’We told the boys and girls something was wrong, to stop their joyous shouting and laughing; and then I waited till Mr. Jackson returned, and all he could say was, “Only Brooke has come!"’

What more shall I tell?  Comments on such a life and such a death are superfluous; and to repeat the testimonies of friends, outpourings of grief, and utterances in sermons is but to weaken the impression of the reality!

There is pain too in telling the further fate of Nukapu.  H.M.S.  ‘Rosario,’ Commander Markham, then cruising in the Southern Pacific, touched at Norfolk Island, and Captain Markham undertook at once to go to the island and make enquiries.

A protest was drawn up and signed by all the members of the Mission against any attempt to punish the natives for the murder; and Captain Markham, a kind, humane, and conscientious man, as no one can doubt, promised that nothing of the kind should be attempted.

But the natives could not but expect retaliation for what they had done.  There was no interpreter.  They knew nothing of flags of truce; and when they saw a boat approaching, full of white men, armed, what could they apprehend but vengeance for ‘Bisope’?  So they discharged a volley of arrows, and a sergeant of marines was killed.  This was an attack on the British flag, and it was severely chastised with British firearms.  It is very much to be doubted whether Nukapu will ever understand that her natives were shot, not for killing the Bishop, but for firing on the British flag.  For the present the way is closed, and we can only echo Fisher Young’s sigh, ’Poor Santa Cruz people!’

Bishop Patteson’s will bequeathed his whole inheritance to the Melanesian Mission, and appointed that the senior Priest should take charge of it until another Bishop should be chosen.

The Rev. Robert Codrington, therefore, took the management, though refusing the Episcopate; and considering the peculiar qualifications needful for a Melanesian Bishop, which can only be tested by actual experiment on physical as well as moral and spiritual abilities, it has, up to the present moment (May 1873), been thought better to leave the See vacant, obtaining episcopal aid from the Bishop of Auckland.

But this implies no slackness nor falling off in the Mission.  By God’s good providence, Coleridge Patteson had so matured his system that it could work without him.  Mr. Codrington and the other clergy make their periodic voyages in the ‘Southern Cross.’  Kohimarama flourishes under George Sarawia, who was ordained Priest at Auckland on St. Barnabas Day, 1873.  Bishop Cowie has paid a visit to Norfolk Island, and ordained as Deacons, Edward Wogale, Robert Pantatun, Henry Tagalana, to work in Mota, Santa Maria, and Ara.  Joseph Wate remains the chief teacher of the lads from Bauro; but there is much to be done before the work in that island can be carried on.  The people there seem peculiarly devoid of earnestness; and it is remarkable that though they were among the first visited, and their scholars the very earliest favourites, Stephen has been the only one whose Christianity seems to have been substantial.  But the sight of his patient endurance had the same effect on those who were with him in the ship as Walter Hotaswol’s exhortations had had on himself, and several of them began in earnest to prepare for Baptism.