t was that Marsden's last visit bore the aspect of a triumphal
progress. Landing at the Wesleyan station on the Hokianga River at the
end of February, he was received with the utmost joy by the
missionaries, who remembered his constant kindness to them, especially
at the time of their flight from Whangaroa. From Hokianga he was carried
on a litter by a procession of 70 men for 20 miles to Waimate, where he
was met by Messrs. W. Williams, Davis, and Clarke. With pride they
showed him the products of native workmanship in various
departments--the church, the mill, the flourishing farm, the road to
Kerikeri with its solid bridges. Marsden had always believed in the
capacity of the Maori for industrial pursuits: now the evidences of this
capacity were before him. But more grateful still to him was the sight
of people everywhere reading the Scriptures and the Prayer Book.
Wherever he went he was received with the utmost veneration. The heathen
fired off muskets and executed war dances; the Christians showed their
feelings in gentler ways. One chief sat upon the ground gazing upon him
in silence, without moving a limb or uttering a single word, for several
hours. "Let me alone," he said, when urged to move away; "let me take a
last look; I shall never see him again." At Kaitaia, Marsden held a
constant levee, sitting in an arm-chair, in an open field before the
mission house. More than a thousand Maoris came to see him there, some
of them having travelled for many miles.

During this tour the old hero visited all the stations, except those
which had been abandoned in the south. John King was the one link of
connection between this farewell visit and the first. He had removed his
dwelling in 1832 from its original position in the historic bay of
Rangihoua to a more suitable spot at Te Puna, on the other side of the
hill. His work had been greatly interrupted by a curious sabbatarian
sect which had arisen among his little flock; nor had the faithful man
any striking success to show; but he had held the fort amidst manifold
discouragements, and he had gained the respect of the people around.

At the departure of the patriarch from our shores, the feelings of his
converts reached their climax. From Kerikeri and from Waimate they came
in crowds to the Bay to bid him farewell, and the scene on the beach
resembled that at Miletus when the people of Ephesus "fell on Paul's
neck, and kissed him." A warship conveyed Marsden to Australi