Books: Life of John Coleridge Patteson

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

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'Tis enough that Thou shouldst care
Why should I the burden bear?

'Our dear friend mended very slowly. It was more than a month before
he could bear even to be driven up to Bishop's Court to receive the
Holy Communion in the private Chapel, and some time longer before he
could sit through the Sunday services. I cannot be sure whether he
went first on Ascension Day. His own letters may inform you. I only
remember how thankful and happy he was to be able to get there. He
had felt the loss of the frequent Communions in which he could join
all through his illness.'

He was making a real step towards recovery, and by the 10th of June
he was able to go and stay at St. Sepulchre's parsonage with Mr.
Dudley, and attend the gathering at the Bishop of Auckland's Chapel
on St. Barnabas Day; but the calm enjoyment and soothing indifference
which seems so often a privilege of the weakness of recovery was
broken by fuller tidings respecting the labour traffic that
imperilled his work. A schooner had come in from Fate with from
fifteen to twenty natives from that and other islands to work in flax
mills; and a little later a letter arrived from his correspondent in
Fiji, showing to what an extent the immigration thither had come, and
how large a proportion of the young men working in the sugar
plantations had been decoyed from home on false pretences.

This was the point, as far as at the time appeared in New Zealand.
If violence had then begun, no very flagrant instances were known;
and the Bishop was not at all averse to the employment of natives,
well knowing how great an agent in improvement is civilisation. But
to have them carried off without understanding what they were about,
and then set to hard labour, was quite a different thing.

'The difficulty is (he writes) to prove in a court of law what
everyone acknowledges to be the case, viz., that the natives of the
islands are inveigled on board these vessels by divers means, then
put under the hatches and sold, ignorant of their destination or
future employment, and without any promises of being returned home.

'It comes to this, though of course it is denied by the planters and
the Queensland Government, which is concerned in keeping up the
trade.

'There will always be some islanders who from a roving nature, or
from a necessity of escaping retaliation for some injury done by
them, or from mere curiosity, will paddle off to a ship and go on
board. But they can't understand the white men: they are tempted
below to look at some presents, or, if the vessel be at anchor, are
allowed to sleep on board. Then, in the one case, the hatches are
clapped on; in the other, sail is made in the night, and so they are
taken off to a labour of which they know nothing, among people of
whom they know nothing!

'It is the regulation rather than the suppression of the employment
of native labourers that I advocate. There is no reason why some of
these islanders should not go to a plantation under proper
regulations. My notion is that--

'1. A few vessels should be licensed for the purpose of conveying
these islanders backwards and forwards.

'2. That such vessels should be in charge of fit persons, heavily
bound to observe certain rules, and punishable summarily for
violating them.

'3. That the missionaries, wherever they be situated, should be
informed of the names of the vessels thus licensed, of the sailing
masters, &c.

'4. That all other vessels engaged in the trade should be treated as
pirates, and confiscated summarily when caught.

'5. That a small man-of-war, commanded by a man fit for such work,
should cruise among the islands from which islanders are being taken.

'6. That special legislative enactments should be passed enabling
the Sydney Court to deal with the matter equitably.

'Something of this kind is the best plan I can suggest.

'It is right and good that the "Galatea" should undertake such work;
and yet we want a little tender to the "Galatea" rather than the big
vessel, as I think my experience of large vessels is that there is
too much of routine; and great delay is occasioned by the difficulty
of turning a great ship round, and you can't work near the shore, and
even if chasing a little vessel which could be caught at once in the
open sea, you may be dodged by her among islands. Yet the sense of
the country is expressed very well by sending "Captain Edinburgh"
himself to cruise between New Caledonia, Fiji, and the Kingsmill
Islands, for the suppression of the illegal deportation of natives.
So reads the despatch which the Governor showed me the other day. He
asked me to give such information as might be useful to the
"Galatea."'

With the Governor, Sir George Bowen, an old Oxford friend, Bishop
Patteson spent several days, and submitted to him a memorial to
Government, on the subject, both at home and in Queensland, stating
the regulations, as above expressed.

The 'Rosario,' Captain Palmer, had actually captured the 'Daphne,'
a vessel engaged in capturing natives, and brought her into Sydney,
where the master was tried; but though there was no doubt of the
outrage, it was not possible to obtain a conviction; and a Fiji
planter whom the Bishop met in Auckland told him that the seizure of
the 'Daphne' would merely lead to the exclusion of the better class
of men from the trade, and that it would not stop the demand for
native labourers. It would always pay to 'run' cargoes of natives
into the many islets of Fiji; and they would be smuggled into the
plantations. And there the government was almost necessarily by the
whip. 'I can't talk to them,' said the planter; 'I can only point to
what they are to do; and if they are lazy, I whip them.'

It was no wonder that Mr. Dudley thought the Bishop depressed; and,
moreover, he over-exerted himself, walking a mile and a half one day,
and preaching in the little Church of St. Sepulchre's. He longed to
return to St. Barnabas, but was in no state to rough it in a common
little sailing vessel, so he waited on. 'I am very lazy,' he says:
'I can't do much work. Sir William and I read Hebrew, and discuss
many questions in which his opinion is most valuable. I have
business letters to write, e.g., about the deportation of islanders
and about a clergyman whom the Melbourne people are helping to go to
Fiji.... This is perhaps a good trial for me, to be sitting lazily
here and thinking of others at work!'

This was written about the middle of July, when the convalescent had
regained much more strength, and could walk into town, or stand to
read and write according to his favourite custom, as well as
thoroughly enjoy conversations with his hosts at Taurarua.

'I never saw (observes Lady Martin) a larger charity united to a more
living faith. He knew in Whom he believed; and this unclouded
confidence seemed to enable him to be gentle and discriminating in
his judgments on those whose minds are clouded with doubt.

'It was pleasant to see how at this time his mind went back to the
interests which he had laid aside for years. He liked to hear bits
of Handel, and other old masters, and would go back to recollections
of foreign travels and of his enthusiasm for music and art as freshly
and brightly as he had done in the first days of our acquaintance.
But this was only in the "gloaming" or late in the evening when he
was resting in his easy chair.

'At the end of July we were expecting a young relation and his bride
to spend a week with us before returning to England, and we gave the
Bishop the option of going to Bishop's Court for the time, where he
was always warmly welcomed. Some years before, he would certainly
have slipped away from the chatter and bustle; but now he decided to
remain with us, and throw himself into the small interests around, in
a way which touched and delighted the young couple greatly. He put
away his natural shrinking from society and his student ways, and was
willing to enjoy everything as it came. We had a curious instance at
this time of the real difficulty the Bishop felt about writing
sermons. He had not attempted to preach, save at Mr. Dudley's
Church; but a week or two before he left us, Archdeacon Maunsell came
to beg of him to preach at St. Mary's, where he had often taken
service formerly. He promised to do so without any apparent
hesitation, and said afterwards to us that he could not refuse such a
request. So on Wednesday he began to prepare a sermon. He was
sitting each morning in the room where I was at work, and he talked
to me from time to time of the thoughts that were in his mind. The
subject was all that was implied in the words, "I have called thee by
thy name," the personal knowledge, interest, &c.; and I was rejoicing
in the treat in store, when, to my dismay, I saw sheet after sheet,
which had been written in his neat, clear hand as though the thoughts
flowed on without effort, flung into the fire. "I can't write," was
said again and again, and the work put by for another day. At last,
on Saturday morning, he walked up to the parsonage to make his
excuses. Happily Dr. Maunsell would not let him off, so on Sunday
the Bishop, without any notes or sermon, spoke to us out of the
fulness of his heart about the Mission work, of its encouragements
and its difficulties. He described, in a way that none can ever
forget who heard the plaintive tones of his voice and saw his worn
face that day, what it was to be alone on an island for weeks,
surrounded by noisy heathen, and the comfort and strength gained then
by the thought that we who have the full privileges of Christian
worship and communion were remembering such in our prayers.

'Our young friends sailed on Sunday, August 7; and we expected the
Bishop to sail the next day, but the winds were foul and boisterous,
and we had him with us till Friday morning, the 12th. Those last
days were very happy ones. His thoughts went back to Melanesia and
to his work; and every evening we drew him to tell of adventures and
perils, and to describe the islands to us in a way he had scarcely
ever done before. I think it was partly to please our Maori maiden,
who sat by his side on a footstool in the twilight, plying him with
questions with so much lively natural interest that he warmed up in
return. Generally, he shrank into himself, and became reserved at
once if pressed to tell of his own doings. He spoke one evening
quite openly about his dislike to ship life. We were laughing at
some remembrance of the Bishop of Lichfield's satisfaction when once
afloat; and he burst into an expression of wonder, how anyone could
go to sea for pleasure. I asked him what he disliked in particular,
and he answered, Everything. That he always felt dizzy, headachy,
and unable to read with comfort; the food was greasy, and there was a
general sense of dirt and discomfort. As the time drew nigh for
sailing, he talked a good deal about the rapidly growing evil of the
labour trade. He grew very depressed one day, and spoke quite
despondingly of the future prospects of the Mission. He told us of
one island, Vanua Lava, I think, where, a few years ago, 300 men used
to assemble on the beach to welcome him. Now, only thirty or forty
were left. He saw that if the trade went on at the same rate as it
had been doing for the last year or two, many islands would be
depopulated, and everywhere he must expect to meet with suspicion or
open ill will.'

'The next morning the cloud had rolled away, and he was ready to go
forth in faith to do the work appointed him, leaving the result in
God's hands. We accompanied him to the boat on Friday morning.
Bishop and Mrs. Cowie came down, and one or two of the clergy, and
his two English boys who were to go with him.

'It was a lovely morning. We rejoiced to see how much he had
improved in his health during his stay. He had been very good and
tractable about taking nourishment, and certainly looked and was all
the better for generous diet. He had almost grown stout, and walked
upright and briskly. Sir William parted with him on the beach, where
we have had so many partings; and I meant to do so too, but a friend
had brought another boat, and invited me to come, so I gladly went
off to the "Southern Cross," which was lying about half-a-mile off.
The Cowies were very anxious to see the vessel, and the Bishop showed
them all about. I was anxious to go down to his cabin, and arrange
in safe nooks comforts for his use on the voyage. In half an hour
the vessel was ready to sail. One last grasp of the hand, one loving
smile, and we parted--never to meet again on earth.'

So far this kind and much-loved friend! And to this I cannot but add
an extract from the letter she wrote to his sisters immediately after
the parting, since it adds another touch to the character now
ripened:--

'I think you are a little mistaken in your notion that your brother
would feel no interest in your home doings. He has quite passed out
of that early stage when the mind can dwell on nothing but its own
sphere of work. He takes a lively interest in all that is going on
at home, specially in Church matters, and came back quite refreshed
from Bishop's Court with all that Bishop Cowie had told him.

'What he would really dread in England would be the being lionised,
and being compelled to speak and preach here, there, and everywhere.
And yet he would have no power to say nay. But the cold would
shrivel him up, and society--dinners, table talk--would bore him, and
he would pine for his warmth and his books. Not a bit the less does
he dearly love you all.'

The brother and sisters knew it, and forebore to harass him with
remonstrances, but resigned themselves to the knowledge that nothing
would bring him home save absolute disqualification for his mission.

His own last letter from Taurarua dwells upon the enjoyment of his
conversations with Sir William Martin and Bishop Cowie; and then goes
into details of a vision of obtaining young English boys to whom a
good education would be a boon, bringing them up at St. Barnabas, and
then, if they turned out fit for the Mission there, they would be
prepared--if not, they would have had the benefit of the schooling.

Meantime the 'Southern Cross,' with three of the clergy, had made the
voyage according to minute directions from the Bishop. Mr. Atkin
made his yearly visit to Bauro. He says:--

'I hardly expected that when we came back we should have found the
peace still unbroken between Wango and Hane, but it is. Though not
very good friends, they are still at peace. In the chief's house I
was presented with a piece of pork, about two pounds, and a dish of
tauma (their favourite), a pudding made of yams, nuts, and cocoa-nut
milk, and cooked by steaming. Fortunately, good manners allowed me
to take it away. Before we left the village, it took two women to
carry our provisions. A little boy came back with us, to stay with
Taki. The two boys who ought to have come last year are very anxious
to do so still.

'July 12th.--We anchored the boat on the beach at Tawatana, and I
went into the oka (public house) to see the tauma prepared for the
feast. There were thirty-eight dishes. The largest, about four feet
long, stood nearly three feet high. I tried to lift one from the
ground, but could not; it must have been five hundredweight; the
smallest daras held eighty or a hundred pounds. I calculated that
there was at least two tons. When freshly made it is very good, but
at these feasts it is always old and sour, and dripping with cocoa-
nut oil. The daras, or wooden bowls, into which it is put, are
almost always carved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl shell.

'There was a great crowd at the landing-place at Saa (Malanta) to
meet us. Nobody knew Wate at first, but he was soon recognised. The
boat was pulled up into a little river, and everything stealable
taken out. We then went up to the village, passing some women crying
on the way; here, as at Uleawa, crying seems to be the sign of joy,
or welcome. Wate's father's new house is the best I have seen in any
of these islands. It has two rooms; the drawing-room is about forty-
five feet long by thirty wide, with a roof projecting about six feet
outside the wall at the end and four feet at the eaves; the bed-room
is about eighteen feet wide, so that the whole roof covers about
seventy feet by forty. Wate's father lives like a chief of the olden
time, with large property, but nothing of his own; all that he has or
gets goes as soon as he gets it to his retainers.

'August 3rd.--Went to Heuru. The bwea began about ten o'clock. A
bwea means a stage, but the word is used as we speak of "the stage."
There is a stage in this case about three feet square, twenty feet
from the ground, walled in to three feet height on three sides, with
a ladder of two stout poles. On the bwea sit or stand two or three
men, on either side having a bag; visitors run up the ladder, put
their money or porpoise teeth into the bags if small, give it to the
men if large; and, if their present is worth it, make a speech a
little way down the ladder. A party from a village generally send up
a spokesman, and when he has done go up in a body and give their
money. Taki was orator for Waiio, and I led the party with my
present of beads, which if red or white pass as money. The object of
a bwea is to get money, but it may only be held on proper occasions.
The occasion of this was the adoption of a Mara lad by the chief man
at Heuru; to get money to pay the lad's friends he held a bwea that
all his friends might help him. As he was a connection of Taki's,
and Waiio is the richest of the settlements, he got great spoils from
thence.... At Tawatana the young men put on petticoats of cocoa-nut
leaves, and danced their graceful "mao." I had only seen it before
at Norfolk Island; it is very pretty, but must be very difficult to
learn; they say that not many know it. At Nora they danced another
most dirty dance: all the performers were daubed from head to foot
with mud, and wore masks covered with mud and ashes; the aim of the
dance, as far as I could see, was to ridicule all sorts of
infirmities and imbecilities, tottering, limping, staggering, and
reeling, but in time and order. One man had a basket of dripping mud
on his head which was streaming down his face and back all the time.
A great point is that the actors should not be recognised. Mr.
Brooke was likewise dropped at Florida. After this the rest of the
party had gone on to Mota, where George Sarawia was found working
away well at his school, plenty of attendants, and the whole place
clean, well-ventilated, and well-regulated.

A watch sent out as a present to Sarawia was a delight which he could
quite appreciate, and he had sent back very sensible right-minded
letters. Of Bishop Patteson's voyage the history is pieced together
from two letters, one to the sisters, the other to the Bishop of
Lichfield. Neither was begun till September, after which they make a
tolerably full diary.

'More than five weeks have passed since I left New Zealand, more than
three since I left Norfolk Island. Mr. Codrington and I reached Mota
on the morning of the eighth day after leaving Norfolk Island. I
spent but half an hour on shore with George Sarawia and his people;
sailed across to Aroa and Matlavo, where I landed eight or ten of our
scholars; and came on at once to the Solomon Islands. On Sunday
morning (September 4) what joy to find Mr. Atkin well and hearty!

'Mr. Brooke, who took up his abode at the village of Mboli, had with
him Dudley Lankana and Richard Maru, but they were a good deal
absorbed by their relations, and not so useful to him as had been
hoped, though they kept out of heathen habits, and remained constant
to their intention of returning.

'"Brooke," says the Bishop, "knows and speaks the one language of
Anudha very well, for there is but one language, with a few
dialectical varieties of course."

'A nice little house was built for him at Mboli, which I have always
thought to be a very healthy place.

'The coral grit and sand runs a long way in shore under cocoa-nut
groves, but there is no very dense undergrowth. The wind when
easterly blows freely along and is drawn rather upon the shore there.
Two miles to windward of Mboli is the good harbour of Sara, where the
vessel anchored with us.

'Brooke's house was raised on poles, five feet from the ground; the
floor made of neat smooth bamboos, basket-worked. He had his table
and two benches, one easy cane chair, cork bed, boxes, harmonium, and
plenty of food.

'Close to his house is the magnificent kiala, or boat house, about
180 feet long, 42 high, and about as many feet broad, a really grand,
imposing place. Here Brooke, in surplice, with his little band, had
his Sunday services, singing hymns, and chanting Psalms, in parts, in
the presence of from 150 to 300, once nearly 400 people, to whom he
spoke of course, usually twice, making two sermonets.

'The island is unlike any other; much more open, much less bush, but
it is not coral crag that crops out, but almost bare reddish rock,
with but little soil on it, and the population, which is large, finds
it hard to procure food.

'Three brothers, Takua, Savai, and Dikea, are the principal men.
Local chiefs exercise some small authority in each village. Anudha,
or Aunta, is properly the name of a small island, for there is no one
great mainland, but many islands separated by very narrow salt-water
creeks and rivers, along which a skiff may be sculled.

'Brooke has been over every part of it. His only difficulties arose
from jealousy on the part of Takua and Savai, who, living at Mboli,
were very wroth at his not being their tame Pakeha, at his asserting
his independence, his motive in coming to teach all, and make known
to all alike a common message. Especially they were indignant at his
making up small parties of boys from different parts of the island,
as they of course wanted to monopolise him, and through him the
trade. He has evidently been firm and friendly too, keeping his
temper, yet speaking out very plainly. The result, as far as
bringing boys goes, is that we have now thirteen on board, including
Dudley and Richard, from six different parts of the island. But so
vexed was Takua, that he would not fulfil his promise of sending his
two little girls.

'The fortnight spent in the Solomon Islands has been very fine; winds
very light, and very little rain. We have at length got Stephen
Taroniara's child, a little girl of about seven years old, Paraitaku,
from the old grandmother and aunts. So, thank God, she will be
brought up as a Christian child. She is a dear little thing.

'This work of Mr. Atkin and Mr. Brooke in the easterly and more
north-westerly parts of the Solomon Islands respectively, is the
nearest approach that has yet been made to regular missionary
operations there. Our short visits in the "Southern Cross," or my
short three to ten days' visits on shore are all useful as preparing
the way for something more. But it is the quiet, lengthened staying
for some months among these islanders that gives opportunities for
knowing them and their ways. They do everything with endless talk
and discussion about it; and it is only by living with, and moving
about constantly among them, that any hold can be gained over them.
I think that the Mission is now in a more hopeful state than ever
before in these islands.

'Our parties of scholars are large. They trust quite little fellows
with us, and for any length of time. True, these little fellows
cannot exercise any influence for years to come; but if we take young
men or lads of sixteen or eighteen years old, it needs as many years
to qualify them (with heathen habits to be unlearned, and with the
quickness of apprehension of new teaching already gone) for being
useful among their people as would suffice for the arrival of these
young children at mature age.'

Three Tikopian giants had made a visit at Mota in the course of this
year, attracted by the fame of the hospitality and fertility of the
place. George Sarawia had got on well with them, and tried to keep
them to meet the Bishop, but one of them fell sick, and the others
took him away. This was hailed as a possible opening to those two
curious isles, Oanuta and Tikopia, in so far as the 'Southern Cross'
work was concerned. The Bishop continues, to his former Primate:--

'On the whole, things seem to be going on favourably. The Banks
Islanders are very shy now of the vessels sent to carry off men to
Fiji or Queensland. They will find their way into the Solomon
Islands soon. One, indeed, a cutter, has taken about twenty men from
Ulava. They were all kept under hatches. We warn the people
wherever we go.

'The pressing question now is how to supply our young men and women,
married Christian couples, with proper occupations to prevent their
acquiescing in an indolent, useless, selfish life.