required it; and that in the one place specified about which there
was contention, the land should be ceded as a gift from the chiefs.
'This,' observes Mr. Patteson, 'is the first negotiation which has
been thrust upon me. I more than suspect I have made considerable
blunders.'

By the 13th of August, he had to walk over the coral jags for another
consultation with Pere Montrouzier, whose negotiation with Cho had
resulted in thorough misunderstanding, each thinking the other was
deceiving him, and not dealing according to promise to Mr. Patteson.
The Pere had, in his fourteen years' experience, imbibed a great
distrust of the natives, and thought Mr. Patteson placed too much
confidence in them, while the latter thought him inclined to err the
other way; however, matters were accommodated, at heavy cost to poor
Coley's feet. A second pair of shoes were entirely cut to pieces,
and he could not put any on the next day, his feet were so blistered.

The troubles were not ended, for when the ground was granted, there
followed a stipulation that the chiefs should not hinder the men from
working at the building; and when the men would not work, the chiefs
were suspected of preventing it, and a note from Pere Montrouzier
greatly wounded Patteson's feelings by calling John Cho faux et
artificieux.

However, after another note, he retracted this, and a day or two
after came the twenty miles over the coral to make a visit to the
English clergyman. 'There is much to like in him: a gentleman,
thoroughly well informed, anxious of course to discuss controversial
points, and uncommonly well suited for that kind of work, he puts his
case well and clearly, and, of course, it is easy to make their