THE STORY OF THE LIFE OF DR. KRAPF,

The Pioneer-Missionary of East Africa.
TOLD BY HIMSELF.

[In our last number we mentioned the death of Dr. J. L. Krapf, the first Christian missionary in East Africa, from whose travels and researches have followed all the explorations and discoveries of the last few years. His own journals, and an autobiographical sketch published with his Travels in 1860, will enable us to present the story of his remarkable life in his own words; and this we propose to do from month to month through this year.]

I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

E trace, it is said, the impressions, views, and teachings of the child in the after-career of the man, influencing his pursuits and giving them a fixed direction. In my case, at least, this was no paradox, and by way of illustration I would place before the reader a short sketch of my early life before I became attached to the East African Mission.

My father, whose circumstances were easy, followed farming, and lived in the village of Derendingen, near Tübingen, where I was born on the 11th of January, 1810, and baptized by the name of Ludwig, the wrestler, no inapt appellation for one who was destined to become a soldier of the Cross. Many were my providential escapes in childhood from dangers which beset my path, from falling into the mill-stream which flowed through the village, from accidents with fire-arms, or falls from trees in the eager pursuit of birds' nests. The inborn evil nature of the child was somewhat held in check by a nervous susceptibility, and the consequent dread I experienced in witnessing the contest of the elements in storms, or which shook my frame at the sight of the dead and the grave, or even when reading or listening to the narratives of the torments of the wicked in hell. On these occasions I secretly vowed to lead a pious life for the future; though, childlike, I soon forgot the promise when the exciting cause had passed away, as is ever the case throughout life with the natural, unregenerated heart of man. Thus, but for an apparently trivial event in my boyhood, though in it I gratefully recognise the chastening Hand of the great Teacher, the evil of my nature might have choked the good seed with its tares, or destroyed it altogether.

When eleven years old I was so severely beaten by a neighbour for a fault which I had not committed, that it brought on a serious illness of six months' duration. Left to myself my thoughts dwelt much upon eternity; and the reading of the Bible and devotional books became my delight, particularly such portions of the Old Testament as recorded the history of the patriarchs and their intercourse with the Creator; and when I read of Abraham conversing with the Almighty, an earnest desire arose in my breast that I too might be permitted to listen to the voice of the Most High, even as did the prophets and apostles of old. If this reading resulted in nothing better, at all events it made me desirous to master the historical portions of the Bible. Nor was this knowledge thrown away; for in the autumn of 1822, during the period of my convalescence, I was in the habit of repeating to the reapers many of the stories of the Bible, so earnestly and vividly, that more than one of them would say to my parents, "Mark my words, Ludwig will some day be a parson."

In my career, providential guidance is the more evident, because just such trifling and seemingly unimportant circumstances have governed its whole course. In the early part of the year 1823, on going to Tübingen to buy a new almanack, my sister, mistaking the house, instead of that to which she had been directed for the purpose, called at the dwelling of the widow of a former vicar, whose son attended the grammar-school of the city. Of kindly disposition, and having no false pride, the lady entered into conversation with her lowly visitor, and amongst other things inquired if she had any brothers and sisters; and learning that besides two elder brothers she had one younger, then in his thirteenth year, she asked if he had any knowledge of arithmetic. To this my sister could reply with a safe conscience in the affirmative; upon which the widow said at once, "I should very much like to see the lad; he may be able to teach my son arithmetic, go to the grammar-school, and perhaps in time study for the Church." My sister replied that she would bring me to see the lady, but added, "We are only simple farmers; so as to grammar-school, and studying for the Church, I think there will be but little chance of that." "Never mind," said the lady, "farmer or no farmer, Adam himself was a

farmer; let me see your brother and talk to him myself." Full of the bright prospect which she saw opening for her young brother, my sister returned home, and after awhile the consent of the whole family was obtained to the proposition; whilst in the joy of the moment I promised to labour night and day with zeal and industry, and prove to them all that I was not unworthy so much love and affection.

Accordingly, a day or two afterwards, I accompanied my sister to the house of the clergyman's widow, who, pleased with my boyish answers to her questions, urged again strongly the importance of my being sent at once to the grammar-school. My father, involved in some law proceedings, saw, as it were in his mind's eye, in his son a rising lawyer capable of bringing these suits to successful issue. With that ambition he took me with him to Tübingen to the rector of the Anatolian School.

I was placed by the under-master on the lowest form, along with boys but nine years old, which to a great boy of thirteen, as I then was, could not fail to make me feel a little abashed and to experience a morbid shame at my ignorance. But this very shame stood me in good stead by making me the more desirous to learn, to be placed in the class above me with boys of my own age. The early morning always found me on my road to Tübingen with satchel on my back, in which besides my books were a bottle of sweet must and a great hunch of bread, which were to constitute my simple mid-day's meal, and which I quickly consumed between twelve and one o'clock, under the willows on the banks of the Neckar, in order more leisurely to devour my Latin grammar and Scheller's vocabulary, which I soon learnt by heart.

My diligence met its reward, and at the end of six months I was at the head of my class; and before the close of the year was placed on the third form, the rector not considering it necessary that I should remain longer in the lower school. I was becoming a good Latin scholar, and speedily removed to the fourth form, where I became a Grecian, and rose to be top boy of the class, my teachers expressing themselves well pleased with my general conduct and progress.

Whilst I was still on the lowest form, my father bought me an atlas of the world, and well do I recollect wondering why there should be so few names of places put down in the districts of Adal and Somali in the map of Eastern Africa, and I said to myself, "Is there then so great a desert yonder, still untrodden by the foot of any European? What, too, if it is full of hyænas?" for of these I had just been reading in an odd volume of Bruce's Travels, which had been lent me by a bookseller in the town. How curious that such a thought should have been instilled into the mind of a child, who in manhood was to be the means of expanding the knowledge of those very regions, of which then so little was known! My desire for travel was greatly fostered by the study of geography, and by reading voyages and travels, and when in my fourteenth year my future course of life was discussed in the family circle, I expressed an ardent desire to become "the captain of a ship, and to visit foreign lands." My father would have preferred my being either a lawyer, or a doctor, or a clergyman. Neither law nor physic were to my mind; divinity was less objectionable; but I dreaded the learning of Hebrew with its repulsivelooking characters and unfamiliar sounds. I still continued zealously the study of Greek and Latin and of general knowledge, adding to these also the commencement of French and Italian.

Whilst so engaged, again a seemingly unimportant circumstance helped to fix my future career. When I was in my fifteenth year the rector read an essay to the whole school on the spread of Christianity amongst the heathen, in which it was explained what Missions were, how they were conducted, and what great good they had achieved in various parts of the world since the beginning of the present century. It was the first time I had heard of Missions amongst the heathen, and the idea assumed a definite form in my mind, so that, boy-like, I asked myself, “ Why not become a missionary, and go and convert the heathen?” But then quickly arose the inquiry, "How can he preach the Gospel to the heathen, upon whose heart its seeds have fallen as upon stony places ? " Oft and oft would the words of the Parable of the Sower pass through my mind, impelling me to read the Bible with greater earnestness, and to pray for a quickening knowledge of it. It was the earnest prayer of one who knew not yet how to pray, but it was not uttered in vain.

The Easter holidays of 1825 were at hand, and as I walked homewards from Tübingen the thought arose in my mind with the force of a com

mand, "to go to Basel and announce myself willing to devote my life to the labours of a missionary." The matter was discussed at home, and met with the ready approval of my mother and sister, and, furnished by the former with a letter of introduction to Missionary Inspector Blumhardt, I made the journey to Basel by way of Schaffhausen on foot. The Inspector kindly recognised my zeal; but pointed out to me the first requisite for the calling of an evangelist, the renewal of the heart, as still wanting; yet added, by way of encouragement, that as I was as yet too young to be received into the Missionary College, I should return home for the present, continue my studies, and cultivate the acquaintance of Christian friends in Tübingen and its neighbourhood; and above all, let the search after gospel truth and a knowledge of my own heart be my chief care, waiting patiently till I should receive a call to enter the Missionary Institute as a labourer in the Lord's vineyard. I resolved to be guided by this sage counsel; but previous to my return home I obtained permission to spend a week at the Institute, and here it was that for the first time in my life I became acquainted with true Christians, who upon their knees prayed beside me, and some of whom became my special friends, in whose subsequent correspondence with me after my return to Tübingen I found the greatest solace and blessing.

In 1826 I entered the fifth and highest form in the Anatolian School, and privately devoted myself to the study of Hebrew with such diligence that before long I had read the greater portion of the Old Testament in the original. During that period I made the acquaintance of several thorough Christians, and by their intercourse I was in a manner better qualified to accept the summons to the Missionary College at Basel, which when it reached me in 1827 filled me with inexpressible joy.

I remained at Basel two years, during which I made a stealthy acquaintance with the forbidden writings of such mystics as Madame Guion and Jacob Behmen, which took such a hold upon my excited imagination and so imbued me with their fanatic enthusiasm, that I abandoned the idea of becoming a missionary and returned home, intending to give up study, and to labour with my hands as more conducive to happiness and a truly religious life, according to the pernicious doctrines which I had imbibed. My parents and family combated the notion, not on religious grounds, of which they were incapable of judging, but on account of the cost of my education and the disgrace it would be to the whole family, if, having been brought up with reference to a learned profession, I were to sink again to the level of a mere tiller of the soil. Much against my will I returned to college, completed my studies, and was ordained; then entered upon the curacy of Wolfenhausen, but which, in consequence of a sermon, in which I had represented the world to be in the last quarter of its twelfth and final hour, giving umbrage to the Consistory, I resigned for a private tutorship. So it is, gold is purified by fire; and those were years of severe and painful struggle; but they brought with them at its close the restoration of my former healthy tone of mind, and the dismissal from it of the doubts which had so long threatened its peace.

About this period I met the missionary Fjelstedt, of Smyrna, who urged me to enter again upon the course of life which I had abandoned in 1829. I took time to reflect, calling prayer to my aid, and arrived at the joyful conviction that I ought again to dedicate myself to the service of Missions. Fjelstedt was delighted with my decision, and brought me into communication with the English Church Missionary Society, with which he was himself connected. The wish of the Society was that I should remain for a time in the Missionary College, and await the further orders of the Committee. In the autumn of 1836 Mr. Coates, the secretary, came to Basel, and during his stay at the Mission-house tidings were received that Missionary Knoth, who was to have accompanied Blumhardt to Abyssinia, had died suddenly at Cairo. The vacant post was offered to me, and having accepted it, I gave up the study of Turkish and modern Greek, which I had commenced during my second residence in Basel with a view to Smyrna, which Fjelstedt had originally indicated as my destination, and applied myself to Ethiopic and Amharic. In February, 1837, I set out on my long and difficult journey to Abyssinia, the land of my youthful dreams and aspirations; yet it was not without tears at parting, and with fear and trembling, that I took up my pilgrim's staff, and bid adieu to many and dear friends and to the home of my childhood.

HINDU SCHOOL RHYMES.

HE accompanying rhymes are an attempt to give to English readers some idea of what a Hindu school-book is. These moral maxims, 108 in number, were written by a female, reputed to be the sister of the famous author of the Kural, Tiruvalluvar. Her name was Avviar, or the mother. It is a curious thing that both these authors were Pariars, and yet their books are universally read, Avviar's in every school, and the Kural by every one who claims to be a Tamil scholar.

The maxims are many of them good, and inculcate sound morality. Unfortunately for the boys they are written in a high dialect, wholly unintelligible to them, and the masters never think of enlightening them. They are learnt off, parrot-like, by the lads.

L

Give charity willingly;
Give, then dine heartily.
Keep down an angry thought;
Impatiently say not aught.
The giver thou hinder not.
Thine own wealth trumpet not.
Say not, ""Tis impossible";
Stout-hearted, thou art able.
Walk thou most orderly;
Study thou steadily.
Learning do not despise;
And in youth become wise.
In season sow and toil;
Live not on wrested soil.
Speak thou to edify;
Do what will dignify.
Mother and father feed.
Remember a kindly deed.

Test, ere thou make a friend;
Made, hold on to the end.
Sleep on silk-cotton bed;
Rest not too long thy head.
Do well whate'er you do;
Enter'd on, carry through.
Speak not deceitfully,
Hard words, nor angrily.
Speak not the marvellous ;
Eschew the gambling-house.
Waste not thy property;
Spoil not thou greedily.
Stand in the royal way,
And with the learned stay.
Cleave to thy kith and kin;
A house that's large, live not in.
What you see, that only say;
With a serpent do not play.
R. R. MEADOWS.

OUR PORTFOLIO.

ET every man do according as he is disposed in his heart, and according as he is enabled by his circumstances.-Archbishop Sumner in C.M.S. Sermon, 1825.

N 1872 Dr. Livingstone, when in the heart of Africa, wrote thus to his

IN 1872 Pin on the Slave Trade. If the good Lord permits

me to put a stop to the enormous evils of the inlaud slave trade, I shall not grudge my hunger and toils. I shall bless His name with all my heart. The Nile sources are valuable to me only as a means of enabling me to open my mouth with power among men. It is this power I hope to apply to remedy an enormous evil, and join my poor little helping hand in the enormous revolution that in His all-embracing Providence He has been carrying on for ages, and is now actually helping forward." —Blaikie's “Life of Livingstone” (p. 444).

Quaint Prayers of the South Sea Islanders.

T the Conclusion of Sunday Afternoon Service.-" O God, we are now

A the of respective homes. Let not the good words we

have this day heard be like the fine clothes we have been wearing, soon to be taken off, folded up, and hidden in a box, until another Sabbath comes round. Rather let Thy truth be like the tattoo on our bodies, ineffaceable till death!"

On a Bitterly Cold Morning.-" O Lord, Thou knowest how terribly cold it was all last night. We could hardly endure it. Do Thou change the wind so that it may be warm. And, Lord, let not our souls shiver with our bodies. Let them glow with love to Thee."

In Sickness." Lord, why hast Thou thus laid Thy hand upon us? Perhaps we have wandered from Thee. May this sickness teach us to cling to Thee with hooks and claws, like bats clinging to the branch of a tree."

For their Missionary.-"Let his hair grow perfectly white here; his back be curved with age, and leaning for support upon a staff, may he mount the pulpit."

Against Sin.-" Lord, we may have long been slaves to sin. Do Thou blind its eyes, so that it may not be able to find us. Let Thy word be as a club, to break its arms and its legs, so that it may be powerless. Break Thou its neck, that it may die !"

On Entering Church." O Lord, do Thou chain up the devil outside, and then do Thou enter with me."

A Pathway in Nights of Trouble.
N patience, then, the path of duty run;

But that which thou wouldst do if thou couldst see
The end of all events as well as He.

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

LUCKNOW-CAWNPORE-AGRA.

S Mr. Bickersteth's letters take us in this number to Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Agra, we present three or four pictures illustrative of these cities, so prominent in the history of British India. Those of us who cannot look back to the terrible year of the Mutiny, 1857, can form but a faint idea of the thrilling memories these names bring back to the minds of the older among us. It was at Cawnpore that the cruel rebel chief, Nana Sahib, massacred more than two hundred English ladies and children, and threw the dead and dying into a well. Over that well was afterwards erected the beautiful monument shown on the opposite page. At Lucknow, a small British force, also with women and children, stood a siege of nearly six months, from May 30th to November 19th. They were shut up in the Residency, a range of buildings which had been occupied by the British Resident at the court of the King of Oudh. There they suffered terrible privations, as day by day the mutineers, who filled the whole city, poured in shot and shell, killing and wounding large numbers of the brave defenders. There Sir Henry Lawrence fell, on July 4th. Thither came to the rescue Outram and Havelock, on September 25th, but with so small a band of men that although they got in they could not get out again, and the siege went on; thither at last came Sir Colin Campbell on November 16th, and brought the whole beleaguered party safely away. And thither again came Campbell in the following March,

(See page 17.) when the city was finally re-conquered. On this occasion, Lieutenant George Hutchinson, of the Bengal Engineers, now the Lay Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, and Lieutenant Brownlow, of the same corps, whose gallant career was but a few days afterwards cut short by an explosion of gunpowder, were the first Engineer officers who, with "Brazier's Sikhs," mounted on to the roof of the great Imambara, the famous Mohammedan shrine of which we give a picture on page 18. This magnificent building is the scene of the great Moslem religious festivals in Lucknow.

The other Lucknow building shown in our pictures is the Martinière, a large school built by a Frenchman named Claude Martin, who went to India a private soldier, and died a millionaire. This place also is promi nent in the history of the siege.

Lucknow has been a station of the Church Missionary Society ever since the suppression of the Mutiny, when Sir Robert Montgomery, the Chief Commissioner, invited the Society to occupy the city. A most excellent work is carried on by our missionary the Rev. G. B. Durrant, Mrs. Durrant, the ladies of the Zenana Mission, and the Native pastor and head schoolmaster, Rev. Dari Solomon and Mr. W. Seetal.

The Taj Mahal at Agra, represented in the picture on page 19, is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It is a tomb built by the Mogul Emperor, Shah Jehan, for his favourite wife, whose name was Mahal, and whom he called "Taj," as a name of endearment. One of the latest visitors, the Rev. W. Urwick, in his Indian Pictures, writes thus:"About two miles from the town you pass under a colossal gateway, and before you is a lovely garden, green and shaded with beautiful trees, and

in the centre an avenue of tall cypress-trees, separated by a line of fountains, and leading the eye to the foot of the building, which rises from a double platform, the first of red sandstone 20 feet high and 1,000 feet broad, the second of marble 15 feet high and 300 feet square, on the corners of which stand four marble minarets. In the centre of all, thus reared in air, stands the Taj, with giant arches and clustering domes. As you walk towards it, the building grows to its real size, a marble shrine of great magnitude inlaid with precious stones, graceful in its outlines, costly in its gems, and perfect in its details."

Agra is an important centre of C.M.S. work. There is St. John's College, founded by French and E. C. Stuart; and other important agencies.

THE RESIDENCY, LUCKNOW, WHERE HENRY LAWRENCE, OUTRAM, AND HAVELOCK WERE BESIEGED.

MAORI PARISHES IN NEW ZEALAND. KCHDEACON E. B. CLARKE, the C.M.S. Missionary at Waimate, New Zealand, writes: "I trust that because little is written from this district, you will not think that little is going on. The work has assumed an unevent

I

1 WI am the Light of the world, John 8. 12. [the Gentiles, Lu. 2. 32. 2 T Purif. V. M. 4 Natives ord. by Bp. Colombo, 1881. A light to lighten 3 F The way of the wicked is as darkness, Prov. 4. 19. 4 S The darkness hideth not from Thee, Ps. 139. 12.

[light; and there was light, Gen. 1. 3. 5 S Septuagesima. 1st bapt. Abeokuta, 1848. God said, Let there be

M. Ge. 1 & 2 to v. 4. Rev. 21.1-9. E. Ge. 2. 4. or Job 38. Rev. 21.9 to 22. 6.

6 M God saw the light, that it was good, Gen. 1. 4.

7 T 1st Telugu clergy ord., 1864. Let your light shine, Mat. 5. 16. 8 W C. Simeon's paper before Eclectic Soc. originated idea of C.M.S., [1796. Light is sprung up, Mat. 4. 16. Bp. Williams d., 1878. The path of the just is as the shining light, The light shall shine upon thy ways, Job 22. 28. [Prov. 4. 18. All the night with a light of fire, Ps. 78. 14.

9T

10 F 11 S [children of light, Eph. 5. 8. 12 S Sexagesima. 1st Tinnevelly Native Ch. Council, 1869. Walk as M. Ge. 3. Mat. 24. 1-29. E. Ge. 6 or 8. Ac. 27. 1-18. 13 M Schwartz d., 1798. Made meet to be partakers of the inheritance [of the saints in light, Col. 1. 12. 14 T Nile party reached Uganda, 1879. A land of darkness, as darkness 15 W O send out Thy light! Ps. 43. 3. [itself, Job. 10. 22. 16 T The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth, 1 Jo. 2. 8. 17 F Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you, John 18 S Thy darkness shall be as the noonday, Is. 58. 10. [12. 35. [1 Jo. 2. 10. 19 S Quinquagesima. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light,

M. Ge. 9. 1-20, Mat. 27. 1-27. E. Ge. 12 or 13. Ro. 3. 20 M But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, 1 Jo. 2. 11. [light before them, Isa. 42. 16. 21 T 1st C.M.S. Miss, sailed for India, 1814. I will make darkness 22 W Ash Wednesday. Cast off the works of darkness, Ro. 13. 12.

M. Is. 58. 1-13. Mk. 2. 13-23. E. Jonah 3. Heb. 12, 3-18.

23 T Henry Wright appointed Hon. Sec., 1872. Put on the armour of [light, Ro. 13. 12. 24 F St. Matthias. Ye are the light of the world, Mat. 5. 14. 25 S Let us walk in the light of the Lord, Is. 2. 5.

[works of darkness, Eph. 5. 11. 26 S 1st in Lent. Ember Wk. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful M. Ge. 19. 12-30. Mk. 2. 23 to 3. 13. E. Ge. 22. 1-22, or 23. Ro. 9. 1-19. 27 M The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, Is. 60. 19. 28 T There shall be no night there, Rev. 21. 25.

CORRESPONDENCE.

"Such as I have give I thee."
To the Editor.

AM anxious to dispose of a number of good old-fashioned flower roots which I have cultivated for the benefit of the C.M.S. Address, "B. M., The Library, Addiscombe, Croydon." The following are some of the perennials for sale:-Pinks, Carnations, Daisies, New Pyrethrums, Choice Columbines, Phloxes, Good Pansies, Old Cabbage Roses, &c., &c. If any readers of the GLEANER are real lovers of their garden, and thus are tempted to spend more time and money on plants than they feel justified in doing, they will find their pleasure doubled if they consecrate these talents to the Lord by following some plan like the above. Further, if any one has to throw away their garden surplus of hardy perennials they would be helping me very considerably if they just packed the so-called rubbish into a rush basket or hamper, and sent them to me carriage paid; of course, writing previously for my correct address, and nearest station, &c. This would be a very practical way of fulfilling our Lord's command to "gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost." B. M. (A Local Hon. Sec.)

[Since sending the above, B. M. has written :-"I have had such a large sale for my plants that I have realised over £7, and sold 521 plants. My stock is therefore almost exhausted, and I should be most grateful to any one who would help to replenish it, so that I could have a variety of hardy flower-roots, ready to sell in the spring, for planting in February and March."]

WHI

Another "Fifty Years Ago."

HILST reading Mr. Poole's interesting little note in the GLEANER for November last, I was reminded of an amusing incident which occurred some fifty years ago in a remote little village in Wiltshire. A large bill was posted on the school wall in the village announcing that a missionary of the C.M.S. would give a lecture there in the course of a few days. Now it appears that one of the villagers had a doubt as to what a missionary meeting really was, and in order to satisfy her curiosity, applied to a friend of mine, adding, "I suppose it's a kind of gipsy party," Need I say that darkness has given way before light, and that there are earnest workers for the C.M.S. in the village W. H. SWIFT.

now.

EPITOME OF MISSIONARY NEWS.

The Bishop of Ossory and Ferns (Ireland), Dr. W. Pakenham Walsh, has consented to preach the Annual Sermon before the Society, at St. Bride's, on May 1st. Dr. Walsh was formerly Association Secretary of the Society in Ireland, and has always been a warm and able advocate of its principles and work.

Bishop Cheetham has signified his intention to resign the Bishopric of Sierra Leone, and has accepted the Vicarage of Rotherham. He was consecrated in 1870, and has therefore held the see longer than any of his predecessors, three of whom died at their post within a year or two of their appointment. The Society is deeply indebted to Dr. Cheetham for his able and devoted services in the cause both of its Missions and of the Native Church.

Bishop Ridley of Caledonia arrived in England on January 2nd on important business connected with difficulties which have arisen at Metlakahtla. We earnestly ask the prayers of all our readers in behalf of the Mission there.

On the Epiphany, January 6th, a Special Communion Service was held at St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, in connection with the Society, which was attended by the members of the Committee and their friends. The Rev. W. Martin, the Rector, officiated, and the sermon was preached by the Rev. C. C. Fenn, one of the clerical secretaries, on 1 Cor. x. 16.

The venerable Rev. Gerard Smith, formerly Vicar of Ock brook, who died lately at a great age, was a long-tried friend of the C.M.S., and contributed valuable articles to the GLEANER in 1874 and 1875.

We much regret to say that the Rev. A. E. Moule is forbidden by the Society's medical advisers to return to China at present. All who are interested in that Mission will pray that his health may soon be restored, and he be enabled to go out again.

The Rev. W. T. Pilter has lately returned home from the Palestine Mission; Mr. A. H. Wright from Agra; and Mr. W. Briggs from the Punjab. We ought before to have mentioned the return of the Rev. F. F. Gough from Ningpo.

Dr. Henry Martyn Clark, of Edinburgh University, an Afghan by birth, but an adopted son of the Rev. R. Clark, has been accepted by the Society as a medical missionary for the Punjab.

On January 9th, the Committee took leave of the Rev. F. Gmelin, returning to Bengal; the Rev. W. Jukes, to Peshawar; and the Rev. J. Caley, to Travancore; and of Mr. J. W. Strickson, who is going out to the Shanghai Anglo-Chinese School as assistant-master.

Bagdad, the famous capital of Mesopotamia, is to be occupied by the Church Missionary Soci ty in connection with the Persia Mission. The chief sacred shrines visited by Mohammedans of the Shiah sect are in its immediate neighbourhood; and as the Persians are Shiahs, thousands of them pass through Bagdad during the year. From it, as a base, it is hoped that missionary work may extend into south-western Persia.

Further grants have been made from the Frances Ridley Havergal Memorial Fund for the translation and publication of one or more of Miss Havergal's works in the Bengali and Telugu languages.

Miss Maria V. G. Havergal has presented to the Society, for the use of its missionaries, Native clergy acquainted with English, &c., 500 copies of a little book lately published, entitled "Starlight through the Shadows," containing miscellaneous papers by the late Miss F. R. Havergal. Among them are the articles entitled "Marching Orders," which were contributed to the GLEANER in 1879.

Letters were received on December 19th from Mr. O'Flaherty and Mr. Mackay in Uganda, of various dates down to August 1st. They were well, and the Mission apparently well established, Mtesa being again favourably disposed, and having restored the liberty to teach and preach.

The Bishop of Calcutta, as Metropolitan of India, paid his first visit to Peshawar in October, and in a memorandum written by him in the recordbook of the C.M.S. Mission, expressed in strong terms his sense of the importance and success of the missionary work carried on there.

The grants from the William Charles Jones Fund to Native Church Councils in India, to meet equal sums raised by themselves for the support of evangelistic agents, amount to Rs. 8,595, about £750. This shows a growth of energy and liberality on the part of the Native Christians. The North-West Provinces and the Punjab claim the grant for the first time; and the South India Councils are increasing their requirements.

Bishop Bompas writes, on Aug. 4th, from Mackenzie River, that he had just returned from a long journey into the remotest corner of his vast diocese to visit the Tukudh Mission. He was delighted with the progress made there. The wandering people can now generally read the Scriptures in their own language, and are teaching one another instead of being wholly dependent on Archdeacon McDonald's visits. The Bishop begs for two more missionaries, one for the Esquimaux, and one for the tribes on the Lower Youcon in the United States Territory of Alaska. The former has been already provided by the despatch of the Rev. T. H. Canham last July.

We wish heartily to recommend one of Miss Skinner's "Friendly Letters" which has been sent to us, addressed to "Young Ladies, especially those who have just left school." One of the recommendations in it is to devote an evening in the week in working for the Church Missionary Society.

The Gleaner Examination was duly held on Jan. 10th. The resu't will be announced in our next.

Received with Thanks:-The proceeds of a Dressmaker's Missionary Box, by Mrs. C. Hillyer, 3s. 3d. ; "A Nurse's Thank-Offering," £1; W. A. Bryan, for the School Children's Christmas Treat at Gaza, 2s. 6d. ; E. G. W., for the same, 18.; a packet, sent anonymously, containing 4s. and some small articles of jewellery.