Training School at Auckland. The boys whom he gathered from the islands he took with him to the training school at Auckland. There he became teacher, father, brother, friend, and playmate to his boys. He taught them cricket, printing, weaving; he nursed them when they were ill; he loved them dearly. In 1861 John Coleridge Patteson was made missionary bishop of Melanesia, and continued cruising, teaching, and preaching.

His Death. In 1871 Bishop Patteson was cruising with his native helpers in the Santa Cruz Islands. The natives here had been much embittered by atrocities committed by white traders. The bishop went unsuspectingly ashore, trusting in the regard with which he was held throughout the islands.

As a group of natives came up to him, those in the boat saw them offer him fruit and thought they heard the word tabu. According to native custom gifts are offered to a victim set apart or tabu to the gods. As he disappeared among the trees, arrows began to fly, and those in the boat became alarmed. They set out to look for the bishop, when they saw a canoe floating out toward them. In it lay his body, five wounds in the breast, and over them a palm branch tied in five mystic knots. It was learned later that the deed was in retaliation for the kidnapping and death of five natives at the hands of the white traders. When, later, the island was visited, it was learned that the chief, who was absent at the time, punished with death the mur

derers of the hero-bishop. On the little island now stands a simple cross with this inscription:

IN MEMORY OF

JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON, D.D.,

MISSIONARY BISHOP

WHOSE LIFE WAS HERE TAKEN BY MEN
FOR WHOM HE WOULD

GLADLY HAVE GIVEN IT
SEPTEMBER 20, 1871

A magnificent memorial pulpit was erected in Exeter Cathedral, England.

Present Condition of the Melanesian Mission. -In the beginning of the work Bishop Selwyn made two firm rules: "First, that he would never interfere with any Christianization already undertaken by any religious body or sect whatever, so that he would never bring before the islanders the great stumbling-block of divisions among Christians who should be as brethren. Second, that in taking to them the religion of Englishmen, he would in no way force upon them English methods and ways of life, except in so far as they are part of morality and godliness. The faith of Jesus Christ is for the world, and is suitable to the innocent ways and habits of every part of that world, spite of all differences of climate or temperament" (Armstrong's "Melanesian Mission," p. 9).

The method he adopted was that of a central mission training school, whose scholars were collected by means of a mission ship. This method was necessary, since the diocese extends

over" nearly a twelfth part of the circumference of the globe." It reaches over from 30 to 36 degrees latitude, and includes one hundred islands, some larger, some smaller. Almost every one of these islands has a separate language, or at least a separate dialect, of its own, and some of them possess several such, highly developed, and differing at least as much as, for example, the languages of France and Spain. Beginning with the little 22-ton schooner "Undine," the size and power of the mission ships then increased with the development of the mission, until to-day they have a 500-ton steamer, with sleeping accommodations for sixty boys, thirty girls, and eighteen missionaries, men and women, besides the captain and the crew. Chapel and schoolrooms are also provided on board. This makes three voyages a year, stopping twice or oftener at each of the one hundred and seventy stations.

Work is being carried on vigorously in over thirty islands under the bishop, twenty-six clergy (nineteen white, seven native), and eight laymen. From all the islands boys and girls are carried away to school at Norfolk Island for training lasting over seven or eight years. They are then sent back to teach their own people, or others, if they volunteer for missionary work. They are now being trained, and five hundred and fifty already teaching in two hundred and fifty schools and churches with more than sixteen thousand scholars. There are now more than twelve thousand baptized in the native church of Melanesia.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

Write biographical sketches of John Hunt, James Calvert, John Geddie, John G. Paton, Coleridge Patteson, Bishop Selwyn, John Inglis.

Describe the Kanaka labor traffic, the sandalwood trade; show the influence of each on the Christianization of the natives.

The work of native Samoan and Tongan missionaries.

The work of Wesleyans in Fiji, the Presbyterians in the New Hebrides, the Church of England in Melanesia.

Which race displays the greater promise for future development, the Fijians or Samoans?

Contrast the colonial policies of Great Britain and France, which best conserves the interests of the native population?

Compare the commercial resources and possibilities of the New Hebrides and the Fijis, — which group has greater area, population, fertility?

Make an outline map of the Fijis, the New Hebrides, showing individual islands.

CHAPTER V

NEW ZEALAND, NEW GUINEA, AND MALAYSIA

NEW ZEALAND

Geographical. There are two principal islands, known as the North and Middle Islands, besides the South or Stewart Island, and small outlying islands. The area of North Island is about equal to that of New York, forty-four thousand square miles, and of Middle Island to that of Georgia, fifty-eight thousand square miles. Stewart Island contains six hundred and sixty square miles. The group extends for a thousand miles in length. The coast line extends three thousand miles.

The climate has been compared to that of England with the seasons reversed, the Great Bear exchanged for the Southern Cross, and the wintry winds of the North for the frosty breath of the antarctic zone. A grand range of mountains, some of its peaks towering thirteen thousand feet, runs through the islands parallel with the west coast. Snow-capped mountains, deep fiords, glaciers, noble rivers, fertile valleys, and rolling uplands make up some of the splendid scenery of the islands. The mountains are clothed with noble forests, the farming land is rich and fertile, and over the whole island the flowers riot in