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° 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 £21. 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.'