiscated, much of the shameless +deceit and horrible skull-hunting would be prevented. + +Perhaps the fittest conclusion to the Bishop's history will be the words +written by Henry Tagalana, translated literally by Mr. Codrington:-- + +'As he taught, he confirmed his word with his good life among us, as +we all know; and also that he perfectly well helped anyone who might be +unhappy about anything, and spoke comfort to him about it; and about his +character and conduct, they are consistent with the law of God. He gave +the evidence of it in his practice, for he did nothing carelessly, lest +he should make anyone stumble and turn from the good way; and again he +did nothing to gain anything for himself alone, but he sought what he +might keep others with, and then he worked with it: and the reason was +his pitifulness and his love. And again, he did not despise anyone, nor +reject anyone with scorn; whether it were a white or a black person he +thought them all as one, and he loved them all alike.' + +'He loved them all alike!' That was the secret of John Coleridge +Patteson's history and his labours. + +Need more be said of him? Surely the simple islander's summary of his +character is the honour he would prefer. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of John Coleridge Patteson, by +Charlotte M. 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