Books: Life of John Coleridge Patteson

C >> Charlotte M. Yonge >> Life of John Coleridge Patteson

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'The spark of heavenly fire may indeed have been all but quenched by
the unbridled indulgence of his passions; the natural wickedness of
the heart of man may have exhibited itself with greater fearfulness
where no laws and customs have introduced restraints against at least
the outward expression of vice; but the capacity for the Christian
life is there; though overlaid, it may be, with monstrous forms of
superstition or cruelty or ignorance, the conscience can still
respond to the voice of the Gospel of Truth.'

And one who so entirely believed and acted upon these words found
them true. The man who verily treated the lads he had gathered round
him with a perfectly genuine sympathy, a love and a self-denial--nay
more, an identification of self with them--awoke all that was best in
their characters, and met with full response. Enthusiastic
partiality of course there was in his estimate of them; but is it not
one of the absolute requisites of a good educator to feel that
enthusiasm, like the parent for the child? And is it always the
blind admiration at which outsiders smile; is it not rather
indifference which is blind, and love which sees the truth?

'I would not exchange my position with these lads and young men for
anything (he wrote, on December 8, to his uncle, the Eton master).
I wish you could see them and know them; I don't think you ever had
pupils that could win their way into your heart more effectually than
these fellows have attached themselves to me. It is no effort to
love them heartily. Gariri, a dear boy from San Cristoval, is
standing by me now, at my desk, in amazement at the pace that my pen
is going, not knowing that I could write to you, my dear old tutor,
for hours together if I had nothing else to do. He is, I suppose,
about sixteen, a most loveable boy, gentle, affectionate, with all
the tropical softness and kindliness.

'We have seven Solomon Islanders--five from Mata, a village at the
north-west of San Cristoval, and two from the south-east point of
Guadalcanar, or Gera, a magnificent island about twenty-five or
twenty miles to the north-west of San Cristoval. From frequent
intercourse they are almost bilingual, a great "lounge" for me, as
one language does for both; the structure of the two island tongues
is the same, but scarcely any words much alike. However, that is not
much odds.

'Then from Nengone, where you remember Mr. Nihill died after eighteen
months' residence on the island, we have four men and two women, both
married. Of these, two men and both the women have been baptized,
some time ago, by the Bishop, in 1852, and one by the London Mission,
who now occupy the island. These four I have, with full trust,
admitted to the Holy Communion. Mr. Nihill had taught them well,
and I am sure they could pass an examination in Scriptural history,
simple doctrinal statements, &c., as well as most young English
people of the middle class of life. The other two are well taught,
and one of them knows a great deal, but, poor fellow, he misconducted
himself at Nengone, and hence I cannot recommend him to the Bishop
for baptism without much talk about him.

'But I think my love is more poured out upon my Bauro and Gera lads.
They are such dear fellows, and I trust that already they begin to
know something about religion. Certain it is that they answer
readily questions and say with their mouths what amounts almost to a
statement of the most important Christian truths. Of course I cannot
tell what effect this may have on their hearts. They join in prayer
morning and evening, they behave admirably, and really there is
nothing in their conduct to find fault with. If it please God that
any of them were at some future time to stay again with us, I have
great hopes that they may learn enough to become teachers in their
own country.

'The Nengone lads are quite in a different position. Their language
has been reduced to writing, the Gospel of St. Mark translated, and
they can all read a little English, so that at evening prayers we
read a verse all round, and then I catechise and expound to them in
Nengone.

'I really trust that by God's blessing some real opening into the
great Solomon group has been effected. There is every hope that many
boys will join us this next voyage. No one can say what may be the
result. As yet it is possible to get on without more help, but I do
not for a moment doubt that should God really grant not only a wide
field of labour, but some such hope of cultivating it, He will send
forth plenty of men to share in this work. Men who have some means
of their own--£100 a year is enough, or even less--or some aptitude
for languages, surely will feel drawn in this direction. It is the
happiest life a man can lead, full of enjoyment, physical and mental,
exquisite scenery, famous warm climate, lots of bathing, yams and
taro and cocoa-nut enough to make an alderman's mouth water, and such
loving, gentle people. But of course something depends on the way in
which a man looks at these things, and a fine gentleman who can't get
on without his servant, and can't put his luggage for four months
into a compass of six feet by one-and-a-half, won't like it....

'You know the kind of incidents that occur, so I need not repeat them
to you. I have quite learnt to believe that there are no "savages"
anywhere, at least among black or coloured people. I'd like to see
anyone call my Bauro boys savages! Why, the fellows on the reef that
have never seen a white man will wade back to the boat and catch
one's arms to prevent one falling into pits among the coral, just
like an old nurse looking after her child. This they did at Santa
Maria, where we two swam ashore to a party of forty or fifty men, and
where our visit was evidently a very agreeable one on both sides,
though we did not know one syllable of the language, and then....
But I almost tremble to think of the immense amount of work opening
upon one. Whither will it lead? But I seldom find any time for
speculations; and oh, my dear tutor, I am as happy as the day is
long, though it never seems long to me!.... My dear father writes in
great anxiety about the Denison case. Oh dear! what a cause of
thankfulness it is to be out of the din of controversy, and to find
hundreds of thousands longing for crumbs which are shaken about so
roughly in these angry disputes! It isn't High or Low or Broad
Church, or any other special name, but the longing desire to forget
all distinctions, and to return to a simpler state of things, that
seems naturally to result from the very sight of heathen people. Who
thinks of anything but this: "They have not heard the Name of the
Saviour Who died for them," when he is standing with crowds of naked
fellows round him? I can't describe the intense happiness of this
life. I suppose trials will come some day, and I almost dread the
thought, for I surely shall not be prepared to bear them. I have no
trials at all, even of a small kind, to teach me how to bear up under
great ones.'

In truth Coleridge Patteson had entered on the happiest period of his
life. He had found his vocation, and his affections were fastening
themselves upon his black flock, so that, without losing a particle
of his home love, the yearnings homewards were appeased, and the
fully employed time, and sense of success and capability, left no
space for the self-contemplation and self-criticism of his earlier
life. He gives amusing sketches of the scenes:--

'The donkey here, a fatally stubborn brute, is an unceasing amusement
to my boys. No one of them can retain his seat more than ten minutes,
but they all fall like cats on their legs amid cries of laughter.
The donkey steers straight for some small scrubby trees, and then
kicks and plunges, or else rubs their legs against the sides of the
house, and all this time the boys are leaping about the unfortunate
fellow who is mounted, and the fun is great.

'Wadrokala, one of the Nengone lads, who had recently made his first
communion, became the prominent scholar at this time. He had thought
a good deal. One night he said: "I have heard all kinds of words
used--faith, repentance, praise, prayer--and I don't clearly
understand what is the real great thing, the chief thing of all.
They used these words confusedly, and I feel puzzled. Then I read
that the Pharisees knew a great deal of the law, and so did the
Scribes, and yet they were not good. I am not doing anything good.
Now I know something of the Bible, and I can write; and I fear very
much, I often feel very much afraid, that I am not good, I am not
doing anything good."'

He was talked to, and comforted with hopes of future work; but a day
or two later his feelings were unconsciously hurt by being told in
joke that he was wearing a shabby pair of trousers to save the good
ones to take home to Nengone. His remonstrance was poured out upon a
slate:--
'Mr. Patteson, this is my word:--I am unhappy because of the word you
said to me that I wished for clothes. I have left my country. I do
not seek clothes for the body. What is the use of clothes? Can my
spirit be clothed with clothes for the body? Therefore my heart is
greatly afraid; but you said I greatly wished for clothes, which I do
not care for. One thing only I care for, that I may receive the life
for my spirit. Therefore I fear, I confess, and say to you, it is
not the thing for the body I want, but the one thing I want is the
clothing for the soul, for Jesus Christ's sake, our Lord.'

Soon after a very happy Christmas, Wadrokala and Kainwhat expressed a
desire, after a final visit to their native island, to return with
Mr. Patteson, and be prepared to be sent as native teachers to any
dark land, as the Samoans had come to them.

Wadrokala narrated something of the history of his island, a place
with 6,000 inhabitants, with one tribe forming a priestly caste, the
head of which was firmly believed by even these Christian Nengonese
to possess the power of striking men dead by his curse. Caroline,
Kainwhat and Kowine were the children of a terrible old chief named
Bula, who had fifty-five wives, and whose power was almost absolute.
If anyone offended him, he would send either a priest or one of his
sons to kill the man, and bring the corpse, of which the thighs were
always reserved for his special eating, the trunk being given to his
slaves. If one of his wives offended him, he sent for the high
priest, who cursed her--simply said, 'She has died,' and die she did.
A young girl who refused to marry him was killed and eaten, or if any
person omitted to come into his presence crouching, the penalty was
to be devoured; in fact, he seems to have made excuses for executions
in order to gratify his appetite for human flesh, which was
considered as particularly dainty fare. Everyone dreaded him, and
when at last he died a natural death, his chief wife was strangled by
her own brother, as a matter of course. Such horrors as these had
pretty well ceased by that time, though still many Nengonese were
heathen, and the priests were firmly believed to have the power of
producing death and disease at will by a curse. Wadrokala, with
entire conviction, declared that one of his father's wives had thus
been made a cripple for life.

Nengonese had become almost as familiar to Coley as Maori, and his
Sundays at this time were decidedly polyglot; since, besides a
regular English service at Taranaki, he often took a Maori service,
and preached extempore in that tongue, feeling that the people's
understanding went along with him; and there were also, in early
morning and late evening, prayers, partly in Nengonese, partly in
Bauro, at the College chapel, and a sermon, first in one language,
and then repeated in the other. The Nengone lads, who had the
question of adherence to the London Mission at home, or the Church in
New Zealand, put to them, came deliberately to entreat to remain
always with Mr. Patteson, saying that they saw that this teaching of
the Church was right, and they wished to work in it. It was a
difficult point, as the London Mission was reasserting a claim to the
Loyalty Isles, and the hopes of making them a point d'appui were
vanishing; but these men and their wives could not but be accepted,
and Simeona was preparing for baptism. A long letter to Professor
Max Muller on the languages will be found in the Appendix. The
Bishop of New Zealand thus wrote to Sir John Patteson respecting
Coley and his work:--

'Taurarua, Auckland: March 2, 1857.

'My dear Judge,--Your letter of December 5 made me very happy, by
assuring me of the satisfaction which you feel in your son's duties
and position. I do indeed most thankfully acknowledge the goodness
of God in thus giving me timely aid, when I was pledged to a great
work, but without any steady force to carry it on. Coley is, as you
say, the right man in the right place, mentally and physically: the
multiplicity of languages, which would try most men, is met by his
peculiar gift; the heat of the climate suits his constitution; his
mild and parental temper makes his black boys cling about him as
their natural protector; and his freedom from fastidiousness makes
all parts of the work easy to him; for when you have to teach boys
how to wash themselves, and to wear clothes for the first time, the
romance of missionary work disappears as completely as a great man's
heroism before his valet de chambre.

'On Sunday, February 22, we had a native baptism, an adult from
Nengone and his infant child. Coley used the Baptismal Service,
which he had translated, and preached fluently in the Nengone tongue,
as he had done in the morning in New Zealand. The careful study
which we had together of the latter on our voyage out will be of
great use in many other dialects, and Mrs. Nihill has given him her
husband's Nengone manuscripts.

'You know in what direction my wishes tend, viz., that Coley, when he
has come to suitable age, and has developed, as I have no doubt he
will, a fitness for the work, should be the first island Bishop, upon
the foundation, of which you and your brother Judge, and Sir W.
Farquhar, are trustees; that Norfolk Island should be the see of the
Bishop, because the character of its population, the salubrity of its
climate, and its insular position, make it the fittest place for the
purpose.

'Your affectionate and grateful friend,

'G. A. NEW ZEALAND.'

By the same mail Patteson himself wrote to Miss Neill:--

'If it please God to give us some few native teachers from Bauro and
Grera, not to be sent before, but to go with or follow us (i.e.
Bishop and me), in a short time the word of God might be heard in
many a grand wild island, resplendent with everything that a tropical
climate and primeval forests, etc., can bestow, and thickly populated
with an intelligent and, as I imagine, tolerably docile race, of whom
some are already "stretching out their hands unto God."

'All these Solomon Islanders here would answer questions about
Christianity as well, perhaps, as children of nine or ten years old
in England. Some seem to feel that there is a real connection
between themselves and what they are taught, and speak of the love of
God in giving Jesus Christ to die for them, and say that God's Holy
Spirit alone can enlighten their dark hearts.

'That beautiful image of light and darkness seems common to all
nations. The regular word used by the Nengone people, who are far
more advanced in Christian knowledge and practice, for all heathen
places is "the dark lands."

'On Sunday week, February 22, we had a deeply interesting service in
the College chapel at 7.15 P.M., just as the English world was
beginning its Sunday. Simeona and his infant boy of four weeks and
three days old were baptized. The College chapel was nicely lighted,
font decorated simply. I read the service in Nengone, having had all
hands at work setting the types and printing on Friday and Saturday.
The Bishop took the part of the service which immediately precedes
the actual baptism, and baptized them both--first the father, by the
name of George Selwyn, then the baby, by the name of John Patteson.
This was the special request of the parents, and as it is my dear
Father's name, how could I object? He is, of course, my godson, and
a dear little fellow he is. At the end of my sermon, I added a few
words to "George," and besought the prayers of the Nengone people for
him and his child. We have now four regular communicants among them-
-Wadrokala, Mark (Kainwhat), Carry and Sarah. George is baptized,
and baby; and Sarah's child, Lizzy, I baptized long ago. In about
two months (D. V.), we are off for a good spell of four or five
months among the islands, taking back this party, though some of them
will, by and by, rejoin us again, I hope.'

The plan of starting in April for a four or five months' cruise was
disconcerted, as regarded Bishop Selwyn, by the delay of Bishop
Harper and the Archdeacons in arriving for the intended Synod, which
was thus put off till May, too wintry a month for the Melanesians to
spend in New Zealand. After some doubt, it was decided that Mr.
Patteson should make a short voyage, for the mere purpose of
returning his scholars to their homes, come back to Auckland, and
make a fresh start when the Bishop was ready.

In prospect of the parting, Patteson writes to his beloved old
governess (March 19, 1857):--

'You will like a report of my pupils, especially as I can give most
of them a good ticket, little mark and all, as we used to say of
yours (though not as often as we ought to have done) to our dear
mother. You never had such willing pupils, though you turned out
some, I hope, eventually as good. In your hands these lads would be
something indeed. Really they have no faults that I can detect, and
when their previous state is considered, it is wonderful; for all
this time they have been with us, the greatest fault has been a fit
of sulkiness, lasting about half a day, with three of them. Their
affection, gentleness, unselfishness, cheerfulness, willingness to
oblige, in some of them a natural gentlemanly way of doing things,
and sometimes indications of what we should call high principle--all
these things give one great hopes, not for them only, but for all
these nations, that, refined by Christianity, they may be bright
examples of manly virtues and Christian graces.'

To some, no doubt, these expressions will seem exaggerated, but not
to those who have had any experience of the peculiar suavity and
grace that often is found in the highbred men of native races, before
they are debased by the corruptions brought in by white men.
Moreover, in every case, the personal influence of the teacher when
in immediate contact with a sufficiently small number, is quite
enough to infuse good habits and obviate evil ones to an extent quite
inconceivable to those who have not watched the unconscious exertion
of this power. Patteson knew that too much reliance must not be
placed on present appearance.

'It is dangerous (he says), to have persons clinging to you too much.
I feel that; but then these fellows, I take it, are very impulsive,
and no doubt the cocoanuts in their own land will exercise a counter-
influence to mine, and so I shall soon be undeceived if I learn to
think too much of their personal affection; but I never knew such
dear lads, I don't know how I shall get on without them.

'You must be looking forward to your spring and summer. How
delicious some of those days are in England! We miss the freshness
of a deciduous foliage, our evergreens look dull, and we have no
deciduous trees as yet. A good scamper with Joan on the East Hill,
or a drive with Fan in the pony carriage along a lane full of
primroses and violets would be pleasant indeed, and so would a stroll
with old Jem up the river be happy indeed, and I could almost quit
the "Southern Cross" for dear Father's quarter-deck in the
"Hermitage," but that I am, I believe, sailing in the right vessel,
and, as I trust, on the right course to the haven where we may all
meet and rest for ever.'

On Good Friday the three Nengone young men who had been baptized were
confirmed, and on the Wednesday in Easter Week the 'Southern Cross'
sailed, this time with a responsible sailing master. At Nengone Mr.
Patteson had a friendly interview with Mr. Craig, the London
Society's missionary, and explained to him the state of things with
regard to these individual pupils; then, after being overwhelmed with
presents by the Christian population, shaped his course for Bauro.

On the way he had the experience of a tropical thunderstorm, after
having been well warned by the sinking of the barometer through the
whole of the day, the 27th of April. 'At 7.30 the breeze came up,
and the big drops began, when suddenly a bright forked flash so
sustained that it held its place before our eyes like an immense
white-hot crooked wire, seemed to fall on the deck, and be splintered
there. But one moment and the tremendous crack of the thunder was
alive and around us, making the masts tremble. For more than an hour
the flashes were so continuous that I think every three seconds we
had a perfect view of the whole horizon. I especially remember the
firmament between the lurid thunder clouds looking quite blue, so
intense was the light. The thunder rolled on without cessation, but
the tremendous claps occurred only at intervals. We have no
lightning conductor, and I felt somewhat anxious; went below and
prayed God to preserve us from lightning and fire, read the
magnificent chapter at the end of Job. As the storm went on, I
thought that at that very hour you were praying "From lightning and
tempest, good Lord, deliver us." We had no wind: furious rain,
repeated again from midnight to three this morning. About eleven the
thunder had ceased, but the broad flashes of lightning were still
frequent. The lightning was forked and jagged, and one remarkable
thing was the length of time that the line of intense light was kept
up, like a gigantic firework, so that the shape of the flash could be
drawn with entire accuracy by any one that could handle a pencil. It
was a grand and solemn sight and sound, and I am very thankful we
were preserved from danger, for the storm was right upon us, and the
danger must have been great.'

A ready welcome awaited the 'Southern Cross' at Bauro, in a lovely
bay hitherto unvisited, where a perfect flotilla of canoes came off
to greet her, and the two chiefs, Iri and Eimaniaka, came on board,
and no less than fifty-five men with them. The chiefs and about a
dozen men were invited to spend the night on board. The former lay
on the floor of the inner cabin, talking and listening while their
host set before them some of the plain truths of Christianity. He
landed next day, and returned the visit by going to Iri's hut, where
he pointed to the skulls, discoursed on the hatefulness of such
decorations, and recommended their burial. He also had an
opportunity of showing a Christian's horror of unfilial conduct, when
Rimaniaka struck his mother for being slow in handing yams; and when
a man begged for a passage to Gera in direct opposition to his
father's commands, he was dismissed with the words, 'I will have
nothing to do with a man who does not obey his own father.'

At Gera there was also a great assembly of canoes, and as all hands
were wanted on board, Patteson went ashore in a canoe with the
brother of one of the scholars. He was told that he was the first
white man who had ever landed there, and the people showed a good
deal of surprise, but were quite peaceable, and the presence of women
and children was a sign that there was no danger. When he tried to
return to the ship, a heavy sea came on, and the canoes were forced
to put back, and he thus found himself obliged to spend the night on
the island. He was taken into a house with two rooms, in each of
which numbers of men were lying on the ground, a small wood fire
burning in the midst of each group of three or four.

A grass mat was brought him, and a bit of wood for a pillow, and as
he was wet through, cold, and very tired, he lay down; but sleep was
impossible, from tormenting vermin, as well as because it seemed to
be the custom of the people to be going backwards and forwards all
night, sitting over the fire talking, then dropping asleep and waking
to talk again. A yam was brought him after about an hour, and long
before dawn he escaped into the open air, and sat over a tire there
till at high tide, at six o'clock in the morning, he was able to put
off again and reach the ship, where forty-five natives had slept, and
behaved well.

'The sense of cold and dirt and weariness was not pleasing,' he
confesses, and certainly the contrast to the Eton and Oxford habits
was great. There was a grand exchange of presents; hatchets, adzes,
hooks and empty bottles on one side, and a pig and yams on the other.
Immediately after follows a perilous adventure, which, as we shall
find, made a deep impression. It is thus related in a letter for the
benefit of Thorverton Rectory:--