OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 J. F. H-
 
 BRARY . 
 
 i 
 
 ,,'TY OF
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE 
 OF J. F. H. WOHLERS, 
 
 MISSIONARY AT RUAPUKE, NEW ZEALAND. 
 Hit Autobiography. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY 
 
 JOHN HOUGHTON. 
 
 " Such men are the strong nails that keep the 
 world together." 
 
 THE LITTLE MINISTER. 
 
 DUNEDIN: 
 
 OTAGO DAILY TIMES & WITNESS NEWSPAPERS COMPANY, LTD. 
 MDCCCXCV.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 T| F. H. WOHLERS was born a peasant in the village 
 .rj of Hoyerhagen, near Bremen, but a desire for the 
 life of a missionary being developed in him, he 
 went to New Zealand in 1843, under the auspices of 
 the North German Missionary Society. 
 
 He settled in the first instance at Nelson, but finding 
 no sphere there for missionary operations removed to 
 the island of Ruapuke, in Foveaux Straits, then the 
 residence of the principal native chiefs of the South Island, 
 coming down the coast with Mr. Tuckett, the agent of 
 the New Zealand Company, on his journey to select the 
 site for the present settlement of Otago. 
 
 He converted communities, to use his own words, of 
 loathsome savages sunk in degradation and poverty, both 
 at Ruapuke and on the adjacent coasts of Stewart Island 
 and the mainland, into prosperous communities of civilized 
 human beings, receiving for many years no remuneration, 
 but producing his own food out of the soil, and teaching 
 the Maoris to do the same after a civilized manner. He 
 preserved and fully records the old Maori mythology (a 
 .sublime one) which, even in his day, was only known to a 
 few, as it was the religion of previous generations, the 
 custodians of which all died before his own demise. He 
 published the book of which this is a translation in Bremen, 
 in 1883, and died at Stewart Island on the 7th of May, 
 1885, at the age of seventy-three. 
 
 Says Mr. James Anthony Froude in his Essay on 
 Representative Men: " The age of the saints has passed; 
 they are no longer of any service to us : we must work
 
 iv. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in their spirit, but not along their road. And in this sense 
 we say that we have no pattern great men, no biographies, 
 no history, which are of any service to us. It is the 
 remarkable characteristic of the present time as far as we 
 can know, a new phenomenon since history began to be 
 written one more proof, if we wanted proof, that we are 
 entering upon another era." 
 
 The translator of THE MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF 
 T. F. H. WOHLERS submits that the present era is only a 
 continuation of the old one the Christian era and that 
 the rule still is, that when we have a pattern great man 
 amongst us that we do not know it until he is dead, and 
 " that he was in the world and the world knew him not " is 
 as true to-day as it was eighteen centuries ago. 
 
 The author of this book lived and died amongst us, 
 and as a great man we certainly did not know him. He 
 wrote the " Memories of My Life " in his old age in his 
 native tongue, and it has lain amongst us twelve years 
 untranslated. His work was this : To make savages into 
 Christian men and women, not in name only, but in very 
 deed and truth, and to show in practice that " godliness is 
 projitable unto all things, having promise of the life that 
 now is, and of that which is to come." He saved people's 
 souls, and their bodies too. He put into practice the maxim 
 of the old monks, Labor are est or are, and did manual 
 labour as well as his spiritual task as under the Great 
 Taskmaster's eye. 
 
 In his somewhat narrow sphere he solved the social 
 problem that problem that is the despair of modern states- 
 men, that labour unions, extensions of franchise, labour 
 bills, and other Acts of Parliament are so vainly trying to 
 solve. His materials were and poorer ones could hardly 
 be conceived First, Men and women, loathsome savages, 
 sunk in degradation and poverty, but still, like himself,
 
 INTRODUCTION. v. 
 
 made in the image of God ; Second, God Almighty's earth, 
 a small, sterile, rocky island in the midst of a stormy strait, 
 but still that earth that is the Lord's, and full of riches ; 
 Third, a little axe, a fowling piece, a bag of flour, a little 
 salt, and no money at all ; but the Christian religion that 
 faith that moves mountains. His method was this : He 
 combined religion and industry, and served God for no 
 money at all, as much with the spade and plough as before 
 the altar. He has gone to his longed-for home, but his 
 work still goes on. His memory is still an active force in 
 the field of his late labours. 
 
 The translator's acquaintance with the old world is but 
 small. In the new continents he has passed a lifetime, and 
 has seen such work as this man did in but one other place. 
 On the coast of California are many adobe cathedrals, 
 centuries old, some in ruins, some still in use and in good 
 repair. They were founded by an order of Franciscan 
 friars some three hundred years ago. The wild tribes of 
 Indians which then inhabited California could not be 
 reduced to order by the Spanish military authorities, and 
 the coast of California for a length of five hundred miles 
 was abandoned to a few of these friars, amongst whom were 
 men of great learning and profound piety. With nothing 
 but a rosaiy, a little holy water, and the Christian religion, 
 they converted these wild men whom the soldiery could 
 not tame. They taught them the arts of peace, that of 
 irrigation, of the cultivation of wheat, of barley, of the 
 vine, the olive and the fig, and they formed them into com- 
 munities not one, but twenty communities of thousands 
 of civilised men and women. They built these beautiful 
 cathedrals of adobe, with cool transept and nave, with 
 buttressed walls many feet in thickness, with shady 
 corridors, and fountains gurgling in the plaza. They 
 taught the Indians to breed sheep and cattle, horses and
 
 vi. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mules; and, exporting wool and hides to the parent country, 
 received back goods in exchange, and amassed such wealth 
 that they could afford to have their heavy altar services of 
 solid gold. The missions Dolores, of Monterey, of Santa 
 Barbara, San Luis Rey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, 
 Santa Inez, San Diego, San Buenaventura, and many others 
 still tell of the work of these saints. With them, too, the 
 practice was, Laborare est orare. And the translator 
 submits that Mr. Froude's new era will dawn when all the 
 saints learn that they are not here merely to pray, but to 
 work as well for to work is to pray; and that the solution 
 of the social problem lies (as Mr. Carlyle suggests in his 
 tale of Abbot Samson) in the combination of religion and 
 agriculture first, and all other industry afterwards; for 
 work is as holy as prayer, and " Six days shalt thou work " 
 as much a divine command as "Remember the Sabbath day 
 to keep it holy." Acts of Parliament cannot effect this. 
 It must necessarily be a matter of slow growth, for the 
 " Kingdom of Heaven," which is Peace on earth and good 
 will towards men, " cometh not with observation." 
 
 The story told is that of a faithful husbandman a true 
 worker in the vineyard, and after a lifetime of toil, when 
 earth had no more in store for him and his sole desire but 
 for eternal rest, he calls himself an unprofitable servant ! 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of 
 Heaven " 
 
 As Mr. J. M. Barrie says of one of the clergymen in the 
 "Little Minister" "Such men are the strong nails that 
 keep the world together." They are the cement that joins 
 the new era to the old one. 
 
 J. H. 
 
 INVEBCABGII/L, 1st July, 189-5.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAOK 
 
 I. MY YOUTH 1 
 
 II. A WINDFALL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 10 
 
 III. AN OCCUPATION IN BREMEN 18 
 
 IV. IN THE MISSION HOUSE AT HAMBURG 23 
 V. AT SKA - 37 
 
 VI. IN NEW ZEALAND 64 
 
 VII. SETTLEMENT IN THE VALLEY or MOUTERE 71 
 
 VIII. I SEEK AND FIND MAORIS - 84 
 
 IX. THE BEGINNING AT RUAPUKE 102 
 
 X. THE ISLAND AND ITS INHABITANTS - 115 
 
 XI. ON THE MYTHOLOGY or THE MAORIS 129 
 
 XII. ON THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE MAORIS 138 
 
 XIII. THE SPIRITUAL ADVANCE OF THE MAORI 145 
 
 XIV. MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 156 
 XV. How I WAS RESCUED FROM MY LONELINESS - 166 
 
 XVI. MY HELPMEET 174 
 
 XVII. A BATTLE FOR CULTURE 182 
 
 XVIII. ADVANCES AND CHANGES - 190 
 
 XIX. How IT LOOKS TO-DAY 196 
 
 ADDENDUM ----- 206
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF 
 J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MY YOUTH. 
 /-T- ' 
 
 V_L HE years of childhood and of youth are in themselves of no 
 xj great importance, still there is something in them that has 
 a bearing on the later life. I was born on the 1st October, 
 181 1 (a younger son amongst seven children), in Mahlenstorf, in 
 the parish of Briicken, district of Hoya, where my father was a 
 respected farmer. The neighbourhood and the district of Hoya 
 lies far from cities. Civilisation in respect of the inhabitants 
 was in a backward state. The reason was that the whole sur- 
 rounding country was oppressed under the rule of the French 
 conquest. Parents and children had to eat their sorrowful bread 
 in the bitter sweat of their brow. The French had, as it was 
 expressed, sucked the marrow out of the peasants' bones. My 
 father had allowed my name to be registered by the mayor in the 
 French registry as Heinrich Friedrich, but from hatred of the 
 French had me baptized as Johann Friedrich Heinrich. I can 
 only remember one Frenchman now. It was probably after the 
 battle of Leipzig, when the Frenchmen were driven out of 
 Germany heels over head. There was a cry in the house a 
 Frenchman ! I ran out and saw a jaded cavalry soldier talking 
 to my father at the door of the house. I still have a lively re- 
 membrance of his trembling voice, as well as his rusty scabbard. 
 
 It may be here remarked, by the way, that my father was a 
 considerable man among the peasantry of the place, and for that 
 reason, after the conclusion of the French occupation, was elected
 
 2 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 squire of the parish (Bauermeister). My mother, whose maiden 
 name was Ahlers, and whose birthplace was Hoyerhagen, was a 
 person of quiet modest piety. 
 
 When I was six years old I was sent to the house of my 
 grandmother at Hoyerhagen, in a charming district where the 
 trend of the country is towards the valley of the Weser. There 
 were no children in the house there (my uncle was not yet mar- 
 ried), and I was to feel this want so great a want in one accus- 
 tomed to a lively household very considerably. 
 
 This was of importance, because in accordance with the 
 conclusion of all parties concerned, I was brought up here. My 
 education alone had- this difference from that of the rest of 
 us that in my tender childhood (later on I have had to work 
 hard enough) I was spared the depressing influence of hard manual 
 labour, and for that reason could go to school with fresh and 
 unimpaired strength. The road to school was a distance that 
 took half-an-hour to travel, and passed through a large and lofty 
 forest of oaks. This made a lively impression on my receptive 
 mind in summer when the green canopy waved in living freshness, 
 and in winter when the stormy winds roared through the leafless 
 branches. Such impressions were strange to my comrades at 
 school, who, both before and after school, had to tire themselves 
 out with hard labour. 
 
 There were about 120 children in our village school, and 
 only one teacher. He did his work faithfully, but what can one 
 man do amongst such a heap of blockheads, belonging to a race 
 amongst whom the difficulty of acquiring knowledge had become 
 hereditary ! 
 
 He had to exhaust himself with them to get the most rudi- 
 mentary essentials crammed into them, and had therefore only a 
 small portion of time to spend on me, although I was capable 
 of more rapid advancement. I helped myself as far as I could, 
 especially in arithmetic, as I required less direction in this 
 branch, and for that reason I brought this study for our school 
 (where very few attempted to reckon on a slate, and those who 
 did, having achieved this accomplishment, went no further) 
 to an unexampled state of perfection. My arithmetic book was
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 3 
 
 the so-oalled Alte Bremer Miinze, by Peter Koster. I stuck to my 
 arithmetic after school years were over, especially in the winter 
 evenings, and in course of time worked the whole book through, 
 with the exception of the appendices, which embraced algebraic 
 examples, of which at that time I knew nothing. As 1 had no 
 supervision, I had to make many unnecessary experiments, and 
 work my way through a host of unnecessary figures (I did not 
 then know the short method) before I could bring out the right 
 answers to the difficult and involved problems. 
 
 I only turned my attention to arithmetic in my few leisure 
 hours because all other avenues to learning were closed to me. 
 I was not so well acquainted with any cultivated man as to be 
 able to obtain books from him, as the upper classes had nothing 
 in common with the peasantry. 
 
 Many a time I have broken my head over the High German 
 language. In spite of all my endeavours I could not make it 
 out why words which appeared to me quite the same were 
 printed one time with a capital letter, and another time without ; 
 why sometimes there should be a " dem " and another time 
 " den," and of similar puzzles many more. I could well believe 
 that these things were not the result of chance. Sometimes I 
 seemed to scent out a difference, and then the scent vanished 
 again. Enough of this ! 
 
 The labour of the peasant is as necessary to make a whole 
 man as learning is, and one cannot support oneself with specula- 
 tions about incomprehensible mysteries. 
 
 The condition of the peasant is always one of contentedness. 
 Come along with me into the field ! No ; not now, now that I 
 am an old man, and, after a life of labour, just yearn for eternal 
 rest ; but then, when 1 was yet a fresh and hearty peasant boy. 
 It is early morning in the autumn seed time. As we rise the 
 stars are yet in the sky ; but when we have the horses harnessed 
 to the ploughs, the dawn is broken, and we can see the furrows. 
 The share cuts through the sod with a lively rustle, and turns the 
 spit over with an easy fall, to cover up the sod all overgrown with 
 weeds and thistles with the fresh clean earth from below. We 
 dare not look back, or the plough might slide out of the furrow,
 
 4 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 and leave an ugly place in the field ; but still we can see the 
 reddening dawn in front of us. What a sight ! It is as if the 
 loved heavenly Father held his hand before the light, and amused 
 the child on His lap by letting the light stream through His 
 
 fingers. . . 
 
 In the morning s purple glances, 
 
 Blazing on its wreath of rays, 
 The youthful day in joyous dances ; 
 
 Me, too, he wakes with friendly hand, 
 And uprise my grateful songs 
 
 In creation's joyous band. 
 
 God sweetens the long hours to the peasant, from early morn 
 till late at night, with an inward joy which the quick movement 
 in the bracing air, and the beauty of surrounding nature, produces 
 as a gratuitous gift. Mowing grass is hard labour, but yet what 
 greater joy than that of a young peasant, when at daybreak he is 
 on the dewy meadow. How refreshed he feels after the short 
 sleep, and how sweetly his sharp scythe hisses through the 
 moisture-laden grass. 
 
 I'm content the whole year round ; 
 
 In spring I plough the land ; 
 Then springs the lark with upward bound, 
 
 A merry song he sings to God ; 
 Then comes the lovely summer time ; 
 
 Then does my heart o'erflow ; 
 Then when I wander in the prime, 
 
 So many thousand ears I see ; 
 When comes the Jacob day along, 
 I swing my scythe, 
 I cat the corn, 
 And take the grain to harvest home. 
 
 In autumn look I upon my trees, 
 See apples, pears, and plums thereon, 
 And it they are ripe I shake them well ; 
 So God rewards the peasant's toil. 
 Then when sad winter comes, 
 And my cottage is all white with snow, 
 And all the fields as chalk are white ; 
 The meadows then are thick with ice ; 
 And when the lovely Sunday comes 
 I dress myself with decent care, 
 And go to church with quiet heart, 
 And hark to what the preacher says. 
 
 Spinning-room Kong. 
 
 Hoyerhagen (meaning probably Count's Park), the village and 
 the common where I was born, lies in a woody region of great
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 5 
 
 natural beauty, under a row of sandhills partly covered with 
 needlewood (pines). Oak and beech woods spread themselves out 
 on either side. These hills, evidently the sandhills of some earlier 
 sea beach, are in places so high that one can see the spires and 
 towers of Bremen from them, a distance of thirty miles or so. 
 Hoyerhagen itself lies in the foreground of the low country. The 
 many farmhouses lie mostly isolated, almost every one surrounded 
 with its own groves of fruit and other trees in a great oak wood. 
 On the edge of this wood, and partly between the farmhouses, 
 there is a row of stream-like ponds, that are kept flowing by the 
 annual overflowing of the Weser (I hear the wood has died out 
 now, and the district has a more uniform appearance). The 
 beauties of nature were daily before my eyes, and impressed my 
 sensibilities more and more. They awakened, however, a keen 
 desire for wider expei'iences, such as are available to townspeople, 
 but closed to the peasantry. In a more uniform neighbourhood, 
 such as that of my birthplace, with the heavy load of manual 
 labour in early childhood, such a disposition had probably been 
 less developed. 
 
 With all its natural beauties Hoyerhagen was a most dead- 
 and-alive community, and, with regard to opportunities for mental 
 acquisition, very poor in books. The few books that were to be 
 found in houses for the most part lay unused, and could have been 
 easily counted. There was the land catechism (a good book), 
 exclusively for the school children ; then the church hymn book ; 
 then there was the yearly land calendar ; then an old prayer- 
 book ; a still older house postil, and last, an old Bible. In my 
 estimation the Bible was the chief book, and then the calendar. 
 I preserved the calendars from year to year, and consequently 
 had quite an important collection. Sometimes I bought myself 
 a little book from the bookbinder's, but these were of no great 
 importance, and have vanished from my memory. On the other 
 hand I have yet lively recollections of the lessons on the Bible 
 and the calendar. 
 
 As a result of my want of books, and my great desire to 
 read and learn, I soon made the discoA'ery that the Bible con- 
 tained a rich treasure of instruction. I learnt therefrom the
 
 6 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 biblical histories, learnt chapters and Psalms by heart, and 
 thought over them afterwards, when I was driving and ploughing, 
 whenever my thoughts were not required in attention to my 
 work. This certainly had this good effect although the natural 
 man receives nothing of the spirit of God, it kept me in a sort 
 of innocent naturalness. At all events I was free from many sins 
 to which youth is liable. 
 
 Besides the Bible, my collection of calendars contained a 
 valuable treasure of easily understandable information about 
 astronomy, meteorology, and other pleasant bits of information, as 
 well as patriotic and other songs. I learnt all this diligently. 
 The patriotic songs stirred my whole heart with love for my 
 German fatherland. 
 
 I greet thee, dearest fatherland 
 
 I'm born for thee alone ! 
 To thee, with high uplifted hand, 
 
 The child's true faith is sworn. 
 
 My powers I do devote to thee 
 Thy welfare shall my honour be ; 
 Be bann'd all mean and base desire 
 From thy son's breast, oh fatherland ! 
 
 From the Calendar. 
 
 But I was born a peasant, and a peasant I supposed I must 
 remain. Not even as a soldier was I of any use I was too 
 small. 
 
 In accordance with good old custom, the peasantry always 
 went regularly to church. I did not. Yet, if I could have heard 
 explanations of the Bible, or, above all, something spiritual 
 that would have helped my sinking belief, then had gladly 
 gone. Instead of that, I was fed with lessons in housekeeping. 
 When, for instance, the sermon was on the necessity of early 
 rising, and a calculation was made as to how much time was 
 saved in a year or maybe in a lifetime if one rose every morn- 
 ing an hour earlier ; that was a matter 1 could easily have 
 reckoned up for myself. But what angered me beyond measur 
 was that the whole affair was totally unnecessary. By far the 
 most of us hearers were obliged to be out of bed every morning
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEBS. 7 
 
 at four ; only a few could sleep till five ; and some few had to get 
 up at three. Surely that was early enough ! 
 
 Such dissertations about common everyday affairs disgusted 
 me with church going. In preference, therefore, I read at home, 
 or went in summer time into a wood and dreamed the time away. 
 I had not far to go. Close by the house the before-mentioned 
 river-like pond flowed along, and here, between the still water 
 and a blooming meadow, we had a little wood of high oaks, 
 beeches, and other kinds of trees s as well as thick undergrowth 
 of osiers, hazels, and such like. Here it was, as still and solemn 
 as in some sublime temple of a Nature's God, the little insects en- 
 joyed their short life they wished no better. A gift of a few days 
 was to them as good as all eternity. Why, then, should the heart 
 of man be so drear ? Why does it seem so strange and lonely 
 in God's beautiful creation ? 
 
 The good God He lives for us all, 
 
 We all do stand in His right hand, 
 Whether we roam in the Northern wild 
 
 Or in the Southern tropic land ; 
 The Father's eye it reaches far, 
 It blesses all, it takes all in, 
 And from the starry host of heaven 
 Looks down on flower that lonely blows. 
 
 Out of the Calendar. 
 
 Is it true that a self-existent God lives that knows every 
 green leaf and its web, and who thinks of the lonely man and his 
 dark forebodings ; or is there only a world soul, only half known 
 to itself, that permeates all visible nature and unfolds itself 
 through it, but which regards no single life ? Ah ! the solemn 
 stillness in the temple of Nature may well instil a soft sadness, 
 but it cannot satisfy the awakened yearning after something. 
 What is it ? What may Nathaniel have felt when he was alone 
 under the fig tree, before Philip called him and led him to Christ ? 
 Or I went alone to the already-mentioned heights. Here lay 
 spread out before me, right across to Verden, the thirty-mile-wide 
 Weser valley, with hamlets and villages, spires and windmills, 
 woods, fields, and meadows, and the woody Hoyerhagen in the 
 foreground.
 
 8 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 For love of us they deck them all, 
 
 The meadow, hill, and grove ; 
 
 The birds they sing from near and far, 
 
 With song they fill the air ; 
 
 The lark sings to us when at work, 
 
 At our sweet rest the nightingale. 
 
 And when the golden sun gets up, 
 
 And gold floods all the world ; 
 
 When everything in blossom stands, 
 
 And ears all fill the field, 
 
 This splendour all, then think I then, 
 
 For me, dear God, for me is made. 
 
 From a School Song. 
 
 But how small one feels in the great creation. Here on the 
 margin of a fragrant pine wood, where a solemn rustling wanders 
 through the pine needles, the anxious foreboding rises once more 
 that one is forsaken. One feels in the very home like a stranger 
 in a strange land. Will it be different in a future life ? Will even 
 a peasant there have access to higher knowledge ? Is there really 
 a life after death, or is the belief a mere naked hope to be set 
 against the certainty of the death that lies before us? Does life 
 end with death ? or do we not really know but that we have com- 
 forted ourselves with a vain belief ? Is God a man that He should 
 lie ? Can He really hold out idle hopes to His children to make 
 their short earthly life bearable ? Not if He is really the God 
 the Bible teaches. 
 
 A still summer evening. Twilight is gradually losing itself 
 in night. A few faint streaks of the red fading evening glow 
 gleam through the fruit trees and the far-away woods. A plum 
 tree in full freshness stands before me. The leaves of the young 
 shoots are in full sap, ready for their nightly rest, in such ex- 
 pressive manner, as if to say we correspond with our existence. 
 I could not say this about myself. The world and nature when 
 in their softest moods can give me no satisfaction. God appeared 
 to me to be near in the visible creation, but immeasurably distant 
 from the yearnings of my inner soul. A bat fluttering described an 
 always returning circle. Poor creature ! Helpless in flying 
 unskilled in running and it dare not trust itself out in day- 
 light. And yet it enjoys itself for its existence in its dark world. 
 Even so the men of my conditition are glad to be content in their 
 ignorance, and men shun knowledge for fear it might bewilder
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 9 
 
 them. But I could not be content. My whole soul yearned after 
 higher light, and with this longing locked in my bosora I was 
 obliged to move restlessly in a dark circle. I was acquainted 
 with no cultivated man, knew no one to whom I could lay bare 
 the longings and yearnings of my heart, or any one who would 
 be able to understand me. If 1 spoke about the longings and 
 yearnings of my heart I received the short answer Bist narr ! 
 (you're a fool). I had also sufficient penetration to see that 
 really there was a good deal of folly in me. This drove me to 
 solitude. 
 
 It was the hereditary opinion that a peasant must trouble 
 himself only about such matters as had been usual in previous 
 generations all other knowledge and speculation could only end 
 in his ruin. And I, too, thought there was somewhat of truth in 
 this. All younger sons in my rank of life placed their hopes and 
 exerted their energies in the direction of some day being farmers 
 themselves, whether by purchase, lease, or marriage. I never 
 had such a wish, therefore, thought I, I was ruined already. But 
 this thought in no way hindered me doing my duty in the service 
 of my uncle at Hoyerhagen, and becoming a thorough farmer. 
 I could load a cart with hay or corn, could turn as good a furrow, 
 sow the seed as well and regularly as any other peasant who 
 never thought at all. But I had no desire at all to be an inde- 
 pendent farmer myself. 
 
 And so I arrived at my twenty-fifth year, and the road to 
 higher knowledge was closed to me on all sides, and that by so 
 high a wall that I could not even look over it. It is well that God 
 preserved me from people with revolutionary ideas, who ivant to 
 improve the world iviihont God and without Christianity. If I had 
 fallen into such hands, and they had represented to me that the 
 entire parochial and civil organisation was a wrong one, and as 
 a consequence I was wrongfully deprived of the opportunities of 
 improvement, and it must be overturned, they might easily have 
 led me astray and ruined me. But God's merciful hand was over 
 me. and I knew it not.
 
 10 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 A WINDFALL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 ALWAYS drove with pleasure to the mill, because, while 
 the corn was being ground, I sometimes found something 
 to read. The mill was in the parish of Vilsen not in 
 our parish of Hoyerhagen. Now, it happened once, when I went 
 into the miller's room, that I saw printed papers lying on the 
 table. 1 at once looked at them. There was a picture on the top 
 representing the rays of the rising sun, and over it was written 
 " The glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Both the picture 
 and the title touched my receptive mind. The rays of the rising 
 sun in the early hours of the morning were always enchanting 
 natural objects to me ; and I had often read the words from the 
 sixtieth chapter of Isaiah with awe, because they sounded so lovely, 
 and because the chapter contained such sublime poetry. I knew 
 by heart. 
 
 Arise, shine, for thy light is come, 
 
 And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. 
 
 It was no wonder that I was attracted by so good an impression 
 of the meaning of the print. I read further : Merciful Missionary 
 Leaf. These were strange words to me, but that did not trouble 
 me ; the narratives of foreign lands and heathen were attractive. 
 I asked the miller's wife to allow me to take the pamphlet away 
 till my next trip to the mill, which I was willingly permitted to 
 do. Yes, she seemed pleased, the good old wife (she was old- 
 fashioned in her belief, and abhorred novelties), to distribute the 
 pamphlets with a good conscience. 
 
 The finding of the missionary tract on the miller's table was, 
 unknown to me at the time, the turning point of my life, and the 
 hand of God can be clearly seen therein. The tracts were not 
 regularly received by the people at the mill. 1 never saw them 
 there before or after. As I heard later, Pastor Kohler, at Vilsen, 
 had only sent them there that one time in order that the peasants, 
 when they came to the mill, might read them there, and I long
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 11 
 
 anticipating something unknown to me, sought for it painfully 
 came and found them. I must say about this dear family of millers 
 that some years later I found awakened Christianity in them. 
 
 The wide surrounding district suffered at that time from a 
 spiritual drought. Eeal infidelity had, so far, made but little ad- 
 vance, but a dreadful indifference reigned supreme that was no 
 better than unbelief. Some held on to the old-fashioned forms of 
 piety ; but there was no inner life, and where the voice of one 
 calling for repentance was raised in the wilderness, as that of 
 Pastor Kohler, at Vilsen, who demanded conversion of heart and 
 an awakened Christian life, it was considered novelty, and those 
 who held by old-fashioned ways feared it might bewilder them. 
 
 I have already remarked that I had a considerable stock of 
 the yearly land calendar, because there were some good things to 
 read in it ; only I was sorry that I always had to wait a whole 
 year before a new one was published. Here, now, was a publica- 
 tion that came out every fourteen days, and was just as good to 
 read as a calendar. As I had heard in the mill that the Missionary 
 Leaves could be got from Pastor Kohler, at Vilsen, I resolved on 
 the occasion of my next journey to the mill to run over and order 
 the publication. I had previously heard of Pastor Kohler. Some 
 praised him up to heaven ; others damned him down to hell. I 
 was indifferent to both opinions, for I did not know him, and did 
 not belong to his parish. As the upper classes had nothing in 
 common with the peasantry I did not trouble myself about them. 
 The ordering of the missionary publication was a matter of busi- 
 ness ; there was no necessity to see him in person. The pastor 
 received me in a friendly manner, and appeared to be much 
 astonished that a young peasant servant, for which he took me, 
 and from the parish of Hoyerhagen, of his own accord should 
 desire to have the missionary tract. As he still hesitated, and 
 seemed to be in doubt whether or not I was in earnest, I asked 
 how much the yearly subscription cost. He told me, and I laid 
 the money on the table. Thereupon he laid the numbers together 
 which had appeared since the beginning of the year, and as he 
 reached me the packet I snatched it with eagerness and said, 
 ''Here I have secured a treasure of learning." 1 wondered why
 
 12 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 a man in such a high position could talk with an uncultivated 
 peasant boy in so friendly and unrestrained a manner. 
 
 The reading and re-reading of the tracts awakened in me an 
 inclination towards, and then a heartfelt sympathy for, the 
 heathen, and a desire for their conversion to Christianity, and I 
 waited with eager curiosity to know what the next number would 
 bring. I soon remarked that in these leaves there was a different 
 tone of piety from what I was accustomed to hear. This 
 reminded me of the pious speeches which I had heard in my 
 childhood from my mother and grandmother (now dead) ; but it 
 made no further impression on me than that the wavering of my 
 belief, which I had for a long time remarked, again received 
 stability. 
 
 Although 1 always faithfully fulfilled my agricultural 
 labours, which, however, gave me not the least inclination to 
 become a farmer as I always had a great thirst for knowledge, 
 as if I suspected there was something unknown in its possession 
 it was natural that a longing should arise in me to be sent to the 
 heathen myself especially as nothing prevented my leaving my 
 fatherland and my friends. 
 
 Although 1 had now read the missionary publication for 
 a considerable time, I was still unacquainted with the institutions 
 of the mission. I expected that the missionaries must be all men 
 of university education, and had therefore no idea of becoming a 
 missionary ; but I read also of assistants, and for that office I 
 considered myself eligible, and I never expected to be sent 
 out in the uncultivated state of mind in which I then was. I was 
 not quite without means (our district was beginning to recover itself 
 from the French occupation), and intended to take a short course 
 in a school of not too high a grade, at my own expense, if the 
 superintendent of the mission thereupon would give me an occu- 
 pation. There was only one man who could advise me in the 
 matter namely, Pastor Kohler at Vilsen, and in order to do this 
 he ought to, know all my intentions, my age, and circumstances. 
 This was best done in writing. The art of writing which I had 
 so far acquired was neither grammatical, nor did I always use 
 the right words ; but that made no difference, the pastor knew
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLESS. 13 
 
 the language of the peasantry. I wrote him with the request 
 that when I next had an opportunity of speaking to him he 
 would let me hear what he thought about it. 
 
 The next time I went to him he took my hand and said, 
 " You have quite surprised me with your writing." Then, after a 
 few questions, which I answered, he said that nothing stood in 
 my way neither my age, my want of knowledge, or of means, 
 would hinder my being taken into a missionary seminary ; but 
 that in order that we might see whether the wish was of the 
 Lord, or a mere flash in the pan (strohfeuer), 1 had better wait a 
 year and say nothing about it. Both suggestions appeared to me 
 to be right. The first, that I should wait a year, was so welcome 
 to me that it appeared like a reprieve, for a thought came into 
 my mind that had not hitherto occurred to me, to examine myself 
 closely, and I wished in the very first place to be quite clear in 
 my own mind as to what my real intentions and desires were. 
 The other condition, to say nothing about it, I would have im- 
 posed myself if he had not done so. He was afraid that, perhaps, 
 I had represented my purpose to myself in too attractive colours. 
 I replied that no one would be likely to laugh at me. He thought 
 that if they did it would not trouble me. But he did not 
 know the depth of ignorance in our dead community. It was 
 not a matter of bringing reproach on the name of Christ the 
 people did not even know what a mission was ; the word was never 
 heard ; and the word heathen was supposed to mean wild men 
 who ate live hens, feathers and all. If, therefore, I allowed my 
 intention to be become known, people would have said that if I 
 was not born a fool I was become one, and I was not yet ready 
 to bear the public scorn for no purpose whatever. The conver- 
 sation with the pastor made a deep impression on me. It gave 
 rise to the thought I have mentioned. It would present itself to 
 me that I was not yet converted myself, and consequently was 
 not fit to undertake the conversion of the heathen. 
 
 The year of waiting is the most important of my life it is 
 the year of my second birth and I always look back to it grate- 
 fully, although forty years have since passed by. I have already 
 said that as I had nothing better I sought to bind up my faith in
 
 14 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 the works of creation, that such attempts ended in a sort of soft 
 sorrowful sadness that at first was not unpleasant, but lost them- 
 selves in an anxious doubt whether there was a living God and a 
 life after death. Such doubts, with all sorts of disagreeable ideas 
 about ray existence, sat upon my breast cold as a corpse. In the 
 previous time when I had read the missionary tract and taken 
 interest in the conversion of the heathen, it is true my doubts 
 had fled ; but it appeared to me now as if the corpse was decaying 
 and my inner consciousness filled with the putrid stink of my 
 sins. I understood now what this meant. " O wretched man 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death." 
 I recognized that I had served and honoured the creature more 
 than the Creator, who is to be praised to all eternity. Amen. 
 So far I had only known Jesus Christ as the founder of our 
 religion, who had delivered us from the sins of ignorance and of 
 life, and brought the light of eternal life to the enlightenment of 
 the Christian nations. But these are poor considerations which 
 cannot content an anxious state of mind that yearns for life and 
 blessedness. My soul thirsted for God the living God. 
 
 I knew well from my catechism, which I had learnt by heart 
 in school and have not yet forgotten, what the conditions of 
 penitence that is, the change of heart were, namely, a lively 
 conviction and earnest repentance of our sins ; a confident reliance 
 on the mercy of God in Christ ; an earnest striving to better one- 
 self. If these portions of the catechism had enforced themselves on 
 ray mind from their own power of conviction, I had been a converted 
 Christian years before. But that is as impossible as, in our 
 natural strength, to rise to heaven and bring Christ down, or to 
 go down to hell and fetch Christ from the grave. The Kingdom 
 of God does not come with any outward expression : it is within 
 us ; and when one gives oneself wholly to Christ, it becomes a 
 living power. No forcing of penitence is necessary. The renew- 
 ing of the heart within us comes as something quite new, worked 
 by God from inward outward. 
 
 " For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and not of your- 
 selves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should 
 boast." I learnt to pray. Previously I knew no other method of
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 15 
 
 praying but that of repeating or thinking over a prayer I had learnt 
 by heart, out of which I was able to extract but little devotion, 
 now prayer flowed freely from my heart. Oh ! sweet and heavenly 
 devotion that flows from it freely into one's heart ! Is there 
 anyone who feels his heart drear and joyless ? let him go into 
 his closet and close the door. Now he will discover that he is 
 alone with God, with the invisible, ever-present God, who, in 
 spite of our wickedness, loves us as the children of His heart. 
 Let him kneel down it is so joyfully solemn to bow the knee to 
 God in the stillness of the little chamber and pray to his Father 
 in secret, as the words come straight from the heart. Our dear 
 Heavenly Father understands the stammering of his weak 
 children, and is pleased to hear it. He presses us to His heart. 
 We feel it in the sublime devotion with which our heart is filled. 
 And then the blessing with which we rise up and take away with 
 us, that strengthens us to confident and joyful faith and all good, 
 and in temptations mightily supports us ! He who once knows 
 this blessing will often seek the stillness of his chamber. 
 
 The change of heart is something so wonderful, so divine, 
 that it does not permit itself to be compared with anything but a 
 new birth. Other circumstances arise in life which move the 
 heart mightily, but none of them change one's very heart. It ia 
 different with the new birth ; by its means one is permanently 
 inclined towards heavenly things. One attends to one's earthly 
 affairs just as well as before, only with more conscientiousness 
 and thoroughness, and therefore they succeed so much the better. 
 One guards oneself against sin, and for that reason escapes many 
 vexatious pursuits. But the inward consciousness, the new birth, 
 is a secret of the soul with God, that only those can learn and 
 know who not by men, but by God, are initiated into its 
 mystery. It is like the new name and the new song in the 
 Revelation of John. 
 
 A new song to sing, 
 That no other can, 
 To raise it to the Lamb, 
 The conqueror's path along. 
 
 Yes, to the Lamb who bears the sin of the world ! On the cross 
 Christ for us, Christ in us, where He wins an abiding place.
 
 16 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 \ 7 irgins pure and holy, 
 Pictures all of Christ, 
 With His Spirit all are filled, 
 Him in all they see. 
 
 Herder. 
 
 I had promised to say nothing of it that I wished to become 
 a missionary, and as my own inclination so entirely agreed with 
 this suggestion, I held my peace on the subject. From the 
 pleasures which young people generally love I silently withdrew 
 myself. This silence, doubtless, had its advantages. Not without 
 reason does Jesus say, " See thou tell no man." By talking of it, 
 whilst still new to me, I would only have done harm to myself 
 and no good to others ; yet my quiet walking in the fear of God 
 could not remain unobserved, and I noticed that I was regarded 
 with a sort of holy awe. When occasion arose to lay blame or to 
 witness for the Lord I did it with a few words, and these were 
 always taken in good part. If, on the other hand, I had talked 
 much, it would have only aroused contempt and argument. This 
 silence, however, did not arise from my Christian knowledge I 
 had no great acquisitions in this respect, but from the promise 
 which I have previously mentioned. 
 
 Nor was I quite alone. Pastor Kohler could have easily 
 made me acquainted with converted Christians in his parish, but 
 he did not do it. Doubtless he had his reasons. I can see now 
 that he knew me most thoroughly, better than I knew myself. 
 Our conversations, when I fetched the Missionary Leaves, were 
 usually short, but I had on one occasion let fall that sometimes, 
 especially when my feelings were laid hold of by the contempla- 
 tion of the works of God all around me, I had placed my thoughts 
 on paper, and in this way had filled many sheets. He told 
 me to bring him these papers. No one had seen them so far. I 
 hesitated, as I remarked my views had altered themselves very 
 considerably ; but he wanted all the papers, and 1 must go through 
 them with him on my next visit. Naturally there was a lot of 
 nonsense in them, but they were written in such a manner that 
 one could learn from them what my disposition was. 
 
 In our work out of doors among the peasantry there is no 
 distinction of rank between the servant and the sons of the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLERS. 17 
 
 household, but there is a distinction in the inside life of the 
 house. Accordingly, 1 alone had a roomy, light bed chamber 
 all to myself, with a chair, a little table, and an oil-lamp. On 
 the table always lay my Bible, and in the chest of drawers 
 lay writing materials and a few books which Pastor Kohler 
 had lent me, among these the first volumes of Blumhai'dt's 
 " History of Missions," embracing the first centuries of Christian 
 chronology. 
 
 During the short Summer nights I had, with the exception of 
 the Sunday afternoons, little time for reading; but as the nights 
 became longer in the Autumn, of an evening, when all were in 
 bed, I could sit still by my lamp and study Blumhardt's " History 
 of Missions." I had often wondered whether other occurrences 
 besides those related in the Bible were known in these ancient 
 times, and here I found them. It was as if a whole new world 
 of knowledge was laid open before me. It is no little matter, when 
 one has been occupied all day with plough and harrow in the 
 fresh air in the field, or has walked up and down with a heavy 
 sack of seed on one's shoulders on newly ploughed land and sown 
 the seed broadcast, to keep one's eyes open of an evening for the 
 purpose of reading. But the spread of Christianity and its con- 
 sequences under the Roman Emperors were to me so deeply 
 interesting that I could have sat up with pleasure more than half 
 the night if I had not promised Pastor Kohler on no account to 
 deprive myself of the necessary sleep for the sake of study, and I 
 would not break this promise secretly. 
 
 About half a year of the term of my probation had passed 
 by. The time had not seemed long. It never occurred to me to 
 count the months as young folks, who expect great things to 
 happen at a certain date, are accustomed to do. 
 
 I was now acquainted with a man in an elevated position 
 who could understand me. I could now have books and 
 quench my thirst for knowledge as long as time was granted 
 to me, and therewith I was content. And more than that 
 I had my Saviour Jesus Christ, and in Him a wealth of con- 
 tentment that fills a deeper yearning in the soul than a thirst 
 for knowledge.
 
 18 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AN OCCUPATION IN BREMEN. 
 
 (Tow 
 
 O WARDS Christmas I drove once more towards the mill, 
 ^J and after I had put the horses in the stall, while the corn 
 was being ground, I went to Vilsen to Pastor Kohler. He 
 was engaged in conversation with somebody, and had to keep me 
 waiting a little while, with the remark that he had some good 
 news for me. I could not guess what news this might be, and 
 was still more astonished when, while the other visitor was about 
 to go away and was taking his leave, the Pastor reached out his 
 hand to me and said (pointing to me), " We must pray for this 
 young man ; he is going to the heathen." Then, when we were 
 alone, he said he had written about me to Pastor Mallet, in 
 Bremen, and had received an answer. He then read me a letter 
 from Pastor Mallet, and the contents related that the committee 
 had taken his letter into consideration, and had unanimously 
 agreed that the young man was suitable for the service of Christ 
 among the heathen, and he could come to Bremen at the New 
 Year to be presented to the committee on the 2nd of January. 
 This was a surprise. 
 
 On New Year's morning I rose at four, and started on the 
 road to Bremen. It was a still, long, dark night, and the snow lay 
 deep ; but I knew all the roads for a mile, and then I came to 
 the great thoroughfare. I can yet remember how happy I was with 
 my Saviour, to whom I felt I could leave the result of my journey. 
 I felt none of the earlier impatience for light of the days of my 
 boorish ignorance. I had now the light of my Saviour, and if it 
 should be His will that I should remain a peasant 1 was there- 
 with content. In the afternoon I arrived at Bremen, and inquired 
 my way to the church of St. Stephen. I had been in Bremen 
 before with waggon and horses, and, in company with other 
 peasants, had done business, and wondered at the high houses and 
 many streets in the old city (altstadt) ; but now I was here alone, 
 and about to speak with a city clergyman without introduction.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 19 
 
 I walked round the church before I ventured to inquire where 
 Pastor Mallet lived. At last I asked a child, who showed me the 
 house at once. With a silent prayer I went into the house. On 
 the threshold I asked a woman if the pastor was at home. The 
 answer was Yes. Could I speak to him ? She thought not. 
 A door opened at this moment, and a stately man, who had the 
 appearance of a clergyman, stepped out. He came straight up 
 to me, and before I could stammer out who I was and what I 
 wanted, he said : " Ah, you are the young man of whom " here he 
 hesitated. " Yes," I said, " about whom Pastor Kohler has written 
 to you." He took me by the hand and led me into a room, and 
 as he saw my bashfulness he made me sit close beside him on the 
 sofa, and calmed me in as friendly a manner as one would a 
 nervous child, and this soon gave me confidence. As I observed 
 that he was in a difficulty how to dispose of me, I said I could 
 easily find lodging in a hostelry for a few days. " No," he said, " not 
 in a hostelry ; wait, 1 will have my church servant called." He 
 soon made his appearance, and I was handed over to him, with 
 instructions to lodge me for a few days in a Christian family. 
 And therewith the pastor gave him as many directions as to what 
 he was to do with me, as if I were a child and might come to 
 harm in Bremen. I was then in my 26th year, but on account of 
 my small stature and fresh colour I appeared to be much younger. 
 Amongst other things, the pastor said to the church servant that I 
 knew no people, and that my pastor had been long dead. I was 
 astonished to hear him say so, but did not dare to make any 
 remark. 
 
 The church servant (his name was Bude) went with me to 
 the street called " Way's End," to a master tailor of the name of 
 Schierstein, and the family were willing to lodge me. I was un- 
 accustomed to meeting townspeople, and therefore they and I 
 spoke but little, but when I heard their pious conversation I 
 thought, These people have in common what I so far have hidden 
 in my heart. Here I was made acquainted with more Christian 
 people, and it was always said before me that 1 knew no people, 
 and that my pastor was dead long ago. At last I had to break in and 
 say that our pastor was alive, only I had no further acquaintance
 
 20 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 with him than that I saw and heard him in the church ; there- 
 upon one of the friends said to me, " That is what we mean ; 
 it is true he has a bodily life, but spiritually he is dead." That I 
 had to acknowledge. Soon 1 learnt further, that the expression 
 that I knew no people at all did not mean that I had no acquaint- 
 ances in Bremen, as I had understood it, but that I was not yet 
 acquainted with new-born Christian people. Here I would now 
 become acquainted with such. It was so good. It was a com- 
 munion of the saints almost overpowering me. 
 
 On the evening of the 2nd of January I was to be presented 
 to the committee. There was a mention, too, of a mission hour, 
 and I could not quite make out which was the one, which the 
 other. They told me, however, I need not disturb myself, as the 
 church servant was instructed to keep me in the right way. He 
 took me to a large hall and showed me my place at the upper 
 end, not far from a table, and told me to stay there. The benches 
 in the hall were gradually filled by people. There was no seat 
 where I was placed, and I dared not leave the place. Standing 
 was easy enough to me, but it occurred to me that I found myself 
 in a conspicuous situation. Perhaps, thought I, this assembly is 
 the committee, and I shall be examined here. At last Pastor 
 Mallet came and held a mission hour, the first at which I had 
 attended. At the conclusion, and as the people went away, he 
 came to me, and now I saw that I had been thus placed that he 
 might easily find me. 
 
 Pastor Mallet went with me out of the hall, and when we were 
 in the street he drew my arm through his. This appeared to me 
 almost too much condescension, but I submitted in silence. At 
 last we went into a house (I think it was Burgomaster Nonnen's). 
 Here in a room we found more gentlemen assembled. They 
 seated themselves around a table, and I now saw what a com- 
 mittee was. I remained standing, because I thought I would 
 have to undergo examination ; but I was motioned to take my 
 seat at the table. At first I was embarrassed, and did not know 
 what was happening. A servant came in and brought a plate 
 with confectionery. When he came to me I hesitated to take any> 
 till a gentleman said to me I should take some, which I then did.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 21 
 
 Thereupon 1 was drawn into conversation by the gentleman. 
 The conversation became in time warm and still warmer, and I 
 became at last so warm that 1 lost all mj embarrassment, and 
 was astonished at myself that I could express myself with clear 
 voice and without hesitation so fluently in the unaccustomed High 
 German language. Naturally my language could not be gram- 
 matical, and I noticed sometimes a good-humoured smile at my 
 broad pronunciation. At last I was asked if I could find my 
 lodgings alone. I gave the assurance that I had no trouble in 
 finding my way in neighbourhoods with which I was unacquainted. 
 I was then told I could go, and, early next morning, come to 
 Pastor Mallet and he would inform me what the decision of 
 the committee respecting me was. I was about to withdraw 
 myself with a bow and a simple Good-night, but I was called 
 back and compelled to shake every gentleman's hand. 
 
 The uncertainty about the decision I was to hear the next 
 morning prevented my sleeping very well that night. There are 
 times when we leave the result of great occasions quietly in God's 
 hand, and with full acquiescence of the heart can say, " Thy will 
 be done." At other times when perhaps the result is of far lesser 
 importance, we can hardly arrive at such calm submission after 
 much prayer. This shows us the wise education of our dear 
 Heavenly Father. When He gives us such calm submission, 
 then we know that His good Spirit rules our hearts, and that 
 strengthens our faith and does us good. But that we should not 
 be rebellious children at other times he allows us to struggle 
 hard. Lord, if I only have Thee I ask no more from earth or 
 heaven ! 
 
 The next morning, as soon as I was presentable, I went to 
 Pastor Mallet, for I had a walk of five miles before me, and the 
 days were short and the weather cold. I found him in his work- 
 room. He looked earnest and moved, as if he had been praying, 
 and he said to me the committee had resolved in the name of God 
 to take me up. He did not yet know to which institute they 
 would send me, nor did he know the time. I should go 
 back home, and when the time came he would write to Pastor 
 Kb'hler. Then he laid his hand on my head and blessed me. The
 
 22 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 remembrance of this blessing has sometimes been an encourage- 
 ment to me in my lonely missionary work. 
 
 On my journey homeward I took my way through Vilsen, 
 where 1 arrived in the evening. I found Pastor Kohler in his 
 study, and as he looked at me inquiringly, I said the committee 
 in Bremen has resolved to take me up in the name of God. He 
 was visibly moved. I narrated shortly what had happened to me 
 in Bremen, and then said : " So far I have concealed my intention, 
 but now I raus,t tell it in the house, for I have taken care of the 
 farm work for my uncle, and he must be on the look out for a man 
 who can take my place." " Yes," he said, " now you can tell it." 
 Then he took me into the dwelling room, and made me acquainted 
 with his family, especially his mother and two sisters (he was not 
 married) we were country people of the same district. He was 
 the son of the Obervogt at Biicken, the parish where Mahlenstorf, 
 my birthplace, was situated. One of the sisters remembered having 
 seen my father, Bauermeister Gerd Wohlers, in their house doing 
 business with her father. Pastor Kohler was the second pastor. 
 The first (the superintendent) preached in such a manner that the 
 glory of the Bible was lost, and as if Jesus Christ was merely a 
 wise teacher. Kohler, however, resolutely preached Jesus Christ 
 the Son of God and the Saviour of sinners. He was, moreover, 
 a broad-minded man, and a friend of art and science. I still had 
 a good hour to walk before I arrived at home ; but that was a 
 small matter to me in a region where I knew all roads and by- 
 ways on the darkest night. Arrived at the house, I saw my uncle 
 and both aunts were curious to learn some news from me, and I 
 narrated my affairs. I found that the matter was not unex- 
 pected by them. They had long seen that there was something 
 going on. 
 
 I have just mentioned two aunts. One was my uncle's wife, 
 and the other her and my mother's unmarried sister. This one 
 loved me like a mother, but was willing to allow me to go to the 
 heathen in the service of Jesus Christ. All were of one mind, 
 that this would suit my inclination better than farming. They 
 were old-fashioned, and had not experienced the new birth as I 
 had. lived it through in stillness. Still piety was more and more
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 23 
 
 observed in the house ; also, among my brothers and sister (we had 
 six brothers and only one sister), who all lived at my birthplace 
 and its neighbourhood (three hours distant from Hoyerhagen), a 
 spiritual life began to be apparent, and has continued to thrive. 
 To some of the neighbours it was ridiculous. Others, however, 
 and they were the most numerous, thought there might well be 
 somewhat of good in it, and they wished me the blessing of God. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IN THE MISSION HOUSE AT HAMBUEG. 
 
 HEN, after some time, I again visited Pastor Kohler, he 
 said, " I have an invitation for you. Mrs. Olmann, of 
 Bruckhofen, would like you to call on her." " Oh," I 
 said, " we are related." " Yes," he replied, " I have heard so. You 
 will find there also spiritual relations. The old mother in the house 
 just lives in the Word of God." Now, I had sometimes in my 
 childhood visited this old mother with my grandmother. Later 
 on, after my grandmother was dead, the visits were neglected, 
 because the relationship was distant. When I related at home 
 that I had received this invitation, my aunt (my mother's sister) 
 was overjoyed that the old friendship would be renewed through 
 me, and that by means of a spiritual relationship (I kept silence 
 on the subject of my Christianity no longer). It was resolved 
 that my uncle's daughter, a growing maiden, and myself should 
 go next Sunday morning to the church at Vilsen, and hear Pastor 
 Kohler preach (it was his Sunday), and then from there go with 
 the Olmann family to Bruckhofen. Our aunt could describe to 
 us exactly how we should find Olmann's cherry orchard. All 
 happened as arranged. We knew one another yet, although we 
 had not seen one another for many years. 
 
 Madam Olmann (not to be confused with the old mother, the 
 particular friend of my dead grandmother) had much to tell me. 
 First, however, I will say that I found in her and in her house 
 living Christianity. Some Christian neighbours used to visit it.
 
 24 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F..H. WOHLERS. 
 
 They had been awakened by Pastor Kohler, and were like the 
 people 1 had learnt to know in Bremen joyous, free Christians, 
 like the pastor himself. Madam Olmann told me the pastor had 
 told her of a young man from Hoyerhagen who intended to go to 
 a mission school, and had the proposal made to her to collect the 
 passage money for him. She was quite willing to give her 
 assistance. Then she had met a lady from the district of the 
 Vilser commonalty at Hoyerhagen, and asked if she could tell 
 her from what house the young man came that intended to be a 
 missionary. "Oh! don't you know ?" she replied, "that is one 
 of the sons of Ahlers Gretchen." Then she remembered me, and 
 went at once to Pastor Kohler and besought him to make no 
 collection. The young man might not like it (she knew the self- 
 respect of the Ahlers and Wohlers) ; he came of a good family, 
 and was not without means. 
 
 I will here confess for the first time an act of stupidity of 
 which I was guilty a few weeks later, and upon which I always 
 look back with disgust. One Sunday morning I went to the 
 church at Vilsen. As it was still early I spoke to Pastor Kohler. 
 He could not give me much attention, as he had to preach ; but 
 1 had the entree to his dwelling-room. Here I met a candidate 
 of theology, the son of the squire (amtsmann) of Brtickhausen, 
 a village near Vilsen. He was so friendly towards me that I 
 loved him at once. As we went to church he compelled me to go 
 with him to his seat. Owing to a feeling of friendship, and 
 before my head had time to reflect, I gave way to him. But as 
 we were in the squire's place (amtsmann) and amongst the upper 
 classes I saw at once that I was in the wrong place, and that my 
 presence there must give offence. I would have liked to crawl 
 under the seat. I wished I was outside, but I could not get out 
 without attracting attention, and was obliged therefore to sit it 
 out. The candidate kept me at his side, and let me look over his 
 book, but I could give it no attention. Since then I was always 
 careful, as long as I was a peasant, not to give offence by intruding 
 myself into the society of the upper classes. 
 
 In spite of this, the friendship thus commenced between 
 myself and the candidate (his name was Merkel) continued to
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLERS. 25 
 
 ripen. Perhaps it was weakness on both sides that drew us to- 
 gether; but with this difference, that my head, although slower 
 than my heart, always in the end (if you gave it time enough) 
 obtained the supremacy, but with him the heart always ran away 
 with the head. 
 
 Later on, when I went into the district in the holidays, we 
 met at the mill, and he visited me at Hoyerhagen. And when I 
 was not there, he visited at the house, where, as my friend and a 
 favourite of my old aunt, he was always welcome. He became 
 pastor (in the common of Liineberg) before I was sent out, and 
 I have visited him in his parish ; but I heard to my sorrow that 
 his heart always overran his head, which brought him into 
 trouble. 
 
 The winter passed, and I heard nothing from Pastor Mallet ; 
 but in the week after Easter a letter arrived, wherein I was 
 requested to go to Bremen as soon as possible, that I might be 
 sent to Hamburg from there. When I bid the pastor good-bye, 
 he said : " Beware of both pride and self-abasement." This warning 
 was of importance to me, for I was soon to come into a position 
 where I had need of it. 
 
 I little dreamed that at this last farewell to the dear Pastor 
 Kohler in this life I should see him no more. He died after a 
 few months of a fever, in the rnidst of his most blessed labours. 
 Soon afterwards died the superintendent a Rationalist. When, a 
 few years later, I went to Vilsen in the holidays, we went to the 
 churchyard to see Pastor Kohler's grave. It was tidy, and planted 
 with flowers ; that of the superintendent was neglected and over- 
 grown with weeds. The Kohler family was no longer there,, but 
 the faithful old servant was still there the same who a few years 
 before had brought the missionary tracts which gave the direction 
 to my life to the mill, and had laid them on the table in the 
 miller's room, where I found them. We were both overjoyed and 
 overcome by our feelings to see one another in this life. He 
 belonged in a certain manner to the vicarage, for whenever a 
 pastor died or was removed he always remained in the house, and 
 was servant to the successor. He was now old, and had not long 
 to live.
 
 26 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 When I took leave in Bremen of Pastor Mallet, he said : 
 " You will find out a great many things such as I cannot tell you, 
 but do not allow yourself to be bewildered. Hold fast to Christ ; 
 with Him we can go through, but without him we were lost in 
 Paradise." His farewell warning was an anchor in my later 
 difficulties. 
 
 I must here beg attention to another important warning, 
 even if it was given in a spirit as if it had been that of Caiaphas. 
 He, however, did not speak of himself, but he prophesied be- 
 cause that year lie was high priest. 
 
 The day before my departure from Bremen to Hamburg I 
 was commended to Aldermann Haase. He asked me if I wanted 
 money for my journey. I said No, I was amply provided. 
 Then, said he, his servant should go with me to the post-town 
 and furnish the money for my passage. I replied, " I shall be 
 very glad if your servant will go with me to the post-town, 
 because I am unacquainted with it ; but you must allow me to 
 pay for my fare myself, for if God calls me to the mission both 
 what I have and am belong to the mission." Then he looked at 
 me earnestly and said : "That God has called you to the mission 
 service you must doubt no more." In later years this Alderman 
 Haase became notorious on account of a sad defalcation. 
 I am convinced, however, that what he said to me was uprightly 
 spoken at the very least. He spoke to me as a member of the 
 mission committee, and the admonition was in my later difficulties 
 a source of strength to me. 
 
 Arrived in Hamburg, I found two pupils, with whom I was 
 associated. As there was no domicile connected with the mission, 
 we boarded and lodged with a Christian family. My installation 
 with my fellow pupils, and the Christian people with whom we 
 were on terms of intimacy, or those with whom we had any society, 
 was different to what it had been in Bremen. There (in Bremen) 
 Pastor Mallet had always laid it down with marked emphasis: 
 He knows no one. I was received here, however, as still young 
 in Christ, and my want of experience supplied in a friendly 
 manner, and we got along very well together. In Hamburg, 
 however, a refined Christianity was expected from me, and they
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 27 
 
 were disappointed. I arrived in peasant's clothes, was unaccus- 
 tomed to associate with townspeople, and inexperienced in 
 Christian companionship. I do not know what the respective 
 opinions on either side were, but I know that when 1 was presented 
 in the evening to Candidate Brauer, who had most prominently 
 undertaken the direction of our conduct, I felt I should have to 
 call a halt here, and I was not mistaken. 
 
 One of my fellow pupils, Ochs, from the Wurtemberg country, 
 belonged by birth to the cultivated classes, and I could well under- 
 stand that he could not associate with me. The other, Trost, was 
 of the peasantry, but had for a long time past acquired the manners 
 of the townspeople, and was much older than myself. In his 
 company I seemed little more than a boy. As neither thought it 
 worth the trouble to assist me heartily, I was always afraid of 
 committing a breach of good manners, and managed matters so 
 much the worse and showed myself still more clownish. 
 
 But there were certain of the people of our circle who always 
 gave the tone, and these must be considered for a time as connected 
 with my fellow pupils. They were mostly, judged by the standard 
 of city tone and city manners, as uncultivated as the peasantry. 
 A young Jesus may have been the same. But I missed in them 
 the free, joyful, Christlike life that I had found amongst the people 
 in the Vilsen community. These people had to bear with me, but 
 they let me understand that they neither thought me to be called 
 to the service of a missionary nor especially adapted for it. 
 
 Candidate Brauer had especially undertaken our training, but 
 he could only give us a small modicum of instruction, because a 
 meeting of the General Assembly was shortly to be held in 
 Bremen, and he had to make preparation for it; other candidates 
 had therefore to render assistance. 
 
 I have yet a lively recollection of the impression that the first 
 hour of instruction in the German language made upon me. For 
 the first time I held a German grammar in my hand, and I was 
 asked what an article was. I bethought myself that so far I had 
 heard of no other articles than the " Three chief articles of the 
 Christian religion." I could hardly believe these were meant, 
 and I made answer, "No." The candidate (Moraht, later on
 
 28 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 Pastor at Mo'lln) shook his head doubtfully, and as a consequence 
 I could never forget that hour. My position became still more 
 doubtful. At the coming General Assembly a decision had to be 
 arrived at relative to the establishment of a missionary institute 
 and the election of an inspector, in case the North German 
 Missionary Society did not dissolve, which was what the people in 
 our circle desired, and for which they prayed, on account of a 
 separation from the Reformed Church, so that an exclusively 
 Lutheran society might take its place. If the Candidate Brauer 
 should be elected inspector I thought my position secure ; but if 
 a man after the hearts of the earnest Lutherans should be chosen, 
 1 thought I might take my leave ; and that very nearly happened 
 to me. I had on that account very considerable attacks of diffi- 
 dence. I fought and prayed over it ; but Pastor Kohler had said 
 to me : " Beware of both pride and self-abasement." I remem- 
 bered also the admonition of Alderman Haase : " We must not 
 doubt that God has called you to missionary service." I often 
 strengthened myself with the thought that Pastor Mallet had told 
 me all this beforehand, although I did not understand it at the 
 time. 
 
 Before I came to Hamburg I had never heard of religious 
 discord. I was induced by the reading of the merciful missionary 
 tract to take part in the conversion of the heathen, and by the 
 same means became intimately acquainted with the dear, wide- 
 hearted Pastor Kohler. Then, without my knowing exactly how 
 it happened, the Spirit of God had enlightened me and converted 
 me to Jesus Christ. Thereon I was made acquainted with the 
 dear Pastor Mallet and other liberal Christian people in Bremen, 
 and with just as liberal people in the community at Vilsen. 
 
 But Lutheran and Reformed differences of opinion were not 
 taken into consideration. All were hearty loving disciples of 
 Jesus Christ. I had lived through it myself, and it was as certain 
 to me as the certainty that there is a Weser river, and that its 
 waters, which I had so often gazed on with awestruck feelings, lose 
 themselves in still greater waters, amongst which they pour them- 
 selves. Now, to convince me that the believers in the Reformed 
 Church were less righteous disciples of Jesus Christ, or had a
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 29 
 
 lesser part in the Kingdom of Heaven, than the believers in the 
 Lutheran Church, was as impossible as to try to convince me that 
 there was no water in the Weser river. 
 
 When the General Assembly, which was held in the week 
 after Whitsuntide, at Bremen, was closed, it was resolved at once 
 to establish a missionary institute at Bremen, and candidate 
 Brauer was elected inspector. This choice was a great comfort 
 and joy to me, but a great disappointment to others who had great 
 influence on my fellow pupils. Before a mission house could be 
 built Brauer was to make a journey to Bremen and Basel per- 
 sonally to inspect the local mission houses. Dear Inspector 
 Brauer was much misunderstood and abused. He had many 
 enemies. He embittered the unbelievers by his blameless bearing 
 towards infidelity (perhaps with more mildness than harshness), 
 and the timid believers as well, because he joined himself, and 
 with himself the Hamburg Mission Union to the Keformed North 
 German Mission Union. 
 
 The Summer soon slipped by. while Brauer was away on his 
 journey, and the pupils during this time were somewhat neg- 
 lected. Candidates Moraht, Huber, and Reils gave us some 
 lessons. Ochs those in the ancient languages, Trost and myself 
 in the groundings of instruction, such as children of the upper 
 classes have in a school for children. I learnt with eagerness, 
 and as soon as the outer rind of my ignorance was pierced I learnt 
 easily. I understood now what an article meant in grammar. I 
 learnt to my satisfaction the difference between " dem" and "den," 
 and other mistakes, over which I had formerly considerably 
 puzzled myself. My teachers no longer shook their heads doubt- 
 fully over my unheard-of ignorance. I gained confidence again. 
 My struggles, my wholesome disposition towards timidity, and 
 anxiety being laid on one side, were overcome. I had enough to 
 content me, both in Christ and in a satisfaction of my desire for 
 learning. 
 
 At last Inspector Brauer came back from his journey, and 
 then towards Autumn the mission house could be begun. At the 
 same time Riemenschneider came from Berlin, and entered 
 as a new pupil. We were soon intimate friends, for we both
 
 30 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 came from the committee in Bremen, were both of the Weser 
 district, and spoke in leisure hours both the same Bremen Weser 
 low German language. We had both great desire to learn, and 
 both loved our inspector Brauer in our most inmost souls. 
 Riemenschneider had had a better education than I had, and had 
 later and better opportunities for self cultivation. But yet, by 
 means of the instruction imparted to me in the summer in 
 Hamburg, we both were on a level and made equal progress. 
 In learning our lessons, so far as a matter of understanding them 
 was concerned, I made more progress than he did, perhaps 
 because I had greater health, and could bring greater exertion 
 to bear on them ; but in fineness of feeling, and in admiration 
 of all that was noble and beautiful, he was my superior. 
 
 I had never been able to establish an intimate friendship 
 with the other two pupils. The hindrance lay principally in the 
 influences brought to bear upon them by timid Lutheran friends. 
 One of them, Ochs, was thereby so much influenced against the 
 inspector that it necessarily came to an open breach and division. 
 Trost, the other, was a good-natured Christian, and less taken 
 up with human institutions ; but he was too old to be able to 
 learn. It was impossible to him to learn a foreign language, 
 which was unmistakeably needful for a missionary. He went, 
 therefore, out of the mission house into the Rough house, where 
 as overseer of the boys in their agricultural labours he was un- 
 mistakeably in his place, and it was a mistake to withdraw him 
 later on from this occupation. 
 
 The years that I spent in the mission house from October, 
 1837, till the end of 1842 were very pleasant years to me. 
 Here I obtained in full measure, and always with a grateful 
 heart, what in days of my peasant life, from childhood upwards, 
 consciously and unconsciously, I had sought after with pain. 
 Consciously 1 had sought an opening to obtain cultivation and 
 knowledge ; unconsciously, in my secret yearnings after some- 
 thing higher than knowledge, living faith in Jesus Christ and 
 blessed communion with Him. Without this living faith oppor- 
 tunity for cultivation would not have given me full satisfaction. 
 I learnt with eagerness, but I had enough sound sense to know
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 31 
 
 that I could never become a learned man. He who begins in his 
 six-and-twentieth year cannot possibly make up for what ought 
 to be begun in his sixth year. And then in the schools for higher 
 cultivation and the gymnasium, the thoughts are under control 
 from childhood upwards, and brought into working order ; but 
 with me, my thinking faculties in the years of their quickest 
 development had grown up wild and distorted amongst carts, 
 ploughs and harrows, and corn waggons ; at the threshing floor ; 
 at towns and villages, with dreamy thoughts in lonely woods and 
 deserts. That could no more be altered. Wild flights of thought 
 and contradictions to the right ones will unmarked make their 
 appearance, even though afterwards seen through. 
 
 Pursuing the same line of thought, 1 must throw light in a 
 different direction. It is not unknown to me that my present 
 condition is a different one to what it was in earlier years. For 
 he who has grown up to years of manhood in a natural state can 
 only in his maturity work his way into the deeper contemplation 
 of matters which another who has been under culture from child- 
 hood attains as a pupil in the High School. The former will 
 therefore write differently when close on to seventy years of age 
 than he would have done when between thirty and forty. 
 Earlier, deeper impressions, which have been outlived, which one 
 did not then know how to represent, obtain only in time of old 
 age clear form and substance. 
 
 But yet I grieve in no wise that my earlier years were lived 
 as a peasant ; indeed, on no account would I have had it other- 
 wise ; for if I had been in a condition from childhood upwards to 
 go through the proper courses, through better schools right up to 
 the university, I should have looked upon it as a matter of course, 
 and I should not have had the enduring consciousness of looking 
 back with pleasure on the years of earnest seeking, ending in the 
 joyful finding. Besides, I should have had less skill and inclina- 
 tion to educate these wild New Zealanders after they had first 
 been converted and a desire for- Christian manners and customs 
 had been awakened in them, and make them into respectable 
 members of human society, to effect which a cultivated teacher 
 was less effective than an experienced helper. In addition, my
 
 32 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 youthful labours in the fresh air had given me sound health and 
 a hardy constitution, which stood me in good stead in carrying 
 this out. The principle instruction in the mission house was the 
 daily Bible Lesson. The extracts from the Bible were first gone 
 through daily in questions and answers. Our Bibles were inter- 
 leaved with white paper, and the right translations and more 
 correct readings, as well as a few annotations, were at once written 
 down, and then learnt by heart. Then we had to work out the 
 whole in writing and lay it before the inspector. He showed us 
 then where we had not got the right meaning, at all events not to 
 his satisfaction. Such a method of ground work leads to confidence 
 in the knowledge of the Scriptures. Besides that, we had lessons 
 in the German and English languages, geography, natural history 
 (embracing a considerable range), algebra, drawing, trignometry, 
 music. I could make nothing of the last subject. Later on 
 we had special lessons, which were at once reduced to writing, 
 of which the most important were those about world and 
 Church history, the development of Christian life, and dogmatic 
 religion. 
 
 In the German language our inspector began quite a new 
 method with us, in accordance with Woerst's method of learning 
 language ; but as I had already become acquainted with the 
 customary grammatical methods, and had found the key in them 
 to what was to me before a sealed book, I could not adapt myself 
 to the new method, and I always had to go back to the old one 
 in order to understand the new one, which is what ought not to 
 have been. The new philosophical way may have its advantages 
 under certain circumstances, but I believe I should have been 
 more firmly grounded in the German language if the instruction 
 had been continued in the old-fashioned method. 
 
 As Kiemenschneider and I showed a desire for it, our inspector 
 began to give us instruction in Latin and Greek, which was a matter 
 of great joy to us. Later on, however, it "was decided at a General 
 Assembly that instruction in the old languages must cease, because 
 it was too much, and other necessary studies might be neglected. 
 The General Assembly was so far right, for we had in our last years 
 very much to make up, and it is not everybody who is strong enough
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 33 
 
 to bear the necessary strain, and besides, we could never expect to 
 become so accomplished in the ancient languages as to be able to 
 do justice to the treasures of knowledge and of what is noble and 
 beautiful preserved therein. But yet learning these languages gives 
 one an advantage in learning other languages, so that one can fear- 
 lessly attack a quite foreign language, and that is of considerable 
 value. 
 
 Besides, the ancient languages had become so dear to me that 
 I could not give them up. I continued therefore the study of them 
 in the quiet of my hours of reflection. My health was so good that 
 I could endure prolonged exertions. This was not all. I bought 
 an old Hebrew grammar and book from an old Jew bookseller, 
 and began to learn Hebrew. I did not do it in secret, for that 
 would not have been right ; but I drew as little attention to it as 
 possible, for fear that it might be forbidden. I never asked the 
 inspector for assistance when I came to a dead stop, but wended 
 my way to the candidates, amongst others to Candidate Valett. 
 He had mentioned what I was doing in the city, where I had 
 friends for I sometimes made an excursion into the city namely, 
 Dr. Wyneken (lawyer), Pastor Von Hanffstengel, Rector Sattler, 
 and others. One day at dinner the inspector said to me, " We 
 have found out to-day what you are." Astonished, I asked what 
 that could be. " That you are a Jew," was the answer. I noticed 
 now that he referred to my Hebrew. After dinner he handed me 
 a Hebrew Old Testament, grammar, and dictionary -all new books, 
 gifts from my friends in the city. Before we were sent out I had 
 got so far that, with some help from a dictionary, I could read 
 easy Latin books. I could read the Greek New Testament because 
 the translation was known to me. I nearly knew'the first three 
 chapters of the first book of Moses in Hebrew by heart, and began 
 to read myself into the Old Testament in it. I flattered myself 
 with the hope of becoming proficient in these languages, and to be 
 able to make progress in them in my leisure hours in New Zealand, 
 but that was a mistake. There were no leisure hours there, but 
 work, always work. Later on my house and all my books were 
 burnt. It was all over then with striving after learning ; but I 
 did not relinquish the idea without inward grief. I recognised,
 
 34 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 however, that I would do wrong if I desired new books in the 
 old languages. 
 
 Outside the mission house I had no intimate friends in 
 Hamburg. The zealots for Church doctrine were too repellant, 
 and the evangelically inclined believer had enough sense to see 
 that it would be ill-advised to withdraw us from our studies for 
 the sake of friendly intercourse. It was different with more 
 remotely dwelling missionary friends, who lived at some distance 
 from Hamburg. We could only visit these in the holidays, 
 or in short excursions, for the sake of recreation as at Easter 
 time, and here real true friendship, as with family relations, 
 could be cultivated with a few rich friends in the city I have 
 already named. Other dear friends we had in the family of 
 the merchant Schliiter, Dr. Schatze, and Mr. Kober. Also in 
 the castle, in the family of the squire (amtsmann) of Lindstow, 
 we were always^welcome. But what I enjoyed most of all such 
 pleasant recreations was that with the dear pastor Liiders and his 
 dear wife, and their very dear little children, at Groden, near 
 Ritzebiittel. The little children since then have long become big. 
 When I was in New Zealand I learnt that Pastor Liiders had 
 received a call to the Vierlanden, near Hamburg. 
 
 It was a good regulation in our missionary institute that we 
 were allowed to travel four weeks every Summer. Our views 
 were widened, and we obtained confidence to move about un- 
 constrainedly in strange places. The travelling was especially 
 good for Riemenschneider and myself, for we had previously 
 not been even outside our own home neighbourhood. We had 
 seen no mountains or sea. Both mountains and sea from 
 childhood I had earnestly wished to be allowed to see. It is 
 true I had once or twice been in the neighbourhood of Nienburg 
 and seen a part of the mountains near the W T estphalian State as 
 a blue streak in the far distant sky, and I had then wondered 
 what it looked like both on and close to the mountains. 
 
 It was with high spirits that Riemenschneider and myself 
 with a knapsack on our backs started out to see the world for the 
 first time. We first went past Stade and Ritzebiittel, where we 
 had a glimpse of the North Sea. But we did not find the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 35 
 
 impression of a flat surface, the gradually widening distant Elbe, 
 so sublime as we had expected. Certainly we did not see the 
 sea, but only the mouth of the Elbe. Thence we went past 
 Bremen to my home in Hoyerhagen, where, however, we did not 
 remain, for we wished to travel over a part of the Weser moun- 
 tains. When we then came into the neighbourhood of Nienburg 
 I could show Eiemenschneider the blue streak of the mountains, 
 the goal of our journey, in the far-away distance. At Gernsheim, 
 on the road to Miinden, we had the opportunity of seeing a 
 glassworks and glassmaking. 
 
 The Weser mountains are small compared with other Ger- 
 man mountains, but on us who had never seen mountains before 
 they made a powerful impression. The wood-crowned heights 
 with the beautiful lofty aisles of trees presented a magnificent 
 sight. The Westphalian gate itself looks like an enormous breach 
 in a dyke only you must imagine a dyke five to eight hundred 
 feet high. The Weser has here broken through a long mountain 
 ridge in order to force its way out of the mountains into the 
 plain, and be able to flow past the place where Bremen and Hoya 
 stand. From the gate we mounted the mountain on the right 
 hand (looking up the stream) 800ft. above the Weser. A metalled 
 road led upwards through a dark avenue of trees. The soil of 
 the wood was covered with blackberries on which the black fruit 
 hung in quantity. Riemenschneider knew the blackberries well 
 in baskets, as they are sold in the markets in Bremen, but he had 
 never seen them growing naturally before. I could not get him 
 away he was for picking all the time. He had more pleasure in 
 picking them than in buying them in Bremen. 
 
 A watchtower stood on the top, which we had seen already 
 from a distance. In olden times it had been used for watching 
 offensive operations. Arrived at the top, we found an old lady 
 all alone sitting by the tower and spinning. She became quite 
 lively when she saw us, and related she was a poor woman, and 
 ,the authorities had given her the key of the tower to unlock it for 
 visitors. She sat here many a day, and not a soul came up. We 
 recompensed her at first with small silver, and then gave her a sus- 
 taining tract, with which she was overjoyed. From the top of the
 
 36 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 tower there was an enchanting view over the mountains into the 
 valley of the Weser, and a wide view over the plain country, 
 with the town and fortress, Preuss, in the neighbourhood of Miinden. 
 As the tower stands on a steep hill and overhangs the top, the 
 feeling of standing up there all alone gave a little scope to one's 
 imagination. It was entrancing one seemed to sway in a starry 
 air castle in the upper air. 
 
 We visited the old Schaumburg, the village of Biickebui'g, 
 and then went to Einteln. We then visited the pastor of Lan- 
 genholzhansen, to whom we had an introduction. I think his 
 name was Riickert, but I am not sure. He obliged us to take a 
 walk with him into the mountains, for (said he) he was a child 
 of the mountains, and it gave him great pleasure to show us 
 dwellers in the plain the beauty of the mountains and valleys. 
 With pleasant conversation, during which he showed us the shells 
 embedded in the chalk cliffs, we wandered into a lively little 
 valley and there we were surprised. We saw living waters 
 gushing up out of the earth many springs only a little distance 
 from one another. Each had a little well, out of which the 
 clearest of water welled up, and then bubbled forth in a little 
 channel, making a little natural river, which joined with another, 
 and all united together made a brook, which in a short distance 
 drove a mill. The ground between the springs was not at all 
 swampy, but hard and dry. The water was so clear and inviting 
 that we could not help lifting it up with our hands and drink- 
 ing it. 
 
 Aiter the description of this still lively recollection of our 
 first holiday tour, it will not be necessary to describe the im- 
 pressions experienced in other journeys. We made a journey 
 through Holstein, where there are pleasant lakes, and went once 
 to the Liineburg Common. It is now a wild waste common, with 
 here and there solitary birds ; and has, for one who has a feeling for 
 the impressions of nature, something inspiring in it. Sometimes 
 when we wished to make long journeys and had not much money, 
 we found it advisable to part and journey alone, for then we could 
 always reckon on hospitality. Friends of the mission, to whom 
 it was easy to obtain introductions from place to place, were
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEBS. 37 
 
 always overjoyed hospitably to entertain one, whereas there was 
 not always room for two. 
 
 Accordingly I once made a journey through Mecklenburg 
 and Pommerania to the island of Rugel, on which occasion 1 learnt 
 to know and love many dear Christian friends. From the high 
 chalk cliffs and rocks I obtained more magnificent sights of the 
 ocean than the view the level banks of the Elbe had afforded. 
 Once I made a long journey, mostly alone, too, through the Hartz 
 mountains, and from there past Gottingen to Cassel, then to 
 Thiiringen and through the Thiiringen forest, then back past Jena, 
 Leipzig, Halle, and Magdeburg, and had the opportunity of seeing 
 many cities and people. On this journey I used the privileges of 
 hospitality, but to a small extent, for I was supplied with money 
 from home, and 1 wished to exercise an independence in which I 
 was somewhat wanting. 
 
 Good practice for practical missionary work was to be found 
 in teaching in the Sunday School. In this way we could easily 
 exercise ourselves, especially in teaching, and in preparation of 
 comprehensible examples and narrations in biblical history ac- 
 quired fluency of speech. Then we visited the scholars in their 
 dwellings, and had an opportunity to become acquainted with 
 their parents, and thus exercise ourselves in house visits in the 
 spiritual interests of the occupants. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AT SEA. 
 
 the beginning I was convinced that the Missionary 
 Society had to decide for us where our labours among the 
 heathen lay, and I had therefore refrained from allowing 
 myself any preference for any country or people ; but when at 
 last New Zealand was chosen, I could not rejoice over it. It was 
 well known to me from the missionary papers that the English 
 missionaries there, after long and apparently unsuccessful efforts, 
 had won over the hearts of the natives to Christianity. The
 
 38 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 conversion was of such a nature that the early converison of the 
 whole land to Christianity was to be expected. It is true there were 
 still heathen districts where we could find work, but I could not get 
 rid of the idea that, as New Zealand had become a British colony, 
 and British settlers were going there, that we should appear to be 
 sectarian intruders. I made no opposition, however, for the 
 leaders of our society had their own good reasons for choosing 
 New Zealand. Our mission was the first one, and great circum- 
 spection was necessary. A land difficult of access, a deadly 
 climate, or other great hindrances which might easily wreck the 
 mission; or, on the other hand, too long waiting for the first converts, 
 might prove disadvantageous to a young missionary society that 
 had not the standing of the North German Missionary Society. 
 There was no need to fear such difficulties in New Zealand : the 
 access was easy, the climate healthy, and the fields white for 
 harvest. 
 
 I consented willingly from a sense of duty. The favourable 
 conditions in New Zealand influenced me not in the slightest. A 
 missionary who has given himself to the service of the Lord is 
 indifferent to the dangers and difficulties before him. This is no 
 heroic virtue ; it is in this as in other respects of the nature of 
 the matter. When, later on, the missionary amongst the heathen 
 gets into danger or stumbles upon insurmountable difficulties, he 
 may well be afraid that is only human nature ; but at the time 
 of his despatch the matter is no more considered by him than a 
 student of theology would be afraid to study because, some time 
 or other, he must mount the pulpit and preach, although when 
 the time really comes, and for the first time he enters the pulpit, 
 he must he may well tremble with dismay. 
 
 So far I had willingly accepted the choice made viz., that 
 of New Zealand but when land was bought and we were directed 
 to build a house on it ; when Trost was sent for from erecting the 
 farm buildings at the rough house at Hof rneier ; when a waggon 
 and farm implements were bought, which we were to take with 
 us, then I became disheartened. I knew from my own experience 
 that farming demanded hard, dull work from early morn till 
 evening if it is not to be prosecuted at a loss, and the mere
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 39 
 
 raising of food for one's own wants may be more^costly than when 
 it is bought. I knew that the fatigue of much manual labour 
 would exhaust energies required for learning and teaching, as 
 well as the zeal for missionary work proper. Sirach said that 
 2,000 years ago. " He who wants to learn the Scriptures can 
 attend to no other labour, and if one wishes to learn one must do 
 nothing else. How can he attend to learning who must plough, 
 drive oxen with a whip, and do suchlike matters, and can talk of 
 nothing but oxen. He must think how he can farm, and, late 
 and early, must give the cows their fodder." (Sirach xxxviii., 
 25-7.) When I had an opportunity to lay it before the leader 
 of the mission, I gave expression to my thoughts on the subject. 
 To quell my fears I was told that, the first labours being over, 
 things would be easier. Further, Trost would be sent as super- 
 intendent of the agricultural matters, and we would find the 
 farm buildings a useful addition to the residence, and so on. 
 
 But I knew well what enormous labour it would entail to erect 
 farm buildings in a wilderness. If even ever so plain a residence 
 and lodging-house were erected, fences and ditches would have to 
 be made, the wild land prepared for the plough, the necessary 
 beasts attended to late and early, and other unexpected labours 
 executed as occasion might require. I knew Trost, and knew that 
 he would prove a good overseer ; but for manual labour his best 
 years were already behind him, and the Missionary Society had 
 not the means to supply many experienced workmen. What, 
 therefore, had to be done had to be principally done with our 
 own hands, or the farm would have to be worked at a loss. But 
 as it was once decided that so it should be, I gave way, and 
 was resolved to do my best, in accordance with my German 
 nature. The English say the German does his duty without 
 grumbling ; the Englishman does his duty best whilst heartily 
 grumbling. 
 
 1 am inclined to think few theological students fresh from 
 the High School, with any quantity of learning still buzzing 
 about in their heads, would be inclined to undergo the high 
 solemnity and sacredness of the ordination, and I felt this holy 
 awe ; but there was nothing else for it. I was ordained in
 
 40 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 August, 1842, in the great church of St. Michael in Hamburg, by 
 the head pastor, Dr. Strauch. His text was : " Thou therefore 
 endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (Timothy ii., 
 2, 3.) Feelings which are sacred to oneself and concern one- 
 self alone, one keeps locked in one's own heart, and does not care 
 to speak about them. 
 
 In October of the same year another solemn service was 
 held in St. George's Church in Hamburg on behalf of us four 
 New Zealand missionaries and the missionary Valett, who was 
 destined for the East Indies, at which I gave a short address on 
 the words " Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are 
 white already for harvest." Pastor Mallet delivered a powerful 
 address on the text, " All power in heaven and earth is given unto 
 me. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Just before our departure a solemn farewell to us was held 
 one evening in the mission house Trost, Heine, Riemen- 
 schneider and myself at which the particular duty of each 
 was allotted to him. The monetary affairs and account keeping 
 were allotted to me. All expenses were to be provided for out 
 of the mission chest, and exact accounts kept and forwarded. On 
 the whole this appeared right to me, but in one particular it went 
 against my German freedom-loving individuality, because all 
 private dealings in one's private property were cut off. No one 
 could incur the expense of a penny according to his own liking, 
 whether it were the giving of an alms or the purchase of a 
 quarter of a pound of tobacco without giving an account of it. 
 I asked, therefore, that each of us should be allowed five shillings 
 a month as pocket money, which he could spend as he liked, and 
 the request was at once willingly granted. 
 
 At last, at the end of the year 1842, on the day after 
 Christmas, came the day of our departure. The ship St. Paul, 
 Captain Schacht, which was to take us in addition to a consider- 
 able number of German emigrants to New Zealand, had already, 
 before it could take in the whole of its cargo, left the harbour of 
 Hamburg, and lay at anchor not far from the city. A steamer 
 crammed full took us and the emigrants, as well as a few
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 41 
 
 gentlemen of the governing body of the New Zealand Land and 
 Emigration Society in Hamburg, to the ship. It was a moist 
 day not exactly rainy, but so moist all over that you could 
 hardly tell land from water. Arrived at the St. Paul, and having 
 climbed on board, Riemenschneider and 1 had at once important 
 affairs to attend to. We were requested by the above-named 
 New Zealand society to undertake the spiritual welfare of the 
 emigrants in the ship, and we were at once asked to unite five 
 pairs of engaged couples, who by this means escaped the marriage 
 fees payable at home. The ceremony was pei'formed in the 
 'tweendecks, underneath the large hatchway. The brides and 
 bridegrooms stood before us in a half-circle, close behind them, as 
 officials of the emigrants, stood the before-named gentlemen, 
 and around in the dark hold of the vessel, thickly packed, stood 
 the emigrants; above, over the combings, heads close to heads, 
 looked down, like the heads of angels, the fresh wind and weather- 
 reddened faces of the hardy sailors. Overhead in the watery sky 
 floated seagulls. It was a really joyous scene. The confusion of 
 starting did not disturb me, for 1 felt I was in my right place, and 
 that gave me confidence. Being the oldest of us two ordained 
 missionaries I gave a short discourse about Christmas and emigra- 
 tion. Joseph and Mary were obliged shortly after the first 
 Christmas to emigrate from Egypt with their child, the Saviour 
 of the world. We, too, began our emigration on Christmas. Let 
 us also take the child Jesus, born for our salvation, in our hearts 
 along with us, and cherish him there, and so on. Then I read a 
 short marriage service, and then Rieraenschneider and I both went 
 to work and joined each pair separately together. Riemen- 
 schneider joined three, I two pairs. The newly made brides and 
 bridegrooms were then congratulated by the officials, and the 
 solemnity was at an end. The wind was unfavourable for our 
 journey over the North Sea ; we had, therefore, to remain a week 
 at anchor in the Elbe. We had now opportunity to become ac- 
 quainted with our travelling companions, but our feelings were 
 not much disposed towards companionship, because everybody 
 was too cold. One only saw blue faces looking out of heavy over- 
 coats. It was the middle of winter, and we missed the accustomed
 
 42 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 stoves. At last, after the New Year, 1843, the weather appeared 
 favourable for our journey to begin. It was a beautiful 
 Winters evening as we, in company with other vessels that were 
 also waiting for a fair wind, put to sea. How beautiful the works 
 of Creation are, and the dear God has given man the power not only 
 to feel the beauty but to make himself like it. The sight of beautiful 
 buildings and architecture uplifts the heart ; not less inspiring is the 
 sight of large ships, when, with full sails and a graceful inclina- 
 tion, they plough their way through the waves. 
 
 For the last time 1 cast my glances once more towai'ds the 
 beloved Fatherland, now vanishing in the gloaming. There was 
 only a little corner of it in sight, but it was German soil which 
 my feet should press no more. 
 
 The fine weather did not last long. Even the first night it 
 began to blow, and that dead ahead. Readers on land who have 
 never been at sea may well wish to know how one feels in such a 
 position. Now. when one goes to sea for the first time, and that 
 in rough weather, sea sickness is certainly an important matter, 
 and the reader must try it himself to discover what it is like, or 
 he misses the principal experience of a sea voyage. In order to 
 know how one feels we must go back to the days of our childhood, 
 when, as children, we turned ourselves quickly round and round 
 till everything around us appeared to turn round. Then we fell 
 down quite giddy, and now the world seemed to drop down on 
 one side and turn itself around sideways. Now let one imagine 
 while we were so lying and thinking the giddiness had gone by, a 
 power takes hold of us and swings us up and down in slow 
 measures from side to side, sometimes head up and sometimes 
 head down. We cry out, Let me go, I cannot stand it, I shall be 
 sick. But the power is relentless. The long swayings go on 
 without ceasing ; everything internal turns itself ai-ound, and that 
 not for, may be, an hour, but all the time, day and night, till at 
 last one gets used to it. But before this can happen all spirit is 
 gone. With some the feeling of depression is so bad that com- 
 plete indifference to anything, even life and death, sets in. If, 
 for instance, you were told, the ship was sinking and you would all be 
 drowned, you would listen with complete indifference, and if you
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 43 
 
 thought it worth while to answer, the answer would be the sooner 
 the better. In others, however, especially if of aThardy constitu- 
 tion, courage does not sink quite so far, but still they get pitifully 
 low. Their imagination exercises itself in vain wishes, but of 
 different kinds, never far removed from the sea ; and, really, one 
 feels inclined on no account to undertake the journey homeward 
 again. If one could only, even in storm and rain, once more 
 stand ou firm ground again ; if it were only a spot of wet sand on 
 a seashore. But the long swayings go on, and one has no oppor- 
 tunity of refreshing oneself even a little. Then a cold trembling 
 shudders through one, for we are in winter on the rough North 
 Sea, and there is no stove in the ship. If one could only warm 
 oneself a little once more sit in a warm room, or even in a damp 
 fisherman's hut, with a little window from above, and of glass 
 made dark with the dirt of flies. But vain wishes. Unceasing 
 are the swayings that cause everything inside to turn around. 
 
 But we must see once how a storm-tossed sea looks from a 
 ship's deck. To do that, let us wrap ourselves up and work our 
 way up the companion on to the deck. From our cabin, as the 
 ship is leaning over to one side, one can see through the porthole 
 the foaming crest of a high wave a magnificent, horror-awakening 
 sight. Arrived on deck, we see moving mountains of a grey-green 
 colour, as if they had arisen from the broken gall of the seasick 
 people. The captain stands quietly, in a waterproof coat, a sou'- 
 wester on his head. We try to speak to him, but cannot get 
 further than " Herr captain,'' when we lurch over to leeward and 
 lean over the rail to sacrifice to the sea gods. At the same moment 
 the captain takes a firm grip of us, so as to prevent our spewing 
 ourselves overboard. At last, when the eruptions are somewhat 
 subdued, we ask, gasping, "Is this a storm, captain?" "No," is 
 the answer. " As long as we can fly a yard of cauvas it is no 
 storm." Now a little sail is set to make the ship ride a little 
 easier, and then it is slowly hoisted to a place where we would 
 not like to go. 
 
 But how does a storm-tossed sea really look from the deck 
 of a ship ? Dreary and void. The horizon is contracted, and 
 while the whole appears large, any particular part does not appear
 
 44 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 so large. You see only a few large waves in the immediate 
 neighbourhood, and overhead nothing at all, neither land nor 
 water. 
 
 After a few days you get used to the unheard of swaying of 
 the ship, and then the seasickness ceases. Cheerfulness and good 
 spirits, which had vanished, come back again. At first you want 
 your sea legs you tumble about hither and thither ; but we bring 
 to mind that we are good skaters and accustomed to maintain our 
 equilibrium amidst swaying movements without falling, and we 
 soon learn to balance ourselves on the swaying ship without 
 falling. 
 
 When we were at sea the smallpox broke out amongst some 
 emigrants, who had caught the infection at some low lodging-house 
 in Hamburg. The ship's doctor at once had the sick people 
 removed to the hospital, to which he allowed no one to have 
 access except himself and the necessary attendants. He would 
 not even let us in, because, said he, as we had never even seen 
 smallpox, we should undoubtedly catch it from the mere sight of 
 it. If there were danger of death it would be otherwise, and he 
 would let us in : but he was satisfied that, with the help of God 
 and his professional skill, all would pull through. No one died 
 of the complaint. 
 
 The ship's doctor Dr. Goders, from Holstein was a stately 
 man of true German appearance. We were great friends. We 
 were also fortunate enough to have a good captain. Captain 
 Schacht was a large man. His large, handsome person at once 
 commanded respect; and, furthermore, he was a thorough and 
 experienced seaman. One could well see that he could be severe, 
 but he was so loved and respected by the entire crew that he could 
 always manage and govern by kindness. As the course at sea 
 goes right on day and night in unbroken continuity, the captain 
 cannot, of course, always be in charge, so he has two officers under 
 him called first and second mates. These have passed their 
 examinations in seamanship, and understand, therefore, how to 
 navigate a ship over the wide sea and how to command the crew. 
 In good weather the two mates change places in taking command 
 every four hours, day and night, but if a storm should arise the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 45 
 
 captain takes the command himself. It would appear from this 
 that the captain must have many idle days ; but this is not the case. 
 He is always conscious that he is responsible for the lives entrusted 
 to hie charge, as well as for the ship and her valuable cargo. His 
 eyes are always on the alert, and observant to see if the officer 
 in charge attends to his business, whether the man at the wheel 
 steers properly, and, above all, if everything is in order and goes 
 along all right, and that not only by day, but even by night. He 
 often remains on deck till late hours, walking to and fro. Woe 
 to him whom he finds asleep. Four men are on the watch 
 every night to see that we do not come into collision with 
 another ship. 
 
 The captain's wife and little child were also on board. She 
 was a good, quiet woman, respected and loved by all. Every one 
 of the crew would, if need have been, have laid down his life for 
 her and her little Peter. 
 
 Landsmen are often of opinion that sailors, especially when 
 on shore, are a reckless class of people. I have never had an 
 opportunity of seeing such. At sea they are quite civil young 
 people who behave themselves courteously and with civility, and 
 one may, therefore, well like them. On a large ship like ours there 
 are very young sailors, because old sailors would become giddy 
 on the high masts. Landsmen who have never seen a large ship 
 cannot imagine the height of the masts. A pine tree is not 
 so high ; it takes three or four. Of course only the thickest parts 
 of the stems are used, joined together, to enable many sails to 
 be set. 
 
 The life of the sailor is a noble calling in the great house- 
 hold of God. At the beginning of the world God blessed mankind 
 with the words, "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the 
 earth, and make it subject unto you." It is, therefore, His will 
 that mankind should inhabit all lands and islands of the earth, 
 that they may exchange their surplus products with one another, 
 and that they may spread the religion of Jesus Christ amongst 
 all peoples, until they all become disciples of Christ. In order 
 to effect this, God has given man the gift of building large ships, 
 and in order that the seaman should be able to find his way over
 
 46 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 the great wide sea, God has made a wonderful power of Nature 
 magnetism. This magnetism serves, doubtless, other still larger 
 purposes, such as we poor dwellers in the earth cannot understand, 
 but God has so made it that man could discover and use it as a 
 reliable servant, and by means of an iron needle ascertain his 
 position at sea. This needle rests on a free point, and can readily 
 move in any direction, but always so that the one point is towards 
 the north and the other towards the south. The seaman therefore 
 knows the quarters of the heavens on the wide sea, when neither 
 sun nor stars are to be seen. Of a truth the dear God, although 
 unseen, has not left Himself without a witness. He has always 
 given us directions that we should seek Him that we might feel 
 and find Him ; and, indeed, He is not far from everyone of us, for 
 in Him we live and move and have our being as well on the dry 
 land as on the flowing sea. It is good and comforting to truly 
 believe that our dear Heavenly Father is always and everywhere 
 close to us. 
 
 We are still in the North Sea. In the cold and stormy days 
 and nights we were driven about in all directions, so that at last 
 we were of opinion that we should be glad to be quit of it. 
 Sometimes we got close to the entrance of the Channel, but were 
 always driven back by a heavy gale once close to the coast of 
 Norway. We kept as far away as possible from the coast of 
 Holland and Germany, because of its low shores and sandbanks. 
 At last, early one morning I was awakened by the mate with the 
 announcement, " We are entering the Channel." 
 
 It was not yet daybreak, and the coast of England only to be 
 seen through rifts in the clouds. Two large beacons flared not 
 very far from us one up aloft on the castle, one down below at 
 the town of Dover. We could see nothing of France on the other 
 side of the Channel but a blazing beacon at the town of Calais. 
 When the day broke we were already a considerable distance in the 
 Channel ; the far-away English coast glimmered through a light 
 cloud belt. The land was covered with snow, and with the help of a 
 telescope I discovered at last a single building. That is all that 
 I have seen of that important country England. In creeping 
 through the channel we saw no more land.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS, 47 
 
 After a slow passage through the Channel for we had here 
 only light winds, and those not always favourable we arrived in 
 the open ocean, the great Atlantic. The whole aspect is here 
 more magnificent. The waves in the North Sea were short 
 and choppy ; in the Atlantic they rolled with a long and magnifi- 
 cent heave, and moved with a majestic roll. Porpoises fishes as 
 large as pigs, played around. 
 
 Ye dark blue waves, 
 Whence roll you from ? 
 
 Come you from foreign strand ? 
 Roll on your way, ye waves, 
 
 Back to the Fatherland ! _ S ailors' song. 
 
 The North Sea is green in colour, but the Atlantic is of a 
 beautiful blue colour, more beautiful than that of the sky that 
 arches over the North German country. But the green colour in 
 the North Sea is not a component part of the water itself, but 
 because the sea is only 800 feet deep the bottom gleams through, 
 and blends with the light in the water, making it green. But the 
 blue in the Atlantic is in the water itself, just as one puts a little 
 blue in the washtub ; but it is in so small a quantity that it has 
 to be many thousand feet deep before it can be observed ; but then 
 it is a beautiful blue. It is the same way with the air in which 
 we live and move, for a little blue is mixed with it, and that is 
 why the sky and distant mountains look blue. In substance, 
 water and air are not so very different ; one is a light, the other 
 a heavy fluid. Sea water is so clear that if you tie a plate to a 
 long line and lower it down with a lead, in a calm you can see it 
 at a depth of a hundred feet. At last it looks as small as a little 
 white shirt button. 
 
 So far we had sailed only between European countries ; no-w 
 we left behind not only Germany but all Europe, and sailed right 
 out into the wide, wide world, whilst we made a little world of 
 our own. Seasickness was a thing of long ago ; the laet smallpox 
 patient was in the way of recovery ; the air was warmer, the 
 feelings more disposed to good fellowship. Our ship was full of 
 emigrants to New Zealand I have forgotten the number. They 
 were from different districts of Germany. There were Catholics 
 from Bavaria, Unionists from Prussia, Lutherans, Kefprmiets, and
 
 48 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 a few Baptists from the North. We assembled the children daily 
 for school, and on Sundays a service was held on deck, at which 
 all gathered together. The captain had a few sails furled and 
 the course so laid that the ship made the least possible motion, to 
 give opportunity for quiet and meditation. 
 
 I must here remark that the population of our ship world 
 consisted of three classes : (1) The sailors I name them first. 
 Honour to whom honour belongs, for without them our ship could 
 not have got along at all. These consisted of the captain (his wife 
 and child), the two mates, and the sailors in all about thirty 
 persons. The captain and mates for this journey had given up 
 their own main cabins to passengers, and slept in side cabins. 
 The common sailors and petty officers had their quarters in the 
 forward part of the ship. (2) The cabin passengers, consisting of 
 the agent of the Emigration Society with his numerous family, 
 the ship's doctor, Riemenschneider, and myself. Heine and Trost, 
 our associates, were lodged with the emigrants. (3) The emigrants. 
 These had the great open space under the main deck, so called 
 because it is placed between the saloon aft and the sailors' quarters 
 at the forward end of the ship. The saloon, surrounded by a 
 number of small and large berths, dressing rooms, and such like, 
 was formed by a raised part of the ship, the upper deck of which 
 formed a promenade for the cabin passengers. The steering wheel 
 stood at the far end of this deck. 
 
 Admission to the raised quai'ter-deck was forbidden to the 
 emigrants and the intermediate passengers, but we could go down 
 to them. Riemenschneider and myself often went amongst the 
 people, and conversed with them about ordinary and sacred matters, 
 but we endeavoured to make no proselytes. We had nothing to 
 do with the opinions of the different churches and sects. Amongst 
 them we desired to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him 
 crucified. In that way we won the confidence of all, including 
 that of the Catholics. If souls are saved and become holy 
 through Jesus Christ, it is all the same what church they 
 belong to. 
 
 It was astonishing how these emigrants, who had come from 
 different districts and were now packed together in so small a
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLERS. 49 
 
 world, conducted themselves peaceably and courteously to one 
 another. On land, in small distant villages, where only a few 
 people are near, you often find envy, hatred, and backbiting 
 which may well arise, for the reason that the minds of people, 
 when they have tired themselves in work and with worldly 
 cares, cannot raise themselves to take part in wider and higher 
 matters of general interest, and know of no other variety and 
 recreation than to trouble themselves about the affairs of their 
 neighbours and speak of them with censure. But the emigrants, 
 on the other hand, in our little ship world, had no exhausting 
 labour and no care for the morrow ; they did not need, therefore, 
 the refreshing change of troubling themselves about their neigh- 
 bours' affairs. The feeling of being cut off from the outside world 
 by the wide sea drew them together in a friendly manner. Their 
 courtesy towards one another went a little too far, for although 
 they almost all belonged to the uncultivated classes, they called 
 one another Mr., Madam, and Miss. We gave them these titles 
 with pleasure, and this awakened a self respect in them and paved 
 the way to a good understanding. 
 
 Our ship's company might have been a very loving one, if it 
 had not been disturbed by a peculiar person. This was the agent 
 of the New Zealand Emigration Society. He was a German, but 
 had lived a long time in England, had married there, and was 
 now going with his family to New Zealand. Riemenschneider 
 and myself were his passengers, not the captain's. The Emigration 
 Society had chartered the ship for the voyage and given it over to 
 the agent. He was therefore a man of importance, and took 
 upon himself the position of superintendent of the whole ship. 
 In order to make his position felt, although he had no knowledge 
 of seafaring matters, he began from time to time to give orders to 
 the captain. When we were at last in the open sea, the captain 
 spoke out roundly to him and said : " I have the sole command 
 here, and brook no interference." But the agent wished to maintain 
 his authority, if only in appearance, and sent, therefore, his orders 
 to the captain in writing, on official paper, and folded in an 
 official manner. The captain received the orders, wrote on them 
 " Bs. Schw. " (sic), and laid them on one side. 
 
 E
 
 50 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 The agent could exercise authority over the emigrants with 
 more success. The Emigration Society had had bills of fare 
 printed, on which was plainly shown how much was to be given 
 out for each person every day in the week. If they had fared 
 accordingly, the people would have fared well. But during their 
 seasickness the people had but little appetite, and that a capricious 
 one. The agent fell in with their wishes, and the people were 
 fed as he thought proper, without reference to the bill of fare. 
 But when the seasickness was over a good appetite set in, and 
 the rations daily given out were not enough to satisfy their hunger. 
 In the meantime, the agent had intimidated the people. On the 
 least opposition to his authority, or anything that could be con- 
 strued as such, a punishment of bread and water for a few days 
 followed. If anyone wished to excuse himself, or maintain that 
 he was in the right, the punishment was increased. Their hunger 
 grew sharper day by day, and at last drove the people to ask, 
 quite modestly, that the printed bill of fare should be followed. 
 The agent declared this to be nothing less than mutiny, and 
 threatened irons and chains. Once he so far forgot himself in 
 his rage that he wished to put a man in irons who had said with 
 reference to his order, " That is impossible." " Not for such a 
 matter," said the captain. " I command it," said the agent. " I 
 have charge of the ship. English law is the rule here." " Mate," 
 said the captain. " Hoist our flag." The Hamburg flag soon waved 
 from the peak, and the agent was powerless. 
 
 We and the ship's doctor naturally took sides with our German 
 countrymen, the emigrants, in opposition to the agent, who wished 
 to pass for an Englishman. But the doctor was not so bold as we 
 were. In his professional duties he brooked, of course, no inter- 
 ference ; but in other matters he was under the agent's orders, 
 and had to hold his peace. It was quite different with Riemen- 
 schneider and myself : we were free people, and could speak out 
 our minds. But moderate counsels had no effect. I am by nature 
 very yielding, but when it goes too far I can be as stiffnecked as 
 an obstinate man. The agent and I, therefore, came sometimes 
 into direct antagonism. Once he declared before all the people 
 he could no longer sit at table with me, and in future he would
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 51 
 
 send me my dinner into my bedroom. I replied that I should 
 not allow it. I was a cabin passenger, my passage money 
 was paid, and if he ordered me from the cabin table I should 
 find my sustenance somewhere else, and when we arrived 
 at New Zealand he should find out who had to pay for it. 
 Thereafter I took my meals with the mates in their own cabin. 
 The captain dined with his wife in his own cabin. The 
 sailors had nothing to do with the catering of the Emigration 
 Society. 
 
 After three days we passed the line, as the degree is called, 
 which is drawn right across the middle of the world between 
 north and south. The agent came to me when I was walking the 
 quarter-deck, in a friendly manner reached out his hand, and said : 
 " Let us drop our quarrels on the other side of the line." I was 
 moved at once, took his hand heartily, and the reconciliation was 
 complete. 
 
 Soon afterwards the agent again expressed himself in scorn 
 against the emigrants, and spoke spitefully about our associates, 
 Heine and Trost. It was only with a great effort I could compel 
 myself to be silent, for I did not wish at once to make a breach 
 in our recent reconciliation. 
 
 When my feelings had subsided, I seated myself in a lonely 
 corner, for I felt very hurt. The ship's doctor came to me, reached 
 out his hand, and said : " I feel for you, but I am glad that you 
 have controlled yourself." The old agent appeared to be in a 
 better frame of mind, for we were invited by one of his children, 
 in a friendly manner, to come into the cabin. The agent 
 himself was not in sight, but it was evidently his doing, for 
 grapes and a bottle of good wine were placed before us. The 
 doctor thought it was suitable, under the circumstances and on 
 such an important circle of the earth, that we should elevate our 
 hearts with wine. Kiemenschneider could drink no more wine on 
 the ship, as it made him seasick. During the whole of the voyage 
 he was seldom free from seasickness. 
 
 It was partly to be attributed to our influence that the people 
 did not break out into rebellion, and that in time they were treated 
 a little better by the agent.
 
 52 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 Let us quit the subject of contentions of men, for the sights 
 on the sea, the blending of colours in sky and water, are so 
 beautiful 
 
 Over all the earth is fair 
 
 But where man comes and makes a jar, 
 
 says Schiller. That is true of sinful men without Christ. Turks, 
 and men like Turks, make a fruitful land into a dreary wilderness, 
 and those who only wish to walk on ready-made roads must bend 
 and tread uneven ones. But those who are freed from sin by 
 Jesus Christ and ennobled and enlightened by His spirit " shall 
 make the wilderness and solitary place glad for them and the 
 desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." Be still ! we are 
 still on the great wide sea, and for a long time have seen no land. 
 The sea has its natural beauty as well as the land. Thereo 
 later. 
 
 One day the captain said to us Dr. Goders, Kiemenschneider, 
 and myself " This evening I will tell you some news." Anything 
 fresh in our lonely world on the world sea was of importance. 
 We would have liked to have heard it at once, but he would 
 not satisfy our awakened curiosity before the appointed time. 
 The evening came at last, and we should hear the news. The 
 narrative was not long, but we heard it with great attention. 
 The captain merely said : " Early to-morrow morning at daybreak 
 you shall see land." Thereon we asked the mate, whose watch it 
 was at the time mentioned, to wake us at the right time. At day- 
 break we were on the poop, and sure enough we saw the tops of 
 several mountains rise up out of the sea. They looked in the 
 dawn, through a fine light mist, like haycocks in a dewy meadow. 
 This reminded me in a lively way of the time when I used to go 
 into the meadow of an early morning. We sailed between the 
 African islands of a green coast range. Soon, as we proceeded 
 further, the mountains rose up higher, till the whole island of 
 Santiago lay exposed to view on our left. At the same time 
 another island appeared on our right, named Fogo. It appeared 
 flat, and a large morning cloud lay over it, but this began to dis- 
 solve. High in the air, through a rift in the clouds, right into 
 which the morning sun shone, appeared a fiery glance. " What is
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 53 
 
 it ? " we asked, astonished. " It is a mountain," said the sailor at 
 the wheel. We could hardly believe it, for it was as high as 
 heaven. We awaited with anxiety the disappearance of the 
 cloud, for we wished very much to see the whole of the glory that 
 it concealed. At last the cloud disappeared, and a very high, 
 sharp, naked mountain peak, glancing in the rays of the morning 
 sun, stood before us. It was an extinct volcano. Probably the 
 island had received its name from it, for Fogo means fire. 
 
 Is it not wonderful that the captain knew so exactly the 
 evening before that we should see land in the morning ? He 
 must have known exactly where we were, although it was long 
 since we had seen any land. In order to know this, a remarkable 
 clock is kept in the ship called a chronometer that means a time 
 measurer. This chronometer is made by the most skilful clock- 
 makers, with such care that on a long voyage which may last a 
 year or more it neither gains nor loses a second. At sea you must 
 change your watches, as one sails east or west every day, so that 
 they may show 12 at noon. The chronometer, however, always 
 shows the astronomical time at Greenwich in England, and in 
 accordance with this time the " Nautical Almanac " (a thick book 
 full of figures) is calculated. The chronometer is locked up as a 
 priceless treasure in a box, where it can easily swing, so as to take 
 as little harm from the motion of the ship as possible, and the 
 captain keeps the key. Every forenoon when the sun shines he 
 opens the box, sits down in front of it with a slate, and looks 
 narrowly at the chronometer. At the same time the mate stands 
 with an instrument on the deck and measures exactly the height 
 of the sun. When he has got it. he calls out " Stop !" and the 
 captain quickly notes the hour, minute, and second that the 
 chronometer at that moment shows, and writes underneath it the 
 height of the sun as measured by the mate. Then at noon the 
 mate is busy with the instrument again, and takes the height of 
 the sun at its greatest altitude. Through this instrument you 
 can see the sun climb up till at once, with a halt, she seems to 
 stand still, but only for a second, and then begins to sink again. 
 Now the two mates take calculated tables, sit down, and calculate 
 in accordance with the two observations exactly where the ship
 
 54 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 is. The place is then marked on the chart and entered in the 
 ship's log. The seaman's duty of yesterday is now at an end, and 
 the new day begins. You see, then, that the sailor begins his day 
 at mid-day not at midnight, as the landsman does. 
 
 The chronometer ought to go so exactly that on a long sea 
 voyage it neither loses nor gains a second ; but our captain used 
 to say " The chronometer is made by the hand of man, and is 
 therefore not as reliable as the heavenly chronometer which God 
 has made namely, the course of the stars." It is necessary, 
 therefore, to compare the two from time to time to make sure 
 that the chronometer is going right. This is done most easily on 
 days when sun and moon can both be seen together. The position 
 of each of these luminaries is then measured exactly with an 
 instrument, and at the call " Stop !" the time on the chronometer 
 noted to a second. It can then be calculated to a second whether 
 the chronometer is right or not. 
 
 A second on the clock is a very small space of time / but to 
 find a distant island or a distant harbour in the great ocean a 
 second more or less makes an important difference in the calcula- 
 tion. The sailor, although his occupation is a magnificent one, 
 must pay attention to very small matters, as in a well-ordered 
 household trivial matters are taken into consideration. In the 
 same way in our journey through life we can only have peace and 
 joy in our minds and be comforted on our way in following Christ 
 when we are true and conscientious in small matters. 
 
 For some time we have been in the tropics that is a broad 
 girdle round the earth, where it is always summer and always 
 warm. But as in the Northern Hemisphere the sun at mid-day 
 always appears in the south and in the southern one it appears in 
 the north, so naturally in the middle between north and south 
 there must be a belt where the sun at noonday is right overhead. 
 But, as is well known, the sun moves one half-year northwards 
 and the other half-year southwards, whence arise Summer and 
 Winter. Along with the sun, the circle, where at noon it stands 
 right overhead, must also move northwards and southwards. 
 When (on June 21) the sun has got to the highest point north, it 
 turns back, and the circle round the earth, where at its turning
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 55 
 
 it shines at noon right overhead, is the northern tropic. Now it 
 turns backwards till (on December 21) it has got far enough, and 
 once more turns back, and the circle where it shines overhead at 
 its returning is the southern tropic. In the middle between the 
 tropics is the so-called line which divides the earth into two 
 halves. The sun must cross the line twice a year namely, on 
 March 21 and September 21 at which time over the whole earth 
 clay and night are equal. Between the tropics day and night are 
 almost always of equal length. The turning of the sun is caused 
 by the inclination of the earth towards the sun, but with that we 
 have here nothing to do. 
 
 One feels quite a peculiar feeling and a consciousness that 
 one is very far from home when one can hardly bear the hot 
 sun at noon, the rays of which right overhead are unbearable 
 without coloured glasses, and one has no shadow when standing 
 upright. 
 
 Countries which lie between the tropics on which the sun 
 shines so hotly, as may be easily imagined, have a different vege- 
 tation and produce quite different fruits from the countries 
 which lie in temperate zones in which Summer and Winter 
 alternate. On the sea, too, there are quite different appear- 
 ances. Here there are generally quite regular winds, but on the 
 line there are often calms. The course of our ship was such that 
 we generally had the wind on the side in which way a ship 
 generally sails at her best. Our ship sailed about six miles 
 (stunden) an hour. Now a ship is so built that it cuts sharply 
 through the waves, and presents the least possible resistance to 
 the water, and the quick sailing makes a beautiful hissing noise, 
 and leaves a track of whirling water behind. Whizz! There 
 flies up a flock of sparrows. Have they roosted there and picked 
 up corn ? No ; there is no land for them to sit on all is moving 
 water. These are no sparrows. They are fish that fly up whirring 
 and then dive into the waves again. Whirr ! Another flock 
 frightened by the ship fly up. I have observed two kinds of such 
 fishes that swim with their fins in water and fly with them in the 
 air. One sort appears to be about six inches long, flies always 
 straight, and always in flocks. The others are somewhat longer,
 
 56 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 fly alone, and direct their flight at pleasure. Many of the latter 
 sort fell on the deck of the ship at night. 
 
 Nature at sea is so beautiful that one cannot get enough of 
 it. Here and there the pure spray of the waves dances in the 
 sunshine in most beautiful rainbow tints. The sky is a beautiful 
 blue, such as one cannot imagine in Germany. At sunrise and 
 sunset so many glancing colours sparkle high in the heavens that 
 the splendour of it cannot be described. One can wonder at the 
 works of God quite close at hand. There are little sailors with 
 ships no bigger than a child's hand. Each of them spreads a 
 little glancing sail. Ship and sail both shimmer in the gayest 
 colours. If our ship gets too close to them, they take in sail at 
 once and dive beneath the waves. The little creatures are like a 
 little galley, and they always sail on a wind. 
 
 A remarkable appearance in these latitudes are the sealights. 
 If you come on deck on a dark night you will see far and near 
 ghostly forms rise up out of the sea and disappear again. If 
 you look down over the side of the ship and have a homely lands- 
 man's imagination you will receive the impression that there is a 
 row of bright light rooms underneath the ship, from the open 
 windows of which the light streams in snowy white on the sur- 
 rounding land. The cause of the ghostly forms is that here and 
 there the water in the combs of the waves is broken into spray, 
 which lights up in the darkness. That of the appearance over the 
 side of the ship is the disturbance of the water by the movement 
 of the ship making it phosphorescent. For the same reason you 
 see that the ship draws a long streak of fire behind her. Some- 
 times in gentle breezes the whole sea looks on a dark night as if 
 it were thickly strewn with stars, every star appearing and imme- 
 diately disappearing for a second. Sometimes when it rains the 
 sea seems to sparkle with innumerable sparks of fire struck out 
 by the falling rain drops. When a fish shoots through the water 
 he makes a fiery streak. If you stir sea water in a pail the 
 whole pailful is lit up. The light is caused by millions of little 
 animals that shine in the darkness when they are stirred. 
 They are so small, however, that they cannot be seen with the 
 naked eye.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F, H. WOHLERS. 57 
 
 God displays his power and glory everywhere in his great 
 creation as well in the world of the smallest creatures, invisible 
 to the naked eye, that light up the warm sea by night, as in the 
 starry heavens, where at His command the worlds run their 
 never-ending course. It is uplifting to pray to this God, who 
 guards the great as well as small, and to be able to call Him 
 Father through Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Oh Lord, how manifold are Thy works ! in wisdom hast 
 Thou made them all ; the earth is full of Thy riches ! So is this 
 great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, 
 both small and great beasts. There go the ships ; there is that 
 leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play therein. These wait all 
 upon Thee that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 
 That Thou givest them they gather. Thou openest Thine hand, 
 they are filled with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled. 
 Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 
 Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created ; and Thou 
 renewest the face of the earth." (Psalms civ., 24-30.) 
 
 One evening i went on deck, and as 1 allowed my glance to 
 sweep over the starry heavens I saw that quite new constellations 
 were coming into sight in the south, while the old well-known 
 northern ones were sinking so low down that I could hardly 
 recognise them again. "Mr. Mate," said I, in an anxious tone, 
 "can we see the North Pole Star any more?" "Yes," he said, 
 " we can just see it." " Where is it ?" " There !" Yes, there it 
 was still, quite low down on the horizon. The star that in 
 Germany stands at a considerable altitude, and can be found 
 every night and every hour at the same place, and round which 
 the whole vault of heaven appears to turn, was now sunk close 
 to the rim of the earth. I gazed at it long, the star well known 
 from my youth up, for now I saw it for the last time. Here, in 
 the south, we have no Pole Star : the starry vault turns round a 
 starless point. On the other hand, we have beautiful shining 
 constellations and a glowing " milky way," compared to which 
 the northern one is a feeble shimmer. 
 
 We had once a double marriage. Four no longer young 
 persons they made two pairs became enamoured of one another
 
 58 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 under the warm tropic sky. The first we heard of this love story 
 was a cry of strife among the emigrants. It was discovered that 
 an elderly but very dressy widow was the aggressive party. She 
 was ordered on to the poop and scolded by the agent for her breach 
 of the peace. " Yes," she replied, quite unabashed, " I have boxed 
 my daughter's ears (already married) because she wishes to prevent 
 my marrying." Being questioned by the agent, she then said that 
 she had become engaged. The fortunate bridegroom was a quiet 
 old bachelor, to whom a well-dressed widow was a great attraction 
 The agent said that she should have her wish, and the daughter 
 had no power to prevent her mother marrying. Soon another pair 
 appeared. The agent prepared the papers in an official manner, 
 on the strength of which we called them up and married them. 
 
 Ordinarily, the voyage from Europe to New Zealand is made 
 without stoppage ; but our ship was so full of people and mer- 
 chandise that there was no room to spare to carry all the fresh water 
 necessary. It was therefore decided in Hamburg that we should 
 call at Bahia, a port in the empire of Brazil, South America, and 
 fill up such water casks as had been emptied. (Sea water, ae is 
 well known, cannot be drunk because it is so salt, and contains 
 other bitter minerals.) We were very glad, because it gave us 
 an opportunity to see a countiy in the tropics " where pepper 
 grows." 
 
 Bahia is a large city, but the streets look quite different to those 
 of a German seaport. Instead of waggons and coaches you see here 
 troops of pitch-black men, nearly naked, who carry goods or palan- 
 quins hanging on long poles, in which ladies and gentlemen sit, and 
 run with them to the tune of a monotonous song. The language here 
 is Portuguese, and most of the white inhabitants are of Portuguese 
 extraction. There are also whites of other nations, as well as a 
 number of Germans, who had no opportunities of religious services. 
 Kiemenschneider held an open-air service with them in the city, 
 whilst I performed divine service on the ship, and an armchair was 
 presented to him as a mark of esteem. The blacks, who are by 
 far the greatest number of the inhabitants, are of African extrac- 
 tion. They were then still slaves, who were bought and sold by 
 their white owners.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS, 59 
 
 A never-ending hot Summer reigns here. White people from 
 northern countries must go about under the shade o an umbrella, 
 otherwise they cannot bear the heat of the rays of the sun. All 
 vegetable growths are quite different to what they are in Germany. 
 The town is so large that we could not get out into the country ; 
 but in the gardens in the suburbs we saw high cocoanut trees, 
 bamboos, sugar canes, coffee plants, orange and lemon trees loaded 
 with ripe and green fruit, and many other plants and fruits. The 
 oranges here, ripe from the trees, are so large and of so delicate 
 a flavour that those we get in Germany are not to be compared 
 with them. Besides, there are a number of the most beautiful 
 fruits, " good to eat and lovely to look on," amongst which the best 
 flavoured is the banana. 1 hope our missionaries in West Africa 
 may have such cooling, pleasant, and beautiful fruits on their 
 stations. 
 
 Our captain was acquainted with German merchants living 
 here, and took us to call on them. On the whole, I have no very 
 lively recollection of our intercourse in Bahia, and cannot describe 
 l t very accurately. One recollection, however, still remains. 
 
 Only a student of theology (and I had just risen from the 
 study) can tell how attractive is the study of Church history and 
 monastic life in the Middle Ages. Here I found myself trans- 
 lated into the Middle Ages, for Bahia is of the Catholic religion 
 of the Middle Ages, and has a number of monasteries. The 
 chapels of the monasteries were open, at all events I found them 
 always open at a certain time towards evening, " in the cool of the 
 day," when they were sought by those desiring meditation. Little 
 black female slaves kneeled by the side of their white mistresses 
 on the floor (there were no seats) while the solemn songs of 
 unseen singers echoed from above. In the chapels of the monas- 
 teries there were men's voices ; in the convents those of women. 
 
 One evening later on I saw, while passing, the chapel of a 
 cloister lit up and open. 1 entered. In the middle stood an open 
 coffin, a corpse lay in it on a bier, and around it stood a circle of 
 monks in rough clothes singing songs. At the head of the corpse 
 stood a man in holy orders, in the robes of a bishop, who swayed 
 a censer with fragrant incense. Perhaps he was the abbot of
 
 60 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 the cloister. I stood alone by the circle of the monks, naturally 
 with head uncovered, attentive and in a devout posture. I forgot 
 the present and imagined myself far back in the Middle Ages. 
 At last the coffin was screwed down, and carried away on the 
 bier by the monks. 1 followed. The way lead through a cloister, 
 then through a hall, in which stood writing desks. 
 
 With my thoughts steeped in the Middle Ages, when twilight 
 covered the Church and darkness all the sciences, and only in a 
 few monasteries did light shine through, thought I, here is a place 
 where a gleam of light may well break through. The way led 
 through other chambers, down a flight of steps into an underground 
 vault. Here was an open grave. The corpse was placed down 
 close by, and then a paternoster said in the Latin tongue. That 
 was all I understood. They then left the corpse there, and 
 retraced their steps. On the way back I was in the middle of 
 the company of monks. No word was spoken, and no one looked 
 angrily at me. Perhaps they thought I had followed out of 
 respect for the deceased. I took him for a dead monk, but 
 learnt afterwards that he was probably a recently deceased high 
 official. 
 
 I liked the great heat here. On recollecting the cold days 
 in the rough North Sea in midwinter, I felt as if I were in 
 Paradise. 
 
 After we had again started on our voyage and had sailed for 
 some time in a south-easterly direction on the wide ocean, we 
 came to the southern tropic circle, and into a zone once 
 more where Summer and Winter change places with one another 
 as they do in the north, but with this difference : that in the 
 Southern Hemisphere it is Summer when it is Winter in the 
 northern one. At noon the sun was in the northern sky. 
 
 Wherever one is on the wide sea, and however far from land, 
 one always has the society of the sea-birds, which swim on the 
 waves and fly in the air. The smallest of them are not larger 
 than swallows, the largest, called albatrosses, measure eleven feet 
 across the wings. It is remarkable for how long a time these 
 birds can sail about in the air without perceptibly moving their 
 wings. We caught some on stray fishhooks, which we lowered
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 61 
 
 down with a piece of meat on a cork and allowed it to drag after 
 the ship. The ship's cook a coal-black negro knew what to 
 make out of them. He first skinned them the fat under the 
 skin is full of oil ; he then boiled them in water and fried them. 
 These birds build on uninhabited islands, where their dung lies 
 heaped up for thousands of years, which, under the name of 
 guano, is sold for manure. 
 
 No one in the ship doubted that the captain and the mates 
 would find the far-away island of New Zealand in the wide ocean, 
 although only a few could understand how it was possible. Their 
 undoubted confidence was therefore faith without sight ; but they 
 could understand with their reason that their faith was truth. 
 They had seen the great commercial city of Hamburg and its 
 harbour full of great ships, where goods which were to be sent over 
 the seas were loaded, and those which had come from over the 
 seas were discharged. It was, therefore, clear to reason that the 
 ships could find their way across the seas. 
 
 The conditions are the same with respect to the Christian 
 religion which the Bible teaches us. We cannot explain it all 
 clearly, but we can understand with our reason that our faith is 
 truth. The great city with its harbour full of shipping is the 
 world with its countries and peoples, and the belief in the Bible 
 shows itself in its operation. Those peoples who have a free 
 Bible and use it are the wisest, most cultivated, and noble of all 
 the nations upon the earth. The ennobling effect of the Bible 
 has manifested itself for thousands of years, Other teachings, 
 even if they have produced a certain civilization and philosophy, 
 are in their effects far behind the effects of a belief in the Bible 
 in the free development of the human spirit, in the ennobling 
 of the human heart, in the merciful consideration of one's fellow 
 creatures and contemplation of the visible world. New theories or 
 still more, old ones warmed up, and spiced with a few new discoveries 
 which disturb the belief in the Bible, and prof ess to bring mankind 
 to still greater happiness, have all come to nought; and theories 
 without the Bible and God, which are intended to produce such 
 happiness, but do not do it, and which for a time easily find 
 credulous adherents, always result as the deeds of the celebrated
 
 62 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 Spanish knight, Don Quixote did, who always wanted to conquer 
 kingdoms, but never did it, and who wished to make his credulous 
 shield-bearer, Sancho Panza, into a governor of a state, but could 
 not do it. 
 
 Now I have got into this channel I must row along in it a 
 little longer. I do not expect to convince all unbelievers, for it 
 is human nature that a rnan does not easily change his belief, be 
 it true, erroneous, or false. Often there is insight in it. The 
 belief that there is no God, and, above all, no spiritual life, and 
 therewith that there is no immortality of the soul, is also faith 
 without sight, which does not weigh properly the reasons of, and 
 the difference between, the good which the belief in the Bible 
 really effects, and the good which the want of belief in God should 
 effect but does not. Those, however, who are inclined to follow 
 the atheists, as credulous shield-bearers, should bethink themselves 
 and begin to seek the truth which historic experience teaches. 
 
 Scientific investigations are worthy of all honour, and the 
 more we search into the dark secrets of Nature so much the better. 
 Much that science has really discovered has given help to a better 
 understanding of the Bible. Scientific men may content them- 
 selves with theories, for these may lead to truth, as astrology has 
 led to astronomy ; alchemy to chemistry. 
 
 Theologians have only this against them that they endeavour 
 to induce the unlearned and the easily convinced ones to accept 
 the theories without God, which always prove unfruitful, as 
 materialism in Germany, or evolution in England, in which a God 
 who does nothing is propounded. But the noble masters of 
 science do not do this ; only those of a sorrowful countenance who 
 are much followed by credulous Sancho Panzas on donkeys. 
 
 I will readily believe that a few great spirits (spoken figura- 
 tively, for they themselves believe in no spirit), in their enthusiasm 
 for their belief that there is no God, may be noble, honourable 
 men. But these have not to thank their atheism for these virtues, 
 but their Christian training. They still breathe the spiritual air 
 of Christendom, although they will not analyze this ennobling air, 
 for it must be spiritually instituted, and that might lead them to 
 be Christian believers themselves. But if they are still strong
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 63 
 
 enough, by God's will, to choose the good and refuse the evil, it is 
 not so with their weaker neighbours, who cannot be good without 
 a belief in a Holy God. If these believe no more in a God who 
 rewards them, and in a life after death, they will, according to 
 their belief, no longer be such fools, merely for the sake of the 
 beauty of virtue, as to avoid vice. 
 
 No belief, neither for nor against the divine education of 
 men and in men, can be fully proven, but one has results to show 
 the other none ; and the great thought, " I believe in God the 
 Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth," is more 
 sublime than the little one, There is no God, because he is not 
 necessary. 
 
 No cultivated man doubts that there is, in accordance with 
 our conceptions, an all-pervading power, by means of which we 
 hold our existence on this earth ; a power that flows forth from 
 the sun unfolds the flower with its odours that makes 
 birds to sing that keep the globe in its course and one that, 
 starting from a atill higher source, keeps the sun in its course. 
 Keason stands still here, or one might rise still higher. Now r 
 without being credulous, let one believe that above this lifeless 
 power there is also a living, self-conscious, self-contained, all- 
 knowing Being, that fills the whole creation, and, according to 
 His goodwill and pleasure, rules everything and everyone, and 
 devotes personal attention to the largest as well as the smallest 
 matters in it. 
 
 High o'er towers Thy inexhaustible being 
 
 The reason weak of poor mankind, 
 
 And how Thou work'st, and what Thy counsel be, 
 
 Not known to angels e'en ; 
 
 How dare I, dust, e'en undertake 
 
 To sound thy depths, oh God. 
 
 The soul of man cannot content itself either with a dry 
 atheism or with a weak, ineffective godhood. It must believe. 
 It anticipates a God who takes an interest in his creation who 
 can rejoice over the gambols of the lamb who rejoices when a 
 hungry child eats a piece of bread and butter who, not to spoil 
 us, remains concealed, but takes part in our joy when we wander 
 amongst lovely flowers who holds us by the hand when we are in
 
 4 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 danger of falling who comforts us in sorrow and trouble a God 
 to whom we can pray. 
 
 Our Father, who art in heaven ! 
 Lord Thou hast made and knowest me ; 
 My downsitting and uprising knowest Thou ; 
 My thoughts Thou understand 'st afar ; 
 I walk or lie, so art Thou near, 
 And seest all my ways. 
 Whither shall I Thy Spirit flee ? 
 Where from Thy countenance escape ? 
 Fly I to heaven, lo, Thou art there ; 
 Lie down in hell, there art Thou, too ! 
 Take I the wings of morning, 
 And fly to furthest sea, 
 There shall Thy hand lead- 
 There Thy right hand shall guide me. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IN NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 A, FTER a long voyage over the wide sea, whereon for a long 
 _^_J V^ time we had seen no land, we saw at last, agreeing 
 exactly with the ship's calculations, the mountains of 
 New Zealand rising up out of the sea. Neither the captain nor the 
 mates had been in New Zealand before ; and in a land at that 
 time still uncivilised our seamen could expect no lighthouses or 
 other landmarks. But not far from the bight in which our desti- 
 nation Nelson lay, there was marked on the chart a remarkable 
 cleft rock. Our captain had chosen this as the point where he 
 wished to make the land, and had hit it right off. It was a great 
 naked upright rock on the side of a mountain, where at some time 
 a large piece had broken away and fallen off. From this place 
 we could easily find the harbour of Nelson. 
 
 On nearing the land we found a remarkable difference in the 
 temperature. It was the middle of June, and therefore winter 
 here ; and in the latter part of our voyage we had had raw and 
 cold winds. We now sailed, as if changed by enchantment, with 
 soft winds in warm sunshine, and in an air as sweet and mild as 
 a warm Spring day among blooming fruit trees in the old home.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 65 
 
 Thought I, is this a New Zealand Winter ? If so, we need no 
 stove. But there I was wrong. There are often warm Winter 
 days here : but on shore they are generally accompanied by hard 
 night frosts, and then there are more i*aw wet days than fine ones 
 in Winter. 
 
 The climate is normally milder here than in North Germany, 
 for the Nelson district lies in a latitude about 41 deg. south, but 
 North Germany is about 53. New Zealand is, therefore, a great 
 deal nearer the sun than North Germany. One must take into 
 consideration, moreover, that the Southern Hemisphere is much 
 more raw than the northern one, which may readily be caused by 
 the greater area of water. If it were not for this difference, 
 Nelson in New Zealand ought to have a climate like Naples in 
 Italy, which it is very far from having. 
 
 New Zealand is divided in the middle by a strait called 
 Cook Strait, and thus divided into two large islands. The southern 
 island stretches northwards here in two large mountain ranges, 
 which form a bay between them the large bay now called Tasman, 
 formerly Blind Bay. Towards the south, in the narrowing den 
 of this bay, the town of Nelson is situated, on a good natural 
 harbour, which is formed by a cleft in the rocks, against which 
 the waves have formed a heavy boulder bank and made a dry 
 bank with a good entrance at one end. On the landward side, 
 between the harbour and the high mountains, is room enough for 
 an important city, which will be here some day, but which con- 
 sisted on our arrival of only a few scattered wooden houses. 
 
 The mountains here are higher and bolder than any I had 
 seen in Germany either those of the Hartz or the Thiiringen 
 Forest. In Germany they are clothed with a delicate green, and 
 have graceful and elegant slopes ; here in Nelson they are stark, 
 upright, nearly naked, as if they had only just come up out of 
 the sea and had not yet learned good manners. They are mostly 
 covered with a brown fern, which, when it has once taken hold, 
 and is not interfered with by man, will not allow the intrusion of 
 any other plant. And the woods here, the mountains as well 
 as the valleys, have neither the smiling grace of our shady woods 
 nor the friendly gloom of the pine forests in Germany. Shortly,
 
 66 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEES. 
 
 the green of the New Zealand woods is weaker than that of 
 Germany. 
 
 After we had landed and made the acquaintance of a few 
 English settlers, we at once made inquiry about the natives, 
 and then learned that in the neighbourhood of Nelson there were 
 none. We thought they might live further inland, but soon 
 learnt that was not the case, that in this great southern island 
 there were but few natives, and that these few lived in widely 
 scattered places on the sea coast. For our intended farm buildings 
 no suitable mission station could, therefore, be found. When we 
 applied to the two English missionaries already stationed here, 
 one of whom belonged to the Episcopalian and the other to the 
 Wesleyan Church, we learnt that all the natives of the whole of 
 New Zealand were already under spiritual guidance. It is true 
 many were still heathens, but almost all had already adopted 
 Christian customs and had native Christian teachers amongst 
 them. Our prospects were therefore gloomy ; but I was not 
 altogether unprepared to learn this. 
 
 We wished to retain our independence as missionaries of the 
 North German Missionary Society, and were very unwilling, 
 therefore, to interfere with the labours of others. 
 
 What was to be done ? Cruise round New Zealand and look 
 at the different places ourselves ? That is easily said, and what 
 was really replied to us from Hamburg ; but our North German 
 Missionary Society was not rich enough to spare us the passage 
 money. Here you cannot travel as far with a pound as you can 
 in Germany with a Prussian dollar. There are no roads, the 
 mountains insurmountable, the woods impenetrable. One could 
 only journey by ship, and none were going to the places we 
 wished to examine. Cnder such circumstances, and as long as we 
 had not made ourselves acquainted with the country, and had no 
 proper survey of the country, travelling would not be of much use 
 to us. There were four of us and what was to be done with our 
 agricultural implements ? 
 
 It seemed to us the most advisable, and at the same time the 
 least expensive, thing to do to carry out the original plan made 
 at our departure and build a residence, until we could become
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 67 
 
 better acquainted with the land and people, and trust in God, 
 that in His own time He would show us our missionary work. 
 
 As a preliminary, we were obliged to remain in the city to 
 land our goods and place them under cover. For the latter purpose 
 a room in the New Zealand Company's warehouse was allotted to 
 us. For our own use we hired a little hut behind the wood there 
 was then still a wood within the limits of the town, but this shortly 
 after disappeared. The board hut was small, and there was no 
 furniture in it. That did not trouble us much. We slept quite 
 well on the floor. This had this advantage, that when we woke 
 of a morning and looked for daylight, we need only look at the 
 floor close by, for the hut stood on blocks, and there were cracks 
 between the boards of the floor, between which the light shone. 
 In a small room that had no floor there was a hearth, and no lack 
 of firewood. There were no cooking utensils, but Biemenschneider 
 had the sense to see what was absolutely necessary and what could 
 be dispensed with. Without him, we other three would have been 
 mere fools in making the arrangements. Enough ! We soon made 
 the place so habitable that we could accept a visit from the 
 captain, his wife, and the ship's doctor. 
 
 It is necessary here shortly to give the history of the settle- 
 ment of Nelson, in order to explain how our society came to buy 
 land there. There was a New Zealand Land and Emigration 
 Society established in England, from which great things were 
 expected even so far as to hope it might become like the then 
 still existing rich East India Company. Through its agents the 
 brothers Wakefield, the one commander and the other captain in 
 the fleet the company had sold large tracts of land for very small 
 prices. Whilst the then acquired lauds were being surveyed in 
 New Zealand, the company in England began to sell them by their 
 numbers. The prospects of the company looked so profitable that 
 buyers were soon found. Not all were willing to go to New 
 Zealand themselves, but they intended to sell their lands after a 
 few years with great profit, or else to lease them, and thus draw 
 good interest on their money. 
 
 The first settlement was at the north side of Cook Strait and 
 named Wellington, and as the land found so good a sale in London
 
 68 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 the company resolved to lay out another on a larger scale on the 
 other side of Cook Strait, and called it Nelson. Notification of 
 this was made public in 1841. It was notified that the settlement 
 would consist of 201,000 acres of land in 1,000 allotments of 201 
 acres each namely, 1 acre in the town, 50 in the neighbourhood, 
 and 150 in the country. The purchase money for an allotment 
 was fixed at 300. The buyer received a free cabin passage and 
 a free carriage of his goods to boot. The proposal looked so 
 profitable upon paper that a branch of the New Zealand Company 
 of London was established at Hamburg. Our missionary society 
 was thereby tempted to buy an allotment in the Nelson settle- 
 ment. Three hundred pounds, a small sum in rich England, was 
 truly a large sum for our missionary society, but they saved 
 thereby the passage money of their missionaries, and obtained 
 also a foothold in New Zealand. The favourable descriptions 
 in the advertisements were made by people in London who 
 had never seen New Zealand, and were sitting comfortably 
 in their offices, and the real lands in the overgrown wilds, and 
 the inaccessible solitude of New Zealand, never appeared in 
 them. 
 
 Tasman Bay, with the adjoining bay Massacre Bay, now 
 called Golden Bay, forms a hollow in a mountain range, from 
 which a few fertile valleys spread out of the mountains. At the 
 southern end of the bay, and a continuation of it, there is a fruitful 
 plain called Waimea,but of small extent, because the land all round 
 soon rises into hills and mountains. Between the hills and 
 mountains there are a few fertile valleys. But altogether 
 included they fall far short of an area of 201,000 acres of 
 agricultural land. The founders of this settlement had omitted 
 the high mountains on the map. Land for agriculture had, there- 
 fore, to be sought far removed from Nelson, and it was not 
 accessible by land. 
 
 I must here relate an occurrence that took place about the 
 time of our arrival at Nelson. In order to find agricultural land 
 the surveyors had to coast round the jutting mountain range, and 
 reach the banks of the Wairau River, which empties itself on the 
 eastern side. Soon afterwards some chiefs of high rank, from
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 69 
 
 whom the New Zealand Company had bought land, came 
 from the North Island to the head agent at Nelson, Captain 
 Wakefield, and pointed out to him that they had only sold land in 
 Tasman Bay, but not land in the river bed of the Wairau ; and if 
 they were to sell this land, for which they had little inclination, 
 they wanted a higher price. The agent, on the other hand, de- 
 clared he had bought land on both sides of Cook Strait, and the 
 Wairau Valley along with it. The chiefs warned him to withdraw 
 the surveyors or it might lead to bloodshed ; but the agent paid 
 no attention to the warning, and the surveyors were sent to the 
 Wairau. Soon after complaints came from the surveyors that 
 the natives were hindering them in their work, and that they had 
 burnt down the hut which they had built. It must here be men- 
 tioned that the natives had carried all the effects of the surveyors 
 outside, and had misappropriated none of them, and then set fire 
 to the hut, which was built of scrub. Captain Wakefield, the 
 agent, then took police officers with him to the Wairau in order 
 to prosecute the incendiaries, as he called them. But the natives 
 did not yet understand such a process. Their passions were 
 aroused by this treatment, and Captain Wakefield and others, in 
 all twenty-two persons, were killed. This terrifying news reached 
 Nelson a few days after our arrival. 
 
 After describing these matters I can return to us four mission- 
 aries. We wanted to go on to our land and begin our farm 
 buildings. Our instructions ran that we were to build on our 150 
 acres in the country, but these were not yet surveyed, and in the 
 state of affairs then existing there was little prospect that they 
 would be ; but the fifty neighbouring acres were surveyed. This 
 was land enough for us to begin our homestead, and as it was ten 
 hours distant from Nelson, it was far enough away. This district, 
 on the road from the town of Nelson to our place, was not quite 
 empty ; always at a distance of two or three hours you met a hut 
 with a small piece of cultivated land, where some one had settled 
 down. The road to our land in the valley of Moutere lay through 
 the already-mentioned Waimea Plain, mostly free from timber, 
 but two rivers and a few creeks, which at their ordinary level 
 were easily fordable, had to be crossed.
 
 70 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 The valley of Moutere is about two hours' distant from the 
 Waimea Plain in a north-easterly direction, and separated from 
 the sea by a broad strip of hill land. This strip consisted of cold 
 steep hills and narrow valleys ; these joined and spread out, either 
 into the plain, the sea, or the valley of Moutere. On the south- 
 east side of the valley the high land soon rises into mountains. 
 On this side it is all covered with thick wood. Clumps and 
 patches of bush stretch out into the valley, here about half-a-mile 
 wide, and extend partly over it. The little river Moutere, which 
 receives streamlets on either side, flows through it, and is a 
 beautiful fruitful valley. From the heights, towards the west, 
 you see high wooded mountains with gorges like rifts. It is true 
 one cannot see the waterfalls, but one can see plainly the gaps in 
 the woods where they fall over the cliffs. Over their heads range 
 the white tops of mountains, reaching above the snow line. At 
 times bitter winds blow from these mountains into an otherwise 
 lovely valley. The word Moutere means a group, like islands. 
 Geologically, this district consists of the detritus from the western 
 mountain ranges that in process of elevation slipped away 
 from it, then filled up part of the sea, and was then washed by 
 the rains into gorges and valleys. 
 
 Our fifty acre patch lay in a side valley, just where it emerges 
 into the main valley. The upper half of this place was the 
 main valley, which was quite over-grown with high thick wood. 
 A part of this wood covered the lower corner of our land, and a 
 little higher a tongue of wood ran right across it, and divided it 
 into two unequal parts. The smaller part, just suitable for a fruit 
 and vegetable garden and the necessary buildings, had a stream 
 flowing through it. It then ran into the main valley and up the 
 road, already laid off, but not yet made. The stream flowed the 
 whole length through our land, and soon afterwards fell 
 into the Moutere. It was really a beautiful piece of land, 
 and only an hour distant from our nearest neighbour, and there 
 was a reasonable expectation that in time a road would be made 
 to it. 
 
 But this is mere description, and to what end ? We are not 
 yet out and at work. No, indeed ; but I wanted the reader just
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEBS. 71 
 
 once to look over the lovely landscape, if not with his eyes, yet 
 in thought, and discover there what I discovered. 
 
 Lord of power and might ! 
 
 Lord, Thy goodness reaches far 
 
 Far as the clouds do stretch. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SETTLEMENT IN THE VALLEY OF MOTJTERE. 
 
 T last we were to go out. I had been out there before, 
 
 ^]\ knew the road, the neighbourhood, and the neighbours, 
 *^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 and knew how to find our land. It must here be 
 
 remembered that it was Winter, and that the beginning of a 
 settlement in the wilderness is full of difficulties. Trost and 
 Riemenschneider did not take kindly to it. The first was too old, 
 and the latter not hardy enough at first. But Heine and I did 
 not think it advisable to go alone : we took a young peasant, one 
 of the German emigrants, with us. A few things, consisting of 
 provisions and tools, we despatched to Upper Moutere on a bullock 
 cart drawn by two oxen. The roads being very uneven, and the 
 distance a ten hours' journey, the oxen could not take much. We 
 stayed over night in the upper valley with a settler, and the next 
 morning we packed as many of our things as we could carry 
 on our backs and started for our land, that still lay an hour away 
 down the valley. The road was not yet made, for we were the 
 advance guard in the wilderness. There had been a sharp frost 
 in the night, and the ice on some of the swamps would bear our 
 weight. Some broke through with us, for we were heavily laden, 
 and sometimes we fell knee deep into the water. It was pretty 
 cold to the feet and legs, but it did not harm us, as we kept going. 
 Swamps in New Zealand have, as a rule, a firm bottom, so there 
 is no danger of sinking in them. In other places the road lay 
 through narrow tracks which the surveyors had cut through the 
 wood ; over tree trunks, thick and thin ; through dark woods, with 
 high trees with thick undergrowth, so that the whole place from
 
 72 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERK. 
 
 the ground to the tree tops was full of vines and creepers. The 
 woods in New Zealand remain green all through the Winter. 
 
 Arrived at our land, the first thing to be done was to find a 
 dry place and wash ourselves. The heavy, grasslike, sometimes 
 six foot high, vegetable growth, which stood untouched in the 
 wilderness before there were any cattle, had stood from year to 
 year and made an impenetrable mass. We then cut poles the 
 wood was quite near, which we stood up for roof trees, and 
 covered them with grass. Then, as it was already evening, we 
 made a fire and prepared our supper. That was so much done. 
 When tired with the day's work, and our meals spiced with hunger, 
 we could warm ourselves at the fire and rest in our own hut. All 
 was still in the solitude of night. Only now and then an owl in 
 the wood called out " More pork " in English but it is not likely 
 the owls here have already learnt English. The voice calls out 
 exactly " Koo-koo " (the Maori name of this owl) : each vowel, 
 although flowing together, is distinctly heard. It is not to be 
 wondered at that the settlers, who had got hungry working in the 
 wilderness, understood it as " More pork." 
 
 The next day the hut was properly covered and made water- 
 tight. Timber was then felled there was no want of it here 
 and preparations were made for building a roomy dwelling. 
 After a few days we found that we were not quite alone here. 
 The chief surveyor, in order to assist our settlement, had sent a 
 few labourers to make the road to our place more approachable. 
 That was fortunate for us, as we should soon find out. 
 
 One day it came on to rain heavily, and as we crept into our 
 hut we congratulated ourselves that our roof was watertight and 
 we could dry ourselves comfortably by the fire. We went to rest 
 with these comfortable feelings, whilst the rushing of the brook 
 and the roar of the cataracts from the mountains sang us to sleep. 
 
 Half asleep in the night, I bethought me that the clothes on 
 my body were not quite dry, but before I could settle the point I 
 heard our labourer cry out, " Get up ! I am in water already !" 
 That waked me up. The still glowing embers on the hearth 
 began to hiss and go out. Soon we were in black darkness, and 
 we could feel the water rising. We ought, therefore, to leave the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 73 
 
 hut at once and fly. Heine wanted to take to the mountains at 
 once. " This is the way," said he, " the people must have fled at 
 the deluge." I called him back, however, and told him to follow 
 me, for I had seen the hut of the roadmakers the day before, and 
 thought it stood on higher ground. We made our way in that 
 direction. The night was too dark to seek out the best places, 
 and we had sometimes to walk in water up to the armpits. We 
 raised our voices in the meantime, called out, and were answered. 
 Soon we saw the bright light of the hut. Here we found a friendly 
 reception, and could dry ourselves at the fire. That was delightful. 
 We recognised the mercy of God, who had protected us in our 
 ignorance in settling in the wilderness, and had so lead matters 
 that the roadmen were sent here, according to man's thoughts, to 
 make a passable road, according to God's goodness ; also to be able 
 to take us into their hut, for otherwise we had passed a night of 
 misery in wet clothes on the mountains, which, for a tender 
 constitution, might have been too much. 
 
 The next day, as the rain during the night had already left 
 off, the water went down, and we could go back to our hut again. 
 Everything we had been obliged to leave behind was wet through, 
 and our next work was to dry our things. After we had done 
 this, and had erected the hut again, we could go on with the 
 building of our house. The direction of the whole affair lay with 
 me. I have a certain faculty of contrivance, but adhered too 
 closely to homelike ways and methods, and lacked experience in 
 rough architecture of the bush. If I had then had the experience 
 which I now have, I could have made myself a much more 
 comfortable dwelling with half the labour it is true, of a rougher 
 exterior aspect, but for that reason it would have been so much 
 the more picturesque. 
 
 As soon as the new house was, in a measure, habitable (the 
 walls were at first only thatched with grass), I went alone to 
 Nelson to fetch our goods and our companions. On the way I 
 went to a skipper (recommended to me by the chief land surveyor) 
 who lived about two hours' distant from our land on the sea coast, 
 and made arrangements with him to go to Nelson with his large 
 boat and fetch us and our things across. From thence my road
 
 74 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 lay for a considerable distance across the steep hill land. The 
 fern and such like growth, it is true, were burnt off, and the road 
 easy to find by the land marks of the land surveyors, but it was 
 a damp day, and the road was slippery, so that in climbing a 
 mountain one's feet slid a little backward every step. I am a 
 child of the plain, and always thought it must be more beautiful 
 in the mountain, but a deep narrow gorge up which I had to go, 
 and another high mountain which I saw before me just as steep, 
 convinced me that even if it is more beautiful in the mountains 
 it is much easier in the plains. I was like a certain milkmaid 
 who walked from the dry land into the swamp on a wet day, slid 
 on the slippery path, fell down, spilt the milk, and then broke out 
 with the complaint 
 
 O, the poor dry ground, 
 I wish I were on it again ; 
 If it is not very rich up there 
 It's not as slippery as here. 
 
 Perhaps it was the exertions in the mountains that made me 
 feel quite exhausted when I arrived at Nelson in the evening. 1 
 had only experienced this weakness once before namely, on the 
 occasion of the great fire in Hamburg, which lasted three days, 
 when with some others I vainly tried to save the Church of St. 
 Peter, and the whole night long had carried water up high steps 
 to the top of the tower. Here at Nelson my muscles refused all 
 further service. However, I stepped into the house of an English- 
 man with whom I was acquainted, and must have looked very 
 miserable, for the people asked anxiously what they could do for 
 me. I assured them that I only suffered from exhaustion. They 
 gave me a little brandy, sugar, and hot water, which so refreshed 
 me that I could soon proceed on my journey to town, where Trost 
 and Riemenschneider still lived. Riemenschneider had already 
 made friends among the Englishmen, and had received hospitable 
 invitations of free quarters. We were glad, therefore, to allow 
 him to remain here and work amongst the Germans, because as 
 a city man, and for that reason not of a very strong constitution, 
 he was not at all used to such work as we had before us. Trost 
 went along with me.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 75 
 
 The boat came and took our goods in. The heavy imple- 
 ments that have to be drawn by cattle we left behind, because we 
 could not yet make any use of them, and because we should have 
 had to carry them for an hour. After a good passage over a 
 bight of the bay we landed at our skipper's dwelling, and put 
 our things under cover in a shed. From here they could be carted 
 about an hour's distance towards the upper Moutere valley, but 
 for the distance of another hour we had to carry them ourselves. 
 Until we could get a conveyance, they lay at the landing-place 
 in an open shed, and I went every day to see that nothing was 
 missing, and then every day I carried a good load home. When 
 I was loading up I thought, I will get a little of it along anyhow, 
 and what is there is there, and every time I took a good load 
 home. Carriage is very high here, and it is not much that two 
 oxen can carry over the hills. For a time the carrying went on 
 very slowly, but two hours is a long road with a heavy load on one's 
 back, that gets heavier at the end with every step. The desire 
 to save time, which helped to load, did not help to can-y. I did not 
 die of it, however. When we had got the remainder carted, we 
 all had to go to work and stick to the carrying. It is true it 
 was only an hour's distance, but it was quite far enough. If we had 
 brought our farm waggon with us we should have had to carry it on 
 our backs in pieces, but a waggon is not made for people to carry. 
 
 In my time people used to say in the old German Home 
 country that is, people who did not care to have much to do with 
 missions such things as this: "The young people only go to the 
 heathen that they can have an easy life there as missionaries." 
 But there was no easy life here. I have been a peasant a long 
 time, and i know what hard work is. I have never worked so 
 hard as a peasant in Germany as I have worked as a missionary 
 in New Zealand, and such labour as a peasant never pleased me. 
 One might here interject that such labours were exceptional, and 
 were not those proper to a mission. That may be, but a mis- 
 sionary who works among the savage heathen, far from civilized 
 society, and has not much money and a German missionary 
 must always get along with very little, if he does not wish to 
 sink down into savage brutality, from which may God preserve
 
 76 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F, H. WOHLERS. 
 
 him has always, and in many ways, to bear greater hardships 
 than a farm labourer in Germany. 
 
 If anyone, who in the beginning of these Memoirs may have 
 perhaps discovered a discontent with my position as peasant, 
 should, therefore, think that on that account I had made no happy 
 choice in my change of occupation, I should make the reply that 
 it was not comfort that I then so ardently desired, but knowledge 
 suitable to my inclinations ; that my previous yearnings arose not 
 from presumption or perversity, but from the stress of longing 
 which God had given to me, and which would be satisfied, and 
 which actually was at last after long search (and the waiting 
 has done me much good) to my full satisfaction discovered in the 
 calling of a missionary. Exhausting labours and other hardships 
 to which I had been used from youth up, and which give me, as 
 a rule, but little trouble, I take along with it willingly and thank- 
 fully as a wholesome additional blessing. 
 
 As missionaries among the heathen readily undergo greater 
 hardships than have been needful for them in the Home country, 
 we may understand that they themselves have experienced the 
 power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. They have not only learnt 
 the meaning of the words " If any man will come after me let 
 him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me," but 
 inwardly appropriated the spirit of the meaning, and made it part 
 of themselves. That is a different thing to the rationalistic pro- 
 position to copy Christ in one's own strength, from which only 
 miserable caricatures arise. No, they live in Christ, and Christ 
 in them. " Therefore, they are like-minded with Jesus Christ, 
 who, being in the form of God, deemed it not robbery to be equal 
 with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon 
 Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, 
 and being found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself, and 
 became obedient to death, even the death of the cross ; wherefore 
 God so hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is 
 above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall 
 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under 
 the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
 is Lord to the glory of God the Father.''
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 77 
 
 In the middle of the above magnificent passage stands " Even 
 the death of the cross." This incomprehensible deed of God, 
 which no human understanding can grasp, is the gravamen of 
 salvation. Through it mankind and the heart of every disciple of 
 Christ is born again. From it flows mercy to all mankind ; 
 through it we have forgiveness of sins, life and blessedness, and at 
 the same time our whole being is crucified with Christ, buried in 
 death, in order that as Christ is risen from the dead through the 
 glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. 
 
 I cannot fathom the wonders of the sun, 
 
 Nor its course or construction, 
 
 But the light of the sun 
 
 And its heat I can enjoy ; 
 
 Nor can my soul the lofty reasons 
 
 Of Jesus' offer e'en discover, 
 
 But the divinity of the deed 
 
 My heart may well enjoy. 
 
 Not only are the missionaries inspired with the spirit of 
 Jesus Christ in their labours, which makes them joyful, and willing 
 to deny themselves to take up their cross daily and follow Him ; 
 but even the friends of the missionaries at Home, who cannot go 
 to the heathen themselves, may help the missionaries in foreign 
 countries with their prayers and their hearty sympathy. Millions 
 of Christian souls have enjoyed this blessed communion of the 
 spirit of Christ to their own blessing, and their labours testify that 
 this spirit is the spirit of truth. 
 
 Our new residence had so far neither door nor window. 
 Roof and walls were thatched in the first instance with a sort of 
 grass. The whole inside was all one room, and therefore roomy. 
 In the small hut we slept in our clothes on straw on the ground. 
 Here we could make bedsteads. This is the way these are made. 
 You get the wood and cut four stakes, two longer and two shorter 
 poles, and a few sticks. You then drive the stakes into the earth 
 inside the house where you want your bed ; fasten the poles on 
 as beams ; put the sticks on like perches, and the bedstead is 
 finished. Tying anything up is a very simple matter here. You 
 need only go out of your house and cut off a long broad blade-like 
 leaf of the wild New Zealand flax, which grows everywhere. 
 Split it lengthwise, according to taste, and you have the strongest
 
 78 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 and most pliant of strings that you can wish. There is yet much 
 to say about this remarkable plant which the dear God has 
 doubtless made for more important uses of human industry than 
 merely to be used as string ; but this can be more suitably done 
 at some other time. 
 
 It is something so lovely and joyful to see with one's own 
 eyes how the hitherto quite neglected solitude begins to become 
 inhabited, not by huntsmen and combatants, but by men who 
 build huts, and begin to turn the wilderness into a garden. One 
 forgets the hardships that were necessarily associated with it. 
 Hard work goes on with pleasure and joy, and when you sit in 
 the evening in the still rough and unpolished house around a fire, 
 which burns in a cheerful way inside the room, one forgets all 
 the conveniences which are considered indispensably necessary in 
 civilized life ; indeed, at present, they would be inconvenient. 
 
 Dwellers in Germany can hardly imagine the loneliness of a 
 New Zealand landscape. There one is accustomed to see the 
 mark of the hand of man everywhere. Towers and barns, waggon 
 roads and footpaths ; and where there are no people, there are 
 still animals, tame or wild. Here there is solitude everywhere. 
 In our still valley there were then no animals, so that it was not 
 even necessary to fence in our garden. As is well known, origi- 
 nally there were no quadrupeds in New Zealand. The two kinds 
 of dogs and rats, which were found here by Europeans, probably 
 came here with the natives. Neither are there any snakes here. 
 There are a few lizards, but no frogs or toads. I should, there- 
 fore, never hear the croak of the frogs on the warm Spring 
 evenings. 
 
 Soon we were to have German neighbours. The slaughter 
 of the twenty-two citizens of Nelson considerably disheartened 
 the settlement. No advance was made. Trade and commerce 
 relied on the wages paid by the New Zealand Company, and the 
 money that a few settlers had brought from Home. These latter 
 were afraid to part with it, as they did not feel sure of ever 
 getting it back. It was a bad time, therefore, for the working 
 classes, who had to live on their earnings. This was hard on the 
 German emigrants. Some of the most energetic had already
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 79 
 
 found work and places to build huts ; others were still helpless. 
 Under these distressing circumstances, the chief surveyor, Mr. 
 Tuckett, who undertook the management of the settlement 
 since Mr. Wakefield's death, determined to send a number of im- 
 poverished German families into our neighbourhood, the Moutere 
 Valley. With this in view he gave them the contract to make 
 the road in our valley passable, at a fair and reasonable price. 
 They were at once to be provided with provisions, and at the same 
 time a piece of land for a dwelling could be laid off, which in time 
 they could either buy or else give up again. Besides working on 
 the road with reference to which there was no great hurry they 
 were advised not to neglect to cultivate for themselves. They 
 were then brought to the place, bag and baggage, at the cost of 
 the company, by water, where our things had landed. The 
 women and children were at first left here (there were a few 
 empty huts here, made by previous road makers, inhabited now 
 only by rats, which they could hunt out), while the leader went 
 over with the men ; and in our neighbourhood, a little further 
 down the valley, where the company had retained a section for 
 themselves, a piece of land was measured off for each family, and 
 so that there might be no dispute about the choice he let the men 
 raffle for which piece each one should have. Huts were now 
 quickly built, wives and children and goods fetched across. It 
 was a beautiful sight to see the band coming out of the dark 
 wood into the open near our house. 
 
 Now it was lively in the valley hitherto as still as death. 
 One cheered the other up. Unforeseen difficulties which would 
 have placed a solitary man in a thousand plights were courageously 
 overcome in a feeling of neighbourly friendliness, and then laughed 
 at. The arrivals had built their huts on the edge of the wood. 
 The position was beautiful, but it was not then known that it was 
 liable to floods. A man who lived in his hut all alone (at that 
 time he was not married) one rainy day had dried his clothes 
 before the fire and then gone to bed in them. In the night he 
 woke with a feeling that his clothes had become wet again of 
 their own accord. He felt with his hand, and came to the con- 
 clusion that his hut stood in the water. Then he waded out.
 
 80 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 Outside the unexpected water looked vei*y terrible in the dark 
 night. With an anxious voice he called out to his neighbour, 
 " Have you got any water ? " " No," said the neighbour, 
 who thought he was thirsty and wanted a drink, " we have 
 none in the house." His wife, however, shocked at his anxious 
 voice, thought his hut was on fire, jumped out of bed and went 
 plump up to the knees in water. 
 
 There were some German tradesmen in the neighbourhood 
 who could have finished building our hut, but that would have 
 cost money, and we were obliged to be careful ; we did the work, 
 therefore, ourselves. We had only the window frames (the glass 
 for which we had brought from Nelson) and the doors made. We 
 caulked the walls of the house and plastered it with clay, which 
 we worked with naked feet. We further sawed boards, for we 
 had brought saws and other tools with us from Hamburg. I was 
 the only one who had a little skill in sawing. Filing and setting 
 the saws 1 did not yet trust myself to do, for I saw that a good 
 or bad filing would make a great difference in the labour. The 
 trees were already felled, because the road makers, who were 
 hewing a way through the wood, had been obliged to fell heavy 
 trees. We needed merely to saw the most suitable ones into 
 lengths and then roll them on to the scaffold we had made over 
 the ditch at the side of the road. 
 
 You would look in vain for German trees in these woods, and 
 it requires considerable botanical knowledge to know their species, 
 but they contain large supplies of most excellent, serviceable, and 
 building timber amongst them woods with beautiful veins, out 
 of which beautiful joinery can be made. The pine trees, with 
 their high straight stems, are the most valuable trees in these 
 woods. You cannot properly call them fir trees, for they have 
 very small leaves ; some are like cypress, some are like the fringe 
 on an officer's epaulet, they have little likeness to fir spines. Their 
 branches, too, are arranged in a different manner to those of the 
 German fir tree, and the wood is harder and heavier. 
 
 There was but little game in our valley. Parrots, wild 
 pigeons, and wild ducks, which are plentiful in many parts of 
 New Zealand, seldom visited us. Sometimes you might shoot a
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 81 
 
 woodcock. I think this bird is of the woodcock kind, but it is a 
 solitary bird, and has no wings ; instead of these it has short arm- 
 like projections, with short feathers, and at the end a sharp 
 curved nail. Of edible fishes there were only eels in the creeks 
 and rivers. A sort of sprat from three to four inches long, and of 
 the thickness of a quill, were present in number, but were of little 
 use. Probably this is only the young of a sea fish about nine 
 inches long, and of similar shape, that goes up the rivers at certain 
 times of the year, and, perhaps, is of the salmon order. In some 
 larger rivers there are lampreys, but very few other sorts of fish ; 
 but all appear to be more or less like sea fish. European fresh- 
 water fish, as well as many useful plants and animals, must yet 
 be introduced by the settlers. 
 
 Riemenschneider undertook the spiritual care of the Germans, 
 and, at times, of those who had remained in the neighbourhood 
 of Nelson. The hard labour during the week made me but little 
 inclined to preach on Sundays, and when Kiemenschneider was 
 there 1 took a rest. As he travelled a good deal, and came into 
 touch with a good many people, he had opportunity to make in- 
 quiry about the natives. We learnt that in the neighbourhood of 
 Tasman Bay there were three little native villages, a day's 
 journey remote from each other and from us. The inhabitants 
 had for a long time been under the care of the before-mentioned 
 English missionaries at Nelson. These, as well as the Episco- 
 palian and Wesleyan ones, had laboured before amongst the 
 natives of the North Island, and were called here when the 
 Englishmen settled at Nelson, where they worked as pastor 
 amongst their own countrymen and the natives. Among the latter 
 (as they could only visit them from time to time) they had native 
 assistants. We had, therefore, to wait, and in the meantime work 
 at our farm buildings. With the arrival of the Spring our garden, 
 under Trost's care, began to flourish and to bloom, and we would 
 soon have vegetables out of it. Our housekeeping was very 
 economical, and the eels which I caught from time to time were 
 a great assistance. When I look back at that time I feel bound 
 to relate an occasion of great embarrassment, which, at the time, 
 1 bore in silence. I had charge of the cash, and it was my duty 
 
 G
 
 82 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 to keep accounts ; and I certainly thought I had put down exactly 
 every expenditure in the account book. In the first confusion I 
 had no time for a long time to balance my accounts, and when I 
 did this in the course of time I found a deficit. The cashbox held 
 over a pound less than the account book showed. When, after 
 dinner, the others had lain down for an hour to rest, I sat over 
 my account book and vainly sought to find the error. I might have 
 confessed the error to my companions, and then, with their consent, 
 entered it in the book as an unexplainable loss, but I had not the 
 courage. You well know that when in a house a certain duty is 
 committed to you and neglected, every companion would feel it as 
 unpleasant as if the reflection was on himself, and would rightly be 
 blamed as well as he who made the loss. I could not, therefore, 
 bear that the slightest feeling of reflection should arise amongst 
 us, and resolved to make good the deficiency myself in silence. 
 This was. however, not so easily done, for my private purse (money 
 which I had brought from home with me) was nearly empty with 
 helping our countrymen, as in the bad times they had come to 
 the verge of poverty. The few shillings I had I gave up with 
 pleasure, but they did not cover the deficiency. The remainder, 
 therefore, I must seek to make good out of my monthly pocket- 
 money of five shillings. 1 must, therefore, for several months 
 give up my tobacco smoking. The pound of tobacco cost five 
 shillings. It is true this little self-denial was easy to bear, but 
 when I went down of an evening with my fishhook to catch eels, 
 made a bright fire on the bank that lighted up the surface of the 
 water on which the feathers of my hook were swimming in the 
 darkness, to show by their movement when an eel was firmly 
 fixed on, then, at the midnight fire on a lonely creek, I would very 
 much have liked a pipe of tobacco. At other times I did not feel 
 the want of it. 
 
 The intention with which we began the building of our 
 residence namely, to do with little money and work hard our- 
 selves was the safest, even if a slow one, for colonists. For my 
 part, although I worked at it thoroughly, I had no heart in it. 
 This building could not be our future mission station. There 
 could be no thought of such a thing, and it became more and more
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 83 
 
 clear to me that our labour in the hope of, in time, being able to 
 sell or lease the building in an improved state, was a hope- 
 less one, for where, amongst so few inhabitants, there is 
 so much waste land, either tenant or buyer is not easily found. 
 True, it might be the case after many years, but our labours 
 could not extend that far. A sort of doubt as to the reason 
 why we laboured so hard always hovered in the background. 
 Here we could not stay. Our mission was to the heathen, 
 not to the colonists. The cure of the Germans could not 
 satisfy us. 
 
 In my time in Germany one often heard the saying, " There 
 are plenty of heathen here ; they should be converted first before 
 missionaries are sent to foreign lands."' People who were always 
 ready with such remarks did not feel themselves called on to help 
 themselves in the conversion of the heathen at home, for they did 
 mostly nothing, either for the heathen at home or afar. Now, it 
 is true that the soul of a German sinner is just as valuable in the 
 sight of God as the soul of a far-away heathen ; but the original 
 instruction to missionaries was not to convert a soul here and 
 there, but to make all peoples of the world disciples of Christ. 
 This is the definite charge of the Saviour to the missionary 
 (Matt, xxviii., 19). The sinful and heathenlike people at home 
 are in no way forgotten. In fact, the mission to the heathen 
 has called forth the home or internal mission. It is the con- 
 sequence of it, and the more the mission to the heathen is 
 developed the greater blessing it receives at home. He who 
 pays attention to the signs of the times may see the hand of God 
 at work. 
 
 To try curiously to know the future from the prophecies of 
 the Bible is an unfruitful task. One cannot rightly understand 
 for what purpose God has given us prophecy, except to recognise 
 it in its fulfilment. This is of great importance in strengthening 
 our faith. Now, for our present time, we have a prophecy in 
 view, enclosed in a little light picture, which represents the state 
 of missions in our time as truly, and in all respects as faithfully, 
 as a well executed photograph. Read Rev. xiv., tf, 7 " And I saw 
 another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
 
 84 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to 
 every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a 
 loud voice : Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His 
 judgment is come : and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, 
 and the sea, and the fountains of waters." 
 
 CHAPTER VITI. 
 
 I SEEK AND FIND MAOEIS. 
 
 HE New Zealand Society (called company here) had juris- 
 ^J diction in Church matters. A branch of this company was 
 originally instituted in Scotland, which laid itself out to 
 found a settlement of the Free Church of Scotland in New Zealand, 
 to which only members of this Church should be forwarded as 
 emigrants. The chief surveyor, Frederick Tuckett, at Nelson, 
 received, therefore, instructions to search the then almost unknown 
 east coast of the Middle Island for a suitable place for this settle- 
 ment. This Mr. Tuckett was a pious, intelligent man. He was 
 a member of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. 
 In his all-round love of mankind he made no difference between 
 one religion and another. Jews, heathens, Turks, and Christians 
 were alike to him. In his love of his brethren he did not inquire 
 after their convictions, but looked for a belief that with upright 
 Christian piety is active in deeds of love. As my disposition was 
 naturally similar, soon after our first acquaintance we became 
 good friends ; but I could never feel myself his equal in our 
 friendship. That was not because of his high position in the 
 Colony, but because of his knowledge of commerce and his general 
 experience, which was far in advance of mine ; and because of 
 his high-minded, humane and Christian character. Perhaps this 
 unconsciousness of such a difference resulted in our friendship 
 being so firm and lasting. As it was now committed to him to 
 look for a suitable site for the Scotch settlement, he offered me a 
 free passage with him to the South, with a view to there finding
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 85 
 
 a suitable field for labour as a missionary. With the consent of 
 my companions 1 readily accepted this offer. 
 
 As far as I recollect it must have been towards the end of 
 February, 1844, that we were ready for the journey. Mr. Tuckett 
 had chartered for our voyage of discovery a good two-masted 
 schooner, called the Debora. Mr. Tuckett, a few surveyors and 
 labourers, Dr. Munro, and myself, took our places in the hold. 
 The captain, who also took his family with him, had his cabin 
 full of passengers. There were, besides, some Nelson gentlemen, 
 who took the opportunity to look at the yet unknown southern 
 part of New Zealand, and a Wesleyan missionary of the name of 
 Creed, with his wife and child, who came from the North Island, and 
 was to relieve missionary Watkin on the lonely east coast towards 
 the south. It seemed that everywhere all over New Zealand, 
 wherever there were natives, there were missionaries too. 
 
 Since our arrival in New Zealand, and even in my previous 
 anticipations, I carried about a depressing feeling with me that 
 the whole mission field was already occupied for a long time past, 
 whilst in other lands the people were dwelling in dark heathen- 
 dom, without any missionaries at all. The consciousness that we 
 were only the first outpost, sent out, as it were, as a feeler for a 
 suitable sphere of operations for our company, and that I must 
 accommodate myself to the attainment of this object, did not 
 altogether remove this feeling of unrest. But when I was once 
 on shipboard again, and the anchor weighed, I felt my spirits rise, 
 and the feeling of the wind blowing on my face was a pleasant 
 one. Towards evening we arrived at Massacre Bay so called 
 because some sailors of the .Dutchman Tasman were there murdered 
 by the natives where a few natives still lived, but the bay was 
 so wrapped in clouds that we could only see the coast indistinctly. 
 In the west the setting sun was sinking, and the rays were re- 
 flected in the east in a wreath of rays, but the wreath was marked 
 with streaks of darker colour. Later, the moon, nearly at the 
 full, rose over the eastern mountains, and let the silver beams of 
 its countenance shine on the gently swelling ocean. Moonshine 
 in New Zealand is very beautiful, especially when it falls on a 
 high mountainous coast.
 
 86 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEBS. 
 
 The mountain range that runs eastward from Tasman Bay 
 into Cook Strait is very jugged and torn, and has many branching 
 sounds which run up far inland deep valleys lower than the sur- 
 face of the sea (sic). Eastward is the great bay called Cloudy 
 Bay, into which the River Wairau flows. 
 
 The next day we landed at Wellington, also a settlement of 
 the New Zealand Company on the north side of Cook Strait, 
 situate on a large harbour, or rather many inlets. Here we 
 took a magistrate on board, who was to superintend the transac- 
 tions between the natives and the company, as the Government 
 thought, after the slaughter at the Wairau, that this was necessary. 
 I obtained here, from the Wesleyan missionary, whose name was 
 well known southwards on the east coast, a letter of introduction 
 to the natives in the south. The Wesleyans had two stations on 
 the east coast, one in the neighbourhood of Cloudy Bay, the other 
 further south. From Wellington we went south to Banks 
 Peninsula. Southward from Cloudy Bay the mountains on the 
 coast stand out boldly to somewhere about the forty-third degree 
 of southern latitude ; from there they bend back westward, and 
 leave an important plain between them and the sea, up to about 
 the forty-fifth degree of latitude. Towards the middle about 
 the forty-fourth degree there is a commanding promontory 
 called Banks Peninsula. Captain Cook, who took it for a penin- 
 sula, and marked it on his chart with a long neck, probably 
 mistook for sea the larger lagoon to the south of it. This is 
 separated from the sea by a long strip of land running west, with 
 an opening at its western end. He probably thought this went 
 all round the mountain range, which it does not do. This pro- 
 montory has many inlets, which form good harbours. We sailed 
 into one of the most northern ones, then called Port Cooper, now 
 Lyttelton. In another inlet not far distant there were a few 
 natives who had, noticed our arrival, and soon came round to see 
 us. A few of them came in a boat to see what we wanted. 
 Among these there was a great chief, named Tuhawaiki in Maori, 
 Bloody Jack by the Englishmen, because in his English, which he 
 had learnt mostly from rough whalers and sealers, he often used 
 the low word, " bloody." His own place of residence was on the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 87 
 
 island of Euapuke, in the south ; but he travelled a great deal, 
 because his influence and authority extended from the furthest 
 southern point up to here. He had long seen that the knowledge 
 of the Europeans was better than the narrow views of his country- 
 men, and had, therefore, made connections with them. This, 
 with his own prominent position, had given him great authority. 
 He had also adopted European customs, such as those he was in 
 the midst of, but more on the bad than the good side. I did not 
 then know that Huapuke, his place of residence, would become 
 mine as well. I showed him my introduction to the southern 
 Maoris ; he handed it to his companion and had it read to him, 
 and then said I should be welcome. He could not read himself. 
 When in his dealings with Europeans he had to sign important 
 papers, he drew the beautiful spiral curves and lines with which 
 his face was tattooed. Such documents are still in existence, and 
 are admitted in evidence in legal proceedings having reference to 
 the ownership of land. The prospect of soon having a European 
 colony in his district was of great importance to him ; but he was 
 prudent, and kept such of his thoughts as might have any bearing 
 on the proposed purchase of land to himself. 
 
 It may here be remarked that the natives of New Zealand 
 call themselves Maori, and foreigners, Pakeha, words which have 
 no other meaning in their language. The pronunciation, as well 
 as the sound, of the vowels is the same as German. In dipthongs 
 the sound begins with the first letter and then flows over to the 
 next ending on one syllable ; for instance, Maori, just like 
 Mowry. Vowels which do not flow together, like " u," " a," are 
 pronounced as separate syllables. 
 
 Mr. Tuckett resolved to examine the interior of the country 
 from this place at that time it was a mere wilderness without 
 trace of man or beast. He wished to see whether the soil was 
 fruitful or otherwise, and especially whether it was adapted for 
 the proposed Scottish settlement. With this intention he 
 prepared provisions and tools for roadmaking and examination 
 of the soil, his companions assisting. It happened that he 
 could not find his pocket compass, which was a thing abso- 
 lutely necessary to him. As I did not intend to make any
 
 88 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLER8. 
 
 explorations I lent him mine, from which act certain consequences 
 arose. 
 
 The next day was Sunday. Early in the morning the 
 missionary Creed, whom I have already named, asked me if I was 
 inclined to go with him to a Maori village which he was informed 
 was only a few hours' distant, to hold divine service there. Of 
 course I was so inclined, because I could thus learn some 
 missionary work. He knew the Maori language, and the day 
 before the natives had told him if he climbed a certain mountain 
 he could see Port Levi from it, where their village lay. Accord- 
 ingly, we started out and climbed the mountain. I left it to him 
 to find the road, for it was he who had made inquiry, not I. The 
 climbing was not difficult, for a European who intended to 
 establish a sheep run here, had already burnt away the wild 
 undergrowth, but we found the mountain very high. Was it the 
 right one ? When we had at last climbed to the top we found 
 ourselves on a sharp, cold mountain ridge. Here we were 
 surprised with a remarkable appearance which presented itself 
 to our eyes on the other side of the mountain. 
 
 We are all well enough acquainted with the clouds above us, 
 and 1 had often wondered how it would look if one could look 
 down from above on the clouds hovering over the earth. Such an 
 appearance was here presented to us. We had climbed up the 
 side of the mountain, by which we had come into bright sunshine ; 
 on the other side the sun shone on a sea of clouds as far as the 
 eye could reach. From thence the clouds were being driven by a 
 wind of considerable strength against the mountain ridge, and there 
 piled up. Here they were leaping and rolling over one another, 
 and thus gave the sun an opportunity of making ever-changing 
 and glancing rainbows amongst them. In the whirling movements 
 here and there mountain tops were for a short time visible, whose 
 wet sides glittered in the sun. The whole gave one an impression of 
 a sort of enchanted bed of giants' children, who wake in the morning, 
 rub their eyes, shake the glistening coverlid, and then bury their 
 heads with rosy, perspiring cheeks under the bed clothes again. 
 
 The conjuror's game did not last long. Soon the sea of clouds 
 rolled over the brow of the mountain, so that we were wrapped in
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 89 
 
 thick fog, in which we could hardly see three paces before us. 
 We sat down in the hope that it would soon clear up. The ground 
 consisted of small broken rock. The pieces were just suitable for 
 building a little wall in play. My hands will not be still when 
 I have nothing to do. My thoughts soon put themselves into 
 action, and I soon built a little wall. Then I thought that it 
 might be offensive to my companion that I should thus employ 
 myself on Sunday, and left off ; but could not make up my mind 
 to destroy my wall. 
 
 As the clouds would not withdraw, we started on our way 
 again as well as we could along the steep mountain ridge in hopes 
 that we were going in the direction of the valley which ends in 
 the inlet, Port Levi, where the Maori village is. Now I missed 
 my pocket compass, for as we could only see a few steps it was 
 impossible to avoid certain gaps in the mountain ridge, and to 
 keep the right direction. We passed horrible masses of rock 
 which had a fantastic appearance in the cloudy mist. 
 
 At last we heard birds singing, and thus knew that we neared 
 a wood and had reached the lower regions, for on the high 
 mountains all was bare. Soon we reached the edge of a wood 
 which was invisible until we were close to it. In the thick wet 
 fog it had a forlorn and forbidding look. We ventured confidently 
 into it in the hope that once through it we should reach the desired 
 valley. The trees were short and bent, with little undergrowth, 
 because on the rocky ridge no high trees could get a foothold. 
 At first we broke a few branches off here and there, in order that 
 we might find our way back when we wanted. As we got further 
 in and lower down the mountain the clouds got lighter, but the 
 wood more dense, for the New Zealand woods are thickly clothed 
 with leaves from the base to the top, and the lower foliage is a 
 rusty parti-coloured green. At last we thought we saw an opening 
 in the woods, but it was only an avalanche, where a part of the 
 steep mountain side, trees and all, had fallen into the valley below. 
 As this gap was on the side of the mountain, where we hoped to 
 find the valley with the Maori village, we climbed up the side of 
 it, holding on by trees and branches. When we at last arrived at 
 the bottom of the valley we found ourselves in a narrow dark
 
 90 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 cleft, down which a stream rushed. The wood was impenetrable 
 on account of the many supplejacks and the quantity of under- 
 growth, but the stream had cut a deep channel in the ground in 
 which we could walk upright under the overhanging boughs. 
 The water whirled around and among blocks of rock on which we 
 had to walk, so that now and then we had to wade in the water. 
 Our walk in the dark wood in the deep valley of the mountains 
 had been a great deal more agreeable if we had been more certain 
 of our way, and the fear of having lost it had not caused us 
 considerable anxiety. We could not rid ourselves of a doubt that 
 we had not climbed the right mountain, and, if so, that in the 
 thick mist, with neither sun nor compass to guide us, we had not 
 kept the right direction in the windings and turnings of the 
 mountain ridge. As we went further down the valley our stream 
 was joined by others, and became deeper and wider. Instead of 
 walking on the rocks we could only pass from one to another, and 
 often fell deep into the water. We were fully conscious that such 
 jumping and scrambling was not without serious danger, because 
 if one of us had broken a bone both had probably been hopelessly 
 lost. Most mercifully God preserved us from dangerous falls. 
 
 After a long climb down the mountain, in the bed of the 
 river, we arrived at last out of the wood into a spreading valley 
 with a level surface. It looked black and uninviting, for you 
 could see that the vegetable growth a short time before had been 
 burnt off in a large fire, we could there walk in a clear space. 
 In a few places where there had been scrub, we had to work our 
 way through the yet standing blackened and jagged stumps and 
 stems, and these tore our clothes and blackened them. Before us 
 lay the opening of the valley, which, to all appearance, ran down 
 to the sea, and we still entertained the hope there to find the 
 Maori village. It was already evening, and the sky still covered 
 with thick clouds, so that we could not ascertain the position of 
 the sun. Once I thought I saw a gleam through the clouds, but 
 a cold shudder ran through me. The gleam was on the right 
 hand, it should have been on the left. 
 
 When we reached the end of the valley it was already dusk. 
 We came to a lagoon across which we could not see, but its banks
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 91 
 
 had not the firmness of a beach whereon waves break. It was 
 moist and swampy. We tasted the water, it was brackish, but 
 not seawater. Now we knew that we were at the great lagoon 
 Waihora (later on called Ellesmere) that stands at the southern 
 side of Banks Peninsula, our goal was on the northern side. 
 Here we were now lost, hungry and tired, in a wild waste. No 
 sign of human beings to be seen. No roof and no food was 
 to be had, and the day was done. We turned away from the 
 swampy bank and climbed a spur of a mountain. Here we 
 kneeled down and prayed. Missionary Creed prayed aloud in 
 the English language, which I understood, I then prayed in 
 German, which he did not understand. I could not then express 
 myself in English, and he wished that I should pray out loud from 
 my heart in the language I was accustomed to at home. After 
 the prayer we had fresh courage. We then went undismayed 
 along the mountain spur to a wood in order there to find a 
 lodging for the night. On the way we found a wild turnip which 
 we plucked and took for our supper. It had a few large leaves 
 but not much root. This turnip was originally introduced into 
 New Zealand by Captain Cook, was then spread abroad by the 
 natives, and now grows wild in many places ; it bears leaves 
 without a proper turnip root. 
 
 On the edge of the wood we found traces (in the shape of a 
 scaffolding to place provisions on) that years ago a Maori garden 
 had been here. But it was all overgrown, and no path was to be 
 seen. We found an old fallen tree whose roots were hollow and 
 roomy enough for us both to sleep in. Without fire, and in our 
 light clothes, it would have been a poor lodging if, fortunately, I 
 had not had materials for making fire with rne. These consisted 
 of flint, steel, and tinder. I do not know how I happened to have 
 these in my pocket, for I carried no tobacco pipe. Such an old- 
 fashioned way of striking a light was driven out of fashion by the 
 use of matches, and I should have already laid it on one side if a 
 memory had not clung to it. The steel, with a pouch ornamented 
 by fair hands, with glass pearls, had been given to me as a 
 memento in Hamburg. Without this steel and tinder we could 
 have hardly lived in the following nights among the high cold
 
 92 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 mountains. Such apparently unimportant matters as the gift of 
 a, beautiful flint and steel case may by God's providence be so 
 guided as to lead to the salvation of a man's life. We lighted 
 our tire, roasted our turnip with its leaves, divided and ate it with 
 thankfulness, and laid down to sleep in the hollow tree, while we 
 kept up a warm fire before the opening. The next morning I 
 looked for wild carrots, as the place seemed to have been an old 
 Maori plantation, but found none but a little handful hardly larger 
 than peas. In the meantime my companion had killed a bird 
 about the size of a sparrow. The prey was roasted at the fire, 
 divided, and eaten with thankfulness. My fire materials were 
 then examined, for we might have to pass another night in the 
 wilderness. It happened that rny tinder was nearly exhausted, 
 but missionary Creed knew how to help. He tore a piece off his 
 shirt, burnt it into tinder, and that filled my pouch again. After 
 prayer we broke up again. 
 
 We intended to go back the way we came. Climbing up the 
 rocks in the bed of the rushing stream was, however, much harder 
 work than coming down. From time to time we drank deep 
 draughts of the water. This gave us a feeling of hunger, and the 
 imagination would dwell on a table covered with cold meats ; 
 but that was not unpleasant. As we met many brooks, as they 
 united, it was impossible again to know the one by which we 
 had come down. We did not make much of this, for we con- 
 cluded they all came from the same ridge, and that, when we 
 arrived at the top of it, we should have to journey to the left. 
 After wearisome climbing over stones and rocks, and wading 
 through much water, we reached the end of the creek at last, 
 but not the landslip. Now we had sometimes to break through 
 the undergrowth of the wood, sometimes to crawl under it on 
 all fours, and thus wearily climb the mountain. At last this 
 was overcome, and we got into the open, but a steep, high 
 mountain side, with thick undergrowth as high as a man, stood 
 before us. We had to climb it to reach the top, for there the 
 ground consists of stones, in which no plant can grow. On the 
 sides, on the other hand, where good soil had been washed down 
 from the top and found a resting place, the growth was thick
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 93 
 
 and dense, as the dead stalks and leaves remained there from 
 year to year. We had to break through it. As the toughest 
 (not the largest) I went in advance, tore with both hands, and 
 bent with my arms the dense mass asunder, and when I had 
 thus made an opening, gave my companion a shove from behind 
 and then climbed up myself. With every effort as we got 
 higher the growth became thinner, and in time we gained the top. 
 
 We found ourselves now in a wild unknown mountain range. 
 The view was contracted. For a short distance above us floated 
 thick clouds. It is a horrible sensation to be in a solitary 
 mountain, without inhabitant, and to have the clouds so near 
 that you see you have to go into the darkness. We had hoped 
 the air would clear, so that we could tell the direction of the- 
 mountains, but there was no prospect of this. We climbed along 
 the comb, and soon arrived at the thick, wet fog. Here we 
 could again allay hunger by drinking clear water, as a great 
 deal was collected from the clouds in little hollows in the rock. 
 But the day came to an end; evening was near; and there was 
 no wood to make a fire. " Be still," said my companion. " Yes,, 
 praised be God, there are birds singing. There must be wood 
 where birds are singing." We climbed down the side of the 
 mountain, and found ourselves at last on the edge of a wood. The 
 precipice was so steep that when we had made a fire and camped 
 for the night, only the trees and bush were between us and an un- 
 known depth. 1 was so tired that I could not pray much, and 
 fell at once into a deep sleep. After a couple of hours I awoke 
 quite refreshed, and could now undertake the maintenance of 
 the fire. 
 
 The following morning Tuesday, the third day of our 
 wanderings we started again. There was nothing to eat here. 
 We looked for the edible berries of a bush (belonging to the 
 order of fuchsias), but found so few that we had to give it up. 
 Now we had to climb the ridge again. Everything was still 
 enveloped in thick cloud. We were often in doubt when the 
 ridges parted, or seemed to part, which one we should choose. 
 " Brother Wohlers," said Missionary Creed to me more and more, 
 " Shall we die here ? " " No " I would always answer him with
 
 94 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 confidence "Our pilgrimage is not at an end yet." I do not know 
 whence my confidence came ; may be God gave it me, and because 
 I had a stronger constitution I could more easily bear it. More- 
 over, my strong confidence had this good effect, that it encouraged 
 my companion when he lost heart, and enabled him to make 
 further exertions. 
 
 This dangerous loss of our road was much harder on him than 
 on me, for he had a young wife and a little child on the ship, and 
 it was a great trial to him that they would suffer great anxiety 
 on his account. Still we could always allay our hunger by 
 drinking of the clear water that had fallen into the clefts 
 in the rock. The long wandering up and down high solitary 
 mountains in cold and horrible mist at last reduces one's 
 strength. 
 
 I began to look sharply at the ground when we were walking 
 on smaller ridges, for I hoped to see some signs of a road. 
 " Stop ! " said I at last, " we were here on Sunday morning. I built 
 this wall with my own hands " and I knew that I had done it. 
 Now we knew that we were not more than about three hours' 
 distant from Port Cooper, where our ship lay at anchor. But now 
 the difficulty was to find the direction in the thick fog. We tried 
 one direction that appeared likely to us, but we soon came to so 
 yawning an abyss that we shuddered before it. We went back, 
 therefore, and tried another spur running in a similar direction, 
 but again came to a yawning abyss, either really or apparently so. 
 In the meantime the night had fallen, and we had to decide to 
 prepare our bed. Fortunately we had got so far down that we 
 could find a few clumps of creeping pines. We therefore began 
 to break off a supply of twigs, and gather them together. Whilst 
 I was doing it, without knowing it, I fell over fast asleep. When 
 my companion thus found me he picked me up, shook me well, 
 and at last had to beat me till I was so far awake that I could 
 light a fire. As the tinder burnt I gave it into his hands, and 
 at once fell fast asleep again. In the meantime he made a fire 
 and drew me to a warm place. After a couple of hours I woke up 
 quite refreshed, and could now undertake the maintenance of the 
 fire.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLERS. 95 
 
 The following morning Wednesday, the fourth day of our 
 wanderings we again rose and went down the mountain. We 
 soon got out of the clouds and saw already through the lower 
 strata the gleaming surface of Port Cooper. Soon after we saw 
 the masts of the schooner Debora. Now we were saved. As at 
 last we neared the strand we saw a boat push off to fetch us. Our 
 clothes hung in rags, and we had a very torn and blackened 
 appearance. After a moderate meal of warm oatmeal, and a 
 good long sleep, our exhausted energies were fully restored. We 
 were not free from blame in thus having lost ourselves, for we 
 trusted ourselves without guide and without compass on a wild 
 mountain range. 
 
 The direction just to go up to the mountain, from whence Port 
 Levi could be seen, meant, probably, not the top of the mountain, 
 but a side spur. 
 
 Such was Banks Peninsula in those days. Now, after thirty- 
 four years, this wild mountain range is turned into useful sheep 
 runs. European settlers have burnt away the useless growth in the 
 wild over-grown country and the mountain ranges, and sown the 
 seed of useful grasses in the soil, so that now sheep run there by 
 thousands. Surveyors have long ago delineated the different 
 mountain ranges on their maps. 
 
 A few natives lived on Banks Peninsula and the neighbour- 
 hood, and Mr. Tuckett wished that 1 should remain amongst 
 them. This did not appear advisable to me, for the Wesleyans 
 already had a missionary station to the north of here in Cloudy 
 Bay, and another to the southward in W^aikouaiti, and I could 
 not decide to push myself in between, besides there were native 
 teachers here already. I would rather go quite to the south 
 where, at all events, I should have one clear side. But who knows 
 what might have happened if we had found the Maori village and 
 the Maoris had asked me to become their missionary there. In 
 the uncertainty of finding a suitable field for missionary work I 
 might have looked upon it as a call and accepted it. It would 
 not do now, however, as Mr. Tuckett had finished the examination 
 of the land, and wished to sail southward to see if he could not 
 find better land there. I saw the hand of God. in it that I could
 
 96 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 not remain here, for I should not have liked to see the conditions 
 that afterwards existed grow up around me. For after a few 
 years another branch of the New Zealand Company was formed 
 in England, a union of the Episcopalian Church, which would 
 only accept members of that Church as emigrants to New 
 Zealand, and this neighbourhood was chosen for this settlement. 
 If the Church authorities had found me at work amongst the 
 natives they would, as is their custom, have greeted and treated 
 me in a friendly manner and that would have been very 
 pleasant to me but the friendship would have had the aim of 
 incorporating us into their Church, and that personally I did not 
 desire. I love Christianity as the Bible teaches it, which 
 includes all disciples of Jesus, but I cannot bear to be in an 
 exclusive Church coerced by human rules. 
 
 According to the geological chart, Banks Peninsula, originally 
 a mountain isolated from the flat coast, consists of igneous rocks. 
 The large plain to the westward consists of newer stratified rocks 
 (upper mesozoic and tertiary). This formation extends sometimes 
 narrow, sometimes broad, the whole length of the east coast. The 
 western mountains consist of older stratified rocks (lower mesozoic 
 and palaeozoic). This formation extends to Cook Strait to 
 nearly the forty-fifth and a-half degree of latitude westward 
 therefrom along the whole length of the east coast the high 
 mountains consist of metamorphic rocks (granites). This forma- 
 tion extends between the forty-fourth and forty-sixth degree of 
 latitude right across the land to the east coast. Ruapuke and 
 Stewart Island also belong to this formation. The great plain 
 near Banks Peninsula is watered by many swift flowing and 
 therefore straight rivers that take their rise in the high Western 
 Alps, and in their course through the mountains receive many 
 tributaries. The flat coasts of the plains are only broken by the 
 rivers' mouths and have no inlets. North-easterly, from Banks 
 Peninsula, is the Forty Mile, and south-westerly the Ninety Mile 
 Beach. 
 
 We sailed now southward to Waikouaiti, where we had to 
 land missionary Creed and his family. Halfway down some 
 natives lived at .a place called Moeraki. As it was known
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 97 
 
 through the Wesleyan mission post there that there was a 
 footpath to Waikouaiti, Mr. Tuckett was landed with some 
 companions in the neighbourhood. He invited me to go with him, 
 which 1 declined, and he thought I had lost my courage on Banks 
 Peninsula. That was not the case. I should gladly have made 
 the journey with him, but my clothes and shoes did not allow of 
 it. They were not made like those of the surveyors to climb 
 over sharp stones and through thorny scrub. I had already 
 destroyed a suit on Banks Peninsula and spoilt a pair of boots, 
 and what I had left I carried in a not over-full portmanteau. 
 There was no opening for me among the natives there, as they 
 were already under Wesleyan care. Waikouaiti was at the time 
 the seat of the John Jones, of Sydney, celebrated for the extent 
 of his kingdom. He was without cultivation, and not without 
 rudeness ; but he understood how to make money and acquire lands 
 after the manner of the worldly-wise, which covers a multitude 
 of ... He carried on an extensive whale-fishery here, and 
 employed many Maoris and Europeans. The latter consisted, to 
 a large extent, of a class of reckless people from the Australian 
 Colonies, whither England at that time transported great 
 criminals. They brought the Maoris no virtues, and John Jones 
 came to see that he would be able to rely better upon his men it' 
 there was a little of the fear of God amongst them. He applied, 
 therefore, to the Methodists (Wesleyans) in Sydney, and requested 
 them to found a mission station at his whale fishery in New 
 Zealand, where he would build a house for them. Missionary 
 Watkin, who had worked for many years in the Fiji Islands and 
 could not bear the climate there any longer, was at that time 
 with his family in Sydney, and to him was the post allocated, 
 Besides being pious he was a clever and experienced man, and 
 knew how to take people the right way, and his labours were, 
 with the blessing of God, successful as well among the Maoris 
 as the Europeans. John Jones used to acknowledge this, but yet 
 he complained that his best men would not work on the Sabbath 
 day. It was not a very desirable place for an elderly missionary. 
 When we had cast anchor in the bay, missionary Watkin came 
 on board and shook hands with his successor. " Missionary
 
 98 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 Creed," he said, half joking, " welcome to purgatory." He was 
 now called to Wellington to take the superintendence of a few 
 Wesleyan communities. 
 
 The whale fishing is carried on from the coasts as well as 
 from ships. As is well known, the whales are warm-blooded 
 animals. They must, therefore, at short intervals, come to the 
 surface to breathe. They suckle their young, which are here 
 called calves. At certain times of the year the so-called cows, or 
 mother fish, come to the coasts to calve, in still waters in the bays. 
 They are then killed from the land with boats, while the ships 
 attack the bulls outside. Watches are set on the heights on land, 
 and when a whale is seen, which is known by the spouting of the 
 water that they send up through their breathing holes, the boats 
 are manned and the hunt begins. The steersman occupies the 
 first position in a boat, and good whalers compete with one another 
 to obtain the position. One requires both to steer as well as 
 command well, for it is necessary to bring the boat as close as 
 possible to the huge creature with as little danger as possible, in 
 order that the harpooner may cast his harpoon into him, which is 
 furnished with a barb, and a long line attached to it. Care must 
 be taken to keep the boat out of reach of his tail, for he could 
 easily break it into smithereens. The creature must not be 
 allowed to get under the boat, for with a light blow he could 
 throw it and all the crew out of the water high into the air. 
 When the harpoon is fast the whale drags the boat away with it, 
 and every time when he comes up to breathe another lance is 
 thrown into his body. It is really contrary to humanity that the 
 great sea creatures should be so cruelly killed by men, especially 
 when a mother fish, dying, still seeks to rescue her young ; but 
 both are killed without mercy. 
 
 Waikouaiti Bay is no harbour, but a good anchorage, 
 which is sheltered from the prevailing south-west winds, but 
 exposed to the easterly ones. Small schooners can run into the 
 river which empties itself into the bay, where, when they are 
 across the bar, which is thrown up where the stream and the 
 breakers meet, they can find still and deep water. The landscape 
 is beautiful. It consists of hills and mountains of moderate size,
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 99 
 
 with valleys and little flats, intersected by small streams. The 
 soil is fruitful, and the place adapted for a prosperous little town. 
 Now, after thirty-four years, there is an important village there, 
 built by European settlers. According to the geological chart, 
 the coast range from here to Otago consists of igneous rocks. It 
 appears, however, that the granite formation, which is not far 
 from here, has already broken through in some few places, for 
 single round mountains, like breasts, raise themselves aloft here, 
 and on the top of these rocky points the granite breaks out. 
 
 Not long after our arrival in this bight Mr. Tuckett began 
 his land journey. He ordered his surveyors to measure the bay, 
 and ascertain the depth of the water, but this was forbidden by 
 the magistrate whom the Government had sent with us, because 
 the land still belonged to the natives. Mr. Tuckett pointed out 
 that there was no intention of surveying any land, but merely to 
 measure an anchorage, and for trade and commerce it was of great 
 importance that the still unknown harbours and anchorages should 
 be exactly marked on the chart. But the magistrate insisted 
 that his instructions were that no surveying instruments were 
 to be landed until the land had been formally and legally pur- 
 chased from the natives. Mr. Tuckett, however, would not give 
 way, and the measurements were completed in spite of the 
 remonstrance of the magistrate. 
 
 It is said of the Quakers that they are for peace at any price, 
 and that this is impracticable for this common world. The first is 
 quite true as far as regards shedding blood ; the rest is not true. 
 Mr. Tuckett was a conscientious Quaker, and yet in all respects 
 a practical man. He could take a stand and carry his intention 
 through when he was satisfied it was the right one. 
 
 From Waikouaiti Bay we sailed southward across a large 
 half-moon-shaped bay, three or four German miles wide, to the 
 harbour of Otago. The coast here is fully fifty feet to one hundred 
 feet high. At that time there was no lighthouse or other land- 
 mark for the sailor, and we could see nothing of the entrance to 
 the harbour. We had, however, brought with us from Waikouaiti, 
 as pilot, a man well acquainted with the place a European who, 
 as a sealer, knew all harbours and anchorages. It looked as if
 
 100 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 he would steer the vessel right on to the rocky headlands. Soon 
 a level surface of water, between the steep cliffs, was to be seen, 
 and as we went into it another opening made its appearance, 
 and most charmingly surprised, we arrived in a beautiful harbour, 
 like a broad stream enclosed in soft, wooded hills, from which the 
 bright songs of birds could be heard on both sides. It was not a 
 stream, but an arm of the sea, about eix German miles long, and 
 a quarter to half a mile broad. We sailed about half-way up the 
 harbour and then cast anchor. A little higher up this harbour is 
 divided into two by two jutting bluffs and a little island in the 
 middle. Near the mouth of the harbour a native village might 
 be seen, but I had no opportunity to see it. 
 
 The next day all went in a boat to the end of the harbour. 
 Here we found a beautiful hilly country. Mr. Tuckett, with his 
 strong long legs, climbed the hills and over-looked the landscape. 
 He was delighted with the beautiful wide valleys which he saw 
 both far and near. At that time this whole region was an 
 uninhabited wilderness, and now, after thirty-four years, there is 
 a rich town here called Dunedin, with over 20,000 inhabitants, 
 which is making rapid strides. 
 
 Southward from Otago, the Taieri, an important river, 
 empties itself into the sea, in the neighbourhood of which are 
 many fruitful valleys. The next large river south is the Molyneux 
 (Maori name, Matau), now called Clutha by the Scotch. In its 
 upper course it is connected with the alpine lakes, and with its 
 tributaries flows through fruitful valleys and plains. Still further 
 south, at the easterly entrance of Foveaux Strait is the Mataura, 
 a river also with fertile banks. All these three large rivers have 
 bars at their mouths, where river and sea meet, large ships 
 cannot, therefore, enter them. Northward of Otago the land is 
 just as fertile. At that time the watershed of all these rivers 
 was quite unknown, but now it is all accurately surveyed, marked 
 on charts, and intersected by roads and railroads. On the hills 
 and mountains flocks of sheep and cattle feed by thousands. In 
 the valleys and plains there are well-to-do farm houses, and in the 
 gorges of the mountains rich gold diggings. Iron and coal are 
 also in abundance. No wonder that Dunedin has become so rich
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 101 
 
 a city in a few years. Mr. Tuckett, after he had examined the 
 whole of the East Coast, from north to south, rightly appreciated 
 the value of the district, and, therefore, chose Otago as the centre 
 of the settlement of the community consisting of members of the 
 Free Church of Scotland. None of the provinces of New Zealand 
 has become so populous and wealthy as the Province of Otago. 
 The settlement (the first settlers came here four years later) was, 
 it is true, founded by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland ; 
 but any exclusiveness was soon broken through from outside, 
 as, attracted by the fruitful land, and especially by the gold 
 discovery, immigrants from all lands and of all persuasions flowed 
 in. For all that, from there to Southland the Scottish element 
 has remained predominant. 
 
 From Otago we sailed to Molyneux Bay, where we took in 
 Mr. Tuckett with his companions, who had made the journey by 
 land in order to see the country from Otago to here. We then 
 went on to Foveaux Strait. 
 
 In pursuance of the inquiries that I had made from place to 
 place (especially I had obtained much information from our pilot), 
 I was convinced that the Island of Ruapuke, at the eastern end 
 of Foveaux Strait, would be the most suitable place for my 
 missionary work. On this little island, about eight miles long 
 and four miles wide, situate between Stewart Island and the 
 mainland, dwelt the largest number of natives of this southern 
 district. It was the residence of the distinguished people of the 
 race and of the most exalted chieftains, and the centre and 
 gathering place of the Maoris, who were scattered all over the 
 country. 
 
 The vessel was on the road to Bluff Harbour, and whilst we 
 were passing the Island of Ruapuke I got into a boat with 
 my belongings consisting of a portmanteau, two woollen rugs, 
 a fowling-piece, a little axe, and handsaw, besides a sack of flour 
 and some salt which I had bought from the captain and our pilot 
 steered toward the beach. (I was advised by the English 
 missionaries at Nelson not to take many things with me, because 
 there was fear that the savages in the south might take them 
 away from me ; besides, I have a dislike to travelling with a large
 
 102 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 quantity of luggage.) The name of the pilot, Edward Palmer, 
 deserves to be remembered, for he is yet proud of having landed 
 me at Ruapuke. On the voyage he was lead to peace with God 
 by missionary Watkin, and then learnt to conduct his affairs 
 properly, and now lives at peace with a suitable income as an old 
 but hearty man. ' Godliness is profitable unto all things, having 
 the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." 
 A number of Maoris had already assembled on the beach to hear 
 what news the approaching boat would bring. Our pilot, well 
 known here, told them shortly the language was half English 
 and half iVlaori that he brought a missionaiy who would remain 
 with them. Thereupon I was landed with all my things on the 
 backs of the Maoris, and the boat rowed back to the ship, not to 
 keep it standing off and on too long. It was the middle of May, 
 1844, that I landed here. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BEGINNING AT EUAPUKE. 
 
 ' _/LT last 1 was amongst the savages in New Zealand, whose 
 I V^ language I did not yet even understand. Some were 
 clothed in large English blankets, in which their 
 athletic forms and graceful bearing looked as stately as the 
 ancient Greeks in their robes. Most of them, however, wore 
 clothes, and in some cases only ragged pieces of them, which were 
 made of the thread of the so-called New Zealand flax woven with 
 their own fingers. A short distance from the beach stood a village 
 consisting of very low dwellings with doors which were barely 
 two feet high and broad so that one could only crawl in on all 
 fours. A little higher up there was another opening of the same 
 size to let light and air in and stinks out. I was now taken to a 
 house that was built in European fashion, and belonged to the 
 absent chief, named Tuhawaiki (commonly called Bloody Jack), 
 Whom I had already met on Banks Peninsula. This princely 
 dwelling was, however, only a rough cottage built of boards,
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 103 
 
 with a thatched roof, and a doov and two small square windows 
 in the front. The interior consisted of two small bedrooms, in 
 which the bedsteads were fashioned after those in a ship's cabin, 
 and a lean-to which served as kitchen and dwelling-room. Seats 
 there were none, but an old pail was turned upside down for me. 
 The cottage was filled with people who belonged to the family of 
 the chief and his household. A bed was allotted to me for my 
 separate use, but I had to share the room with another. A few 
 slept on the floor. Many slept on the flat ground in the kitchen. 
 Roasted potatoes were lying all around close to them. And this 
 was the chief's dwelling. In the huts of the common people it 
 was still more miserable. If the prophecy could then have come 
 to me that in twenty-five years all the people would be walking 
 about washed and in clean European clothes, and would live in 
 comfortable, cleanly-fashioned houses like respectable Europeans, 
 I should not have been able to believe it. 
 
 You could only call the Maoris here savages, still they were 
 no longer heathens. After long, apparently resultless, labours of 
 the missionaries in the north, their teaching was at last taken to 
 heart by the Maoris there, and they became, instead of dirty, 
 loutish and cruel men, kind and orderly disciples of Christ. 
 This created so great a revolution that the whole Maori people 
 were affected by it, and the shock was felt to the furthermost 
 enil, and had results even in this far south. Then the Wesleyan 
 missionary at Waikouaiti came on mission journeys to the south, 
 and appointed baptized natives as teachers. A year after my 
 arrival the Anglican Bishop of New Zealand (Dr. Selwyn) came 
 here and also appointed baptized natives as teachers. Furthermore, 
 travelling evangelists of both persuasions had already introduced 
 both forms of Christian services. Accordingly I found Christian 
 usages already in practice here. Besides Sunday and twice a 
 week services, every morning and evening meetings for prayer 
 were held, both by the Wesleyans and the Anglicans. As I 
 attended these meetings and saw how and in what a babbling and 
 thoughtless way the teachers read their lessons, and in what a 
 thoughtless way the people conducted themselves, I thought, I 
 perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious (really too
 
 104 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 much afraid of God). Still what more could be expected at the 
 time. These forms of Christianity, although still without its 
 spirit, had already effected an astonishingly large amount of good 
 in them. They had already given up murder and cannibalisms, 
 and especially all cruel and gross sins which had formerly existed 
 amongst them as something quite common. 
 
 An Irishman lived here with his Maori wife (he himself was 
 absent) and their son : the boy knew some English. I had been 
 able to use him as interpreter ; but I saw I could not effect much 
 that way, and that it would be much more advisable to devote 
 my whole time to learning the Maori language. For this I had 
 now every opportunity. On my journey through Wellington I 
 had already possessed myself of a Maori grammar, a translated 
 English Prayer Book, and New Testament, and studied them on 
 board ship. Here 1 could learn the pronunciation. A few here 
 could read already, and these were always ready to sit by me 
 and read with me in the New Testament, in which each of us 
 read his verse in turn. 1 noticed the pronunciation carefully, 
 and gladly allowed myself to be taught how to pronounce 
 the words. At the same time, my ears got accustomed to under- 
 stand the sound, for one may be able to read a language which 
 one has learnt and understand nothing of it, when hearing the 
 people, whose language it is, speak it. The organs of speech, 
 moreover, must be practised before one can give the sounds their 
 proper expression. The Maori says of such foreigners who speak 
 their language, but not after their fashion, that they " bite their 
 words." 
 
 When the Irishman (he was a Catholic) came back from his 
 journey, he invited me to take up my residence in his house. 
 This, however, I declined, not because he was a Catholic for 
 in our circumstances no difference of belief must be taken into 
 consideration but because I wished to be for a time in a house 
 where nothing was spoken but Maori. He pressed me to take 
 my meals in his house, to which he would call me when required. 
 I accepted this, for where I was staying the preparation of the 
 food was entirely wanting in cleanliness. There were three 
 meals a day in the house of the Irishman. These consisted of fat
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 105. 
 
 seabirds (of which more hereafter), potatoes, and damper. The 
 latter is a damp bread made out of flour and water, kneaded, 
 without yeast, and baked in hot ashes. This method of life 
 agreed with me well enough, for I was yet in my full strength, 
 and had a healthy stomach, and I should gladly have shared the 
 expense with him if I had been better supplied with money or 
 had expectations of soon receiving remittances. I dare not 
 remain long in the dwelling where I was, unless I wished to 
 sink into the filthy ways of the Maori, and a missionary dare not 
 do this. Soon after my arrival, I made the acquaintance of the 
 then still young high chief Topi, who stood next in rank to 
 Tuhawaiki a friendly man, but a little unstable, so that one 
 could not always rely upon him. He was kind enough to offer 
 me a house, but I must not enter it where it stood. It was 
 tapu holy because his first wife had died there, and, beside 
 me, he dare not speak to anyone who was not of high birth. 
 Those of high birth were superior to the tapu, because they were 
 either holy themselves or else separated from the common people 
 by the possession of a higher nature. 
 
 Superior Europeans, the class to which the missionaries 
 belonged, were considered by the chieftain race as equal in birth 
 to themselves, but they had to take care to preserve the respect 
 of the chieftain race for themselves, for if they were despised by 
 the upper classes still greater contempt was at once accorded to 
 them by the common people. The house, which was only built 
 in a lonely place for the sick woman to die in, in order that the 
 dwelling house might not become tapu, had. therefore, to be 
 removed and built again in another place, for which purpose Topi 
 had already chosen one. This lay under a hill, by a little lake of 
 fresh water, and was sheltered from the sea winds by a beautiful 
 green bush (belonging to the order of veronica). The place 
 pleased me much, as it was far enough removed from the Maori 
 huts to be clear of their stinks and mess, and at the same time 
 from thence one could reach all the villages of the island on the 
 best roads. 
 
 In my time one used to hear people in Germany speaking of 
 the dear heathen as if it would be a pleasure to live with such
 
 106 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 amiable people. But this is a great mistake. Wild heathen, 
 in spite of their occasional good temper, and of the occasional 
 noble disposition of the high chieftains, are a class of men sunk so 
 low that they disgust one who has been brought up in Christian 
 customs. They are so dirty in their whole method of life that 
 they stink of it. Still, the servant is not higher than the master, 
 and as the son of God, Jesus Christ, abased Himself to the lowest 
 of mankind to lift them to a Christian life by His life, sufferings 
 and death, and gave us lost sinners eternal life, so His servants in 
 following Him must not shrink from what is disgusting. And 
 when the heathen disgust us it is our duty to make them into 
 men, after the image of God, so that one may love them. 
 
 iMr. Tuckett had promised to stop here on his return journey, 
 and I must, therefore, make preparation to send a short report by 
 him to Nelson, and send word whether a field for us four 
 missionaries was to be found here. When I had visited the 
 different villages with the natives, and looked into their population, 
 1 came to the conclusion that somewhere about two hundred people 
 lived here, old and young. It is true a few* of them were here 
 only on a visit, but this made no difference, for it appeared that 
 visitors often came here, which made this island so important. 
 When I made inquiry about the inhabitants of the opposite coasts, 
 on both sides of the strait, I was always told that there were only 
 a very few, who lived in small, widely-scattered villages. It 
 appeared to me, therefore, that only one missionary was necessary 
 in this small population. Jt was further to be considered that if 
 all four of us settled down here, we should be regarded with 
 suspicion. I had not lived long amongst the people. As a single 
 foreigner I was welcome ; as a missionary I was indifferent to 
 them. None of the already existing sects had any idea of placing 
 themselves under my ministry, because I was neither an Anglican 
 nor a Wesleyan. At no price would the natives part with any 
 land on this island. Four of us would have required to cultivate 
 a considerable pfece to supply us with the necessary food, and the 
 suspicion would at once have fallen upon us that we wished to 
 obtain land surreptitiously. The slaughter of the English at 
 the Wairau was long known of here, and was represented as if the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 107 
 
 Maoris has won a splendid conquest over land robbers. Under 
 these circumstances I could not advise my brethren at Nelson to 
 follow me. 
 
 A few weeks after he had examined the neighbourhood of 
 Bluff Harbour, and that of the New and Jacob Rivers, Mr. 
 Tuckett came back and landed at Ruapuke. He said that he had 
 found a large plain in the south, but that the soil, with the 
 exception of the swampy land on the banks of the great rivers, 
 was not as fruitful as that in the neighbourhood of Otago. He 
 had, therefore, decided upon that place as the starting point of the 
 Scottish settlement, from which it might spread in all directions. 
 He therefore requested the Maoris, who could speak, to come to 
 Otago soon, and arrange the price of an agreed portion in open 
 meeting. 
 
 The great plain in the south of the Middle Island of New 
 Zealand resembles the plains of North Germany. On the banks 
 of the great rivers there are strips of rich swampy land ; the 
 remainder consists of agricultural land. It is good soil when 
 manured, but the present agriculturists (at the time when I write) 
 will not undertake this as long as land is to be had which will 
 bear without manure. The agricultural land, because there is 
 more rain here than in Germany, is intersected by many streams, 
 so that when it is once worked it would make good meadows, and 
 there is no want of scattered woods. I lately saw in a statistical 
 publication that the average yield of wheat over the whole of New 
 Zealand is thirty and a-half bushels per acre. If a reckoning 
 were made of the Otago division alone, the yield would be 
 considerably higher. If they reckon the bushel at sixty pounds 
 (and good wheat weighs more), and the acre at one hundred and 
 sixty rods, German farmers may calculate the yield of New 
 Zealand soil. It is true that so far only the best land has been 
 worked, but nothing like the care is expended on the preparation 
 of the soil that is devoted to it in well-conducted properties at 
 Home. 
 
 In time the promised dwelling was built for me. It was 
 fifteeen feet long and nine wide. The walls from the ground to 
 the roof were four feet high, and the door of the house not quite
 
 108 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERK. 
 
 so high. Walls and roof were thatched with freshly-plucked 
 grass, and the whole looked liked a haystack. I was offered 
 servants as well, but I knew well these would expect to be paid, 
 and wages are much higher in New Zealand than in Germany. I 
 therefore declined this courteously and served myself. Gifts of 
 potatoes and fish I accepted gratefully. The most necessary 
 cooking utensils I could get from the Irishman already named, 
 who carried on something of a huckster's business. 
 
 My house was now a good settler's hut. When I was at home 
 I was seldom alone. From daybreak till dusk my hut was always 
 full of visitors. None came when it was dark, for they were all 
 afraid in the dark, and 1 was sometimes asked if ghosts never 
 troubled me at night. Many only came to lie lazily in my way. 
 In time I had to courteously forbid this idle lying in my hut. Others 
 who came to read the New Testament with me, or had something 
 to say to me, I received in a friendly manner. The latter only 
 came to tell me their dreams, or quite unimportant occurrences. 
 Then I took a piece of paper and told them to speak slowly that 
 I might understand it, and wrote their narratives down word for 
 word. If there was a word or an expression which I did not 
 understand I had it explained to me. At first they thought I was 
 only scratching with a pen, but when 1 read it out to them at the 
 end they were very much astonished that I could write as fast as 
 a man could speak, whilst they have to draw for a long time 
 before they can even make a letter. When the evening came I 
 studied the language from these papers. If one goes to a people 
 that has no literature (translations from foreign languages are not 
 their own literature) to learn their language you must do so from 
 narratives which are given by word of mouth. It may here be 
 remarked that one can write the Maori language faster than a 
 European one because no syllables have more than two letters. 
 If a syllable does not consist of only one vowel it must end with 
 a vowel with not more than one consonant before it. The " ng " 
 and " wh " have only the effect of a single consonant. In 
 dipthongs which run together when spoken slowly you hear the 
 sound of two syllables. The language has five vowels as the 
 German has, and ten consonants " h," " f," " m," " n," " ng,' v " p."
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. t 109 
 
 " r," " t," " w," " wh," therefore ten times five and five are fifty-five 
 sounds (formerly not so many as the syllables " wo," " wu," 
 " who," " whu" were wanting). The words, however, can be quite 
 long enough. 
 
 Learning a foreign language was never a great difficulty to- 
 me. I could consequently now make myself understood by the 
 people. If anyone should here remark that I cannot even yet 
 write the German language well, I might reply that for thirty-four 
 years I have had no conversation with German people, and in that 
 time something may well be forgotten (the translator may perhaps 
 be permitted here to remark that it is thirty-five years since he 
 left Germany, and can fully understand what the narrator feels), 
 and, furthermore, that I only learnt to speak the high German a 
 few years before I left Germany. My old head now gets so tired 
 with daily teaching spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic in the 
 school in English that even with better knowledge I cannot always 
 avoid making mistakes. 
 
 Now I may remark that the Maoris for fifty years past were- 
 still in the stone age, and that, therefore, many advantages and 
 occupations of civilised peoples were unknown to them, their 
 language, therefore, could have no word to represent them. You, 
 cannot, as in German, manufacture a suitable word out of the 
 German language, and one is therefore often weak and helpless 
 in translating, although the Maori language is enriched with many 
 conceptions and ideas. In translating the Bible this is less- 
 troublesome because the Bible suits all peoples. As far as earlier 
 conceptions require, the language supplies any idea with great 
 accuracy, in some things even greater so than the German. To 
 mention one instance only, the German language leaves an- 
 uncertainty whether, in the case of the pronoun " we," the person 
 addressed is in, or excluded the Maori language never. I have 
 wondered that even German authors, who certainly work with 
 thoroughness, as well as others, copying foreigners, represent the 
 Maori language as so helpless that it is obliged to form a plural' 
 by the prefix of a meaningless particle " nga." But " nga " is by 
 no means a meaningless particle, but the quite plain and proper 
 plural article, and as a plural article as grammatical as that of the
 
 110 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 
 German language, and one which the English language does not 
 possess. 
 
 I began now to hold meetings in the Maori villages, which I 
 visited from time to time, one after another, These consisted of 
 short extempore prayers, the reading of a chapter, and explanatory 
 remarks. I naturally did not refer to sectarian differences. This 
 was more easily avoided when the whole village community con- 
 sisted of one sect. It was more difficult when they were mixed ; 
 still, it generally happened that the gathering consisted mostly of 
 a few of both persuasions. Sometimes I was asked which of the 
 two Churches (the Anglican or the Wesleyan) was the best. 
 When I replied that they were both churches of Jesus Christ, I 
 received the answer that they knew that well ; it was the same 
 as if a man had two wives : but they wanted to know which was 
 the head, which the subordinate wife. Those of the Anglican 
 persuasion maintained their Church was to be compared with the 
 head wife, the Wesleyans with that of the subordinate one, which 
 these naturally contested, and even maintained that theirs was 
 the better and most beloved, on which some rude Anglicans 
 replied that theirs was a "he wahine Paremu" (a concubine). 
 Further, I was asked, as the Anglicans had more prayers in their 
 prayer-book than the Wesleyans, which was in the right ; or, if 
 the Anglicans assembled one evening for school teaching, whilst 
 on the same evening the Wesleyans had a sermon, which was 
 right. Many questions about quite indifferent matters were 
 asked. When I said these were matters of no importance, and 
 they should trouble themselves more about their own sins and 
 their own salvation, and through belief have Christ dwelling more 
 in their hearts, this did not satisfy them at all. Instead of 
 striving after holiness, they had much rather dispute about 
 sectarian differences, in which they could let out their scorn for 
 one another. They would thus become much more satisfied with 
 themselves, and lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the pride 
 of life have freer play than when living in the Word of God 
 without sectarian disputes. These Church communities were, 
 of course, not founded on convictions the Maoris had, so far, no 
 creeds, but entered on already-existing party lines.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. Ill 
 
 What a blessing it would be for missions if all Evan- 
 gelical Missionary Societies would act in accordance with the 
 principles of the London and North German ones, and refrain 
 from introducing the old-existing historical differences amongst 
 the heathen communities ! 
 
 The contention that one must present the Churches of the Home 
 Country in all the details of their constitution to the heathen, 
 and endow them with the entire creeds, because otherwise in their 
 development they would have to go through all the battles which 
 the Churches at Home have had to fight, is quite a mistaken one. 
 With strange peoples in future centuries quite different disputes 
 will arise to those through which the Church of the Home Country 
 has had to fight its way. There is only one battle common to 
 them all and at all times that is, the battle against the world- 
 liness of their members. This is not to be driven out with Church 
 regulations, but by a loving heart that seeks the lost, and a true, 
 hearty promulgation of the simple Gospel as Jesus and the 
 Apostles did it. 
 
 If the missionaries of the different Missionary Societies could 
 work in districts separated from one another, the differences of 
 opinion of the Churches would do less harm to the conversion of 
 the heathen. The meeting of the missionaries of different sects, 
 in our disturbed time and in a time of so great enterprise, and 
 with the ever-spreading expansion of missions, is not to be avoided. 
 We read at the end of Daniel : " Seal up the writing till the last 
 time, and many will come over and find great understanding." In the 
 English Bible this sentence is thus translated : " Many shall run 
 to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." I am not so 
 learned as to be able to tell which translation is the more correct. 
 If the English is the more correct, it would admittedly suit our 
 time, when one can travel so quickly all over the world, when 
 knowledge has already been much increased and is always being still 
 further increased, so that we even use the lightning of heaven as 
 our messenger. W T hy, then, should the great missionary work of 
 our Heavenly King be so hindered with small and hair-splitting 
 ideas, and the conversion of the heathen be maintained by old 
 Church institutions ? If only the converted are saved, it is all
 
 112 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 the same whether they get to heaven out of close, exclusive 
 churches or out of free communities. 
 
 If, after the manner of the old settlers, I had sought earthly 
 inconveniences in my hut, I should have soon found them in smoke 
 and draughts. But I sought for no unnecessary unpleasantness 
 in my life as a settler. I had brought strips of glass, made of 
 spare pieces, from a glazier in Nelson, with me. With my hand- 
 saw, axe, and pocket knife, I made wooden frames in which I 
 fastened the panes, not much larger than playing cards. Now I 
 had windows, and was no longer troubled with draughts through 
 the openings for light in the walls. Another opening which the 
 builders had left for the smoke to issue was uncomfortable, 
 as the prevailing wind blew into it, and blew back the smoke into 
 the hut in a desperate manner. I had, therefore, to close this 
 opening, and let the smoke find its way through the roof. This 
 was more comfortable, but it had this disadvantage, that it made 
 everything in the hut smoky. My woollen blankets, which were 
 originally white, received a decidedly rusty-brown appearance. 
 Now I cut a hole through the roof, and fastened upright poles 
 into it after the form of a chimney, fastened sticks across them, 
 and plastered my new chimney inside and out with clay. Then 
 I lit a fire and went out to see the effect, and right enough the 
 smoke went straight up from my chimney as it does in a civilised 
 country. In time the grass on my walls dried up so much that 
 the wind could blow through. I had then to take the grass away, 
 fasten twigs on the walls, and then coat them with clay. There 
 was another great trouble to overcome, my bed was always full 
 of fleas which the dirtiness of the Maoris daily brought me. 
 When I made my bed I could see them exercising in it, horse and 
 foot ; whoever has seen fleas en masse will understand what I 
 mean. I had, therefore, to make a division wall, so that neither 
 Maoris nor their fleas could come into my bed chamber. The 
 whole house was fifteen feet long and nine feet broad. At one 
 end I made the bedroom, nine feet by four feet ; . in the other, 
 where the door was, I made the kitchen, nine feet by five feet ; 
 in the middle, the reception room, nine feet by six feet. The 
 walls were carefully plastered with clay to make them flea-tight.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 113 
 
 Then I got a few boards (I got them from the Irishman who used 
 to go round trading) and made steps and doors. The latter were 
 not much more than four feet high, because the side walls were so 
 low. I had previously made a table and chair. When the 
 Maoris came, and they had finished their talk, I told them in a 
 friendly way to go, to break them of their lazy habit of sitting in 
 my house. Then I took my broom, swept the room, and strewed 
 fresh sand. This was done three or four times in a day, and I 
 achieved a certain amount of cleanliness. I could not manage 
 the warming of my house for a long time. At last, in my 
 wanderings through the island, 1 discovered some flat pieces of 
 rock which had been loosened from granite blocks. I hewed 
 these carefully into squares, made a sledge, and hauled them 
 home. Then with clay I built them into the shape of a 
 stove. Now my settlement in a comfortable little dwelling was 
 effected. 
 
 When Spring came I had to think of making a garden, for 
 the presents of potatoes ceased to be made. In my simplicity, as 
 I gave the people credit for more kindness of heart than they had, 
 I did not at first know that the Maoris expected for their gifts a 
 return of still greater ones. It happened once that a man brought 
 me, quite unexpectedly, a big pig for killing. It was very 
 opportune, and as I thought he brought it out of kindness and love 
 for me, I was very much pleased. Later, the man demanded a 
 return of more than the pig was worth, and I was obliged to give 
 it. Pigs at that time were only very small, and as they mostly 
 fed on worms which the foul seaweed bred on the beach, they 
 were of a very fishy flavour. This, however, did not trouble me 
 much, for when one only has rough food, and not much of that, 
 taste adapts itself to circumstances. 
 
 I enclosed, therefore, a place for my garden close to my hut. 
 The Maoris were astonished at my labour such a handsome 
 woven fence they had not yet seen and, therefore, willingly gave 
 me potatoes to plant. When the Maoris who had a voice in the 
 matter came back from the land sale in Otago, they brought me, 
 from Mr. Tuckett, vegetable and flower seeds for my garden, as 
 well as some coffee, tea, sugar, and wine. First I will tell about
 
 114 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F, H. WOHLERS. 
 
 the seeds of vegetables only. Peas, cabbages, turnips, and carrots 
 would grow ; the others died, because of the cold, wet Spring air, 
 caused by the cooling of the cold southern sea water. Of the 
 flower seeds only the hardier sorts would stand. But these were 
 flowers of the most conspicuous kind. Looking out of my window 
 in Summer you might have seen a variegated bed of flowers. The 
 Maoris were also astonished at this, and it was of assistance to 
 elevate their minds, for the sense of beauty which, in a better 
 bygone time they had possessed, had disappeared in later 
 generations. 
 
 Concerning the wine, Mr. Tuckett wrote me that he sent it 
 because I belonged to a persuasion that takes the sacrament in a 
 spiritual manner externally, whilst it understands it in a spiritual 
 manner internally. We were, however, far from prepared to take 
 the Holy Supper at Kuapuke, but I was overjoyed to find that he 
 was so broadminded as to honour those of another persuasion in 
 this manner. 
 
 We now come back to Kuapuke. There were seven little 
 villages, which all lay on the sea beach in the inlets all around 
 the island. I visited these villages one after another on week 
 days for devotional meetings, and always towards evening, when 
 the people had finished their labours in the field. 
 
 When with time I became more fluent in the language, I 
 began to hold divine service regularly on Sundays, and to preach 
 in turns at every place every Sunday. The desire for Christian 
 fellowship at that time was so weak that the people would not go 
 from one village to another to hold a service in common. I tried 
 to speak in a very simple manner, and to make my meanings 
 clear by illustrations taken from their own life. In this manner, 
 in time, I secured their attention ; so far they had thought that 
 serving God consisted of merely patiently sitting through the 
 time. At first I wrote my sermons and then learnt them by 
 heart, and as they came best from my heart if 1 wrote them very 
 plainly, it had this good effect, that in time the Maoris became 
 desirous of having my written sermons to read them and have 
 them read to them. As a reward for them I had presents of fish 
 and such like. Later on, when my labours increased, I had not
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J, F. H. WOHLERS. 115 
 
 always time to write, and I found then, that by means of reflection 
 alone, I could learn a sermon by heart. 
 
 We shall soon come on to holy ground in this history, but 
 before we tread on it this will be the proper place to give a short 
 description of the island and the people. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE ISLAND AND ITS INHABITANTS. 
 
 HE island of Ruapuke is about eight miles long and four 
 ^ miles in diameter. The coast consists of inlets and rocky 
 bluffs. If it were within easy distance of North Germany, 
 where the country is so flat and uniform, it would be a favourite 
 resort. It has great natural beauty, and has an impressive 
 appearance. Gigantic waves break on the bluffs with a sound 
 like thunder, especially after stormy weather, and drive a great 
 mass of water broken into spray sometimes seventy feet high, 
 from which height it sinks again slowly like a faint bluish veil. 
 In the inlets the waves, when they strike the beach and roll on 
 the sand, lift themselves like walls of water. The upper combs 
 bend over forwards, and throw themselves over with a thundering 
 crash, burying a quantity of air, that escapes from the foam of 
 the broken water masses with a crackling, hissing, and blowing 
 sound. Now the broken mass foams hissing up a wide stretch of 
 beach, then rushes back, making the pebbles roll and clatter. 
 " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further ; here shall thy proud 
 waves be stayed " (Job) ; and " Though the waves thereof toss 
 themselves, yet shall they not prevail " (Jeremiah). 
 
 Let us cast our eye over the landscape. Round hills not 
 over 200 feet high, huge bare masses of rock, soft flats, wood, bush 
 and meadow alternate with one another. Little lakes, too, with 
 fresh water (but no fishes), and lagoons of salt water are not 
 wanting. If from the height you let your sight fall on the wide 
 sea you can notice the round curve of our earth quite plainly. 
 In the direction of Stewart Island you look over a charmingly
 
 116 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 beautiful sea, graced with little rocks and islands toward the high 
 mountains of this island, the highest of which is about 4,000 feet. 
 Across at the Middle Island you see the long low coast line of the 
 plains and the high mountains over it in the blue distance. The 
 hill at the Bluff is close to Bluff Harbour, about thirteen miles 
 from Ruapuke, and is about 800 feet high. From some heights 
 you can see the high mountains of the Takitumu, so named after 
 one of the canoes in which the ancestors of the present Maoris 
 some 800 years ago came from Savai Island, one of the Samoan 
 Group. The formation of this island is granite. The high jagged 
 rocks and the round hills consist of hard fine-grained granite, 
 the cliffs of the coast, however, they are coarse grained, and the 
 constituent parts not so well mixed, and merge into an inferior 
 kind of rock. At a few places blocks of basalt are to be found. 
 A few of the granite heights are partly denuded of earth, and 
 form magnificent cliffs. Of rivers there is, of course, nothing 
 to be said, not even of proper streams, because no point of the 
 island is far enough from the sea, the rain water, therefore, easily 
 flows off. In former years I once wrote, and it was printed, too 
 that the drinking water had a brown colour, but that only refers 
 to the lake out of which I then drank. Later on I found that at 
 most places good clear water can be got. If you look around 
 between the granite blocks, which in almost every place stick up out 
 of the soil, and search for a damp place, you can dig for a spring, 
 and need not dig deep. 1 will later on speak of the fruitfulness 
 and usefulness of the soil when the appropriate time comes. At 
 this time, in the first year of my residence, with the exception of a 
 few potato plantations, it was yet in a wild state. The open 
 places where the New Zealand flax had not got the upper hand 
 were overgrown with hard cutting reeds. The great reed stalks 
 which grow here on dry ground are larger and stronger than the 
 brittle German reeds. The leaves are so sharp that if one does not 
 take care they will cut the hand to the bone. You can see the 
 little teeth, like little saw teeth, on the sides of the leaves with the 
 naked eye. In the shade of the dark woods grow the fern trees, as 
 if they were ashamed of not being palms. On the average they are 
 about ten feet high and four inches in diameter; they have
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 117 
 
 beautiful fronds, shaped like a branching palm. The stems are 
 used as fences. Of the rosacese there are only a few kinds of 
 brambles, but these bear but little, and that only a small fruit. 
 
 As I have already mentioned the songs of birds several 
 times and we have lovely singers here it is suitable that I 
 should say some more about them. The most excellent singer is 
 the Koparapara. It is of the size of a lark, only a little more 
 slender. It does not, however, belong to the tribe of larks, but, 
 as I imagine, to the jays. Its grey colour is relieved by a blue 
 shimmer. It is a wood bird, but gladly comes into the open to 
 get honey out of the flowers. Since fruit trees were introduced 
 here, he likes to come in companies between ten and twelve to 
 visit the fruit gardens during the best of their bloom. Then, when 
 they have satisfied their thirst for honey, they sometimes all sit in 
 one tree and sing a merry song, as if they wished to express their 
 gratitude in this way. They keep such good time that a musician 
 can write their notes down. The sound is loud and metallic, like 
 the clear sound of a bell. Verily, the birds of the air should 
 teach men to praise God ! " Ask now the beasts and they shall 
 teach thee, and the fowls of the air shall tell thee, or speak to 
 the earth and it shall answer thee, and the fishes in the sea shall 
 tell thee, who knoweth not that the hand of the Lord hath wrought 
 in this." (Job.) 
 
 Another somewhat larger bird of the same species is the Tui. 
 He sings less, but he is remarkable for his black coat, and two 
 snow-white feathers that hang under his throat make him look 
 ridiculously like a parson. He is a honey-sucker, and very skilful 
 at sucking the honey out of the flax. 
 
 This plant is remarkable for its rich store of honey. The 
 New Zealand flax, growing here everywhere, belongs to the order 
 of lilies. One kind of the same grows as a sort of reed in swampy 
 places in North Germany. This has, however, no flax threads in 
 its leaves, whilst the New Zealand flax is full of them. In other 
 respects the leaves, the flowers, and seed vessels are very similar, 
 the New Zealand plant, however, is much larger, and the flowers 
 are reddish, whilst the German ones, as far as I can recollect, are 
 yellow. The reed-like leaves are here four to six feet high, and
 
 118 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 the flower or seed stalks eight to ten feet long. These stalks are 
 about an inch in diameter. They have a hard rind, and internally, 
 when they are dry, they are filled with a cork-like substance. 
 They are, therefore, light, and useful for making garden fences to 
 keep the poultry out. At the bottom, the leaves contain a kind of 
 gum, which could be used for polishing furniture, if it were not 
 soluble in water and did not soon draw the water out of damp air. 
 You can fasten papers together with it very well. Perhaps the 
 roots will yet be found to contain medicinal properties. The 
 leaves contain many tough flax threads. The flowers, of which 
 every stalk bears -a great many, contain so much fluid honey that 
 it can be poured out. You can fill a teaspoon out of three or four 
 flowers. If this honey fluid is collected and then slowly boiled, a 
 syrup is obtained that tastes like honey. The flax blooms at 
 Christmas here in the middle of Summer. 
 
 So far, the attempt to separate the threads from the other 
 component parts of the leaves in an easy way has not been 
 successful enough to make the labour of doing so a profitable 
 industry. All attempts so far to discover suitable machines for 
 so doing have been attended with unsatisfactory results. The 
 Maori women take a sharp mussel shell, hold it between the toes 
 of their naked feet, and then draw a flax leaf underneath it 
 through between the toes. In this manner the green stuff of the 
 leaves is scraped off and a white flax produced that, with rubbing 
 and beating, becomes very fine, and takes on a fine silky lustre. 
 This labour is, however, too slow, and not adapted to commerce, 
 on account of the high wages current in New Zealand. For this 
 reason, this remarkable and useful plant is mostly burnt, and rots 
 away, to make room for corn and meadow land. It certainly is 
 there for a purpose, and until the proper time comes, all attempts 
 to utilise it will be useless. But when the time comes when the 
 dear God (who orders everything in wisdom when least to be 
 observed, in order that we children of men may exercise our powers 
 with the intention of discovery) chooses to show men how they shall 
 go to work a new and important branch of industry will arise in 
 New Zealand. It is not probable that this plant would thrive in 
 lands that have not so moist a climate as New Zealand has.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 119 
 
 The surrounding sea, although it rages and mightily roars in 
 storms (and it looks quite different to what it does in the estuaries 
 of the great rivers in North Germany), in calm weather, on a fine 
 day, is something very lovely. It, too, has plants like the earth, 
 only they are differently formed. Some of them are as high as 
 the trees of the forest, and grow in groups like copses. If you 
 look out of the boat into the clear, deep water, you seem gently 
 to sway over the tops of high forest trees. The leaves are not 
 green, but brown ; the stems are not thick, but consist of long, 
 thick tubes, which cling to the rocks with their thick roots at the 
 bottom of the sea as mosses do to dry rocks on land. Some of the 
 tubes are furnished with little balls full of air, which float them 
 upwards. Others have large, round leaves just like snakes ; others, 
 again, have leaves that look like a large carpenter's apron : both 
 sorts are internally filled with coarse air-vessels. If you cut one 
 of the apron-like leaves through, you see a web of cells like the 
 cells in a honeycomb. The outside brown skin of the leaves is 
 tough, but the inside is brittle, and easily broken with the hand. 
 If you work your hand backwards and forwards inside, and break 
 all the cells, you have a great empty sack, which you can blow 
 out and tie up in an airtight manner at the top. It then looks 
 quite full, but contains nothing but wind. When it is dry, you can 
 let out the wind and turn the sack to use, as is shown further on. 
 
 Sometimes you see an innumerable quantity of black birds 
 like a huge swarm of bees, about the size of crows, partly 
 swimming on the water, partly flying low down. The Maoris call 
 them Titi ; the Englishmen have named them mutton birds (I 
 have forgotten the scientific name). These birds breed on 
 uninhabited islands, of which there are a great many scattered 
 about here and there in the neighbourhood of Stewart Island. In 
 each nest there is one egg nearly as large as a goose egg, although 
 the bird that lays it is not much larger than a common crow. The 
 parent birds take a long time to hatch the one egg, and at last 
 bring out a young one. The parents feed this so well that when 
 it is grown it is twice as large as the old birds. The young one 
 then consists of about two-thirds clear fat and one-third tender 
 flesh and bones. The flesh, as long as it is fresh, is of excellent
 
 120 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 flavour, and the fat when melted looks like the fat of geese, and is 
 of similar taste. But with time both flesh and fat take on an 
 unpleasant train-oil taste. Perhaps with better management this 
 might be avoided. The feathers, too, are good for pillows and 
 mattresses. They are as soft as down, but they must first be 
 allowed to hang in baskets in airy rooms to get rid of the fishy 
 smell. Evidently these birds are made for human use. In April, 
 the beginning of Autumn here, the young ones are fully grown. 
 The natives then go to the islands and take them out of their nests, 
 which are small holes in the ground, by thousands. The old ones 
 appear already quite ready to leave the young ones, and these are 
 too fat and heavy to fly, and, therefore, easily caught. As long as the 
 Maoris were unacquainted with proper salt, naturally they did not 
 know how to salt them, but they understood before the Europeans 
 arrived how to preserve the flesh in air-tight vessels. They 
 boiled the young birds and put them with the melted fat into the 
 before-mentioned sacks made out of seaweed and fastened them up 
 air tight. In savage times human flesh was similarly preserved. 
 The heavy kelp bags are not strong enough to bear transport, they 
 are, therefore, enclosed in bark and bound up -with light sticks. 
 Large ones intended as presents for high chiefs are ornamented 
 with feather work and embroidery. Birds thus preserved, although 
 they will keep good for years, have an unpleasant taste of fish and 
 seaweed. Proper salting in barrels would doubtless be better, but 
 the Maoris do not yet understand this. 
 
 How far the breeding grounds of these birds extend towards 
 the south, the east, and west, I do not yet know, but Ruapuke 
 lies on their northern border. At his request I have sent my 
 scientific friend and countryman, Dr. Julius von Haast (ennobled 
 by the Emperor of Austria on account of his scientific services at 
 the Vienna Exhibition), some sealed preserved sacks of these and 
 other southern birds. He is superintendent of the Museum at 
 Ohristchurch on Banks Peninsula. 
 
 The sea is here, as it is all over New Zealand, rich in fish. 
 It is only in calm, fine weather, which we do not often) have in 
 this windy district, that one can go out to fish with boat and lines. 
 The ordinary fishes of different sorts that are caught here weigh
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLERS. 121 
 
 two or three pounds. But if the sea is calm enough to allow one 
 to go out into deep water to fish, some weighing fifty pounds and 
 over are caught. They are shaped like carp, but I dare not say 
 whether they belong to that species or not. They are of a 
 pleasant flavour. All the fish which are caught here are better 
 flavoured than those caught in more northern seas, and the oysters 
 of Stewart Island are held in high estimation. The reason of this 
 is that the water is cooler ; on the other hand the fruits of the 
 north are much more pleasant than those growing here because 
 the air in Summer is there warmer. 
 
 Among shellfish I call attention, as being remarkable, to a 
 large univalve called Paoa by the Maoris. (The vowels flow 
 into one another so that each is heard, and sounds as if one said 
 Paua slowly in German.) It is five and a-half inches long, 
 four inches wide, and in the deepest place one and a half inches 
 deep. The animal quite fills the shell. The shell covers the 
 upper side, while the under side clings to the rocks in the sea, like 
 a snail, and moves at will. This mussel is caught at low spring 
 tides (the days directly after the new and full moon). The flesh 
 is firm, and, boiled, has a flavour like that of a pig's head. As 
 long as I had teeth I was very fond of it, but I can no longer bite 
 it. The shell has inside a green, cloudy, shimmering colour, like 
 mother-of-pearl, and is an article of commerce. It is shipped to 
 England, and used in the manufacture of buttons, which are sent 
 back here as well as to all other countries. 
 
 Another sea creature, called by the Maoris Ngaio, deserves 
 to be mentioned here as a curiosity. I believe it belongs to 
 the class of sea acorns, but it appears to be a very superior 
 sort. It is undoubtedly a plant, and just as undoubtedly an 
 animal. It grows with a stump on the bottom of the sea on rocks, 
 as mosses or lichens grow on rocks on dry ground. A number of 
 stems grow out of the root-foot, of the thickness of a lead line, 
 perhaps two feet, or more, long. Every stem has, at the upper 
 end, a thick knob, of the size of a duck's egg, with a mouth 
 attached to it. So far it is a plant ; but if you cut the knob, 
 inside, growing along with the plant, the flesh of a living animal 
 is found, that not only fills the knob but extends as marrow of
 
 122 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 the stem in animal substance right down to the root. In stormy 
 weather, when the waves are high and deep, a few are torn loose 
 from the rocky sea bed and cast on the shore. For a long time 
 I could not overcome my dislike to eat these plant-animals, but 
 when, in the course of time, I did so, and got used to the flavour, 
 I ate them with pleasure. The animal flesh when boiled and 
 separated from the rind of the plant, consists of skin and a 
 delicate substance which consists, perhaps, of nerves. They taste 
 like a boiled egg flavoured with oil, and have a very good flavour. 
 The taste must, however, be acquired. 
 
 In heathenish times, the Maoris had a community of goods. 
 Every clan (a subdivision of the tribes), generally under a minor 
 chief, lived and worked together the potatoes which were 
 harvested, the carrots which were dug, the birds and fishes they 
 caught, belonging to the community of the clan. Naturally, the 
 chiefs, or those who were otherwise powerful amongst them, always 
 got the best. For the same reason, for all requirements of any 
 individual as, for instance, at marriages the entire appropria- 
 tions of the clan were available. Gifts were made to the high 
 chiefs by all the clans of his tribe : what the chiefs desired no 
 one dare refuse them. Sometimes there were prisoners taken in 
 war, who were kept as labourers and, when convenient, killed and 
 eaten. If there were many slain, a part of the human flesh was 
 boiled and preserved in air-tight bags, or sent as a present to 
 friendly tribal or clan relations. The women, although generally 
 more industrious than the men, were not oppressed, as is the case 
 amongst many savages. All women, even those who had bat few 
 clothes, conducted themselves with noteworthy modesty, of which 
 the men, however, are most neglectful. When the women were 
 not occupied outside, they sat at their spinning. The flax threads, 
 spun by hand, were entirely woven with the finger. It was very 
 tedious work, and the web quite different to that made by a 
 weaver. 
 
 Before the Maoris were acquainted with European cooking 
 utensils, they cooked entirely witli hot stones. A round hole was 
 made in the earth, and firewood laid over it ; on this stones were 
 heaped up, and the fire then lit. Whilst the wood burnt, the stones
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEB8, 123 
 
 fell into the hole ; some were lifted out with sticks, other let lie. 
 The provisions were then wrapped round with wet grass, and the 
 hot stones laid on them. On this fresh grass was again laid, and 
 the whole covered with earth. Such a steaming and rich-smelling 
 heap was a lovely sight to children and hungry people. Warlike 
 heroes were accustomed to comfort themselves with the thought 
 that, when they fell, such a savoury bed was already prepared for 
 them. Cannibalism had only been quite left otf here a very few 
 years ago, and now only provisions were cooked among the stones. 
 In my journeys amongst the Maoris I have often eaten meals so 
 cooked, and I consider that this method of cooking meals gives a 
 very good flavour. I have often seen them rubbing fire out of two 
 sticks, for at that time a fire produced in this manner was 
 considered holier than an ordinary one which was lit with 
 matches obtained from Europeans, and it was considered necessary 
 to heat the cooking stones in this manner. A somewhat broad 
 piece of wood, in which a groove was cut lengthwise, was laid on 
 the ground. A man then rubbed a sharp-pointed stick backwards 
 and forwards in the groove. Soon a smoky smell was noticeable, 
 then the fine dust which was rubbed off began to smoke and then 
 to glow. Now the burning sparks were wrapped in fine dry grass 
 and waved to and fro by hand in the air till flames broke out. It 
 was not permitted to blow with the mouth, because this would 
 have made the fire unavailable for cooking. 
 
 The villages lay. in order to have dry ground underneath 
 them, mostly on sandhills near the sea. In every village, mostly 
 inhabited by a clan and their relatives, there was a common house, 
 in which everyone could sit and sleep. Families lived mostly in 
 little private houses. The common house was twice as long as 
 broad, and, on the whole, a roomy building. At the fore-end, 
 root' and side walls reached two or three yards further than the 
 forward wall, and formed an open porch in front. The pillars 
 and rafters of such houses were ornamented with artistic carving, 
 the figures often as grotesque as those in London Punch. The door 
 which leads from the porch into the house was about two feet high 
 and broad. To the right of it, and a little higher, were the openings 
 for light and air, of the same size. If you crawled into the opening
 
 124 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 you came on a passage about three feet wide that extended the 
 whole length of the house. On both sides, and filling all the 
 remainder of the spaces in the house, were platforms about one 
 and a-half feet above the ground. These consisted of sticks as 
 thick as a finger closely laid together, which were fastened to a 
 joist, and formed a floor like basket-work, on which one could 
 either comfortably sit, lie, sleep, chatter, or loaf. If it was cold, 
 one or two small fires were lit inside ; but no cooking was done 
 there. On the right side of the passage were two or three strong 
 posts, which bore at the top a long, strong beam, on which the 
 upper ends of the rafters were fastened, while the lower ends 
 rested on the side walls. Roof and walls were covered with reeds 
 inside, and, if they were of ancient date, were ornamented with 
 artistic patterns. Outside, the roof and walls were made of 
 grass, on which in most cases the winds had blown up white 
 sand. 
 
 The Maoris have well built figures and, as long they are not 
 ill, a strong constitution. Their legs are a little shorter than 
 those of Europeans, their bodies a little longer. For that reason, 
 they can sit down on the flat earth with the knees in front of the 
 breast as easily as on a chair, and with the same ease can rise up 
 from the ground which a European had better not try. In the 
 south, the colour of their skin is nearly as light as that of the 
 southern Europeans. Old people had their faces, as well as the 
 most of their bodies, tattooed with artistic spiral lines, strongly 
 marked and blackish in colour. The younger ones, however, had 
 somewhat lost the art of tattooing, and to the still younger ones it 
 was distasteful. When I say I discover art in tattooing, I do not 
 mean that the natural beauty of the human countenance can 
 be heightened by it, but the contrary as the beautiful, natural 
 shape of man is most dreadfully deformed even amongst highly 
 civilized people by artificial means. I mean merely that real art 
 is displayed in the tattooing of the old Maoris ; the loss of this art 
 shows a falling off in the Maori nature. It appears, moreover, 
 that they could not always have lived in so dirty a condition as 
 the one in which I found 'them and have already pointed 
 out, otherwise they could not have maintained such stability of
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 125 
 
 constitution. The consequences of this decadence could not long 
 remain without disclosing themselves. 
 
 I found when I kept an exact register of births and deaths 
 that there was only one birth to three or four deaths. It appeared 
 that this decline in bodily strength arose from their having out- 
 lived the spiritual ideas of an earlier and better time, and as they 
 were not in position to renew their own youth, unavoidable 
 extinction must have befallen them, unless help came from outside. 
 Mothers suckled their children until they were three or four years 
 old, and sometimes older, and for that reason there were fewer 
 births. A few babies had already learned to suck smoke through 
 their parents' black tobacco pipe, saturated as it was with tobacco 
 juice. 
 
 The power of recuperation amongst the Maoris was so weak 
 that if anyone became ill there was no hope of his getting 
 better. A small hut was then built for the sick person in a lonely 
 place, in which he lay all alone, receiving more or less attention, 
 according to the number of his relations, being often much neglected, 
 and was left alone until he died. Ordinary people who died were 
 at once buried, or otherwise put out of the way ; but chiefs were 
 bent together immediately after death, the knees being placed 
 under the chin, and then placed in a wooden box, specially made 
 which was fastened on the top of a strong post. These posts were 
 then placed upright in a good house and left for a few years, till 
 all soft parts of the body had wasted away. The whole house 
 was of course strictly tapu. Near relations, who on account of 
 their rank were superior to tapu, were allowed to enter it when- 
 ever inclined. After a few years the box was opened by a man 
 who had power to take off the tapu, and the bones were burnt. 
 The idea of packing the sacred body thus closely pressed together 
 arose from the conception that it then was in the womb of the 
 Goddess of Night or Death, who was the original mother of man- 
 kind. Later on I shall have more to say about this goddess. 
 
 The Maoris believed in a life after death, but their concep- 
 tions of it were so comfortless that they gave no consideration to 
 it. According to the old religion there was a Kingdom of Death, 
 which was called Po (night), in which the gods and the chiefs who
 
 126 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 were raised to gods dwelt. The Goddess of Death lived here Hene 
 Muotepo, the great Goddess of the Night (Hene means properly 
 virgin, but stands here for goddess), who drew her children 
 mankind after her. For the common Maoris of later generations 
 this blessed place appeared to have become unattainable ; they 
 bethought themselves, therefore, of a nearer underworld, called 
 Keinga, the entrance to which lay on the northern promontory of 
 New Zealand. Of rewards in the next life for deeds done and 
 opinions held in this life they knew nothing. In the entrance was a 
 cleft, and in it stood two ghosts as watchmen, named Taupiko 
 and Tawhaitiri, who leaned over from each side against one 
 another, and between these two the souls of the dead had to glide. 
 An active soul could slip through, but a helpless one was seized 
 and annihilated. The empire of the dead lay in a deep valley 
 underneath the earth ; in the middle was a lake, and on its banks 
 the souls lived again in bodily form. When a soul arrived it 
 seated itself on the point of a mountain which was reflected in the 
 lake, till it was seen by someone below. It then called out, asking 
 "Do you belong to me?" If this was not the case it shook its 
 head, and waited till a relation spoke ; it then threw its head 
 back for a sign of Yes ; then replied the relation, " Fly down," 
 and as it did that it received its bodily form again. But here it 
 was mortal, and then went to a still deeper place of death. High 
 chieftains might in this manner reach the blessed Kingdom of 
 Death Po where their ancestors lived as gods ; but the common 
 people arrived, after many wanderings, through the common 
 Kingdom of Death, back to earth again, and appeared in the form 
 of blue blowflies or butterflies. The latter were, therefore, 
 commonly called wairua tangata (wairua, soul; tangata, man). 
 This was their last existence. It seemed, also, that some souls of 
 the lower people were not even good enough to go to the under- 
 world, but were condemned to remain at the place of their 
 previous existence. They dwelt in the ruins of fallen buildings, 
 of which there were many that belonged to people already dead. 
 These were, therefore, dangerous places, and no living soul dared 
 to go near them. They were inhabited by man-eating ghosts, and 
 if anyone went too near they led him in and slowly ate away his
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 127 
 
 vitals, till at last he died of hunger. A. different kind of spirit 
 inhabited the priests called Tohunga (perhaps from Tohu sign), 
 by means of which they professed to heal sicknesses, give protec- 
 tion from witchcraft and wicked people, and to reveal secret 
 events through oracular words uttered whilst in a state of convulsive 
 enchantment. Belief in witchcraft was so universal that every 
 sickness was attributed to the witchcraft of wicked people, to tapu, 
 or having come too near a man-eating ghost, against which the 
 priests or proper wizards could afford no relief. There was, 
 however, another and a better kind of Tohunga, perhaps a 
 remnant of the true priests, of which the wizards were only an 
 off-shoot. The best Tohungas had nothing to do with witchcraft 
 and soothsaying. It was their duty to preserve in their memories 
 the old theology, heroic sayings, and the genealogy of the nobility, 
 and to perpetuate these to successors who had a natural 
 adaptability for retaining them. We may, therefore, call them 
 the " wise people." Later I was myself admitted into their 
 secrets without any ceremony. 
 
 One must not imagine there were any deep-meaning secrets. 
 I had opportunity of learning from the mouths of the wise Maoris 
 a language free from foreign intermixture. These " wise men " 
 are now all dead, and I am the solitary successor alive in the south. 
 There were further Tohungas for tattooing, architecture, carvers 
 for ornamenting public buildings and canoes, but in the south 
 these were already all dead. Idols the Maoris in New Zealand 
 never had. Lately, however, I learnt that there is an idol in 
 existence at Nelson, in New Zealand, which was brought with 
 them by the immigrating Maoris from Savai (Samoa Islands), and 
 that it is kept as a holy relic and shown to no vulgar eyes. 
 
 It is already mentioned that because there was no literature 
 from which the language could be learnt I was obliged to prepare 
 one from oral narratives. Narratives of daily occurrences taken 
 down in writing became in time insufficient to enable me to 
 penetrate far enough into the spirit of the language and the 
 spiritual ideas of the people. I inquired after folk-lore. I 
 heard that such existed, and a few old people were pointed out to 
 me who were acquainted with it. These were, however, reticent,
 
 128 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 but 1 continued to make inquiry when circumstances permitted 
 it, and sought explanations of fragments which I had already 
 learnt until they at last recognised me as one who was initiated, 
 and then opened to me the treasures of their wisdom. This 
 happened a few years later, but it is better that I refer to it here 
 in order that the reader may obtain a clear insight into the 
 spiritual views of the people before we come to their conversion. 
 Many a Winter evening I sat with two or three of these old " wise 
 people," and we discussed their old religion and the old gods and 
 heroes of heathendom. I wrote down their narratives in the 
 Maori language and studied it in private. 
 
 If, in a dark corner of the earth, one is for the time being the 
 only man with scientific culture, even though that be but small, 
 one attains to a certain amount of distinction. This was the 
 reason why I was drawn into correspondence with Sir George 
 Grey when he was Governor of New Zealand for the first time (it 
 was carried on through Mr Tuckett). Whilst I was collecting the 
 mythological tales of the Maoris here in the south, Sir George Grey 
 did the same in the north, and in the same manner namely, by 
 writing down the sayings of the old " wise people " as uttered by 
 them in the Maori language. 
 
 Later, he had his collection printed in the Maori language 
 and sent me a copy. It appears therefrom that the old mythology 
 and history of the heroes, both in the north and south, agree with one 
 another in all essentials : only in the later folk-lore, which appears 
 only to refer to pleasant events, is there a marked difference. 
 
 Later on, I translated my collections into English, and they 
 are now printed in the scientific transactions of the New Zealand 
 Institute. There is no room for the tales ; only a few items out 
 of their mythology may find a place here. In these translations 
 I have carefully abstained from all doubtful and foreign 
 interventions, because that would have been disadvantageous 
 to their being properly understood. Scientific men, who gather 
 such reports from different peoples in order to compare one with 
 another, require only the raw material. Here, however, I may 
 make comparison with the Mosaic records ; but the comparisons 
 need only be taken for what they are worth.
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 129 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 ON THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE MAOBIS, 
 
 HE mythology of the Maoris embraces a larger area than 
 ^J New Zealand. All the peoples of the South Sea Islands call 
 their principal god Tangaroa, with the exception of those 
 of the New Hebrides and a few other groups. The meaning of 
 this name is uncertain. It may come from Ngaro (concealed). In 
 New Zealand he is god of the sea. He is said to appear when 
 the rays of the sun play on the breaking waves and paint 
 rainbows in them. He was married to the earth goddess, who 
 had the name Papatuanuku (papa means flat ; tua, above ; nuku, 
 wide landscape), but the meaning is uncertain. Once in Tangaroa's 
 absence his nephew Rangi (heaven), the god of heaven, seduced 
 his wife, the goddess of earth. When Tangaroa came back, Rangi 
 was obliged to fight a duel for this injury done to him. Each 
 was armed with a spear. The nephew Rangi threw his spear 
 first, but the uncle eluded it and struck the nephew through both 
 thighs and lamed him. Tangaroa was satisfied, and handed 
 over his wife to his nephew, so that now the god of heaven 
 (Raugi) and the goddess of earth were looked upon as being 
 married. 
 
 It is quite apparent that there is a deep meaning in this 
 myth, which, however, had long vanished from the Maori " wise 
 people." It may mean the creation of the sea, and the springing 
 up of the dry land, as in Genesis i., 9, 10, from which time 
 the earth was watered from the heaven above. The resemblance 
 truly does not seem very clear, but in the following more comes 
 out that makes it clearer. 
 
 As Rangi, the heaven, was lamed, he could no longer stand 
 upright, and was, therefore, obliged to lie flat on the ground. Now 
 everything was dark and still ; no light could shine, no air blow. 
 " Darkness moved over the face of the waters." Still in this way 
 heaven and earth produced many children. Most of them, how- 
 ever, were cripples and of monstrous shapes. Some had, however, 
 healthy limbs, and were of a superior kind. Amongst these the 
 
 K
 
 130 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 most noteworthy are Tane (interpreted man, later god of the 
 woods); Paiao, god of the clouds; Tawhirimatea, god of the 
 winds. In time the children got tired of the darkness and of the 
 immovableness of things. They called a meeting, therefore, to 
 consider what was to be done to get light and freedom. Some 
 suggested they should kill their father (heaven), and content them- 
 selves with their mother (earth). Others advised that the father 
 should be let live, but that he should be set upright and fastened 
 up. This advice was taken. Only one of the children objected 
 (the god of the winds) ; he was conservative and opposed to all 
 change. He advised they should let the old one and other matters 
 alone, but he was out- voted. After the resolution was come to, 
 they went to work to lift the heaven and divide it from the earth, 
 at which the old one bitterly complained that he was being badly 
 treated by his children. 
 
 Tane and Paiao (cloud) were the most active in lifting their 
 father up, and Tane fastened him so that he was obliged to keep 
 the heavens standing. ''And God made the firmament, and 
 divided the waters which were under the firmament from the 
 waters which were above the firmament, and it was so." 
 (Gen. i., 7.) 
 
 It may appear strange that so changeable a god as that of the 
 winds should have shown himself to be so conservative at the 
 consultation. This is to be explained in this manner : 
 Tawhirimatea in the beginning was a quiet youth, but when he 
 was over-ridden by his brothers, and his parents were torn 
 asunder against his will, he became restless. He swung himself 
 up to heaven and spoke with his father about his children's 
 injustice to him. He came back in a contentious mood and began 
 at once to war against his brethren on all sides. He hunted 
 Paiao's clouds about, stirred up Tangaroa's sea for him, and broke 
 the branches of his trees in the woods. 
 
 When the heavens were fastened up, and the bearers of it had 
 come down, Tane looked up to his father, but the old man looked 
 black and sorrowful. Then Tane made bright ornaments, climbed 
 up to heaven again, and covered it with a glancing colour. When 
 he came down again and looked at what he had done he thought his
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 131 
 
 appearance was too uniform. He then climbed up again supplied 
 with other ornaments. He took the fish up to heaven (the milky 
 way), painted the two Patari (two bright stars in the southern 
 sky in the neighbourhood of the pole), put the stars in their places 
 so that they might serve to show the time of the year. " And let 
 them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.'' 
 (Gen. i., 14.) Then he came down and looked at what he had 
 done, and behold, kua pai (it was good). 
 
 Now, Tane looked at his mother, who had no ornaments so 
 far. He lifted her crippled children, and planted them as plants 
 and trees. The latter he set first of all with their legs (branches) 
 on the ground and the heads (the stumps, with roots as hair) in 
 the air. Then he went to one side and looked at what he had 
 done, and it did not please him : the trees and plants had not an 
 agreeable appearance. Accordingly, he took them up again and 
 turned them upside down, with their legs (the branches) in the 
 air and their heads in the ground. Then he stepped on one side 
 again and looked at what he had done, and said, kua pai (it is 
 good). 
 
 Although Rangi (the God of Heaven) and Papatuanuku were 
 separated, their mutual love still continued. He wept tears of love 
 on to her in the shape of dew drops, and sighs of love rose from 
 her bosom up to him in the mists of the woody mountains. 
 
 It is remarkable that the sun and moon have no representatives 
 among the gods. The names Ra (sun) and Rangi (moon) may have 
 some connection with one another. The moon is called simply Te 
 Marama (light). In the old mythology the representations are 
 always spiritual and sublime ; for that reason, there are no idols 
 and no prayers to creatures. Why this is, whilst the other South 
 Sea Island peoples have so many gods (to which peoples the Maoris 
 belong), may be here explained. 
 
 It is true Tangaroa was considered the original father of 
 gods, but by reason of the prominent part Tane took in the 
 development of creation and in the institution and final destiny 
 of mankind, he was thought less of, and at last his dominion was 
 diminished to that of the sea alone. Tane, amongst all the South 
 Sea peoples, and especially in New Zealand, is considered the
 
 132 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 next in place to Tangaroa : his destiny to be god of the woods 
 appears to have developed later. I have been astonished that 
 Meinecke in his " South Sea People and Christianity" could not 
 find him in the New Zealand mythology, although he sought for 
 him there. The information which was available for him must, 
 therefore, in this respect, have been very superficial. If you 
 compare the history of Tane, as follows, with the first three 
 chapters of Genesis, you will sometimes take him to be Elohim 
 (God), and at others man (Adarn). His name, Tane (man), is 
 then seen to be of importance. 
 
 After Tane had ornamented his father and mother (heaven 
 and earth), he wandered alone through the woods, and sought 
 amongst the birds and the fountains a helpmeet for himself, but 
 found none. " But for Adam there was not found a helpmeet 
 for him." 
 
 Then he turned to his mother, the goddess of earth, and she 
 advised him to make the form of a wife out of earth, and to breathe 
 life into it, which he did. The woman thus formed he called 
 Hinehaone (in the present language Hine is the name of a virgin ; 
 ha. breath ; one, loose earth). This figure does not appear to have 
 had much life in it. Yet Tane and she produced a daughter 
 named Hineatauria (ata, morning ; uria, fiery glance : therefore, 
 morning glow). The name Hine adhered to women who had many 
 names in their childhood, and the name sometimes adhered 
 afterwards. The mother, Hinehaone, then disappears out of the 
 narrative. When the daughter, Hineatauria, grew up, Tane took 
 her for his wife, but she did not know that he was her father. 
 She had many children, whose names appear to mean frailty and 
 mortality, and these are considered the first of the human race, 
 as Tane and Hineatauria are considered the first parents of the 
 race. 
 
 Once Tane made a journey to the upper heaven, inhabited as 
 it was with different beings, and visited his older brother Kehua. 
 Who this Kehua was, or what he represents, I have not been able 
 to discover. The origin of the idea had long vanished from the 
 Maori ' wise people.'' Only this was known, that he lived up in 
 the tenth heaven. He is not named amongst the children of heaven
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 133 
 
 and earth, and can, therefore, not have been a brother, properly 
 speaking. He was called Tane's tuakane. This word means an 
 elder brother, or else a descendant of an older family line. If the 
 Maoris have brought the original ideas of their old religion from 
 Western Asia, which appears probable, the angels as a class 
 must be here meant by tuakane, as older brothers of mankind. 
 When Tane arrived at the first heaven, entrance was refused to 
 him by the inhabitants, who did not know him, the meaning 
 evidently being that Tane had set the bounds of this heaven, which 
 the inhabitants of the lower regions were not allowed to pass. 
 But, conscious of his strength, he swung himself aloft, and had to 
 encounter the same interdict at the second heaven. Thus it went 
 on until the tenth heaven, when he met Rehua. The brothers 
 recognised one another with tears of welcome in verses of great 
 poetic beauty. The actions and conversation which followed 
 appear to mean that Tane, although he did not undervalue his 
 own worth, recognised the superior holiness of his brother. As it 
 goes on the folk-lore becomes confused, perhaps because we have 
 only fragments, and can no longer get at the original ideas. What 
 was going on in the earth in the meantime is of considerable 
 importance. During Tane's absence Hineatauria asked her 
 mother-in-law, " Why is my husband absent so long ? '" " What," 
 replied she, " your husband ? He is your father." And then she 
 told her the story of her birth. She took this so much to heart 
 that, overcome by shame and penitence, she took a solemn 
 departure from her mother-in-law with a prayer that she should 
 tell Tane to undertake the education of her children, and then 
 went into the under world, Po, or night. Thus death came into the 
 world by the shame and penitence of the mother of mankind. 
 When Tane came back to earth he asked his mother, " Where is my 
 wife ?" "You no longer have a wife," said his mother ; " she is 
 gone into the world of night, and has commended the education of 
 her children to your care." Then Tane went into the underworld 
 himself, if possible, to bring his wife back. For a long while he 
 wandered around alone in the land of the shades till at last he 
 found a house. ELe spoke up towards the front pillars of the 
 house. No answer. When leaving the house, sad and downcast,
 
 134 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 he heard a voice saying in the inside, "Where are you going to, 
 Tane?" " I follow our sister," replied he. A peculiar expression, 
 the word " our " includes the person addressed. Then said the 
 
 voice : 
 
 " Go back, Tane, to the world of light 
 
 To educate our fruit ; 
 Leave me here in the world of night 
 To sorrow for our guilt." 
 
 Since then, the mother of mankind is also goddess of death, 
 and has now the name of Hinenuiotepo (hine, virgin here 
 goddess nui, adjective great ; o, genetive ; te, article ; po, night 
 or kingdom of death), the great goddess of death ; she now lives 
 in the kingdom of death, and draws her children, mankind, 
 after her. 
 
 In this mythology of the Maoris, 1 have only mentioned a 
 resemblance to, not an exact coincidencej with the Mosaic record. 
 This resemblance may be accidental, but it may arise from 
 Western Asiatic sources, where something similar is still to be 
 found in old inscriptions. You find there also, as well as in the 
 folk-lore of many other people, reports of and allusions to the 
 flood. To this I have not been able amongst the Maoris to find 
 any satisfactory allusion. Perhaps a great darkness is confused 
 with a great flood, a substitution which may well have occurred 
 amongst a bold seafaring people in the course of time, as a great 
 darkness would be much more terrible to them than a great flood. 
 There is such a report, which is considered to belong to a very 
 ancient time, and has no connection with any other folk-lore. 
 Without any indication it begins and ends as suddenly, and all 
 its deep meaning has been forgotten, so that I took it for an 
 incomprehensible fragment of some old poem. The names that 
 occur in it have various meanings, so that I can derive no 
 indication from them. I, therefore, for the most part omit 
 them. 
 
 Tutakahinahina was a man who could walk on water. Before 
 he died, he ordered a supply of firewood and provisions for his 
 house. Then he died, and was buried in the house by the wall, 
 with his face turned down and his back up. The grave was 
 surrounded with a fence. The sun was now held back (here the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 135 
 
 names of many beings are given who held the sun back), and the 
 world was shut up in darkness. The darkness was so great that 
 nothing could be seen except by the light of the fire. Tutaka- 
 hinahina's family could live because it was supplied with the 
 necessary firewood and provisions. The rest of mankind used 
 what they had and could get at, and then had to perish in the 
 darkness. When in Tutakahinahina's house the firewood was 
 used up, they were obliged to use the fence of the graveyard. 
 Then his son Teroiroiwhenua heard his father speaking in the 
 grave. " This is where I am buried look where there is a mound." 
 While he listened, he heard the gnawing of the maggots in the 
 grave. Then he saw two maggots creep out of the grave, a male 
 and a female. He seized the male one (he let the female one 
 go) and roasted it in an oven, heated with holy fire, especially 
 kindled, by rubbing, for the purpose. Then came Tametea (since 
 Tawhirimatea, god of the winds) and moved the oven. A shimmer 
 of the returning light came at once. First the birds began to 
 sing, then the men to rejoice. 
 
 The old mythology of the Maori, although it is a heathen one, 
 is sublime, and points to a higher degree of culture than that in 
 which the Maoris in New Zealand then were, and as long as they 
 lived and moved in the midst of these sublime conceptions, in a 
 measure, they could thrive as heathen. It is in no way maintained, 
 even from a worldly point of view Christianity has a far higher 
 aim, that a heathenish religion, even one of the best, is sufficient 
 for certain people. A heathenish religion has never, and never 
 can, elevate a people so that it can compare with enlightened 
 Christian nations in progress of useful and higher knowledge and 
 science. 
 
 Inflexible heathen opinions, like cherubim with blazing swords, 
 always barred the way to Paradise, and obstructed the path to the 
 Tree of Life. Where such hindrances arise in Christendom, it is 
 not from the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and His 
 Apostles, but from a misunderstood Christianity that must become 
 converted and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. The mythology of 
 the heathen has arisen from poetic inspiration. It is, therefore, 
 sublime ; and as long as a people thoroughly live in it, it may well
 
 136 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WON LESS. 
 
 impart a spiritual impulse. The external life, however, always 
 lingers far behind the poetic aspiration. If we regard the old 
 mythology of a people from our own standpoint, and admire the 
 sublimity of the gods and heroes, we may easily overlook the 
 inward corruption that is mixed up with it, and consider too little 
 the cruelty, the vices, as well as the outward and inward unclean- 
 ness of the mass of the people. A heathen religion, even when it 
 teaches the loftiest virtue, always lacks strength to turn people to 
 what is good in practical life. There is no purity of heart, no 
 intelligent probity, no heartfelt pity, for one's fellow creatures, 
 and, above all, no peace in life, no comfort in death in the natural 
 man. If such moral failings are also to be found in Christendom 
 but far from such depravity as is found among the heathen, it 
 arises from the fact that by so many Christianity is only adopted 
 externally, just as a heathen religion is adopted by the heathen ; 
 and it would always become worse : many of the adopted noble 
 sentiments and manners would disappear, vice would become 
 bolder, manners would become cruel and heathenish, if God did 
 not take care to keep a salt of the earth alive amongst the so-called 
 mystics and pietists. By them the inward and outward essentials 
 of Christianity, the consciousness of dependence on God, our Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, the father of peace and goodwill towards all men, is 
 maintained in the mass of Christendom. 
 
 Reasonable men, who dislike pietists because they (reasonable 
 men) have allowed themselves to be led astray by small-minded 
 and ignorant slanderers, will find that this is true, if they 
 will examine the matter without a foregone conclusion and 
 in an intelligent way. By that salt of the earth inside Christendom, 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ is sent to the far-off heathen. " That 
 they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
 unto God ; that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance 
 among them which are sanctified." By its means raw savages are 
 made into respectable men, so that they are prepared for useful 
 and beautiful progress and friendly relations with the enlightened 
 peoples of older Christendom. Thus, in accordance with the counsels 
 of God, a new-born manhood is developed from a lost one. Far-away 
 heathens, through it, become " fellow-citizens with the saints and
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 137 
 
 of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of 
 the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 
 corner stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together 
 groweth into a holy temple of the Lord." 
 
 " The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation." One 
 shall not say see here or see there, in this or that Church com- 
 munity, for " Behold the Kingdom of God is within you." It is 
 in the superficial Christian and in the better heathen. It is the 
 inward yearning after a higher life, the respect for goodness, 
 uprightness and truth. But it is overgrown with worldliness, 
 disputes, folly, and sin, and a want of acquaintance with the inner 
 Christian life and its working in practical life. A garden over- 
 grown with weeds may bloom in a luxurious green, amongst which 
 here and there a few leaves of good plants may be prominent, but 
 it is not a sight which pleases the eye of a practical man. If 
 the weeds are rooted up and taken away, the good plants at first 
 stand up, but in a weak manner. He who has once experienced a 
 thorough cleansing of the heart through Jesus Christ will under- 
 stand how miserable his own goodness was. In a few days the 
 light of the sun gives them a healthy green and a proper growth. 
 Christianity must be inwardly accepted, and the heart will, 
 unhindered, enter into a junction with Jesus Christ, and will daily 
 enjoy his mercy as a plant does the light of the sun. Et cleanses 
 us from all wickedness, and renews in us the image of God. It 
 then works from inward outward into practical life, first in the 
 hearts of pious people, and from them, the salt of the earth, into 
 the mass of the people. The Kingdom of God is then inwardly 
 in the hearts of pious people, and, through them, in the nation 
 as Christ, as the Kingdom of God, was amongst the Pharisees and 
 Jews. Let us, therefore, " put on, as the elect of God, holy and 
 well-beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, 
 meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving 
 one another."
 
 138 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON THE OEIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE MAORIS. 
 
 hv 
 
 OW we must discover how the Maoris came to this far- 
 away island, New Zealand, in the wide ocean. The 
 natives of New Zealand, when first seen by the 
 discoverers and their followers, were still in the stone age. Their 
 stone axes, cut with much labour and trouble, were fastened on to 
 wooden sticks with strips of New Zealand flax, and with such 
 rough tools they had to build their vessels, and that without nails, 
 as they had no iron or other metal. To build a vessel, they had 
 to cut down a tree, then, with immense labour, to cut it off at the 
 upper end, then to hollow out the stem like a trough, and hew the 
 lower side into a proper shape like a ship's bottom. In such 
 vessels (called by the Maoris waka, by the Europeans canoe), how 
 could they get across to New Zealand, over a wide sea, with rolling 
 waves ? But we must remember that in earlier times, as has been 
 already pointed out, they possessed more lofty ideas and a higher 
 cultivation than they had in later times. Now, they have retained 
 a lofty, bold spirit, although they have long since lost their 
 former culture. The sea forced them to be bold seafarers. Their 
 high courage and united manhood did not shun the labour to hew 
 down the loftiest trees in the woods with stone axes and there 
 are very high and thick trees here to hollow them out, and make 
 them into canoes. Thin and pliant tree stems were then split, and 
 planks hewn out of them. These were then fastened with strings, 
 drawn through holes made for the purpose, to the sides of the 
 canoes, in order to raise them. In this way they made vessels of 
 respectable size, with which they could trust themselves with 
 confidence in rough seas. Sometimes two such canoes were lashed 
 together with cross-beams, which made a sort of double ship, on 
 which a kind of deck could be erected. 
 
 The Maoris of New Zealand are, however, only a branch of a 
 people who have spread out over thousands of islands which lie 
 scattered in the great so-called Pacific Ocean. All had the same 
 religion, language, and customs, although each of them has
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 139 
 
 perpetuated itself in a somewhat different manner in each of the 
 island groups. According to their traditions, it is reported that 
 in former times an intercourse existed between the different island 
 groups. Certain arts were known, and new ones were sought for, 
 which might be met with on certain far-off islands. It is true 
 such sea voyages, in such unhandy vessels, and on a great wide 
 sea, were not without danger ; but God has placed a heroic 
 courage in the human breast in order that in battle with untamed 
 nature he may make the kingdom of earth subject to him. Such 
 battles, as long as man is not degenerated by luxury and vice, or 
 made slavish and cowardly by oppression, awaken pleasing feelings 
 in the manly breast, and dangers are more inspiring than terri- 
 fying. As long as the Polynesians (this is the name of this people 
 of many islands) exercised their heroic courage in bold but 
 peaceful sea voyages and made new discoveries, their families 
 could live in peace, be fruitful and multiply. But the heart of 
 man is altogether corrupt, and qualities that are good in them- 
 selves easily change to bad ones. The heroic courage which 
 should make untamed nature subservient to the use of man and 
 do service to God was turned against their fellow creatures, who 
 are made after the image of God, and who should live together 
 peaceably as brothers. Men kill men like wild beasts, who kill 
 for pleasure and have no knowledge. With time the natives of 
 New Zealand had turned into such cruel savages. 
 
 I cannot here enter upon scientific investigations, but this 
 may be remarked, that some who have carefully compared the 
 mythology and traditions of the South Sea Islanders with the 
 ancient history of Western Asia are of opinion that the inhabitants 
 of these many islands, to which the New Zealanders likewise 
 belong, were originally a people of the Aryan race, and lived in 
 the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf. That thence they either 
 emigrated or were driven to India, and that there an inter- 
 mixture with the inhabitants of that country took place. That 
 from thence, at the beginning of the Christian era, they spread 
 out into the Indian Archipelago, where they underwent a further 
 mixture with peoples who had come from the rivers of Central 
 Asia, and thence they spread into the islands of the Pacific.
 
 140 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 Foreign mixtures appeared very acceptable to the people. 
 When English whale fishers came to New Zealand a number of 
 half-caste children were soon born. When the whale fishery 
 ceased, and no more Europeans came to New Zealand, and the 
 natives were left to themselves, the half-bred children grew up 
 with Maori ideas, and learnt only their mothers' language ; but by 
 their means the appearance of the people, especially here in the 
 south, where there is the largest mixture of half-blood amongst 
 the population, was considerably altered. This actually happened 
 here, and a stronger spirit is to be observed in the renewed mixed 
 race. 
 
 It is remarkable that the language of the inhabitants of two 
 large islands so very far removed from one another as New 
 Zealand, in the far south sea, and Madagascar, on the south-east 
 coast of Africa, appears to have had a common origin. Look only 
 at the numbers 
 
 1234 567 8 9 10 
 
 MADAGASCAR Eser Rua Taru Efad Rin6 One" Keitu Varlo Seve Fura 
 
 NEW ZEALAND Tahi Rua Toru Ewha Rima Ono Witu Wharu Iwa Ngahuru or 
 
 Tekau 
 
 (From J. T. Thomson's Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.) 
 
 Formerly the Maoris first counted up to eleven, which they 
 call tahi tekau ; twelve was then tahi tekau ma tahi (an eleven 
 and a one) ; and so on up to twenty-two (rua tekau) ; their 
 hundred, or rau, therefore, contained 11 x 11 121. Now they 
 have taken the European method of counting and thrown out the 
 ngahuru, and call their ten their first tekau. 
 
 According to the numbers which occur in the old stories, 
 they appear not to have taken their first aggregate up to eleven, 
 but to ten. I am, therefore, inclined to think, especially as they 
 have so easily appropriated the division by ten, that, originally, 
 they called the simple ten ngahuru, and in the second aggregate 
 of their system of reckoning tekau as tahi tekau, ten ; rua tekau, 
 twenty ; and so on. The tekau has a remarkable resemblance to 
 the Greek deka, as the rua has with the Latin duo. 
 
 Judging by this relation of language the Malagaski in 
 Madagascar, the Maori in New Zealand, as well as the whole 
 population of the South Seas, must have had a common origin, and
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. HI 
 
 have emigrated from the same country, probably from the East 
 Indian peninsula, the Deccan, especially as it is known that the 
 inhabitants of this coast in the most ancient times were skilful 
 sailors, but the inhabitants of the eastern peninsula were not. 
 One branch of this people took its way south-westerly to 
 Madagascar ; the other went in an easterly direction over the 
 East Indian peninsula, in the direction of the Moluccas, into the 
 Pacific Ocean. According to their traditions they fixed upon The 
 Navigator Islands, in the Samoan Group, as a permanent place of 
 settlement, which was afterwards regarded as a centre of operations. 
 Thence they spread out (eastward from the Fiji Islands, which 
 contain a, mixed race of Maoris and Australian Blacks) over the 
 whole of the Pacific to the Sandwich Islands in the east and New 
 Zealand in the south. This could easily be done, as they were 
 expert navigators, as in all directions, even all the way from 
 India, the sea is strewed with islands. 
 
 All the natives of New Zealand maintain, throughout the 
 whole length and breadth of the land, that their forefathers came 
 from Hawaiki (Savai of the Navigator or Samoa Islands) about 
 thirty generations back (they can trace the ancestors of their high 
 chiefs by name as far back as that) to New Zealand, which they 
 named Aotearoa (long uprising world). The names of the canoes, 
 according to their traditions, are still held in remembrance. If 
 you only reckon a generation from a father till the birth of the 
 following son as twenty-five years, you have a space of time of 
 750 years. Some reckon more, some less. It appears, however, 
 that New Zealand was inhabited before this emigration. It is 
 not yet decided whether the earlier inhabitants belonged to the 
 Australian negroes or the South Sea peoples. At all events, New 
 Zealand was known to the latter before the emigration. 
 
 It is remarkable that the related peoples, the inhabitants of 
 Madagascar and those of New Zealand and of the South Sea Islands, 
 
 O 
 
 now so far removed from each other, have all at the same time 
 as peoples renounced heathendom and accepted Christianity. It 
 seems more than an accidental coincidence. Does everything 
 develope itself, including the history of peoples, by accident and 
 without any plan, preconceived and of a higher kind, or does
 
 142 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 everything occur in accordance with God's providence and direction, 
 and in accordance with a plan. Which is the most reasonable to 
 believe ? " God has made of one blood all nations of men for to 
 dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the 
 times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." 
 (Acts xvii., 26.) 
 
 I have already stated that the Maoris, as long as they lived 
 in the sublime ideas of their old religion, could in a measure, 
 thrive under heathendom. But later generations had long since 
 allowed the lore of the old gods to sink into forgetfulness, and it 
 was only known to the " wise people," but by them without any 
 spiritual meaning. Their morals, therefore, became very depraved. 
 Instead of living in the faith of sublime ideas, they lived in 
 painful fear of lower evil spirits of a man-devouring kind who 
 dwelt in ruined buildings of tapu, because a breach of this 
 entailed death as a consequence, of witchcraft of evil-minded 
 men, and in constant fear of being killed and eaten for they 
 ate one another. Their sentiments had become so inhuman that 
 they could eat dead bodies, stinking and putrefying, with pleasure, 
 and without any feeling of disgust. 
 
 Schiller's verses were here verified : 
 
 Woe to the stranger whom the waves 
 . Cast on that unhappy shore. 
 
 To roast and eat a number of strange men that is, those 
 belonging to another tribe was as great a pleasure to them as it 
 is to lovers of the chase in civilized lands to have a grand dinner 
 party when they have had good sport. 
 
 It must have been about 1820-1830 I knew a few who were 
 present when the Maoris in the south first came into touch with 
 the Europeans. The captain of a whaling vessel placed a few of 
 his people in an uninhabited bay in Stewart Island to catch fur 
 seals, whilst he went whale fishing with the rest of his crew. 
 The natives, however, did not approve of this. Soon a number 
 of men and women went across from Ruapuke to Stewart Island, 
 fell upon the sealers and killed and cooked them. They then 
 looked for their provisions. At that time they were quite
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEES. 143 
 
 unacquainted with European things. They took the flour for white 
 ash, and amused themselves with throwing it at one another and 
 watching the white dust fly. Then they found something that 
 looked like provisions, and they chewed it till foam came out of 
 their mouths (it was soap), but it was not to their taste. Still 
 worse did the tobacco taste, which they, therefore, called heaven's 
 gall (aurangi). A vessel held some black seed (gunpowder), 
 which they scattered about as a useless thing. Then when they 
 had satisfied themselves with the flesh of the dead men and in 
 the evening sat around a bright fire oh, what a fright ! lightning 
 and flames of fire suddenly broke out amongst them. The fire had 
 lit the powder they had thrown away. Some time afterwards some 
 canoes with all their crews were lost, and no one knew for a long 
 time what had become of them, until later some whale fishers came 
 from Australia who became friendly with the natives, and these 
 brought the news that an American whaling captain known to 
 them, when he found that the men he had left on Stewart Island 
 had been killed and eaten, whilst sailing about, meeting some 
 canoes, had sailed them down. 
 
 Not long before my arrival, and before Christianity had 
 obtained so much power amongst the blood-thirsty natives that 
 they gave up cruelty, and lived peaceably with one another, the 
 inhabitants of the southern island, who themselves had almost 
 eaten an entire tribe in the south, were hard pressed by a tribe 
 from the north under the leadership of the celebrated chief Te 
 Kauparaha. Part of the hard-pressed tribe fled to the south to 
 Ruapuke and neighbourhood. But they were not allowed to 
 remain there in peace by their more powerful foes. A band of 
 them came overland and made floats of the stalks of New Zealand 
 flax, and embarked at the mouth of the Mataura, which empties 
 itself opposite the island of Ruapuke, and in the neighbourhood of 
 the mouth of the river fell upon a village of the local ti'ibe. Most 
 were killed at once and immediately cooked and eaten by the 
 hungry warriors. The remainder were kept as prisoners in the 
 meantime. Amongst the latter was a woman who, later on, lived 
 as a good Christian at Ruapuke. She has often told us of the 
 horror of the attack. Her children were torn from her breast
 
 144 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 and thrown on the glowing coals, anl the poor mother was 
 compelled to look quietly on, for she knew well that if she 
 disturbed the rough warriors her own head would be split. The 
 warrio:s thought they would be able to refresh themselves here 
 after their toilsome journey overland, but they were deceived. 
 Some of those attacked had escaped, and quickly carried the news 
 to the surrounding villages. A band quickly assembled at the 
 island of Huapuke, where the high chiefs lived. These went to the 
 Mataura and fell upon the enemy, yet wallowing in human flesh. 
 Many were at once killed and eaten; a few were kept alive as 
 slaves. I knew a few of these and baptized them. They then 
 received their freedom and went back to their northern home. Such 
 cruelties were formerly quite ordinary occurrences. Just as cruel 
 was their child murder. Affairs of love, as they are carried on 
 by young people of civilized races in honour and modesty, were 
 quite unknown to the heathenish Maoris. The old people, not only 
 the parents, but those of the whole district, arranged the marriages 
 without asking what the young people's inclinations were. This 
 did not hinder young people, when so inclined, from 
 indulging their fleshly lusts. Children which were born of such 
 unhallowed unions, at the command of the old people were put 
 out of the way as kittens are put out of the way. Even married 
 women sometimes put their new-born children out of the way, 
 either because they did not like them or because attending to 
 them was troublesome. They did not kill them outright, but 
 placed them in a lonely place and let them cry themselves to 
 death. And now, in the space of a life time, these cruel New 
 Zealand savages, by the simple preaching of Christ crucified 
 although the Word of the Cross in old Christendom was 
 called by certain Jew-like Christians (in name) in the time of St. 
 Paul a " stumbling block," and by some narrow-minded worldly- 
 wise people " foolishness " are so changed that the magnificent 
 prophecy of Isaiah xi. applies to them. A weak missionary, who 
 could command no earthly power, can lead the changed, erstwhile 
 cruel savages, and can live in friendship and love with the 
 formerly treacherous and unclean heathen, now, however, clothed 
 and in their right mind, and sitting at the feet of Jesus. The
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 145 
 
 little children of the missionary are now attended to by people 
 who were previously cannibals and murderesses, and that with 
 more motherly kindness than they could feel in their heathenish 
 state towards their own children. 
 
 " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard 
 shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young lion and 
 the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. And the 
 cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down 
 together : and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the 
 sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned 
 child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." 
 
 May the time soon come when the following verses from 
 Isaiah xi. may apply, not only to the new communities, but to old 
 Christendom : 
 
 " They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain : 
 for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
 waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of 
 Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it shall 
 the Gentiles seek : and his rest shall be glorious. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE SPIBITUAL ADVANCE OF THE MAOEI. 
 
 ^/\ LTHOUGrH sunk in cruel savagery the faint recollections 
 ^J V^ of the sublime conceptions of an earlier and better 
 time were still locked in the Maori breast. As in 
 the north of New Zealand occasional conversions took place 
 through the missionaries, and as the Maoris noticed and were 
 astonished at the inward joy and the noble life of those who were 
 converted, this was felt to be in accord with the sentiments of 
 these conceptions. It was, therefore, possible that the whole 
 Maori population from one end of New Zealand to the other should 
 be seized by an unexampled spiritual desire for Christianity, by 
 means of which wars, murders, cannibalism, and, above all, 
 gross cruelty and vice, should be abandoned. It has occasionally 
 
 L
 
 146 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 happened that a great elevation of mind has permeated a people, 
 when there is occasion, for instance, to make great sacrifices ; as 
 when the Fatherland is threatened by over whelming enemies, bat the 
 power of God alone, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, can effect 
 such an elevation as will permanently turn a people to better aims. 
 It is then awakened to an inward desire for a higher life and 
 spiritual being. Although this in-dwelling strength of God has 
 only extended the gospel of Christ by means of spiritual weapons 
 wielded by weak men, and thus gained victories over the powers of 
 darkness amongst the peoples of Europe, yet as they inwardly live 
 in the gospel, they have produced civilization, with the astounding 
 discoveries and advances of our age flowing from it as a result. 
 In this strength of God, which gives the longing heart eternal life, 
 the world for all time will be overcome and conquered. 
 
 And now, to relate how the savage Maoris here in the south 
 of New Zealand became civilized Christians, we must go back to 
 the time when I found them here and lived amongst them. Raw 
 savagery they had already renounced before my arrival through 
 the means of the already-mentioned spiritual movement, and had 
 adopted an outward form of Christianity, but they did not under- 
 stand the spiritual part of it. Their sacred services were works 
 without thought, those of the teachers equally as well as those of the 
 learners. In their then condition, more could not be expected from 
 them. In time, I succeeded in arousing more attention, so that 
 .they began to think over what was heard and read. They began 
 to get more earnest. They resembled the eunuch from Ethiopia, 
 who sat reading by the lonely way in his chariot, when Philip met 
 him, and said, " Understandest thou what thou readest ?" He 
 said, " How can I, except some man should guide me." Thus the 
 Maoris here. When they began to understand, they came with 
 the timid question, " Cannot I be baptized ?" Such questions at 
 first did not come from those of high position, who were looked up 
 to, but from old, simple, otherwise quiet women. 
 
 The first who was baptized by me was an old sick woman on 
 her deathbed, whose eyes were lighted up with the peace of God 
 in Jesus Christ, through which she had received the seal of eternal 
 life. The second, if I remember rightly for I have no data, as
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 147 
 
 my papers were all burnt, was the wife of the Irishman whom I 
 have previously named. She was a pious and enlightened woman, 
 and had been married to her husband by the Bishop of New 
 Zealand when still a heathen. I was then unacquainted 
 with, the communal customs of the Maoris, according to 
 which all transactions were undertaken with the consent of the 
 whole community. Under these circumstances, as Christianity 
 had not been long introduced here, it (baptism) was an affair of 
 the native teachers. The reason that no objections were raised to 
 these two first baptisms was because the first was looked upon as 
 a baptism of necessity, and that, as the wife of a European, they 
 had no authority over the second. 
 
 Not long afterwards a few elderly women sought me out, 
 who had attentively listened to my discourses, and whose hearts 
 God had opened, as that of Lydia, at the place of prayer at the 
 water in Phillipi (Acts xvi.). These wished to be baptized. I 
 gave them every day an hour's instruction. After a few days 
 they stayed away, and when I asked the reason, it was whispered 
 to me that it was forbidden. At the same time, a boat sailed for 
 Waikouaiti, the Wesleyan mission station, the object of the journey 
 being withheld from me. I soon learnt that, at all events in the 
 eyes of the teachers, I had raised a strong feeling of enmity. The 
 applicants for baptism belonged to the Wesleyan party, but they 
 were unimportant old women, whom the teachers would not have 
 recommended for baptism. So far, only a few notable and some 
 easily-taught young persons like the teachers had been admitted to 
 baptism by the Anglican bishop and the Wesleyan missionaries. 
 I kept silence, and continued the instruction leading to baptism. 
 When, in time, the boat came back, nothing of the result was 
 allowed to escape, and I refrained from making inquiry, as I knew 
 that missionary Creed, who was now at Waikouaiti, and with whom 
 I had been in danger of being lost in the wild mountains, would 
 not take sides against me. Matters thus remained for a while. 
 
 The teachers then came and commended to me the old women 
 for baptism, as well as their old husbands, also the Christian 
 consecration of their long-existing marriages. After a few weeks 
 baptism was solemnly administered. The teachers themselves
 
 148 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 declared that the ceremony had a sanctifying influence. Soon 
 others, mostly whole families, were recommended for baptism, 
 who also received it after a suitable time spent in instruction. 
 
 The teachers were originally instructed to make use of their 
 position to place obstacles in the way of my administering 
 baptism, and to represent to their missionary what my intentions 
 were. They administered their office without advantage to them- 
 selves, except that by means of it they were held in greater 
 respect, which was worth something. They did a great deal of 
 good, in so far as they spread the spiritual movement all over 
 New Zealand and kept it alive. 
 
 According to our conceptions they were naturally very igno- 
 rant, for they had received no instruction worthy of the name. 
 Even their reading was not fluent. If they had to read a chapter 
 with which they were unacquainted before the congregation they 
 had to prepare themselves beforehand with such labour the sense 
 and meaning of what they read often escaped them. It often 
 happened that they broke a word in two in the middle and made 
 two out of it, or that they joined one syllable of a word on to 
 another, which gave it quite a different meaning. Once a teacher 
 came to me and asked how the sun could be turned round. 
 I could not at first understand what he meant. Then he 
 showed me Matthew v., 39 " Whosoever shall smite thee on. 
 thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Now in Maori 
 tera (compounded of te era) means this or the other (all words 
 are neuter), and te ra means the sun. He had, therefore, 
 divided tera and made sun out of it. According to heathen 
 ideas, for a Maori of rank to allow such an insult as a blow on 
 the cheek to go unrevenged was as impossible as to turn the sun 
 back. This question was an honest one, whereas most of the 
 questions which the presumptuous teachers put to me were to try 
 me. You see what weak tools God uses in his well-ordered 
 economy, " that nothing may be lost," to advance His Kingdom 
 amongst the Maoris. He knew how to draw most of the mis- 
 sionaries out of a class where the talents given them would 
 otherwise be lost. As workers in God's service appointed by the 
 missionaries I honoured the teachers, although their presumption
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 149 
 
 was often annoying. Especially presumptuous were travelling 
 teachers, because they considered themselves wise and wished to 
 show themselves wise, and submitted catching questions to me to 
 try me. A few of them once came from Waikouaiti. After 
 they had been a short time seated, one of them asked, " What is 
 the name of the place where the Jews held race-meetings ?" I 
 answered the Jews had none. After a few questions to ascertain if 
 that was my real meaning, they thought to catch me in my ignorance, 
 and one after another called out, " Olympia ! " " Olympia ! " I said 
 they were wrong, that Olympia was the place where the Greeks 
 held their games, and that they were quite a different people 
 to the Jews. Instead of understanding what they read in the 
 New Testament, they only learnt names and places, in order 
 to be able to ask as teachers in the congregation, " What was the 
 name of the sick servant of the centurion at Capernaum ? " " What 
 was the name of the man who provided the boards for Christ's 
 coffin ? " and such-like stupid questions. When travelling teachers 
 came who brought freshly-learnt names with them (often quite 
 wrong ones), they came to try me with them to see if I knew 
 them, too. 
 
 The teachers, and with them many others who considered 
 themselves clever, were presumptuous and ignorant, and catching 
 with useless questions ; but one must not, therefore, think that 
 underneath there did not lie an earnest striving after the kingdom 
 of God and His righteousness. They could pray. It was only 
 sometimes difficult to recognise under the rough coating the deep 
 longing for holiness that by means of their spiritual stirring up 
 had more or less taken hold of their hearts. We, of the old 
 Christendom, from childhood up, are so walled in by Christian 
 customs and habits that we know ho'w to conceal the sins of 
 our heart such as self-sufficiency, spiritual pride, and such 
 presumptions as may be repulsive to others under a polite exterior. 
 But the Maoris, grown up as raw savages and unpolished children 
 of nature, knew of no such concealment. Their presumptions were 
 not repulsive, but easy to their minds, and they came out freely 
 with them. The deeper spiritual impressions, on the other hand, 
 were new and uneasy ; these, therefore, came less to the surface.
 
 150 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLEBS. 
 
 In time I gathered the teachers, both Anglican and Wesleyan, 
 for regular hours of instruction. I read the Gospel of Luke 
 along with them, explaining and examining in order, by better 
 knowledge, to lead their minds away from useless speculations, 
 In time they came to value this instruction. They were pleased to 
 understand what they read. They often thus found material for 
 their discourses, which had often consisted of matters that had 
 no connection with one another and were quite meaningless. 
 
 No further hindrances were placed in the way of my baptisms. 
 The teachers, however, so managed matters that the applicants 
 had to go to them in order to be recommended to me. In the first 
 instance I had to put up with this, but I allowed no directions to 
 be given to me. For a time the newly baptized people retained 
 the old appellations of Anglicans and Wesleyans, but they were 
 now under my particular charge, like new-born children in need of 
 the proper sustenance of the reasonable pure milk of the gospel. 
 
 The desire for baptism, which more and more found ex- 
 pression, really arose from an inward need of the heart. It had its 
 origin in the general spiritual movement of the entire people, by 
 means of which a yearning for an imagined, but not yet known, 
 higher life was awakened in them, and that yearning the new move- 
 ment caused to burst forth. They knew well that on baptism they 
 must forsake sin, and that before God and man they must live a 
 conscientious, pure, and Christian life ; that their words and 
 acts, even their inward thoughts, would be closely watched by 
 those who were not yet baptized ; and that their errors would be 
 cast up to them. To many such thoughts were full of terror; 
 with others the inward stress was strong enough to overcome the 
 fear. It was the love of Jesus Christ that moved their hearts ; not 
 so much that they loved Jesus, but much more, that Jesus loved 
 them (sinful men), and had by His life and death saved them. 
 
 A drawing of the Spirit, as if by two silken cords of love, 
 proceeds from Jesus Christ in the drawing by love of the hearts 
 of sinful men. One proceeds from His cross, where suffering 
 and dying He was lifted up; the other one from His lofty 
 throne on the right hand of the Father, from whence He prepares 
 a place for us ; and both are united in His loving heart. The
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 151 
 
 old death goddess drew the Maori into the world of night; 
 Christ draws us into heavenly light. Where the souls of 
 men, full of yearning, turn with anxious longing to a higher 
 life, and then, with no mixture of self-sufficiency, to Christ, 
 they feel and follow this draught, and find in the holy com- 
 munion of Jesus Christ a heavenly existence life and blessed- 
 ness. And this blessed communion is so mysterious, and yet 
 so comprehensible, so sublime, and yet so simple, that every 
 one may have it, from the king on the throne to his meanest 
 subject in a poor hut ; from the cultivated man in his superior 
 culture to the uncultivated one in his plainness ; from the learned 
 man with his full treasures of knowledge to the unlearned one 
 with his simple Bible; from the scientific discoverer to the wild 
 heathen. All may find purity of heart, inward peace and joy, 
 comfort in sorrow, and consolation in death. 
 
 Instruction for baptism consisted mainly of that of the 
 apostolic belief and the Ten Commandments. Many words of the 
 language had not previously the meaning which they have acquired 
 since the language has become a Christian one. Thus, then the 
 word atua then meaning the other, standing now for the highest 
 being, meaning God previously meant everything that was 
 different to ordinary experiences as a ghost ; an appearance in the 
 air, an European steam engine, and so on. Sin (hara, nothingness) 
 was then differently understood to what it is now. Cruelty, 
 ignorance, and especially all vices, were then only sin when they 
 disturbed the internal life of the community, but practised against 
 strangers they were deeds worthy of praise. It was no sin to rob and 
 oppress widows and orphans, especially amongst the lower classes. 
 But to burn an old fencing post for firewood on which the clothes 
 of a dead child of noble blood had hung, and cook meals with it, 
 especially when persons of lower caste had eaten of them, this 
 was a deadly sin. Yet in spite of all such errors man is made 
 after the image of God, and however deeply it may be overlaid 
 with a hardened crust, marks of the original image are still to be 
 seen in the deepest thoughts of the heart. Accordingly I found in 
 the depths of my scholars' hearts a leaning towards the everlasting 
 nature of God a desire for a share on our part in His eternal
 
 152 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 love, for moral duties, purity of heart, justice and truthfulness, 
 heartfelt pity, and kindness. 
 
 In the second of Komans (verse, 14, &c.) it says : " For when 
 the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things 
 contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto 
 themselves : which show the work of the law written in their 
 hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts 
 the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." When 
 this original .law is moved by the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the 
 old man is put off and the new one put on, fashioned after the 
 manner of God in righteousness and holiness. 
 
 The baptized people were under my particular charge. Every 
 week I met them in separate gatherings, besides the ordinary 
 ones, in little divisions. This soon had this result, that each 
 would speak out freely about the state of his soul. In this manner 
 the already begun, but yet very weak, young life was nourished 
 and strengthened. There are, or there used to be, in Germany 
 people who said that, instead of so much spiritual instruction, the 
 missionaries should lay more stress on enlightenment and civiliza- 
 tion. This is a piece of wisdom that appears excellent when 
 sitting in a comfortable room, but is not suitable for practical life. 
 Everything has its proper time, also the civilization of the converted 
 heathen. A civilized life requires many labours which cannot be 
 neglected, such as raw heathens are quite unaccustomed to, and are 
 such as they cannot so suddenly understand. Money must first be 
 earned to buy clothes with (their own weaving is not sufficient for 
 it), then follow daily washing and combing, then washing and 
 mending of clothes, building of better buildings, keeping them 
 clean, and a thousand other daily-occurring troublesome matters, 
 all of which are quite strange to the natural man, and, 
 therefore, impossible. If the missionaries were to begin with this, 
 they would find their labours end in nothing. First, the heathen 
 must be converted by a change of heart " Turn from darkness to 
 light, from the power of Satan to God, and obtain forgiveness of 
 sins." Then, when their thoughts for a time have moved in higher 
 and purer conceptions, the fruit of the conversion causes the desire 
 for a decent life to arise in them, and with this desire come courage
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 153 
 
 and industry and a willingness to work. Now is the time for the 
 missionary to. counsel and lead them. These are matters of 
 experience. 
 
 Let him who thinks he can entirely, or for the greater part, 
 make the heathen civilized by moral teachings, try it himself on 
 the degraded and sunken poor of Germany, and he will find that 
 all such labours are in vain. The so-called mystics and pietists 
 manage things better. These come to the sunken poor with the 
 love of Jesus Christ in their hearts, which, in common with Him, 
 they bear to the poor sinners. Their hearty sympathy opens the 
 hearts of those who have gone astray, their brothers and sisters, 
 and they let a ray of the light of Jesus Christ on to them. This 
 light falls on the better, scattered feelings of the heart, and awakes 
 a desire for salvation in Jesus Christ. New hope arises in them. 
 After they have been fed for a time with the sincere milk of the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ, and thus strengthened, a newness of life 
 arises in themselves, and new courage to improve their condition. 
 Now, for the first time, they can be helped with moral counsel. 
 It is the same with the converted heathen. 
 
 The community was still a divided one. The newly baptized 
 people, it is true, felt themselves under my care, but in the same 
 spirit as before, and they were still called Anglicans and Wesleyans, 
 and were addressed as such by their respective teachers. There was 
 no community of spirit, not even that of mere companionship. The 
 inhabitants of each little village would each have a separate 
 divine service for themselves. They had, so far, not the least 
 inclination to go on a Sunday to a village, which was close by, 
 and build up a larger congregation. The best metho^d of pro- 
 ducing union of spirit would have been, if I c'ould have done so, 
 to induce them all to assist and build a sacred building a church 
 in common, but that was impossible. In order to awake unity of 
 spirit, we must have a common church. I resolved, therefore, in 
 the name of God, and relying upon His help, to build a church 
 myself. First I went on to a hill, beneath which our settlement 
 lay, and knelt down there, and under a great bush dedicated 
 the place in prayer to our Father in heaven, who sees in secret, 
 as a house of God. Then I went, as soon as I had time, into the
 
 154 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 nearest wood to look for building timber. In distant woods I 
 found slender young trees which would answer very well for the 
 building, but these were too far away for me to be able to carry 
 them. In the nearest woods there were only short, and mostly 
 crooked, stems, and I had to be content to hew these straight and 
 carry them where desired. It was heavy labour, especially as in 
 the wood and on the road to it all was pathless and overgrown 
 with thick undergrowth. The natives wondered at my labours, 
 of which, although they were intended for them, they could not 
 see the use. None was willing to help me without wages, and I 
 had no more money. I needed some timber which required to be 
 longer and straighter than any that I could obtain here, also a few 
 boards. I then asked a European, of Stewart Island, who was 
 engaged in the timber trade, how much a certain quantity of sawn 
 wood and boards would cost. He told me the price, and I told 
 him that when I received money I would perhaps give him the 
 order to deliver the timber. There the matter rested, as I 
 intended. But after a few weeks the man came in his boat and 
 brought me the timber. I pointed out to him that 1 had expressly 
 said, when I received money, and so on. He said that I should 
 give him a certificate that I owed him the money (I have 
 forgotten how much it was, but think it was .7). Now, I 
 wanted the wood so badly, and the payment seemed so easy, thafc 
 I accepted his offer, although in time, when no money came, it 
 caused me much inward trouble. Especially I did not wish that 
 my acknowledgment should circulate in trade amongst the 
 scattered Europeans here. 
 
 I nojy went cheerfully to work to carry the timber to the 
 place, and to cut stalks and rushes for roof and walls. As such 
 labours had to be carried on between my journeyings over the 
 island to the different villages, and only a short time was left to 
 prepare my most needful food in the roughest fashion, I often fell 
 asleep after supper from sheer weariness, and in spite of all 
 exertions, could not undress and go to bed in an orderly fashion. 
 After I had hewn the timber of course, only in a rough way 
 into the right shape, I stood the building up. At the same time 
 God so brought it about that I received from a land surveyor in
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 155 
 
 Otago (Mr. Tuckett was long absent) a present of tobacco. Now, 
 a few old Maoris were willing to help me at building for .tobacco. 
 They thatched the roof and walls inside with flax stalks, and 
 outside with reeds. The building had a really church-like 
 appearance of course, in a rough way with a tower at the 
 western and a cross at the eastern end, and a place for a choir in a 
 symmetrical lean-to. Inside there was a chancel and an altar. 
 There were no benches, because the Maoris were accustomed to 
 sit on the ground. Such church-like peculiarities were necessary 
 to distinguish the House of the Lord from other buildings, and 
 give it a superior appearance, in order to awaken a desire for a 
 holy communion and fellowship of saints. 
 
 The church was at last finished, and could be dedicated. The 
 year, as far as I can remember, was 1846. I invited all the 
 inhabitants of the island to come in, and many did so. The 
 solemn service, so different from their thoughtless ones in the 
 stuffy community houses of the villages, seemed to impress. them ; 
 for on the following Sundays the church attendance increased. 
 The teachers wished to retain the assemblies in their own villages 
 intact, but most of the former hearers went away to church ; they 
 made short work with those who were left behind, and then came 
 themselves. Of course, in the week days, I visited the different 
 villages as before, and only held the congregational services in the 
 church on Sundays. 
 
 Originally it was my custom when I referred to Bible passages 
 in my sermons to name the place where they were to be found. 
 This made a rustling in the New Testament to find them. So far, 
 I had allowed this to happen, although I was obliged to stop for 
 a little ; but all at once three or four old women who could not 
 find the place, rushed up to me with outstretched arms, with their 
 Testaments, for me to turn up the places for them. This was 
 too much for me, and I ceased to give out the places. 
 
 It was evident that a community of mind was awakened, and 
 in time there was less talk of sectarian differences, although 
 now and then disputes broke out. 
 
 The reader may well press the question on me, as it often 
 pressed itself on me, how I could answer it to my conscience to
 
 156 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 build whei'e others had laid the foundation. Now, if five, or even 
 two, talents had been given me (Matt, xxv., 15) I might well 
 have besought the North German Missionary Society to send me 
 to some other country, and to some other heathen people ; although 
 that would have been no easy matter, for sometimes years passed 
 by before I could receive an answer to my letters to Germany. 
 But 1 had only one talent. I do not say this from modesty 
 or mere empty talk, but from conscientious conviction. I have 
 a certain faculty for gathering rough material together ; the 
 circumstances were very favourable for it here ; but when the 
 congregation is once made 1 find little ability in myself to build it 
 up internally. I was now sent to New Zealand. The mission 
 field was already possessed by others, who did not belong to our 
 missionary society, but were just as good disciples of Christ as we 
 were. I did now what Christ wished the servant with one talent 
 had done 1 put it in the bank, that when He comes He may take 
 His own with interest. I mean by this that the field here was 
 white to harvest ; the labourers here had not the knowledge how 
 to reap, just as one who had hitherto had no scythe in his hand 
 would be unable to mow. I was now here, and I could do it. There- 
 fore, I put my talent in the bank, that in the name of Christ I might 
 go contentedly to work, and bring souls to Him, without founding 
 a church of any particular denomination neither Lutheran, 
 Reformed, Anglican, or Wesleyan not even a permanent mis- 
 sionary station of the North German Missionary Society. The 
 further development I left to the Head of the Church alone.' 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 
 
 F the general spiritual development of Christianity in the 
 Maori peoples I have already spoken several times. A 
 further movement in a small way began here in the extreme 
 south, whither so far only a small amount of inward result had 
 been experienced. This spread out from Ruapuke and extended 
 over the scattered villages in the islands and on the coasts of
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 157 
 
 Foveaux Strait. The news of the numerous baptisms in Ruapuke 
 and the quiet pious demeanour and the blessed inward peace of 
 those who were baptized flew from place to place and created a 
 movement amongst receptive spirits. Soon Maoris desirous of 
 salvation came from the scattered villages in their boats to 
 Ruapuke to see the new life and to request baptism for them- 
 selves. In every case they were kept here one or two weeks to 
 receive instruction and to prove their earnestness, and then when 
 found to be upright in their intentions they were solemnly 
 baptized. They then went joyfully on their road back to their 
 dwellings, and became a salt of the earth and a light to their 
 neighbours. In time most of the scattered districts received in 
 this way little knots of baptized Christians, tt was natural that 
 I should soon feel a desire to visit the scattered children in 
 baptism it made no difference that many were older than I, 
 they all called themselves my children to see how they pro- 
 gressed in their new life, and to nourish and strengthen them in 
 their Christian walk and belief. I made many journeys for that 
 purpose to the surrounding districts in the Maori boats. Before 
 we enter upon these journeys, it will be necessary to explain the 
 place whence the Maoris had their boats, for the canoes hollowed 
 out of tree stems had already gone out of use. 
 
 In earlier times, till just before my arrival, there were many 
 whales and seals, and ships came from many countries to catch 
 them. People came here also from the British colonies in Aus- 
 tralia and carried on the whale fishery with boats from the coast 
 at places where the whales came at certain times of the year to 
 cast their young in still water in quiet bays, or, as one says here, 
 to calve. At other times they killed the seals, whose skins are 
 valuable, when basking on the rocks. When the whales and seals 
 were mostly destroyed, so that the catch was no longer profitable, 
 many of the sailors and sealers remained here and made them- 
 selves at home amongst the Maoris. The chiefs allotted them 
 wives, and they accommodated themselves to Maori methods of 
 life, but they awakened a disposition towards industry. Some 
 carried on a small trade. Others built boats, or made sails, which 
 they sold to the Maoris for pigs and potatoes. These were also,.
 
 158 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 when a whaling ship put into port, exchanged for clothes and 
 European goods. Sometimes brandy was received in exchange, 
 but it was soon drunk, and sobriety again became the order of 
 the day. There were, therefore, foreigners (pakehas) among the 
 Maoris in their different villages. What many of them had been 
 in the notorious Australian colonies I never asked. They lived 
 peaceably and respectably amongst the Maoris as decent fathers 
 of families. 
 
 The scattered villages lay (I must state it, as it was in the 
 past, as European immigration has changed it all, even most of 
 the names) partly on the northern coast of Stewart Island, partly 
 on the southern coast of the large. Middle Island. Journeys from 
 place to place were always made by boat. 
 
 Such journeys were not without danger, for mighty waves 
 roll through the wide strait, and make strong tide rips on the 
 uneven rocky ground, especially where ebb and flood tide meet. 
 A boat appears a very small thing amidst the high foaming waves ; 
 but the Maoris are expert sailors, and the journeys are only 
 made when, as far as can be guessed, the weather is likely to be 
 fine. 
 
 Let us first go to Stewart Island, the mountains of which 
 can be seen from Ruapuke standing high up across a distance of 
 twenty miles of sea. On coming near to them you pass through 
 a group of small wooded islands of no great height. You then see 
 rocky bluffs and inlets strewn with islands. We now pass into a 
 great inlet called Paterson Inlet. The entrance is at the side, 
 because a large peninsula called the Neck (because it is only joined 
 to the land by a neck) lies right across the mouth. Inside of this 
 island you find yourself in a tangle of woody bluffs and small 
 islands all of moderate height. Beneath them are larger and 
 smaller basins of water, in which the woody landscape is reflected. 
 From a boat the prospect is not sufficiently extensive. Let us 
 climb a height on the Neck of the above-named peninsula, and at 
 the place where for thirty years past the school has stood, 
 which serves likewise for church, where my daughter now lives, 
 married to the preacher and schoolmaster. From this height 
 there is a view of which one never wearies, gazing over the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 159 
 
 bays and their many islands and rocky bluffs, between which 
 glides here and there a white sail, or a fisherman's boat. At the 
 sides climb the mountains, one behind another, rising higher and 
 higher, all thickly wooded almost up to the highest point. The 
 highest mountain is about 4000 feet, being higher than the 
 height of the Brocken in the Hartz mountains. The appearance 
 of the Hartz mountains is softer, but not so sublime as the bold 
 upward spring of these mountains, in their fair wooded garb, with 
 the sea at their feet. The high tops stand out bare from the 
 wooded hills (like bald heads over a growing beard, I might say, 
 but such a comparison is an injustice to their beauty). The great 
 inlet reaches from east to west, halfway through the island, and 
 is continued as a depression in the land to the West coast, thus 
 dividing Stewart Island into two great mountain groups of granite 
 formation. 
 
 The Maori name for Stewart Island is Rangiura (from Rangi, 
 heaven, and ura, to redden, as the blushing of cheeks), and doubt- 
 less the soft red of evening often pours a graceful flood of light 
 over the landscape of Rangiura. 
 
 Although there is much building going on, and cities are 
 rising up as if they grew out of the earth, Stewart Island can 
 supply the south with timber for a long time to come. It appears 
 particularly well adapted for it. On the other hand, its wet, 
 cold summers are but little adapted to agriculture. Perhaps 
 the thick woods are the cause of this, for when the woods 
 are thinned, the soil is still covered with a sort of half-preserved 
 green kind of vegetable growth to a depth of three to five feet, in 
 which no field or garden plants will thrive, because their roots 
 cannot reach firm soil underneath it. There are now a few saw-mills 
 in the woody bays, and small vessels carry the timber to European 
 settlements. Then, however, when I used to visit my children in 
 baptism, the Maoris lived in a hopeless state of poverty, because 
 their old heathenish religion and later religious customs had lost 
 all power over their conduct. To this the sailors, who had become 
 incorporated amongst them, contributed in no small measure. 
 The hearty acceptance of Christianity dispelled this hopelessness 
 when it was brought to them. The Maoris then lived in little
 
 160 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 villages of twenty to thirty inhabitants. The huts were not nearly 
 as good as those of Ruapuke, where the families of the chiefs lived, 
 and their habits of life -were poverty-stricken and dirty. In most 
 of the villages I found a few of my baptized people. I remained 
 for a week or longer in each of the villages, nourished and 
 strengthened the believers, lifted the fallen up, and prepared 
 others for baptism, who were then baptized with all the solemnity 
 that the poverty-stricken huts allowed. I then proceeded further. 
 
 When I look back upon my early missionary journeys, 
 although imperfect and defective influences always had a dis- 
 turbing effect on me and prevented me from being unduly uplifted, 
 I always find that they had a strengthening effect on my spirit. 
 I will not compare them with St. Paul's missionary journeys in 
 Greece and Asia Minor, not even in the smallest measure. This 
 much, however, the Maoris and the Greek-speaking people had in 
 common. They had outlived their heathenish religion, and were, 
 therefore, prepared for Christianity, which offered and gave to 
 their seeking hearts full satisfaction. In other respects there was 
 an enormous difference. Paul and his companions had to do with 
 an enlightened, wealthy, and vigorous people. The Maoris, on the 
 other hand, were sunk in ignorance, poverty, and hopelessness, and 
 for that reason were nearly dying out. In their case it was 
 proved that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a power of God to the 
 salvation of all who believe, and able to lift them in this life out 
 of their sunken condition. 
 
 Sometimes, on my arrival in a village, a pig was killed, and 
 as long as it lasted it was well appreciated. Still, it was not often 
 that the Maoris had a pig to kill, as most of them went to the 
 before-mentioned Europeans in payment for boats, sails, and 
 tackle ; at other times there were fish and sea-birds. It happened 
 sometimes in the poorer villages, when the weather was stormy, 
 that no boat could go out to fish, and that for a week we had 
 nothing to eat but dry potatoes, and nothing to drink but water 
 from the brook. Sometimes I was the only visitor. At other times 
 I was accompanied by others from place to place, and the huts were 
 sometimes so over-crowded that at night we slept, thickly packed, 
 on the earthen floor. The smell that arose from such a bed was
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 161 
 
 no sweet one. Fortunately, the walls were not too tight to prevent 
 the admission of fresh air. Still, a missionary, yet in his full 
 strength, enjoying good health, who had gone out with the 
 expectation of encountering hardships, did not trouble himself 
 much about it. Then it was always refreshing, after a week of 
 dry potatoes and cold water, to come to a place where one of the 
 Europeans lived. A clean seat was here available, not, it is true, 
 on a chair tables and chairs were very scarce in the district, 
 but on a sailor's chest, which was drawn up to the fire, and there 
 I was entertained with salt pork and unleavened bread baked 
 in ashes. 
 
 Cleanliness and better fare were not the only pleasures I 
 enjoyed in the huts where a father of European birth kept house. 
 The Maoris had few children, and these had a dirty, flaccid look. 
 With the families of mixed blood it was different. Here I met 
 a Maori housewife, sparely but cleanly dressed, surrounded by 
 numerous half-bred children just as clean and with rosy faces. 
 A person fond of flowers, who has long wandered through dry 
 places, and then finds a blooming rose bush with buds and blowing 
 roses, could have no greater joy than I experienced at the sight 
 of these lovely children. A pleasure fills the feeling human heart, 
 and one hopes that these children may thrive, by the blessing of 
 the grace and friendship of our God, through Jesus Christ. The 
 cause of these children thus blooming was that the families were 
 cared for and ruled by parents who had been born and had grown 
 up under the influence of Christianity. Negligent Christianity is 
 always better than sunken heathendom. The cleanliness and 
 neatness in such huts may not always have been so well preserved, 
 but, to a certain extent, specially prepared for my arrival ; still, 
 it was a great advance in manners, for the pure Maoris could not 
 for a long time, even on the occasion of the visit of a missionary, 
 adopt the good custom of washing themselves. The feeling that 
 they were dying out (more of this hereafter) had destroyed their 
 hope. Such Maori women who had the good fortune to obtain 
 European husbands felt lifted up out of their state of listlessness 
 into a better method of life, and became joyful mothers of children. 
 They were seized, too, by the spiritual movement of the new 
 
 M
 
 162 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 teaching namely, of Christianity and it was their most earnest 
 desire to be baptized with their husbands and children, and to be 
 honourably married. Whatever the husband had previously been, 
 the children were so amiable that " The hearts of the fathers were 
 turned to the children, and the unbelievers to the wisdom of the 
 just." I met every where with a hearty reception, and was attentively 
 listened to. The Bishop of New Zealand (Dr. Selwyn) had already 
 been before me in some of the villages, and had already baptized 
 a few half-bred children and married the parents properly ; still, 
 there was plenty for me to do. When a mixed family was thus 
 baptized, and the parents properlj married, they all felt so blessed 
 that they formed a Christian family. 
 
 On the other side of the Foveaux Strait, the south end of 
 the Middle Island, the formation of the land is different to what 
 it is at Stewart Island. The south-east end is a wide plain. In 
 front of this there is a row of small mountains standing quite 
 solitary. These run from the high mountains of the Western 
 Alps in a south-easterly direction along the sea coast, and are 
 separated by the mouths of wide rivers. These have the plains 
 on one side and the sea on the other. The island of Kuapuke is 
 the last link of this chain of mountains. 
 
 As far as the coast was inhabited the conditions were the 
 same as at Stewart Island. The Maoris lived in small villages 
 remote from one another, in a state of listlessness, from which 
 they were awakened by Christianity. What has already been 
 said about the inhabitants of Stewart Island may equally be said 
 of them. I will only relate one recollection I have of them. 
 Once when I went for the first time to a village on the coast, 
 I found the people very favourable to church services. The 
 population was a little more numerous than in other villages, and 
 they had no Europeans living amongst them. As on my arrival 
 at Kuapuke, they were divided into two parties, Wesleyans and 
 Anglicans ; each party had built a little church to itself naturally 
 only miserable places thatched with grass, and as a proof that the 
 opinions of each were acceptable to the other they had built them 
 close together, so that a person in one could hear what was spoken 
 and sung in the other, and these two churches together bore the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 163 
 
 name of Babel. When I asked what induced them to use this 
 name the reply was made that Dr. Selwyn, the bishop who had 
 been here before, had himself suggested the name to them. The 
 simple people had not noticed the irony, and in all good faith had 
 called their church Babel, and I did not interfere with their 
 simplicity. I was requested, so that all party feeling might be at 
 rest, to hold meetings in one church one day and in the other the 
 next. 1 willingly consented, with the one condition that all 
 should assemble at the place where I held the meeting, and 
 should seat themselves in such a manner that there should be no 
 distinction of parties. This was agreed to, and we had a beautiful 
 union, elevating gatherings, refreshing hours of instruction, and at 
 last the sacrament of baptism was administered. 
 
 There were Pakeha Maoris that is, foreigners or Europeans 
 who had become domiciled amongst the Maoris in other places on 
 the coast. Some of them had little vessels with which they 
 carried on a whale-fishery. 
 
 For a long time the reader will have remarked that the 
 Maori ways of living were very dirty ones, and will think that 
 with conversion some cleanliness and decent customs should have 
 been introduced. He is right, but everything has its proper 
 time, also the improvement of the Maori manners. It does not 
 come all at once. The conversion, when an adaptability for its 
 reception is present, or is awakened by the Spirit of God, works 
 inwardly in the heart. Manners, as a fruit of the Spirit, must be 
 learnt by sustained effort. Without a previous conversion and a 
 renewal of the heart in truth this would be impossible. The wild 
 savage is used to dirt and untidiness, and feels at home in it. At 
 times he can wallow in gluttony, and at other times suffer hunger 
 without it giving him much trouble. He need only work when he 
 feels inclined, and can idle for as long and as often as he chooses. 
 If useful and beautiful things from the civilized world come 
 within his reach, and he can obtain them either by begging, 
 robbing, or stealing, he does it, but to work for a civilized life, and 
 for its attendant advantages, and that without ceasing, that he 
 can and will not do. From his point of view he would be a fool 
 to exchange his careless, wild life for a civilized one. The latter
 
 164 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 requires a hundred labours and troubles with which he will have 
 nothing to do. Change of heart alters this. God-fearing men, 
 who in old Christendom have been born again by the Grace of 
 God to a lively hope in the resurrection from the dead in Jesus 
 Christ, know well what new strength for self -improvement the 
 conversion effects ; how one transacts his business with love and 
 pleasure in the sight of Jesus Christ, and what a desire for purity 
 of heart and person, and a consistent life is thereby obtained. It 
 is just the same with the conversion of the Maori. They now felt 
 the desire to enter the ranks of civilized men and people, and were 
 willing to undertake the labour and trouble that a civilized life 
 requires. Now came the time to lead and help them in it. 
 
 Let us look for once at the heart of the Maori at the time of 
 
 their conversion. What was it that moved them so mightily? 
 
 Was it fear of hell, or a warm longing for heavenly blessedness ? 
 
 It was neither. To the heathen Maori life after death was quite 
 
 an indifferent matter, and a desire for piety required first to be 
 
 awakened in them by Christianity. I believe, in most conversions in 
 
 old Christendom likewise, neither the fear of hell nor a desire for 
 
 blessedness is the moving cause. It is true that many a bold 
 
 sinner, when on his death-bed, experiences a cowardly fear of hell, 
 
 even although he may not have believed in any before, and he is 
 
 ready to promise everything that conversion requires. But such 
 
 a conversion is not to be trusted, for when the danger is past the 
 
 old ways of life are generally continued. The thief on the cross 
 
 was not converted by fear, but by his heart being drawn, being 
 
 near to the Saviour who died for sinners. Tt<e moving cause of 
 
 conversion lies deeper than a mere desire for reward or fear of 
 
 punishment heaven or hell. It lies in the nature of man made 
 
 after the image of God. Whether they are moral or immoral men 
 
 of old Christendom, be they fine people or raw heathens of the far 
 
 lands and islands of the earth, deep in the human breast lies a 
 
 fearful unrest, which may, it is true, slumber, but which from 
 
 time to time will make itself felt in shuddering and uneasiness, 
 
 and also in love and a deep yearning for a higher life and being. 
 
 If, now, the gospel of Christ is brought near to this anxious 
 
 seeking of the creature, such as is centred in man ; and if the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 165 
 
 hearts can lift themselves above the previously conceived vain 
 opinions, and be open to the influence of the Spirit of God ; then 
 the divine relation is accepted and taken hold of. 
 
 Those natures which on meeting quickly take hold of one another we 
 call related to one another. Goethe. 
 
 The Maoris, as well as the peoples of the South Sea Islands, 
 had outlived their heathen religions, and they groaned under 
 a medley of religious forms. In this condition, and before they 
 had completely died out under their hopeless views of life, God 
 so brought it about in his wise providence that the gospel of Christ 
 should be brought to them. On my arrival in New Zealand their 
 diminution from dying out was quite noticeable. Here in the 
 south I found there was one birth to three deaths. This had 
 quite discouraged the people ; and, even for savages, they were 
 in a state of helpless poverty. They did not even possess the 
 necessary food and clothing to be able to stand the frequent 
 severe weather. As Christianity, especially when conversion 
 takes place, gives the mind a cheerful and hopeful upward swing, 
 the general elevation which the Maori people experienced is 
 explainable, and is the reason why so many conversions followed 
 on my weak labours. It was the anxious seeking of the creature 
 that finds its desire in Christianity. 
 
 In civilized Christianity if anyone is converted or born again 
 of the Spirit a great change takes place in his heart, and his 
 general conduct shows the fruit of the spirit " Love, joy, peace, 
 long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, temperance." Such a 
 change for the better takes place in the converted Maori. The 
 former has, however, enormous advantages. He has drawn in 
 Christian manners and customs with his mother's milk, and has 
 grown up surrounded with them. The Maori, as a heathen, has 
 inherited nothing. He has grown up in uncleanness, roughness, 
 cruelty, deceit, and treachery. His Christian knowledge is faulty, 
 and what he has is newly learnt, and not yet interwoven in his 
 life. His Christian experiences are to a great extent formal, and 
 his virtues do not yet arise from a free spirit, but are mostly the 
 result of forced resolution. In order to express his feelings, he 
 freely uses parables. The figure of " That spiritual Rock that
 
 166 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS 
 
 followed them, and that Hock was Christ" (1 Cor. x., 45) was a 
 lovely thought to the Maori. He compared himself to a shell 
 that adheres to the rocks and cannot be torn away by the waves 
 of the sea, or to a seabird that floats over the unstable waves, 
 thrown about hither and thither, swimming or diving, which thenflies 
 and seats itself on a rock, and there stands with firm foothold. A 
 man converted in old Christendom is a deeper Christian and a better 
 man than the converted Maori, but the change for the better is 
 just as great in the Maori as in the other, if you consider what he 
 has been. As a heathen, he was " so grim that no one could walk 
 in the same street with him," now he is a meek disciple of Christ. 
 " Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and 
 I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, 
 for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto 
 your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burthen light." 
 (Matthew xi., 28-30.) 
 
 CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 HOW I WAS BESCUED FBOM MY LONELINESS. 
 
 * \ V /E are still in the years 1844 and 1848, during which 
 Y V years I worked alone amongst the Maoris. At this 
 time this neighbourhood was lonely and remote. The 
 nearest settlement was at Wellington, Cook Strait, then only a 
 poor small place, 500 miles away from here. The intended 
 settlement in Otago, over 100 miles away from here, was put off 
 because the New Zealand Company in London was short of 
 money to carry it into effect. My friend, Mr. Tuckett, to whom 
 the foundation of the settlement was committed, had resigned 
 and returned to England. Whales and seals had been recklessly 
 killed, so the catch was no longer remunerative. Ships, therefore, 
 came here but seldom, and at last I began to feel myself very 
 lonely in this dark corner of the earth. I never doubted that 
 some time I should receive means for my support from our North 
 German Missionary Society, but it was impossible to tell when
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 167 
 
 there would be an opportunity to forward it. I just had to trust 
 in God and make the best of it. I was under the necessity of 
 producing my own food from the soil and of cooking it myself, 
 and sometimes it was very scarce. Potatoes, it is true, could 
 easily be raised, but not farinaceous food. Boiled peas sometimes 
 took the place of bread, but I had not many, as in my desire to 
 improve the condition of the Maoris I always gave away the 
 greater part of my crop for seed. After so doing I was displeased 
 to find that when they had gathered their harvest the first year, 
 instead of planting their seed they cooked and ate it. In following 
 years I was obliged to go into their gardens and plant it for them 
 myself. I began to keep goats, pigs, fowls, ducks, and geese. 
 These made my settlement quite lively, and raised my hopes of 
 an improved way of living. 
 
 Hope and a little good, 
 And a good conscience, too, 
 Are a great good, it's very true. 
 
 I found, however, in time, that attending to such a household 
 took more time and labour than I could well afford, and I had to 
 watch to prevent my domestic animals going astray. Besides 
 household duties and attending to my vegetable garden I was 
 obliged to cook and wash, and in such a manner that I could hardly 
 retain the cleanliness of my own person, one of the principal virtues 
 of civilized life. In time the many labours became too much for 
 me, especially as the food was so poor. Of a variety of food, such 
 as in Germany even in poor households is considered as very 
 meagre, there could here be no thought. I had to give up the 
 mid-day meal because there was no time to cook it, and content 
 myself with two meals a day morning and evening. Flour was 
 not easily to be had ; it cost money, and I had none. My health 
 began to give way and my strength to fail. Once, I remember it 
 yet, because at that time it made a deep impression on me, 1 baked 
 some bread which was to last a week. But in the evening when I 
 began to eat I could not restrain myself, my will was powerless, 
 and I devoured all the bread at one meal. Of course on the other 
 days of the week I had to go without bread. Sometimes I tried 
 potatoes in Maori fashion, placing them in water till they rotted
 
 168 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 into starch. You can then wash the rotten part away from the 
 starch and make a kind of biscuit of the remainder. Still, it has 
 a foul smell and taste, and is not conducive to health. 
 
 My mental powers had developed themselves late in life, not 
 from school years up, and their steadiness in many small matters 
 which make up character was still unsettled. Here I had to 
 forego entirely all intercourse with cultivated men. It happened 
 therefore, that the many labours, with insufficient nourishment, 
 weakened my body, and this affected my mental powers. My 
 thoughts began to turn to a confused melancholy. This may have 
 found expression in my writings. At all events the Wesleyan 
 missionary Creed at Waikouaiti, with whom I had been lost on 
 Banks Peninsula, and with whom I exchanged letters, remarked 
 it. He wrote to me that I had need of the recreation of a journey, 
 and I should come to him for a time. I felt myself a most earnest 
 desire, after I had been three and a-half years here all alone, once 
 more to meet cultivated Christian people. Accordingly, at the 
 end of the year 1847 I made the journey in an open Maori boat. 
 At that time, as there were no large vessels, the Maoris were not 
 afraid to make long sea voyages in their open boats. Sometimes 
 the waves were high, and it took great care and skill to steer the 
 boat over them. Every evening we landed at a place where 
 Maoris lived, and after staying a few days went further on until 
 at last we reached Waikouaiti. In such a manner in those 
 days journeys used to be undertaken the whole length of the 
 coast from place to place. At that time, with such a sparse 
 population, we considered everyone within a distance of 200 
 miles as neighbours. Since the European immigration our 
 acquaintance is limited to the immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 I was well taken care of by the amiable family of missionary 
 Creed, and I thought at first that my health, both of mind and 
 body, would be restored. I was, however, deceived. The 
 melancholy thought that 1 must leave this beautiful family life 
 and again enter upon my life's work at Ruapuke, where I must 
 take care of myself, and assist the Maori families in their 
 awakened desire for Christian life, prevented my health estab- 
 lishing itself. A helpmeet as wife, who like Martha, in Luke x.,
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 169 
 
 would be cumbered with much serving of Jesus and his poor 
 brethren, would be the right person in the right place. If I 
 seemed externally to be better the inward pain was far from 
 healed, when, after a stay of two months with the missionary 
 family, I returned to my settlement at Ruapuke. 
 
 When I was now alone in my hut, and all looked so desolate, 
 melancholy again nearly overcame me. I prayed till I recovered 
 courage. It was then clear to me that if I was to carry on the 
 necessary missionary work, it was impossible that at the same 
 time I should produce my own food, cook, wash, and preserve 
 cleanliness, so that my health might be maintained. I was 
 satisfied that our missionary society would send me the means for 
 my existence with pleasure, when God showed them the way. 
 Under these circumstances I made the important resolution to go 
 into debt. I had previously borrowed a little money from a man 
 on Stewart Island. I ought previously to have remarked that 
 letters of credit had been forwarded to me, from Hamburg, in 
 case German ships should come here. But no more ships came to 
 this desolate region of the earth the whales were destroyed 
 and no one here would accept the letters of credit. I went, 
 therefore, to the Irishman whom I have already named, and 
 made a contract with him to board me, promising to pay him 
 when I received money from Germany. I obtained a hut close 
 to his from the Maoris, which we soon made habitable. My 
 meals were now brought to me regularly three times a day. It 
 was rough country fare, not nearly as good as common people get 
 in Germany. Still, I gained strength, because I had no longer to 
 do cooking, washing, and such like labours. I could now 
 attend to my proper missionary work, as well here at Ruapuke 
 as on the neighbouring islands and the coast. Besides the 
 missionary labours, I occupied myself with study of the Maori 
 language in connection with the old mythology and heroic tales. 
 You cannot learn a foreign language in two or three "years so 
 thoroughly that you always place the right word in the right 
 place, which is very necessary for a correct understanding of it. 
 Such studies were pleasantly refreshing in the midst of my 
 labours as a missionary, and my natural cheerfulness returned.
 
 170 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 Letters from Inspector Brauer of the Missionary Society, in 
 Hamburg, informed me that I was not forgotten, which letters, 
 after long wanderings along the coast from Wellington, reached 
 me at Ruapuke. I was informed that assistants would shortly 
 be sent to me, and that the first, Brother Honore, would shortly be 
 sent out. From this I concluded, as a matter of course, that he 
 would bring some money with him, and that I should be able to 
 pay my debts, which began to trouble me more and more. 
 
 After a delay of four years, 1848 (so noteworthy in the 
 history of Europe), the New Zealand Company in England, in 
 connection with the Branch Society of the Free Church of Scot- 
 land, took up the settlement of Otago again, and ships with the 
 first emigrants arrived. Although 100 miles away the effects 
 were felt by us. Our Maoris often went there in boats, partly to 
 see what was going on, partly to get work and earn something, in 
 order to buy European clothes and household utensils, for the 
 desire for Christian manners the result of their conversion 
 made itself felt more and more. Connection with the civilized 
 world was thus restored to a certain extent. My old friend, Mr. 
 Tuckett, who now lived in London, sent me a supply of valuable 
 books ; also some tools, nails, and other things useful for building, 
 because he knew, although I was no mechanic, that I knew how 
 to use them, and he thought such things would be useful to raise 
 the Maoris in the social scale. He was right, but as long as I 
 was alone I had no time to make use of them. With conversion, 
 which was making a progress that filled me with joy, and which 
 resulted in many baptisms, a new spirit awoke in the Maori, 
 which made them willing to work for a civilized life. This was 
 especially noticeable amongst the women, amongst whom there 
 were indications of an ardent desire for a decent house and family 
 life. They observe this in the superior, but still very deficient, 
 family circles where a European parent ruled. 1 had little or no 
 skill to help the women. Moreover, an unmarried missionary 
 cannot entertain too close relations with the family circle of the 
 women. 
 
 At the end of 1848 Brother Honore arrived, without any 
 money. When 1 asked him how the missionary society could
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 171 
 
 possibly send him to New Zealand without any money, he replied 
 it was said in Hamburg that the New Zealand mission did not 
 cost any money, and for that reason the East Indian mission took 
 all they had. That was too much for me. So far, I had laid 
 little stress on the hardships I had suffered, because it is expected 
 that a missionary shall bear them. But that they should think, 
 because from the commencement I had been so careful in New 
 Zealand, and had suffered hardships for years, that, for that 
 reason, it should cost no money, whilst New Zealand is a very 
 expensive country to live in, that, certainly, made me feel very 
 bad. My displeasure may well have made itself felt in the letters 
 I wrote at the time and later on. 
 
 I know that missionaries are sent out, and do acceptable 
 work, too, with the understanding that they shall earn their own 
 living amongst the heathen. They must, however, go to a country 
 where this can be done ; but here in the raw uncivilized south of 
 New Zealand this could not be done, if one did not wish to become 
 as uncivilized as the natives. Here nothing could be earned and 
 nothing obtained in any other way. But other Europeans were 
 living here amongst the Maoris without receiving an income from 
 home ? Yes, but in an uncivilized way ; and could earn some- 
 thing by trade, for which a sea boat was necessary, and the skill 
 to handle it ; or at boatbuilding or sailmaking. I was a farmer, and 
 farming operations are not yet carried on here. 1 could have taken 
 up with such a life as the Pakeha Maoris lived (Europeans who 
 had become Maoris), and have pictured it to myself as follows: 
 Like other Europeans I should have to take a Maori 
 wife to cook and wash for me, and to work in the garden ; but as 
 I was too poor to give her suitable clothing, she would despair of 
 attaining a Christian condition of living, and would remain in a state 
 of savage filth. I should then have to see her going about with 
 one of my shirts on, and nothing over it, from under which her 
 dirty legs would present themselves ; her hair would be uncombed, 
 and she would either have a short pipe stuck in her mouth, black 
 with tobacco juice, or else have it stuck through her ear like an 
 ear-ring. Now, such a family life the friends of the mission would 
 hardly wish for me, even those who think that missionaries should
 
 172 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 live very cheaply and in a state of poverty. My missionary work 
 would be a very lame one, and no stability could be the result of 
 it. I could then have done nothing for the civilization of the 
 converted people, which must necessarily go hand in hand with the 
 progress of Christianity. Furthermore, 1 was in no way disposed 
 to lower myself to such a state of existence. If no other way of 
 life should present itself I would rather go to the north and hire 
 myself out for a time as a farm labourer. But it need not come 
 to that yet, for my faith that our missionary society would send 
 us help stood firm. My difficulty must be known to them, 
 especially as th^re was now a post office in Otago, and letters 
 were not so long; on the way. I knew nothing, however, of the 
 difficulties under which the Worth German Missionary Society 
 then laboured 
 
 As a preliminary, Brother Honore and I had to take our 
 meals from the Irishman, and every week got deeper and deeper 
 into debt. This could not go on for ever. We had now tools 
 sent from London by Mr. Tuckett, and went into the wood, felled 
 trees, sawed beams and boards, and built a new house. For this 
 district, where there were nothing but low huts, it was a stately 
 building. There were, however, many things wanting in it, which 
 in our ignorance of architecture we did not then understand. 
 Later on I came to see that a house is not sufficiently well built 
 if merely it does not topple over, but the danger of fire and the 
 conditions necessary to health must be carefully attended to. 
 Our house was wanting in both respects. We had to make our 
 chimney out of clay. Now, in low huts and in wide chimneys 
 clay is good enough ; but our house was high, and the chimneys 
 were, therefore, high and narrow, and when these cracked in drying 
 it could not always be noticed. Our floors were too close to the 
 earth, and that had the disadvantage that, with the heavy and 
 frequent rains of the district and the prevailing moisture, it was 
 detrimental to the health of the inhabitants. I can only look 
 back with inward grief on the time and labour lost in erecting 
 this building. 
 
 We lived in the new house, and as time went along the debt 
 became more and more pressing. Besides the cost of board, I had
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 173 
 
 borrowed some money from a man in Stewart Island. I had been 
 here five years already, and had received no proper support from 
 the Missionary Society. Brother Honore had brought me a little 
 underlinen and some simple clothing. Brother Heine, at Nelson, 
 had once sent me a o note. A Bremen ship had cashed my 
 acknowledgment for 7 which 1 had negotiated here. A letter 
 now arrived from the North German Missionary Society. It 
 contained an official direction from the Mecklenburg Church 
 congregation to ordain Brother Heine at Nelson. The German 
 congregation there located had chosen him as their pastor. That 
 so long a journey- over 500 miles from here cost money the 
 people in Germany appeared quite to have overlooked. Never- 
 theless, I undertook the journey, relying upon God, without any 
 money ; for, besides Heine's ordination, something had to be done 
 on my part to obtain support from the Missionary Society, and I 
 intended to try whether the German merchants in Nelson, where 
 we Germans were somewhat known, had sufficient * faith 
 to cash a draft for me/ The official direction to ordain Heine 
 may be, thought I, a fingerpost erected by God to show me the 
 way. " The counsel of the Lord is wonderful, and excellent in 
 working." 
 
 I went with a Maori boat to Otago, and lived there without 
 expense with the natives, which I could always do. From thence, 
 as opportunity offered, I went in a boat to Port Chalmers, the port 
 of Dunedin. In the post office at Port Chalmers 1 found two 
 letters for me. One was a Government letter, with the intimation 
 that the Government had made me registrar of births, deaths, and 
 marriages for the south. This was not of much importance, for 
 only Europeans came under the Act, and European settlers proper 
 there were not yet in our district. So far, the office was without 
 salary. Still, I took it for two reasons. One was 
 because I loved the Governor and recognised that his intention 
 was kindly (he knew how to value a missionary in a homeless 
 region), and, secondly, because the office gave me a position 
 amongst foreigners as an official Paul knew how to make use of 
 
 o o ~_ 
 
 his position as a Roman citizen. The other letter was from my 
 old friend in London, Mr. Tuckett, and contained the news that
 
 174 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 he had sent me a flour mill, which could be driven by oxen. His 
 intention was very kind, but the mill came too soon, for so far we 
 had neither corn nor oxen. Besides, the mill could not be sent in 
 an open boat to Ruapuke. Still the consignment, in the difficulties 
 under which I then laboured, was very welcome, for I saw that I 
 could turn it into money in the city of Dunedin, to which place 
 the mill had already been forwarded. 
 
 At Port Chalmers there were no natives, I had, therefore, to 
 live in a hotel till an opportunity offered of going to Dunedin by 
 boat. As I had no money, and did not wish to let my poverty be 
 known (for fear I should be taken for a swindler), I asked the 
 landlord to take care of my little baggage till I returned from 
 Dunedin. Payment for my board could thus remain outstanding. 
 At Dunedin (at that time an unimportant place with a few small 
 wooden houses, now it is a large city) I soon found a buyer for 
 my mill, who gave me 40 for it (less than it cost) and a free 
 passage to Wellington in his vessel. Now, the first difficulty of 
 want of money was overcome. 
 
 When the need is sorest, 
 
 God's goodness at its best 
 
 Is then most clearly seen. 
 
 At last, it must appear, 
 
 God's hand His own doth lead 
 
 In wondrous way and blesses all their need. 
 
 Of course I wrote at once to Mr. Tuckett explaining the circum- 
 stances under which I had been obliged to sell the mill. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MY HELPMEET. 
 
 JN Dunedin I lived as the guest of the chief surveyor, Mr. 
 Kettle, whose acquaintance I had previously made on my 
 journey to Waikouaiti. I found that my name was 
 otherwise well known here. I received invitations from Captain 
 Cargill, the superintendent of the settlement (after whom our 
 provincial city, Invercargill, in the south, is named), and from 
 the pastor, Dr. Burns (nephew of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns,
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 175 
 
 of world-wide fame). The pastor showed me copies in his book 
 of baptismal and marriage certificates given by me to half-caste 
 families who then belonged to my wide district, but now to his. 
 
 From Dunedin I soon went back to Port Chalmers, paid the 
 landlord, put my baggage on board ship, and then went overland 
 to visit missionary Creed at Waikouaiti, as the vessel was to 
 call there on her journey to Wellington. Mrs. Creed gave me a 
 sealed letter to her friends at Wellington. I thought, possibly, it 
 might be such a letter as David sent concerning Uriah, which 
 might possibly not put my life in danger, but might jeopardize 
 my previous hermit-like life. Arrived in Wellington I met 
 Brother Wolkner, who had been sent out by our Missionary Society 
 as assistant to Brother Riemenschnieder, and was now on the 
 road to meet him. (After a time he joined the Anglican Church, 
 and later suffered the death of a martyr at the hands of the 
 natives.) 
 
 From him I learnt that our North German Missionary 
 Society had undergone a great change, and that the management 
 had been shifted from Hamburg to Bremen. I could not remain 
 long in Wellington this time, because it was of great importance 
 to me to learn whether I could obtain money in Nelson against 
 bills of exchange from merchants who were known to me, for on 
 that depended the future existence of our mission at Kuapuke. 
 
 The town of Nelson during my five years' absence had not 
 altered much, it still looked like a village ; but the progress in 
 the adjacent farming country was much greater. The Mouterie 
 district, where we had attempted to establish ourselves, was at 
 first given up as being too remote. The nearer Waimea Plain, 
 which was a wilderness before, was now changed into cornfields 
 and homesteads. The brothers Kelling, from the Mecklenburgh 
 district, had a fine farm in full swing. A few of the German 
 labourers possessed their own allotments others were on the way 
 to acquire them. Most of the German mechanics lived in the 
 city, and in worldly circumstances were in a similar position to 
 those of mechanics in small towns in Germany. 
 
 All, both the citizens in the towns as well as the labourers in 
 the country, had ample supplies of provisions in their houses, so
 
 176 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 that their emigration had certainly very much improved their 
 circumstances. 
 
 Some of our German residents here had come out with us, 
 and were, therefore, old friends ; the others had arrived in another 
 ship during my absence. They were all from Mecklenburgh, and 
 for that reason the Mecklenburgh congregation had sent me the 
 power to ordain a pastor for them. The ordination took place in 
 the city of Nelson, and all the Germans attended the service. 
 My friend, Mr. Tuckett, already often mentioned, who had 
 formerly lived here, had relinquished his roomy dwelling house 
 to the German congregation. There was a large hall in it, where 
 tables for drawing field charts on had previously stood. This hall 
 was well adapted for use as a church, and the surrounding rooms 
 for dwelling-rooms for the pastor. The Germans were about to 
 build a public building in the country, to serve both for school and 
 church. 
 
 The bond of union amongst the Germans was the church ; 
 in other relations they were on the road towards blending with 
 their neighbours the other inhabitants of the British Islands. 
 
 Nelson, which lies in a deep gap between high mountains, 
 has always remained a sleepy place. Even later, when it became 
 the capital of a province, it manifested so little political life that 
 it received the nickname of sleepy hollow all over New Zealand. 
 Is it possible that the German admixture may have been con- 
 ducive to the political quiet of the place ? 
 
 At home I have occasionally heard people who have never 
 been actual foreigners express displeasure that Germans in 
 foreign countries so soon neglect both their German language and 
 manners, and assume both the language and customs of the 
 foreigners. That is true in New Zealand, but not only Germans 
 do it, but others do the same, and I have been acquainted with 
 many foreigners who have come from different countries and 
 peoples. Yet I am certain they are right. Why should they 
 always be considered and treated by their neighbours as strangers, 
 which must be the case as long as they shut themselves up in 
 exclusiveness ? If, on the other hand, they adopt the language and 
 customs of the country including the more solemn keeping of the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 177 
 
 Sabbath they are all considered and treated as comrades and 
 citizens of the country. The inward German feelings of the 
 heart are not extinguished in the first generation. They may 
 remain true to their home Church convictions if they are numerous 
 enough to form a congregation. This gives no offence in New 
 Zealand, because no denomination has any preference all have 
 equal rights. They must not, however, take upon themselves to 
 look down upon those of other opinions or condemn them. As 
 long as the first generation liA r es it may be well, too, to hold public 
 divine service in the German language, but following generations 
 will better understand and prefer the language of the country. 
 
 I remember in my childhood to have learnt in my Hanoverian 
 catechism, under the head of Patriotism, " How ought we to 
 regard it if we earn our subsistence in another country?" 
 Answer : " Then we ought to look upon it as our second Fatherland, 
 and we owe the same love to it as if it were our own Fatherland." 
 " Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be 
 carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it : for in the 
 peace thereof shall ye have peace." (Jer. xxix., 7.) 
 
 After the business in Nelson was done, included in which was 
 the marrying of Pastor Heine to a German maiden, and I had 
 drawn money against bills of exchange (I believe about 75), I 
 commenced my return journey to Wellington. In Wellington I 
 had the pleasure of meeting Brother Riemenschneider, who, as 
 he had heard of me through Brother Wolkner, had gone there to 
 meet me. He had waited for me for a few days, and had, 
 therefore, soon to start on his return journey. I lived with 
 Mr. Watkin, superintendent of several Wesleyan communities 
 here. He had but little room in his house because he had a 
 numerous family, but as he had previously been a missionary 
 himself (in the Fiji Islands), he knew that a missionary did not 
 think much of sleeping on the floor without bed or bedstead, 
 indeed, he much prefers it to sleeping in a public house. 
 
 How wonderfully the influences which the children of men 
 exercise on one another come round again ! One evening, when 
 the superintendent and I were sitting in his study before the fire 
 (it was Winter), and were comfortably smoking our pipes, the
 
 178 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 conversation turned on the subject of how God had led me to 
 be a missionary. I told how, before I knew anything about 
 missions, leaflets on the subject had come into my hands through 
 the intervention of God. The first article which 1 had read made 
 such an impression on me that I could still repeat the contents 
 after many years. It was translated from the English, and the 
 subject was the heathen in Fiji. I did this because he asked 
 after it with so much attention. And now it appeared that he 
 had written the article himself. 
 
 Another incident which took place here, and was of importance 
 to our mission station at Ruapuke and the district, must not be 
 passed by. Christianity can condescend to the sunken heathen, 
 but, and it may well be noted, not to allow them to remain in 
 their filthy condition, but in order to elevate them into civilized 
 human beings. The desire of becoming such was noticeable amongst 
 the converts at Ruapuke, especially amongst the women who 
 desired better circumstances for their families. I had often 
 supplied help and advice, but I had not the skill to do so ; Honore 
 just the same. For what can unmarried men do amongst the affairs 
 of women and those of a family ? A skilful and suitable wife for 
 a missionary was, therefore, a necessity for our mission station. 1 
 was already thirty-eight years of age, and no longer of a 
 disposition to make love in a tender fashion. A marriage 
 such as that of Isaac in Syria with Rebecca, and with the 
 same sacred intentions, was more in accordance with the 
 circumstances. 
 
 In the 10th chapter of Luke there is a beautiful story of two 
 sisters. One, Mary, loves quiet contemplation, sits at the feet of 
 Jesus, and listens to His speech. The other, Martha, was cumbered 
 with much serving of Him, probably with a little impatience, which 
 may well be forgiven to such natures. Such impatience, even 
 if sometimes untimely as it was then, is occasionally wholesome 
 in the way of equalizing different dispositions. Now, such a 
 woman with a character like that of Martha, which would find 
 its proper occupation here, I had already longed for as a wife. 
 There are always such women to be found in Christendom, who 
 always find plenty to do because it is their heartfelt desire to serve
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 179 
 
 Christ in the person of His meanest brethren. With such a one I 
 became acquainted in Wellington. She was a young cultivated 
 widow (an Englishwoman), without children, and without relations 
 in New Zealand, and she had already had experience in dealing 
 with the Maoris, and knew their language. Her name was Elise 
 Palmer. I could give her a sphere of operations, and that was my 
 dowry. 
 
 On visiting the house in which she lived, 1 was reminded of 
 the above-named marriage of Isaac with Rebecca. A small maid 
 of the house showed me a picture I know not whether it was 
 childish innocence or a roguish trick, which it might later, perhaps, 
 have been considered to be and asked me if it was not pretty ? 
 The picture represented Rebecca when she was being asked (it 
 was written underneath), " Will you go with this man ?" She 
 replies, " I will go with him." 
 
 Elise Palmer was a friend of the wife of missionary Creed at 
 Waikouaiti, and it was by her the proposal of marriage was intro- 
 duced. Wlien I made the proposal, she replied that we knew so 
 little of one another, that the suggestion had not sprung from our 
 own inclinations, but had been made by others. " Then," said I, " it 
 is said good marriages are arranged by the angels in heaven, 
 and Mrs. Creed is as good as an angel." That had the desired 
 effect. 
 
 In order to get married I had to have a certificate from the 
 registrar. The registrar-general, to whom the sub-registrars have 
 to send quarterly returns, was in Wellington. As I was appointed 
 registrar for the south, and came to him for my certificate of 
 marriage, it gave him a suitable opportunity to show me how to 
 prepare the ofiicial papers and keep the register of my district. 
 It is true that in my district there were so far no registrations, 
 because immigration had not yet extended that far (which, 
 however, might soon happen), still, as I was an official, the 
 expenses of my certificate were remitted to me, and every saving 
 was an important matter. 
 
 After a few days our betrothal was concluded by marriage 
 by Superintendent Watkin. We then went on board the ship, 
 where our luggage had previously been taken, which lay ready to
 
 180 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 sail, and at once started for Otago. The vessel was going on the 
 business of the New Zealand Company, and Mr. Fox, the chief 
 agent of the company, gave us a free passage in her, which again 
 was a saving. 
 
 In two days we landed in Otago, and as for a time there was 
 no opportunity to go to Ruapuke, we sailed in a Maori boat to 
 Waikouaiti to visit the Creed family of Wesleyan missionaries. 
 Mrs. Creed did not take it ill of me that I had called her a 
 good angel. 
 
 On 1st December we landed at Ruapuke. It was already the 
 custom in all missionary stations in New Zealand to address the 
 wives of the missionaries with the English name mother. My 
 wife was accordingly addressed by the title of " mother " the 
 mother of the community. 
 
 At first the housewife had enough to do to arrange our house, 
 and introduce a respectable method of life, and I had much to do 
 in the community at Ruapuke, from which I had long been absent. 
 The tone of the community had become a Christian one, although 
 the baptized people were still in a minority. These had sought 
 and received baptism from a fervent desire of the heart, and formed 
 the better class. It could not but happen that others, who had 
 no real hearty desire for the " Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
 ness," still preferred to belong to the better class, and were willing 
 to forsake their heathenish ways and confess the Christian faith. 
 Later on, when it came to be dishonourable to be a heathen, it 
 could not be prevented that unworthy people were sometimes 
 baptized. Still, no open sins were permitted either by the teachers 
 or the community ; in fact, the community was much more severe 
 in the matter of Church discipline than we were, because we would 
 rather bear with the weak ones with love and kindness, which the 
 community did not understand. They were still young converts, 
 and had not put on, " as the elect of God holy and beloved, bowels 
 of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering." 
 Both the severity of the community and the gentleness of the 
 teachers had its advantages, which I did not then see, for I some- 
 times rebuked the community because they scared away and drove 
 into the wilderness those erring sheep whom Jesus would willingly
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 181 
 
 seek and bring back, and they were thus liable to be devoured by 
 wolves. The punishment was a temporary exclusion from all 
 religious services (resolved upon by the community), and it was in 
 the unanimous feeling of the community a disgraceful punishment, 
 which was very much feared. When I look back upon the time 
 when the feelings were still hard and rough, I can well see that 
 the severe earnestness of the community was a wholesome 
 discipline, and had the effect of making the weak ones careful. 
 At the same time the fallen ones knew that they had an advocate 
 in me, who could command the respect of the community, and thus 
 they learnt what love was, and with touched hearts could turn to 
 the Heavenly Advocate, Jesus Christ. 
 
 Three months after my return I made a round journey in my 
 missionary cutter, and visited all the scattered places on the coast 
 of Stewart Island and the mainland. There was plenty to do in 
 all places, to lift up the fallen, to strengthen the weak ones, to 
 admonish the faithful, and instruct the applicants for baptism, 
 and I then concluded with the sacrament of baptism. After a 
 month's absence I came back to Ruapuke. It was the day before 
 Easter, 1850, and on the evening of Easter day our house caught 
 fire, the one which Honore and I had built with so much trouble 
 the year before. The chimney, which was built of clay, had 
 cracked in drying, and with a dry wind and a strong draught 
 the sparks had set fire to the woodwork of the house. Whilst we 
 endeavoured to extinguish the fire, which was impossible, we lost 
 the time to save our things. Everything was lost, including all 
 my books and papers. For a time we had to suffer great priva- 
 tions, but these troubled me less than the pain in my conscience. 
 I was to blame for the misfortune. I had built the chimney. I 
 should have thought of the danger of fire when I was building. 
 All our labour and trouble and all our belongings were lost. My 
 wife and Honore had to suffer for my blunder in building. That 
 no reflections were cast on me made my pain so much the deeper. 
 Even yet I cannot look back upon the time without shuddering. 
 No description of our sufferings may, therefore, be expected. 
 The dear God made our trial so light that it was bearable. 
 Brother Honore and I built another house, but not so high as the
 
 182 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 first one. We made the chimney so wide that any cracks in the 
 clay could be seen whilst it was drying. In time plentiful help 
 came from Bremen, where the management of the mission station 
 was now situated. Trade between Europe and New Zealand 
 increased, and it was easier to help us. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A BATTLE FOE CTJLTTTRE. 
 
 JT has already been remarked that the converted Maoris 
 were far from being able to attain the holiness of 
 Christianity and the life of Christian morality to 
 the same extent as those who are converted under the old 
 Christendom. Still there was just as great a change for the better 
 from their savage and sunken condition as was the case with 
 converted Christians who had been brought up in Christian ways. 
 The results of conversion amongst the Maoris showed itself in a 
 desire that was awakened in them to resemble Christians in their 
 manners of life. It is true this was impossible to the older ones, 
 but the younger generation were capable of cultivation. A 
 beginning had to be made in the family life, and there there 
 was room for improvement. Now my wife took the matter in 
 hand. 
 
 Let us take a look at the conditions of family life. Of 
 cleanliness in household matters there was not the faintest trace. 
 If the husband was absent it was considered good manners for the 
 wife not to wash herself. She then became so abominably dirty 
 that it would be an insult to a pig if one had said she looks like 
 a pig. It was considered a virtue that she should not wash 
 herself to meet anyone else but her husband. All smoked tobacco. 
 The whalers had introduced the custom. Men and women, boys 
 and girls, all smoked short clay pipes as long as they could get 
 tobacco, on which they were very intent. Even sucklings began 
 to draw smoke through their mothers' pipes. It must also be 
 remarked that children were often not weaned until they were
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 183 
 
 four to six years old, and then no longer lay in their mothers' 
 arms, but stood upright on their sides. In the degradation into 
 which the Maoris had fallen the mothers had lost even the courage 
 to wean their children. For that reason, and on account of the 
 incessant tobacco-smoking and other impurities and deficient 
 nourishment, they had very few children. They dared not punish 
 the children, no matter how disobedient and naughty they were, 
 because the parents in their then heathenish, brutal condition, were 
 liable to such fits of rage, especially when other people interfered, 
 that it often ended in their striking them dead. 
 
 If a child was sick the parents would not let it sleep, because 
 they thought it could be kept alive by constant waking. In 
 such a way many a sick child was shaken to death, and then 
 complaint was made that the mother, from want of watchfulness, 
 had allowed the devil to steal the child. At first, before I under- 
 stood their meaning, I understood the complaint according to our 
 Christian ideas that the mother had not been watchful in prayer. 
 I then endeavoured to excuse and comfort her by saying that it 
 was not the devil had stolen her children, but the dear God had 
 taken them to Himself in heaven, and that, when they went to 
 heaven after death, they would find the child still living there. 
 This was a consolation to the mother ; but I found it was not want 
 of watchfulness in prayer, but negligence in not shaking the child 
 enough they complained of. 
 
 One morning, after my wife had undertaken the superin- 
 tendence of the manners and customs of the female part of this 
 little world, a man came to us and said his little child was 
 dying. My wife and I at once went. In the house we found 
 a circle of old women who were helping the mother to shake the 
 child that it might not fall asleep. In this way they thought 
 the breath of life might be retained. My wife at once took 
 the sick child to herself, and sat down with it, and com- 
 manded silence in the house. No loud word was spoken, 
 no sound made. The sick child soon fell into a gentle slumber. 
 Now, everybody thought it would die; still none dared to 
 dispute the command of my wife. She remained there the 
 whole day nursing the child. In the evening it was better, and
 
 184 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLERS. 
 
 she could give it back to the mother, with strict injunctions not 
 to interfere with its natural sleep. This sick child later on grew 
 into a strong man. 
 
 There were more of similar delusions, arising, perhaps, from 
 their previous degradation and the process of entering upon a new 
 life. My wife, therefore, found plenty to do in introducing 
 enlightened Christian ways into the family habits and household 
 customs. There was plenty to do to make a beginning, to 
 introduce something like comfort into the huts, and to bring 
 the clothing of the women and children into order. This was not 
 only necessary for the sake of appearance, but for the sake of 
 health ; for in the transition from heathendom to Christianity, 
 and the passage from savagery to civilization, the children 
 were at one time covered with too warm rags, and at another 
 left exposed to the weather without any. 
 
 Of course the bad inherited customs could not be got rid 
 of at once. It took much labour and patience, but " Cast not 
 away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense 
 of reward ; for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have 
 done the will of God, ye might receive the promise (Heb. x., 
 35, 36). 
 
 The community houses, in which everyone could sit and sleep, 
 and where there was a very disorderly method of lying about, 
 fell into disuse, because each family built a small hut, in which 
 a commencement towards cleanliness and order could be made. 
 These new houses were very easily built, and only lasted a few 
 years ; but this was of no consequence, as from time to time better 
 buildings were made. 
 
 We now began to grow corn. Rye was not adapted for our 
 climate and soil. The straw grew as tall as a man, and the ears 
 were a foot long, but they contained only a few shrivelled grains. 
 Wheat, on the other hand, throve very well. At first we cultivated 
 only with spade and hoe ; later on we had first-class implements. 
 My valued old friend in London, Mr. Tuckett, with whom I always 
 continued to correspond, took an active interest in the Christian 
 civilization of the Maoris, and sent us a valuable two-wheeled cart, 
 ploughs, harrows, two hand-mills, and the necessary power for
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F, H. WOHLER8. 185 
 
 driving them either with oxen or water. We had previously 
 broken in some oxen, and accustomed the young ones to the 
 draught from youth upwards. 
 
 The Maoris were, it is true, willing to work for advance in 
 civilization, but when they saw the heavy agricultural implements 
 and heard the whirr of the machinery driven by oxen, they thought 
 it was going a little too far. Men who could sail their boats on 
 the high seas work with oxen ! This was too much for their high 
 pride. We had a great deal of prejudice to overcome and a 
 great many matters to explain. The chiefs, too, were secretly 
 afraid that the inferior men would become their equals. Indeed, 
 if the chiefs had not become Christians themselves and experienced 
 the strength of Jesus Christ in their hearts, the battle for civiliza- 
 tion would have been lost. 
 
 When, later, horses were introduced, they all took great 
 pleasure in riding. The men considered it as manly as sailing 
 boats, and the women became good riders. 
 
 Only a few of the men could overcome their distaste to 
 working with oxen, but they were all willing to work with spade 
 and hoe. After a few years we had extensive wheat fields in 
 Ruapuke, and it was a pleasure to see men, women, and children 
 alt employed in the fields, sometimes at the harvest, sometimes at 
 the threshing. The corn was ground in the mills already mentioned. 
 The girls had long ago learnt to milk cows, so there was now bread, 
 milk, and butter in the houses, food which had previously been 
 unattainable. The standard of health began to improve, the births 
 to increase, the deaths to diminish. Soon more produce was raised 
 on the island than could be used, and an important export of potatoes 
 and carrots took place. There was good sale for these on the 
 opposite coast, to which the first settlers from Otago had already 
 come. The money received was of great use to our Maoris to 
 enable them to buy clothes and necessary household utensils. 
 JRuapuke was the central point from which these advances in 
 industry and manners radiated, but they extended to the scattered 
 villages elsewhere, as visitors often came from thence to look at 
 the new mode of life, and took back with them a desire to copy 
 it. Still, Ruapuke was so much in advance of the other places
 
 186 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 that it was likened to Egypt, inasmuch as there was always 
 corn there. 
 
 The children were not allowed to smoke tobacco any more, 
 or be naughty in other ways. If chastisement was necessary the 
 infliction of it was committed to me. This was done so con- 
 scientiously that children over whose heads a punishment was 
 hanging submitted themselves to it willingly, because they 
 preferred rather to bear the short smart on the back than the 
 trouble in their consciences any longer. Such chastisements were 
 always accompanied by loving admonitions, and the result of 
 them was a love that still continues in their breasts, although 
 they have long since become men and women. 
 
 If my wife went out to visit a village, as soon as she was 
 noticed a cry arose, " Mother comes," and every housewife at once 
 seized her broom and began to sweep her house and place her few 
 things in order, so as to be able to stand inspection. This was a 
 considerable advance on what 1 have previously noticed namely, 
 that for a long time the Maoris could not understand the good 
 custom of washing themselves and cleaning their houses on the 
 occasion of the visit of a missionary, as was done in those 
 families where there "was an European head. 
 
 All growing girls, one after another, learnt household duties 
 in our house, which all of them ardently desired to do. Once a 
 little girl asked to be taken in, and when the request was refused, 
 because the house was full, she crept under the table, held on to the 
 leg of it, and said she would not go, and we were obliged to let her 
 stay. The children became so much attached to us and our ways, 
 that some Maori mothers used to say that their children no longer 
 belonged to them, but others used to say " What would become of 
 our children if the missionaries were not here." We generally had 
 ten or twelve of them in the house. Every day, with other 
 children, they had two hours' instruction, the rest of the time they 
 helped, partly in the house, partly in the garden and the field. A 
 girl drove and lead the oxen, while I held the plough. For so large 
 a household we had to work to bring food out of the earth. We 
 could not manage so well with the boys, because their inclinations 
 were for the sea, and as soon as they were old enough they
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 187 
 
 became sailors. The girls, however, did not consider it beneath 
 them to occupy themselves with the oxen as the men did. They 
 made good drivers, and the Maoris found it astonishingly con- 
 venient to have the things they used to bear on their backs 
 carried for them. 
 
 Once we went to the wood to get firewood. Close by was an 
 old Maori occupied in his potato patch. It was old Titus, on the 
 subject of whose baptism Brother Honore had formerly written 
 to the committee (and his report was published). It was not 
 enough for him that he should renounce the stated heathenish 
 manners and superstition with a simple "Yes," but he declared out 
 loud " I utterly renounce all these things." And when he was 
 asked, in accordance with the confession of faith, if he would be 
 baptized in this faith, a simple "Yes" was again not enough for him, 
 but he said " I will be baptized into this faith." Now old Titus 
 was busy in his garden, and as we drove close by and began to 
 load up firewood he sat down to look at us. He had never seen a 
 cart before, and being an old man he recollected the old heathenish 
 time before there were any European novelties introduced. The 
 load got higher and wider, almost larger than a Maori house. 
 Old Titus looked on wondering. At last, when we started to 
 drive away with it carefully, up he jumped and laughed and 
 danced till the woods rang. 
 
 The church services were attended by all who could go with 
 the heartiest goodwill, and those who could not go consoled 
 themselves with the sound of the bell, which summoned the 
 devout ones to church. Children were confirmed, and many of 
 the grown people were communicants. Naturally, unpleasant- 
 nesses sometimes arose, for we had to do, not with holy angels, 
 but with sinful men, yet inexperienced in Christian life and 
 conversation. But the progress made was refreshing. 
 
 So I think now in the evening of my life, when I look back 
 upon that time of youth, and overlooking the weaknesses, see only 
 the bright side. At that time I did not find it so enjoyable. I 
 lived and moved in the work, and knew it thoroughly, and in all 
 things I saw imperfection, failings, and sin. With sinful men it 
 always looks so. It also happened that the many labours
 
 188 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 absorbed all ray strength, and with the exhaustion of body and 
 mind I was more disposed to look on the dark than the light side 
 of things. Brother Honore found his field of labour on Stewart 
 Island. I had to perform divine service, teach the school at 
 Ruapuke, and attend to the spiritual welfare of the people, and 
 besides that daily undertake hard manual labour. You cannot get 
 a mechanic here as at home, and if anything is broken you have to 
 repair it yourself. Let nobody at home think that if anyone of the 
 artisan class wishes to become a missionary he does it in order to 
 lead a comfortable life. The opposite is the case. In his 
 isolation such a missionary thinks but little of outward hardships 
 and internal denials. He feels that he is fulfilling his calling and 
 has full contentment in Jesus Christ, as now all the talents which 
 God has given are in full use, which in his former cramped state, 
 hemmed in on all sides by laws written and unwritten, could not be 
 the case. 
 
 I did not then know that the willingness of the Maori was to 
 be attributed to the fresh zeal of a recent conversion, and that 
 when the fire of new spiritual light, ignited by conversion to 
 Christianity, in time burnt more dimly, worldliness would mingle 
 with progress in civilization. Communities in old Christendom, 
 amongst which revivals have taken place, have to go through 
 similar experiences. 
 
 Our North German Missionary Society was willing to help 
 our Maoris in their advance towards civilization. At my suggestion 
 they sent us artisans, whose passage money they paid, but who 
 had to maintain themselves on arrival. First came a young shoe- 
 maker. He found plenty of work, and payment for it. Besides 
 his shoemaker's shop he built a little tannery. Cattle were being 
 slaughtered here, so there was no lack of hides ; and the bark of 
 an indigenous tree of the beech kind made very good tan bark. 
 The good result induced me to send for more artisans. A married 
 carpenter was sent who could do mason work as well. I thought 
 the Maoris would be able to get better buildings, because the 
 houses they built for themselves were leaky and crazy. Here I 
 made a great mistake. The Maoris could now and then pay for 
 a new pair of shoes, and have the old ones mended, but when it
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 189 
 
 came to building a new house in a workmanlike way, it cost so 
 much more than a pair of shoes that they were far from rich 
 enough to be able to afford it. In order to support his wife the 
 carpenter was placed under the necessity of doing other kinds of 
 labour. This grieved me, and I, therefore, willingly gave my 
 consent to his going across to the mainland, where there were 
 already European settlements, and carpenters were in request. 
 
 An agricultural labourer, who was sent out to relieve me of 
 the exhausting manual labour, and also to instruct the Maoris in 
 agriculture, wrote to me from Otago, where he had landed, that 
 he was offered three or four times as much wages as he had 
 received in Bremen, and requested me to release him from his 
 engagement, if he would return the passage money. Of course I 
 released him, as, under the circumstances, his service at Ruapuke 
 would have been an unwilling one. Our shoemaker no longer felt 
 himself comfortable on the lonely island amongst the natives, when 
 good work was available for mechanics on the mainland; and, 
 besides that, our Maoris, who often made journeys across in their 
 boats, could easily get foot-wear there. All these people, as well 
 as their relatives who came after them, have made a good living 
 in the south of New Zealand. 
 
 The Maoris take little interest in matters from which they do 
 not see that they derive much advantage, but they are so much 
 the closer observers of everything that may be of use to them. A 
 few had learnt to mend old shoes ; others could saw boards and 
 build simple little houses ; we could, therefore, do without our 
 artisans. Their presence and labours were not without advantages 
 as an incitement to copy them, and our Maoris made progress from 
 year to year. 
 
 The gospel of Christ was introduced at the time of Christ 
 taking the form of a man by miracle by miracles which were 
 adapted for the persons with whom he was then associated. Such 
 miracles are no longer adapted for our time, but there is yet a 
 divine miracle-working power in Christianity. Is it not a miracle, 
 when before our eyes wild stinking heathen and cannibals, by means 
 of conversion to Christianity, and just because through it they 
 have experienced the power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
 
 190 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H, WOHLERS. 
 
 in their hearts, become from inwards outwards civilized men, and 
 can now step into the ranks of the civilized people ? 
 
 " Give thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to 
 be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light : Who hath 
 delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us 
 into the kingdom of His dear Son : in Whom we have redemption 
 through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Col. i., 12, 
 13, 14.) 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ADVANCES AND CHANGES. 
 
 HE previous chapter embraces a space of about ten years 
 ^J from 1850 to 1860. At the beginning of this time the 
 people came to church unwashed and uncombed. The 
 dresses were various, but not elegant. It was a time of transition 
 from Maori to European customs. It attracted no attention if a 
 man went to church with merely a shirt and waistcoat and nothing 
 else. At the end of this time this would not be allowed to happen. 
 All came washed and combed, in clean and respectable European 
 attire. If some clothes were patched, it was done neatly, and it 
 did not look at all bad if the patches were of a variety of colours. 
 The dwellings were so constructed that cleanliness and respect- 
 ability could be maintained in them. The cooking, too, was done 
 in a civilized manner. The standard of health had been so far 
 raised that the birth rate was higher than the death rate. 
 
 The following space of time, in which our previously wild 
 Maoris emerged from the low scale of society in which they had 
 so shortly before lived and became fit to rank with Europeans, 
 will soon bring my recollections to a close. 
 
 Keligious and social advances continued to go on in a quiet 
 way, but neither old nor young could forget that in their uncivilized 
 life they had far less to do, whilst now they had to be constantly 
 at work. The old ones were, and naturally remained, narrow 
 in their spiritual conceptions; for that reason they paid more 
 attention to the form of religion than to a free spirit of inward
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 191 
 
 piety. A younger generation, better instructed and with wider 
 views, now grew up, but in them more worldliness appeared than 
 real piety. A taste for cleanliness and neatness soon expanded 
 into a love of fine clothes and new fashions. New pleasures were 
 introduced namely, a love of music and riding. The women, 
 too, were very good riders. This might well be considered 
 innocent pleasure ; still, the thoughts became worldly, necessary 
 labour was often neglected, and hardly-earned money could have 
 been better spent than on gaudy ornaments. But still the world- 
 liness of the young people, with Christian life and conduct, was far 
 preferable to the early uncleanness and ignorance of the old people. 
 As I have just mentioned dancing, I am reminded that so far 
 I have said nothing of the old heathen Maori dance. It appears 
 all nations dance. It must, therefore, be implanted in human 
 nature, just as music, poetry, and other human gifts are. The 
 principal dance among the heathen Maori was the war dance. 
 If an open battle was to be fought (a different thing from a 
 treacherous ambush), when the armies were opposed to one 
 another they endeavoured to raise their spirits by a song and 
 rythmic movements. The song became louder and the movements 
 more vigorous, but always keeping true time, till their courage 
 rose to madness. Then the armies rushed on one another in mad 
 rage, and a furious slaughter was the result. Such battles were 
 mostly of short duration. Here in the south, on my arrival, only 
 the friendly dance for pleasure was in use. Still, this was akin 
 to the war dance. Women could take part in it ; arms and breast 
 were bare. It began with a movement of the arms and head, to 
 the accompaniment of a low song. So far, there was a certain 
 grace in it. Soon the song became loud and harsh ; the move- 
 ments were more vigorous, and extended over the whole body, 
 whilst the features were dreadfully distorted. Sounds were 
 produced by slapping and striking the naked arms and breast with 
 the hands, similar to those which would be made in throwing 
 deadly weapons at an enemy. They made a gurgling and rattling 
 in the throat, such as fallen enemies might make. The whole 
 ended in loud laughter. In Christian times such dances were no 
 longer used. The European settlers were accustomed to dance,
 
 192 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 and the Maoris, when they had an opportunity, looked on, and 
 were pressed to join in the dance, which they did, and thus learnt. 
 Young men who had served as sailors and seen foreign cities 
 brought back simple musical instruments with them, on which 
 they could play a little. In this way the European dance was 
 introduced into the Maori villages, and performed by both sexes 
 with appropriate modesty. 
 
 I have already said there was an export of wheat and 
 potatoes from our little island. Later on that of cattle and riding 
 horses was added to it, which were taken away by coasting 
 schooners to the European settlers. Still, this could not go on for 
 ever, for as new farming operations were entered upon on the 
 opposite coast our Maoris could not compete with the experienced 
 Europeans, and their products found, therefore, less sale. Still 
 the export, as long as it lasted, had to a certain extent set our 
 Maoris on their legs. We had, therefore, to look around for other 
 branches of industry. For a time wheat was still grown for our 
 own use, but in the course of time even this was given up. 
 Inhabitants of small islands always by nature prefer the sea to 
 the land, and those of Ruapuke made no exception. Inconsequence 
 of this it happened that every Autumn a great many young fat 
 mutton birds were caught on the many uninhabited islands of this 
 district. These were preserved and were in great request 
 amongst the Maoris living in the north, as there are none there. 
 In the early times our southern Maoris could only send a few in 
 their open boats, and that not without danger. But now all along 
 the coast there were European settlements, and little vessels went 
 from place to place, and goods could be safely sent by the 
 merchants. The Maoris, therefore, found it much more convenient 
 to salt down a large quantity of these mutton birds and send them 
 north, receiving for them in exchange either money or money's 
 worth in flour, sugar, and such like, than with great labour to raise 
 wheat and grind it in their mill. Industry and co-operation found 
 thus its equivalent. 
 
 The island of Ruapuke, on account of its many rocks and 
 boulders which lie in all directions, is but poorly adapted for the 
 plough. On the other hand, the soil (granite formation), when the
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 193 
 
 heights and flats are cleared of the wild growth and sown with 
 good grasses and clover, is well adapted for grazing. For 
 rearing cattle the Maoris showed little inclination. This industry 
 could, therefore, not be carried on to advantage. Rearing sheep 
 might answer better, for these sensible creatures want here but 
 little supervision, as they cannot run away from the island, and 
 there are here no savage animals, and there is no proper Winter. 
 When I came back from a journey, during which I had some 
 dealings with European settlers, I brought as a present for my 
 daughter, then a little child, a few lambs as playthings for her. 
 These soon grew to sheep and did so well that their number doubled 
 every year. In a few years there was, therefore, a flock in view. 
 Still, it was not wise and good that I, as pastor, should keep a flock 
 of sheep here, as not a foot of land belonged to me. I advised the 
 Maoris to buy sheep from the Europeans and bring them across. 
 I should have preferred the whole island commonage to be devoted 
 to it, everyone holding according to his ability. But the common 
 people had little taste for it, as they could not yet see the use of 
 it, and wished to spend their little money some other way. The 
 nobility, however the high chiefs and their family branches 
 went into it, and a couple of hundred sheep were bought for them 
 and brought across to the island. I added my few sheep to this 
 flock, and a calculation was made what the respective share of each 
 in the flock was. When, in the course of years, the flock increased , the 
 common people, too, derived benefit from it in earning something 
 for washing, driving, shearing, and handling them ; besides, after 
 they had become practised in shearing here, they could go on to 
 the large sheep runs in shearing time and earn good wages. When 
 now the wool of our sheep is sold every year, and the labour and 
 other expenses paid, the money remaining is divided amongst 
 its owners, everyone according to his proportion. (1 have only a 
 small portion.) This makes it possible for me, with my scanty 
 income, to live here, and, further, it is right that I should derive a 
 portion of my subsistence from the Maoris, even though done 
 indirectly. 
 
 Amongst the old Maoris the desire to become Christians 
 arose from an upright heart, even though with little knowledge, 
 
 o
 
 194 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 because it filled the void of heart from which they suffered. 
 With the younger ones, the now growing generation, who were 
 the most numerous, as the older ones were dying off, it was less a 
 matter of heart. It was enough for them that they belonged to a 
 Christian community, as it were, by inheritance. Their conduct 
 was always that of Christians. It could not be expected that the 
 first zeal of new converts should always continue. In the north 
 of New Zealand, where the Maoris were more numerous than 
 here, the reaction became the more noticeable, and prophets 
 arose who considered themselves inspired and specially called. 
 These endeavoured to give Christianity a form amongst the Maoris 
 according to their own ideas. None attempted to cast it off again. 
 Later, when a few people rebelled against the English Government, 
 there were not wanting Maori prophets who preached rebellion 
 and promised victory, and so disfigured Christianity that it suited 
 their wild notions. As it was to their interest to get all the 
 Maori tribes to adopt their views and join their party, some of 
 such prophets came to the south. They adopted the European 
 title of doctor, because they claimed to be able to heal the sick. 
 But our Maoris were such faithful subjects of the English Govern- 
 ment, and such simple Christians, that if they wished to find 
 listeners amongst them they had to preach biblical Christianity. 
 By it, too, they knew how to test their alleged power of working 
 miracles in the way of healing the sick. This naturally aroused 
 curiosity. The standard of health, in consequence of the improved 
 manner of life, was a good one. Only a few old people, who 
 perhaps suffered from bad digestion, were easily persuaded that 
 they were ill, and after a few days, during which they had to 
 content themselves with very little, and that light food, were 
 represented as being cured. At the same time they knew how to re- 
 suscitate the fear of the previous, but now renounced superstitions. 
 Empty old dwellings and ruins of houses, whose previous owners 
 had died, and which had, therefore, a weird aspect, were pointed 
 out with dreadful forebodings as the haunts of unclean spirits. 
 Nightly meetings were held to banish the spirits, and solemnities 
 practised by candlelight which had some sort of resemblance to the 
 holy communion. As some of our communicants had taken part in
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 195 
 
 these rites they were excluded from the Lord's table. Since then 
 I have been very careful in the admission of applicants to the 
 communion. I had long seen that the enjoyment of it strengthens 
 the faith of living members, but does not awaken faith in dead 
 ones. Since then we have had only a very small number of 
 communicants. 
 
 Such a reaction as we experienced is the rule in human 
 nature. The early spiritual elevation of conversion creates in 
 deeper souls a quiet, truthful spirit, but they are always in 
 danger of falling into temptation, still more so those converted 
 from heathendom. 
 
 With superficial persons, however, who are only externally 
 drawn into conversion, it results in a formal and powerless frame 
 of mind. It is true the old superstition, in which the Maoris had 
 been brought up from childhood, was renounced, and that with 
 uprightness of heart, but its deep root had not been torn out of 
 the mind. When these roots were encouraged with great cunning 
 by these false prophets of the north, they shot up into poisonous 
 growth. In those years the standard of health had been a matter 
 for congratulation, but now sickness and death began to work 
 again, and the painful fear of their superstition could be seen to 
 be the cause of it. The sensible Maoris saw this in time, and the 
 false prophets no longer got a hearing and were obliged to absent 
 themselves. Still, it cannot be said that the old superstition is 
 quite rooted out of the heart. In my youth, even in Germany, 
 there was still a great deal of superstition on the subject of 
 witchcraft, wizards, and ghosts, how then could it be expected 
 that Maoris recently converted from a heathendom swarming 
 with witchcraft and ghost stories should be altogether free from 
 superstition ? 
 
 There are no heathens proper now in my whole missionary 
 district in the south of New Zealand. The whole native popu- 
 lation, as well at Ruapuke as in the scattered villages, may be 
 looked upon as a Christian community. The same may be said 
 of Brother Riemenschneider's charge in Otago and the surrounding 
 district, which is adjacent to that of the southern community, 
 although two and a half days' journey removed. For that reason
 
 196 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 many visits cannot be made, especially as no money for journeying 
 came our way. Previously Riemenschneider worked in the North 
 Island, but came to Otago later on, as he had to give up his 
 charge on account of the disquiet resulting from the war. Of our 
 spiritual charges, it may be said " The spirit is willing, but the 
 flesh is weak." We missionaries strove with God for our yet 
 weak spiritual children, that Christ might win a footing in them, 
 and that in good hope that as He had begun the good work in 
 them He would perfect it till the day of Jesus Christ. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HOW IT LOOKS TO-DAY. 
 
 f T has already been mentioned that some European men 
 
 J sailors who had left the whaling ships lived amongst 
 
 the natives with Maori wives, and that in these mixed 
 families there were some lovely children of the half-blood. In 
 time the parents of such children died, and the poor orphans 
 especially those oh Stewart Island were brought to Ruapuke by 
 the relations of the mother. For this reason we had a considerable 
 number of children on our island. With the many and necessary 
 manual labours which I had to perform, it was not possible to give 
 them such instruction at school as was to be desired. Fortunately, 
 our New Zealand Government came to the conclusion that it was 
 their duty to supply the Maori youth with instruction in the 
 English language. For as long as the Maori remained ignorant 
 of the English language, and, therefore, had no access to English 
 literature and the local newspapers, they would be obliged to 
 remain a restless people, disassociated from the settlers. With 
 difficulty a part of the small sum that was voted by our Parliament 
 for Maori schools was obtained for this far south, where we had a 
 small school fund of our own. A few years before the Government 
 had bought the whole of Stewart Island from the local natives 
 for the sum of 6,000, under the following conditions: Two 
 thousand pounds was at once divided amongst the local, natives*
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 197 
 
 Two thousand pounds was retained by the Government, that the 
 money might not be squandered, and the interest annually paid 
 to five high chiefs of the local nobility ; the rest was retained to 
 provide schools for the southern Maoris. The accumulated 
 interest of the last sum now amounted to sufficient to build a 
 school at Ruapuke, where most of the children were. The 
 southerners had, therefore, an important claim under the new 
 Education Act. The school was opened in 1868. Owing to the 
 increase of orphans on Stewart Island, the number of scholars 
 amounted, at the beginning, to 50. These left the school after one 
 or two years, married, and established households. For that 
 reason the number of scholars became considerably less, and with 
 it the income of the teacher diminished, as the Government paid 
 according to the average attendance. The first teacher left us 
 after about two years, and I saw clearly that with our small 
 income no good teacher would come to our island. Accordingly 
 1 offered to take the school myself, which was agreed to by the 
 Government. It was no longer necessary, in order to encourage 
 the Maoris to industry, that 1 myself should lead the way in 
 manual labour. It was necessary, however, that I should work 
 almost every day to earn my own living. As my income was now 
 increased by the salary of my office, I would at last be free of 
 toilsome manual labour. Still, I found later on that when the 
 head is weary with the labour of the school, there is no better 
 recreation for me than working in the fresh air ; but this may not 
 be the case with people who are not so much used to manual 
 labour. 
 
 It is no easy matter to instruct the Maori youth in the 
 English language. The sounds in the Maori language are simple 
 in the highest degree, those of the English are most difficult. If 
 in a simple village school in Germany, where the word grammar 
 had never been heard, one were to begin instruction in Greek at 
 once, in would present no greater difficulty than teaching the 
 Maoris English does. And yet the difficulty may be overcome ; 
 but there is need of patience, and the labour is tiring to the 
 teacher's head. When the first generation learns to speak the 
 foreign language, but imperfectly, they can come to a very good
 
 198 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 understanding with the English settlers, and in the succeeding 
 generation things go along better, and the difference of race is 
 not so noticeable. 
 
 Our Maoris could now step into the ranks of civilized people. 
 What a difference between formerly and now between heathendom 
 and Christianity. In heathen times the sick people were placed 
 in isolation, that they might not interfere with the comfort of the 
 living. A little roof was built over them, something to eat and 
 water to drink was placed at their side, and they were then left to 
 their comfortless end. Now, since the community has become 
 Christian, and has acquired Christian customs, they can die in the 
 blessed faith of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and that, under the care 
 and in the presence of their dear ones in their own dwellings. 
 Verily Christianity makes men into men, fashioned after the 
 likeness of God. Those resident in old Christendom should think 
 of this when they say missions to the heathen are useless, and yet 
 are not themselves devoid of noble human feelings. 
 
 The old Maoris died off one after another. They left but 
 few children, and although these, under the improved conditions 
 of life, grew to advantage, they had but Itttle strength of 
 constitution. Many died of consumption some in childhood, 
 others in early years of manhood. It was the effect of the sad, 
 sunken state, into which the Maoris had fallen before they could 
 be vivified anew by Christianity. The number of Maoris proper 
 became smaller every year. With those of the mixed blood matters 
 went the other way. It is true some of them fell victims to 
 consumption inherited from their mother; still, on the whole, 
 they possessed greater strength of constitution. They had 
 inherited a spirit of enterprise from their fathers, which was 
 wanting in the Maori proper, and were, therefore, better able to 
 throw off despondency. When they grew up they married ; some- 
 times among their own people, sometimes Maoris, sometimes 
 Europeans. They were far more fruitful than the Maoris proper, 
 but no so prolific as the Europeans who had settled here. 
 
 In our community the half-castes were by far the most 
 numerous. For the old Maoris the island of Kuapuke was an 
 important place, for the younger generation, and especially for
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 199 
 
 the half-castes, it had lost its importance. The young men 
 grown up with the sound of the roaring sea singing in their ears, 
 had little taste for agriculture and cattle raising, but they were 
 so much the bolder sailors. After they had learnt English at 
 school, they took service as sailors, saw something of the wide 
 world and gained extended experience. Then they came back, 
 married the young girls, and built little vessels. But now they 
 came to the conclusion that the little island of Ruapuke, dear as 
 it was to them, was not adapted for them, because it had no 
 harbour and their vessels were, therefore, in constant danger of 
 being wrecked. On the other hand, the island of Stewart Island, 
 twenty miles distant, offered them the desired harbour. The 
 young families, therefore, one after another left Ruapuke and 
 settled in the beautiful harbours of Stewart Island. Many of 
 them were born there. The Government, which had previously 
 bought the whole island from the local natives, gave each of them 
 a piece of land for their own. In this way there arose a beautiful 
 settlement of half-castes. The blending of the European blood 
 with the Maori (the latter is nearly white in the South) has 
 produced a beautiful race with fine European features. They 
 now have a good Government school, and my only daughter is 
 married to the teacher, who is also preacher, and attends to the 
 spiritual wants of the community, so that the old connection with 
 the mission is thus continued. The men go with their decked 
 vessels into the fishing business, the dredging of oysters, and 
 the catching of seals, and occasionally, too, take cargo along the 
 coast. They are thoroughly acquainted with the local seas, know 
 all the tides, the whirlpools, and the havens of refuge into which 
 they can run in case of a storm arising suddenly. 
 
 Through the emigration of the young healthy families to 
 Stewart Island, our small island Ruapuke has become much 
 depopulated. Those left behind are almost all old people, who 
 have no enterprise and little spiritual life. The families of the 
 high chiefs belong to it, who live in a state of proud poverty, and 
 whose income and expenditure would have got into confusion if I 
 had not exercised a kind of supervision over them. If they only 
 had some enterprise, or if 1 were not too old to do it myself, they
 
 200 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 would clear the fruitful meadows of the island, the heights and 
 flats, and places between the jutting rocks, of the wild growth, and 
 sow them with clover and grass seed, leaving, however, the woods 
 undisturbed, as they are useful. Then, instead of two thousand 
 sheep, of which the flock at present consists, they could easily 
 have six thousand or more. But they cannot be roused to such 
 undertakings. 
 
 As I have again mentioned sheep, I am reminded that many 
 readers would like to hear something about the interesting New 
 Zealand sheep runs. When the enterprising immigrants from 
 Europe became acquainted with the country of these southern 
 parts, they found that in addition to the forests there were many 
 open grassy places, which would answer admirably for sheep runs. 
 The wild-growing cattle grasses were, it is true, too coarse for 
 sheep to thrive on, but they could be burnt away, and the soil 
 sown with good European grasses and clover. The soil also con- 
 tained good indigenous grasses, different from the European ones, 
 but related to them, that could not previously get through to the 
 light. The Government, who had bought all the land from the 
 natives, was now ready, as ther-e was no peasant class, to lease 
 such areas of land at very low prices. Thousands of acres were 
 taken up under such leases. Lessees with money and brains were 
 soon found, for both these qualities were necessary for such under- 
 takings. They went to Australia, and brought large ships full of 
 sheep back. At that time it took a great deal of money and 
 labour to take the sheep to their destination after they were 
 landed, but these difficulties were overcome. At first the flocks 
 were only small, but they soon increased (in Ruapuke they 
 doubled every two years through the annaal lambing) so that 
 the sheep were reckoned by thousands. The still empty wastes 
 now served for the use of man, as a large quantity of wool was 
 exported every year. The holders of such sheep runs, if they 
 were clever, became rich. So far, all was well ; but an evil arose, 
 because the rich sheep owners became too conservative, and took 
 it very ill when newly-arrived settlers came and purchased pieces 
 of the land they had leased from the Government, with a view to 
 settling on them. Many of the lessees who had money, or who
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 201 
 
 could borrow it, purchased their previously leased lands in large 
 areas. Now a wholesale land fever swallowed up the country. 
 Other rich people came and bought large areas of land, so that it 
 became difficult for a small peasant to acquire a suitable piece of 
 land. The large landowners over all New Zealand obtained a 
 powerful conservative influence in politics in opposition to the 
 liberals, who wished a small peasantry to be the rule everyone 
 with his own farm thus creating the same evil that exists in 
 England, where soil and land belong to the rich, the farmers only 
 being lessees, and the peasantry living in great poverty. Such 
 evils the liberals in New Zealand wished to avoid. 
 
 After the sheep runs, especially here in the south, had made 
 successful progress for years, quite an unexpected misfortune befel 
 them. You read in ancient histories that rabbits have destroyed 
 countries (the weak little creatures), and that may well be true. 
 As there was so little game in New Zealand, only birds, a few 
 lovers of the chase decided on importing rabbits. These were let 
 loose in a lonely place, and the people were prayed and threatened 
 not to disturb them till they had become numerous. And they 
 increased beyond all expectation. No river, no mountain could 
 keep them back. Fortunately they could not cross the sea, and 
 our island Ruapuke was spared the plague. On many once green 
 sheep runs is now not a blade of grass to be seen. All is eaten by 
 the rabbits, and the sheep must starve. They try to exterminate 
 them with poison, with dogs, with every imaginable weapon. You 
 read that here 10,000, there 20,000 were killed without making 
 any appreciable difference. Still this land plague affects only the 
 great sheep runs where there are but few people. In the 
 neighbourhood of towns and villages they are easily kept under. 
 These towns, villages, and sheep runs are only of recent date. In 
 the earlier years of my residence here these districts were pathless 
 wildernesses. The European settlers of the south of New Zealand 
 are mostly Scotchmen belonging to the Presbyterian Church. They 
 have brought with them their historic God-fearing and pious way 
 of life, and as our Maoris were converted to Christianity long 
 before their arrival, and had already made considerable advance 
 in civilization, they lived in a beautiful unity with the settlers
 
 202 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLER8. 
 
 both in social intercourse and religion. It did my heart good to 
 see it. Here in Ruapuke we are separated from the new towns 
 and villages by twelve miles of sea, but many of the scattered 
 members of my community, especially those on the mainland, 
 have them in their immediate neighbourhood. In addition to the 
 good that the settlers have brought with them there are the public 
 houses which the Europeans will always have a temptation, but 
 still no greater temptation than the public houses in Germany are. 
 Now a young community just risen from heathendom should be 
 taken as great care of as a virgin whom one would wish to protect 
 from the temptations of the world. 
 
 As soon as the settlers in any place are at all numerous, 
 a church is built out of their own means. There are no church 
 tithes here, and the community must support their own pastor. 
 The blessing of God rests on this active and heartfelt piety, for 
 " They work in quiet peace, and their outward condition endures." 
 " Righteousness exalteth a people, but sin is their undoing. 
 Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the 
 life that now is and that which is to come." 
 
 The Government has charge of the schools. They are unsec- 
 tarian, and now, to please the Catholics and the Freethinkers, are 
 without the Bible. This want is supplied by the Sunday schools, 
 to which all children, rich and poor, are attracted. They are held 
 in different schools, and pious teachers read the Bible in classes 
 with their scholars, and present its contents with a warmth of 
 heart such as could not be done in the day schools, where so much 
 has to be learnt. The teachers meet once a week for conversation, 
 edification, and preparation for the next Sunday. I write this 
 from my own observation, and because, as a visitor, 1 have often 
 had an opportunity to be present at it all. Once every Summer 
 the Sunday schools have an outing, as it is called here. They 
 gather in the church, and then march under the leading of the 
 teachers out of the town into some beautiful, roomy, open place. 
 Here they are regaled with cakes and tea, and they amuse them- 
 selves with innocent games. Their parents and grown-up brothers 
 and sisters attend (the labours of the day being over), and they 
 form a large party of men, women, and children. It is a beautiful
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 203 
 
 treat, and without intoxicating liquor of any kind. What an 
 army of children you see here ! The number of the children in 
 villages in Europe in proportion to the grown-up people bears no 
 relation to that which is the rule in New Zealand. God's blessing, 
 "Be fruitful and multiply," applies very fully to the European 
 immigrants. 
 
 Our North German Missionary Society, in the beginning of 
 their labours among the heathen, acted in their New Zealand 
 mission in accordance with the words of Christ, under the guidance 
 of God, it is true, and without their knowing it " Let. not thy 
 right hand know what thy left hand doeth." That means doing 
 good without looking for thanks in a selfish way. A missionary 
 society may well rejoice at the development of their community 
 from heathendom, and may then consider it as theirs, even though 
 it no longer needs their guidance. 
 
 But how goes it now with our New Zealand community, 
 gathered by Eiemenschneider in Otago, and by me in the south, 
 and the adjoining province? With the help of God, the raw, 
 stinking heathen have become changed into civilized Christians, 
 who in no respect are inferior to ordinary Christians in old 
 Christendom, and they considerably surpass the converted natives 
 of the North Island. 
 
 Now, however, they are surrounded by numerous European 
 settlers, who, in their social affairs, have formed themselves 
 into Christian communities. It would be an error if barriers 
 of sectarian differences were erected here. Our Maoris are, 
 therefore, incorporated into these Protestant communities, 
 which we submit to with great pleasure. Under these circum- 
 stances the mission of our North German Missionary Society 
 can have no future. They decline, therefore, with pleasure 
 the task of building permanent communities. They have 
 brought souls to Christ without requiring self-seeking thanks. 
 They will have their reward in heaven. Hundreds of souls 
 have become believers who would otherwise have died in com- 
 fortless, hopeless heathendom, and have departed with the 
 consolation of eternal life. They will thank their mission friends 
 in heaven all of them who helped in the mission by prayer,
 
 204 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS 
 
 gifts, labours, and counsel. What is written in a German hymn 
 will be fulfilled 
 
 There him will I grateful thank 
 Who pointed out the heavenly way, 
 And a million times still thank 
 Him that he showed it me. 
 
 For myself I ask no recognition, because so much has to be 
 deducted for many failures and sins in my labours, that I should 
 occupy but a poor position. It is enough for me that I have been 
 an unprofitable servant, who desired to do what he ought to have 
 done, but did not do it. In Jesus' words, relative to unprofitable 
 servants, there is the meaning that from servants und in 
 comparison with our heavenly Lord we are miserable servants 
 only labourers' work can be expected, and that their labours would 
 have no result if God did not always put them right and repair 
 their errors. In my own case this saying is a true one. 
 
 " For by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of 
 yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man 
 should boast." 
 
 As I have lived so long amongst the natives of New Zealand 
 (36 years), and have carefully studied their way of life from the 
 time of their savage heathendom, and through their development 
 into civilized Christianity, I must say something about their 
 dying out. It cannot be denied that they are dying out (my 
 experiences extend only to the south of New Zealand), whilst 
 their kindred of the mixed blood the result of the union of 
 European whaling sailors and New Zealand mothers live on 
 and increase in number. 
 
 What is the cause of this dying out of the Maori, whilst 
 the Europeans who have emigrated to New Zealand are remarkably 
 vigorous and fruitful, and the above-mentioned half-castes live 
 and increase ? I cannot agree with the saying that a weaker race 
 of men must die when it comes into contact with a stronger one. 
 It is contrary to my experience, and I doubt, therefore, whether 
 it is the case in other parts of the world where the natives die 
 out. When I arrived amongst the Maoris in 1844 I found the 
 death rate so high that there was only one birth to three or four 
 deaths. At that time, in comparison with the Maori population,
 
 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 205 
 
 there were only a few sailors who had been left behind by European 
 and American whalers. These had only been here a few years, 
 and lived scattered amongst the Maoris; they could, therefore, 
 have no effect on their health. 
 
 The Maori physique was that of a strong, well-grown, bodily 
 stature, and yet it died out. The race resembled a young person 
 dying of consumption. As such a person, even in Europe, no matter 
 how well grown he may be, goes to an early grave, without any 
 other reason, just so was the Maoi'i race dying out here. The 
 whole race, of which the individuals died in the bloom of their 
 early years, was dying of consumption. This cannot always have 
 been the case. There must have been a time, even if centuries 
 ago, when they lived in New Zealand, and when their bodily 
 powers strongly developed themselves in the fresh air, and when 
 they were healthy and fruitful, and increased in number. J am 
 inclined to put their extinction down to two causes. In the first 
 place their forefathers came from tropical countries, where the 
 Summer is always warm. In New Zealand they had, with very 
 healthy air, to withstand a great deal of rough weather. They 
 might have been able to bear this if they had not been, secondly 
 morally in a sunken state. When the old heathen religion, with 
 its sublime ideas, fell more and more out of sight, and could no 
 longer influence them to lead a virtuous life ; when the chiefs, in 
 spite of all their vices, both when alive and after death, took the place 
 of the gods ; when the vicious tapu (by means of which men and 
 things on which it was laid became sacred, so that if a common 
 person touched them it was punished with death) was more and 
 more used to extend the power of the chiefs, cowardly fear took the 
 place of noble human feeling. Their morals then sank, their 
 methods of life became brutish and most unclean, and that was 
 the case with the common people as well as the chiefs. The 
 abominable cannibalism became more and more common. 
 Without the smallest feeling of disgust they could eat a stinking 
 corpse. Such a method of life is inhuman and unnatural, and 
 must lead to ruin. 
 
 The air of New Zealand is of that kind that it strengthens 
 the healthy who lead a reasonable life, but the occasional rough
 
 206 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 weather weakens those who are weakly and impure. The Maoris, 
 being sunk in impurity and inertia, caught frequent colds which 
 ended in consumption. Still, it is to be noted that the time of their 
 dying out joins in with the arrival of the superior foreigners. I 
 maintain that God, " who has decided beforehand how far and wide 
 a people shall dwell," arranges matters thus in accordance with 
 His wise and orderly government of the world. In our time it is 
 the fashion, especially amongst the followers of worldly-wise 
 people, not to admit that the dear God governs the world; still at 
 the back of all the subtleties of the highest wisdom there is an 
 unexplained power, as the deeper thinkers in philosophy confess. 
 Yes, an eternal God governs, who takes part in divine goodness in 
 the course of events, not only in large matters, but also in small 
 ones. When a people is about to die out, He permits a stronger 
 one to take its place, and that in order that those who henceforth 
 shall possess their land may sweeten their last days, and well is 
 it with the successors if they recognise and do this. 
 
 " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
 
 THE translator is loath to obtrude his paltry personality on 
 so sacred a scene as the life of such a man, but to afford a very 
 slight glimpse of it, by one who is unworthy to unloose the 
 latchet of his shoe, he appends a short account of a visit he 
 made to Ruapuke when little more than a boy (in 1873), and 
 published at the time. Once more (in 1894), he visited the scene 
 of his labours. His tomb marks his place of rest. 
 
 "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through 
 Him that loved us " (Romans viii., 37). 
 
 " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white 
 raiment ; and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, 
 but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His 
 angels" (Revelation iii., 5). 
 
 " To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in 
 My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My 
 Father in His throne" (Revelation iii., 21). 
 
 " And he that overcometh, and Jceepeth my works unto the end, 
 to him will I give power over the nations : And he shall rule 
 them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they 
 be broken to shivers : even as I received of My Father " (Revelation 
 ii., 26, 27). 
 
 "And I will give him the MORNING STAB !" (Revelation ii., 28). 
 
 faints of <ob 1 their conflict past, 
 life's long battle toon at last : 
 o mart thcg necb the shiclb or stoorb ; 
 hcg cast them boton .before their JCorb. 
 h, happjj ^Saints ! for eber blest ; 
 Jit Jesus' feet hoto safe gour rest ! 
 
 (Saints of ob ! their ioanberings bone, 
 ,0 more their toearg course theg run ; 
 lo more theg faint,' no more theg fall, 
 $0 foes oppress, no fears appal. 
 h, happg faints I for etoer blest ; 
 In that bear home hoto stocet gour rest. 
 
 tSaints of (fob I life's bogage rr'er, 
 cSafe lanbeb on that blissful shore : 
 ^o stormg tempests noto theg breab ; 
 |lo roaring btlloins lift their head. 
 h, happg (Saints ! for eber blest, 
 in that calm haben of j)our rest. 
 
 faints of ob THEIR VIGILS 
 e jet their mortal bobies sleep, 
 from the bust theg, too, shall rise, 
 nb soar triumphant to the skies : 
 h, happg faints, rejoice anb sing ; 
 
 comes, gour ^orb anb giing.
 
 208 MEMORIES OF THE LIFE OF J. F. H. WOHLERS. 
 
 THE TRANSLATOR'S VISIT TO RUAPUKE. 
 
 (Extract from Otago Daily Times, llth January, 1873.) 
 
 Outlandish places not often visited by man, " Antres vast 
 and deserts idle," have a certain charm for me. It is a 
 characteristic, I suppose, common to the race, and the only 
 difference between a Sir John Franklin, a Livingstone, or a 
 Captain Cook, and an ordinary mortal, is that the one has the 
 feeling developed to an irresistible force, and the other can 
 quietly button it up and smother it witout any difficulty. 
 
 The recent trip of the " Storm Bird " from the Bluff to 
 Ruapuke presented an opportunity of seeing a place that but few 
 of our dwellers in towns have seen, and was not to be despised 
 accordingly. Ruapuke is a small island about 4| miles long, by 
 3 miles broad, about 13 miles distant from the Bluff, inhabited, 
 as I understood, by about 70 or 80 Maoris, and one white man 
 and his family the Rev. Air. Wohlers. This gentleman is a 
 German missionary, and has been on the island since 1844. The 
 communication with the outside world is very irregular, the only 
 means of transport being by boat. 
 
 It was a lovely day, with a fresh wholesome sea breeze 
 blowing when we got away from the Bluff wharf at noon, with 
 about 80 excursionists from Invercargill, and steamed across the 
 Strait against the breeze, the fore-trysail just drawing enough to 
 steady the vessel. Among the passengers were a number of the 
 natives of the island, who, happening to be at the Bluff, were 
 glad of the chance to run across and back so easily. The Rev. 
 Mr. Wohlers and the chief of Ruapuke, Topi by name, were also 
 on board. Both of the latter I found very communicative, Mr. 
 Wohlers answering my many questions as to the strange life he 
 was leading, and the peculiarities of the place, with the greatest 
 cheerfulness. Topi is an intelligent specimen of the Maori. He 
 it was who was selected to pilot the Acheron in these waters 
 when the coast was surveyed, under Captain Stokes. Other 
 names are given in the Government charts as having " assisted " 
 Captain Stokes, but poor old Topi's is not mentioned. I don't 
 suppose he was much of a hand at the sextant and logarithms, 
 but you may wager he knew every rock and sheltered cove, tide 
 rip, or shoal, between the Solander and Otago Heads, and, after 
 all, assisted to some purpose. Too often he had made the journey 
 by boat without compass or chart, when safety depended upon a 
 keen look-out and knowledge where a sandy beach lay or a head- 
 land jutted out, that a boat might run for on a dirty night, and be 
 hauled up on the beach or lie in smooth -water until a change of 
 weather gave her dusky crew a chance to continue their journey. 
 This is the school Topi learnt in not so snug a one as the 
 " Dido's " quarter-deck, but for practical seamanship and the
 
 ADDENDUM. 209 
 
 development of self-reliance, not to be despised, though trigo- 
 nometry was an extra. 
 
 For ten miles further we hold our course, Ruapuke 
 developing slowly from a undefined, misty sort of a land, into a 
 more shapely looking country. The outlines of the lower hills, 
 and the lay of the gullies, the trees and the rocks becoming more 
 and more visible until we pass between Bird Island and some 
 rocks that might make the passage by night unpleasant, round a 
 promontory into a little bay by name Henrietta. 
 
 The strong sea breeze blows right out of the bay ; while a 
 quarter of a mile away, on the other side of the neck of land that 
 here juts out, we should have to lie with steam up in case the 
 anchor should drag, and we should be plunging bows into the sea. 
 Here she lies as snug as if alongside the wharf. The bay is 
 sheltered from all winds but the south-west, and even in that 
 direction Stewart Island must form a partial shelter, although 
 the " fetch " is quite long enough to raise a very respectable sea. 
 Still, the fact that Topi keeps his cutter moored here all the year 
 round, would lead one to the conclusion that it never can be very 
 bad. Hardly is our anchor down, when the irrepressible boy, 
 who is not wanting on this occasion, lets his anchor go, and 
 hopefully waits until blue cod and trumpeter, the daintiest fish in 
 New Zealand waters to my taste, reward his labours. 
 
 The bay was named Henrietta before Mr. Wohlers' 
 arrival; and as he has been there twenty-eight years, it has borne 
 it no short time. In the age of ti-adition, it appears a vessel 
 called the " Henrietta " was wrecked there, and, mirabile dictu, 
 after the wreck, and haunting the remains of it, there appeared a 
 queer little animal that the Liliputians I had almost written 
 instead of the Ruapukians, so grotesque it seems had never seen 
 before, and for want of a better name, Henrietta they called 
 it. Mouse is the name it goes by with us, but Henrietta it is to 
 this day at Ruapuke. The community is so small, and the 
 intercourse with the outside world so infrequent, that the title 
 the animal was dubbed sticks to him. Had it not been for the 
 isolated condition of the place, it must long ago have given place 
 to the English name. 
 
 The missionary's house is a comfortable little cottage, 
 nicely furnished, and carpeted with native mats. Besides his 70 
 or 80 black children, he has a pretty fair-haired daughter, a 
 native of the island ; but, oh, enchanted Ruapuke, speaking 
 English with a German accent. Here again the absence of the 
 " social mill that rubs our angles down '" has favoured the history 
 of the place being told in its language. It was holiday time, and 
 the school closed, or 1 might perhaps have heard the little Maoris 
 saying their multiplication table ; and, a sovereign to a cockle- 
 shell, the young rascals would have said it with a German accent ! 
 
 The remains of a mill, with a pair of French burr stones, 
 were pointed out to me. They are no longer used, as the Maoris
 
 210 ADDENDUM. 
 
 found it was less trouble to pull across to Bird or Green Island, 
 load a boat with the greasy mutton birds, and send the tit-bits to 
 their friends in the north in exchange for flour, than to grow 
 wheat in so windy and stony a place. 
 
 You might doubtless see in a small, isolated community 
 like this many social problems worked out that demagogues and 
 statesmen have quarelled over for ages. In a society of men so 
 small social science is, as it were, reduced to its ultimate fibre, 
 and the reductio ad absurdum of many a plausible high-sounding 
 policy, is here ready worked out to hand. The Ruapukian pro- 
 tectionist would have placed a high duty on flour to stimulate the 
 production of it, and native industry would have had to grow it, 
 though it gathered its crop but every third year, and dug instead 
 of ploughed its fields. All the stump orators that ever inflamed 
 the passions of an excited mob would waste their eloquence at 
 Ruapuke. The Maori knows it is cheaper that it costs him a 
 less expenditure of protoplasm to exchange the greasy mutton 
 birds for the flour of wheat than to grow it in his rich but too 
 scant soil, with Boreas to mow it as it grows. 
 
 It would take a volume to tell all that might be seen in a 
 couple of hours in a new place, if a man only has the eyes to see. 
 The fresh water lagoon, more valuable to Ruapuke than our 
 water works to us ; the fantastical monumental shape of isolated 
 boulders, like the pictures of Druidical stones, deserved attention ; 
 but the, whistle blew, and reluctantly I bent my steps towards the 
 beach, where I arrived just in time to see two wide-awake 
 villains, who had pulled off their boots, carry the last of the girls 
 into the boat. We hove up the anchor, and started off like a 
 racehorse, before the wind, which had increased to a magnificent 
 breeze. With all square canvas set, we tore along against the 
 strong tide, and made the passage to the Bluff in an hour and 
 three-quarters, having psssed a most enjoyable day. 
 
 THE MAORI IN HIS NATURAL STATE. 
 
 To show the qualities of the Maori (the natural man) in the 
 state he was before being brought under the influence of Christianity 
 (or but very slightly), there is appended an extract from the 
 diary of the Rev. J. A. Wilson, a missionary to the North Island 
 natives, who lived amongst them from 1832 to 1862. The first 
 two instances display some of the highest qualities which man 
 possesses a noble scorn of treachery, with bitter sarcasm for a 
 traitor, and the most intrepid coolness under heavy fire ; the 
 second, the lowest degradation and the most disgusting ferocity 
 of which man can be guilty. Of such contrasts, wide asunder as 
 the poles, is man in his natural state composed. The one 
 inspiring in the mind of the narrator, who witnessed the incidents, 
 as it must in ours, the most unbounded admiration ; the other, 
 the utmost shudder of disgust. The office of Christianity is to
 
 ADDENDUM. 211 
 
 bring every impulse of the natural man (which we all are) under 
 control, and make it subservient to the will of God, and this we 
 cannot do of ourselves. 
 
 " For by grace ye are saved through faith, and not of your- 
 selves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should 
 boast." 
 
 Extracts from the Diary of the Rev. J. A. Wilson. 
 
 July 18, 1836. Our messenger, Keno, is a neutral, and has 
 often carried letters between Tauranga and Rotorua. Although 
 well rewarded and kindly treated by us, he went yesterday to 
 Tupaea, the principal chief, and said : " Chapman has sent men 
 (bearers) to Nelson for goods. They return to-morrow. Send 
 early to the forest, and you can plunder them." 
 
 To this Tupaea replied : ' You have received the hospitality 
 of the pakeha, and partaken of his kindness. You are their friend. 
 I have never received their gifts or favours. You are the man. 
 It is for you to do this." 
 
 I mention this to record the noble reply of a heathen, and the 
 bitter satire in his rebuke. Tupaea's father had done a still 
 greater act. 
 
 (An Incident in the Waikato War.) 
 
 December 27, 1860. When 1 rose to leave, a chief from 
 Kawhia said to me : " Last night we buried some of our dead in 
 the rifle pits. Ask the chief of the soldiers to respect them. 
 Let them remain undisturbed." I promised to do so, and added: 
 " The general will allow you to remove the dead if you desire it." 
 To this they objected, saying : " No ; let them remain where they 
 fell. The burial service was read over them in the night during 
 the fight. The ground is tapu (holy) now. We wish them to lie 
 where we have laid them." 
 
 Thus under no ordinary fire (for the troops expended in all 
 170,000 rounds of ammunition during the two days of their 
 attack), at a distance varying from 150 to 250 yards, these people, 
 without perturbation or fear, interred their dead, concluding with 
 the noble burial service of the Church of England a fact which 
 probably has no parallel in the annals of war. The farewell 
 honours to these bold spirits were literally paid by the guns of 
 our artillery and the unbroken volleys of two British regiments. 
 The burial of Moore (the theme of song) pales in the contrast. 
 
 April 2, 1836. This morning the Taua (war party) arrived. 
 They came without tumult or noise, with a quietness not expected ; 
 but it was a lamentable sight. The Ngatimaniapoto tribe struck 
 me as being the wildest and most forbidding. These wretches were 
 carrying on their backs, in baskets made of flax, the flesh and 
 bones of the men they had killed, that it might be eaten at 
 Kawhia and Mokau, on the western coast. When speaking to 
 some of them, a boy, with a man's head in his hand, came and
 
 212 ADDENDUM. 
 
 stood a yard in front of me, and held it up for me to look at. 
 This he did so often that I was obliged to drive him away. The 
 heads of the chiefs whom they had killed were displayed in 
 triumph, and I observed a little girl playing with one of them on 
 her knee, as our children amuse themselves with a doll. When 
 they had reached the water-side the chiefs sat down by our boat- 
 house to refresh themselves, and then the heads of the Maketu 
 chiefs were placed on low staffs about three feet high I suppose 
 in order that the people at Te Papu might see them. But the 
 saddest sights of all were the degraded widows of the men who 
 had been eaten, now led away wretched and dishonoured captives. 
 Many of these poor creatures were following behind the cannibals, 
 who still carried on their backs the flesh, heads, or limbs of the 
 slain. Some of these miserables wept when they saw us amongst 
 them. I recognized the widow of Wharetutu ; yet help in such 
 an hour was utterly beyond our power. The Taua cut down my 
 young Kahikatoa trees on a spot I had reserved for my garden, 
 and made their ovens, and cooked the flesh of their enemies. 
 This, with also burning some of the fencing, was the only outrage 
 they committed on us ; their leaving the settlement uninjured 
 was owing to the influence of Te Waharoa. This chief came to 
 Te Papu in the early morning, and was with me before his main 
 body arrived. When alone I reproved him again for cannibalism 
 and cruelty. He replied : " I am going to breakfast ; come and 
 take some of this flesh with me." 
 
 July 24, 1836. As we walked from the site of the settlement 
 to Waharoa's encampment, we saw at a distance memorials newly 
 raised, marking the fall of a chief, or some other rangatira ; but 
 when we came to the place itself, the horrors that met us are too 
 revolting and atrocious to dwell upon. It could only be compared 
 to a place where wild beasts were wont to shelter and devour 
 their prey. The bones of men lay promiscuously strewed in every 
 direction. Here a hare skull, and there a rib or ribs, with part of 
 the spine ; and around the ovens might be recognised any or 
 every bone of the human frame. When I say that, according to 
 native testimony on the spot, sixty bodies of full-grown men in 
 their prime of life were taken to this den of cannibals some of 
 these partly eaten being only partly cooked, and the remains still 
 lying about on the warm damp ground it may easily be 
 imagined that the sight and stench arising from all this was 
 intolerable beyond expression. It was literally " a valley of 
 bones " bones of men still green with flesh, hideous to look 
 upon ! Among these spectacles I was arrested by the ghastly 
 appearance of a once human head. In mere derision it had been 
 boiled, stripped of the skin and hair, and put on a post with a raw 
 Kumara placed in the mouth. The wound that had caused death 
 was a long gash from a war hatchet on the temple. 
 
 Well might the Rev. Wilson write as he does on July 3, 
 1836. The efforts of a missionary among a savage people in the
 
 ADDENDUM. 213 
 
 midst of war often appear vain. But it is not so. The ploughman 
 ploughs in winter and toils in the scorching heat of Summer, 
 leaving the result to God. 
 
 JUDGE MANNING (PAKEHA-MAORI) ON THE MAORI 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 (Earl Pembroke's Edition, 1887, page 195.) 
 
 " The Maori rangatira whom I am describing had passed his 
 whole life with but little intermission in a scene of battle, murder, 
 and blood-thirsty atrocities of the most terrific description, mixed 
 with actions of the most heroic courage, self-sacrifice, and chivalric 
 daring such as leave one perfectly astounded to find them the 
 deeds of one and the same people ; one day doing acts which, had 
 they been performed in ancient Greece, would have immortalized 
 the actors, and the next committing barbarities too horrible for 
 relation, and almost incredible." 
 
 OBITUARY NOTICE. 
 
 (From Southland Times, 13 fh May, 1885.} 
 
 It is not always the men whose names are oftenest in the 
 public mouth that make the deepest mark on the times in which 
 they live. Politicians appear and pass away, leaving behind them 
 little besides the memory of party strife for the most part suffi- 
 ciently inglorious and unthought of in connection with the per- 
 manent good of their country. We record to-day the death of 
 one, known certainly and revered by those acquainted with the 
 early history of the southern portion of this island, but the extent 
 of whose influence on the native race is probably little suspected 
 by the community of the present day. 
 
 The Kev. J. F. H. Wohlers, as our obituary notifies, died at 
 the Neck, Stewart Island, on Thursday, 7th inst., at the age of 73 
 years. Mr. Wohlers arrived in the island of Ruapuke, in the 
 year 1844, a missionary from a German Society, to promote the 
 conversion and civilization of the Maoris on each side of Foveaux 
 Straits. Fortunately, in a paper read before the Southland 
 Institute, and published in the Transactions of the New Zealand 
 Institute of 1881, Mr. Wohlers has left a quaint and most 
 interesting record of his labours. Ruapuke, when he came to the 
 south, was an influential centre of Maoridom. The famous chief 
 Tuhawaiki, or " Bloody Jack," had there his head quarters, and 
 the population numbered about 200 souls. Mr. Wohlers arrived 
 at an opportune time. The natives, having lost even the poetry 
 of their old religion, had, under the superstition of " Tapu," sunk 
 to the lowest depth of degradation. But the results of missionary 
 labour in the North were being felt even in the remote islands of 
 Foveaux Strait. The " vibration," as Mr. Wohlers put it, of the 
 new spiritual movement created by Christian teaching was being
 
 214 ADDENDUM. 
 
 felt throughout the whole Maori population. The arts of reading 
 and writing had in the north excited the Maori mind, well known 
 to be acute and active, to wonder and desire to be acquainted 
 with them. Writing came upon them like a miracle, and, coming 
 along with Christianity, was accepted as a sort of confirmation of 
 its truth. Yet it was the spirituality of the Christian religion 
 that had so far enlightened the minds of the northern natives, 
 and had abolished, wherever it had been received, murder and 
 cannibalism and other crimes. It was the first faint note of this 
 new revelation, reaching the south by native agencies, that pre- 
 pared the way for Mr. Wohlers' work, and made it safe for him 
 to dwell among the savages of Ruapuke. We have not space to 
 record the traits and habits of the people at that comparatively 
 recent time, or the expedients adopted for their reformation by the 
 solitary white man who had so nobly thrown himself among them. 
 All this can be gathered from the interesting narrative that we 
 have cited. Let it be said only that a magical change came over 
 the condition of the people. Christian baptism followed. The 
 real family life became established. Cleanliness took the place 
 of filth, and industry that of idleness. Pakeha sailors married 
 Maori women, and the husbands brought into the households at 
 least the reflection of the religion in which they had been brought 
 up. Mr. Wohlers has spoken enthusiastically of the numbers and 
 beauty of the half-caste children that were the issue of these 
 marriages, and those acquainted with the present generation will 
 be able to confirm his statement. Fortunately for Mr. Wohlers 
 and the cause he had taken up, he met in Wellington, in 1849, a 
 lady who became his wife, and who ruled somewhat like a queen 
 in the little community of Ruapuke. Mrs. Wohlers was the means 
 of creating a social and economical revolution in the island, such 
 as only a woman filled with energy and strength of will could 
 accomplish. Eventually a church was built, mainly, if not solely, 
 we have heard, by the missionary's own hands ; a school was 
 commenced, in which English was taught, and so the work of 
 amelioration went on. The history of Mr. Wohlers' life is the 
 history of a great turning from darkness to light, and from 
 savagery to civilization of a considerable portion of the Maori 
 race. It is a singular fact that Ruapuke, once the centre of rule 
 and of population in the Strait, should have become almost 
 deserted. All, except a few families of the Maoris and half- 
 castes, have emigrated to Stewart Island, in the neighbourhood, 
 and principally cluster about the Neck. A.t the Neck resides Mr. 
 Wohlers' only daughter, the wife of Mr. Arthur Traill, missionary 
 of the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland, and teacher 
 of the Native school. The old patriarch whose life we have been 
 sketching died in the house of his son-in-law, having passed 
 peacefully away. " The heart-felt sorrow of the Maoris," writes 
 a correspondent from the spot, " is very touching. Both before 
 and since his death even the men might be seen kneeling by his
 
 ADDENDUM. 215 
 
 bedside and weeping unrestrainedly." He had been regarded by 
 them as a father, and he spoke of them as his spiritual children. 
 We term his a notable life, although it made little noise in the 
 world. Simple, childlike, and devout, and with the weapons only 
 of a good understanding and indomitable industry, he was yet 
 called to a great work which he did nobly ; ,nd we have no 
 doubt his name will descend as a household word through many 
 generations of the race he loved so well. 
 
 It remains only to be mentioned that Mr. Wohlers is survived 
 by his devoted wife, and, as we have said, by his daughter, who is 
 the mother of several children. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes of Presbytery, First Church, Invercargill, 
 June 3, 1885, the day which the Presbytery met and was 
 constituted. 
 
 INTEE ALIA, 
 
 It was unanimously resolved that the Rev. Messrs. Stobo, 
 Alexander, and Stevens be appointed to draw up a minute relative 
 to the death of the Rev. Mr. Wohlers, expressive of the Presbytery's 
 sympathy with the bereaved members of his family, and forward 
 the same to his widow, of which the following is a copy : 
 
 " The Presbytery having heard of the death of the Rev. Mr. 
 Wohlers, missionary to the Maoris at Ruapuke, desires to put on 
 record its sense of his long and faithful labours in that mission. 
 Although conducted among a decaying remnant, the great day, 
 they believe, will make manifest the good that has been done, 
 and the surviving natives who so warmly cherish his memory 
 will ever continue, we trust, to walk under the influence of the 
 truth which he inculcated. The Presbytery would express its 
 sympathy with the bereaved widow and daughter, to whom they 
 desire that a copy of this minute be sent." 
 
 ALEX. BETHUNE, Presb. Cleric. 
 
 EDUCATION DEPAETMENT, 
 
 WELLINGTON, April 30, 1885. 
 
 The Reverend J. F. H. Wohlers, Ruapuke. 
 
 Reverend Sir, I have the honour, by direction of the Hon. 
 Mr. Stout, Minister of Education, to acknowledge the receipt of 
 the letter written by Mr. Arthur W. Traill at your request, 
 forwarding your resignation of the appointment of native school 
 teacher at Ruapuke owing to very serious illness. 
 
 I am to intimate to you that the Minister accepts your 
 resignation with regret, and to say that your engagement will not 
 be regarded as terminated until October 30, 1885, that your salary 
 will be paid as usual till that date, and that you may consider 
 that you have six months' leave of absence.
 
 216 ADDENDUM. 
 
 I am, further, on behalf of the Minister, to express to you the 
 hearty appreciation by himself and the Government of the devoted 
 labours of yourself and Mrs. Wohlers, throughout so many years, 
 amongst the natives in the southern parts of New Zealand, and of 
 the evident success that has attended your arduous efforts to teach 
 and civilize them. 
 
 I have the honour to be, with much respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN HISLOP. 
 
 This letter from the Government of New Zealand to the Rev. 
 Mr. Wohlers was written only seven days before his death. It is 
 evidently in answer to one tendering his resignation as teacher of 
 the native school, from which office, as his book informs us. he 
 derived in later years sufficient income to relieve him from the 
 need of maintaining himself by exhausting manual labour. To 
 how few it would have occurred to resign at an age and under 
 circumstances when he may well have thought his final resigna- 
 tion of all earthly offices was very near, let the reader judge 
 for himself. To the honour of the Government, it is to be noted 
 that they granted him six months' leave of absence on full 
 pay. His action in this matter is only consistent with that 
 minute conscientiousness that " payment of tithe of mint and 
 anise and cummin," neglecting not " the weightier matters of the 
 law, judgment, mercy, and faith," which marks his whole career. 
 It comes from his deathbed as a faint perfume, almost of heavenly 
 odour, fragrant as " incense from Sheba " and as the " precious 
 ointment that flowed down Aaron's beard even to the skirts of his 
 clothing." 
 
 "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His 
 saints " (Psalm xcvi., 15). 
 
 The translator concludes with a few words by Clement of 
 Alexandra, one of the earliest of the Christian fathers, and himself 
 a missionary to the heathen : 
 
 " Orpheus, Arnphion, Arion, and the Greek musicians, em- 
 ployed their skill in confirming the perverseness of man, and 
 leading him to idols and stocks and stones. Not so the Christian 
 musician ; he comes to destroy the bitter tyranny of demons, to 
 substitute in its place the mild and gentle yoke of piety ; to raise 
 to heaven those who had been cast down upon the earth. He 
 alone has tamed man, the most savage of beasts, and has indeed 
 made men out of stones by raising up a Holy Seed from among 
 the Gentiles, who believed in stones. Such is the power of the 
 New Song it has converted stones and beasts into men. They 
 who were dead without any portion of the real life have revived 
 at the mere sound."