1879 - Tucker, H. W. Memoir of the Life and Episcopate of George Augustus Selwyn [Vol.I] - Chapter IX. 1849, p 279-325

       
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  1879 - Tucker, H. W. Memoir of the Life and Episcopate of George Augustus Selwyn [Vol.I] - Chapter IX. 1849, p 279-325
 
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CHAPTER IX. [1849.]

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CHAPTER IX.

[1849.]


THE month of January is in New Zealand the busiest time of harvest; and in the bishop's diary for 1849 there are sundry records of harvest work, and of interruptions to the ingathering of the crops caused by weather. The college being largely dependent on the produce of its lands, as well as boasting itself of its self-contained system by which servants were abolished and all contributed their labour to the common stock, it was obvious that teachers and students would now be engaged in clearing the fields. But this accomplished, on the Feast of the Purification the Undine was again put in commission, and her head was turned southward. Before embarking on this Visitation the bishop learned with thankfulness that Mr. Hadfield, after four years of suffering, was recovering, and he had reason to hope that he would again be equal to missionary work. For the headship of Trinity College about to be established at Porirua, no one so competent could be found, and the bishop sought to secure his services in the following letter:--


TO REV. O. HADFIELD.

ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, Jan. 27th, 1849.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I desire to thank God most fervently for the report which Dr. Fitzgerald makes of the prospect of your restoration to health. In the midst of sorrows which have crowded upon my mind from the illness of Mr.

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Cotton, Mr. Dudley, and Mr. Stock, and the deaths of Mr Bolland and Mr. Reay, this mercy has given me the greatest consolation. Still it would be too much to expect that you should be able to resume the active habits of a missionary for which your strength was never adequate; but I think that I know your mind sufficiently to feel assured that you will dedicate your returning health to such employment as is nearest to the missionary work. I would point to the Porirua College as a post in which your influence would be brought to bear on all those in whom you are most interested, without much bodily fatigue.

If you will consent to find head and heart for the new college, I will do my best to provide you with arms and legs.

The report of your returning health further encourages me to fulfil the long-cherished wish of appointing you to the Archdeaconry of Kapiti, which has been kept vacant in the hope, however faint, that you might be able to fill the office. I inclose the letter of appointment, which I beg you to accept for my sake, and much more for the good of the Church. You have already acted as my commissary and adviser on all occasions, and this will only give a formal and legal sanction to the duties which you have already discharged.

Your excellent host and hostess must be truly rejoiced at the sight of your returning health and strength. I hope to share in your happiness, God willing, in about two months, if my present voyage to the south be brought to a safe conclusion.

With sincere thankfulness for your improvement in health,

I remain,

My dear Mr. Hadfield,

Your affectionate Friend and Brother,

G. A. N. ZEALAND.

I commend to your advice and instruction, Rev. T. B. Hutton, appointed to act as Resident Deacon and Inspector of Schools at Wellington. Pray tell him all that you have written and said to me on the subject of schools.


The Chatham Islands, Wellington and Nelson, were again visited between February 2 and April 21, and later

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UNPOPULARITY.

in the year the bishop contemplated an independent voyage in the Undine, and not as in the previous year in H.M.S. Dido, to the Melanesian groups. The colonists disliked the idea of the bishop spending so much time at sea and at a distance from his diocese proper: although Bishop Selwyn had no opportunity of benefiting the trade of the place which he made his home by dispensing a large income, there was the same jealous contention for the honour of a bishop resident among them which has been found in towns in England, covetous of the distinction of being raised to the dignity of a city by giving a title to newly-founded Sees. There was also lingering still in the colonial mind the memory of the reproof which the bishop had fearlessly administered, when he saw the greed of land embroiling the whole country: and so the popularity, which he never coveted, did not fall to his share, and people did not hesitate freely to criticize his doings, whatever they were. The kindlier folks thought he was 'fond of yachting,' and accepted the condition of things, little knowing the discomforts of a 17-ton schooner with a dozen or so of native lads crowding the cabin, and with a crew of only four hands, neither considering the perils of navigation in unknown waters and among people reputed to be savage and bloodthirsty, and with not a single defensive weapon of any kind on board.

During these first ten years of his episcopate he was most unpopular in Wellington, though later on there was no place where he was more highly esteemed. Landing late in the evening in a little dinghey, he heard two men on the beach talking about his schooner, and one of them asked, "What's that schooner that has come in this evening?" to which the other replied, "Oh, that old fool the bishop's." Just then the dinghey grounded on the shore, and, rubbing his hands and chuckling, he jumped out of the boat saying, "Yes, and here's the old fool himself."

On another occasion of his putting in to Wellington harbour, he was amused to learn that a Dissenter had

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recently exhumed and reprinted an old tract which had had a run in England, whose title was "Why I am a Dissenter." One of the reasons given was "Because Bishops have 10,000l. a year, and go about in carriages, whereas the Apostles went on foot, and had neither silver nor gold." The time of publication was ill-chosen: for side by side with the little Undine, the John Wesley, on her duty of carrying the Wesleyan Superintendent round his much smaller circuit, dropped her anchor, a well-found schooner of 200 tons. The retort was tempting and obvious, if not ad rem; and a zealous Churchman published a leaflet with the title "Why I am not a Dissenter"--the chief reason assigned being "Because the Wesleyan Superintendent sails in a schooner of 200 tons, while the Bishop of New Zealand goes much longer voyages in a yacht of 20 tons."

From Auckland several letters were written. For the new institution at Porirua he sought to obtain from his brother-in-law the Dean of Ely the sympathy and support which it seems to be the duty of ancient Foundations to extend to struggling efforts in a new world: this was a case of unusual claims, the college-lands being the offering of natives for the benefit of both races.


ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, July 12th, 1849.

May I solicit your good offices in favour of a new institution, which we are beginning to found, called Trinity College, Porirua: to be the centre of education for the southern division of this island?

My native scholars, formerly at this college, have made over 600 acres of their own land, with consent of the other owners, for the purpose, as they express it, "of a College for the native and English youth, that they may be united together as one people, in the new principle of faith in Christ and obedience to the Queen."

The reason for the name of Trinity College is because our family were equally divided between Trinity and St. John's, e.g.:--

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NEW ZEALAND ALMANAC.

The addition of your name and of my wife's two brothers gives a preponderating claim to Trinity, of which I hope all brothers and brothers-in-law will show their sense by their vigorous exertions to place Trinity before St. John's, though second, as at Cambridge, in order of time.

I will send you further particulars when the plans are more matured; but the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Mr. Hawkins, has all the details of the proposal, and would be happy to receive the assistance of all who would be willing to take an interest in the plan.

Sarah and I hope to go to Porirua to spend the summer, and to break ground. In about a fortnight I hope to sail for New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines; and to bring back with me some swarthy youths for education at our Polynesian College. Perhaps I may be able to send you some contributions to your ethnographical stock; for I find that your learned men are still indebted to Cook's scanty vocabulary of the New Caledonia language.

We are in want of such mathematical books as are sufficient for a common degree at Cambridge. We do not aspire higher at present. Perhaps you could tell me which are the best and simplest poll books now in use, and direct them to be sent out in sets of twenty.

I send a copy of our Almanac, in hopes of eliciting from you some scraps of European science by means of which we may shine in borrowed plumes "pavone ex Pythagoreo."

The calculation of eclipses frightens me by the terribly long formula in the Nautical Almanac. I have not yet attained to accuracy in the rising and setting of the moon; the error I suppose lying in some misapplication of the horizontal parallax. If Fanny would use her scissors in extracting the most useful statistical and other informa-

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tion, at much, less length than the British Almanac, but in the same style, and send them out pasted in a paper book, it would tend much to invest our Annual with a value not its own. By this organ I convey a knowledge of the Church system into all parts of the diocese, and therefore I am most anxious that it should be generally useful and popular.

I have found it most useful to have recognised proxenoi [Greek] for different parts of the works in this country, to represent me in England, in that behalf. If you would allow me to consider you as an honorary proxenos [Greek] or agent of Trinity College, Porirua, as a centre and nucleus of information and interest on that subject, it would very much tend to promote the success of the undertaking. We do not intend to go on fast, but to make some progress if possible every year."


Friends both in New Zealand and in England were doubtful about the wisdom or the possibility of the work which the bishop was proposing for himself in Melanesia. It was essentially a work of unwearying patience. Year after year he contemplated no immediate result of his landing, unarmed and alone, on the shores of these islands, generally among menacing crowds of savages and cannibals, beyond the establishing a good understanding, the obtaining a recognition of himself and his ship as being distinct from other captains and vessels, and the acquisition of some of the multitude of dialects which were spoken. It is courage of the highest type which thus patiently grapples with a work whose details must be small, slow in development, and leading, even supposing the maximum of success to be attained, only to the loan of a few lads born and bred amid the defilements and cruelties of heathenism, on whom the influence of Christianity and civilization is to be brought to bear. The bishop had clearly arranged his plans, and was quite satisfied that only in this way could the work be done. He had faith enough to foresee a vision of groups of boys entrusted to his care at St. John's and Porirua, and these returning to

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ANAITEUM.

their homes as in some sort Missionaries, and again and again coming to the college for further training; some of these he foresaw would be sent back with the grace of Orders and the gifts of the Priesthood, to impress, with a force which no European could hope to possess, the consciences and hearts of their heathen brethren, and to build up the Church of Christ in their islands. It was an entirely original as well as a noble conception, and subsequent events have amply proved its wisdom.

On August 1st the Undine left her moorings for Anaiteum, a run of 1,000 miles being made in ten days, spite of heavy weather and cross winds. In the episcopal log on August 11th, is this entry--"1,000 miles in 10 days. To Him, whom the winds and the sea obey, be praise and glory for ever and ever, Amen." Here, as had been arranged, he met H.M.S. Havannah, whose captain (Erskine), in common with all who sailed with him, had a warm respect for the bishop. The obligation was not wholly on one side. The man-of-war was beholden to the tender (for the bishop spoke of Captain Erskine as his "commanding officer," and of the Undine as the tender to the Havannah), not merely for performing the duties of a pilot, and also to the character and courage of its "Bishop-Skipper" for free and safe intercourse with the people. In his first voyage among the Melanesian groups he had absolutely no charts, and subsequently, until his own drawings became available, he had only some very ancient Russian and Spanish charts.

From Anaiteum he addressed a letter of remonstrance to a friend in England, who had expressed both anxiety for his safety and doubt as to the wisdom of devoting to the Melanesian work the amount of time without which failure was certain: the letter showed how carefully and patiently his plans had been laid, and how anxious he was that they should not be misunderstood or misrepresented.

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COLLEGE SCHOONER "UNDINE," AT ANCHOR,

ANAITEUM, NEW HEBRIDES,

Lat. 20 S.; Long. 170 E.,

August 12th, 1819.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

The first fruits of the new chronometer are justly due to you, to whom I am indebted for this, and for a large portion also of the Undine. May God enable me to make the only return which you desire by using them to His glory, and for the extension of His kingdom. In this peaceful harbour, unknown to the civilized world, at least to the hydrographers, I can commune with you in heart and in perfect rest, during a portion of the Lord's day, which I am now enjoying after a voyage of a thousand miles....

In such a place, and under such circumstances, love would be born, if it did not exist; and existing, grows apace with that tropical luxuriance which is produced by warmth of the heart. There is something of truth, as well as of poetry in the idea of Virgil, that the hearts of the Carthaginians are not deadened by the being too far removed from the chariot of the sun. But while I thus recognise the effect of tropical heat upon warmth and kindliness of affection, I must acknowledge the greatness of that inward heat, independent of place and circumstances, which can produce in Lat. 51.30 N. such fruits of genuine friendship as I experience continually from you.

You will accept it I hope as an evidence of this gush of gratitude towards you which has come upon me to-day, that I tax your unwearied friendship for new efforts. There are not many persons whom I could ask to do anything more after all that you have done. But at the same time that you have supplied my present wants, you have always stimulated me to further demands; and that by the most powerful of all arguments, that it does good to the Church at home to have its diffusive duties so brought before its view. Here then is the substance of this day's meditations, conceived, I hope, in no presumptuous spirit, nor without prayer, but with the fullest confidence that they are all within the scope of our Christian obligation, and that therefore means and strength will be supplied for the work which it is our duty to undertake.

It has been the concurrent feeling of many wise and

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ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGES.

pious men, and even of Gibbon, that New Zealand would become the Britain of the Southern hemisphere. Setting aside all other points of similarity involved in the prediction, I fix my thoughts steadily upon one, and pray for God's grace to make my diocese the great missionary centre of the Southern Ocean. The thought upon which I commented so feebly at Windsor on November 4, 1841, has grown irresistibly upon me, "the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee"; it seems as if God had marked out "my path upon the mountain wave, my home upon the deep." Few men are so entirely at their ease at sea, or so able to use every moment of time, perhaps more effectually because with less distraction than on shore. The effect of this is, that in a voyage of reasonable duration I can master the elements of a new language sufficiently to enter at once into communications, more or less, with the native people, and thus to secure a further progress every day by the removal of the first difficulty. Here then is the first step. I feel myself called upon by these natural advantages to carry the Gospel into every island which has not received it, and which, within wide limits, may be considered as affiliated in faith and hope to the New Zealand Church.

But do not suppose that I wish to devote myself to the life of a sea-bird, dropping here and there a seed, which the nearest land-bird may forthwith devour; but I look (still in faith and submission) to those "twins of learning," Trinity and St. John's, as the central reservoirs into which all my phials will be poured from the wells and springs of many nations. There I should hope to spend such portions of my time as I can allot to collegiate residence, in the midst of my scholars of "many tongues," who are all being conformed to the "one tongue of immortals." Here then is my second point. I need men of a right stamp to conduct the central organization of a system, which will require an entire devotion, in a spirit of the most single-minded love, of every faculty of body and mind, to duties apparently of the humblest kind, to the most petty and wearisome details of domestic life, and to the simplest rudiments of teaching; but all sanctified by the object in view, which is to take wild and naked savages from among every untamed and lawless people, and to

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teach them to sit at the feet of Christ, "clothed and in their right mind." Religion, civilization, and sound learning; all, in short, that is needful for a man, seems to he meant by those three changes--the feet of Christ; the clothing; and the right mind.

I almost checked myself, while I was writing the above words, with something like a fear that you would think me visionary, and that I should lose your confidence by proposing too much. But I assure you I am not mad, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. "Reasonable service" are words which have haunted me for years past. All that I have proposed is being done by emissaries of the world; except, of course, that part in which the world feels no interest, and can take no share. While I have been sleeping in my bed in New Zealand, these islands, the Isle of Pines, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, New Ireland, New Britain, New Guinea, the Loyalty Islands, the Kingsmills, &c. &c., have been riddled through and through by the whale fishers and traders of the South Sea. That odious black slug, the beche-la-mer, has been dragged out of its hole in every coral reef, to make black broth for Chinese mandarins, by the unconquerable daring of English traders, while I, like a worse black slug as I am, have left the world all its field of mischief to itself. The same daring men have robbed every one of these islands of its sandal-wood, to furnish incense for the idolatrous worship of the Chinese temples, before I have taught a single islander to offer up his sacrifice of prayer to the true and only God. Even a mere Sydney speculator could induce nearly a hundred men from some of the wildest islands in the Pacific to sail in his ships to Sydney to keep his flocks and herds, before I, to whom the Chief Shepherd has given commandment to seek out His sheep that are scattered over a thousand isles, have sought out or found so much as one of those which have strayed and are lost. Is this then enthusiasm, or is it "reasonable service?"

Nor is this without regard to New Zealand itself. May we not hope that as England has doubtless felt the reflex effect of its missionary efforts, so the decaying fire of missionary spirit may be rekindled in New Zealand, by its awakened interest in the island missions. I left the

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REASONABLE SERVICE.

Governor and Chief Justice and some of our senior Missionaries organizing a plan for this very purpose. The voyage of the Undine gave a point and impulse to their feelings. If it should please God to open a door for some good beginning during this present voyage, I do not doubt that I shall find liberal hearts and hands in New Zealand to assist in the commencement of the work. But I look to you for aid in the main design; not only, I mean, as regards the means, but also for helping others to understand, who are sometimes more ready to question than to assist.

"What is the bishop about?" "Setting up another college before he has established the first?" "Off again to the islands, when he is so much wanted at home." "I fear he has too many irons in the fire." These are some of the remarks which I am prepared to expect, but which I write now to deprecate. Not that I suspect you of any such ideas, but I wish you to be clearly informed that you may assist in stretching the minds of others.

All these things are parts of a connected work which I do not, of course, expect to live to complete, but which, I have no doubt, a succession of faithful bishops of New Zealand would be enabled by God's blessing to accomplish. Am I to presume upon a succession of sluggards, or lay out plans so poor and miserable as to involve the seeds of failure in their own original insufficiency? If a man finds but one talent given to him, we are taught to expect that he will think it useless and bury it in the ground. If God should enable me before my death to lay out the ground plan of a great design, and to leave it in a hopeful and progressive, though incomplete state, I should die in faith that succeeding bishops would not refuse to add each his course of stone to the rising edifice, in which, as in our cathedrals, all individual pride of foundership would be lost, and buried in the venerable line of spiritual architects.

You see then what I shall require. In the course of two or three years, if this work grows upon me, a larger vessel will be needed; not for comfort or safety, for the dear little Undine, under God's protection, has borne me safely over so many raging waves that it would be ungrateful to discard her for any personal consideration. But I could

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not with any prudence or propriety crowd her with my scholars in these hot climates, as I do in the south, where for weeks together I have had a mess of sixteen in a space not so large as an Eton boy's smallest single room. But this is the very point and key of the whole system, the constant interchange of scholars between the college and their own homes. If I were to keep them away altogether, not only would the parents (very properly) send to take them away; but even while they remained at school, the great benefit to the parents, and the great impulse to the system, which is afforded by the sight of the progressive improvement of the youths, would be entirely lost. Again, to transplant scholars from the college too soon, would be to lose the best fruit of their training; for we gain little if we do not succeed in rearing native teachers and ministers, but scarcely any would stay from early youth to such an age as would qualify them for any responsible situations, without ever returning to their parents. We have youths who have been with us six years, in which time they have gone home frequently for the holidays and have returned again. To carry out a system of frequent intercourse with their own countrymen, which would be necessary and beneficial in every respect, would require a vessel of considerable size; that is, from 100 to 150 tons; whereas the little Undine is only 21, new measurement. But this is a matter of no immediate importance, as at present there are not funds for the current expenses of such a vessel, though the first cost might perhaps be supplied. At present I wish you to bear in mind, and to communicate with E. Palmer, Gladstone, and others, that, if it please God to prolong my present health and strength, I am prepared, if means be supplied, to undertake the personal inspection and supervision of the whole of Melanesia--that is, of all islands lying between the meridian of the East Cape of New Zealand or nearly 180 degrees, to the meridian of Cape York and the Eastern Coast of Australia; and I am convinced that I could do this, not only without injury, but with the greatest possible benefit to my own work in New Zealand.


You will observe, that I have said nothing about men, except the organizing staff for the two colleges; one reason

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MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS.

is, that these Northern Islands are very unhealthy, and it is likely that a great and unprofitable waste of human life would be caused by relying upon an English ministry. A native agency is the great thing needed; and the reason of my extreme caution in applying for men of peculiar qualifications is my belief that there is not one man in a thousand of generally good and pious clergymen, who has or can have the least idea of what would be required of him in the conduct of a native teachers' college. This I suppose to be the reason of the failures, or at least of the limited success, of such institutions as have been already formed in other heathen countries. I gather from the Visitation Journal of our dear brother of Colombo, that his experience in this respect coincides with mine.

Here ends my day's meditation, and as I have just consulted your chronometer, which ticks loudly in front of me, and find that by Greenwich time it is just eleven, that is, by local time, twenty minutes past ten, it is time for me to prepare for bed by remembering you, and all yours, and your works, in my evening prayer, which I trust, will go up to heaven with those, which you are now just offering up in the morning service of the Church....


August 17th, 1849.

Still at Anaiteum; and not sorry to be in harbour, as the weather has been very thick and rainy, and therefore not favourable for encountering the reefs of New Caledonia. The time, however, is not lost, as this little place is the centre of information on all matters relating to the sandalwood trade, which extends over all the neighbouring islands. By information which I have received since I have been here, I am led to hope that an opening into New Caledonia may be made at a place called Jengen, on the east coast, and about midway between Capes Colnet and Coronation. The French Mission formerly occupied a station at Balade, where Cook anchored in 1774; when he found the people to excel all other islanders whom he had seen in honesty and friendliness of disposition. To our shame be it confessed, that three-quarters of a century, during which they have been left to receive and inflict every kind of outrage, have so entirely altered their original character for the worse, that there are many places where I should not think

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of risking the schooner or myself. But I assume it as an axiom, that where a trader will go for gain, there the missionary ought to go for the merchandise of souls. The issue of the undertaking I leave to Him who provides, far better than we ourselves, for the course of the future.

I have spent much time with the Protestant missionaries who have been placed here since my visit in the Dido; one of whom, a Presbyterian from Nova Scotia, I had seen before in the Navigator's Islands; the other, Mr. Powell, is connected with the London Mission. You are probably aware of the rule which I make in visiting missions connected with other bodies of Christians. I abstain from taking any part in their public services, but I endeavour to give them every encouragement and advice which my acquaintance with the mission work enables me to suggest. With the Wesleyan Missions I can go no further, as the popery of their system, in spreading the name of Wesley, and the authority of the Conference over their whole mission field, precludes all hope of communion, till the main body in England shall have changed its present opinion on the advantage of separation from the Church, which their founder loved and venerated to the day of his death. But the London Mission leaves the field open for the development of native churches, unconnected, as such, with any particular body in England, and to which they do not profess to prescribe any particular form of government. I therefore live in hope, that the time will come, when the work of the English missionaries, under God's blessing, will have raised up a native ministry in every group of islands, and that these ministers, meeting in conference or convocation, will adopt such a form of Church government as would at once enable the native and English Church of New Zealand to communicate with them. My visits then, if I should be allowed to see that day, would be that of a helper to their faith, and a partner of their joy. On the contrary, to inflict upon these simple islanders all the technical distinctions of English dissent, would be indeed to contradict that spirit of unity which is our only warrant for the hope of success in the mission field.

The only incidents which have occurred to break the

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NUMEROUS DIALECTS.

quiet of my sojourn here have been the capture of a small whale, and the excitement of the whole native population in cutting up the flesh, which fell to their share after the blubber had been removed. This enabled me to see an animated picture of the native character; which is still in as primitive a state, in respect of appearance and manners, as when Captain Cook first discovered these islands in this very month of August, 1774. The distribution of the whale naturally led to a native feast, of which the following is an idea.

In the foreground is a pile of taro, behind it a supply of sugar-cane, and in the corner near the house a heap of cocoa-nuts arranged as regularly as the cannon-balls in Woolwich arsenal. The feast had not begun while I stayed, but the preparations were made. The wide-spreading tree with the twisted stems is a banian-tree, of which there is generally one in all places in the South Seas where public meetings are held.

You may conceive with what interest I shall look upon the progress of the Gospel in these islands, where at present there is not so much as one single believer. In New Zealand the work had been carried on thirty years before I came into the country, and all the other stations which I have seen have been of, at least, ten or twelve years' standing. But from this point, to the north, south, and west, all is dark; and it will therefore be most delightful to watch the Sun of Righteousness rising from the east, and lighting up in succession every island to the westward, till the whole of this marvellous labyrinth, into which God has scattered the sons of Shem, be evangelized by the enlargement of Japhet. One sure ground of hope is the verification which we find here of the Scripture narrative, confirming of course also the truth of the promises of Scripture. Nothing but a special interposition of the Divine power could have produced such a confusion of tongues as we find here. In islands not larger than the Isle of Wight we find dialects so distinct, that the inhabitants of the various districts hold no communication one with another. Here have I been for a fortnight, working away, as I supposed, at the language of New Caledonia, by aid of a little translation of portions of Scripture made by a native teacher sent by the London

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Mission from Rarotonga, and just when I have begun to see my way, and to be able to communicate a little with an Isle of Pines boy whom I found here, I learn that this is only a dialect used in the southern extremity of the island, and not understood in the part which I wish to attack first. This however will be no discouragement, as it would be very hard if so many learned men can devote so much of their time to ethnography, and to learning languages, which are useful to them only for general comparison and research, and yet that those to whom the commandment is given to preach the Gospel to every creature should shrink from the same work, as if the promise were of no value that Christ will be with us always, and that His Spirit will give us a mouth and wisdom, which all our adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. But we shall need a Propaganda with regular professors, having the double duty of teaching new missionaries the languages of the stations for which they are designed, and of training the young natives who come to the college for instruction. What should you think of an Eton at the Antipodes, in which a different language was spoken at every master's house?

I have now closed up my letter, but I shall not seal it till the John Williams arrives, as we may sail some days in company; and thus I shall be able to fill up my journal to the last day of her final departure.


It was with a full consciousness of the perils which lay before him that the bishop had entered on this voyage: it was not his wont to talk about them, but he had made all provision both in regard to his private affairs and diocesan funds for the very possible contingency of his not returning.

One who loved him well and shared to the full the mingled feelings of hope and fear with which his friends saw him sail forth on these unknown perils, thus described the scene of his departure:--


"We have just parted with our bishop, and seen him go off on his lonely mission voyage. Our feelings have been strangely varied. We rejoice to see him enter on

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PERILS.

such a work, and are thankful for these opening prospects; and yet saddening thoughts and human fears will mingle with high hopes: fears of perils by sea and of perils by the heathen--yea, even to that bitterest thought that we may see his face no more.

"All was ready at 6 P.M., but there was no breeze; so the boat was ordered back till the early morning tide, and we drew round the fire, thankful for a reprieve. The bishop read out of a large old-fashioned volume the account of Captain Cook's first visit to New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines. It was about the same time of year seventy years ago, so he got some account of the prevalent winds as Cook's ship ran from New Caledonia to New Zealand. We lingered till past midnight, unwilling to part, and then knelt down to receive his blessing.

"Some at home and here may talk of risks, and that the bishop has enough to do in his immediate diocese, and that it is better to build up what is planted, and the like. But it seems like a great instinct in our bishop's mind that he must dig foundations and hew stones, and heave them up single-handed; and they that come after him will do the polishing and ornamenting, and look with satisfaction on the symmetrical buildings of which he in care and sorrow laid the first stones. Not that he is unfitted for the fine work. Few better able than he to construct and build up. But then everybody likes the nice work. Nobody likes the rough beginnings which bring no present results and small glorification. How we have waited for the St. Bernards to join our Stephen of Citeaux. Perhaps it is not to be that we shall have men like-minded. Perhaps the very thing needful for him is to go with care on his lonely path sowing precious seed. But the harvest will come, and at the Resurrection morning he will have abundant joy.

"We would fain see him go in a larger vessel. But he is anxious about incurring any extra expense. A few tons difference brings more cost, sails, cordage, hands, &c. He has no fear, and has run so many voyages in his little schooner that it is difficult to say much. Pie and his wife are scrupulously careful in all their own expenses while so large-hearted and handed in everything for the public good."

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The record of the cruise which Captain Erskine published in 1853 1 is full of admiring and independent testimony to the bishop's courage. The commander of a ship of war is liable to no antecedent suspicions of ultra-missionary tendencies, and it will be seen that the moral courage of the bishop prompted him to do things from which a naval officer shrunk and would have risked only at the call of duty; but then the bishop was always "on duty." Two or three extracts from Captain Erskine's pages must be given:--

"It must be admitted that the enterprise undertaken by the bishop, who would not permit an arm of any description on board his vessel, was one of no little risk; and when informed by him that he had permitted many of the Erromangans, whose hostility to white men is notorious, to come on board in Dillon's Bay, I was ready to allow that it required the perfect presence of mind and dignified bearing of Bishop Selwyn, which seemed never to fail in impressing these savages with a feeling of his superiority, to render such an act one of safety and prudence.

"Sunday, September 2nd.--A canoe with several men ventured on board the Undine in the morning, but did not as yet dare approach the large ship. The bishop preached on board the Havannah to a very attentive congregation, and after service I took him in one of our cutters to the shore, to open a communication with the people, several of whom were seen on a rocky eminence overlooking a small cove. They seemed to be pleased at our landing, but were evidently in a great fright, and it was not without much coaxing that three of them were persuaded to enter the boat. A red worsted comforter given to him who appeared the boldest of the party excited their cupidity, but did not allay their fears, as they repeatedly asked if they might return when they pleased, and were more than once on the point of jumping overboard to swim back to the shore, as we rowed off to the ship. The principal personage of the three, who were all young men, sat in the stern-sheets, laughing and trembling

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LETTER TO DR. KEATE.

by turns, now and then patting the bishop or myself on the back and calling us "Alihi Asori"(great chiefs), which he explained was also his own rank, one of his comrades being merely an "Alihi," and the third no chief at all. Arrived alongside, their fears returned, and they would not venture on board, until the bishop, to overcome their hesitation, stepped into a canoe containing three or four other men, which had followed our boat, when they cautiously mounted the side."


The object of the voyage was satisfactorily attained, for the bishop was able to take away with him to New Zealand five lads from the islands of New Caledonia, Lifu and Mare, and the two ships parted company, Captain Erskine recording--

"At 5 P.M. we weighed, and ran out of the roads, admiring, as we passed and waved our adieu to the Undine, the commanding figure of the truly gallant Bishop of New Zealand as, steering his own little vessel, he stood surrounded by the black heads of his disciples."


The compulsory leisure while lying at anchor at Anaiteum produced a humorous letter from the bishop to his old master, Dr. Keate. The facsimile of the bishop's "Design Map" will not be without interest for old Etonians; and it will be observed that the bishop anticipated a modern poet in giving to Eton boys the title of "young barbarians."


"UNDINE," AT ANCHOR, ANAITEUM,

NEW HEBRIDES, S. Lat. 20.10; Long. 170 E. August 19th, 1849.

MY DEAR DR. KEATE,

You will not perhaps consider it as a compliment that I am reminded by the wild and untrained barbarians, among whom I am now cruising, to fulfil an intention, which I have long had in my mind, of writing a letter to you, to whom in gratitude and justice I owe so many. But such is literally the fact, that Anaiteum, strangely enough, connected itself in my mind with Eton; and these lawless natives with the recollection of the state in which I and many others were before our "general

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conduct" was reformed, sometimes by judicious forbearance, and sometimes by well-deserved castigation. I have often thought how much the office of a missionary needs these qualities, which enable the head-master of a public school to coerce the troubled waves of that "boy sea" which is so essentially barbarian in all its impulses and appetites. Without that patience and forbearance which I experienced from you when I was among the most impudent savages of your division, I might now have been one of those wandering and restless spirits, whom I meet at every place, cast off by some early impatience of control into a life of effort without purpose, spent in continual and random motion, like that rolling stone which proverbially gathers no moss. From the experience of my own youth, I gather, I hope, many useful lessons for my peculiar ministry, where nothing would ever be done if we did not look beyond the outside appearance, and discern the signs of latent good beneath the most unpromising surface.

I do not know whether I have clearly explained the connexion of idea between Anaiteum and yourself; but on the simpler and more obvious ground of the power of learning to tame the savage mind "Ingenuas didicisse, &c," one of the Roman Catholic priests at this place gave me an amusing example. Some years ago they had a mission on the northern end of New Caledonia, from which they were driven; but they still have with them a native boy from that country, who, as the priest informed me with evident satisfaction, had learned Latin. As I was not requested to examine him, I cannot speak of the amount of his knowledge; but the effect of the literae humaniores, or other causes, had certainly reformed the savage, and converted him into a very orderly and pleasing youth. I hope to carry back with me to St. John's a decade of Melanesian youths; but I fear that I must postpone the administration of the Latin remedy till the English doctors at the college can write their prescriptions in a more Ciceronian style. At present we are at the Shakspearian standard of small Latin and less Greek, and any attempt to raise the standard at present would, I fear, only raise the value of Smart's Horace, and Dawson's Lexicon. Abraham has a noble held before him,



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"REMOVE TRIALS."

as Romulus had, to build up a college (in all its literary character) from the very foundation. He will find, however, some appetite awakened by the tantalizing effect of a name without a reality. While we have been striving on from year to year, with a much larger body than our funds could maintain, and for that reason doing many things for ourselves, which are usually procured by hired labour, parents have asked what use it is for their sons to be taught to dig and to plough, and now ask for more Latin and Greek, of which, if it had been offered to them at first, they would have been the first to question the utility. Circumstances seem to make it likely that this will become a learned colony by the negation of learning in the first instance. The time seems to be approaching when the growing appetite may safely be gratified, and I hold in my hands the sluice-gates of "As in Praesenti," to irrigate the thirsty land as soon as the paedometer has risen to its proper level.

Another recollection of Eton is supplied by the charts, which I am obliged to make for my own use, of these seas, at present but little known to hydrographers. As a recollection of Remove Trials, and of one of the many pieces of impudence for which I now beg forgiveness, I now send in my new "trial map," with a "device" as old as 1822; but not done as most of the best devices were in later days by "the Miss Keates."

I am now waiting for the Havannah frigate, as Captain Erskine consented to meet me here on the 25th of August, to accomplish which I started on the 1st of August, and enjoyed such an unexpected rapidity of voyage that I have now been here ten days (23rd), and it is still two days from the day appointed for meeting. The little Undine ran the distance of 1,000 miles in exactly ten days, out of which nearly two were spent in that state which is called professionally "lying-to," when the wind is contrary, or the sea too high to allow of our running before it. The genius of the Anglo-Saxon race in New Zealand is more likely to be shown in "spinning yarns," in nautical phrase, than in that which Sydney Smith considers its peculiar province, the manufacture of calico; for every inhabitant of our sea-girt islands becomes a mariner more or less by force of necessity. I trust that this may

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lead, as it has in England, to a diffusive energy of commercial enterprise, and especially of that commerce which has for its object the gain of souls and the extension of the dominion of the Gospel.

I must congratulate you and Mrs. Keate on the appointment of my friend John to the living of Hartley, a concentration of family interest and feeling which I have learned to value by the severing of all such visible and outward bonds of union in my own life and ministry. But as every man is generally led by Providence into the work for which he is naturally fitted, or is taught some measure of fitness by the practical exercise of his duties, I have no doubt that John will be happy, neither more nor less, in his little parish of Hartley, than his predecessor, the Bishop of Sydney, and I shall be in a field of duty which can be measured only by degrees of latitude and longitude. John will, I am sure, accept my warmest congratulations and best wishes for that blessing upon his ministry which is equally needed in the smallest or the largest work.

With my most affectionate regards to Mrs. Keate, Anna, Margaret, and Louie, and Miss Brown, and to any other, whether Coleridge or Durnford, who may be with you, I remain, my dear Doctor Keate,

Your affectionate and grateful friend and scholar,

G. A. NEW ZEALAND.


On the homeward voyage the following letter, showing the difficulties of the work and the bishop's plans, was written:--


TO WILLIAM SELWYN, ESQ.

"UNDINE" SCHOONER, OFF NEW CALEDONIA,

S. Lat. 20.58.; Long. 166.18 E.

Sept. 15th, 1849.

MY DEAR FATHER,

As you are a great traveller yourself within the limits of your home circuit of Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, Melbourne, Ely, and Cambridge, I generally dedicate to you the narrative of my wanderings, which, in the present instance, will be embodied in the form of a new number of the Illustrated Melanesian News, 2 the chief part of my present voyage having brought me into communication

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VARIETY OF DIALECTS.

with the posterity of Ham, with some small admixture of the blood of Shem. The darker skin, the woolly hair, and the projecting mouth, have been predominant in all the islands which I have visited. But a distinction still more remarkable is seen in the amazing multiplicity of languages, as if the curse upon the builders of Babel had fallen with tenfold weight upon the race of Ham, and had involved them in a "confusion worse confounded" than that which fell upon the rest of the human race. Among the Asiatic or Malay race, which has spread itself over the islands to the eastward, the differences of language amount to no more than dialects of the same languages; so that a person well acquainted with one may readily acquire any of the others. Even small detached islands retain a greater similarity one to another than is found in the larger groups. With natives of Rarotonga I converse almost as freely as with New Zealanders; and an islander from a small and nameless spot on the equator, who was picked up at sea adrift in his canoe, was delighted to hear from me a dialect so much nearer to his own than that of the Samoan (Navigator) islanders, among whom he was living.

On the contrary, every island in the New Hebrides and New Caledonia groups has at least one language of its own; and sometimes in the same small island the dialects are sufficiently different to preclude all intercourse between the tribes. In Tanna there are at least three dialects which would require a separate study. In New Caledonia there will probably be found to be a still greater diversity. Each of the Loyalty Islands, Uea, Lifu, and Mare, has its own speech. The same confusion is found among the Australian tribes, and has retarded, I fear I may say prevented, the introduction of Christianity.

But you must not suppose that these fragments of the one primeval language have become so shattered and corrupted as to show no sign of systematic organization. On the contrary, the language of the little island of Anaijom, which is spoken by no more than 1,500 people, is so complicated in its structure that the natives of other islands who come to reside there are said to be unable to master it; but that an Anaijom man (as is usually the case) can acquire readily the language of any other country.

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In common with the Asiatic islanders, the black races have that delicate use of the exclusive and inclusive pronoun, which is so powerful in some modes of speech; as in the noble speech of Abijah (2 Chron. xiii. 11): "We keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken Him." How confused is our "We," or the Greek imeis, [Greek] or Latin Nos (which might include the persons to whom Abijah was speaking), compared with the emphatic Polynesian......"matou," / or the Melanesian (Anaijom) "aijeama," } we, but not you,
as opposed to the "tatou" and "akaijea" which would include the persons addressed.

But the Melanesian dialects have a distinction unknown to the eastern Polynesians in a separate pronoun, which we call a triplial, or trial, for the special use of the number Three. The Greek is as much behind the languages of Tanna and Anaijom in lacking the Trial, as we are inferior to the Greek by the defect of the Dual. The force and clearness with which an Anaijom man would translate the witches' song--"When shall we three (etmai-taij) meet again"--would far exceed the languages of Europe. Even the teaching of the doctrine of the Trinity is aided by this refinement of language in a people supposed to be so barbarous.

This preface on the languages of the Western Islands is not intended simply as a general heading to usher in a long disquisition, like one of Cicero's Proaemia, for I have neither knowledge nor inclination for such a work; but it is necessary in order to explain to you the reasons which will make this voyage entirely barren, at least for the present, of all spiritual fruit, viz., that I am unable to communicate with the people in their own languages; and therefore that I shall have no conversions or baptisms to report. But in the same manner as travellers penetrate into a dark cave, and, when they find that daylight fails them, send for torches to enlighten the gloom, which, when kindled, are reflected by a thousand mirrors from the spars and stalactites on all sides, the crystals which had never seen the light before, now proving their fitness to receive and to diffuse it; so, after once groping in the dark among these heathen islands, I hope to be enabled, by God's blessing, to return again with some willing and faithful men,

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DANGERS OF THE VOYAGE.

who will devote themselves to this work of making their Master's light shine in the darkness; with the fullest confidence that in this, as in all other cases, it will not be long before it will be caught and reflected by the native youths, who have always been found the most willing instruments in imparting to others the blessing which they have received.

The voyage of H.M.S. Havannah round many of the islands in the Pacific, which began in June last, seemed to be a favourable opportunity for visiting many places, which are scarcely safe for a small vessel unprovided with arms, and engaged in a mission of peace. The death of Mr. Williams, at Erromango, in the New Hebrides, and of a French bishop at Ysabel, in the Solomon group, besides the almost numberless reports of affrays with trading vessels, were quite enough to point out the danger of going alone; and, even if I had felt myself worthy of the crown of martyrdom, it would have been sufficient to know that it was never granted by the Primitive Church to those who needlessly exposed themselves to death. The example of the great Apostolic Missionary teaches us to find some basket by which to escape down the wall, or some friendly soldier to guard our retreat by night, till the time come when we are now, by God's appointment, "ready to be offered," and when "the time of our departure is at hand." But no one can go through these seas without finding with humiliation how the martyrs of the Cross fall short, both in number and in energy, of the martyrs of the world. Almost every place which I have visited has its record of English lives sacrificed to the love of gain; and of that kind of gain so dear to our enterprising race, which is acquired by exposure to danger. The efforts of the sandal-wood traders for their own worldly ends have shown the spirit, if not the wisdom, "of the children of this world," and reduce all the works of the children of light to their own true and humble level of "reasonable service." In conformity with this general principle of avoiding all unnecessary risk, I availed myself of the kindness of Captain Erskine to appoint a time for meeting at Anaiteum, the southernmost of the New Hebrides, where he intended to arrive from the Navigator and Fiji Islands on or about the 25th August.

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Accordingly, on the 1st August, the Undine put to sea, attended, as I know is the case always, by the prayers and good wishes of many Christian friends at Auckland (among whom at this time was Archdeacon Brown, of Tauranga) who felt and expressed the deepest interest in this attempt to make our Colonial Church in New Zealand a new centre of missionary light to the neighbouring islands, which still lie in darkness. Being aware of the great multiplicity of dialects, and having only two months to bestow upon the voyage, I limited my hopes to the two objects of obtaining a general knowledge of the principal islands and their chiefs, and of bringing back with me some native youths for education at St. John's. This, I hoped, would be the first beginning of the Polynesian College spoken of in my Charge, to which, if it be God's will, "the isles" will send "their sons from far unto the name of the Lord, and to the Holy One of Israel."


On October 1st the cruise ended; the bishop and his party landed at Auckland at midnight, and in the clear light of a full moon walked out to the college. His arrival was hardly expected; but doors had been left unbolted, and he came into his own house rubbing his hands, and arousing Mrs. Selwyn by exclaiming, "I've got them!" It was a triumph for which to be thankful; the five wild little islanders were the forerunners of the indigenous clergy of Melanesia. One of the lads, Thol, from Lifu, the youngest of the party, was very ill during his sojourn at St. John's, and was nursed by the bishop and Mrs. Selwyn as though he were their own child. Writing to her son in England Mrs. Selwyn thus describes him and his doings:--


ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, Nov. 6th, 1849.

"I think that I have not written to you since papa came back from his cruise in the Undine. He went to New Caledonia, to the New Hebrides, and to the Loyalty Isles, and brought back five natives from some of those islands to teach them here, that they may go back and teach their own countrymen; to make a beginning towards teaching them to be Christians; at present they know nothing



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MELANESIA.

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FIRST MELANESIAN SCHOLARS.

about religion and the things that you have been taught from your youth. But we do not get on very fast, for in all these little islands a different language is spoken. The youngest of the party, too, a boy named Thol, from the island of Lifu, has been very ill lately, so that schooling has been changed into nursing. He lies in the library, and we all take care of him, and wonder to see one who has been so little taught behave so well. On the table lies a list of Lifu words, which we learn from him, and with these and the little English he has picked up we can converse a little. He made me laugh to-day by suddenly asking me if nurse would 'fight him' if he had a cocoa-nut. He meant, of course, if she would be angry....

"He wants to have a large ship, and take a great many of us to Lifu; but especially is Johnny to go; and there, he says, his mother will carry Johnny on her back, and give him 'too much sugar-cane.' The other islanders look strange enough, because of their dark skins and yellow hair. Their names are Siapo, Uliete, and Kateingo; and there is also a boy named Thallup, from the Isle of Pines. They all appear to be very happy, only they would like it better if they could get sea-water to drink."


The story of this voyage, so full of interest and of practical results, is told in two letters addressed by the bishop to his father, and written, the first when on a Diocesan Visitation by sea in December, 1849, and the last on the return voyage to Melanesia, when the boys were restored to their homes and their native latitudes before the cold of the New Zealand winter could reach them.


TO WILLIAM SELWYN, ESQ.

"UNDINE" SCHOONER, AT SEA,

FRITH OF THE THAMES,

Dec. 6th, 1849.

MY DEAR FATHER,

My last Melanesian news ended at the island of Futuna. My stay at this island did not exceed one day, in which time I could not do more than make a preliminary acquaintance with the inhabitants, which may be improved hereafter. A young lad of pleasing demeanour who wished to go with us to school was detained by his friends.....

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At Tanna, we had scarcely anchored when our decks were crowded by a party of thirty or forty natives, who behaved with perfect honesty, though they are reputed to be great thieves. We had taken care not to put temptation in their way by leaving any movable articles on the deck. In the harbour were two sandal-wood traders, the Rovers Bride and the Phantom, which seemed to enjoy a larger amount of popularity, as trading vessels, than I could expect to obtain without the use of tobacco, which I never carry with me. It seems to be unjust to take the food, for which the natives have laboured, and to pay them in a slow poison, which will gradually unfit them for labour. There are three native teachers in this island, who soon came on board, when they heard that the Undine was a Mission vessel. They are natives of Rarotonga, the dialect of which island so closely resembles that of New Zealand that I could converse freely with them. They could not report any large number of converts, nor is it likely that men of their class will ever make much impression upon heathen minds; but they are of great use in preparing the way for English missionaries, and in acting as interpreters for them on their first arrival. This has now become the uniform practice of the London Mission, and it has some advantages; but in many respects I cannot approve of it. My chief objection is that it is lowering the whole character of the mission work to confide to a subordinate agency the preliminary operations of a mission, which, by the nature of the case, involve greater danger and require more self-denial. If there be danger of life to the early missionary, this is surely the post of duty which the servant and soldier of the Cross, who is best acquainted with his Master's will, would claim for himself. If there be no danger, then the chief argument for native agency falls to the ground. There are places where the Gospel can be preached only by natives, from the pestilential character of the climate; but this is not the case in the New Hebrides, at least in the southern islands of the group. In every other case it seems to be foreign to the high and self-denying principle of Christian love to expose a fellow-creature to danger, because his life is held to be of less value than that of his English brother. Who can tell whether Mr.

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TANNA.

Williams did not really serve God more effectually by his death than by any act of his laborious and enterprising life? May not the awakened interest in England, and the active zeal of surviving missionaries, be traced in some measure to the example of those who "jeopardised their lives unto the death," like the martyrs of old time, whose loss was requited tenfold to the Church by the still more numerous band of confessors who followed in their steps?

You will not suppose that I wish to speak unfavourably of the work of the London Mission, for I am happy to be able to say that, after considerable observation, I have received a very favourable opinion of the success of their work and of the character of their missionaries. I am bound to acknowledge with gratitude the good feeling and cordiality with which the Navigator Islands Mission at once resigned the Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia, as the natural appendages of the New Zealand Church, and placed their native teachers in those islands in connexion with me. The same rule does not apply to the New Hebrides, where the Society hopes to be able to station English missionaries. Tanna was formerly occupied by Messrs. Turner and Nesbitt, both of the London Mission, but they were driven away by the intestine wars among the tribes.

In the afternoon I went on shore with the master of the Phantom to a sandal-wood station of a Mr. Richards, which seemed to prove that the time had come when the mission work might be resumed without molestation. The carpenter of the station had been left alone in charge of the house and property, and during that time was attacked by a severe fever, from which he was convinced that he could not have recovered if he had not been constantly waited upon and fed by the natives.

The Tannese are not very prepossessing in their appearance. Like our own forefathers, their great delight is to case themselves in a complete suit of parti-coloured paint. The most acceptable presents seem to be a little vermilion to smear over their faces, a red binding to tie round their heads, and a few blue beads to hang round their necks. In selling their gigantic yams they are more cautious, and often demand an axe as the price of the largest, which are some times six feet in length and sixty pounds in weight.....

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An opportunity was offered by the sailing of the Phantom cutter for obtaining a knowledge of the neighbouring island of Erromango, so well, but painfully, known by the death of Mr. Williams. The master of the Phantom, by name Oliver, kindly undertook to show me the best anchorages on the shore of the island, for harbours there are none. We sailed out in company on Thursday, August 30th, though very unwilling to leave this pretty harbour after so short a stay. But the object of my present voyage being rather to obtain preliminary knowledge of the whole field of operations than to attempt anything, I was obliged to be content to pass rapidly on, in hope that the experience thus obtained may, by God's blessing, be turned to good account hereafter.....

You would have been amused to see the Undine racing with the Phantom before a sparkling tradewind, the Sydney racing cutter having rather the advantage till we set all sail, and took the lead. My motto I think must be,

"Nave ferar magna an parva, ferar unus et idem."

For on one day it is my lot to keep company with sandalwood traders, and on the next with her Majesty's men of war. As sources of local information the sandal-wooders are most useful companions, and I must say of them, as I have before said of many of the whale-fishers, that I have received much kindness and civility from them. In the history of the sandal-wood trade there have been many things done disgraceful to the civilized man and revolting to humanity, but these enormities are not by any means chargeable upon the traders as a class. I have reason to think Mr. Paddon, of Anaiteum, and Richards, of Tanna, conduct their trade in an humane and equitable manner. I hear an equally good account of other traders, with whom I have had no personal intercourse. It is not my desire or my office to hold up any man to public execration, otherwise the names of certain miscreants, who have disgraced their country and belied their religion by their evil deeds among these islands, would meet with the exposure which they have deserved. But I have learned to leave vengeance to Him to whom it belongs; and to His justice and to the remorse of their own conscience I consign them.

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SYSTEM OF REPRISALS.

The island of which I am now writing (Irumanga or Erromango) is one of those which has suffered most, and has retaliated most vindictively. In outward appearance the people bear the character of the negro race, with little or no admixture of the Asiatic or Polynesian feature. I am unable to say how far their language would confirm this, as I have only a small collection of their words. But it is certainly most remarkable to see even on this small island the visible traces of the curse which has so long desolated Africa. They are supposed to be the enemies of every trader, and have proved themselves to be the murderers even of the missionary. Not that I would impute to them any knowledge of the character in which Mr. Williams landed on their shores, but would rather believe that he was sacrificed to an indiscriminate thirst for vengeance, provoked by wanton and barbarous aggression. The shores of this island are remarkably favourable for that dastardly practice, followed by the French at Tahiti, of sailing round the coast at a safe distance, and firing into the dwellings of the inhabitants. They have no canoes, and have not even the poor chance of revenge by surprising a vessel in a calm. Their huts, perched on the wooded sides of steep acclivities, or nestled under the cocoa-nut trees, on the small margin of coral banks, which in some places look almost the towing path of a navigable river, present too fair a mark to be missed even by the clumsy gunner and the rusty swivel of sandal-wood traders. The deep water close to the rocks and the steady trade wind (experto crede) enable the small vessels to run along within a cable's length of the shore. Can it be wondered at that the most rancorous hatred should have grown up, in such a situation as this, between two bodies of combatants, who can never decide their quarrel by fair and open war, because the one cannot board and the other dares not to land. The first sight of Mr. Williams and his party on the beach of Dillon's Bay was enough to awaken the thirst for blood, by placing, perhaps for the first time, the power of revenge within their reach.

But I cannot agree with those who think that Mr. Williams was too rash. It is the duty of a missionary to go to the extreme point of boldness short of an exposure to known and certain danger. In these islands something

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must be risked if anything is to be done. It is quite uncertain from visit to visit in what temper the natives may be found. If any violence or loss of life should have occurred in the interval between the missionary's visits, his blood may be required, as much as that of any other white man; for it is only by the refinement of justice and by the power of true religion that man is taught to visit a crime upon the individual offender, rather than to exact the penalty from his whole race. In New Zealand it is only of late years that an aggression by any Englishman would not have been considered a sufficient reason for reprisals upon any of our countrymen. If the opportunity of satisfaction should happen to have been afforded, it is probable that the next visitor would be better treated; the debt of blood being considered to have been paid. In a former letter I think that I told you how quietly the chief of Rotuma (Granville Island) spoke of an affray with the captain of an English vessel, which he said was an affair quite settled, because one native only was killed, but two Englishmen. In a book recently published by a Mr. Coulter, surgeon of a whale ship, a sudden and unprovoked attack by the natives of Drummond Island upon a vessel commanded by a captain who had often traded with them before on the most friendly terms, is attributed to the fact that since his last visit one of their towns had been burnt and many lives destroyed by a ship, the name of which he could not ascertain. If the date of his voyage had not been given, I should have concluded that the unknown ship was the Vincennes, commanded by Commodore Wilkes, who vainly thought, in common with many other captains, that an indiscriminate massacre of the innocent with the guilty is the course by which these islanders will be taught to fear the power and to respect the laws of civilized nations. Experience seems to prove that such "demonstrations" of "physical power," more properly called "brute force," are as fruitless as Don Quixote's interference in behalf of the boy who had been whipped, which only led to his receiving a second and a more severe flogging as soon as the knight-errant was gone. Unless the civilized nations mean to garrison every island in the Pacific, they must trust more to the effect of moral influence and good example to preserve the lives of their

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INTERCOURSE WITH NATIVES.

subjects, than to the exploits of naval knights-errant, who, in default of regular war, are ambitious of signalizing then courage by actions worthy only of the buccaneers. It was long supposed that a broadside from the Alligator man-of-war, on the west coast of Taranaki, had frightened all New Zealand into submission; when now it has been found that two thousand soldiers and five ships of war had been barely enough, even with justice on our side, and therefore with the alliance also of a large majority of the native people.


"UNDINE," AT SEA, April 15th, 1850.

Lat. S. 24; Long. E. 171.

MY DEAREST FATHER,

In consequence of various delays, the last letter of my Melanesian news has been postponed till I am again at sea, and far advanced on another cruise to the same islands. This letter then, like the "Homeric Hours," will be able to hold converse with its successors as it passes over the threshold upon which they are entering. For the sake of distinctness I shall make no further mention of my present voyage, lest you should become as much confused by the dates of my whereabouts as you were formerly by the alibis of the rogues who appeared before you as Recorder of Portsmouth; but I shall revert at once to the date at which my last letter ended.....

On Wednesday, September 12, we sailed at daybreak, gliding along the still water of the lagoon with only a faint breath of wind. Two native canoes lay about a mile from us, slowly crossing to the reef for the purpose, probably, of fishing. As they were of small size, and with few men on board, it seemed to be a favourable opportunity for opening a communication with the people. Our little boat has the excellent quality of never causing any alarm; while the man-of-war's boats, on the contrary, often send the canoes paddling off as fast as they can to the shore. My two New Zealand boys, James and Sydney, rowed me to the nearest canoe, and, after all that I had heard of the savage and treacherous character of the New Caledonians, I was delighted to find on my first interview that all Captain Cook's report of their friendliness of disposition was fully confirmed. After the usual parley of signs, we exchanged tokens of amity with the three men in the

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canoe,--I presenting them with fish-hooks, which they requited with shells. I then invited one of them to visit the vessels, upon which he stepped most readily into the boat, and left his canoe to pursue its own course to the reef. It is impossible to believe that men who trust themselves so confidingly with strangers are in their own nature treacherous or cruel. The character of a people ought to be judged by the unpremeditated acts of single individuals rather than by those of large bodies. In the absence of any means of oral communication, the individual character remains almost unknown. If a murder is committed, it is said to be committed by "the natives"; if a war breaks out, "the natives" are said to be in rebellion; and by the force of this habitual error of language the whole native race is condemned for the acts of a few, till the domineering Anglo-Saxon unconsciously follows Nero in wishing that the whole native race had but one neck that he might cut it off at one blow. Surely it is a matter worthy of the gravest consideration when we find that even a great and generous nation like our own, priding itself upon its strict adherence to justice, and accustomed to hold as sacred and inviolable every right, however insignificant, of every citizen, however worthless, loses practically a large portion of its own most darling principle when it comes in contact with uncivilized tribes.... All the great and gallant nations of the world, who possess naval power, have crimes to answer for, which will be impartially adjudicated hereafter, in cases in which, in defiance of their own laws and their own principles, they have burned whole villages and massacred hundreds of men, women, and children for the untried and unproved offence of "some person or persons unknown." The captain of a man-of-war is made judge, jury, and executioner. Some interested witness, perhaps an escaped convict, the only person who can be found acquainted with the native language, is the sole evidence. This is called "summary justice," which is in fact a violation of all justice; and "salutary terror," which, so far from cowing the native tribes, makes them more terrible to all sea-faring men, and even to the great bullies themselves. This same process is going on in every part of the Southern Pacific, and if it be not arrested by wise measures will

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REMEDIAL MEASURES.

lead everywhere to the same results, of bloody retaliation and endless strife; and all because the civilized nations, in their intercourse with these islanders, have gone back five centuries in their code of international laws, and descended into the grade of feudal chieftains, or border marauders, or, still lower, into the usages of the very savages whom they condemn. Instead of the grave and impartial administration of British justice, or the solemn declaration of war by the British nation against an offending people, we see trading consuls invested with a power of life and death, not against tried and convicted offenders only, but against native tribes in general, and naval officers wielding the prerogative of her Majesty to declare war, and to burn and massacre in the name of Her who, while she holds the sword of justice, is also the fountain of mercy.

Great as is the evil and danger of the present state of things, the remedy is not so difficult as might be supposed. The prolonged presence in these seas of a really enlightened naval officer, one of those who believe that

"It is excellent to have a giant's strength,
But tyrannous to use it like a giant;"

a man like Captain Sotheby, or Captain Maxwell, or Captain Erskine, or Sir Everard Home, who will enter into the spirit of the work, and carry it out, in spite of the attractions of Sydney society, where officers dance at balls, and imbibe, in that congenial region, antipathies against all coloured races--such an officer permanently stationed in these seas, and constantly visiting all the islands, would live himself in a perpetual summer, and, wherever he went, would be like Shakspeare's sun, "to make glorious summer out of the winter of discontent." While the hurricanes are sweeping from Tahiti to New Caledonia he would enjoy the perfection of weather in New Zealand. In April, when our south-western gales begin to cool themselves from the icebergs which have floated northward into Mr. Enderby's antarctic principality, he will fly, as we are now doing (April 16) before them into the steady breezes of the eastern trades, which just now, like unhappy France, are the more anxious to be settled, because of the hurricanes by which they have lately been disturbed. A known ship and a known

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commander would bring out every friendly native from every little nook in the coral reef in which his canoe is secured; many would take short voyages to and fro, and speedily acquire the English language; the young officers taking each a language in charge, and, encouraged by the hope (as in New Zealand) of some appointment as interpreters, would master the island dialects; and the days of Captain Cook would return again, when ships visited foreign countries to do good to the people, and not merely to while away the commission, to collect shells, or to practise with ball cartridge upon the native villages. England enjoys at present the best reputation of all the naval powers; and it is for her to take the lead in making this ocean as pacific in its moral character as it is already in its climate and in its name.

My narrative has been becalmed so long at the entrance of the lagoon of Jengen, that I must take advantage of a light breeze now springing up to pursue my course. I lost no time in taking my New Caledonian friend on board the Havannah, where he was soon happy in the midst of endless objects of curiosity, and liberal largesses of tobacco. In this respect, the Undine must always be content to be less attractive than her consort, whose very name is redolent of cigars.....

In the morning of September 22, I breakfasted with Captain Erskine, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Amatha being also of the party. He is the first of his order whom I have ever met in society, and we had much friendly conversation. I state this at once lest I should seem to suppress it, for fear of the old charge against me of a tendency to Rome, which is as reasonable and as charitable as if one were to accuse me of Judaizing because I once bought pencils of a Jew in Piccadilly. I hope that the Record and the other discord-makers in the Church of England have by this time learned either more charity or more sense, than to reckon among the enemies of the Church some of her warmest friends and most obedient children.....

Our south-west wind was now fair for New Zealand, and so much were we favoured that on Sunday, the 30th September, the ninth day after leaving the Isle of Pines, we were off Cape Brett, in the Bay of Islands, before sunset; and

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RETURN VOYAGE.

on the following day, October 1, we anchored at Auckland, exactly two months from the day of sailing, having completed a course of 3,000 miles, 2,000 of which, viz., the passages out and home, had been accomplished in less than twenty days. I could not but thank God for a voyage in which the wind had always been fair and the weather tempered to the powers of our vessel.

The walk from the town of Auckland to the college was most amusing, from the frequent exclamations of surprise raised by my native companions at every new object which they saw. The number of houses in the town, the herds of oxen and horses, which, after colonial fashion, were reposing in the middle of the road; the breadth of the road itself, and a variety of similar subjects of remark, kept them in a state of constant excitement till we reached home. And so ended my Melanesian voyage, with new and multiplied occasions of thankfulness both for things abroad and for things at home.


May 17th, 1850.

P.S.--Jengen, New Caledonia, Lat. 20. 40, East Coast.--As I am thus far advanced upon my second Melanesian voyage, having followed nearly the same course as in the former, I may confine myself to a simple mention of dates and places, without dragging you after me again to the places already described.

The object of my present voyage has been to carry back my native scholars to their own homes, lest the damp and cold of our New Zealand winter should take effect upon them, and so cause an unfavourable impression, which might impede our future operations. Our little Lifu boy Thol was nearly lost in the early spring by an inflammatory attack upon the lungs. All five are now perfectly well, and flourishing in the congenial warmth of their own climate. The first of them, Thallup, will remain here, and has already begun to prepare himself for assimilation to his own people by distributing his clothing among his relations. This is to be expected; and to attempt to keep him clothed by supplying him with more would be only to follow the error of those benevolent persons who give clothes to the ragged without inquiry, thereby offering a high premium for the encouragement of raggedness.

We find that even this first experiment, small and

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imperfect as it has been, has opened to us a way for future usefulness in this missionary field. We no longer visit these islands as strangers, but we have our own scholars as friends and interpreters to explain our objects. The report seems to be favourable, as we have now several applications from the New Caledonian youths for leave to go to New Zealand. At present I have no intention of taking any, as the winter is coming on, and they would find the change to our climate very uncomfortable. But if it should please God to prolong my life, I hope to return, and with increased means of information to select carefully the next class of scholars and take them with me to New Zealand.....

From this place our course, God willing, will be to Lifu, Loyalty Islands (Chabool), to restore Thol to his friends; thence to Mare, Loyalty Islands (Britannia), to take back three scholars, Siapo, Uliete, and Kateingo; and lastly to the Isle of Pines, and possibly to Norfolk Island; and so to New Zealand, where the object now nearest and brightest in prospect is the meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Abraham. But it may be God's will that I may be disappointed in this, which seems almost too great a blessing to be granted to me.

I believe that I have made sufficiently clear, in the course of these letters, the plan which I purpose, in the hope of the Divine blessing, to follow for the conversion of the Melanesian tribes; which is, in few words, to select a few promising youths from all the islands, to prove and test them, first by observation of their habits on board a floating school, then to take them for further training to New Zealand; and, lastly, when they are sufficiently advanced, to send them back as teachers to their own people, if possible with some English missionary, to give effect and regularity to their work. In the meantime, all the ordinary losses by sickness, violence, and theft, which occur frequently where missionaries are stationed at once on unknown ground, will be avoided by the migratory mission station, which will never be in the power of the evil, but will always be within reach of the well-disposed. What the issue of this attempt may be, God only knows, and time alone can disclose. I am sure that I may rely upon your co-operation, especially in that form of aid, which

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REV. C. J. ABRAHAM.

can never fail, in the earnest prayers which you will offer up in the quiet of your own retirement for us who live continually in the hurry of new works, and the babble of new tongues, and are least free in mind to pray when most we need those blessings which prayer alone is able to procure.


Another letter, written at the end of 1849 to the Rev. E. Coleridge, shows how the college was justifying itself until it threatened to overflow its bounds, and to overstrain the powers of its teachers.

ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, AUCKLAND,

Dec. 21st, 1849.

MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,

I cannot keep numbers down. As the English scholars fall off, from the dislike of the parents for our mixed system, the native youths flow in, with evident appreciation of a system which was designed primarily for them, and now the great Polynesian fountain begins to pour in its supplies, so that if it were only now possible to organize an effective teacherhood, by God's blessing, we might at once begin a work at which your hearts would rejoice.

I returned in safety, by the grace of God, on the 1st of October, bringing with me five native youths: one from New Caledonia, three from Mare, and one from Lifu. I could have filled the Undine with youths from most of these islands if I had had more time, but a day or two at each was too short a time for explanation with the parents. Many nice boys were lost by my being unable to wait till they had seen their friends.

I have sent to my father some account of my voyage, which you will probably see; but I had such rapid runs from place to place that I did not complete my journal on board, and at home I have no leisure for writing. If it were not for my floating study you would get no letters from me at all.

My heart beats with joy at the prospect of Abraham coming. O what a blessing it will be to a mind not only beginning to be over-wrought but beginning to be conscious of it. I have now a practised man of business, who will act as Registrar, and relieve me of the accounts. Abraham

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will sustain part of the spiritual and intellectual strain which falls upon the head of such an institution as this. I have other young men who are becoming useful in the domestic department. Mr. Parris, our farm superintendent, is both a Christian man and a most able and willing bailiff. Champion, my navarch, is beginning his sixth year of faithful service. We have an excellent master carpenter, one Hunter, who is organizing successfully a class of native apprentices. The last batch of pensioners has yielded us a veteran, who unites the offices of weaver and drill-sergeant. All promises well, but to keep all these wheels in gear is a heavy strain upon one whose mind revolves in an orbit from New Guinea to the Auckland Islands. Yet the two works are one; for I cannot dare to bring home islanders from the South Seas without a thriving and comprehensive college to receive them. Mr. Lloyd will perhaps help me with the Polynesian branch of the college. But where to find a governing head and first-lieutenant for the whole I know not; that I may be where I ought to be, in every island in the Pacific, and in every village in New Zealand, and, at home, in the chapel and the lecture-room....

I must be a tyrant, and to be a good-natured tyrant is the great difficulty. If I were once to loose the rein by which self-seeking is restrained, the college in its present form would come to an end. The explosive element in all countries having a mixed population is the disposition of the one to domineer over the other. We are succeeding at last, I hope, in amalgamating the two races on an equality of privileges and position; but it is up-hill work; it seemed so natural to every English boy and man to have a Maori for his fag. I think that by God's blessing we shall succeed at last, and if we do, it will be a glorious measure of success; for our college will be a propaganda of twenty or thirty languages, sending out missionaries and native teachers to places whose names are not in the charts, and the language of whose people is unknown even to Hawtrey and Latham. Pray for us and for the work; and if it fall in your way to interest some rich friend in the enlargement of the college vessel, rest assured that the Salaminia or the Paralus shall not rot in my Piraeus, if health and strength be prolonged to me.

I hope to meet the Australian brotherhood in Synod at

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VERBAL ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLE.

Sydney in April or May, 1850, eight years after my first landing there; yet the time seems "but a few days" for the love that I bear to New Zealand and to the work to which God has called me. If I could but feel that I was so growing in grace as to increase in fitness for the work as the work itself increases, I could then bound over the sea, and over every New Zealand forest and mountain, with the lightest of hearts and the most buoyant of hopes. But if the work should increase faster than the supply of inward strength to bear it, and if help should be withheld in the form in which it would be most welcome, by the subdivision of the diocese, it is not any bodily decay which I fear so much as that over-much serving may make my mind careful and troubled about many things, and unable, even in old age, to sit in contemplation at the feet of Christ.


The mention which has been made of the patience, which was the first condition of the working of the Melanesian Mission, would be incomplete without a notice of a most laborious task which the bishop undertook in the interests of this work. This was nothing less than a "Verbal Analysis of the Bible," and it is a characteristic circumstance that the idea was first suggested to him by Captain Marryat's international code of signals. On board the Undine the bishop had had the representatives of races speaking different languages, and it was necessary with the least possible delay to provide them with some means of communication. At first this was attained by that policy of "masterly inactivity," which is generally the synonym for impotence. The bishop was, in fact, impotent, and watched with some curiosity the process by which the natives of many islands established for themselves a conventional currency of words, which indeed consisted of scraps of many languages aided by impromptu signs.

In New Zealand he made all the clergymen whom he ordained learn Maori; and he declared that if the missionaries had contented themselves with English, the number of their converts would have been insignificant: but in Melanesia, where the languages were even more in

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number than the islands, the case was different, and here he made English the common language of all. But the larger portion of the population of every island was not likely to learn English, and for these some further provision had to be made.

The bishop saw that by Captain Marryat's international code of signals, ships were enabled to communicate by symbol; and thus he conceived the idea of attaching to each word in the Bible its numerical symbol. By these a missionary would be able to make himself understood by people with whose language he was utterly unacquainted. The conjunction of Captain Marryat with Cicero is a strange one; but the Tusculan Questions in which (book iv. chap, vii.) is suggested the plan of bringing together into one view all words having the same general meaning, also laid the bishop under obligations. It was found that all the words in the Bible could be classified under about 250 heads, and under these, by following the root of thought rather than the root of language, the delicate lights and shades of each idiomatic expression were brought out. The simplest languages are often the richest in these delicate distinctions. Not only have the Latin words video, tueor, specto, and their Greek equivalents opao, vlepo and theaomai, [Greek] their exact equivalents in Maori, but where in English we speak indiscriminately, for example, of breaking a bone, the skin, or a sinew, in the New Zealand language a bone, is broken by one word, the skin is burst by another, and the sinew parts by a third. Limited observation had led the bishop to expect to find the same variety of expression in the Melanesian tongues; on nearing one of the Loyalty islands he ordered a native to go aloft and look out for land; but the native word which he used was that which signified ground. The lad immediately said, pointing downwards, "ground here, land out there," and thus the distinction was pointed out and recorded.

The work is an abiding testimony to the industry of the bishop, and to his ability in doing what is so rarely done

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METHOD OF ANALYSIS.

satisfactorily, viz., the cutting "a royal road to learning." He intended his Analysis to be of use not merely among the heathen of Melanesia, but in the schools of New Zealand. In a young colony, where the demand for labour is abundant, he saw that the English system of education, continuing for fourteen or fifteen years, was doomed to failure, and that the question was "how to impart in one or two years a clear and comprehensive knowledge of all subjects really important to be known." The only solution was, that the English system must be reversed, and that principles must be taught, not by going in a long course of reading through a variety of books, but as collected in one point of view and illustrated by every light that can be thrown upon them.

Each page in the Analysis was capable of being used by all the children of a school, from the oldest to the youngest, as well as by Divinity students, and would at the same time furnish heads for a catechetical instruction which an intelligent teacher could easily work out. Thus uniformity of religious teaching was to a great degree secured throughout the diocese to pupils of all ages and conditions. The work was so original, and is such a monument of ungrudging labour, that it is well worthy of further illustration. To take therefore the word bread and its subdivisions pulse and herbs; to this the symbol 50 was given, and on page 50 of the Analysis the word Bread is given as the lesson for the Tuesday in the fourth week after the Epiphany, in the following table:--

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EPIPHANY. FOURTH WEEK. TUESDAY.

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CATECHETICAL LECTURE.

It was intended that the missionary when seated among his scholars, learning their language while teaching them "the tongue of immortals," should elicit from them the different meanings of the several words in column 4. The native "scholiasts" soon entered into it, and the missionary would write down their "scholia" in the blank column, 2 or 6, and with this be prepared to translate with idiomatic accuracy the words which occur in the sacred writings, and of which they are the equivalents.

From a MS. catechetical lecture in the bishop's own writing, which has been preserved and is printed verbatim, the reader will be able to see how carefully he worked out his own idea from the specimen page of synonyms and references given on the other side.

LESSONS ON FOOD, PAGE 50.

I. MAKING BREAD.

Question on the manner of making bread: From what grain, how made into flour or meal. Explain the uses made of fine flour by the priests under the Jewish law, the measures used by them. Refer to passages describing the offerings of flour, &c., also to the widow's handful of meal and its sufficing her for so long by the power of God given to Elisha. Question on the likeness between that miracle and our Lord's multiplying the loaves and fishes. Lesson to be drawn from these miracles; all food the gift of God, therefore thanks must be given to Him whenever we partake of food.

Explain the process of making bread, the need of leaven to make it fit for food, the reason of the Israelites carrying away the dough before it was leavened, the process of baking, the story of the baker in Genesis, the meaning of bakemeats, the reason why the word bread is used to signify any kind of food and even our whole support; refer to the expressions staff and stay of bread. Illustrate all the foregoing questions by passages from Scripture.

Explain the wave loaf and its meaning, as a thank offering and a sign that the bread is God's gift.)

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VARIOUS KINDS OF BREAD,


From 25--30. Explain the several forms of bread here mentioned, the name given to minute fragments, the lesson so frequently given and enforced by our Lord's own example, never to waste even the crumbs of food.

32--34. Question on the giving of the manna; why called bread from heaven and angels' food, though coming direct from heaven, yet the manna was no more the gift of God than the bread we eat; both are bread from heaven, the one did not want man's own labour, the other does, yet as man's labour must make the wheat grow, is it not truly said that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from God's mouth? Mention persons who have lived many days without food, or with a very small portion, in proof of the truth of this saying: Moses, Elisha, and our Lord when He became man.


OTHER KINDS OF VEGETABLE FOOD.

35--57. Other kinds of food are here mentioned, passages of Scripture to be found where they are mentioned. Persons who lived on some of these kinds of food and never on bread, yet were nourished and strengthened by them. Daniel and his companions, John the Baptist, Jacob's pottage of lentiles, Jonah's gourd, and his discontented complaints at its loss. Poisonous food how and when made harmless; the various herbs of which the Pharisees paid tithes.


SPIRITUAL APPLICATION OF THE LESSON ON FOOD.

The soul needs food as much as the body to strengthen and nourish it. As the body becomes weak and sickly if deprived of daily food, so does the soul if without the bread of life. Our Lord is the bread of life, unless by faith we feed on Him in our souls we cannot have eternal life. Explain that as food must be regularly and often taken for the health of the body, so must our prayers for the grace of Christ and for the strengthening power of His body and blood, be constant and earnest. The health of the

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CATECHETICAL LECTURE.

body cannot be preserved beyond the time allotted for our lives, but the soul may be nourished unto eternal life. Which then should be our chiefest care? Refer to our Lord's own words, John vi., on labouring for the meat that perisheth; and again to Matt, vi., 25--33. The want of food for the body cannot and does not injure the health of the soul, as is shown in the story of the rich man and Lazarus; the beggar, though suffering from hunger and disease, was yet a partaker of everlasting life, the rich man, who fared sumptuously every day, was eternally miserable. See Matt, xvi., 26.

Explain the words "daily bread" in the Lord's prayer, and refer to our Church Catechism, which teaches us that by those words are meant "all things needful for our souls and bodies." As we are taught that we must labour for the food we eat since the curse passed upon Adam, "In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread," as God gives nothing without means, and ordains that we must work together with Him--not idly expecting Him to supply our wants without our own exertions, so we must labour for the bread from heaven, strive, pray, watch, seek for it, in all the appointed means of grace, in reading God's Word, in worshipping Him, and above all, in partaking of the Lord's Supper. Give examples of persons who like David esteemed the Word of God more than their necessary food, who risked the loss of earthly wealth and plentiful living rather than disobey God or put their souls in danger. Also other examples, or with warnings from the history of persons, who, like Esau, for one morsel of meat sold their birthright, forfeited their hopes of heaven, for some worldly gain or enjoyment. Refer to all the passages in which our Lord is spoken of as nourishing our souls. Show how this can only take place when we are joined to Him; as food cannot do us good if we only look at it, so neither can we be nourished by our Lord's grace unless we be joined to Him as mouths to a head, branches to a vine, &c.

1   A Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pacific in H.M.S. "Havannah," by John Elphinstone Erskine, Capt. R.N. London: John Murray, 1853.
2   This letter contained many pen and ink sketches.

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