Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian IslandsYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Religion
Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Missions -- Melanesia; Patteson, John Coleridge, 1827-1871
Two whales were seen while rowing back to the ship. One--about a third
of a mile off--leapt several times fairly out of the water, and fell
back on the sea 'with a regular crack,' dashing up the spray in clouds.
There was now very little time to spare, as the time of an ordination at
Auckland was fixed, and two important visits had yet to be paid, so the
two Fate guests were sent ashore in the canoes of some of their friends,
and the 'Southern Cross' reached Nengone on the 1st of September. The
Bishop had left a boat there some years before, and the Samoan teacher,
Mark, who had been Mrs. Nihill's best friend and comforter, came out
in it with a joyful party full of welcome. The Bishop and Patteson went
ashore, taking with them their two Bauro scholars, to whom the most
wonderful sight was a cow, they never having seen any quadruped bigger
than a pig. All the native teachers and their wives were assembled, and
many of the people, in front of the house where Mr. Nihill had died.
They talked of him with touching affection, as they told how diligently
he had striven to bring young and old to a knowledge of his God; and
they eagerly assisted in planting at his grave a cross, which the Bishop
had brought from Auckland for the purpose, and which bore the words: 'I
am the Resurrection and the Life.'
The coral lime church and the houses of the teachers among the cocoa-nut
trees gave the place a civilised look, and most of the people had some
attempt at clothing. Here several passengers were taken in. The
two girls, Caroline Wabisane and Sarah Wasitutru, were both
married--Caroline to a Maori named Simeona, and Sarah to a man from her
own isle called Nawiki. All these and two more men wished to go to St.
John's for further instruction, and were taken on board, making up a
party of fourteen Melanesians, besides Sarah's baby. 'Mrs. Nihill will
be glad to have the women,' writes Coley, 'and I am glad to have the
others--not the baby, of course.'
Close quarters indeed, but not for very long, for on the 3rd of
September the schooner again put into Norfolk Island, and on the next
Sunday Coley was present at the confirmation of the whole population,
excepting the younger children, and at the subsequent Communion. Strong
hopes were then entertained that the Pitcairners, standing as it were
between the English and the islanders, would greatly assist in the
work of the Gospel, but this plan was found only capable of being very
partially carried out.
Off Norfolk Island, he wrote to his brother an account of the way of
life on the voyage, and of the people:--
'They are generally gentle, and seem to cling to one, not with the
very independent goodwill of New Zealanders, but with the soft yielding
character of the child of the tropics. They are fond, that is the word
for them. I have had boys and men in a few minutes after landing, follow
me like a dog, holding their hands in mine as a little child does with
its nurse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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