till they can be provided with a regular clergyman.

'So I shall have no letters from you till the return of the vessel to
pick me up in September. But be sure you think of me as very happy
and well cared for, though, I am glad to say, not a white man on the
island; lots of work, but I shall take much exercise and see most of
the inhabitants. The island is large, not so large as Bauro, but
still large.

'You will say all that is kind to all relations, Buckerell, etc.
Thank the dear old vicar for the spurs, and tell him that I had a
battle royal the other day with a colonial steed, which backed into
the bush, and kicked, and played the fool amazingly, till I
considerably astonished him into a gallop, in the direction I wanted
to go, by a vigorous application of the said spurs.

'God bless and keep you all.

'Your loving

'J. C. PATTESON.'


A few days later he writes:--


'The "Southern Cross," returning to Lifu, will bring my letters; but
unless a stray whaler comes to Lifu while I am there, on its way to
Sydney, that will be the only exchange of letters. I am afraid this
will be an increase of the trial of separation to you all, but it is