days, and during that time the
feelings which the boy of fourteen had experienced were revived in
the man of twenty-seven; and with his father's consent John Coleridge
Patteson entered upon his life work, sailing with Bishop Selwyn for
the South Seas in March, 1855.

There he laboured with such energy and success that in 1861 he was
consecrated bishop. Many thousands of miles were traversed by him in
the mission ship _The Southern Cross_, visiting the numerous islands
of the Pacific known as Polynesia or Melanesia.

Of the dangers that abounded he knew ample to try his courage. On
arriving at Erromanga (the scene of Williams' martyrdom) on one
occasion he found that Mr. Gordon, the missionary, and his wife had
recently both been treacherously slain by the natives. At another
island, as he returned to the boat, he saw one of the natives draw a
bow with the apparent intention of shooting him, and then unbend it at
the entreaty of his comrades. "But," remarks the bishop in recording
this, "we must try to effect more frequent landings."

And thus full of faith he laboured on, telling the people of these
scattered islands, which besprinkle the southern ocean like stars in
the milky way, of the love of Christ.

He was still ready to condemn himself just as he did in his early
days. From Norfolk Island, in 1870, he wrote to his sister when he was
holding an ordination: "At such times as these, when one is specially
engaged in solemn work, there is much heart searching; and I cannot
tell you how my conscience accuses me of such systematic selfishness
during many long years--I mean I see how I was all along making self
the centre, and neglecting all kinds of duties--social and others--in
consequence".

He was much grieved by the accounts which reached him of the terrible
war which was being fought between France and Germany in 1870. "What
can I say," he writes, "to my Melanesians about it? Do these nations
believe in the gospel of peace and goodwill? Is the sermon on the
mount a reality or not?"

Yet he had troubles closer at home than this even. The trading ships
were coming in numbers to the islands, and carrying off the natives
either by guile or by force to Fiji and other places where labourers
were wanted.

Notwithstanding the anxieties which beset him on this account, the
good bishop continued to work as hard as ever, and very happy he was
about his people.

On Christmas Eve, 1870, he writes: "Seven new communi