Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands

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 beset

lus, 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 whic

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 s

horse, that the effects were far more serious than those of a common fracture. The disaster took place in Patteson's presence. 'I shal

sh advice; the Archdeacon and Mrs. Abraham went

eridge was written in the i

d: June

time to do more than write long chatty letters to my dear father and sisters, occasionally to Thorverton, and to Miss

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 hope

wo or three other of the Common Prayer prayers, and one or two short missionary prayers in th

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 h

al 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,

horoughly well. This island of Nengone (called also Maro and Britannia Island) contains about 6,500 inhabitants, of whom s

guage 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

ame 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 rece

fectionate and

. PAT

nced, this time with a valuable assistant in Mr. Benjamin Dudley. Mrs. Selwyn was again dropped at Norfolk Isl

, but there is less full description, as there was less time for writing; and besi

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 Fut

o 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 u

s wrecked, they had killed the whole crew, nineteen in number, eaten ten at once, and sent the other ni

ven 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 m

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

lled 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 mana

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 owne

h 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 lit

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 w

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 b

re was an exchange of civilities with the Saddleites, and in Vanua Lava, the largest member of 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 t

ing letter to the young cousin whose Confirmation day had b

stoval: Octo

assed the Sunday-a day most memorable in your life-on which I trust you rece

ord 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 we

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

on of Iri and the ladies, and of others also, who crowded together at the hole which serves for do

ments, and climbing the coral rocks was hard work, the thermomete

le parties at the different villages, and had, on the whole, satisfactory conversations with them. The

s during the day, besides eating some mixture o

back with a boy called Tahi for my guide, and stoppe

arua; people came round me on the beach, and again I talked with them (a sort of half-preaching

neeling 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

ed about some lads coming on with us, and it ended in seven joining our party. Only one of

good night's rest will do me no harm. I have written to you the first minute that I had time. Wh

loving

C.

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, o

re 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,

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

e 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

ve instruction to fit him for a teacher, and with him came his young wife Naranadune, and the

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

d after this signally prosperous voyage. It is t

1857: St. Jo

After nearly seventeen weeks at sea, we returned safely on Sunday morning the 15th, with thirty-three Melanesians, gathered from nine

he London Mission (Independents) are leaving all their islands unprovided with missionaries, and these people having been much more fre

and delightful; only two arrows shot at us, and only one went near-so much for savages. I wonder w

en, 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

king), and whensoever it pleases God to take my dear dear father to his rest, how blessed to think of t

full of lads and young men. If I was not watching like a cat the

a box made by Pitcairn

r loving

. PAT

man at St. John's to take the charge of Cho's wife, she was necessarily sent to Mrs. K

, where there was to be a central native school managed by Piri

heir "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

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

ional convulsions. About 4 p.m. his throat had become contracted, and the endeavour to give him nourishment brought on convulsive attacks. The Bishop

said. '"Father, into Thy ha

he lay with his frame rigid, his back arched so that an arm could be t

ure 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 i

thrown away and could not be recovered for examination. Indeed, lockjaw seems to be so prevalent in the equatorial c

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

the sudden death of the much-beloved 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

ith 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

sion Week, 1858:

rayers 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"

to me; every word about him is pre

to me every month now to give the H

s of old men mu

et 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

ssing from me. May some portion of his spirit rest on me to bless my poor attempt to do what he did so devotedly for mor

, as the world rolls round, receive the Holy Eucharist shall be in some way

f 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.

now to dearest

y comfort you.... I think I see

loving

. PAT

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 t

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 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

ad a battle royal the other day with a colonial steed, which backed into the bush, and kicked, and played the fool amazingly,

s and kee

r lo

. PAT

s later h

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

t I shall not look with unmixed pleasure to my return to my great packet; yet I feel much less

ople 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 rec

esser 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 fi

fer them a visit of three or four months, and wou

ngadhohua asked: 'Can

stand, which prevent me. Would you like me to shut

e the summer school here

w Zealand, and because the Bishop, who k

we have a

sede 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

son produced the books that had be

they saw thirty-two clearly printed 8vo. pages of Bible History, sixteen of prayers, rubrics, &c., eight of questions

and crying, 'Excellent, ex

nteen, 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 o

n land, and with His blessing we will bring him back safe to you. Let some of the chiefs go wit

was prince of all the isle, but on an insecure tenure, for the French, in N

passage to Anaiteum, where some goods had to be left for Mr. Inglis, and he asked that four Fate visitors might

ged, 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, an

parted 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 had a long talk with Mr. Patteson, beginning with, 'Do you think I shall see him again?' I

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

y distasteful, though the

e first beginning of all, and as here they must take a definite part, they (the great majority who are not yet

umaro, a scholar of 1857, was especially disappointing, for he pretended to wish to come and learn at Li

sual 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

l 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

her, 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

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 even

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 sigh

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 wa

tself in all manner of scrofulous diseases, especially tumours, under which the sufferer wasted and died. Much of Patteson's time was taken up by

eputation should come from Rarotonga from the London Mission, to decide whether the is

ther 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 ins

e 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

r. 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 re

lpit, 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 principl

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 g

e." The way open again; the guardian angel no longer standing wi

ll 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 migh

ite doctrines be instilled into the converts by teachers with hardly any books, and n

ird month of his stay. 'A man for years has been associated with th

Who institu

Je

His Apostles to baptiz

d si

u wish to b

o l

ht us, is for that object. What is the particular benefit w

on 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

me thousands were wanted, and Mr. Patteson wrote a little book of sixteen pages, containing the statement of the out

s 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 wit

ere tempting to the French Empire, and the Bishop at th

arned 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. H

of religion they might choose to adopt. I knew that they and I were completely in his power, yet that my line was to as

ledonia, 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

lish 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 ache

ht of a chief to prevent any one of his subjects from selling a plot of hi

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 f

lass, 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

ch 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 tea

hn, 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;

ry friendly nature. He has been eighteen months at San Cristoval, but knows not the language; at Woodlark Island, New Caledonia,

ame 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

gs, 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 be

dly. 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. Pa

s, 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 religio

red 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,

t 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 h

t hinder the men from working at the building; and when the men would not work, the chiefs were suspected of prevent

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

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 imag

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 a

hool 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

e 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 in

use yet. Pictures of animals are the best things. One or two of a railway, a great bridge, a view of the Thames with steam

central school-house at Kohimarama, I shall try to get a little snuggery, and then furnish it with a few things comfortabl

ity 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

zing 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; wherea

n 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 c

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 se

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 no

ay 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 t

o 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,

ing letter towards

1858: Lifu, Lo

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,

t, 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 v

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 s

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

ccupied 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 (

--, and many thanks for the

affectionat

C.

al 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 fo

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-

abin 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

o 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

e, after learning the tidings of his retirement from the B

: Lat. 31° 29' S.;

er 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 w

nfirmation 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 revisite

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,

f the four men before the mast-common seamen, and take goo

ly 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

and wives capable of imparting

nk, a very nice

orth, 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

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° in the shade, being in lat. 13° 45' 5". The only thing against Vanua Lava is the fact that elephantiasis abounds among the natives, and they say th

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 t

ule, Melanesians are very tractable. Certainly I would sooner have my present school to manage, forty-five of all ages from nine to perhaps twenty-se

k is very nice for taking on board ship, and I dare say I may

e, my de

onate and gra

. PAT

In truth, there was no word that he so entirely repudiated as this of savage, and the courtesy and untutored dignity of

na, 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 anothe

re is part of a letter to Mr. Edward Coleridge, written immediat

be a Melanesian Bishop soon, and that you will be

nod all deeds, documents, everything for which he was corporation sole, and as he passes over to various other Bishops p

sed me to talk freely about the matter. I said: "One condition only I think should be present to your

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

dear Uncle; ki

ng nephew

. PAT

our Norfolk Islanders, two printers, Mr. Dudley and Mr. Patteson, made up the dinner-party every day in the hall of St. John's Co

e slightest chill made them droop; and it was a subject of joy to have any day the f

eady to talk untiringly of everyone there. On the New Year's day of 1859 there was a joyful thanksgiving service at Tauraru

llections they preserved of that time have thus been recorded by Lady Martin. It will be r

etters 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

n 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 parti

s 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 h

ol-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 t

entional 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 Neng

d which is apt to grow upon missionaries, as indeed on every one who is very earnestly engaged in any

ohn'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 yea

lligent 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

eing 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 h

id at the time the reality of the sacrifice he had made in devoting hi

hus 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 En

ridge he writes on

e 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 c

e large sea canoes, and go to Santa Cruz, we may soon get one of them to go w

t 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

nt, as usual, ab

g old Pupil

. PAT

a retrospec

859: St. Jo

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

o 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 (

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 h

rd of Missions. He means to propose to send a priest and a deacon to every island ready for them,

lish full services to-morrow, besides Melan

ing and d

. PAT

ll say, in a letter of thi

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 h

es 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, s

e Banks Islands, where Sarawia was returned at Vanua Lava, and after Mr. Patt

e 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

Aroana, the young Malanta chief, who had begun by a fit of frenzy, but had since behaved well; and who left

ul winds and hot

The characters in the Spanish conquest of Mexico and America generally; the whole question of the treatment of natives; and that nobleman, Las C

ost too hot for anything that requires a working head-piece. You know I take holiday time

ind followed, a sharp tes

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. continu

did not make much of holiday time for their master, who was ready to give help to other clergyme

th of Jul

art of it over wild country. I lost my way once or twice a

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 Ta

r replies to o

ning 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

re are who know anything o

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 a

em of regret or desire to call me home on your part, you would feel, I know, that colonial work doe

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

ce 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 i

the leisure, while waiting for the Bishop to embark, with some

sometimes. First. I think that we get a stronger sense of the necessity for dispensing with tha

rees, one sympathises less than one possibly should do with drones and idlers in the hive, and feels it wrong to assent to a sc

r fatigue your horses to succour the inhabitants of a distant village"? Or a captain to his m

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

s human agents, and the Bible tells us what ar

e!" Yes, but, "it remaineth that those w

rge family? "Whosoever love

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

s 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 Mis

are preventing people from really doing half

mmon 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 alm

en 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 but

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 accessibl

less in condemning him. But are not these the general principles of religion and morality in the Bible? There are duties to societ

re that unless men at home can, by taking real pains to think about it, realise th

which I said something about m

you be in full possession of my own mind on the matter. Should I die before y

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

thought about it; not for one moment putting up my opinion

orrow, but the Bishop

my deare

ing and d

. PAT

niton fireside; but there was a parallel journal also, kept for the Bishop

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

163° S.E. "Southern C

nta Cruz group, having visited the Loyalty Islands, Sout

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

Nengone we found everybody away at the dista

s has already produced a great change in him. He looked sallow and weak, and I fear ut sit vitalis. He

at 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

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 i

oking Dillon's Bay, and certainly is exposed to winds which may, for aught I know, rival those of Wellington notoriety.

d away through "the Pool" (the landlocked space between Mallicolo and Espiritu Santo to the west; Aspee, Ambrym, Whitsuntide, Aurora to the east), whe

r Leper's Island. I voted for the latter, and delighted we were to renew an acquaintance made two years ago, and no

t, 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

ill talking to the people, with my back to the sea, and only saw him staggering to his feet again. Thinking

n 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 trad

d 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

hing 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

ng 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, hu

age 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 E

rst. 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

"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

d a more pleasant intercourse than heret

tly before. The small reef (Polynesian) islands did not give us so good a reception as last year, though there was no unfriend

ext 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 twent

k breeze, and took up our party, consisting of five and including Sa

boat called next day at noon to see five or six of their villages. People quite accustomed to expect me-all most f

It is quite ready for a missionary. We brought away Moto, Pepeu, and th

ndon Missionary Society are on the island.... The Lifu people tell me that in the north of the island many are accepting

ave come away for good.... We number thirty-nine Melanesi

my dear

ionatel

. PAT

pediency of the islands being taken under British protection, also much respecting the Church of New Zealan

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 al

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:

he reflections so regularly inspired by

hose scenes in his mother's illness which he and h

d yet of course it really mattered nothing at all, because the lesson of her life does not depend on an acquaintan

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

nt. 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

made under the guidance of the Bishop of New Zealand, a