talking of his home, and of former days at Eton and Oxford, and then
while travelling on the Continent. Often and often during those
early voyages have I stood or sat by his side on the deck of the
"Southern Cross," as in the evening, after prayers, he stood there
for hours, dressed in his clerical attire, all but the grey tweed
cap, one hand holding the shrouds, and looking out to windward like a
man who sees afar off all the scenes he was describing.'

Thinking over those times since, one understands better far than one
did at the time the reality of the sacrifice he had made in devoting
himself for life to a work so far away from those he loved best on
earth.

The Bishop of Wellington, for to that see Archdeacon Abraham had been
consecrated while in England, arrived early in March, and made a
short stay at the College, during which he confirmed eleven and
baptized one of Patteson's flock. Mrs. Abraham and her little boy
remained at the College, while her husband went on to prepare for her
at Wellington, and thus there was much to make the summer a very
pleasant one, only chequered by frequent anxieties about the health
of the pupils, as repeated experiments made it apparent that the
climate of St. John's was too cold for them. Another anxiety was
respecting Lifu for the London Missionary Society, had, after all,
undertaken to supply two missionaries from England, and it was a most
doubtful and delicate question whether the wishes of the natives or
the established principle of noninterference with pre-occupied
ground, ought to have most weight. The Primate was so occupied by
New Zealand affairs that he wrote to Mr. Patteson to decide it
himself and he could but wait to be guided by circumstances on the
spot.