twine-spinner should form the missionary staff. They must be men of
sound piety and lively interest in the spiritual welfare of the heathen;
but their religious lessons should be given whilst they were instructing
the Maoris in the building of a house, the forging of a bolt, or the
spinning of their native flax.

Such a scheme was only half relished by the Committee of the Society.
These excellent men had hardly yet realised that the dark-skinned
savage was a real human being. They had begun by picturing the whole
population of a heathen island as rushing gladly to meet the missionary,
receiving his message with unquestioning belief, and crying out in an
agony of terror, "What must we do to be saved?" Now that apparent
failure had met their efforts in different parts of the world, they were
inclined to go to the opposite extreme and to despair of the heathen
ever accepting Christianity at all. Marsden's unromantic proposals
jarred upon their old ideas, but in their perplexity they could not help
feeling that at least here was a man who had had experience of real, not
of imaginary, heathen; a man who did not despair, and who had a definite
and carefully prepared plan. Gradually they yielded to his influence,
and, especially as clerical missionaries were not to be found, they
agreed to seek for the artisans.

Even these were hard enough to find. There were as yet no colleges for
the training of young aspirants; outside the newly-formed societies
there was little interest in the welfare of heathen people; the best
that could be done was to seek for men who had the love of God and men
in their hearts, and should seem to possess the qualities of patience,
perseverance, and tact. Through the good offices of friendly clergy two
young men were found. From distant Carlisle came the carpenter, William
Hall; the Midlands supplied a shoemaker, John King. These were given
further technical training--Hall in shipbuilding, King in rope-making.
By the month of August, 1809, they were ready for their enterprise.
Their earthly prospects were not tempting. They were to receive L20 each
per annum until they should be able to grow corn enough for their own
support. To meet this and all other expenses the Committee advanced
Marsden the sum of L100. With this small sum and his two plain and
poorly paid mechanics, this undaunted man started out from his native
land to undertake the evangelisation of a country as large as England
itself.