“We had a quiet, prosperous voyage in a small barque which would be thought very squeezy nowadays. We had none of the modern luxuries required in steamers—no fresh bread, no stewardess to wait on us, no delicate fare. But we had compensations of an unusual kind. If we had plain living, we certainly had the opportunity of high thinking. Our party consisted of the Bishop of New Zealand, his two chaplains, both men of great gifts, and other clergymen and students. There were daily classes after breakfast for all who wished to learn the native language. There was no printed Maori grammar, only a manuscript grammar and vocabulary, and copies of S. Matthew’s Gospel, just printed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. But we had a walking dictionary in a Maori boy, who had been brought to England by a gentleman and sent to school for two years. He was not a favourable specimen, for he had been the plaything of the servant’s hall in holiday time, and had little more than superficial civilization. However, he was very useful on board, and undertook to teach correct pronunciation.” The Bishop writes in a letter to his mother: “On Monday, January 3rd, we began regular habits; reading the daily prayers at eight in the morning, and the Psalms and Lessons, in the original languages, each at their appointed hour. Besides this, there is a New Zealand class, comprising nearly all the party, and a mathematical class for the study of navigation. The whole of the morning is thus occupied, leaving the evening to the discretion of the party, and for preparation for the next day. On Church festivals when the full service is read, the Eton practice of a whole holiday is followed. The advantage of this regular plan is generally admitted, as, instead of the voyage being tedious, very few find the day long enough. We have taken different departments for the study of the New Zealand language. Mr. Cotton and Mr. Reay are making a Concordance of the native Testament. I am compiling from the Rarotonga, Tahitian and New Zealand translations of the New Testament, a Comparative Grammar of those three dialects, which are all from the same root and illustrate one another. I hope to be quite familiar with the three dialects by the end of the voyage, which will much facilitate the plan which I have conceived—and which may God give me grace to carry into effect—of extending the branches of the Church of New Zealand throughout the Southern Pacific. “I am studying practical navigation under our captain in order that I may be my own _Master_ in my visitation voyages.”