nsell, leaving Hamlin at Manukau, opened a new station at
Waikato Heads. Maunsell was a Dublin graduate of great eloquence and
strong personality. He soon acquired a commanding influence over the
people of his district, and an examination held by him in 1839 rivalled
those of the Bay of Islands ten years before. Fifteen hundred people
were present at this gathering. A class of 450 were examined in the
Catechism in the open air, while 300 more advanced scholars inside the
schoolhouse displayed their proficiency in varied subjects, some of them
repeating correctly whole chapters out of the Epistles. At the close
came a baptismal service, when 100 Maoris were received into the fold of
Christ's Church; and afterwards a celebration of the Holy Communion,
when more than that number participated. The service was followed by a
feast, at which whole pigs were deftly carved and carefully apportioned,
with their share of corn and kumeras, to each tribe: "In a few moments
the whole vanished as if by magic. All was animation and cheerfulness,
and even those who had come four and five days' distance seemed to
forget their fatigue in the general excitement."

While the mission was thus spreading through the island in cheering
fashion, the older stations at the Bay were privileged to receive an
episcopal visit. The able and devoted Dr. Broughton had lately (1836)
been appointed Bishop of Australia, and had been requested by the C.M.S.
to extend his pastoral care, as far as possible, to the islands of New
Zealand. The mention of such a visit calls up imaginative pictures of
its probable course. Would there not have been intense expectation and
busy preparations beforehand? The Maoris would doubtless welcome their
august visitor with characteristic heartiness, and would come forward in
hundreds, if not in thousands, to receive the gift of Confirmation at
his hands. His journeys from one station to another would be like a
triumphal progress; there would have been feastings, gifts, and
rejoicings everywhere.

The actual facts were just the reverse. No one knew beforehand of his
lordship's intention. He arrived unexpectedly on Dec. 21, 1838, and at a
time when any sort of public welcome was well-nigh impossible. A violent
epidemic of influenza had just spread through the settlements, and
hardly a person was unaffected. Everyone was ill and weak. It was not
without a certain appropriateness that the first distinctively episcopal
acts perfor