’I hope and pray that dear old George may be the first of such a band of fellow-workers.  Others—­Henry Tagalana, who is, I suppose, about eighteen, Fisher Pantatun, about twenty-one, Edward Wogale (George’s own brother), about sixteen, Robert Pantatun, about eighteen—­are excellent, all that I could wish; and many younger ones are coming up.  They stay with us voluntarily two or three years now without any going home, and the little ones read and write surprisingly well.  They come to me very often and say, " Bishop, I wish to stop here again this winter.”

’They come for help of the best kind.  They have their little printed private prayers, but some are not content with this.  Marosgagalo came last week with a slip of paper—­

’"Well, Maros, what is it?”

’He is a shy little fellow who has been crippled with rheumatism.

’"Please write me my prayer.”

’And as my room opens into the Chapel, and they are told to use that at all times (their sleeping-rooms not allowing much privacy), I know how they habitually come into it early (at 5 A.M.) and late at night for their private prayers.  You cannot go into the Chapel between 5 and 6.30 A.M. without seeing two or three kneeling about in different corners.  As for their intelligence, I ought to find time to send you a full account of them, translations of their answers, papers, &c., but you must be content to know that I am sure they can reason well upon facts and statements, that they are (the first class) quite able to understand all the simpler theological teaching which you would expect Communicants and (I pray) future clergymen to understand.  Of some six or seven I can thus speak with great confidence, but I think that the little fellows may be better educated still, for they are with us before they have so much lee-way to make up—­jolly little fellows, bright and sharp.  The whole of the third Banks Island class (eight of them) have been with me for eighteen months, and they have all volunteered to stay for eighteen months more.  They ought to know a great deal at the end of that time, then they will go home almost to a certainty only for two or three months, and come back again for another long spell.

’All this is hopeful, and we have much to be thankful for indeed; but I see no immediate prospect of anything like this in the other islands at present.  We know very many of the islanders and more or less of their languages; we have scholars who read and write, and stop here with us, and who are learning a good deal individually, but I have as yet no sense of any hold gained upon the people generally.  We are good friends, they like us, trust young people with us, but they don’t understand our object in coming among them properly.  The trade and the excitement of our visit has a good deal to do with their willingness to receive us and to give us children and young men.  They behave very well when here, and their people treat us well when we are with them.