“On first invading the land he tries to make a favourable impression on the people’s minds by presents, and by letting them see that he is not come to trade. This he does by leaving his boat ten or twenty yards from the reef, where some hundred people are standing and shouting; he then plunges into the water arranging no end of presents on his back, which he has been showing to their astounded eyes out of the boat. He probably has learnt from some stray canoe or a neighbouring island the name of the chief. He calls out his name; he steps forward; the Bishop hands him a tomahawk, and holds out his hand for the chief’s bow and arrows. The old chief with innate courtesy sends the tomahawk to the rear, to show that he is safe and may place confidence in him. The Bishop pats the children on the head, gives them fishhooks and red tape, for there is an enormous demand for red tape in these islands. Probably then the Bishop has some ‘tame elephant’ with him—a black boy from some other island—and he has clothed him, and taught him to read or the like; and he brings forward this specimen and sample, and tries to make them understand that he wants some of their boys to treat in like manner. The Bishop gets as many names written down as he can and picks up as many words as he can; establishes a friendly relation, and after a while swims off to his boats. Next year he will go and call out the names of his old friends, get two or three on board, induce them to take a trip with him while he goes to the neighbouring islands. So he learns their language enough to tell them what he has come for.” During this trip with Patteson, he landed on sixty islands, and they brought back thirty-three scholars, who were looked upon as Patteson’s boys. They stopped at Norfolk Island to hold what Selwyn described as “one of the most remarkable confirmations in the history of the Church. The whole adult population of the Pitcairn Islanders, except those who were too feeble to attend, presented themselves to me in nine classes to be examined and confirmed.” The eldest of the candidates, a woman over seventy, was a daughter of John Adams. The service was held in the old convict chapel, which opened on to the prison yard, “in every corner heaps of rusty fetters and cast-off garments.” The Confirmation was followed by a Celebration of Holy Communion. This time the boys from the Islands had again to be taken to Auckland as no other place was ready for them. Selwyn wrote from there to Judge Patteson expressing his delight in the help given him by his son: