VILLAGE OF MTEMI, UGANDA, March 26th, 1878. I have, I am thankful to say, arrived here safely at last, after a three days' voyage. We encountered two thunderstorms, and in one of them a flash of lightning entered the water a few yards only froin the Daisy. It was most providential, a miracle almost indeed, that it did not strike the Daisy's masts. Had it done so it would have shattered our little boat to pieces, especially when we had all Mtesa's gunpowder (80 lbs.) on board.

RUBAGA, April 1st.

I found the house all ready for me, and, soon after my arrival, Mtesa sent me down a bountiful supply of food.

I had an interview with Mtesa this morning; very satisfactory on the whole-the only objection being that he retired before I could say half I wanted to tell him. I gave him an iron chair and a few other presents, and presented the letter from C.M.S. and copy of the memorial to Lord Derby. As I anticipated in my last letter, he was much pleased; he did not say much, but his looks and manner showed the greatest satisfaction. I feel sure God is blessing the Mission. Certainly things seem smoother and easier here by far than I had expected. The many prayers that are being, and have been, offered up for a blessing are, I feel confident, being heard and answered. May it make us all more earnest in prayer, and to strive to live more nearly as we pray"!

April 19th. The Waganda have three gods whom they worship, called Chiwuka, Nendi, and Mukasa. The two first, Chiwuka and Nendi, are forest gods, and are supposed to live in trees. They have shrines or places where they are specially worshipped, and where offerings are made to propitiate them. These offerings consist of black sheep or goats; they are not killed as sacrifices, but left for the god to dispose of. Each shrine has a priest or attendant to look after it.

The third god, Mukasa, is a sort of Neptune; he is supposed to live in the Nyanza, and is principally worshipped by the fishermen, who pray to him to protect them from storms and save them from drowning. The Waganda also pray to the small-pox, which sometimes comes in epidemics, and carries off vast numbers of people, for, they say, if it has the power to kill such multitudes, it must be a god.

There are people here called "Mandwa." They are supposed to have familiar spirits; they pretend to have communication with the unseen world, and to be able to foretell events. The day before I reached Uganda, one of these men came to Mtesa and told him I should never return, that I should die on the road. Next day came the news that I had returned, and was waiting at Ntebbi. So Mtesa sent for this Mandwa and said to him, "Well, what do you say now? The white man has come back, you see." "Oh," he replied, "he won't reach Rubaga; he will die before he gets here." "No," answered Mtesa, "you only tell lies; you shall go to prison;" and he put him in prison there and then, and I believe the man is there still.

A dark cloud has come and gone since I last wrote. About a fortnight ago, messengers came from Kidi and Unyoro to Mtesa, saying that there was fighting going on in those countries with the Egyptians, and begging Mtesa to help them. So Mtesa decided to help them, and to send an army into Unyoro to attack the Egyptian forces there, and came to baraza one morning with the intention of beating his war-drum to give notice he was going to assemble an army; but it happened that I was there, and, contrary to my custom, did not wait to be announced, but walked straight into the palace with some of the chiefs, and, as Mtesa told me afterwards, took him by surprise; and, not wishing me to be present at the ceremony of beating the war-drum, he deferred it to another day. Later in the day he sent down to tell me of his purpose, and to know what I thought of it. I replied that I was very sorry to hear it, that he would do well to let the "Turks" alone, as, if he attacked them, they would probably invade Uganda. Next morning the drum did not beat, and I was told Mtesa had changed his mind and was not going to send an army into Unyoro.

May 6th.

Could you send for the Mission some more Arabic Bibles, or, perhaps better, a number of copies of separate books of the Bible, especially the Gospels? I have several times been asked for them by the chiefs, many of whom can speak and read Arabic.

I have had a touch of sunstroke, and am troubled a little with bad head-aches, but otherwise I am thankful to say I am well. It is now almost two years since I left England, and, looking back on all that has happened, I cannot but feel that the hand of a heavenly Father has been with me. May He give me grace to live more to His honour and glory!

May 11th. I saw Mtesa to-day at his court; he sent a message to me to say he should attend court to-day, and wished me to come. So I went and found him in an exceedingly amiable mood. He said he was sorry he had been able to see so little of me lately, as he had been too ill, but was better now. He was glad I had come to Uganda, and he liked me much, and hoped I would make myself at home, and come and go about the palace as I pleased. Mtesa also asked me to say that he hopes before long to send ambassadors to the Queen, but is not quite ready yet.

I ask your prayers that Mtesa may be restored to perfect health, and that I may be enabled to use these greater facilities to God's power and glory, and that there may be showers of blessing on this thirsty land of Africa.

May 31st.

I have not seen anything of Mtesa for three weeks, as he has not attended his court on account of illness. I have given him an Arabic Bible, and a copy of Dr. Pfander's Mizan-al-Haq ["The Balance of Truth," a book on Christianity for the use of Mohammedans], and I believe he is pleased with them. I called on the Katikiro or Kairairona a few days ago, and gave him an Arabic Bible, as he speaks and reads Arabic. He was much pleased, and will read it. He gave me, when I left, a fine goat and an otter's skin. I have given away two or three copies of the Mizan-al-Haq, and shall dispose of all the Arabic copies have left shortly. It is a comfort to know, though one cannot yet preach to the people, that still the good seed is being sown in some hearts through the reading of God's Holy Word, and may God bless it abundantly to these dark heathen!

A lady missionary here might find plenty to do among the chiefs' wives. They, poor things, are looked upon as mere property, and as an inferior set of beings, and it never seems to enter people's heads that they are to be taught, or that they too have immortal souls, and the Waganda are so jealous that no man would be allowed to teach them; but a lady would, I am sure, be welcomed. Are there none in England who will come forward for this work? India has its Zenana Missions: why should not Uganda likewise? Are there any Christian English ladies who will give up something to come and tell their dark sisters of Uganda the “Old, old story" of redeeming love!

KAGEI, August 15th. I shall be glad to see the GLEANER containing O'Neill's sketches. The Waganda are delighted at seeing the pictures in it of Mtesa and them

selves.

THE CONVERT'S FIRST CHRISTMAS.

[This is another contribution kindly sent by Miss Tucker (A. L. O. E.), the Honorary Missionary of the Indian Female Instruction Society, at Batála, in the Punjab. Although the story of a Christmas festival scarcely suits the month of May, we insert it now, because of the concluding sentence.]

66

S different as Heaven from earth!" fervently exclaimed a young convert when he contrasted his first Christmas Day with days spent when he was a Mohammedan. He had been a bigoted and bitter opponent of our faith; now, a humble believer, he had partaken, for the first time, of the memorials of a dying Saviour. He was one of a large band of native Christians who kept holiday at Batála, in the Punjab.

A peculiar interest in keeping Yule at Batála arose from the fact that it was only the second time that any Christians had been there at the holy season. They now flocked from various quarters to the Rev. F. H. Baring's school for native Christian boys, as to a centre of attraction, that school being established in a palace of the former Maharajah Shere Singh, near Batála. Thither came the teacher's bibi (lady) from the mud-built village in which she is the only Christian woman; the converted Faqir wrapt in his blanket, the tradesman from his shop, the munshi, the schoolmaster, the youth in Government employ; men, women, bright-eyed brown babies came, some from the distance of twenty or thirty miles, to have a holy and happy Christmas together. To at least nine of the adults present it was the first one which they ever had known. Some came unexpectedly, though sure of a welcome, and little gifts for such had to be hastily extemporised, for none must depart empty-handed.

About sixty Christians assembled in the chapel, which is but a room set apart; we are now collecting to build a church for

our growing congregation. The walls of the once Mohammedan palace rang with, "Hark! the herald angels sing," heartily sung in Urdu. The latter part of the day was spent in innocent mirth. There were foot-races between Christian, Mohammedan, and Hindu lads, boys from Mission schools in Batála and neighbouring villages joining in Christmas amusements, though strangers to deeper Christmas joy.

The feast for Christians was spread on the floor of the large school-room, tables and chairs being needless luxuries. More than sixty, including children, sat down to the meal in pleasant fellowship, as the early Christians might have done. These are the early Christians of the Punjab, some of whom have known well what it is to be "persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." There are converted Brahmins sharing the feast with the lad of the despised Mihtar class; the "twiceborn" have given up the proud privileges of their caste. The whilom Mohammedan is chatting merrily with the former Hindu. There is no formality or gloom; Christmas sunshine is over the little flock gathered out of heathen darkness.

Is there no joy to the missionary in such a meeting as this? Would that some of our Christian brethren and sisters in Britain would come and see! There are not a few who could join our weak band on their own resources, throwing themselves heart and soul into the work, and finding in that work a delight which worldly amusement cannot bestow. We want brave, carnest men of the "Rob Roy" type, not necessarily ordained ministers, but devoted Christians, who can endure petty hardships, and look on difficulties as "things to be overcome." Is it not worth some effort and self-denial to see day dawning over a vast nation, to find living representatives of those of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles, to nurse an infant Church?

Perhaps some one who has hitherto contented himself with reading missionary reports, and subscribing to missionary funds, will pause and ask himself the question, "Is not Christ now calling me even me-to go forth and lay my grasp on the sickle? May it not be that the Christmas of 1879 will be my first Christmas in India ?' A. L. O. E.

FRERE TOWN.

Letters from Mr. J. R. Streeter.

FRERE TOWN, December 5th, 1878. AM truly happy to say that the hotter it gets the better I seem to be. I assure you it takes me all my time to manage the place, what with one thing and another. I begin as soon as I get up at six o'clock, and don't leave off till bedtime. But it is work I love, and I am getting rewarded a little by seeing hearts unfolding, and the people becoming more attached to the place.

Five of them lately have built neat little houses themselves on plots of ground I have marked out for them, and it makes a pretty picture, seeing the "once a slave," every moment expecting to be torn from his land and ready to bolt into the bush, now peacefully sitting at the door of his hut, making a mat or mending his wife's dress, while she stands near pounding the corn for the evening meal. Of course it ought to be the other way, and the man doing the really hard work. But if I show them, they only laugh, and it is not the way they manage in this country. On asking a few if they would not like to be back to their own homes again, they say no, they feel safer here, and mothers, who have been snatched from their little ones, say, "What would be the good of going back? we should not see our children now." Of course there is another side to the picture, and every now and then the wife gets a good thwacking. I am inclined to think they love their husbands all the more for that. There is no doubt some of them need it, for they are gifted with long tongues. Sometimes the husbands have the blows. I had two complaining the other day, and one, a fellow six feet high, said he had been beaten nearly every day since his marriage, about three years ago, and he could not stand it any longer. I could not help laughing. I gave them both a good talking to, and looked them up a few nights running and saw all was going on quietly.

These, and indifference to religious teaching, are some of the trials from within, and we have a bad one from without in the neighbouring Suahili shambas (plantations); they are as bad as the low music halls of London.

I am endeavouring to combat that by a nice little hut I have built for them, where they have some teaching, and twice a week they have their "nyoma," or native dance. The Makuas' dancing is really wonderful. You ask how the crops are getting on. The dry weather is all against farming operations. November last year we had 21 inches rain; this November we have had two inches only. I have just reaped a nice field of sem-sem, from the seed of which oil is produced. It is a plant looking something like the common white nettle, and about 5 feet high. But this specimen, ten feet high, with seventeen branches, each branch being equal piece was something out of the common, and I pulled one magnificent to the ordinary plant of the country. On it I reckon there are 200,000 seeds. The chief of the Arabs, who followed me when ploughing in his golden embroidered robes, has just been over again with a large party from the island of Pemba, where the best cloves grow, to see round the place, and he said it was beautiful sem-sem, and owing to deep cultivation. The common people say I give the crops medicine.

I had a case the other day illustrating this, about a barren shamba. The owner said it had been charmed, and nothing would grow, so he got the medicine man to give a counter-charm. A favourable night was chosen, goat and fowls killed, a little powder concocted from various herbs, and at a certain hour of the night they walk round the charmed spot throwing their powder. I expect the owner, having faith in the medicine man, goes to work with renewed vigour, and reaps accordingly. Dec. 28th.

In reviewing the work of the year there can be no doubt that, in spite of many difficulties, progress has been made. First, with regard to the spiritual improvement of the people. Twelve months ago, amongst the freed slaves, there seemed a great indifference to anything that was good, and their self-denying pastor, the Rev. J. A. Lamb, and George David, spoke to almost empty benches. Now nearly all are present at their Sunday morning service, which commences at eight, and they listen very attentively both to George and myself; and as we rest on the "seedsowing promise," we know that our labour is not in vain, and our heavenly Father graciously allows us to see some signs of coming fruit. Here there are seven or eight who have learnt a little of God's Word, and wish to be baptized, and by their blameless lives show their wish to be sincere. One of the freed slaves from Buni got the catechist to send his name over, saying how he also wished to be. He is a good fellow, and when I went over to see him, his face beamed with delight as he told me he loved God, and wished to serve Him better, showed me his neat little house he has just put up, his newly-born babe and his good wife, who wishes to be baptized also, and how he was to be called Thomas. Then, in the afternoon, they attend well the little room I had built for them close to their own homes; they used not to come to afternoon class at all scarcely, even after I got them to attend the morning, and one had to go gently; but at length so many came that the room would not hold them. It was the same to a class George held on Friday evenings, so I asked who would volunteer to help to enlarge it. Over forty said they would give a day, and the result is that they have now a nice large hut 32 feet by 17 feet, which they call their own.

With regard to the Bombay boys, I feel that I cannot say much. One month they seem to do the right, and the meetings are fairly attended. Another month it is the reverse. This does not include the heads, of whom I cannot speak too highly, and there are some of the others who are ornaments to their Christian profession. Their Institute, opened three months back, is doing its work fairly, and I hope will show those who have gone astray there is a better way of spending their evenings than going in the shambas.

With regard to the Sunday-schools I must say the progress seems great. Not two years ago, when I took the first class, they could scarcely read, and could not find the chapter. Now they read as well as an ordinary class at home, and begin to turn to different parts of the Bible, answer questions in English fairly, and when I ask them if they will learn their verse in school, as is the custom of necessity here, my boys always say, No; we will read and listen to you, and learn verse in dinner-time;" and during the past six months only three boys have failed in saying them well, and they remember them during the week. As they know of the way of salvation, and seem trying to please the Saviour, one cannot but think with that beautiful hymn

"That many dear children are gathering there,

For of such is the kingdom of heaven."

The town is thriving. It would be no small thing for a village in England to have twelve new houses added to it; here that number of freed slaves have come out from the mission-rooms, and built good ones for themselves in plots of ground allotted to each, which I allow them to call their own, subject to the conditions of conforming to rules, &c. Others are beginning to build, and some have remodelled their old ones. There are happy homes here, and although I have heard it said of the Africans, they have no real love for their children or one another, I don't believe it; for the way some mothers care for their little ones, now they live in hopes of seeing them grow up with them, is surprising.

OUR HOME IN THE WILDERNESS.

Recollections of North Tinnevelly.

BY THE REV. R. R. MEADOWS.

CHAPTER V.

"What are these among so many? Make the men sit down." HE wilderness I described in the first chapter was not always destined to remain a wilderness. But it needed cultivation and the rain from heaven, and in the course of time it had both. I shall now describe the first ploughing up of the soil, taking the reader back some six years. But the ploughers, on first entering upon their work, might well have despaired, not only from the barren aspect of the wilderness, but also from its vast size. What were four labourers in a field of 1,400 square miles? What were four preachers among a population of 270,000 people? And yet the first preachers were only four, three Englishmen, speaking the language very imperfectly, and one Native. After a little time we got the help of other Native preachers, SO that there were eight or ten of us in the field. We lived in tents. Every morning and evening we went forth to the towns and villages preaching the Gospel. Our tents were at three or four different places, ten or twelve miles apart from each other; and from thence we went forth and preached in all the villages within reach. We then moved on and did the same in a fresh place, returning again and again to go over the same ground.

ful group would listen good-temperedly, more frequently we had stupid ignorance, stolid indifference, frivolous objections or determined opposition to bear. The ignorance was often such that it seemed impossible to convey any, the most simple, idea. "We can boil rice and eat it: this is all we know," would be the answer of some. "Talk not to me of such things, I cannot understand them," said a shepherd. "Ask me to take care of your sheep," he went on, "tell me to take them to any field and I will obey your orders, but of religion I know nothing." Oh! how indifferent they were about their souls' salvation. They would 66 say, Pay us five rupees a month each, and we will join you. Who has seen heaven? Who has seen hell? These gentlemen are obliged to wander about to get a crust of bread." While we were talking some would yawn, some would lie down and go to sleep; often they would leave us altogether. Or there would be opposition on all sides, each objector anxious to get in his objection first. But so little interest did they feel, even in their own question, that they would ply us with a second and a third while we were attempting to answer the first.

It was a pretty sight; the white tent pitched in a clump of towering graceful tamarind trees, the horse tethered close by, a group of natives standing or sitting, either to watch the operation of cooking, gipsy fashion, or to listen to the preaching of one of us. It was really pleasant, too, the morning ride to one of the villages. The air was slightly cooled from the night. The The cotton fields were filled with groups of women and girls, picking the cotton from the open pods, laughing and chattering as they worked. Or we would meet the ploughmen driving their bullocks before them, and carrying the plough upon their own shoulders. Sometimes we arrived at the village before sunrise, while the people were rubbing their half sleepy eyes, and thus succeeded in catching the men before they set out for their day's work.

But matters were not always pleasant. If the mornings were cool, the mid-day was almost intolerably hot. The glare and frequent dust storms nearly blinded the eyes. If often a cheer

The opposition only once amounted to personal

vio

lence. It would sometimes show itself in persons throwing dust at us, or the children would set up a shout, the men encouraging them. Sometimes we would be ordered away, as if we were the veriest vagabonds: "Away, thou slave; tread not thou within our holy village, thou vile outcast." However, "they that sow in tears shall reap in joy," and while the great majority

seemed to be rejecting our message, from one motive or another, a few hearts were pondering over the things they heard. One of these was a man named Arulanandham Retti. He was a well-to-do farmer. One of us went to his village and preached in the street, and afterwards offered Gospel portions to those who could read. He received one, and read it, and was much impressed with its contents. But he thought that the religion of Jesus Christ was too holy for Hindus to be able to walk according to it. He had heard that our native assistants lived alone in their tents, and was curious to know whether they were consistent Christians. Surrounded on all sides by heathenism, away from any public opinion which would condemn evil practices, he expected to find them like the heathens themselves. He supposed that they were preaching the doctrines of Christianity merely for pay. So, without telling us his motive, he asked permission to go and live with professedly to learn more of the Christian religion, but really to spy out the private life of our Native brother. Providentially he went to live with one who was

their

then, and since has ever proved himself, a living loving servant of Christ. He soon saw that Christ in the heart could change the whole life. He was convinced, and came back to us, asking for baptism. He was baptized a few weeks afterwards, and has for more than twenty years lived a life truly worthy of the Gospel; worthy of the answer which, on his first renunciation of heathenism, he gave his heathen relatives, who could not conceive a motive for what seemed to them so strange a course. The answer was, "I have learned to hate and abhor those sins which I once revelled in. This is the advantage I have derived from becoming a Christian, and not, as you suppose, remission of taxes or anything

of that sort."

PRAYER-MEETINGS IN THE CITY OF PERPETUAL

PROSPERITY.

ERY interesting and hopeful were Mr. Valentine's and Mr. Palmer's letters from Shaou-hing (the "City of Perpetual Prosperity"), in the Province of Che-kiang, which were printed in the GLEANER of September, 1875, November, 1876, August, October, and December, 1877, and February, 1878. We are sorry to say that later intelligence has been much less encouraging. Mr. Valen

tine is now alone, Mr. Palmer having been driven home by illness; and his hopes of a rapid spread of the Gospel in and around Shaou-hing have been sadly disappointed. Yet let us not forget that it is they who "sow in tears" to whom the promise is given that they shall "reap in joy." Meanwhile, it is pleasant to see, as we do in the following letter, the little Native Church "continuing instant in prayer"; and we are very glad to be able to say that one of their prayers will, God willing, be shortly answered, as the Committee have appointed a new missionary to Shaou

and England, Ireland, Scotland, and America were all represented by four ladies, two little girls, and three missionaries. The proceedings were, of course, all in Chinese, though some spoke the Shaou-hing and some the Ningpo dialect. We commenced our meeting with the singing of the hymn, "Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove," to Melcombe; and then the reading of Scripture, prayers by a Native member of each Mission, short addresses by each of the three missionaries, and the hymn, "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun," to the Old Hundredth, made up a really pleasant and refreshing meeting.

Such a meeting helps one to realise that, within the past decade, some little impression has been made here; some seed has fallen on good ground, however much one is tempted oft and again to cry out, "Who hath believed our report?" Probably not more than two or three of the Chinese present knew twelve years ago what a prayer-meeting was.

THANK-OFFERINGS.

To the Editor.

EAR SIR,-As you have kindly allowed me, on two previous occasions, to advocate in the GLEANER the use of a special Missionary Box for the reception of Thank-Offerings, I think it may prove encouraging if I state the result of my own experience during the past year.

Some nine months ago we prepared and started a special box for Thank-offerings, placing it where it would have the opportunity to receive contributions from the members of our own family, as well as from any friends who might visit us. At the close of our financial year we have just opened the box, and find that it contains £3 17s. 6d., which is a clear gain to the Society, inasmuch as our other two boxes both contain more than they did last year; indeed, the addition of a third box for a special purpose has considerably helped (instead of injuring) the two boxes already in use.

hing. Our readers will notice with interest that the GLEANER has been an encouragement to them. (Mr. Moule's sketch shows us the city in the distance on the right; a conical hill, with some strange upright stones on the top, in the centre; and a canal in the foreground.)

SHAOUHING, January 8, 1879. The Day of Intercession was observed by the members of our own Church here. To make the time correspond as nearly as possible with the hour of your meeting in Salisbury Square, we met in the afternoon at four o'clock. We were a small company indeed, only about thirteen Chinese being present; but the meeting was very enjoyable. The deeply interesting special India number of the GLEANER had just arrived, and I gave the meeting some of the statistics, &c., which made quite an impression on some minds. Our Native brethren offered earnest prayer for a blessing on the Society's operations at home and abroad, and special supplication was made for a minister to come and fill up the vacancy caused by Mr. Palmer's return home, for one "who will be able quickly to acquire the language, and who will not have to go away so soon," as both my former colleagues have had to do. I need hardly say what a hearty" Amen" I gave to that prayer.

Being now in the Week of Prayer, we have been to-day holding our Annual United Chinese Prayer Meeting. It is commonly spoken of as "the meeting of the Three Churches," consisting, as it does, of members of the China Inland Mission, the American Mission, and our own Church Mission. Ever since we began it in 1871, except on two occasions, we have met in our little Christ Church. About fifty Chinese were present, including children from each of the three Mission schools;

Surely this is an encouraging fact; and it seems to prove conclusively that the more we cultivate a spirit of thankfulness to our heavenly Father for His many and great mercies, the more will our sympathy be drawn out towards those of our fellowcreatures, who are, as yet, ignorant of that Father's love. E. D. S.

A REQUEST FROM JAPAN FOR PRAYER ON

MAY 20TH.

HE Day of Intercession for Foreign Missions, recom-
mended by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York,
has been altered from St. Andrew's Day, Nov. 30th,
to the Tuesday before Ascension Day, the date of
which will vary a little from year to year.
This year

it falls on the Twentieth of May. We have received one special request for prayer on that day, from the Rev. C. F. Warren, our missionary at Osaka, in Japan.

Mr. Warren describes the remarkable development of Japanese civilisation: the journeys of the Emperor through his dominions as an ordinary mortal, the new system of popular municipal government, the extension of the railway and of the newspaper press, the establishment of Chambers of Commerce and various benevolent societies; but with this, the increased activity of the national religions, both Buddhism and Shintoism. It is even rumoured that highly educated Japanese are to be sent as Buddhist missionaries to Europe and America. And Mr. Warren closes his letter thus :I would especially ask the prayers of the Lord's people for the complete opening of this country to missionary effort. Much is being done, not

withstanding that the door is but partially opened; but, under God, much more might be done if the ambassador of Christ was permitted to travel as such, unfettered by the restrictions which now hamper us. Has not the time come when one united prayer should be put up for the complete opening of this country to the Gospel of Christ? If you think so, be so good as to let this be among the most prominent subjects suggested for prayer on the Tuesday before Ascension Day, 1879.

We need scarcely add that Japan is not the only part of the world that needs special prayer. Which part does not need it? We trust that Africa, East and West-China-and Central Asiawill, in particular, not be forgotten. But remembering how many doors are already open which the Church Missionary Society is invited to enter, but cannot for lack of means, let our most fervent petitions be for ourselves and all Christian people at home, that a spirit of love and pity for those without the knowledge of Christ, and of self-denying liberality and consecration of our substance to God, may be poured out upon us.

EPITOME OF MISSIONARY NEWS.

The Annual Sermon before the Church Missionary Society will (D.V.) be preached at St. Bride's Church, on Monday evening, May 5th, by the Rev. C. F. Childe, M.A., Rector of Holbrook. Mr. Childe was Principal of the Church Missionary College from 1839 to 1858. The Annual Meetings at Exeter Hall will be held on Tuesday, May 6th, the Earl of Chichester presiding in the morning and Admiral Prevost in the evening.

The appointments of Islington students for this year have been provisionally made as follows:-Messrs. Price, Verso, Wilson, and Cole, to East Africa and Mpwapwa; Messrs. Manwaring and Mountfort to Western India; Mr. Redman to Sindh; Messrs. Johnson and Ilsley to the NorthWest Provinces; Mr. Parsons to Krishnagur; Mr. Neve to Travancore; Messrs. Ost and Banister to China; Mr. Peel to Japan; Mr. Winter to Hudson's Bay; Mr. Sim to Athabasca. Mr. G. G. M. Nicol, B.A., as a native of West Africa, goes to Sierra Leone, and Mr. Nasr Ode, as a native of Palestine, to that Mission.

At the General Committee of the C.M.S. on March 10th, a Minute was adopted expressing regret at the death of the Rev. W. T. Bullock, Secretary of the S.P.G., and acknowledging his important services to the cause of Foreign Missions.

The following is extracted from the Court Circular. Dr. Baxter's services to the Belgian Exploring Expedition were rendered at Mpwapwa. One of the explorers was attended by him in illness, and their goods were housed in the mission premises. At the interview, King Leopold manifested much interest in the Society's plans for Mpwapwa:

MARLBOROUGH HOUSE, MARCH 23. The King of the Belgians received a deputation from the Church Missionary Society at Marlborough House, yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of expressing to them his thanks for the valuable assistance rendered by Dr. Baxter, of that society, to Belgian explorers in Central Africa.

The deputation consisted of the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Rupert's Land, Canada; Bishop Perry (formerly of Australia); Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart.; Mr. Arthur Mills, M.P.; Captain the Hon. F. Maude, R.N. (Treasurer); Mr. Alexander Beattie, Mr. Edward Hutchinson (Secretary), and the Rev. Henry Wright (Clerical Secretary).

There is now complete railway communication from New York to the Red River, a distance of 2,000 miles, the line to Winnipeg having been opened at the close of the year. In 1811, when Archdeacon Cowley went out, he tried in vain to get there that way, and eventually had to come back to England, take ship direct to Hudson's Bay, and thence to go 800 miles by canoe.

The Rev. J. A. Lamb, who has been in both West and East Africa, has gone to Sierra Leone to act as Secretary of the Mission there during the expected absence of the Rev. L. Nicholson on a visit to England.

The Rev. F. Bower has sailed to rejoin the Travancore Mission, and the Rev. W. T. Pilter to join the Palestine Mission.

Affairs at Fuh-chow still cause much anxiety. No reparation has been made by the Chinese authorities for the outrages of August last. Throughout the Province the Christians are suffering, and one very sad event has been the result. The Rev. Ling Sieng-Sing, pastor at LoNguong, was so distressed by the troubles of his flock that he became insane, and though tenderly watched by his excellent wife Chitnio (see GLEANER, February, 1878), succeeded in taking his own life. He was a faithful labourer, and even so sad an end to his useful life was, we doubt not, but the gate into everlasting rest.

The Bishop of Sierra Leone visited Lagos, Abeokuta, and other stations of the Yoruba Mission in February.

The Bishop of Calcutta has admitted to priests' orders the Rev. Sartok Biswas, a Native deacon of the C.M.S. Mission in Krishnagur.

Further news has been received from the Nile Missionary party, dated Regiaf (some miles south of Gondokoro), November 7th. All well.

The Zanzibar mail of March 3rd brings news from Mr. Stokes, who, with Mr. Copplestone, was still at Uyui on December 23rd. We hear, however, that they had subsequently gone forward towards Lake Victoria, from whence there is no news. At Mpwapwa, up to February 17th, all was well.

On January 13th, the Sultan of Zanzibar, in consequence of some fighting that was going on in the northern part of his dominions on the mainland between the Suahili population and the Wakamba and Wanika tribes, went up to Mombasa in his new steamer Glasgow. He did not land, but it was his first visit there for ten years, and he remained in the harbour a week. Mr. Streeter writes, "The good effects of his trip will be great. He was very severe on those who were in any way concerned in slavery, and has given strict orders to put a stop to the kidnapping business that has been openly carried on here." He did not land at all, but Mr. Streeter waited on him on board the Glasgow. "He received me most warmly, and we had a good talk together." Before leaving, he sent his captain to Frere Town with a present, and to ask if he could do anything for the Mission.

The year's returns from Japan show that the progress of the Mission is steady, though not rapid; and we trust the foundations of the Native Church of the future are being deeply and truly laid. The Christians connected with the C.M.S. now number 128, against 88 last year, and 50 the year before. There are 48 at Nagasaki, 35 at Osaka, 22 at Tokio, 8 at Niigata, 15 at Hakodate. The communicants are 62, against 30 last year, and 22 the year before. There have been 56 baptisms, 43 of which were adult. In 1877, 18 adults were baptized; and in the year before, 25.

The second Annual Meeting of the Provincial Native Church Council for the C.M.S. congregations in the North-West Provinces of India, was held at Allahabad on October 1st and 2nd. Among those who took part were the Revs. David Mohun, Madho Ram, David Solomon, and Aman Masih Levi.

The Travancore Mission has sustained a heavy loss by the return home, invalided, of the Rev. F. W. Ainley, B.A., of Clare College, Cambridge, who went out eighteen months ago to conduct the Cottayam College during the Rev. J. II. Bishop's absence in England.

Of the Hudson's Bay Missions Bishop Horden writes, "I can make my statement with thankfulness and joy, inasmuch as the progress announced in former years has been fully equalled in this." Archdeacon Kirkby visited Churchill, the remotest station in the district, last summer, and the Rev. T. Vincent in Albany and the south-west, the Rev. J. H. Keen on Rupert's River and in the south-east, and the Rev. J. Sanders at Matakumme and in the south, have thoroughly visited their respective districts. Mr. E. J. Peck, the lay agent (formerly a seaman in the Navy) who went out in 1876 to labour among the Esquimaux on the eastern side of Hudson's Bay, and whose letters from Little Whale River were printed in the GLEANER of June, 1877, went back to his remote post last summer after his ordination. He was warmly received at Little Whale River by the Esquimaux, and writes very happily of the work amongst them. "Jesus is known to many," he writes; "and the Spirit's sanctifying influence is felt, I trust, in some hearts. Let us press on in faith, nothing doubting, and God will give a still greater blessing."

ERRATA. In the January number, page 11, 1st col., line 3, for "thirty-two men," read "thirty-two oxen." In the April number, page 48, 2nd ccl., 5th line from bottom, for " £2,500," read "£4,100."