A MISSION SETTLEMENT.
A few days after my arrival in the Bay, I crossed to the opposite side,
to visit the Church missionary settlement, and to deliver a letter of
introduction I had to one of the members. Here, on a beautiful bank, with
a delightful beach in front, and the entrance of the bay open to them,
the clear and blue expanse of water speckled over with fertile islands,
reside these comfortable teachers of the Gospel. The name they have given
this spot is "Marsden Vale." They very soon gave us to understand they
did not wish for our acquaintance, and their coldness and inhospitality
(I must acknowledge) created in my mind a thorough dislike to them. The
object of the mission, as it was first planned, might have been attained,
and might have proved highly beneficial to the New Zealanders; but as it
is now conducted, no good result can be expected from it. Any man of
common sense must agree with me, that a savage can receive but little
benefit from having the abstruse points of the Gospel preached to him, if
his mind is not prepared to receive them. This is the plan adopted here;
and nothing will convince these enthusiasts that it is wrong, or induce
them to change it for one more agreeable to the dictates of reason.
Upon inquiring who and what these men were, I found that the greater part
of them were hardy mechanics (not well-educated clergymen), whom the
benevolent and well-intentioned people of England had sent out in order
to teach the natives the importance of _different trades_--a most
judicious arrangement, and which ought to be the foundation of all
missions. What could be a more gratifying sight than groups of these
athletic savages, toiling at the anvil or the saw; erecting for
themselves substantial dwellings; thus leading them by degrees to know
and to appreciate the comforts resulting from peaceful, laborious, and
useful occupations? Then, while they felt sincere gratitude for services
rendered them, at their leisure hours, and on certain days, _these_
missionaries should attempt to expound to them, in as simple a manner as
possible, the nature of revealed religion!
In New Zealand, the "mechanic" missionary only carries on his trade till
he has every comfort around him--his house finished, his garden fenced,
and a strong stockade enclosing all, to keep off the "pagan" savages.
This done, then commences the easy task of preaching. They collect a few
ragged urchins of natives, whom they teach to read and write their own
language--the English tongue being forbidden; and when these children
return to their families, they are despised by them, as being effeminate
and useless.
I once saw a sturdy blacksmith in the prime of life, sitting in the midst
of a group of savages, attempting to expound to them the mysteries of our
holy redemption--perplexing his own brains, as well as those of his
auditors, with the most incomprehensible and absurd opinions. How much
better would he have been employed in teaching them how to weld a piece
of iron, or to make a nail!
What causes much disapprobation here, is the contemptuous manner in which
they treat their own countrymen, as they receive most of them on the
outside of their stockade fence.
On our return from Marsden Vale, our savage friends laughed heartily at
us. They had warned us of the reception we should meet with; and their
delight at seeing us again formed a strange contrast to that of their
Christian teachers, whose inhospitable dwellings we determined never to
reenter.