April. He is living on there quite alone, and has already lived down
the first angry opposition of some of the people, and the unkind
treatment that he received from men and women alike who mocked him
because of his wife's death, &c. He has had much fever and looked
very ill, but his heart was in his work; and the Bishop said he
seemed to be one of the weak things which God hath chosen. I know he
made me feel pretty well ashamed of myself.

'Next day we spent a few hours with Mr. and Mrs. Gordon at Erromango.
He has a small house on the high table-land overlooking Dillon's Bay,
and certainly is exposed to winds which may, for aught I know, rival
those of Wellington notoriety. The situation is, however, far
preferable in the summer to that on the beach, which is seldom free
from malaria and ague.

'Then we sailed to the great bay of Pango, landed at Fate a fellow
who had come to the Bishop in New Zealand for a passage, and in the
afternoon sailed away through "the Pool" (the landlocked space
between Mallicolo and Espiritu Santo to the west; Aspee, Ambrym,
Whitsuntide, Aurora to the east), where for eighty miles the water is
always smooth, the wind always steady, the scenery always lovely, and
where, on this occasion, the volcano was bright.

'Being nearly becalmed to the south-east of Leper's Isle, the Bishop
gave me the choice of a visit to Whitsuntide or Leper's Island. I
voted for the latter, and delighted we were to renew an acquaintance
made two years ago, and not since kept up, with these specially nice
people. We were recognised at once, but we have a very small
vocabulary.