BONNY AND BRASS.

HE speech of the Rev. J. B. Whiting at the Society's Anniversary Meeting, which was printed in our last number, will have communicated to our readers the result of that part of the inquiries and recommendations of the recent Conference at Madeira which concerned the Niger Mission. We would reiterate what he said of the inviting openings on both the great branches of the river, which offer us, as the Annual Report observes, "a facility of access into Central Africa to which no route from the East Coast affords a parallel." It is in view of these openings that the Committee feel that the time has come when on the Niger, as much as in other parts of Africa, the white man should take his place by the side of the black man in proclaiming the name of their common Lord and Saviour. Moreover, white traders have become numerous on the river; and it is not desirable that the heathen Natives should suppose traffic, however legitimate, to be the only motive of the white man in visiting them, and religion to be a thing for the black man only. As a first step, therefore, on the recommendation of the Madeira Conference, arrangements have been made for the Niger Mission to be put upon a footing similar to that of other Missions, and to be administered by a regular Missionary Conference and Finance Committee, under the presidency of the Bishop, but with an English Secretary as the direct representative of the Parent Society. To this end the Committee hope that the providence of God may direct them to a clergyman of experience willing to spend and be spent in this cause. His presence and counsel will be warmly welcomed by Bishop Crowther and Archdeacon Dandeson Crowther and Henry Johnson, to whom, and to the other Native clergy and lay agents, the Henry Venn would enable him to be of the greatest service.

Another subject which received the careful attention of the Madeira Conference was the importance of making provision for the sound and systematic training of the present and future teachers and ministers of the rising Native Churches on the Niger. The Committee have warmly approved the plans agreed upon for the regular theological instruction of the agents by Archdeacons Crowther and Johnson, the preparation of Christian books in the languages of the Niger territories, and the establishment of small boarding-schools for the Scriptural education of promising boys; as well as for the promotion of female mission work by the wives of the Native Agents-upon which important subject the Deputation reported that they had very satisfactory consultations with Mrs. Dandeson Crowther.

Our present object, however, is not to enlarge on the Niger Mission generally, but to present the sections of Bishop Crowther's Annual Report to the Society relating to Bonny and Brass, which are of very great interest. Mr. Whiting in his speech dwelt on the remarkable indigenous movement in the Delta of the Niger in favour of Christianity; and the Bishop's Report supplies us with further details. Some of the

facts mentioned by him are already known to the readers of the Intelligencer; but here they are conveniently grouped.

From Bishop Crowther's Report.
BONNY.

This Mission was commenced in 1865 at the invitation of the late King William Pepple, who died a short time after its establishment, and was succeeded by his son George, the present king. The Mission has undergone the various incidents and changes common to a new Christian Mission as it is experienced in all parts of the world; namely, a successful beginning, which was afterwards followed by persecutions of converts in order to arrest its progress; but the result of this has turned out, as in other places, another proof that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. These persecutions, martyrdoms, and banishments, which at one time had reduced our congregation to thirty children, were afterwards the cause of fresh revivals; the smothered embers of conviction in the consciences of the people could no longer be concealed; the fire broke out at last: hence a great rush into the churches beyond expectation, so that their enlargement became very necessary. St. Stephen's, the native church, which was calculated to hold from 350 to 400 comfortably, was crammed to excess, so that a front gallery was required to give more room, which still could not afford accommodation for the overflowing congregation.

The Archdeacon suggested an enlargement, but I thought this might be premature, as the people might fall back, so I suggested a temporary shed on the side of the church to accommodate those who could not get room in. side, but the increase was more than temporary excitement, so that a permanent enlargement was resolved upon, of 10 ft. wide on each side of the church (boarded) which was already 30 ft. wide by 53 ft. long, to be covered in by lean-to roofs the whole length of the church; so the church is now 50 ft. wide by 53 ft. long, nearly square, to make room for from 900 to 1000 people squeezed together on special occasions. St. Clement's, the so-called English church, is well attended at the same time by from 250 to 400 Natives on the Lord's Day; on this occasion, every available space is occupied, the vestry not excepted, for the children. Chiefs and people, masters and slaves, compose the congregations, a very strong evidence that this movement was not confined to one class of people, and that it was not a momentary excitement. Contrary to custom when canoes were got ready to go out in a war expedition, and sacrifices were made, and the blood of the animal victims was spilt on the war canoes to propitiate the god of war, the converts as one man refused to perform, join, or to eat of the sacrifices, on the ground that it is idolatrous, superstitious, and contrary to the law of God and the doctrine of the Christian religion which they had professed. Some of the head chiefs sided with them; but one of the head chiefs, an opponent to Christianity, ordered a priest to offer an animal sacrifice to his own canoe, which the priest, though not yet professing Christianity, refused to do on the conviction of the folly of these practices. The head chief being enraged, ordered one of his slaves to take a whip and chastise the priest to compel him to do his duty, but the servant declined doing so; he ordered another to execute his order on the priest, but he also declined; on the third refusing to execute his order by chastising the priest, he got up in a great rage, took up the whip himself and spent the whole of his strength on the delinquent priest, when he was led away by some standers by, who were witnessing the proceedings of the day.

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Thinking that the priest had received a salutary lesson from him, and that he would now be intimidated to refuse his order, he sent to call him at another time to go over and perform the required sacrifice; but the reply from the priest was to this effect, that, had he intended to offer the sacrifice, he would not have suffered himself to be so severely beaten and shamefully treated in public; that it was too late, he would do no more sacrifices to the gods. Soon after this, he enlisted himself as a candidate for baptism. This is only one instance out of many.

On May 9th (1880) the Sunday after Ascension Day, a confirmation service was held, when thirty-five candidates presented were confirmed. On the 16th, Whit Sunday, adult baptisms took place, when forty candidates were admitted to the Church by that rite, among whom was a very aged woman, the fostermother of one of the most influential leading chiefs of Bonny; the service was very solemn.

Bonny is now wearing quite a new aspect in a religious point of view; great changes are taking place for the better; notwithstanding persevering efforts of some priests, backed by the influence of some leading chiefs, yet heathenism is on the wane: many sheds sacred to the gods are out of repair, and the great temple studded with human skulls is going to ruins, with little hope of its being repaired. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." Since the reaction took place at the death of Captain Hart, that great patron of idolatrous system and zealous supporter of this temple of human skulls, the people have learned more and more to think of the vanity of idol worship; especially when this great patron of heathenism could not conceal the fact which he had at last discovered at his dying hour, namely, that all the gods are lies: and withal, solemnly warned all his adherents against putting their trust in them any longer, as they were all lying vanities: and to exonerate himself as having been the great leader in their worship, he seriously commanded them to destroy all the images and figures of the gods which might be found in his quarter of the town after his death, that they might not be a snare and an excuse to them through his former example in worshipping them; which order was executed to the very word. Thus God caused the wrath of this man, the great persecutor, murderer, and banisher of the Christians, to praise Him, while He restrained the remainder of wrath by his removal, that His cause may run and be glorified. After this, no threat from a persecuting influential chief, to confiscate the property of a convert, a rich woman of Bonny town, could induce her to sell any article to this chief on the Lord's Day, though he had fully determined to punish her for thus refusing to grant his request on the ground of religious persuasion of its being a breach of God's commandment. This persecution was designedly planned to ensnare her; but he was disappointed.

Two young converts came to the Mission-house, I believe to buy books: but as I did not know them, I inquired who they were and from what place they came? when one of them replied, "From the Land of Israel." As this was a strange reply to me from such men, I asked what did they mean, and where was the Land of Israel? To this the men replied, You do not know what changes are taking place at Bonny: that yonder village, Ayambo, is named the Land of Israel, because no idol is to be found in it; though you may walk through the village, you will not find a single idol in it as an object of worship. All had been cleared out, and some delivered to the Archdeacon; so it is free from idolatrous worship, and if any one who professes the Christian religion is not comfortable at Bonny town, they invite him to this village named the Land of Israel. This was to me and Rev. Thomas Johnson,

who had just returned to the Mission from Sierra Leone, quite new information. To corroborate it, a large pile of idolatrous symbols of every description formerly worshipped at Bonny town and villages, are to be seen at the Mission-house, from which selections shall be made by the Archdeacon for Salisbury Square at some future day.

When at home, the converts do not neglect going to church regularly on the Lord's Day, and when out in the oil markets in the interior, they have made it an established practice to abstain from any transactions on that day, but to meet at the usual time for service at an appointed place, by reading as much as they know, and prayer. In course of time irregular places of meeting gave place to a shed, and this has since giver place to a regular built chapel of native materials, put up by five chiefs at a place called Okrika, a neutral trading market between Bonny, New Calabar, and Brass, about thirty miles in the interior, which it is said will hold from 300 to 400 people, and has not only been provided with benches, with subscriptions collected by the chiefs from their people, but the roof itself has been covered with galvanized iron sheets at the expense of these chiefs. During my stay at Bonny these chiefs deputed one of their number, an influential person, to apply to me for a Christian teacher among them. The Archdeacon was making arrangements with King George Pepple and Oko Jumbo, one of the chiefs of Bonny, to facilitate his passage on a visit to Okrika.

Since the chiefs of Bonny have turned their attention to a little farmmaking, besides trade in palm oil, they have also made better houses at these farm places than those in Bonny town; in consequence of which the town is nearly deserted by the chiefs, while their houses at the farms have become their country seats, in which they spend most of their time. I was inquisitive to see one of these country seats, so I expressed my wish to King George Pepple, who readily arranged to take us in his steam launch to his own place, which he did on the 12th of May: the party consisted of the Archdeacon and wife, myself and Hugh Stowell Macaulay (my grandson); King George acting as captain and engineer. The distance was about six miles from Bonny town to the end of a creek: we met the king's sister, Princess Florence, who was awaiting our arrival. The cottage was a neat building of lattice-work plastered over, a little raised from the ground and floored: it was superior to anything I had ever seen at Bonny, which town, if it had been supplied with such cottages, would have presented not only a pleasing appearance, but would have also contributed much to health and comfort. King George showed mo a skeleton house in process of building, which he told me was intended for a chapel for the use of his people to worship in, when any may be prevented from attending services at Bonny on the Lord's Day; this I told him was a good Christian example to his people. If places of worship are thus put up at their country seats by all his chiefs, Christianity will very soon displace heathenism, and it may not be long before it becomes the professed religion of the country.-From his place King George led us to a neighbouring country seat, about one mile apart, belonging to Chief Squeeze Banigo, where a house of boards was put up on a brick wall foundation about six feet from the ground, much superior to his house in Bonny town, which has been very much neglected and is going to ruins. These places are put up in much better order than at Bonny, which show improvement in their idea of house buildings. Our houses at the Mission station are imitated. In the evening we were conveyed back to Bonny in the launch by King George Pepple.

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Occasional religious visits have been made to the towns and villages on

the opposite side of Bonny River, called by the Natives Peter's Side, perhaps from a distinguished chief of that name who formerly lived there; the people are very willing to receive Christian teachers among them, which have been promised, but I have not been able to send one, nor even a Scripture-reader; the chiefs renewed their application not long ago, when the same expectation was held out to them. Though some of the people would go across to attend service at Bonny on the Lord's Day whenever they could, and others from Juju town, about two miles or more from the Mission station, continue to do the same, yet as these favourable impressions continue fresh in their minds I believe much good might be done, if suitable teachers could be stationed among them, even only in the capacity of Scripture-readers.

Another sign of onward progress at Bonny is the introduction of a printing press, a gift from the Missionary Leaves Association, which promises to be for the benefit of the whole Niger Mission; it has been already set up by Mr. R. Campbell of Lagos, who happened to be our guest at the time of my visit, so we took the advantage of his knowledge in printing to ask him at once to set up this machine to make a beginning. The introduction of printing had been in contemplation for some time, but as the pupils with whom to begin our industrial school were not ready for it, we deferred the attempt till now, when we hope a good beginning will be made, though it will be slow at first.

Dec. 20th. It was my intention at my return from the Upper Stations to pay another visit to Bonny before proceeding to Lagos; but it was ordered otherwise that I could not accomplish my wishes. The sum of Bonny Mission wants is, more teachers to occupy the wide opening before us. The Natives

are of their own accord erecting places of worship in their distant parts of the country from the two churches at Bonny. King George has erected a place of worship at Bolobiri, his country seat and plantation, which was opened on the 10th of October by the Archdeacon with a congregation of 183. The chiefs of Okrika are impatiently waiting for an answer to their application for a Christian teacher to occupy the place of worship which they have voluntarily erected. The Archdeacon could only pay them a visit, having two churches to attend to at Bonny. The chiefs of Juju town are collecting materials to put up a place of worship for their own use; Chief William Brown is keeping them together for reading and prayer for the present: a teacher is needed here. The chiefs on the other side of the river, opposite Bonny town, are also preparing to put up a place of worship in that part of the country; they also are applying for a Christian teacher. Mr. J. Boyle's health has failed, and he is invalided out of the Mission by the doctor's certificate to recruit health: under these circumstances it is impossible for the Archdeacon and one lay teacher alone to meet all the wants of Bonny Mission. More and efficient teachers are needed.

BRASS.

This Mission has seen many changes since my last Report: about the middle of last year (1879) the Rev. Thomas Johnson, the pastor, was taken so seriously ill that the doctor was under the necessity of sending him away to Sierra Leone by a medical certificate for a change and medical attendance while there, which was immediately acted upon: from this sudden change Mr. J. D. Garrick, catechist at New Calabar, was transferred here to occupy Mr. Johnson's place during his absence on sick leave; during his absence the Archdeacon made frequent visits to the station, and stayed as long as his presence was required.