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after having actually entered it, was the bitterest trial that could be laid upon him.

But though disappointed, he was not disheartened. His heart was in missionary work, and a missionary he was resolved to be. For ten years, during which he served as assistant-master in more than one National School in the North of London, he sought opportunity to go out to the heathen, but effort after effort failed. He was a devoted "children's evangelist," and one of his plans was to get the many young people who learned to love him to raise money for the purpose of sending him to India as their own missionary. He also wrote some pretty tracts and leaflets, hoping to make sufficient profit out of them to at least pay his passage out. He applied again and again to the C.M.S., but the way did not open, for the Society, as a rule, must look for other qualifications in its agents besides earnestness. At length, in April last, his persistence was rewarded by the Committee accepting him as a lay teacher for the Yoruba Mission, and appointing him to Leke.

His acceptance was communicated to him on April 12th, his birthday. There lies before us, as we write, a printed letter, which he wrote that day to the children who attended his classes and services. It is headed "AFRICA FOR CHRIST!-I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me"; and begins as follows:

To-day the desire of my life has been granted. The Church Missionary Society has decided to send me to Leke, in the Gulf of Guinea. I am going to a very unhealthy and perhaps dangerous place. Yet do not trouble on my account. You, my little friends, can help me. I would rather be surrounded by a hundred prayers than a hundred soldiers. Two reasons move me. 1st, I love the heathen; 2ndly, I love you. Some have said to me, "We understand the first, but the second is a puzzle; it is a strange love which shows itself by leaving us." I want some of you to wear a missionary crown in "Joy-land."

I may not see you any more. The next you hear may be that my Heavenly Father has called me out of "Tear-land."

After spending a few weeks with Mr. Hinderer at Hastings, to learn from him the first rudiments of the language, and to receive hints how to carry on the work at Leke, which Mr. Hinderer himself had begun, Mr. Read sailed in July for West Africa. The following letter, announcing his arrival at Lagos, would probably have never appeared in print had he lived to labour for some years. But now that he is gone, his simple words seem to us exactly fitted to touch the hearts of some of our younger readers. God grant that they may indeed do so!

LAGOS, August 18th, 1877. Tuesday, the 14th, about one o'clock, I stepped upon African soil. I earnestly pray that I may not leave for Home until my Heavenly Father has used me in winning souls for my Saviour. I shall remember your words, viz., "It is the Spirit that gives the blessing."

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Lagos is rapidly increasing in size on account of runaway slaves. Oh, that the Christians in England may not forget Western Africa when subscribing or offering themselves to the Nyanza Mission! In my diary the text for the 14th, when we landed, was, Ye are the light of the world," Matt. vi. 14. Since April 12th Leke has been upon my heart. May this wilderness soon be turned into a garden! May the light of the Gospel, with its healing and strengthening power, find its way from Leke to the banks of the Niger! I count the hours when I shall be amongst my people. As I write the following words, I trust they express the language of my heart :

"Oh, to be nothing, nothing!
Only to lie at His feet,

A broken and emptied vessel
For the Master's use made meet.
Emptied that IIe might fill me
As forth to His service I go,
Broken-that so unhindered,

His life through me might flow."

Trusting that I may soon be able to tell of a grand raid into the enemy's camp by all the "Standard Bearers" here, and a great capture of souls, through the guidance and help of our Captain, I remain, &c.

On August 29th he proceeded in a canoe by the lagoon, which stretches the whole fifty miles from Lagos to Leke, at a short distance from the sea. The Rev. J. A. Maser accompanied him, in order to baptize the first-fruits of the work of Mr. Hinderer in 1876 (see GLEANER, February, 1877). On Sunday, Sept. 2nd, fifteen adults and two children were received into the Church, in the presence of a congregation of 114 persons, inquirers and heathen. Among the baptized was the priest or

babalawo, Mr. Hinderer's "big fish" mentioned in the GLEANER article just referred to. He received the name of Joseph Sidney, after the Rev. J. S. Hill, who was for a short time at Leke. Two Sundays after, on the 16th, he publicly related the story of his conversion in the little mission chapel, taking as a text the words, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" A leading worshipper of the god of small-pox, named Lagbon Doko, who was present, was deeply in:pressed. "Joseph," he said, "spoke too much truth; it is here (pointing to his heart) ever since."

Mr. Read threw himself into his work with an ardent and loving spirit that at once won the affections of the people; and his letters gave every promise of a large ingathering of souls. He rightly guaged the capacities of the poor degraded runaway slaves, who chiefly compose the population of Leke. "The people," he wrote, "want the milk of the Word; and they receive it better with illustrations." Do our readers know the Wordless Book, with its four blank leaves, black, red, white, golden? If not, let them buy one without delay, and they will understand the following:

LEKE, Oct. 23rd, 1877.

In my rambles, when there has been a group of persons, I have often shown them the "wordless book," and explained to them the meaning of the black, red, white, and golden pages. The four pages are pegs upon which I hang four texts. I tell them all have sinned (Black page), therefore all need a Saviour, and God provided one in the person of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for all (Red page). Trusting with their whole hearts to the finished work of Christ they are clothed with His righteousness (White page). The last page (Golden) assists me in speaking of the glories of Heaven.

Another extract tells of his first preaching tour:

October 19th.-A day ever to be remembered. Since my arrival here the last day in August, I have often looked from my window towards the Niger. It has been my prayer that openings might be found in the villages seaward. October 10th seemed to be favourable. I started upon the Rev. D. Hinderer's missionary horse, but had not proceeded far when a violent storm of rain came on, so I reluctantly turned back wet through. October 19th found us (catechist and myself) making way the second time for the village of Sirinevon. Having reached the place, the headman was waited upon and informed of our errand. Under a spreading tree the people flocked (I gave a special invitation to the young folks); a seat was brought, and palm-wine placed before me. The address was the old, old story of sin and the remedy. I tried to make them comprehend the truth by telling at the end to the young folks the Parable of the White Robes. Whilst I was speaking a man exclaimed with great emotion, “Surely the truth has come!" At the close they all thanked me, and said that they would look forward with pleasure to next Friday, for my next visit. In answer to inquiries, "They had no questions to ask; they all felt it was the Truth." I look upon this village only as a stepping-stone to one larger beyond. By night and by day the words of the man, "SURELY the truth has come!" have rung in my ears. God grant it may come quickly, through the help of God's children at home. He had been warned by the Rev. J. A. Maser, our Secretary at Lagos, not to cross the lagoon to the mainland till he had had his first fever, and so got acclimatised. But his health had been so good since he reached Africa, that, on Nov. 19th, he ventured to visit Epe, in the Jebu country, where he sang hymns to the people and preached the Gospel. There, no doubt, he took the fatal fever, though it did not appear immediately. On Sunday, Dec. 2nd, he preached twice to the Leke congregation, and announced, as was his custom, his next Sunday's subject, "Midnight Watch"; but he never addressed them again. On the Friday, the fever struck him down. On the Sunday he seemed better, but weak. The converts all came inquiring after him most affectionately, and he told them that if he died, he was going to heaven, and they must "trust in Christ, whose name was Love." On Tuesday he was much better, and talked pleasantly with the Native catechist, telling him stories of England, and singing "Hold the Fort," and "Scatter seeds of kindness." But in the afternoon he became suddenly worse; and at 8 p.m. he was put into a canoe to be taken to Lagos. All night the boat sped along the lagoon; but at 11 a.m. next day, when still five hours from Lagos, the redeemed spirit of James Benjamin Read was taken to its Saviour's presence.

He would be a missionary. God gave him his desire; nay, did more— gave him the crown almost before the cross was taken up. He could say what his Master said-what it should be the aim of every one of us to say-"I have finished," not the work I expected to do, not the work I wished to do, but "the work which Thou gavest me to do."

A PEEP AT HONG KONG.

narcissus flowers). Then set a counter in the shop, fill the shelves with articles for sale, have six, or even twenty, blue-dressed Chinamen in it,

A Letter to the Scholars at the Trinity Church Schools, to attend to customers (for they join their small capitals, and do busi

Leicester.

FROM THE REV. E. DAVYS. (Continued.)

O reach the Queen's Road, or principal street, which I wished to describe, we turn up one of the narrow lanes or alleys from the Praya, through rows of little meat, vegetable, herb, or fish shops. Entering the Queen's Road at the Central Clock Tower is like coming into Granby Street, in Leicester, about the railway station. There are the City Hall, the Hotel, Club House, Banks, and Post Office; all fine buildings, and a few large English and Japanese shops. In this part there are planted green and shady trees, which are a great refreshment from the glaring sun. The chair coolies lie and sit under them very comfortably, and so do the flower bouquet sellers. The trees themselves have, many of them, handsome scarlet and lilac, or green and white flowers; and just now a sort of tall cotton tree is filling the air and strewing the ground with pure downy cotton from its bursting pods.

Following the street, towards the Chinese portion, you soon find yourself in the midst of Native shops. The larger ones are often very handsome, and full of beautiful curiosities. Then you come to tailors' shops, carpenters' shops, tea shops, crockery shops, bird shops, and shops where they sell idols, gilt paper, and incense sticks, and candles, and paper junks, and ornaments for offerings. Then you have shoe shops, Chinese cap and hat shops, barbers' shops, noisy braziers' shops, vegetable, umbrella, toy, trunk, basketmakers, and almost all other kinds of shops, not to say the eating shops, where dried ducks hang up, squeezed flat, and occasionally a poor cat or kitten served in the same style, and dishes of soup stand all ready, and plates of pretty-looking vegetables.

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ness as numerous partners), and have one fat, clever-looking Chinaman in great spectacles to give change and keep the books, and you may have a notion of the generality of the shops. There is also to every fair-sized shop a little private door on the side, leading up some steep steps to the dwelling-rooms, and over this door hang five scarlet papers, and an inscription inviting the five blessings of health, wealth, honour, old age, and a good examination to enter there. From the front niche that I spoke of, I once copied the inscription. It was this, on one side: "May a gold ship fly with the speed of a horse to this house"; on the other side, "May a gold vase full of money fall from the mountains into this house"; and in the middle, where the fragrant sticks were burning, "O dragon, preserve this house." But you see there is no thought of a God of love, and no thought or desire for His forgiveness or His grace. Such, then, is one side of Queen's Road, Hong Kong, and the other is not very unlike it.

The streets are quiet (for there is scarcely ever a carriage), but full of sedans, and porters running along, and as crowded with people every day as if it was a fair time. There are Englishmen, Scotchmen, Americans, and Germans, with sun hats of all shapes, from a helmet to a soup dish, and nearly all dressed in white clothes, even the soldiers wearing white uniforms. There are Persians dressed in muslin, and fine Shikh policemen with immense red turbans. There are Parsees with black straw hats like mitres, some negroes, and quantities of Roman Catholic Portuguese. And then there are the swarms of Chinamen themselves -the coolies, with dark brown skins, scanty dress, and Chinese hats as large round as a tea table, and most of them with a fan; and then the better class dressed in a blue or white sort of smock-frock and white gaiters, with no hat, but shading their shaven heads with a fan or umbrella, and all wearing of course their long tail of plaited hair. The coolies wear them twisted round their heads, but the upper classes have them hanging down their backs nearly to their feet. As their own hair would not often be long enough for this, they plait in with it some silk or worsted, and finish with a tassel of Blue used in this way is a sign of deep mourning, black of half, but the common colour is red.

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In the other main streets and roads running along the hill side and

parallel to these, and joined to them by multitudes of small Chinese crossstreets, are the various English houses, the English and Scotch churches, Government schools, hospitals, and police stations. There are also the long Mission premises of the London Missionary Society, and of the German and Basle Missions; and likewise the Church Missionary Society's church and schools. There are also several Chinese Joss-houses, or idol temples (Joss is a corruption of the Portuguese word for God). They are by no means fine buildings, but curious and odd. Two ugly stone creatures stand in front, something between a lion and a dragon, and on the top are red and green dolphins and coloured dragons. If you go in (to which there is no objection made) all looks dark aud dingy, and by the light of a few tapers, for there are no windows, you see many red and gilt images, and in the corners some of cloth and paper, but all looking smoked and dirty. Every now and then some one comes in, bows to the idols, or kneels, and knocks his head on the floor several times, then he burns some gilt paper, which a man at a side table sells, the gong is struck to attract the attention of the idol, then he throws up two sticks, and as they fall he considers his prayer answered or not. If not, he goes through his service again. On festival days, which are the idols' birthdays, these temples are decorated with flowers and fancy figures in a most beautiful and expensive manner, a large covered space being arranged for the purpose in front of the building. The priests then come and bow before the pictures and moving figures that are hung up on all sides, and chant (fanning themselves all the time); and noisy music like the hammering of kettles, and crowds of people, make the scene very exciting, especially at night, when hundreds of lamps and Chinese lanterns make it blazing and bright.

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ONE FAT CLEVER-LOOKING CHINAMAN IN GREAT SPECTACLES."

And now next to get an idea of the shops, you must suppose in Granby Street, and all down Belgrave Gate, the shop fronts and glass all taken away (as in a coach-maker's shop in England), or else in some cases partly taken out (as in a fishmonger's or butcher's shop). Then make on one side a stone shelf or niche, and suppose standing inside this a cup, with incense sticks burning in it, a lamp, or wax-candle, a few pieces of peacocks' feathers and gilt paper ornaments. Then, inside, at the back part of the shop, hang up a large red paper scroll, with the family name in Chinese characters, set a table before it, ornamented with coloured feathers and paper (with, on New Year's Day, offerings of fruit piled up, a whole roasted pig, and branches of peach blossoms, and

A little beyond the principal joss-house is the church belonging to the Church Missionary Society. It is admirably placed, the front door opening just upon the Chinese recreation ground. On that ground are quantities of people. There is no grass-the heat has destroyed all that. It is about as large as our Leicester market-place. Here are groups of men sitting round a teller of tales, who has made himself a shed to shade his audience, and who sips tea, smokes, and tells his story all together. There are many fortune-tellers' stalls, and dentists' stalls adorned with strings of teeth of all sizes, which their skill has extracted. Medicine stalls, with snakes' skins and medicine-bottles; photograph exhibitions, showing English landscapes through stereoscopes, and often there is a large crowd gathered round a juggler or athlete. Now at six o'clock, almost every night, the bell of the Missionary Church rings, and numbers of the idlers stroll in, and hear the Native catechist or the missionaries tell the (to them) new story of the love of Jesus Christ. We have very few discomforts. The mosquito-gnats are very tiresome,

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and we are glad of the muslin curtains at night to keep them out, as well as the huge cockroaches (as large as any three in England) which fly and sing about the room, and spiders as large as a sand-crab. On the hills there are no dangerous animals or venomous snakes. We have some pretty birds; the commonest (next to sparrows) are a sort of small magpie, with habits like a robin-red breast. Thousands of beetles sing in the trees as loud as birds, and splendid pink and green grasshoppers, with wings six inches across, and we have a wild parrot occasionally in the island, but no monkeys, except tame ones in houses. There are plenty of little human monkeys, too, in the shape of the Chinese children, who (the boys with their one tail, which their mothers are very proud of, and make as glossy and smart as they can, and the girls with their two tails, or rather tufts, on each side of the back of their heads) are as happy and full of fun as children can be.

Oh, what a fine people this would be, if they only knew Christ, and the unsearchable riches of His love! They are so gentle, and kind, and so polite and self-possessed, quite aware of the importance of their immense nation-so ingenious and so industrious-that when it please God to send out to them His Word, and His servants (in sufficient numbers to spread it into the interior, and among the numberless tribes and dialects which fill the Empire), and at the same time to pour down upon them and upon the people His Spirit, they will be a glorious addition to the nations that profess His Name. O my dear young people, pray for them now and pray for them often!

near Cottayam College, and eventually they were established as at present in Velur. The Rev. R. Collins, in his Missionary Enterprise in the East (H. S. King), gives a full account of its early history. The Rev. J. M. Speechly collected money for a church which was lately built by the Rev. H. Baker, who handed over temporary charge of it to me in March of last year. Altogether, it being a congregation gathered out from a poor and neglected caste, the interest taken in them seems of that affectionate kind shown to ragged-schools and congregations at home such as those meeting in Rufford's Row and Britannia Row, Islington, where so many of our missionaries have worked when studying at the Church Missionary College.

The church is situated three miles south-west from Cottayam, and the way thither, for the last mile, is along the tops of the low and narrow dykes-scarcely affording footing for a pony-which separates the various rice-fields. Among these fields, the congregation for the most part find their work, but some travel thirty-five or forty miles east to the Pir Merde Hills, where they get employment as labourers in the coffee estates, and where such is the power of King Rupee that they may work shoulder to shoulder with Brahmins. In this visit to Velur I was able to ride the whole way, with the exception of a few yards near the church, across which, on account of the deep water, I had to be carried by a couple of men. But the water elsewhere was low.

Once returning from a service here, the little boat in which I was pushed its way among the most beautifully green rice-fields. The path was literally "trackless," the green corn up to our faces opening out for our approach, and then meeting behind us, as if nothing had ever passed

A BAPTISMAL SERVICE IN THE PADDY FIELDS. that way before.

BY THE REV. W. J. RICHARDS, TRAVANCORE.

[Our readers will remember the story entitled "The Slayer Slain," which appeared in the GLEANER of 1876, and which gave so vivid a picture of slave life in Travancore. The following letter refers to the same class of people.]

N Sunday, 11th November, I went, according to a previous arrangement, to baptize some catechumens at the Slave Church, Velur (or, as pronounced in English, Wayloo And as it was my first baptism of the kind I send an account, thinking that the perusal of it may awaken interest in the poor Pulayans-the most down-trodden class of people in Travancore, if not in India.

Velur is the head-quarters of a congregation of about 200 souls. Many years ago, the movement which has issued so far in this not inconsiderable congregation arose from a small beginning. As I have heard, a little daughter of Mr. Hawksworth, living in this old mission-house of Cottayam, began to teach a little Pulayan girl or two, so a mission was commenced for them. And the first converts met in their school, then

The church is a good one of its kind, not unlike the accompanying print of its predecessor (from Mr. Collins' book mentioned above), but rather more substantial, with massive buttresses and chunam or mortar floor. The walls between the pillars are about three feet high only, so as to allow the air to enter freely on all sides. Except when the water is quite low, the little churchyard is an island.

The Cottayam reader and a couple of students of the Cambridge Nicholson Institution at Cottayam accompanied me to this place. We put all the candidates for baptism in front of the "reading-desk." This well merits a description. It is built of stone, covered with well-smoothed mortar, and has a kneeling-place (also built) inside. It serves a double debt to pay-a place to preach as well as pray. In fact it is pulpit also, but marvellous to relate is a font too. The top of the reading-desk corner at the minister's right hand has a cavity like a good-sized bowl, which was full of water for baptism. This was the font. The church can seat about two hundred on the floor. There is no place for Holy Communion. At present, the Velur people join with us at Cottayam in this Sacrament.

There were present more than twenty candidates for baptism, but some had to be rejected, for the present, on account of their relatives, wives or

husbands, as the case may be, not being ready to join with them, or for some other good reason. One of those allowed to present himself for baptism had been waiting for five years, but had been delayed hitherto on account of defective preparation and to test him further, as he was rather quarrelsome and passionate. His chest was seamed right across with three or four parallel scars, the marks of his own knife and his own handiwork, done in anger and grief because his former wife died during his absence and was buried without his seeing her. His answers to questions in the Creed were not so ready as those of the other men, but I don't think he was so intelligent, and he was not so young. He seemed, however, quite set upon leading a new life.

These Pulayans have formed, of late years, the bulk of our adult baptisms. They are pressing into the kingdom of heaven, not for "loaves and fishes," nor yet from spiritual anxiety alone, but that also they may, by becoming Christians, become, and be treated as men. I dare say a desire to be like Augustin and his civilised brethren was one of the motives which brought many of our Saxon ancestors to the font and the faith of Christ. The answers of the women were well though shyly given, and it was touching to see their bent heads and hear their timid but reverent muttering of the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. The congregation of the baptized were told that they were held responsible for the walk of these new Christians, and they were warned that the judgment on baptized persons was more severe if theirs were not lives," and they were reminded of the Holy Spirit promised, with forgiveness of sins to those who repent and are baptized (Acts ii.). After the Litany, the service for "Baptism of such as are of riper years' was read. There were three men, with a wife and children each, to whom was given the right hand of fellowship, as I led them severally, holding that hand, to the font, and poured water on their heads in the name of the Holy Trinity. One family baptized included a grandmother and children; another included two grown sisters of the husband or wife.

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Just before all was finished, a poor young fellow afflicted with dropsy, and evidently not long for this world, who had been taught for baptism before he got ill, was brought up to the font, "borne of four." At first, not being aware that service was going on, he vociferated loudly for medicine, and I had to speak in a high key to make him understand what was going on and test his preparedness, and so, poor fellow, as he sat helpless on the floor, I baptized him by the name of Aaron.

Before I left the church, the leaders of the congregation pointed out the new bell, hanging from one of the roof-beams. It was purchased by permission, a few months ago, and cost the congregation about fourteen shillings (seven rupees), but it was a great "Tom of Lincoln" in their eyes, and having been bought from their own money was doubly dear, and sounded, no doubt, like a golden bell. Their singing is very primitive, and many of them cannot read, but those who can, join heartily in the Psalms and the responses, and all answer questions very fairly when catechised during the sermon. When compared with their still heathen friends, or when we contrast their simple faith in the Great God, the Saviour, Sanctifier, and Creator of men who hears prayer, with the Pantheism and self-woven web which binds the high-caste Hindus, there is much cause for thankfulness.

EPITOME OF MISSIONARY NEWS.

The Estimates Committee of the C.M.S. reckon the probable ordinary expenditure of the Society for the current year at £200,167. To this must be added £4,300, the adverse balance from last year, and £2,000 or £3,000 more for emergencies; so that at least the same large amount that was raised last year, which included many special contributions, will be required for the twelve months ending March next.

In addition to the missionaries included in the Valedictory Dismissal reported last month, the following are also about to return to the field :— The Revs. H. C. and R. H. Squires, for Bombay, the former to act as the Society's Secretary for the Western India Mission; the Rev. J. Welland, for Calcutta, to resume his secretarial duties there; the Rev. J. Erhardt and B. Davis, for the North-West Provinces; the Rev. J. Padfield, for the Telugu Mission; and the Rev. A. Elwin, for Hang-chow. The Rev. A. Lewis, who has been accepted for the Punjab, and the Rev. Eugene H. Thornton, who has been appointed to North India, also sail shortly. Mr. E. Hoernle, a son of the Rev. C. T. Hoernle, the veteran missionary at Meerut, who has been studying medicine at Edinburgh, has offered himself to the C.M.S. as a medical missionary, and has been appointed to the Persia Mission, to work with the Rev. R. Bruce.

Mr. G. G. M. Nicol, B.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, an African gentleman from Sierra Leone, son of the Rev. G. Nicol, Native Chaplain at the Gambia, and grandson of Bishop Crowther, has offered himself to the C.M.S. for missionary work in his own country, and been accepted.

We have again regretfully to report the death of one of our missionary brethren. The Rev. W. Ellington, of the Telugu Mission, died of heat apoplexy on June 13th, at Bezwara, on the River Kistna. He was

ordained from the Islington College in 1859, and went to India the following year. For eighteen years he proved himself a faithful and industrious missionary, and had no small share in the large ingathering of Mala converts during the last few years.

Mr. H. M. Warry, a student in the C.M.S. Preparatory Institution at Reading, has been appointed to the Seychelles Islands, to assist the Rev. W. B. Chancellor as industrial schoolmaster in the African Institution, "Venn's Town."

Further letters, dated Rubaga (Mtesa's capital), March 26th and April 1st, have been received from the Rev. C. T. Wilson, both by the East Coast and Nile routes. He reached Uganda from the south side of the Lake on the former date, and on the latter date he was cordially received by Mtesa after his three months' absence, and delivered Lord Derby's letter. He writes, "Certainly things seem smoother and easier here by far than I expected. The many prayers that have been and are being offered up for a blessing are, I feel confident, being heard and answered." Mr. Mackay arrived safely at Uyui, near Unyanyembe, en route to the Victoria Nyanza, on April 30th, after a most trying journey over a flooded country. Messrs. Stokes and Penrose were to leave the coast to follow him at the beginning of July. Their companion Mr. Sneath has, we regret to say, been sent home invalided.

The Nile party, also, has been reduced by the enforced return to England of Mr. Hall. He was attacked at Suakim with heat apoplexy, the thermometer standing at 98° "in the shadiest," and more than once touching 100°. Otherwise the party were in good health and spirits, and were to start on their journey to Berber on camels on June 24th.

In May last three important conferences were held at Tokio (Yedo), the capital of Japan. First, on May 2-6, all the C.M.S. missionaries in Japan met together, viz. :-Mr. Piper of Tokio; Mr. Maundrell of Nagasaki; Messrs. Warren and Evington of Osaka; Mr. Fyson of Niigata; and Messrs. Dening and Williams of Hakodate, under the presidency of Bishop Burdon, of Victoria, Hong Kong. The subjects discussed comprised Native Agency, Education, Colportage, Christian Literature, Preaching, &c. Then on May 9-11, a general Conference was held of the missionaries of the Church of England (C. MS. and S.P.G.), and the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, including Bishop Burdon and the American Bishop Williams-eighteen in all. The subjects discussed included the Japanese Prayer-Book (to prepare which a committee of five was appointed by the two Bishops), the Japanese rendering of Theological and Ecclesiastical Terms, Lord's Day Observance, the Native Ministry, Church Discipline, &c. The third Conference was on Bible Translation, and included all Protestant missionaries.

The Indian Church Gazette of May 25th contains some interesting accounts of visits paid by Bishop Johnson of Calcutta to C.M.S. stations in North India. At Bhagalpur the Bishop confirmed sixteen candidates; at Gorakpur sixty; at Faizabad seventeen. At Gorakpur he addressed a party of forty Hindu gentlemen at the Mission High School, on "The relations of man to the material and spiritual world"; and the discussion that ensued was joined in by "a Hindu Theist, an orthodox Mussulman, a Mussulman who professed himself a devotee of pure reason, and a very intelligent Christian schoolmaster." On Easter week the Bishop was at Taljhari, the head-quarters of the Santál Mission, where he confirmed 120 candidates, and 225 Christians communicated with him. "Everything," says the narrator, "is to be hoped from this flourishing Mission." Mr. J. R. Streeter, who is now in general charge of Frere Town, writes in encouraging terms of the state of the settlement, notwithstanding the misconduct of some of the people. The farming operations, though on a small scale as yet, are going on well, especially at Kisulutini. The Christians of Giriama, he writes, seem hungering and thirsting after righteousness"; and Isaac Nyondo (Mr. Rebmann's old servant) has been sent to live among them and be their teacher. The Highland Lassie continues very useful.

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In May last Bishop Russell accompanied the Rev. A. E. Moule to Grant Valley, the scene of the interesting conversions and painful persecution recorded in our March and June numbers; and on the 22nd he confirmed twenty-seven of the new converts. The good work is spreading to other villages.

Remembering the letter from Chitnio, the wife of the Rev. Ling Sieng Sing, of the Fub-kien Mission, which appeared in the GLEANER of last February, our readers will rejoice to hear that Mr. Wolfe has succeeded in re-occupying the great city of Kiong-Ning-Fu, whence Sieng Sing was so ignominiously expelled.

In consequence of the formation of the Diocese of Lahore, a Corresponding Committee of the C.M.S. for the Punjab Missions has been appointed, consisting of Bishop French, General Maclagan, R. E., Colonel A. Davidson, H. E. Perkins, Esq., C.S., Baden Powell, Esq., C.S., Dr. Scriven, J. D. Tremlett, Esq., C.S., and the Rev. J. A. Stamper. The Rev. R. Clark of Umritsur is Secretary to the new Committee.

** The October Number of the GLEANER will be a Special India Number, with Map and large Engravings.

THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER.

ENGLAND AND INDIA.

TO THE EDITOR.

OCTOBER, 1878.

SPECIAL INDIA NUMBER.

EAR SIR,It gives me sincere pleasure in writing, in compliance with your request, a brief appeal on behalf of my country. India is, or ought to be, known too well to England to need any special notice on my part. It is politically and intimately connected with England. The Queen of England is the Empress of India, and the people of India are the subjects of the same Crown. And it is a strange circumstance that the Indian troops have been employed to occupy Cyprus, an order which has been obeyed with considerable enthusiasm on the part of the troops. The bonds, then, between the two countries, from a political point of view, are very close and marked indeed.

But a higher relation than this subsists between the two countries. English rule is unquestionably a blessing to India. It has removed many social and national evils, such as suttee, infanticide, slavery, &c. It has introduced many improvements, such as railways, tramways, telegraphs, free trade, equal and impartial administration of law, political and civil freedom, Western learning, science, and civilisation. All these have their importance and bearing in the elevation of the country, and I for one value them very highly indeed.

But still what India needs is the Gospel. India is a great country, nearly equal to Europe, and from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, has a population of 240 millions, composed of many races and nationalities, speaking fourteen principal languages and innumerable other dialects, and boasting of an ancient civilisation, literature, science, and religion. And yet it is still mainly a heathen country, and like Athens of old, full of idols and idol temples. The number of gods and goddesses worshipped by the people is 330 millions. Idolatry is so rampant that almost every object is deified by the deluded multitudes. There are sacred cities, sacred rivers, sacred hills, sacred tanks, sacred trees, sacred bulls, sacred monkeys, sacred kites, sacred snakes, sacred fishes, sacred grass; there are gods celestial, gods terrestrial, gods infernal; there are gods with five heads and ten arms, with three eyes, with lion and elephant faces; there are gods noted for lying, thieving, cruelty, impurity, and other vices which disgrace and debase humanityall worshipped by the teeming millions of India. It is no wonder then that this great country ranks low, socially and morally, in the scale of civilised nations.

But blessed be God, even in this country, so full of abominable idolatry and superstition, the Gospel has achieved her triumphs. The number of Native Protestant Christians in connection with the different Missionary societies labouring in India is upwards of 300,000, and there are converts from all the various castes of India, from the highest Brahmin to the lowest Madiga, many of whom seek to adorn the Gospel by their consistent life and conversation, and commend the Gospel to their fellow-countrymen.

But the country needs more extended, more vigorous, and more self-denying effort on the part of Christian England. India needs the Gospel in all her schools and colleges, in all her zenanas, and in all her social and national institutions. Western learning and Western civilisation are making rapid advances in the country, and moulding the thought and feeling of young India. But the Gospel, and the Gospel alone, preached in its native simplicity, purity, and power, is the grand lever which is destined to lift the country to her true position in the scale of Christian nations.

God has doubtless given India to England for a great and wise purpose, not simply to impart the blessings of education, civilisation, and enlightened government, but mainly to communicate the light of heaven to her benighted inhabitants. Providence seems to say to her, like Pharaoh's daughter to Jochebed, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." Hence England's duty, and England's reward in the faithful discharge of that duty. My constant and extensive travels, and the free and familiar intercourse I have had with many warm-hearted Christians in this interesting country for the past three months, convince me that there are many of God's people here who are fully alive to this duty and responsibility. May a fresh baptism of the Spirit be vouchsafed to the Church of Christ in England, and may many a heart be quickened to a renewed and unreserved consecration to the Lord's service! The present seems a fitting time for this wholehearted consecration. The European war which appeared so inevitable has graciously been averted; and peace, and security, and commercial prosperity, and extension of territory without the use of the sword, have been vouchsafed to the English nation."Peace with honour seems to be her motto. Oh that the nation would rise to her responsibility, and under a solemn sense of her indebtedness to the Prince of Peace, make greater sacrifices than ever in this noble cause, by a large gift of men and means! Let the motto and prayer of England ever be, India for Christ, and Peace in her borders! Yours very sincerely,

London, August, 1878.

W. T. SATTHIANADHAN, Native Pastor, Chintadrepettah, Madras.

THE MAP OF INDIA.

INDIA is not a country, but a group of countries-almost a continent. Its relative size as compared with England can be best understood by a glance at the map itself, which we give on the next page; and it is scarcely necessary to add the figures, viz., that while the area of England and Wales is 51,000 square miles, that of India is 1,558,000, or thirty times as large, or that while the population of England is 21 millions, that of India is 240 millions.

About two-thirds of the whole of India is under the direct rule of Queen Victoria. The remainder consists of semi-independent Native states, but protected and controlled by us, the most important of which are "the Nizam's territory" and Mysore, which between them occupy the larger part of the interior of Southern India; Rajputana, and the dominions of the famous chiefs Scindia and Holkar, in the centre of Northern India; Kashmir, in the far north; and Travancore, in the extreme south. Those parts of India under our direct rule are divided into (1) Bengal; (2) North-West Provinces, comprising (roughly speaking) the upper waters of the Ganges and Jumna; (3) the Punjab; (4) the Central Provinces, corresponding nearly with the territories marked "Gond" and "Koi" on our map; (5) Madras, which includes all British Southern India; (6) Bombay, which includes all British Western India; and then, in the extreme east, (7) Assam and (8) British Burmah.

Our map does not show these political divisions, but any ordinary map of India will do so; and ours does show what others do not, and what is far more interesting in a missionary point of view, viz., the language divisions; and these will help us to understand what very different races are included among our Indian fellow-subjects.

In the GLEANER for last January we described the mighty invasion of India by the Aryans some 3,000 years ago. These Aryans, strictly speaking, were the ancestors of the modern Hindus. But they did not find an empty land to colonise. They had been preceded by another people whom we call Dravidians; and the Dravidians had been preceded by still earlier settlers whom we know as Kolarians. One or two other distinct races are reckoned within the boundaries of our Indian Empire; but for our present purpose it is enough to mention these three.

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