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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. rrata CO pelure, 1 a H 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 OPliuTCD in tje ®o!on{eg. No. 35. i<( SOME ACCOUNT 07 A SOWINJ TIME ON THE RUGGED SHOEES OF NEWFOUNDLAND. BT THE LATS EEV. J. G. MOCJNTAm, PBINCIPAL OF THE THEOLOGICAL OOLI.EGE AT ST. JOHK'S, AND SOME TIME MISSIOKABY IN POBTUNE BAY. it^ a P^ntoir ai t\it ^t^ot. LONDON: PRINTBD FOR T^E SOCIETY FOR TBB FROPAOATldN OV THE GOSPEL; AND BOIiD BT TRS SOCIETY rOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, OKEAT QUEEN STKEET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS ; 4, ROYAL exchange; 16, HANOVEB STREET, HANOVER SQUARE; RIYINGIONS, BELL & DALDY, HATOHARDS, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1857. Feb.] Price Eightpence. ■ ( r I /^ i-HE CATHEDR.VL, ST. JOHN'S. XEWForNDLAND. Front. '""'"■'*-•**' 9ss»a(ii(fi„ (S^fjurcfj m t[)c OTolonfcs. No. XXXV. SOME ACCOUNT OF A SOWING TIME ON ini; PiUGGED SHORES OF NEWFOUNDLANI). BY TIIF. LATK REV. J. G. :M()[JXTATX, I'lMNCIl'AI. OF TJIK THEOLOGICAL COLLEGP: AT ST, JOHN'S, AND SOMJC TIMK .MISSIONAUY I\ FOKTUNE BAY. t^xW} a JItcmoir of tljc ^utbor. LONDON: riiiNTii) I'dii THi: SOCII-.rV for the PUOPAfJATION OPTHK GOSPKI,; AND S and you will never do amiss. " 10. Remember that a morning without prayer is a morning lost, though you find a bag of gold. ♦' 11. When inclined to join in filthiness and foolish talking, remember the presence of God, and that it is written, ' Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall meurn ami weep.' " 12. Prayer, fasting, and alms are Mh v, )ons of the saints, by which, through Christ, they drive out Satan; oaths, drinking, and surfeiting, are those by which the Evil One goads on sinners to destiniction. " 13. Make not too much of thy son, lest he bilng thee to Len/iness; ana let him not learn sin at thy mouth, lest he i:irsf: tliee hereafter. •' 14. * He that forsaketh his father is as a blas^ihemer, and he that angereth his mother is cursed of G (k1 ; whoso hououreth L.^ > firo that L not, and .orci; To roverenco vrk, learn, y GosiieLs, St. John, obey the r, but be las.sionat'', 9 is moat hrist, and [ things of lifter. :lue, much with un- lolic faith of being )r you will luber the ayor is a sh talking, ten, ' Woe veep/ ns of the ,au; oaths, Evil One ig thee to -h, lest he emer, and lonoureth J -3 i I I REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN. XVll Vi 'a a" ■A o O his father shall have joy of his own childi'en, find when he maketh his prayer, he shall be heard.' * My son, help thy father in his age, and grieve him not as long as he liveth; in the day of thine atfljjtion it shall be remembered, thy sins also shall melt away as the ice in the fair warm weather.' Ecchis. iii. 16. " 15. ' Grudge not one against another.' St. James v. 9. ' The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and good conscience, and faith unfeigned.' 1 Tim. i. 5. See also 1 John iv. " The time would fail me were I to take more out of this treasury of God ; may He bring all thingf. '^^o your remem- brance, and teach you to observe and do them ! Be of one mind ; liv^e in peace ; and may the God c^ peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your whole body, soul, and spirit, be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. " Your attached pastor and " Faithful sei'vant for His sake, " JACOB G. MOUNTAIlSr. After his seven years' service at Harbour Briton, the Mission being now formed, and sufficiently pro- vided for, at the Bishop's express desire he came to St. John's, to take the Principal's office at the Mis- sionary College. This was the centre of the Bishop's hopes for providing the future ministry in the island, and it was now without a head. With the charge of the college he had also a cure of souls at two of the out-harbours adjacent to St. John's. In July, 1854, Jacob Mountain came to England for a few months, and married one whom he had known in early life, and who shared his labours for the short time they were destined to live to- gether. On the death of Archdeacon Bridge, while still retaining the charge of the college, he was B XVlll MEMOIR OF THE made the cliiof minister of the parish and cathedral church of St. John's, with the good-will and entire approval of the clergy and parishioners ; and thus succeeded to the chief offices in the Diocese under the Bishop. On St. Matthew's-daj, 1858, seven months after the death of the Archdeacon, Jacob Mountain sick- ened of the fever. St. IMatthcw's-day fell on a Sunday. On the morning of that day he catechised at great length in both schools, and then ministered at the Holy Communion in the Cathedral. It was the last publin service in which he participated on earth. It had been his special joy at those times to see those gathered in whom ho had been seeking during the week-time. The number of communi- cants at the Cathedral were just doubled since he had come to St. John's. He was to have preached in the Cathedral at the evening service in aid of some charity, but he was too ill to be there. Next day it became known that the fever had fallen upon him. The kindness of the people, offering all possible aid, and calling continu- ally to inquire, was very touching, and told as much for their own tender care for their minister as for his worth. All through Monday he continued very ill. A valued servant was lying dangerously ill in his house. On Saturday he had convulsions, and was expected to die any hour. He died on Monday night ; and just before his death Jacob Mountain had strength sufficient to stagger to his room, and commended his departing soul to God. REV. J. G. MOUNTAIN. XIX athedral d entire nd thus ;e under hs after lin sick- (11 on a techised nistered It was atcd on e times seeking nmuni- ince he I at the he was vn that I of the )ntinu- 5 much for his ery ill. in his id was [on day untain m, and There were hopes of his recovery for a few days ; but after a week's interval from his being taken ill the complaint assumed a new and alarming cha- racter, typhus of a severe kind. For nearly ten days he was generally insensible, with only occa- sional glimpses of consciousness. He could but utter a few words from time to time. It happened, that the man who came to shave his head was a parishioner, a black, one with whom he had often had serious conversations. He was heard, m the agony of the pain in his head, speaking ear- ijestly to this man about the Holy Communion. On the Sunday before St. Michael's-day, when his complaint was passing into its most alarming state, the bells of the different churches and meeting, houses were distinctly audible in his room ; and he whispered: "All that I can do to-day, is to pray that we may all be united." On the" feast of St. Michael he received the blessed Sacrament for the last time ; the Bishop, who throughout his illness nursed him with the utmost tenderness and con- sideration, administering. His words became very few towards the last : « Father, I thank Thee, I thank Thee ;" the constant repetition of the name of "Jesus;" expressions of happiness, mingled with touching thoughts of prayer for his relations, were all that transpired ; and the last day he could speak, it was of the love and glory of God, as if he were r.ddressing a congregation. He was buried in the cemetery of St. John's. It was not proposed to make a public demonstration ; XX MEMOIR OF THE REV. J. G, MOUNTAIN. but the parishioners, anxious to exhibit their respect and concern, i-ssembled in large numbers, and walked in procession from the Cathedral to the Cemetery. His Excellency the Governor was present, with his private Secretary. The children of the Sunday- school led the procession, and were followed by the boys of the Church of England Academy, with their master ; the students of the College, the physicians and clergy. The widow of the deceased and the Bishop walked together as chief mourners, and were followed by the churchwardens and a very long train of the parishioners and friends. The following day a deputation waited on the Bishop to express the wish of the parishioners to place in the Cathedral or in the Cemetery a me- morial to their much-lamented minister, in such manner and of such a character as would be most acceptable to his lordship and to Mrs. Mountain. A memorial is also about to be placed in the chapel of Eton College. Thus fell asleep one who exhibited a noble pattern of the Missionary of the Cross ; who, in a short time, fulfilled many labours worthy of the best days of the history of the Gospel ; whose work was cut off in the midst of his years, but whose memory still ministers before God, in drawing heavenwards the affections and aims of many hearts that had learnt to love him for his own and for his work's sake. C. I SOME ACCOUNT OF A SOWING TIME ON THE RUGGED SHORES OF NEWFOUNDLAND. SOWING TIME IN NEWFOUNDLAND. The Rural Deanery of Fortune Bay, on tlie south- ern shore of Newfoundland, extends from St. George's Bay, at the south-west extremity of the island, to Point Ray, a length of coast between three and four hundred miles, abounding in harbours of sufficient size for the craft which usually jjly on the coast, but unsafe to the inexperienced mariner, from the frequent occurrence of sunken rocks at their en- trance. The sea-cliffs are for the most part bold and lofty, with deep water close at their base. Too precipitous to climb, and for the most part destitute of beach or sands, they offer little chance of escape to those who should be so unfortunate as to be driven on them in the storm, or, what is more frequent and perilous, to be gradually drawn in by the swell, during the pre- valence of calm and fog. This shore is inhabited by fishermen of the English and Irish race, who have either themselves come out to settle or have been born in the country ; these last are called " Shumachs" or "the country-born." The present population was called into existence by the b2 4 SOWING TIME. enterprise of wealthy merchants from Devonshire and Jersey, who built large fishing establishments or "stores," as they are styled, in different parts of the coast, at convenient sites, and every spring engaged a number of men (from one to two hundred for each establishment), who came out for a term of eighteen months. These men were in all respects the servants or " wages men " of the merchant. They went out to fish in small decked boats provided by him, and brought in all the fish they caught; receiving in return a regular amount of wages, and living in the " Rooms " or merchant's establishment. In process of time, some of the men brought out their wives with them, and settled. They took to fishing on their own account, built houses and stages to split fish on, procured boats, nets, and other fishing gear ; and their connexion with the merchant con- sisted no longer in being engaged by him as servants, but in dealing with him as customers. They brought the fish they had caught and dried to him, and were supplied in return w^ith the necessaries of life, which in those days they generally procured in suflficiency, not to say abundance. A man of ordinary activity, keeping one or two servants, would catch five or six hundred quintals of fish in the course of the year, which, during the late war, were worth eighteen shillings per quintal, and frequently more. The price of provision and clothing corresponded, so that their gains were not so large in reality as in figure ; still they had an abundance of all the necessaries of life. Many saved considerable sums of money, i I I u r- c pf she con raai *^^ ._>/,. |.:,,| *^»::.n J*" thr per the THE PISUERMEN, u r- c. 'A C which otlicrs too frequently spent in drink, the prevailing snare and Bin of the settlement. Thus a native population sprang up : yet the merchants still engaged an equally large number of men every year to come out, as their labour was required for various purposes connected with the shipping of the fish ; and the demand for men in the "Rooms" increased with the population and the supply of /s/i, i. e. the cod, the well-known produce of these seas. Thus arose the existence of the two-fold race ; that is to say, the "country-born," and the non-residents. The latter are chiefly from the coasts of Devonshire and Cornwall, and the island of Jersey. These for the most part return home for the winter, about twenty or thirty men being retained for the neces- sary labour of the "Rooms," or to go into the " Winter House," to cut a sufiicient supply of fire- wood for the consumption of the rooms during the remainder of the year. After a time, the fishery in these parts was extended to the winter, which caused some change and increased the hardships of the fisherman's life. Before this practice, they used, at the close of the summer voyage, to retire into some sheltered valley or hill side among the woods, and construct a very simple and small log hnt, with one main room about six feet by eight and six feet high, raid two small sleeping compartments. Here, with three or four barrels of flour, one or two barrels of pork and beef, and tea and molasses in proportion, the earnings of the summer, or rather the supply H 6 SOWING TIME. given liy the mcrcluuit in lulvuncc for the forth- coining "voyage" {i.e. catch offish), the family passed two or three months in the enjoyment of every bodily comfurt, though sadly cut off from everything which might minister to their spiritual wants or moral improvement. The wind and storm might howl without, and the snow-drift whirl in fury all around, find the deep ponds become almost solid blocks of ice; yet within, the little room was thoroughly warmed by a huge square-piled fire of wood, which sometimes half filled the area of the floor; and as the flame blazed np the wide open wooden chimney, it mattered little if it caught fire, for a cup of water extinguished the flame as soon as it was caught, and a little clay repaired the damage. The man was fully occupied in preparing for the spring fishery. He had his saw-pit close at hand, where also he generally built a fishing punt, a craft of somewhat peculiar frame, but usually an excellent sea-boat. It is about six feet keel, and six feet wide, with "standing rooms" to row in, and the midships and stern, where the fish is stowed when caught, covered with movable boards, forming a sort of deck ; one mast, a low, snng main-sail, jib and dri- ver at the stern, though occasionally two masts, and foresail as well as mainsail. The latter is called a skiff, the former a " punt and driver," to distinguish it from a punt without that appendage. They have other punts, called "shore punts," merely for tlie purpose of hauling the nets and \ inging wood, &c. These skiffs are not calculated for fishing away M ()DE OF F18IIIN0. from homo, and tho ir.vn in most cases return from the fi.shing-gromid every evening; though during the summer, in tho height of tho fishery, thoy occa- bionally pass the whole night out at sea, lying d(nvn in the skiff for a few hours' rest. The usual eourse is to rise before dawn, and haul tho herring nets, which r'e generally near the mouth of the harbour. They then proceed with their little wooden box, containing l)iscuit and butter, and a kettle of water, to the fishing-ground, where the water is from about thirty to eighty fathoms, I. e. two-aad-a-half lines, in depth, Arrived on the spot, they cast out a home- made anchor called a " killock," composed of a long shaped stone encircled with pliant strij)s of wood, bound tightly at one end ; and thus they ride out for hours, often in very heavy seas. If they find no fisli, they pull up their anchor, and try elsewhere. Fre- quently half the day is past without taking a single fish, and then comes a sudden run of success, and they catch them as fast as the lines can be hauled, and in a few h.^urs the boat, which holds about six quintals, may be half loaded. The average catch is about a quintal, rather less than more, but it is extremely variable ; and during some months in the year it is seldom that more than twenty fish, about a quarter of a quintal, are caught. A man who had any other occupation might be more profitably employed ; but even if he had anything else to do (and the ingrata tellus scarcely yields a due return), the merchant looks with a jealous eye on a desertion of the main busincjss. He is so far right that it is 8 SOWING TIMI au imcleniable truth that all depends on the fishery, and that neither merchant nor fisherman could sub- sist if it were neglected. In the " Capelin scull " fre- quently as much as two or three quintals are caught in the day. This period, so called from a small fish of that namo making its appearance in such aston- ishing quantities that even the greedy cod and the greedier fisherman are satiated with them, is of a very fluctuating and uncertain length. It generally lasts from three to six weeks in the months of May and June. At this season the poor fellows are literally at work day and night. They do not come in till dark, the task of splitting and salting the fish then occupies several hours, and before dawn they are off again to the fishing-ground. I have known men not take off their clothes for a week together, or get more than a snatch of an hour's broken sleep with their clothes and boots on for the whole time. Except at this season, the men begin to come away from the fishing ground a few hours before sunset ; the splitting and salting are done shortly after dark ; and then follow supper and bed. This is the opportunity of the Missionary : when on his visits he arrives at one of the smaller of these settlements, where there is no school, and few families, he can occupy himself most profitably in teaching the childreu and women ; or if they a^e not ripe for even this partial and occasional instruc- tion, he has to wait patiently till the hour when the cod fishing has ceased, and his fishing o^men can begin. Then he has his time ; and, wearied as they are, BOAT-FISHING. It I in most cases tliey willingly attend prayers, as soon as they have concluded their hasty meal ; and, in many cases, chough not so generally, they will also attend prayers in the morning before setting off to fish, if the Missionary can be early enough on his ground. This practice was first instituted in my mission by the laborious and faithful Coliey,^ in spite of his weak and declining state of health. There is still another class of fishermen to be taken into account ; namely, those who, having gained a small capital, embark on a larger scale. These keep a decked boat besides the skiffs ; and, as soon as the fishery ftiils on their own immediate shore, they go off with a crew of two or three ser- vants to any part of the island where they hear of fish, and returning after an absence of a month or so, unload their cargoes of fish to be " made," i. e. dried by the women and children, and again set sail on another trip. These boats are, for the most part, decked, of about thirty or forty tons' burden, and can be worked by two hands, though they usually carry four when engaged in fishing. The risk in- curred in this boat-fishing is even greater than that of fishing at home : they are seldom able to procure good tackling or sufficient gear, and are obliged to go long distances from home, where they are com- paratively unacquainted with the shore. The very wildest part of the western coast is the spot where, of late years, the fish have congregated during the depth of winter in the greatest numbers. 1 Now the Rev. J. CoUey, I\lissiouary at Hermitage Cove. 10 .1 SOWING TIME. These poor fellows follow them thither, and at that inclement season are exposed to as much hardship as often falls to the lot of man to endure, while their less enterprising or poorer brethren are snugly en- sconced in some mountain gorge or wood-clad glen, preparing at their leisure, by their own fire-sides, for the spring and summer fishery. This slight outline will convey some idea of the mode of life among the fishermen, of whose religious state and spiritual progress during the last eight years I am anxious to give some account to those friends in England who " have naturally cared for their state," and who have shown that care, not only or chiefly by word, but also by supplying, during the whole of that period, the means of support to a second Missionary and fellow-helper to the one already maintained by the venerable ^OQietij for the Propagation of the Gospel, When T was first appointed to this deanery, in the autumn of 1847, there were two deacons, both Missionaries of the S. P. G. : one at La Poele, ninety miles distant from my own station at Har- bour Briton; and the other thirty miles nearer, at Burgeo, the largest settlement on the coast, numbering about 700 souls, all belonging to the Church of England. Besides these, there was one deacon-schoolmaster of the Newfoundland School Society at St. George's Bay, the extreme point of the deanery ; and another at Grole, twenty- four miles from Harbour Briton ; and a third at Belleoram, about the same distarce ou the other 1 t i T FUND FOR A SECOND MISSIONARY. 11 side. ^ly own misfslon extended from Cape La Hume, to within twelve miles of Belleoram, a line of coast 0£ about 150 miles, with forty settlements, at intervals of three or four miles, consisting, for the most part, of four or five families each ; in some in- stances, of two or three ; in a few, of as many as eighteen or twenty. At Gaultois and Harbour Briton, besides the fishermen's families, there wvas a mer- chant's establishment, each consisting of an agent and flxmily, storekeepers, and other officers, and about 200 men. I found at once that it was quite impossible to visit these various settlements Avith any regularity, and at the sam.e time keep up the services at my own station ; and it was the more important that the latter should not be intermitted, in order that the inhabitants of the neighbouring settlements might be induced to come up to Harbour Briton on Sundays ; a practice in which they w^ould hardly persevere if they were liable to disappoint- ment on their arrival. It was to supply this deficiency that a subscrip- tion w\as set on foot by some kind and Christian friends in England to maintain a second Missionary ; who was accordingly appointed, and brought round by the Bishop in person, during my second year at Harbour Briton. With my hands thus strengthened, we entered on a regular plan of operations, by which one was always to be found at home, and the other engaged in a round of visits. This latter duty chiefly devolved on me, owing to the weak health of my colleague. A fortnight was generally sufiTioieut 12 SOWING TIME. to enable me to visit the settlements from Cape La Hume to Harbour Briton, and another fortnight completed the other half of the Mission ; and this occupied me during the greater part of the summer ; Avhilc, in the winter, I was confined more immedi- ately to Harbour Briton itself, or to shorter circuits in the neighbourhood. My usual course in visiting was to proceed to the nearest settlement, eitlier by land or sea, according to the direction in which I was bound ; and thence to the next, halting for one night at each place. On arriving, it was my custom to visit, if possible, each family, and to endeavour to instruct the children in their prayers and catechism, if they were not too rude and illite- rate. In the evening, the old and young were assembled in the house where I lodged, usually the most commodious one in the place ; when, after prayers and a sermon, the time was spent either in catechising the children, or in such discourse and directions as the people most needed or the occasion called for. It is with a mixture of pain and pleasure that I look back upon those visits — of pain, at the recol- lection of the utter ignorance among the people in general of the ministerial office, of the nature of their own gifts and privileges, in a word, of the kingdom of Christ, either without or within them ; and of pleasure, at the change which God has wrought in these respects, not only, or chiefly, through my ministry, but through the labours of other faithful teachers and pioneers of the Gospel, HOLY ORDERS NOT APPRECIATED. 13 When I first came among them, the people regarded me in the same light as they had always been accus- tomed to regard the itinerant teachers who had occasionally visited or sojourned among them ; that is to say, that I could "read ray book," and was a fine " scholar," and could teach the children. Some had an indistinct idea, that, in some way or other, I was the proper person to perform baptisms and marriages, and other ordinances ; but, in general, there was a rooted idea that any one who could read was equally competent. This amount of scholarship ipso facto qualified in their eyes any man for functions of the nature of which they had so very limited a comprehension. Even up to the last year of my residence, when I have remonstrated against their unlawful practice of lay-baptisms and marriages at the hand of any chance person, the ready answer has been, — " Why, Sir, the man w^as a Jlne scholar; he read the service as w^ell as any parson!" It lay like a sad and heavy weight at heart, to go about from place to place, feeling that one was the commissioned merchant of a treasure beyond all price, which no man cared for ; while, if I had been a trader in bales of goods and barrels of flour, all would have met me with an eager welcome. It must not be understood that there was a general unwillingness for instruction ; for the arrival of a resident schoolmaster would have been hailed with delight; but there was everywhere an utter ignorance of the office and benefit of the ministry : I u SOWING TIME. and how co'ild it be otherwise ? In some places, on iny first arrival, I received from all as respectful a Avelcome as a priest of God could desire. At Push- thro', in particular, I shall never forget the kindly eagerness with which I was received by one of the chief inhabitants, who in sj ; ' Mth had ever opened his house to all who c . in the name of Christ, and felt himself honoured by their sojourn under his roof He stood at his stage head when I landed, and received me with open heart and arms. The whole time of my stay his one thought seemed to be how he naight most promote my comfort, and minister to my wants. Nor was he unmiudful of the better part ; his ear was open to hear what Christ midit teach him bv me. What his ear re- ceived, his neart pondered — a heart as tender and as true as any I have known in any rank of life, and in which I am glad to claim the place of a brother in affection, as well as of a minister in respect. This man was one of four brothers, each of them of the same sterling character as himself, and having great infl uence for good in their respective spheres. Two of them lived in the same settlement, composed of their own and two other families of the same worth. Here, too, I was from the first well received ; and I found so much simplicity, earnestness, and willingness to be instructed more perfectly in the way of God, tliat I was enabled, before a very long period, to administer the Holy Communion to some of the more advanced among them. The number steadily increased, and before my departure every INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN EXAMPLE. 15 adult in tlic place had become a communicant, although even here they had previously entertained a firm persuasion that that holy feast was not in- tended for '' such as them," and in other places it had not so much as been heard of. After a time, they began, at my instigation, to meet together on Sundays for Divine Service, the two brothers leading the rest of the congregatiori, and reading sermons supplied by me : the rest of the day was spent in catechising and instructing thf children. Daily family prayer, private devotions in the morning as well as evening, became the rule in every family ; books were eagerly sought and i-ead, the children and parents rapidly progressed. At each succeeding visit I had a class of children quite as intelligent as their equals in a good school at home. I look back on those happy homes and that band of children as my own ; friends with w^hom I have sojourned, as well as a flock whom I have taught. Those humble communions in their low-roofed house, with deal table, and benches for the rail, have as sweet a savour in my remembrance as many in the holy and consecrated shrines of dear and happy England. And these people were known by their fruits ; their nearest neighbours bore witness to their blameless life and conversation. It was from seeing their example that they were stirred up to emulate it. They heard no oaths or evil words from their lips on the fishing-ground ; they saw them patient under the same trials and disappointments which daily pro- voked other men to wrath ; they saw them bearing 16 SOWING TIME. one another's burdens, kindly affectioned one to another; wives submitting, husbands loving, chil- dren obeying ; no sound of provocation or answering again, but the voice of joy in their dwellings ; all their works done in love ; having salt in themselves, and having peace one with another. " I wish," said a man of the neighbouring settlement, " we could live as theij do there." " Well," I said, " begin and try; you have the same means, the same grace will not be wanting." They did try ; they, too, all be- came communicants, and, I trust, are striving to walk in the same way of life. This was more or less the case with four or five settlements on this shore, and a feeling sprang up between pastor and people which could hardly have existed imder ordinary circumstances. Sleeping,' under the same roof, and eating at the same board, seemed to unite us with the bands of a man and the cords of love, and to establish a feeling of communion and affinity. Beyond Pushthro' and Bonne Bay my visits were less frequent, and the fruits of means which at best were but very scanty and inadequate were of course less evident ; and it need hardly be stated that there were many discouragements, and too many tokens of indifference and dislike, barely con- cealed by the habitual self-possession of the people. Too often is the messenger of glad tidings regarded as an unwelcome intruder; his presence felt as a check and rebuke, his warnings and entreaties rather dreaded than desired, the precious gift he bears reckoned less than the trouble or cost of his passing visit. t P DIVERSITY OP RESULTS. 17 The settlements a few miles beyond these wei*o separated from the next by a long interval (fourteen miles), with the exception of one or two families in a wild and romantic creek ; then came three or four together, namely, New Harbour, Kencontro, Francois, Caj c la Hume, in which there wei'e a sufficient number of children and families to form one good-sized school and congregation ; but, un- happily, they were as usual separated by two, three, and six nules of stormy sea, which is nearly the only mode of communication, that by land being so wild and precipitous that it would be out of the (piestion for children to attempt it, and no very easy task for men. Here I frequently stayed for a week together, making either Rencontre or Cape la Hume my head- quarters. There was much ground for encournge- ment and incentive to labour in every place ; but the manners and ways of the people were strikingly different. In one place you will find them clean, tidy, thriving; houses neatly and substantially built, and a certain air of sobriety and self-respect about the people; the children a picture of delight, with their beautiful eyes, well-formed faces, soft flaxen hair. In another, close by, the very reverse of all this ; houses, or rather hovels of studs, the crevices gaping svide or filled with moss, the roof covered with rinds of trees and sod, the entrance obstructed by heaps of dirt, often nothing that deserved the name of a door, the aperture so low that one must stoop to enter, the interior without any furniture but a low table and a rough stool, scarcely raised C 18 SOWING TIME. throe inches from the ground, the children, wretch- edly ragged and dirty, crouching round, or creeping into the smoky wood fire, an old sail and a few more studs forming the only partition between the kitchen and sleeping-room, if such terms can bo applied to such miserable dens. I have seldom seen a more picturesque spot than Rencontre, excepting a place of ti>o same name in another part of Fortune Bay, which is even more beautiful. In the place of which I am now speaking, a deep bay of four or five miles runs in from the point of New Harbour, with magnificent headlands, and bold, romantic caverns and rocks, with almost fathomless water close at their base. The main part of the little settlement is pleasantly situated on a sloping beach, on which the treasures of the deep, the countless swarms of cod, have been dried year after year, since the father of the settlement, an old Jerseyman, lately deceased, first established himself, and took possession of the place. When I knevr it first there were eight families, nearly all his child)-en and grandchildren. His wife was a treasure to them ,s well as to him. She was a woman of little or no education. When she was very young, her father was swallowed up in the ice, with all his crew, on a howling, wiitry day, before the eyes of his shrieking wife and children, in a desolate creek where tlioy lived alone. In those d lys there were no schools on the whole coast ; she was reared by her widowed mother, without any o])Dortunitv of reo^ular instruction, vet she brought A MOTHER IN ISRAEL. 19 4* up her own chiklren admirably; their unusual clefer- uncc and tenderness to her, when full-grown men, bore witness to her judicious training, and her prac- tical good sense and piety pervaded the whole settlement. Nothing was done without her advice and counsel, and nuthing seemed to prosper as well as when she was the doer of it. The only clergy- man who had ever visited the place before my arrival was Archdeacon Wix ; and he, I believe, was here only once, and for a short time. A few passing visits from Methodist teachers were the only other advantages of this kind which they had ever enjoyed; yet I have seldom witnessed a congregation so or- derly, and who joined in the service with so much devotion and earnestness. Of their own accord the "maidens" used to range themselves on one side of the house, and the men on the other, and only the Feast of the Lord was wanting to supply all our need. I never succeeded in introducinof it here. Thouah they were sorely tried and chastened, and I attended the mother of this Israel in her last moments, after she had seen more than one son and daughter cut off with fever, neither she herself nor her children ever received the bread of life at my hands. They had a neat graveyard, but no school or a building for Divine Service of any kind, though we had fre- quent projects and aspirations for both. The grave- yard was consecrated by the Bishop on the occasion of a visit from him in " the Hawk," never to be for- gotten by any of us. At the neighbouring settle- ment, amid much kind,iess of heart and some 2 20 SOWING TIME. exception, there was a sad contrast in all things, temporal and spiritual. l>ut 1 was not long left alone and singlo-hnnded in the work. My coadjutor, indeed, returned to Eng- land, after being with me between two and three years ; but a faithful friend and fellow-labourer, who came out at the same time with me in "the Hawk" and had been placed at Grole as schoolmaster, was oard of Education (of which I. w^as chairman) emj^loyed. He was placed at Pushthro', witli a charge to visit and instruct the nuiu-hbouring settlements : and well has he fulfilled his eliarge. Tiicse two have ))een true help-fellows to me. Botii cc tantly visiting, teaching, exhorting, instructing and re- proving, along a wild and rugged shore, with the rough lodging and liard fare which fishermen have to offer, with little strength of constitution or bodily aptitude for the work, they have persevered beyond their strength, and at each succeeding visit (at far wider intervals thau I had hoped to make them) I found the fruit of their labours in the increased (hsire at least for something better among the people^ a deeper sense of sin and shame in the worst. INFLUENCE OF A SCIIOOLMASTKR. 21 a higher aim and more consistent walk in the better .sort. Tiie i)rlvik'ges and (hitie.s of ('hnrch member' whip and the natnre and oiWco of tiie Ministry began to bo luiderstood and recognised in every place which tiiese two faithfnl men visited, and, ofconrse, more evidently where they resided, 'i'he school- master for some time occupied part of the same house in which I was always entertained fit Pushthro' (I need hardly say without charge) till it was burnt down while the family were at Divine Service in the school-room, and he lost all his books and other little property in the fire, as I had now no assistant clergyman with me, and the fund for his support kindly placed at my disposal, I was enabled to assist in building him a small dwelling-house, the pcoi)le cutting the frame, and giving their share to the work (twelve days' labour each) ; subsequently he married the daughter of our worthy host, and as soon as the house was habitable (it is not yet more than half finished) I used to take up my abode with them, and never visited the place without a deep sense of thankfulness. No one is better aware than the worthy school- master himself how much remains to be done, and there are many traits among the people of this country which a man of very staunch character and inflexible uprightness would sensitively feel ; yet the fruits of his painful visiting and prudent converse among the elders, his gratuitous instruction of the young men in night-schools (by no means valued or requited an it ought to have been), and his able and 22 SOWING TIME, assiduous training of the children in the school, were evident in the improved tone and character of all. The minister is indeed received as a Messenger of Christ ; and when we were collected together in the humble school-room (so small tliat I was obliged to have three services to enable all to attend), at the celebration of the Holy Communion, those who rose to depart were the minority, — the greater part remained behind. I could with equal or even greater pleasure dwell on my visits and early Communions at Grole, those days of unmixed repose of heart and refreshment of spirit with my faithful friend and his ^rue-hearted partner, but that they do not fall so directly under the history of the Fund, of which it is my object to give an account ; though here too, as well as at Pushthro', I was enabled to apply a small portion of it to assist in building the Mission-house. I must turn to give some description of that part of the same Bay where Gaultois is situated, and of two or three settlements in its neighbourhood. My recol- lections here are of a more mingled character. The English labourers, living in two large common rooms and in most cases without domestic life, were under greater disadvantages; and although the agent was ever most assiduous and attentive, and every preparation which the place allowed of was always made for Divine Service (generally in a large, clean sail loft), I could not but feel, that with the few visits I was able to make (still fewer when I was without a fellow-labourer) and the little consequent inter- SUNDAY VISITING. 23 course, there could be no very strong bond between pastor and people. When I came for a Sunday, the a.m. service was well attended, the agent and clerks being most exemplary in this respect ; but in the afternoon the temptation to avail themselves of the only oppor- tunity in the week of walking and paying visits was too strong for the greater part of my congregation, and they were encouraged in this laxity by my being obliged to divide ray day (weather permitting) between them and one of the other settlements. Often have T set out, against my better judgment, to row four miles against a heavy wind and sea, rather than re-nain to see the empty sail loft, and the two or three " scattered ones," like the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done, who appeared at the P.M. service. A stout boat and crew was always at my service, and a congregation of sixty or one hundred people waiting at Hermitage Cove; and seldom have I had to put back, though once every thole pin, and almost every oar, was broken by the straining tug against the rolling sea. Would that some of those men could know the thoughts of a Missionary towards them, and the deep feeling of regret and sadness that the coldness of his own countrymen caused, yet far more for their sakes than for his own ! Hermitage Cove had been, for some time before my arrival, the station of a Wesleyan teacher, and afterwards of a schoolmaster of the Board of Educa- i/IUU say that miich fruit has f 24 SOAVING TIME. resulted from tlic labours of either teacher. I found that very few could read sufficiently to make the responses ; and although this part of the Bay was ia general the fairest and goodliest of my vineyard, they were not stirred up to emulation by the zeal and good-will of their neighbours. Though the number of inhabitants was larger here than elsewhere, it was seldom, if ever, that I could succeed in gathering a congregation on week days as in other j)laces. I trust, however, that the day is coming, or even now come, when this re^jroacli will be rolled away. One of the merchants of a long established and respected house in this Bay has lately erected, at his solo expense, a substantial and liandsome church, tlie only one not built of wood within many hundred miles. It is of brick with stone facings, about eighty feet long and thirty broad, the style early English, and in very good taste. His first desi 34 bOWINO TIME. boiir Briton to church, although they had throe miles of swampy marsh to cross, and then three to row, with the uncertainty of procuring u boat at Jersey Harbour. How often have I arrived here travel-worn iH body and wearied in mind, and have been cheered b;y the ready kindness and hospitality of the worthy and warm-hearted agent and his ,vifc, and sent on my way ho.ne refreshed. They did what they could to lighten a Missionary's cares and toils; yet who could help mourning over the 200 souls in that place, who seldom, if ever, come to church, under the plea of its being too far for them, and that the clergyman ought to come to them, and not they to the clergyman ? I was frequently moved to have one service there on Sundays, and trusted that by so doing a deeper knowledge of their duty to God and His cliurch might be produced ; but in the Bishop's judgment this was not the wisest course, either with respect to the present or the future, and 1 thought it safer to acquiesce in his judgment than to follow my own. May the Lord in his good time bring all into one fold, and give all the spirit of godly fear and holy love 1 It would have been no little pleasure and interest to me to have dwelt upon my visits to the happy and well-ordered people of Belleoram and their faithful pastor, as well as to the regions beyond them, so full of promise and simple faith — the hard-living and laborious men of Garmish, with their sterling'- hearted schoolmaster, iron of limb and lion of heart, and all the settlemencB around the bottom of Fortune h' GENERAL RESULTS. 35 > Bay; twice only could I visit them in the seven years, and each time desired that those visits could have beer* seventy times seven, so sim])le-hcarted and willing did they seem ; but the account of the last tour which I made in the " Messenger" has been already sent to the S. P. G., so that there is the less need to repeat the particidars here. I must not attempt to touch upon the mission of T^urgeo and La Poole, though situated within my deanery, and assisted occasionally by me. The latter especially wouk' require a separate account of itself, from the growing importance of the settlement, and the singular spirit of unity, and simplicity, and earnestness which pervades the people, and attaches them to their zealous and faithful pastor and to each other in the bands of brotherly love. The number of children in school much exceeds seventy, and the clergyman, during the past winter, himself supplied the place of schoolmaster, and still, I believe, continues to add that labour (alone sufficient for one man) to the burden of a large and laborious mission. It is time that this sketch should draw to a close. When it was decided that I should remove from Harbour Briton to become principal of the College at St. John's, and I set sail in the " Messenger," my little decked boat, for a round of my mission, I naturally looked back to the time of my first visit, and com- pared the difference of my reception and the deoree of progress in the various settlements. Scarcely any, either old or young, had then been confirmed ; seldom, could the children read; the practice of prayer, 36 SOWING TIME. except at bed-time, was almost unknown; and although there was a great desire tliat the children should be instructed, and the parents themselves usually taught them their prayers, the Creed, and the Commandments, they were gabbled over by the children in such a hurried jargon as to be quite unintelligible : and so little value was set on the office of the minister, that baptisms and marriages were commonly performed without him. When I left them, the children in many places could read, and in most could repeat the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and very often the Catechism ; almost all who were of age had been confirmed, the practice of daily private and family prayer in the morning as well as the evening was gaining ground, if it had not become general, and I administered the Holy Communion in almost every settlement, and in many cases to a majority of the adults ; and of them I may safely say, that habitual swearing or Sabbath-breaking was unusual, and so scandalous as generally to lead to the amendment of the offender. Before I close, I should anticipate a question which may well be asked as to the measure in which the people themselves contributed towards the maintenance of their Missionaries. This was a subject on which I had expended much labour and care, as I felt strongly that without the clear recog- nition of the principle of self-maintenance, there could be little real regard and attachment to their church among the people. There was, and still is. f CONTRIBUTIONS OF CHURCn-MEMBERS. 37 ^ a prevailing idea among them that the Government at home supported the clergy, and that there was no need for the people themselves to pay ; this feeling was encom-aged by those who came out from Eng- land, who knew that there the poor did not pay, and they naturally transferred the same notion to this country. I laboured patiently to explain the true nature of the case to all ', here, of course, it is un- necessary to enlarge upon it. In accordance with the principle of the Church Society in St. John's, I laid down from the first and gradually brought forward a system of contrbution which was so moderate that it would not press the poorest ; slowly and by degrees the duty was recognised, and at last the feeling was in its favour. The amount was 5s. per annum for each single man, and 10s. for each family, except at Harbour Briton, where it was double. There were so many difficulties in the way of the. collection, that a third of the whole amount was perhaps the most that was ever actually contri- buted in one year, in actual payment : this amounted to about 100?. It must be borne in mind that, in addition to this, it was a standing rule (which was cheerfully complied with) for a crew of four hands (if necessary) to carry a clergyman from one harbour to the next, and during the height of the fishery anyone but a clergyman would have been at con- siderable expense in these expeditions. Fishermen would not at times give up a day's fishing for less than twenty shillings, or even twice that sum. It may be reckoned that a Government agent, or other 38 SOWING TIME. functionary, travelling as I did, would have spent in the course of the year two or three hundred pounds ; and this ought fairly to be taken into consideration in estimating the amount of contribution on the part of the people. I have now endeavoured to convey some idea, liowover inadequate, of what God has been pleased to work in this Mission during the last seven years. None can be more sensible than I am how much that w^ork and those gracious purposes have been marred by the short-comings of the w^orkman, nor can T fail to see that where it has prospered He was the Doer. THE END. R. CLAY. PRISTEK. BKEAI) SlUKKl EI ILL. U- Of ■ I ■ 1 y The following Works may also be had at the Depotilories of the SOCIETY /or l^ROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, 77, GREAT aUEEN STREET, 4, ROTAL EXCHANGE, AND 16, HAMOTCH- ■TRRKT, HANOVER-SaUARE; AND BBtl. AND DAIDY, 186, FLEKT-81. CHURCH No. Published. I. 1843, Dec. II. 1844, Feb. III. 1844, March . .IV. 1844, Aug. V. 1845, Feb. VI. 1845, March . VII. 1845, Aug. VIII. 1845, Sept. . IX. 1846, Oct. X. 1840, Jan. XI. 1846, Feb. XII. 1846, April XIII. 1846, July XIV. 1848, Oct. XV. 1846, Nov. XVI. 1846. Dec. XVII. 1847, Feb. ^ XVIII. 1847, March •'**"V^' XIX. 1848, Dec. /^ XX. 1849, March XXI. 1849, April XXII. 1849, Oct. XXIII. ISiH), March XXIV. 1850, June XXV. 1850, July XXVI. 1851, Feb. XXVII. 1851, Sept. XXVTII. 1852, Aug> XXIX. 18.')4, May XXX. 1854, . . . XXXI, 1855, March xxxu. 1855 June . XXXIII. 1855, Aug. XXXIV. 1856, June XXXV. 1857, Feb. IN THE COLONIES. Diocese, Part. . TOHONTO • QUKB£C • •••••!#•• . NOVA SCOTIA . . . I. . . . NRW ZEALAND. . . 1. . . . AUSTRALIA .... I. . . . AUSTRALIA . . . . IL . . NEW ZEALAND. ,. . H. . . NEW ZEALAND. . . III. . . QUEBEC IL . . NEWFOUNDLAND. . L. . . FREDERICTON . . . 1, . . . NEW ZEALAND. . . IV. . . NOVA SCOTIA ... 11. . . AUSTRALIA .... III. . . NEWFOUNDLAND. . II. . . FREDERICTON ... II. . NOVA SCOTIA . . . in. . QUEBEC % in. . -.—fiLEWFOUNDLAND. . III.. „ NEW ZEALAND. . . V. . . NEWFOUNDLAND. . IV.. . CAPETOWN .... I.. . . TASMANIA. . MELBOURNE. . . . L . . NEWFOUNDLAND. . V. . . NEWFOUNDLAND. . VI. . . CAPETOWN . . . . IL . . UUIANA BARBADOS rrii «, E, d. 6 8 a 1 4 i 6 6 4 fl 6 S 3 4 6 6 2 3 .1 1 4 4 ;< 6 3 1 :xix. 1855, Nov. WESTERN AFRICA • Barbadn I.. . 4 .K.'CX. 1856, April SOUTH AFRICA. . . Grahamntown • • • 6 -j\XI 1857, Feb, TARANAKI , . . New Zealand (irahamstown • • t A XXXII, GRAHAM8T0WN , . 8 Nob, I. to XX vn . in three volumes, cloth lettered . . • • 8(. id.