with a warmth which secured thenceforward my constant affection. They conducted me to the church and manse, which were then in course of erection, and gave me assurance of hearty assistance in every work I might undertake for the spread of reHgion and the building up of the Church of God. I found my way to the Manse, and received kindness and welcome from Mrs Burns in the absence of her husband, who had left for Invercargill, partly on a visit to his daughter Mrs Ellis, but chiefly to organise into a congregation the scattered settlers of the district. On my leaving, Mrs Burns loaded me with fruits from her garden. These were greatly admired on board the "Bosworth," especially the gooseberries, which were as large as plums and gloriously ripe.
On the following day we made our way to Dunedin. The day was bright with sunshine, and we greatly enjoyed our passage up the bay, its shores fringed with wooded banks, and showing here and there a clearing with its white cottage and green pasture, and cattle feeding among grass up to their knees. As it had become known that Mrs Stuart was in feeble health, the late Messrs James Paterson and George Hepburn, with kindly forethought, were at the jetty to welcome us, having brought with them an arm-chair, in which they placed our invalid and carried her to our quarters in the house of Mr John Duncan. There she made rapid improvement under the medical care of Dr Purdie and the skilful nursing of Mrs Duncan. The kindness then shown us, and oft repeated afterwards, bound us to the Duncans with cords that death alone can sunder. It was my privilege to visit both Mr Hepburn and Mr Paterson at the time when they were passing through the valley of the shadow of death, and, as I looked on them and prayed with them, their considerate service to the wife of my youth always rose up in my mind, and gave softness to my voice and tenderness to my hand, as I tried by prayer and sympathy to help them in their dying hour. I must not forget that we owed to the late Mr James Wilkie, senior, the occupancy of a pleasant cottage till the manse was ready for us. Then began on the part of Mr Wilkie services to the Gospel and kindness to myself which
