Diary Adelaide
May 1838 - September 1838
reason we were all very pleased that they decided to get married on board. Of course, our position towards the English Church came into play here, and what I knew in advance came to pass, namely that [if] a marriage ceremony was performed by us, [it] would not only be invalid but also punishable. Br. Teichelmann seemed to be not a little annoyed by this and he spoke seriously about reading the English, to abandon church prayers; The joy which I now enjoyed was more than compensation for the disgrace ( 039 ) which my former steadfast refusal caused me. I now remembered the Governor who told us that we had no power to marry members of the Church of England, because under the same laws we had no permission to attend the service of the Church of England, to keep church; and that my refusal was partly for this reason and partly due to the doubt that my church would approve of such a procedure, and that I therefore felt that I had to refuse for the sake of my public office, if not for the sake of my conscience. But he thought that the English church would not disapprove of us performing their services, and he hardly gave an ear to my other reasons, in the non-English way, other than not taking credit for anything; I shouldn't have disturbed the harmony, was his opinion.

Since we couldn't get the two, bride and groom, married, this was done by the captain, who has permission to do so in cases like these; The couple only have to or will have to get married again in the church.

This event caused much merriment on board; the sailors [had] made a wreath which was hung on one of the masts; the cooks and other sailors had decorated themselves with ribbons; and when the couple came back from the cabin where the wedding ceremony had been performed, they walked over a pretty carpet made of old rags and wood shavings and were greeted by several with shotguns. But the best thing was the ringing of the larger bell during the wedding ceremony. Since then we have had much more peace in our cabin.

September 1st, 1838. Saturday.
Did the governor ask me whether we were sent by a company in Germany or by Angas? "Of course from the former," was my answer.

( 040 ) "Doesn't Angas make a significant contribution?" - "However; but if that were not the case, we would have gone to South Australia." - "So", he said, "I thought Angas was sending you out."

But I soon realized that he intended something other than to know who sent us out, for he continued: The plan to keep the natives separate would not only be a false one, but would also require the permission of the government. Would I know that we are under the control of the protector of the natives! My answer was that I knew that such a protector was there; But [I] knew nothing about his control over our effectiveness; However, I hoped that this control would be of such a kind that it would be easy to carry.

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