e habits there is much. "_Chaque pays a ses coutumes_," said
Stanislao; these it is the missionary's delicate task to modify; and the
more he can do so from within, and from a native standpoint, the better
he will do his work; and here I think the Catholics have sometimes the
advantage; in the Vicariate of Dordillon, I am sure they had it. I have
heard the bishop blamed for his indulgence to the natives, and above all
because he did not rage with sufficient energy against cannibalism. It
was a part of his policy to live among the natives like an elder
brother; to follow where he could; to lead where it was necessary; never
to drive; and to encourage the growth of new habits, instead of
violently rooting up the old. And it might be better, in the long-run,
if this policy were always followed.

It might be supposed that native missionaries would prove more
indulgent, but the reverse is found to be the case. The new broom sweeps
clean; and the white missionary of to-day is often embarrassed by the
bigotry of his native coadjutor. What else should we expect? On some
islands, sorcery, polygamy, human sacrifice, and tobacco-smoking have
been prohibited, the dress of the native has been modified, and himself
warned in strong terms against rival sects of Christianity; all by the
same man, at the same period of time, and with the like authority. By
what criterion is the convert to distinguish the essential from the
unessential? He swallows the nostrum whole; there has been no play of
mind, no instruction, and, except for some brute utility in the
prohibitions, no advance. To call things by their proper names, this is
teaching superstition. It is unfortunate to use the word; so few people
have read history, and so many have dipped into little atheistic
manuals, that the majority will rush to a conclusion, and suppose the
labour lost. And far from that: These semi-spontaneous superstitions,
varying with the sect of the original evangelist and the customs of the
island, are found in practice to be highly fructifying; and in
particular those who have learned and who go forth again to teach them
offer an example to the world. The best specimen of the Christian hero
that I ever met was one of these native missionaries. He had saved two
lives at the risk of his own; like Nathan, he had bearded a tyrant in
his hour of blood; when a whole white population fled, he alone stood to
his duty; and his behaviour under domestic sorrow with which