SUMMARY OF C.M.S. WORK IN INDIA. CALCUTTA. Corresponding Committee for North India Missions. English Church (the "Old Church"). 12 Native congregations in city and environs. Calcutta Church Missionary Association, for local evangelistic and school work. Cathedral Mission College, for high-class education on Christian principles. Missionaries, 7; Native Clergy, 3; Native Christians, 1,270. BENGAL (Rural).-Stations: Krishnagur, Burdwan. In Krishnagur, 50 Native congregations; Training Institution for schoolmasters; Class of theological students. Missionaries, 3; Native Clergy, 2; Native Christians, 5,800. SANTAL MISSION.-Mission to aboriginal Santâl race. Stations: Taljhari, Hiranpur, Godda, Bhagaya, Bahawa. (Also at Bhagalpur, for Hindu population.) Missionaries, 6; Native Clergy, 1; Native Christians-Santalia, 1,600, Bhagalpur, 360. NORTH-WEST PROVINCES -Stations: Benares, Jaunpur and Azimghur, Gorruckpore, Allahabad, Lucknow, Fyzabad, Agra, Alighur, Meerut. At all these, Native congregations, schools, evangelistic work, &c. At Benares, Jay Narain's School, Orphanages. At Gorruckpore, Orphanage, Christian village. At Agra, St. John's College, Secundra Orphanage. In Meerut district, Christian agricultural colonies. Missionaries, 17; Native Clergy, 7; Native Christians, 3,260. CENTRAL PROVINCES.-Station: Jubbulpore. Proposed Mission to Gônd hill-tribes. Missionary, 1 (more designated); Native Christians, 160. PUNJAB.-Stations: Amritsar, Lahore, Kotgur, Kangra, Pind Dadan Khan, Multan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bunnoo, Peshawar, Kashmir. At Amritsar, Corresponding Committee for Punjab and Sindh; meetings of Punjab Native Church Council; important mission agencies of all kinds. ! At Lahore, Divinity College founded by Rev. T. V. (now Bishop) French. At Pind Dadan Khan, head-quarters of Jhelum Itinerant Mission. At Peshawar, congregation of Afghan converts from Mohammedanism. In Kashmir, Medical Mission. Missionaries, 20; Native Clergy, 6; Native Christians, 740. SINDH.-Stations: Kurrachee, Hydrabad. Missionaries, 3; Native Christians, 90. BOMBAY.-Corresponding Committee for Western India. English Church (Girgaum). Native congregation. Robert Money School. Mohammedan Mission. Hostel for Christian boys. Missionaries, 3; Native Clergy, 2; Native Christians, 150. DECCAN.-Stations: Nasik, Junir, Malligâm, Aurungabad. At Nasik, Christian village of Sharanpur. Missionaries, 2; Native clergy, 3; Native Christians, 950. MADRAS.-Corresponding Committee for South India. Native conMohammedan Mission with Harris School. gregations, schools, &c. Itinerant Mission in the environs. Missionaries, 6; Native Clergy, 4; Native Congregations, 21; Native Christians, 1,700. TINNEVELLY.-Numerous Christian congregations scattered among 776 towns and villages, and administered by District Church Councils under the general superintendence of Bishop Sargent. Districts: Palamcotta, Mengnanapuram, Dohnavur, Paneivelei, Pannikulam, Nallur, Surandei, Suviseshapuram, Sivagasi. At Palamcotta, English Institution; Theological Class; Sarah Tucker Female Training Institution, to which are affiliated many village girls' schools. Missionaries, 6; Native Clergy, 48; Native Congregations, 768; Native Christians, 41,500. TRAVANCORE-Districts: Cottayam, Mundakayam, Mavelikara, Tiruwella, Allepie, Cochin, Trichur, Kunnankulam. At Cottayam, Cambridge Nicholson Institution; Cottayam College. At Mundakayam, Mission to the Arrian hill-tribes. Missionaries, 7; Native Clergy, 15; Native Congregations, 240; Native Christians, 19,300. At TELUGU MISSION.-Districts: Masulipatam, Ellore, Bezwara, Raghapuram, Dumagudem. At Masulipatam, Noble High School. Dumagudem, Mission to Koi hill-tribes. Missionaries, 9; Native Clergy, 3; Native Congregations, 147; Native Christians, 4,000. General Statistics of C.M.S. Missions in India:-Missionaries (including those at home)-clerical, 107; lay, 27. Native Clergy, 95. Native Lay Teachers, 1,717. Native Christian Adherents, 80,700. Communicants, 17,400. Baptisms in 1877-adults, 1,344; children, 3,066. Schools, 1,088. Scholars-boys, 12,220; girls, 3,640. OTHER MISSIONS IN INDIA. The following figures are taken from the tables compiled for the Allahabad Missionary Conference of 1872-3, which comprise the returns from the various societies for 1871 : The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had 41 Missionaries, and 45,000 Native Christians. It works at Calcutta ; in Chota Nagpore; at Cawnpore and Delhi; in the Bombay Presidency; in Madras, Tinnevelly, Tanjore, and other southern provinces. The London Missionary Society had 44 Missionaries and 40,000 Native Christians, at Calcutta, Benares, Mirzapore; in Travancore and other southern districts; among Canarese and Telugu-speaking people. The Wesleyans had 22 Missionaries and 1,000 Native Christians; labouring at Calcutta and Madras, in Mysore, and in Tanjore. The Baptists had 32 Missionaries and 9,000 Native Christians, in Bengal, Orissa, the N.W. Provinces, and at Delhi. The Scotch, Irish, and English Presbyterian Missions had 40 Missionaries and 3,400 Native Christians. They work in Bengal, the Central Provinces, Rajputana, Gujerat, Bombay Presidency, and at Madras. Various American societies, particularly the "Board of Missions (Congregationalist), the Presbyterians, and the Episcopal Methodists, had just 100 Missionaries, and 24,000 Native Christians, in the N.W. Provinces, Oudh, the Punjab, the Central Provinces, the Bombay Presidency; and in Madura, Arcot, Nellore, and other parts of Southern India. German Protestant societies, including the Basle Mission, had 42 Missionaries and 25,000 Native Christians in Chota Nagpore, the Bombay Presidency, the Malabar Coast, and various parts of South India. Adding to these the 102 Missionaries and 69,000 Native Christians of the Church Missionary Society in 1871, and a few others belonging to smaller agencies, we get a grand total for that year of 488 Missionaries and 224,000 Native Christians. The celebrated Government Report of 1873, including Burmah and Ceylon, reckoned 600 Missionaries and 318,000 Christians. The past six years have much increased the total. The C.M.S. alone has added 12,000 Christians to its list in the interval. THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER. VINEYARD WORK. NOVEMBER, 1878. BY THE REV. G. EVERARD, Vicar of St. Mark's, Wolverhampton. Epaphras Col. iv. 12. X. THE MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION. .... always labouring fervently for you in prayers." ERE is a bright example of a prayerful spirit. Epaphras was a true servant of Christ, and he followed his Master in this. He was in earnest in prayer. His petitions were full of fire and life. He" laboured" or strove in prayer, and he laboured fervently." Nor were his petitions confined to his own necessities. He remembered the Christians at Colosse, and sought grace for them from above. He longed that they should advance and grow in faith and holiness. He asked that they might "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." Let each of us exercise a like ministry of intercessary prayer. The ministry of gift is precious. That of personal effort in soul-winning is still more so. But that of hearty, believing supplication on behalf of others is most precious of all. I may exercise this when every other door seems closed. Means may be scanty, and it may be impossible to give much to the Lord's treasury. Home duties, feeble health, a lonely position, may make it difficult to reach many by my words. But prayer, al, effectual, believing prayer, may be offered in Christ's name, and the answer may come in showers of blessing. But how may I most effectually act as the Lord's remembrancer, and bring down blessing on the Church by prayer? I must cherish a thoughtful interest in others. I want "a heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathise;" I must think of the wants and woes and sins of those around or far away. I must believe more and more in the power of true prayer. I must believe that the feeblest cry of the humblest Christian is sweet music in the Father's ear. Where there is the heartutterance of the Saviour's name, prayer can never be lost. I must be definite in prayer. I must not lose time in generalities. I must offer distinct petitions, if I would have distinct answers. In praying on behalf of Christ's work in other lands, it may be well to divide the week, and from time to time to pray for each branch of the great Mission field. At various times we may pray for an increase of labourers, and increased liberality for their support amongst English Christians. We may pray for the Jews, the Mohammedans, the heathen. We may remember the Native Pastors and their flocks; and at all times constantly plead for larger measures of the power of the Holy Ghost. But whatever plan is adopted, let prayer be offered in simple, undoubting faith, in the name of our great Advocate, and it cannot be in vain. SKETCHES OF THE PUNJAB MISSION. BY THE AUTHOR OF "MORAVIAN LIFE IN THE BLACK FOREST," &c. IX.-The Valley of Kashmir. 66 ERE every prospect pleases, and only man is vile." It is a lovely place, that Valley of Kashmir. Many a traveller, many a poet, has celebrated its beauties, as it lies bathed in the warm rays of the setting sun, while in the far distance rise the snowy peaks of the Pir Punjab, tinted with the rosy light of evening, and between it and them stretches a vast expanse of undulating plain, bearing on its broad bosom cities, lakes, and gardens. The Valley of Kashmir was the favourite residence of the great Mogul Emperors. The traces of their luxury and magnificence are still to be seen in the dilapidated remains of mosques, garden-palaces, marble fountains, and sculptured pillars, and in the richest of all their gifts, the stately and beautiful chunar tree, which they caused to be transplanted hither for the embellishment of this lovely land. The city of Srinuggur, the capital, is built on the banks of the Jhelum; the houses on either side stand close to the water's edge, some of them, supported on piles, projecting far over it. Seen dimly through the delicately carved wood-work of the half-open lattice, you will now and then catch a glimpse of the graceful form and face of some fair Kashmir girl, with braided tresses and dark bright eyes, shyly peeping out on the crowded river below. Near the city the waters expand into a silvery lake, dotted with islands and floating gardens of melons and cucumbers. Above its clustered houses rises the hill Hari Parhit, with an ancient fortress on its summit, and beyond, across the plain of green mosaic, forming a beautiful background to the whole, rearing their peaks out of the midst of a dark belt of pine and cedar forests, appear the white heights of the lofty Pir Punjab, which separates Kashmir from the Punjab. Two wild and lofty passes lead from the one territory to the other, at an altitude of from 900 to 1100 feet above the sea-level. Amidst all the advantages of fertility, delightful scenery, and salubrious climate, what is the character of the inhabitants of the favoured land? The people have been described as being "dishonest and mendacious, vicious and untrustworthy, sullen and disobliging, thieves and extortioners, no word too bad for them!" The English visitor to the valley, the natives of the surrounding countries, their own rulers, and they themselves, seem to have agreed in this verdict. The Maharajah Gulab Singh, to whom the country had only recently been made over by the English, after the annihilation of the Sikh principality in the Punjab, allowed the first missionaries who visited his capital to preach freely in the bazaars, remarking that "his subjects were so bad already that he was certain no one could do them any harm, and he was curious to see if the Padres could do them any good!" This was in the year 1854, and these missionary pioneers were Colonel Martin and the Rev. Robert Clark. Books were distributed, inquiry was awakened, and friendly intercourse with the natives developed. A promising beginning was made, but the circumstances of the Punjab Mission were not then such as to render the prosecution of the work in Kashmir practicable, and it was temporarily abandoned. In 1862 the plan was revived, in response to an application to the C.M.S., drawn up and signed "by every member of the Punjab Government, and by almost every Christian officer in the country." A local committee was formed, and large subscriptions collected. The Punjab missionaries felt that they were sufficiently strong to justify a forward movement, and in the autumn of 1862 a second tentative visit was paid to Kashmir by Mr. Clark. As before, preaching was freely carried on in the bazaars, and nothing marred the peace of the missionary's labours. The Kashmir Government had not yet begun to fear or to hate the Christian religion. The needed permission to remain throughout the year was granted, so far as the English Government was concerned, and preparations for a permanent residence were at once made. But the Maharajah had by treaty the right to insist on the withdrawal of Europeans from the valley during the winter season, and he claimed to exercise it in relation to Mr. Clark, who was thus compelled to return to the Punjab. This refusal on the part of the Maharajah to allow foreigners to settle in the country resulted from a sort of Chinese jealousy of intrusion, and he had already begun to dread the influence of the missionaries too much to be induced to waive it in their favour. In the following spring, however, Mr. Clark re-entered the valley, accompanied by Mrs. Clark, and some Native assistants. Numbers gathered round in the bazaars to listen, and inquirers presented themselves for further instruction, braving threats of condign punishment. Some were imprisoned and beaten. One of them was found in a dungeon fettered to a ponderous log of wood, which prevented his rising from the ground. It was the second time that he had been placed in confinement for the Gospel's sake. Through the influence of the British Resident he was released, and he became the first convert of the Kashmir Mission, baptized by the Rev. Robert Clark on July 30th, 1864. Mrs. Clark, in the meanwhile, had opened a dispensary for the sick, which soon became very popular, as many as 150 coming in a single day for medicines and treatment. Both Mr. and Mrs. Clark wished to remain in the country during the winter, and were prepared, for the sake of the work, to bear any privations, but the Maharajah remained inexorable. It had become evident that although the rulers were opposed, the people were not, and the C.M.S. had no intention of abandoning their Christian enterprise. They determined to try the experiment of re-organising the Mission on a different basis. The Kashmiris needed medicine for the body and Gospel truth for the soul. They were willing to receive the one, nor did they seem indisposed to the communication of the other. The Committee therefore resolved on the appointment of a medical missionary; one who, while he alleviated the sufferings of thebody, might minister to the maladies of the soul, and make known to the people the true Physician. Dr. Elmslie accepted the post, and reached Srinuggur in the spring of 1865, accompanied by two youths from the Amritsar School as assistants, and by an old Native catechist, a Kashmiri by birth. Dr. Elmslie did not confine his labours to Srinuggur, but went through the villages also, carrying help wherever he could, and many a graphic picture might be drawn of the surroundings of the little mission encampment on such occasions. Sometimes the tents were pitched in a grove of fruit-trees, sometimes beneath the shade of a spreading walnut, sometimes amongst a clump of willows on the river's bank. Here sick and maimed would surround them, and here advice and medicines were freely given, whilst Qadir, the aged catechist, full of Jesus and His love, spoke and preached and read with all comers. For several seasons Dr. Elmslie returned to his work as the spring came round. One year it was his lot to minister to the panic-stricken population during a severe visitation of cholera. În 1870 he came to England on leave for two years. Having married in Edinburgh early in 1872, Dr. Elmslie was on his way back to India with his wife shortly after that event. Even then anxious friends noticed in his manner the signs of weakness and fatigue. Landing in Bombay, the doctor and his wife proceeded at once to Kashmir, and entered upon a season of labour pleasanter, though more laborious, than any which had preceded it. It proved to be his last. He died at Gujarat on the 18th of November. The next day Mrs. Elmslie received a letter from the Indian Government, informing her that they might remain in Kashmir all the year. It was what Dr. Elmslie longed, laboured, and prayed for, but he died without the sight. The Rev. T. R. Wade and the Rev. T. V. French of Lahore, with Benjamin, Dr. Elmslie's Native assistant, filled up the gap during the following summer. They itinerated through the valley, accompanied by old Qadir Baksh, the catechist. The people followed them from place to place, parents bringing their sick children, little and big, upon their backs and in their arms, children their parents, husbands their wives, and friends their neighbours, the utterly helpless sometimes carried on charpeys-small bedsteads -while the blind would be led by a little boy or girl. Often as many as 300 would be assembled under the cherry and walnut trees when halt was made. Before medicines were distributed a portion of Scripture was always read, and an address given to the people assembled. The people would join with sobs and sighs, and ejaculations to God for mercy. "Sahib," said a poor man, weeping, "God's curse must rest upon this poor oppressed country; for when Elmslie Sahib came amongst us like an avatar (incarnation of God), healing our sick bodies and speaking kind words to our souls, the poor Kashmiris rejoiced that they had at last one kind friend to care for them; but God took him from us, and we are left friendless as before." The missionaries were able to comfort the sorrowing Kashmiris with the assurance that another Doctor Sahib was coming out from England to live amongst them, and love them and labour for their souls. This was Dr. Theodore Maxwell, who arrived at Srinuggur on the 1st of May, 1874, Mr. Clark once more visiting the capital with him. Their reception was a cordial one, and Dr. Maxwell began his labours without delay; but, alas! they were doomed to be short, and the following season he was compelled to return to England on account of ill health, brought on by over-work. The Rev. T. R. Wade, accompanied by the Native doctor, the Rev. John Williams, again stood forward to fill the vacant post. The daily routine of work 10,490. These were each morning addressed by the old catechist, Qadir Baksh. There have not been a great number of baptisms in connection with this Mission. Men who have lived long in thick darkness, when light is brought to them, do not see all things clearly at once; but bigotry and superstition are being removed, and the few bright rays that appear are, we trust, the proof and promise of a day of liberty and gladness yet in store for that land, where now every prospect pleases, and only man is vile." MAORI GIRLS, UNCIVILISED AND HEATHEN. MAORI GIRL, CIVILISED AND CHRISTIAN. was much the same as it had been in Dr. Elmslie's time, except that he, for the want of a better place, had been obliged to receive his patients sometimes in a tent, sometimes in an open verandah, sometimes in one of the rooms of his dwellinghouse; whilst now there was a dispensary and hospital, which the Maharajah had built and placed at the disposal of the Kashmir Mission. The latest report of this Mission is from the pen of Dr. Downes, the present medical missionary in the valley. The total number of visits to the hospital in the four summer months of 1877 were MAORI GIRLS. ERY different are the two pictures on this page, the one representing a group of Native girls in New Zealand in their uncivilised state, and the other a girl of the same class brought up in a mission-school. Both are from photographs given to us by the Rev. T. S. Grace. Mrs. Grace has lately opened a boarding-school at Tauranga for Maori girls, in which we trust many will in course of time be trained to be Christian wives and mothers in the Maori Christian community. Mr. Grace writes: It is impossible to civilise a race if we neglect the female portion. A Native man may be as polished as you like, but if his wife retains her Maori ways (which is too often the case) you may visit his house and look at his children and have the conviction forced upon you that the advance he has made will die with him. Hence the importance of educating the girls, not only spiritually, but also domestically. But this matter has more importance still, for while we rejoice that the Gospel is applicable to the most degraded savage, yet experience teaches us that if he embraces Christianity, practical Christianity cannot co-exist with his savage state of life, and that either the one or the other must give way. Coming back, however, to the Native girls. Although the Maori women have generally been considered to be more degraded than the men, yet it is clear that they are in their own line of things quite as quick and intelligent. In former years we had from amongst them as good and clever domestics as could be desired; and to illustrate their ability to acquire an English education, I will enclose a piece of dictation of one of our Native girls, which, when we remember that English is to this girl a foreign language, and that she has only been with us a little more than a year, is satisfactory, and proves, I think, what I wished the photographs to illustrate. Mrs. Grace sends us the piece of dictation referred to, which is our old friend "Androcles and the Lion," and adds: It is a piece of dictation of one of my Maori girls, Annette Te Ahu, the daughter of Ihaia Te Ahu, our clergyman at Maketu, about 18 miles distant. She wrote it off just as it is, giving it out to her in the form of dictation. I have not corrected it, and you will perceive Carthage is spelt incorrectly; she has also put distant for distance, and there are one or two omissions. Annette is a bright, quick, intelligent girl, capable of being taught anything, and would compare well with any English girl of her age. I have another clergyman's daughter, Ani Taupaki, from the north. Her deceased father, Matiu Taupaki, was an excellent man. Ani, too, is a quick, clever child, and is making good progress. A JOURNEY TO KIONG NING FU. Journal of the Rev. LLEWELYN LLOYD. E have not in this year's GLEANER given any detailed accounts from the Fuh-kien Mission, except the letter of Chitnio, the wife of the Rev. Ling Sieng Sing, in the February number. Mr. Lloyd's journal not only affords interesting glimpses of the country and people, but relates the circumstances under which the great inland city of Kiong Ning Fu, the capital of the Black Tea District, from which the Native evangelists were so ignominiously expelled (as described in Chitnio's letter), has been reoccupied. The principal places mentioned by Mr. Lloyd will be found marked upon the map in the GLEANER of October last year. April 11, 1878.-Left Foochow this afternoon in company with Mr. Wolfe, Rev. Ting, and two or three Native catechists, in a large house boat kindly lent us by one of the merchants. Made very little progress, as wind and tide were against us. April 12.-Still progressing very slowly, river very much swollen from recent heavy rains; anchored near one of the many riverside villages, and although very near Foochow we were objects of great curiosity. Mr. Wolfe and the Native catechist preached for some two hours to the people, who, for the most part, listened attentively, and some of them expressed their willingness to give up idol worship and attend our chapel, if we would rent one there; we told them that if they would prove themselves in earnest we should be glad to help them. We gave away medicine for sore eyes and skin disease, from which very many of the people suffer. April 13.-Were obliged to send the house boat back and take a small native boat about twenty feet long and six wide, containing several children, two or three women, and a pig, so that with the boatmen and ourselves we found it rather close quarters; however, we were able now to make better progress, and reached Chui Kau about noon. Monday, April 15.-It was very pleasant to hear our Native brethren singing "The Gate Ajar" and other hymns each evening. We could not help feeling sorrowful as we passed the house which we had rented as a chapel at Chui Kau, and which, as you are aware, we have this decided to give up; for several years the name of Jesus has been proclaimed to these busy people, but they had no time to attend to His gracious invitations, and now their opportunity, at least for the present, is gone. year We did not stay here, but started at once for Wong Cheng (Yellow Field), a somewhat new station situated on the right side of the River Min, about twelve miles above Chui Kau, on the Kiong Ning Fu and Iong Ping road. This road is a somewhat lonely one, and is notorious for the number of robberies and murders which have taken place along it, and a few years since it was no uncommon thing to see the heads of these highwaymen suspended from the trees as a warning to others. We found small detachments of soldiers stationed at intervals of a mile or so to protect travellers. Wong Cheng contains a population of about 1,500 people, very few of whom have as yet embraced the offer of salvation. Three, however, have been baptized, and are, we trust, living consistent lives. One of them, the constable or warden of the village, is very intelligent and earnest; he reads very well, and is able to speak Mandarin; he assists the catechist very much, and is witnessing a good confession for Christ amongst his heathen neighbours. We found a detachment of ten soldiers here in charge of a sergeant, several of whom came to the chapel in the evening, and had some conversation about Christianity; our friend the constable had had many conversations with them, and the sergeant, a very intelligent man from Canton, assured me that he was quite convinced of the truths of our doctrine, but that his friends were so much opposed to his joining the Christians that he dared not do so. I fear that this is no solitary case, and many a Chinese convert is compelled to ask himself, "Which shall I give up, my relatives or my Saviour?" Thank God, many have decided for Christ. There are now several inquirers here, and we hope a greater interest is springing up. April 16.-To-day we have travelled about twenty miles along the river bank, hoping to reach a station of the American Mission, but night having overtaken us, this was found impossible, and we were obliged to take shelter in a native inn. I might mention, to show how widely our doctrines are becoming known, that our landlord was quite familiar with the leading truths of Christianity, and very glad to hear more of them. April 17.-Rose very early, and after a hasty breakfast resumed our journey towards Kiong Ning Fu. To-day we passed the city of Iong Ping, from which we have, as you are aware, for several years been expelled. Our American brethren, whose chapel was also pulled down, have had possession again for some time, and the opposition seems to have subsided. I trust that before long, we too shall be enabled once more to proclaim the message of salvation within its walls. We had great difficulty in procuring a bed to-night, the solitary inn in the place at which we halted being quite full before our arrival. At length, however, a farmer, after some hesitation, allowed us to sleep in his house; he was very kind, and we had a long talk with him and some of the other villagers about idolatry, and as soon as they were gone we gladly retired to rest, sleeping very soundly on two old doors, the best bedsteads our landlord had to offer us. It was very pleasant to find that many of these people understood the Foochow dialect, and perhaps the seed thus scattered by the wayside will one day spring up and bring forth fruit; such at least is our prayer. April 18.-Reached Nang Wa about 5 P.M. This station has been occupied about a year and a half; it is an important place, situated on the bank of the river, having a population of about 5,000, a fourth part of whom are Foochow people. Much trade is carried on here, especially in tea, which is conveyed to Foochow in boats. No apparent results have as yet followed the preaching of the catechist. The situation of our chapel is not the best that could be desired, and we hope, ere long, to get a better place. The difficulty about renting chapels is, that if we have them in a too prominent place, inquirers, or would-be inquirers are ashamed to be seen entering them; and if we rent in a secluded place it takes a long time for its whereabouts to be ascertained. We found the catechist at this place very ill, apparently in a rapid consumption. I felt sure that he could not live long, and when I wished him good-bye I asked him if he was afraid to die. He replied that he was not, that all his trust was in the Saviour. He died about four days after I left. This man, whose name was Ling Sin Chong, has borne much persecution for the cause of Christ; he was in charge of the Iong Ping chapel when it was pulled down in 1871, when he had to flee for his life. He was about forty years of age, and would probably have lived much longer had his constitution not been undermined before his conversion. His widow, who is very intelligent and speaks Mandarin, will be taken on as a Bible-woman. April 19.-To-day, Mr. Wolfe returned by water to Foochow, leaving me at Nang Wa until the business for which we had journeyed so far was completed. This was to purchase a house at Kiong Ning Fu. It was considered best for us to remain at Nang Wa, about twelve miles from the city, while the Rev. Ting proceeded there, and got the deeds, &c., ready. This he did, and the next day, April 20, returned to Nang Wa, accompanied by the owner of the house, to whom I weighed out some 900 oz. of silver, and received the deeds of transfer. I read in The Story of the Fuh-Kien Mission these words respecting Kiong Ning Fu, "When and how this city will again be invaded in the name of the Lord we cannot now say." Let me reply, that if all goes on well in July, 1878, we shall again enter its walls, let us hope this time without molestation. I am sorry to say that since I have returned to Foochow we have received a copy of a placard, which has been pasted up by some unknown person at Kiong Ning Fu, saying that we have purchased a house in the city to be used as a chapel, and that if the "Foreign Devils come there they will drive them out. The only comment we can make is, that the Foreign Devils are not afraid. April 21, Easter Day.-A very quiet Easter amongst the heathen. We, the catechist's wife, a young Christian from Ku Cheng, and myself, had a service this morning, the catechist being too weak to attend. It was very distressing to hear his terrible cough. Had plenty of visitors to-day, many of whom came from the adjoining province of Kiang Si. Of course I could not understand a word of their dialect, and I therefore got a Foochow man to tell them a little about the God whom we worship, and how He saves men from sin. These truths were evidently quite new to them, and they seemed quite astonished to hear such, to them, strange doctrines. April 22.-Visited some of the tea plantations. The people are now very busy picking; the farmers supposed that I had come to buy tea, and I fancy they were rather disappointed when it was explained to them that I was a minister of the Gospel. Money is the god of the Chinese, as well as of too many in every land. April 23.-Left Nang Wa for Siong Chie, six miles nearer to Kiong Ning. This station has been opened about twelve months, and is, I think, situated amidst the most beautiful scenery I ever saw. It is a very small place, containing about 100 families, and is surrounded by lofty mountains whose sides are covered with trees of all kinds, and presenting a mass of luxuriant foliage of every hue to the beholder. Our chapel is a very unpretending building, containing four rooms and a kitchen. We had a good number of people at our evening service, all of whom listened most attentively whilst the catechist (Ting Chung Seng) spoke to them from the first few verses of the Fifth of St. Matthew. Our service lasted until ten o'clock, when our friends lit their torches and went to their homes, and we to our beds. April 24.-This morning we (the catechist and I) ascended to one of the mountains near the village, from which we had a magnificent view of the surrounding country. We saw many villages dotted over the plain, some of them very large, in most of which the Gospel has been preached. After an earnest prayer that the inhabitants might soon be translated from the kingdom of Satan into that of God's dear Son, we descended the |