Part 4

St. Augustine's College

In November, 1851, Kallihirua was placed, by direction of the Lords of the Admiralty, at the suggestion of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in the Missionary College of St. Augustine's, at Canterbury. This college, built on the site of the ancient monastery of St. Augustine, was established in 1848, for the reception of students intended for the work of the sacred Ministry in the colonies and dependencies of the British Empire, as well as among the heathen. The College, to which the Queen gave a charter of incorporation, owes its origin chiefly to the munificence of A. J. B. Beresford Hope, Esq., who purchased the ground, and gave the site. The College Chapel was consecrated on the morning of St. Peter's Day, June 29th, 1848, when seven prelates, with the Archbishop of Canterbury at their head, were present.

College Studies

Kallihirua remained a student of the College, attending to the instruction given him, and conducting himself well and properly in all respects. Under the kind auspices of the Rev. H. Bailey, the learned and judicious Warden of the College, who took the greatest interest in him, he availed himself, as far as his powers admitted, of the advantages of the institution. He appeared rightly to understand and value the blessings of education in a civilized community, and received with reverence the simple and saving truths of the Gospel. It was hoped, that, should he willingly and intelligently embrace the Christian faith, he might at no distant period convey the "glad tidings of good things" as a missionary or catechist to his own benighted friends and countrymen.

In September, 1852, the Warden, in a letter, informed the author, that Kallihirua had been in good health all the summer. "We consider him," said he, "a youth of intelligence, and quick observation. His progress in reading is necessarily slow, though he can manage words of four or five letters, he is fond of writing, and succeeds very well. He is very devout at prayers, and attentive to the religious instruction given him. I think he will one day be of essential use to a missionary in some northern region. He is grateful to you for your kind offer of books, and will write a letter of acknowledgment."

His Reverence for Sacred Places

It was but a short time after his settling at St. Augustine's College, that one of the students took him to see Canterbury Cathedral. The reverent regard with which he had been taught to look upon a church, as a place where prayer was made to God, manifested itself in his inquiry, when entering the nave, "Whether he might cough there?" This tendency to cough, arising from an ailment, the seeds of which had probably been sown long before, was often observable; and he was very susceptible of cold.

Illness from Changes in the Weather

In the spring of 1853 he suffered much from the variableness of the season. The mode in which he described his state to a friend is very simple and affecting. The original letter, which was entirely his own, both in composition and handwriting, is here copied verbatim. It commences with his signature:--

"E. YORK, St. Augustine's College. April, 1853.

"My dear Sir,

"I am very glad to tell, How do you do, Sir? I been England, long time none very well. Long time none very well. Very bad weather. I know very well, very bad cough. I very sorry, very bad weather, dreadful. Country very difference. Another day cold. Another day wet, I miserable.

"Another summer come. Very glad. Great many trees. Many wood. Summer beautiful, country Canterbury."

Should any reader be disposed to look with the smile of a critic on this humble but genuine effort, let him bear in mind the difficulties which poor English adults have to encounter in learning to read and write; and then let him judge of the obstacles in the way of one whose existence had been spent with his native tribe, on fields of ice, and in dark snow-huts.

In all attacks of illness he was attended with assiduous kindness by Mr. Hallowes, of Canterbury, the skilful surgeon employed by the College, who showed much hospitality to Kalli. One of Mr. Hallowes' family circle on Christmas-day was always the good-humoured broad-faced Esquimaux. At their juvenile parties, the youth joined cheerfully in the sports of the children, and he sometimes sung them some of the wild and plaintive airs peculiar to his tribe.

It is believed that Kalli never omitted his morning and evening prayers by his bed-side, and his utterance was full of devout earnestness. Mr. Bailey remembers once travelling with him to Deal, and while in the railway carriage, the youth quietly took out of his pocket a little book, which was afterwards found to be a collection of texts for each day in the year. For some time he was reading thoughtfully the text for the day. No notice was taken of this to him; and as for himself, never perhaps was any one more free from the least approach to ostentation.

Greenland Esquimaux Vocabulary

In the year 1853, Kalli rendered essential Service in the preparation of a Greenland Esquimaux Vocabulary, for the use of the Arctic Expedition of that year. The work was printed by direction of the Lords of the Admiralty, with a short Preface acknowledging the advantage of his assistance. Captain Washington, R.N., Hydrographer of the Admiralty, says in the Preface, "Every word has now been revised from the lips of a native. In the Midsummer vacation in 1852 Kallihirua passed some days with me, and we went partly over the Vocabulary. I found him intelligent, speaking English very fairly, docile and imitative, his great pleasure appearing to be a pencil and paper, with which he drew animals and ships. At the Christmas holidays, we revised more of the Vocabulary, &c."

A member of the Expedition afterwards visited St. Augustine's College and stated that the Vocabulary had been found to be of much service.

Visit to Kalli at College

The writer of this Memoir well recollects the circumstances of a visit which he paid with his family to St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, on a bright day, in August, 1853, when (it being the vacation) only three students remained in residence. These were 1. Kallihirua, 2. a young Hindoo by name Mark Pitamber Paul, and 3. Lambert McKenzie, a youth of colour, a native of Africa, sent to the College by the Bishop of Guiana. Kalli, who was the only one of these personally known to the author, did not at first appear. He had strolled out to witness a cricket-match in a field near Canterbury, but Blunsom, the College porter, said that he had promised to return by two o'clock, and that he was very punctual.

It is here due both to Blunsom and his wife, to say that they were most kind friends to Kalli, watching over him with the most thoughtful attention, and the tenderest care throughout.

As the Cathedral clock struck two, Kalli entered the College-gates. With hair black as the raven's wing, and eyes sparkling with good-humour, he made his appearance; and soon showed a desire to do the honours of the College. His dress was neat, like that of a young English gentleman, and he had a gaiety of look and manner, but far removed from foppery of apparel or demeanour. With true politeness--that of the heart--he accompanied the visitors over the Library, the Chapel, the Common Hall and the Dormitories of the College; each student having a small bed-room and study to himself.

His Amusements and Occupations

Kalli took great pleasure in exhibiting the carpenter's shop, a spacious crypt below the Library. Attention was there called to the wooden frame of a small house, in the construction of which, it appeared, he had borne a part. He said, when asked, that he should most probably find the knowledge of carpentering valuable some day, and that he should like to teach his countrymen the many good and useful things which he had learned in his College. He spoke little, and was evidently conscious of his imperfect pronunciation, but in answer to a question on the subject, he said he hoped to tell his people about religion, and the truths of the Gospel which he had been taught in England.

His amusements were of a quiet and innocent kind. He made small models of his country sledges, one of which, a very creditable performance, is in the Museum in the College Library, and a rough rustic chair, now in the College garden, is of his manufacture. He was fond of drawing ships, and figures of the Seal, the Walrus, the Reindeer, the Esquimaux Dog, and other objects familiar to him in the Arctic regions.

His sketches of animals and ships were very correct, and he used sometimes to draw them for the amusement of children.

When on board the "Assistance," he made a good sketch of the coast line of the region which his tribe frequented, from Cape York to Smith's Sound.