[Cecil Wilson, Bishop of Melanesia.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Cecil Wilson, | Bishop'), for publication, 'to the Editor of the Tonbridgian', concerning 'our work in Melanesia'.

Author: 
Cecil Wilson (1860-1941), Anglican cleric and county cricketer (Kent), third Bishop of Melanesia and second Bishop of Bunbury, Western Australia
Publication details: 
3 October 1899; Norfolk Island [Melanesia].
£450.00
SKU: 22602

5pp, 8vo. On bifolium and single leaf of thin ruled paper. In fair condition, on lightly aged and discoloured paper. Closely written, in a not-entirely legible hand, with the first page having the underlined heading: 'to the Editor of the Tonbridgian'. (The Tonbridgian was the magazine of Tonbridge School, where Wilson was educated, and the letter was presumably published as intended.) The letter begins: 'Dear Sir, | I promised when in England last year that I would send a letter sometimes about our work in Melanesia. | I have just come back from a voyage round the diocese, calling at about 90 places between the New Hebrides & Solomon Islands & travelling about 3700 miles.' He describes how the first part of the voyage was 'by far the most trying': 'Pure unsophisticated savages are still to be found a plenty', with 'a number of naked people'. On one of the 'small islands inside a lagoon [...] the natives told us that on one [island which] could not have been more than an acre in size there were 400 people living. I went off to pay them a call, & the first island that I came to turned out to be in one sense the most important of all, for the chief lived there [...] the old gentleman, & one or two wives [...] I saw Qekavoi, the chief [...] Poor old fellow, he was hair-lipped, & blear-eyed, & old, tall & very big, he must have been a tough [?] customer once. Now all he wanted & asked for was something to do his eyes good, & some tobacco. I gave him the last & sent him the first, & then went on to his his people in the next island. Their village had been like a city of the dead until I had been welcomed by the chief. The instant the people had seen him receive me they raised a loud shout, & all the young people male & female took the water & swam off to meet me.' A description of the village follows, before Wilson exclaims: 'how much I wanted a lot of them to go away to Norfolk Island with me. They had heard of "Navaka Lana! they said but did not want to go there. Well, they took all my hooks, lines, necklaces, & tobacco off me, & we made great friends. The women were as disdainful at our parting as they had been at our arrival. The young people again swam after us until we left them behind.' He concludes: 'This will give you some little idea of our work. It is just the thing for old Tonbridge boys. Is anyone thinking of coming?' The single leaf only bears the postscript: 'I did not visit the other two islands in the lagoon, because one was set aside for women when sick, & the other was in mourning for its chief.'