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

rk was going on at the College, according to his own definition of education which was given about this time in a speech at St. John's:

kenzie, on receiving the book she had prom

ary 1

d of one whom may God grant that I may know hereafter, if, indeed, I may be enabled to follow him as he followed Christ. And as for the former, what can

tographs to paste into it. I don't like to cut out the one I have in the

ll relations and home influences and affections, I cling all the more to such means as I may still enjoy of keeping up associations. I like to have my father's watch-chain in use, and to write on his old desk. I remember my inkstand in our drawing-room in London. So I value much these memo

was, and as I baptized him at midnight shortly before he died, I felt the great blessing of being able with a very

e body! But I must not write on. With many thanks once

my dear Mis

truly

. PAT

gift to a church, All Saints, Babbicombe, in which his sisters were de

atthia

but you hardly know that in an hour or two I hope the Primat

me, and now to-day the great event of their lives is to take place. M

know as yet quite well; so our service will be Psalms 96, 97, 114; 1st lesson 2 Kings, v. 9-15, Magnificat; 2nd lesson Acts viii. 5-12, and the Baptismal Service. Henry Tagalana reads the first, and George Sarawia the second lesson. Then will come my quiet evening, as, I trust, a close of an eventful day. I have your English letters of December

buy it at Erromango. It sells in Sydney for about ￡70 a ton, and it is very heavy wood. However, I will send some of the largest planks

y well-intentioned, but untaught men. We must have gentlemen of white colour, or else I must rely wholly, as I always meant to

ull of feeling; the two most advanced, George and Henry, in their surplices, reading the L

ission rushed into my mind, the fruit of the little seed be sowed when, eight years ago, he thought it wisest not

ve been there? Our little chapel looked nice

ld and new baptized party had a quiet talk

nd how much to think of and grieve over, something too to be thankful for. Perhaps after al

Governor that the Melanesians are not so very wild." But it is another Governor; and so far from the Melanesians

Keble. I won't write many lest I weary him, dear good man. I like to look at his picture, and have stuck the photograph

oving b

C.

s the "One Faith, One Lord," that binds us together; and as for regulating the question of colonially ordained clergy mini

Tuesday i

ugh the thought of a more than usually serious separation from the dear Primate and Mrs. Selwyn, Sir William and Lady Martin, hangs over my head rather gloomily. Still I am convinced, as far as I can be of such matters, that this move to Norfolk Island is good for the Mission on the whole.

you may not have heard them, because I should

e, but the 600 miles from Norfolk Island to Auckland are the cold and boisterous miles that must be passed at the

and, by the North Cape of New Zealand, because the prevalent winds are f

a Cruz groups to New Zealand, it is necessary to make a long stretch out to the N.E. (the trades blowing from ab

r season and the cold too great for a party of scholars first coming from the tropics. But I can go backwards and forwards through the

vessel + (say) thirty left in New Zealand for the winter; and I dare not attempt to leave many, for so much care is needed in the cold season. But in Norfolk Island I c

sweet potato, sugar-cane, banana, almond, orange, pine-apple, coffee, maize. Only

there must be in New Zealand between the life with us a

cooking it, for they are cleanly already in that-may be adopted, and more easily perpetuated in their o

t of the inner thoughts and disposition and character. Just as men so often lose self-respect when they take to the bush life; or

as something distinct I mean from the doctrines of the Church of England), to be necessary; much as so many people assume the relation of Church and State in England to be the typic

a kind of simple and limited expansion of the Apostles'

. The speculative East and the practical West could not be made to

mselves into the state of the Eastern mind, feel the difficulties of the As

e ought surely to change as little as possible-only what is clearly i

ut to study the native character, and not presen

s, and still more often take it for granted that what

grow up with certain modes of thought, hereditary notions, and they seek to reproduce these

ut it; and the strong practical mind of the Primate, I hope, would keep m

umanity at large. It takes in all shade

eive that. Each set of men must also receive many thing of secondary, yet of very great importance for them; but

, dear Uncle, I think there is som

he due proportion, the relative importance of the v

so often adopted, want of arrangement, and prope

moral command of God, unless you take care. Of course the missionary ought not to attempt to impose any arbitrary r

en, two or three points of Christian faith, or two or three rules of

from wishing to change the greater part

to begin my teaching of a wild Solomon Islander at that end; when he has not lea

f the teaching of the very men who d

rvance of certain rules, which, during the few years that the people remain doc

of the pioneer. Ergo the missionary must not be the man who is not good enough for ordinary work in England,

t I don't see how you can give me, e.g., precise directions. It seems to me

ce that very well-intentioned people occasionally volunteer to missionaries. I have had (D. Gr.) the Primate and Sir William Mart

nesian." I thought it rather impertinent. The truth is, that the great proportion of our Melanesian scholars in our school, i.e., not standing alone, but helped by the discipline of the school, are quite competent to set an

loving and gr

. PAT

oth my dear friends; of whom, one, at the very time that my Cousin wrote, was already gone

w's: April

, for I see that a great sorrow is hanging over you, is perhaps already fa

and somehow it seems all peace, and calmness, and joy. It would not be so were I in England, to actually experience the sense of loss, to see the vacant seat, and miss the well-known voice; but it is (as I see) a great and most blessed alleviation to the loss of their society here below. Y

he is just the man upon whom we should expect some special suffering, which is but some special mark of love and (may we not say in such a c

had to comfort the weary, and guide the wayward, and to endure disappointment, and to restrain the over zealotish, and reprove the thoughtless, and bear in his bosom the infirmities of many people-why must we be unhappy about him, and why mourn for ourselves? God forbid! It is only one mark of the cross stamped upon him, only one more draught of the cup of the lacking measures of the afflictions of Christ. But you must, more than I, know and feel all this; and it is only in attempting to put befor

nfinity of harm by its reflex action upon us who are engaged in this work. And I can write brotherly letters, if they are to be treated as public property. I could not trust my own brother to make extracts from my letters. No one in Eng

has had two bad haemorrhages; but he is patient, simple-minded, quite content to die, and not doubting at all his Father's love,

legislation would be the greatest evil of all. All your troubles only show that synodica

you, my d

fectiona

. PAT

he wrote at t

nk, last St. Mark's Day, and I began a letter to him, but it was not fair to him to give him the trouble of reading it, and I tore it up. He knows without it how I do love and revere him, and I cannot plu

he forming a number of native clergy in time to work among their own people, he continues:-'When uncivilised races come into contact with civilised men, they must either be condemned to a hopeless position of inferiority, or they must be raised out of th

children, as in malice so in knowledge; you can never be missionaries, you may become assistant teachers to English missionaries whom you must implicitly obey, you must do work which it would not be our place to do,

said to a class of nineteen sch

ell Saul all tha

No

appeared to him in that w

No

the Lord

ascus, and there it would be

Lord use to tell Sa

a man to

o wa

nan

now much

sage to Saul to tell him the Lord's wi

Lord employ to make H

tell him." '"Did He tell

nt a man to

of God's working in the sam

, who was told by the a

t sent to tell Corneliu

ent Peter t

en He was on earth, did He not, even while H

welve Apostles and t

, the greatest proof to us that God choose

is own Son t

whole world in a moment to the obe

Ye

He in His wisdo

, to become man, and to walk on this earth as a

Jesus Christ

n." '"Who is

n Christ

od employ to make H

men to t

do this by

God makes

you heard t

God sent y

eople still in ignorance to hear it?

oked shy, and some said so

ndeed yo

and privilege of prayer for God's Holy Spirit to give them both t

His Son's death and resurrection. He has made you feel something of the power of His love, and has taught you the duty of loving Him and serving your brother. He calls upon you now to rouse yourself to a sense of your true position, to use the gifts which He has given you to His glory and the good of your brethren. Don't suppose tha

itting a white man and work befitting a black man. English and Melanesian scholars or teachers work together in the school, printing-office, dairy, kitchen, farm. The senior clergyman of the Mission labours most of all w

brush your shoes, or fetch some water." And of course we let them do so, for the doing it is accompanied by no feeling of degradation in their minds; they have seen us

the fire, said to the Bishop, "They w

h all my hea

you must go to

different in

now as they used to do; th

e thankful for. What is the

y Tagalana talked to them, and I talked a little to them, an

d you must try hard to learn, that you may teach them,

ave our own dairy of thirteen cows, and, besides supplying the whole Mission party, numbering in all seventy-seven persons, with abundance of milk, we sell considerable quantities of butter. We

ty made them peculiarly easy to manage and train while in hand; the real difficulty was that their life was so entirely different from their home, that there was no guessing how deep the training went, and, on every voyage, some fishes slipped through the meshes of the net, though some returned again, a

isure for the following letter to Prof. Max Muller, explaining why he could not make his

" off Norfolk Ire

ndly, I cannot put down clearly and consecutively what I want to say. I have so very little time for thinking out, and working at any one subject continuously, that my whole habit of mind becomes, I fear, ina

t use would they or any men be until they had learnt their work? And it must fall to me to teach them, and that takes again much of my time; so that, as a matter of fact, there are many things that I must do, even when all is going on smoothly

ion really is a well-ordered industrial school, in which kitchen work, dairy work, farm work, printing, clothes making and mending, &c., are all carried on, without the necessity of having any foreign importation of servants, who would be sure to do harm, both by their

e stores, shipping seamen, navigating the vessel now. I cannot be too thankful for this; it, saves me tim

rk while on shore; indeed, in 1865, my good friend Archdeacon Lloyd being ill, I took his parish (one and a half hour distant from Kohimarama), the most important parish in Auckland, for some three months; not slacking my Melanesian work, th

, which it vexes my soul to have to supply, but who else can do it? Then I keep all the accounts, very complicated, as you would say if you saw my big ledger. And I don't like to be altogether behindhand in

t service in chapel, 1 dinner, 2-3 Greek Testament with English young men, 3-4 classics with ditto, 5 tea, 6.30 evening chapel, 7-8.30 evening school with divers classes in rotation or with candidates for Baptism or Confirmation, 8.30-9 special instruction to more advanced scholars, only a few. 9-10 school with two other English lay assistants. Add to all this, visitors interrupting me fro

teady sustained thought. And you know well I bring but slender natural qualifications to the task. A tolerably true ear and goo

ain, by their very multitude overwhelming me, and though I see the affinities and can make practical use o

ntroductory part of Mission work, to talk to some wild naked old fellow, and to make him understand what I am anxious to ascertain. It is a matter that has no interest for him, he never thought of it, he doesn't know my mea

e of the several dialects rather to make known God's truth to the heathen than to inform literati of the process of dialectic variation. Don't mistake me, my dear friend, or suspect me of silly sentimentalism. But you can easily understand what it is to feel "God has given to me only of all Christian men the power of speaking to this or that n

together! I feel that it is a part of my special work, for each grammar and dictionary that I can write opens out the language to some other than myself. But I am now apologising rather for my fragmentary way of wr

s, explain the mode of thought, the peculiar method of thinking upon matters of common interest, in the mind of the Melanesian, as exhibited in his language. An Englishman says, "When I get there, it will be night." But a Pacific Islander says, "I am there, it is night." The one says, "Go on, it will soon be dark." The other, "Go on, it has become already night." Anyone sees that the one possesses the power of realising the future as present, or past; the other now whatever it may have been once, does not exercise such power. A companion calls me at 5.30 A.M., with the words, "Eke! me gong veto," (Hullo! it is night already). He means,

ssessive, and demonstrative pronouns, the mode of qualifying nouns, e.g., some languages interpose a monosyllable between the substantive and adjective, others do not. The words used (as it is call

tion, pause in the utterance, gesticulation, supp

es, not translations at all, least of all of religious books, which contain very few native ideas, but stories of sharks, cocoa-nuts, ca

s of about 600 words with a true native sehdia on each word. The mere writing (for much was written twice over) took a long time. And there is this gained by these vocabularies for practical purposes: these are (with more exceptions, it is true, than I intended) the words which crop up most readily in a Melanesian mind. Much time I have wasted, and would fain save others from wasting, in trying to form a Melanesian mind into a given direction into which it ought, as I supposed, to have travelled, but which nevertheless it refused to follow. Just ten years' experience has, of course, taught me a good deal of the minds of these races; and when I

and habits of men circumstanced as they are. I draw naturally this inference, "Don't be in any hurry to translate, and don't attempt to use words as (assumed) equivalents o

r a definition of his neighbour, but He gave no definition, only He spoke a si

ting your time. But I prose on.-(A sheet f

r, in which we have been knocked about in every direction in our tight little 90-ton schooner. And my h

affectiona

. PAT

he had learnt to talk to natives. He went ashore w

very well. A very big fellow had been ringing all the changes between commanding and entreating me to give him a hatchet (I was holding the trade bag). When he found it was no use, he said, "I was a bad

the vessel went onto the Solomon I

ng in the reef. They landed in the midst of a group of dark figures, some standing in a brook, some by the side under a large spreading tree, round a fire fed by dry cocoa-nut leaves; and in the background were tall cocoa-nuts with their gracefully drooping pl

as best acquainted, had laid an ambush for those of Hogirano, killed a good many, and, cutting off their heads, had placed them in a row upon stones, and danced round them in a victorious suit of white-coral lime. However, a more powerful tribe, not long after, came down upon Mahaga and fearfully avenged the massac

ho had three Mahagan scholars, went ashore, with the hope of passing the night in one of these wonder

ple had removed from their old site, and had built a strong fortification near the sea; and

r some distance before the steep rocky mound where the village stood, surrounded by a high wall of stones, in which one narrow entrance was left, approached by a fallen

round at the base, and all branches cleared off till near the summit, where two or

feet. The floor of the house, which is made first, was 23 feet long and about 11 broad; a narrow verandah is left at each end, and the inside length of the house is 18 feet, the breadth 10 feet, the height to the ridge pole 6 feet. The floor was of bamboo matted, the roof and sides of palm-leaf thatch. The la

though Pasvorang, who was as much at home as a sailor among the ropes of the 'Southern Cross,' made the ascent, he came down saying, 'I was so afraid, my legs shook. Don't you go, going aloft is nothing to it;' but the people could not understand any dread; and when the Bishop said, 'I can't go up there. I am neither bird

countless cicadas, the scream of cockatoos and parrots, the cries of birds of many kinds, and the not unreasonable fear of scorpions, all combined to keep me awake. Solemn thoughts pass through the m

ow than to inhabit 'the low steaming bamboo huts-the crowds, the dirt, the squalling of babies-you can't sit or stand, or touch anything that is not grimy and sooty and muddy. It is silly to let these things really affect one, only that it now seems rather to knock

, and on wet, pouring days? They can't read, they can't see in their huts to do any work, making baskets, &c. They must lie about, talking scandal and acquiring listless indolent habits. Then comes a wild reaction. The younger people like excitement as much as our young men lik

e first time in his life 'pronounced himself forward with that Report which was always on his mind.' He goes on: 'I read a good deal, but I don't say that my mind is very act

al precincts. But I can form no real notions about such things. Only I am pretty sure that there is little happiness without real hard work. I do long sometimes for a glorious Cathedral service, for the old chants, anthems, not for "functions" and "processions," &c. I have read Freeman's pamphlet on "Ritual" with interest; he really knows what he writes about, and has one great obj

nd stern twelve feet high, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and ornamented with white shells (most likely the ovum or poache

hut, which was as disagreeable as all such places were:-'Such a night always disturbs me for a time, throws everything o

e morning, when Taroniara declin

gagement.' However, two others came to 'this place,' which was a hut in the vill

that kept out a heavy shower last night. There is a fresh stream of water within fifteen yards, where I bathed at 9 P.M. yesterday; and as I managed to get rid of strangers by 8.3

do operate as an annoyance, all tire one very much. But I hope that by degrees I may get opportunities of talking about the matter that I come to talk about. Just

ing at the heart. You see I confess it all, how silly! Can't I after so many years bear to be left in

e. One man brought his child, "The child of us two, Bishop." Another man, "These cocoa-nut trees

Take this boy, and this boy, and this boy. We see now why you don't want big men, we see now that you can't stop here lo

By-and-by you will understa

thout witness in that He gives us all rain from Heaven, &c., and of our ingratitude, and His love; of His coming down to point out the way of life, and of His Death and Rising again; of another world, Resurrection, and Judgment. All interrupted, now and then, by exclamations of surprise, laughter, or by

ast have known that anything had occurred. I said I thought it was a pig pushing against the bamboo wall of the hut. They sa

e, in one sense, of my twenty-four hours, for

The mode of life has become almost natural to me. I am on capital terms with the people, and even the babies are no longer afraid of me. Old and young, men and women, boys and girls about me of course all day; and small

d it be to induce half-a-dozen boys to learn "a," when I should be gone before they could learn "b"? So I content myself with making friends with the people, observing their ways, and talking to them as I can. It is hot, now at 8.30 A.M. What will it be at 2 P.M.? But I may perhaps be able to say something to cheer me up. One of the trials of this kind of thing is that one seems t

dom, seem to be so much wanted! But just now, I don't see what would become of a large part of the work if I died. I am leaving books somewhat more in order;

hern Cross" in these unknown seas? Tell it not to Missionary Societies! Let no platform orator divulge the great secret of the luxurious self-indulgent life of the Missionary Bishop! What nuts for the "Pall Mall Gazette"! How would all subscriptions cease, and denu

to make me hopeful, and something to

eadiness and stole with equal readiness; but this was all in a friendly way]-and a small isla

t this mattered the less, as the Banks Island party, which, as forming a nucleus, was far more important, was now considerable. S

of coral, with the surf breaking upon it, but a large canoe showed the on

, and had no trouble in getting two nice-looking little boys. About 320 miles from Norfolk Island, one of these little boys, Wate, playing, fell overboard: we were going ten knots at the time, right before the wind; it was a quarte

n,' Mr. Palmer and fifteen scholars were placed to spend the winter. The Pitcairners welcomed the Mission, but we

ern ones, save Ary Scheffer's 'Christis Consolator,' mentioning a few of his special favourites to be procured if possible. For the Melanesians, pictures of ships, fishes, and if possible tropical vegetation, was all the art yet needed, and beads, red and blue, but dull ones; none not exactly like the samples would be of any use. 'It

om Norfolk Island, whither the 'Falcon' had conveyed the letters telling of the departure of both Mr. and

orfolk Island:

e and more you can easily believe; and yesterday at Norfolk Island, whither some letters had been sent, I read with a very full heart of the peaceful close of such a holy life. And I do love to think too of you and him, if I may speak freely of such as you; and the weight attached to all you say and do (you t

id feeling as if God may be permitting the extension of the Colonial Churches, partly and in a secondary sense that so the ground may be travelled over on a small scale before the Church at home may be thrown in like manner upon its own resources. The alliance is a very precarious one surely, and de

very busy at first coming on shore with such a p

nd grateful Ne

e condol

ber 6

have passed away to their eternal rest. I found letters at Norfolk Island on Octo

ear," and other books. Is it not wonderful that all the wisdom and love and beauty of the "Christian Year," to say nothing of the exquisite and matured poetry, should have been given to him so early in life? Why, as I gather, the book was finished in the year 1825, though not published till 1827. He wrote it when he was only 33 years old, and for 45 years he lived after he was capable of suc

the elasticity comes back again after a time. I know nothing of the Keble family, not even how they were related to him, so that my interest in Hursley is connected with him only. Yet

, after an absence of exactly six

ers were sent off a few days since in the "Brisk" to Norfolk Island. We passed each other. Th

ess you, my

nate Cousin, '

stic Adoration,' and which he rightly perceived to lie at the root of the whole Ritualistic question. His conclusions had been formed upon the teachings of the elde

ommunion, the followin

ints' D

and more real thing to us as holy and saintly servants of God pass beyond the veil, as also we learn t

d calmly wait for the great consummation. To you the sense of personal loss must be now-it will always be-mixed up with the true spirit of thankfulness and joy; but remember that as they greatly helped you, so you in no slight measure have received from

ss and joy are the portion of the Christian in the midst of so much that the world counts sorrow and loss. But I think that depre

en into his life and character. I suppose he so well knew the insignificance of what to us mortals in our own generation seems so great, that he had learned to view eternal truths in the light of Him who is eternal. He fought manfully for the true eternal issues, and everything else fell

ivinely guided the early Church in the "selection of fundamentals." We must all grieve to see earnest, zealous men almost injuring the good cause, and

amongst ourselves thoughts that the general balance is best preserved. Pray, when you have time, write freely to me on such matters if you think it may be of us

ar Cousin; and may God e

fectiona

. PAT

visit to Kohimarama, and here is the final record by

ma for Norfolk Island. He invited my dear husband specially for the purpose of working together a

vement upon the stuffy quarters in the quad. His sitting-room was large and l

back to the happiness of that time. At seven the chapel bell rang and we walked across with him to the pretty little chapel. The prayers and hymn were in Mota, the latter a translation by the Bishop of the hymn "Now that the daylight fills the sky." T

ht our dinner over. They were grave and full of responsibility til

ad by this time brought the Mission farm into excellent working order by the aid of the elder lads alone. Abundance of good

of bringing the doctrines of the Christian religion clearly and fully within the comprehension of the converts. Some

t nine the English workers gathered together in the Bishop's room for prayers and for a little friendly chat. Curiously enough, the conversation I most distinctly remember was

ust after fine weather had come! It was the same season, and the hedges on e