Patteson of :Jl;Felanesia
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Patteson of :Jl;felanesia d 'Brief Life of John Colertdge Patteson, .[Missionary Bishop BY FRANK H. L. PATON, B.D. LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK AND TORONTO : THE MACMILLAN CO. PRINTBD IK GREAT BRITAIN BY BILLING AND SONS LTD., GUILDFORD AND ESKER TO MY WIFE PREFACE THE Life of John Coleridge Patteson has been told so well and so fully by Miss Yonge that it requires some courage to tell it again. The only justification for attempting to do so is that this missionary classic has largely passed out of the ken of this generation, and we sorely need the spiritual uplift and inspiration which it never fails to bring to those who read it. Patteson was one of those rare souls who are God's great gift not to one generation but to all ; and, although it is well over fifty years since he laid down his life on the islet of Nukapu, amid the "great wide waste, of Melanesian waters, the message of his life is as living today as it was to the men of his own age. It is a message and an influence which we cannot afford to miss. It was the conviction that there was room for a short sketch of Patteson's life to serve as an introduCtion to Miss Yonge's great Biography, as well as to pass on some of its inspiration, that led the writer to attempt the task. The present Biography adds nothing new : the writer has simply used the rich material available -both biographical and historical-to try to present a vivid impression of the real Patteson. The repeated vii viii PREFACE reading of his self-revealing letters has been a wonderful delight and a spiritual inspiration for which the writer desires to express his profound gratitude. If this little book succeeds in leading others to steep their souls in the larger work, then it will have been well worth while. FRANK H. L. PATON. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGB I. THE LURE OF THE PACIFIC - I n. THE BOY AND THE MAN 9 m. MEETING HIS HERO - 23 IV. THE WIDE WASTE OF MELANESIA 37 V. PIONEERING WITH SELWYN - 49 VI. CREATING A NATIVE LEADERSHIP 64 vn. BARRIER REEFS 72 Vlll. THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD 83 IX. " STICKING IT " 89 X. FATHER AND SON 95 XI. SELWYN'S MANTLE 106 xn. A SKIPPER IN THE PACIFIC - 114 XID. A MISSIONARY SANDHURST 124 XIV. FROM CANNmALISM TO CHRISTIANITY 135 XV. BROTHERS ALL 151 XVI. THE SCOURGE OF MELANESIA 169 XVII. "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS" 183 EPILOGUE: THE CHALLENGE OF THE PACIFIC 199 ix PATTESON OF MELANESIA CHAPTER I THE LURE OF THE PACIFIC Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken : Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific-and all his men Looked at each other with a mild surmise Silent upon a peak in Darien. joHN KEATS. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free ; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. S. T. CoLERIDGE. Cannot the love of Christ carry the Missionary where the love of gain carries the Trader ?-DAVID LIVINGSTONE. LONG before the people of Europe knew of the existence of the Pacific, in A.D. 1245 Pope Innocent IV. sent Friar John, a disciple of St. francis, as an envoy to the Great Khan in Mongolia. Eight years later another Franciscan followed as a representative of the king of France. These men reported that China was bounded on the other side by sea. They believed this to be the same ocean that washed the shores of western Europe. Indeed, Roger Bacon thought that I 2 PATTESON OF MELANESIA the distance from the coast of Spain to the eastern shores of Asia could not be very great. It was only when the Turks closed the old overland route to the East and compelled the European merchants to seek a new way by sea, that they discovered their mistake. The Portuguese mariners were the first to set out on this quest. They sailed down the coast of Africa in the hope of finding a way to India. It required great courage to face these long voyages with such frail ships and such crude instruments of navigation. The sailors, too, were full of superstition: some thought that if they went too far south they would reach the burning zone where no human beings could live ; others were afraid that if they went too far beyond the horizon they would descend so far that it would be no easy task to climb back again. But these explorers, being men of courage and resource, over came all their difficulties. Prince Henry of Portugal, their leader in these early days, built up a wonderful school of navigation and map-making. The men trained there were the pioneers of the Age of Discovery. In 1486 Bartholomew Diaz sailed round the south end of Mrica. He named it the Cape of Storms, but this was afterwards changed to the Cape of Good Hope, because of the promise that it gave of a new way to India. When the way round Mrica proved such a long one, Columbus thought that a shorter route might be found by sailing due west across the Atlantic Ocean. When Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to provide him with ships, he vowed that he would devote the THE LURE OF THE PACIFIC 3 wealth that he hoped to gain to the sacred task of freeing the Holy Sepulchre from the desecrating control of the infidel Turk. Columbus set out on his great adventure in 1482 with three small vessels and a very mixed crew of 290 men. The days lengthened into weeks, but no land appeared.· His men threatened to rise against him in mutiny, but by his fearlessness and wonderful personal ascendancy he persuaded them to keep on. At last, when they reached land, a great revulsion of feeling took place. The officers embraced him and kissed his hand, while members of the crew threw themselves down at his feet and begged for pardon and favour. Columbus thought that he had discovered the islands on the fringe of Asia. He left forty men to found a colony at a place which he named Hispaniola, while he returned to Spain for more ships and men. When he got back again he found that the whole colony had been wiped out. In spite of this disaster he made a new beginning and carried on further explorations. But he did not find the riches of the East, and some years later in poverty and neglect he died without knowing the great discovery he had really made. Meanwhile, Vasco da Gama, following the old Portuguese route round the Cape of Good Hope, had actually reached India, and the riches which he brought back established his reputation. The first sight of the Pacific was gained by a Spanish adventurer, Vasco Nunez de Balboa. He was explor ing the mainland at the Isthmus of Darien, when, 4 PATTESON OF MELANESIA from the top of a hill, on the 25th December, 1513, he suddenly discovered the broad expanse of the great western ocean far below him, stretching away out to the horizon. His first ad was to kneel down and thank God for allowing him this discovery. His next, when he reached the shore, was to wade into the sea clad in full armour, and with drawn sword claim it' for his sovereign, and vow to defend it with those arms against all who disputed that claim. Balboa in his adions unconsciously represented two very different ways of regarding the Pacific. In kneeling to thank God he acknowledged His purpose and leading; and in claiming it with drawn sword for the king of Spain he asserted the right to exploit it. The story of the Pacific ever since has been that of the struggle between these two motives-service and exploitation. While these western explorers were thus making it clear that the land discovered by Columbus was not the east coast of Asia but a new continent separated from it by a vast ocean, the Portuguese mariners, following the South Mrican route, pressed on beyond India, and reached Canton in 1517. One of these sailors, Ferdinand Magellan, determined to open up a second sea way to India around the south of the new continent, as America was then called. Indeed, he conceived the gigantic adventure of sailing right round the world. The king of Spain agreed to help him, and on the 20th September, 1519, Magellan set out on the greatest and most daring voyage in all history, with a tiny Beet of five old vessels, the largest .of which THE LURE OF THE PACIFIC 5 was 120 tons, and a motley crew of 280 men, including one Englishman from Bristol. After a stormy voyage across the Atlantic, Magellan and his party sailed down the coast of South America till they reached Port St. Julian) where they decided to winter. Next morning three out of the five ships mutinied, but Magellan took such swift and energetic measures that the mutiny was quelled within twenty four hours. In the spring they continued their perilous voyage, and on the 21st October they entered the Straits which were named after their leader. Here one of the ships deserted, but the indomitable Magellan pressed on with the others. On the 28th November, 1520, they saw a broad expanse of water stretching away to the horizon in every direction ; the sailors shouted, " The Ocean ! The Great Western Ocean.,.