1835. 



MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 



605 



missionaries have been accused by those whose society was 

 not, perhaps, even tolerable to them, because of their vicious 

 habits and indulgences. It was also very gratifying to me to 

 mark the lively interest taken by Mr. Williams, Mr. Davis, 

 and Mr. Baker in every detail connected with the Fuegians, 

 and our attempt to establish Richard Matthews in Tierra del 

 Fuego. Again and again they recurred to the subject, and 

 asked for more information ; they would not hear of my 

 calling the attempt ' a failure.** " It was the first step," said 

 they, " and similar in its result to our first step in New Zea- 

 land. We failed at first ; but, by God's blessing upon human 

 exertions, we have at last succeeded far beyond our anticipa- 

 tions."" Their anxiety about the South American aborigines 

 generally ; about the places where missionaries might have a 

 chance of doing good ; and about the state of the islands in the 

 Pacific Ocean, gave me a distinct idea of the prevalence of true 

 missionary spirit. 



In the minds of Mr. Williams and his brother I should have 

 expected high and generalizing ideas, similar in a great degree 

 to those of the ' Apostle of the South'* — the ' heroic Marsden,"* 

 as he has been most deservedly styled ; but I was unprepared 

 to find all the members of this missionary body anxious to 

 hear about, and talk of Fuegians and other distant tribes of 

 savages, rather than to draw attention to themselves, to their 

 troubles, and ultimate success, or to their own interests. 



At this interview it was fully decided that Richard Matthews 

 should remain with his brotlier, a respectable young missionary 

 mechanic, established at the northern end of ' the island, and 

 lately married to Mr. Davis's daughter. Among many sub- 

 jects of conversation we discussed the dress of the natives ; and 

 Mr. Williams assented fully to the inconvenience of their pre- 

 sent awkward mode, and expressed an intention of trying to 

 introduce something like the poncho and ' chilipa'* dress of 

 South America. With sincere regret I took leave of the resi- 

 dents at Waimate. Instead of hours, I could have passed days 



* The chilipa is a kind of loose breeches. 



