security. To reassure his sisters he tells them
of 81 landings and only two arrows fired at them in one cruise; and yet
one poisoned arrow might be the cause of death accompanied by
indescribable agony. Even when a landing had been effected and friendly
trading and talk had given confidence to the visitors, it might be that
an arrow was discharged at them by some irresponsible native as they
made for their boats.

These voyages needed unconventional qualities in the missioner; few of
the subscribers in quiet English parishes had an idea how the Melanesian
islanders made their first acquaintance with their Bishop. When the boat
came near the shore, the Bishop, arrayed in some of his oldest clothes,
would jump into the sea and swim to land, sometimes being roughly
handled by the breakers which guarded the coral bank. It was desirable
not to expose their precious boat to the cupidity of the natives or to
the risk of it being dashed to pieces in the surf, so the Bishop risked
his own person instead. He would then with all possible coolness walk
into a gathering of savages, catch up any familiar words which seemed to
occur in the new dialect, or, failing any linguistic help, try to convey
his peaceful intentions by gesture or facial expression. When an island
had been visited before, there was less reason to be on guard; but
sometimes the Bishop had to break to relatives the sad news that one of
the boys committed to his care had fallen a victim to the more rigorous
climate of New Zealand or to one of the diseases to which these tribes
were so liable. Then it was only the personal ascendancy won by previous
visits that could secure him against a violent impulse to revenge.

All practical measures were tried to establish friendly relations with
the islanders; and when people at home might fancy the Bishop preaching
impressively to a decorous circle of listeners, he was really engaged in
lively talk and barter, receiving yams and other articles of food in
return for the produce of Birmingham and Sheffield, axe-heads which he
presented to the old, and fish-hooks with which he won the favour of the
young. But such brief visits as could be made at a score of islands in a
busy tour did not carry matters far, and the memory of a visit would be
growing dim before another chance came of renewing intercourse with the
same tribe. Selwyn felt it was most desirable that he should have
sufficient staff to leave a missionary here and there