great men of the earth, and enriches the humble poor. He raiseth up the poor from the dust, and maketh them to sit in the high places. This I have seen in many cases. Those who used to employ us as daylabourers are now so reduced that they are glad to work for others; at one time they used to eat curds [which is a great luxury to the Santáls], now they are content if they can get a little rice-water to appease their hunger. We have now sheep and oxen and fields, so that we can afford to have what many call luxuries. God has been very loving to us, and our former neighbours are astonished at our success. Day by day He is loading us with benefits; when I try to reckon them up, I entirely fail; they are like the deep waters. I cannot fathom or fully understand how much He has done for us. We were in the dust and the mire, having no clothes or oil for our bodies; the villagers so despised us in our poverty that they did not deign to cast an eye on us; no one would acknowledge us as relatives. Now everything is changed; our relations are only too proud to own us. When I consider the grace of God, I cannot help praising Him, and whenever high thoughts come into my mind, I remember the past and say to myself, "Friend, remember the days of old, and how it fared with thee then." God has done it all, He has made me great; yes, He gave His only Son for me, riches for soul and body. He has provided for me, and I try by His help to glorify Him. I have written nothing but the truth about ourselves. God has indeed turned our mourning into joy. When we first became Christians we were much persecuted, and were the only Christians in the village: the head man tried to drive us out; we had hard work to maintain our rights. They would not allow our children to go near their houses, lest their food and vessels should become defiled by our touch. Our friends used to say we should get no wives for our sons, or husbands for our daughters; God has provided us with wives, and our sisters with husbands. When we were ill no one would have anything to do with us. The native doctors said, "You have forsaken the gods, and our medicines are of no use without incantations, so we can't help you." We were raised up from dangerous illnesses without their help, which surprised them very much, for they thought there could be no hope for any who had forsaken their "bongas." They imagine that they are preserved from sickness only by offering sacrifices to propitiate the angry spirits; we had not done so, so we must die, they imagined. Gradually they altered their opinion, seeing we are not only preserved but prosperous. Many of the heathen say now, "You have done the right thing," and they no longer regard us as outcasts. The state of feeling has changed very much during the past twenty years. [The sequel to Baijnath's Story will be given in our next number.] THE MONTH. BEFORE this number appears, the Rev. A. W. Poole will (D.V.) have been consecrated to the English Bishopric in Japan, the ceremony being fixed for Sept. 29th. We ask for special prayer on his behalf. WE are sorry to say that, owing to the health of Mrs. Hutchinson, General George Hutchinson, the Lay Secretary of the Society, will be obliged to spend the ensuing winter abroad. During his absence, Colonel Touch, an active member of the Committee, who has also served on the Corresponding Committees both in Madras and in Calcutta, will be in charge of the Lay and Finance Department. In addition to the missionaries named in our last number, the following will be included in the Valedictory Dismissal on Oct. 1st:-The Revs. J. B. Panes, M. N. S. Atkinson, and E. W. Elliott, designated for the Telugu Mission; Rev. A. W. Cotton for Hydrabad; Rev. T. Holden for Peshawar; Rev. G. E. A. Pargiter for Agra; Rev. J. H. Horsburgh and Dr. E. G. Horder for China; Rev. T. Harding for Lagos; and the Rev. D. Wood returning to Ceylon. THE Bishop of Sierra Leone lately paid a visit to Port Lokkoh, the outlying station 50 miles inland from Sierra Leone, at the head of the river, where Mr. J. A. Alley works as a lay missionary, with Mr. S. Tayler, B.A., an African. The Bishop confirmed six candidates, and writes warmly of this little Mission. The natives of the country are Timnehs, but many Sierra Leone people are settled there as traders. (See GLEANER, Feb., 1882.) IN May, a General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Japan was held at Osaka. The proceedings were of considerable importance and deeply interesting. Not only were the papers and discussions on various topics valuable, but the spiritual influences which by God's mercy accompanied the meeting were remarkable. All have seemed to have been stirred up to special prayer and renewed consecration to the Lord's service; and both missionaries and Native Christians shared in the manifest blessing. A full account appears in this month's C.M. Intelligencer. MRS. RUSSELL, the widow of the lamented Bishop, still works on in connexion with the Ningpo Mission. She writes: Being no longer young, I work mainly through my Bible-women, with my influence on the wives of the clergy, and catechists, and the Christian women in general. When the weather is mild I visit the Christians in the out-stations, living in the boat (the mission-boat), or at Sanpoh, in a room set apart for the accommodation of missionaries; on these occasions always accompanied by one of my Bible-women. There is always a good deal of talking to the heathen, either in the homes of the Christians, where numbers would come to see the foreign lady, and hear her talk in the Native tongue, or in the boat, as many as it could hold, several times during the day, or in the houses of friendly heathen, &c. My mornings are fully occupied in studying the Word of God with my Bible-women, and instructing others, women and children, of whom I have several. Several of them are very young. I give out medicines, supply the catechists with what they and their people need according to my ability, or assist them in procuring such medicines not in my power to give gratis, &c. DURING last winter, Bishop Horden, of Moosonee, was busily engaged upon Ojibbeway translations, particularly the Acts of the Apostles. He was assisted by the Rev. J. Sanders, who is an Ojibbeway Indian, and who has already himself rendered the Peep of Day into his mother-tongue. At the same time, Archdeacon Vincent was preparing a Cree version of the Pilgrim's Progress. "All," writes the Bishop, "is activity; every one is at work; all feel how necessary it is to work while it is still called to-day." MR. SANDERS, whose station is Matawakumma, writes that he has now four books in Ojibbeway, viz., St. Matthew's Gospel, a hymn-book, a catechism of Bible history, the Prayer-book nearly complete, and a hymnbook with 100 hymns. Nearly all our people at Matawakumma and Flying Post can read, and like their books well, especially the hymn-book, as they are very fond of singing." 66 THE translations into the Pahâri language (Rajmahal hills, Bengal) of the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John, and the Church Catechism, by the Rev. E. Droese, of Bhagalpur, have been printed in the past year. So has the revised edition of St. Matthew in Santâli. A Bible History in the latter tongue is ready for press, and the larger part of the PrayerBook in Pahâri. THE Rev. T. R. Wade has passed through the press his Kashmiri translation of the Four Gospels, 1,000 copies of which have been printed; and also the Morning and Evening Services. The rest of the New Testament, and most of the Prayer-Book, are also ready for printing. Copies of the Gospels, nicely bound, were sent to the Maharajah of Kashmir and to his Vizier, and were very kindly acknowledged. Two more tried friends of the Society have been called away, viz., Lieut.-Col. Buckle, the Lay Secretary of the Bath Association since 1855, and the Rev. Sydney Gedge, formerly C.M.S. Secretary at Northampton. Mr. Gedge was an old and valued member of the Committee and an Honorary Life Governor. He spoke at the last Annual Meeting of the Society in Exeter Hall, and took part in the distribution of prizes at the Missionaries' Children's Home so lately as July 19th. Mr. Gedge had gone with his family to Cromer where he contracted an illness which ended with his death on Aug. 29th. He was in his eightysecond year. A LETTER from Cairo dated Aug. 13th informs us that all the Mission party had been graciously preserved in health while the cholera was raging, many hundreds of persons dying each day while the epidemic was at its worst. Mr. Klein states that up to the date of this letter fully 15,000 had died in Cairo alone. The schools were of course closed, and the public Arabic services discontinued, but Mr. Klein conducted an Arabie service in his house, and the Saturday evening prayer meeting as usual. THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER. NOVEMBER, 1883. L. Qr. 21st 1.44 p.m. N. M. 29th.... 6.54 p.m. 1 T All Saints. C.M.S. Jubilee, 1818. One cried unto another and [said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, Is. 6. 3. 2 F Thon only art holy, Rev. 15. 4. 3 S God sitteth on the throne of His holiness, Ps. 47. 8. [keep silence before Him, Hab. 2. 20. 4 S 24th aft. Trin. The Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth M. Amos 3. Tit. 1. E. Amos. 5 or 9. Lu. 22. 54. 5 M Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? Ps. 15. 1. [mountain, Is. 56.7. 6 TJ. Hart mart. at Bonny, 1875. Them will I bring to My holy 7 W 1st Tamil ord., 1830. Give thanks at the remembrance of His 8T Holy in all His works, Ps. 145. 17. [holiness, Ps. 30. 4. 9 F Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness? Ex. 15. 11. 10 S Hang-Chow occupied, 1865. The Lord made bare His holy arm, [Is. 52. 10. 25th aft. Trin. Ahmed Tewfik bapt., 1881. Holy Father, keep thro' [Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, Jo. 17. 11. 11 S 12 M M. Mic. 4 and 5. 1-8. Heb. 4. 14 and 5. E. Mic. 6 or 7. John 2. Trin. Ch., Calcutta, op., 1826. An house for Thy holy name, [1 Ch. 29. 16. 13 T H. Baker d., 1878. Partakers of His holiness, Heb. 12. 10. 14 W Price landed at Mombasa, 1874. I am the Holy One in the 15 T The holy Child Jesus, Acts 4. 27. [midst of thee, Hos. 11. 9. 16 F Such an high priest became us, who is holy, Heb. 7. 26. 17 S In all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, Heb. 4. 15. [house, Ps. 93. 5. 18 S 26th aft. Trin. Elmslie d., 1872. Holiness becometh Thine M. Hab. 2. Heb. 11. 1-17. E. Hab. 3. or Zeph. 3. John 6. 1-22. 19 M Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, Hab. 1. 13. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, Ps. 51. 6. 20 T 22 T 21 W Lahore Coll.. op., 1870. Be ye holy, for I am holy, 1 Pet. 1. 16. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. 12. 14. 23 F Nyanza Miss. resolved on, 1875. We have trusted in His holy 24 S Holy and reverend is His name, Ps. 111. 9. [name, Ps. 33. 21. [arm hath gotten Him the victory, Ps. 98. 1. 25 S 27th aft. Trin. 1st C.M.S. Miss. landed in China, 1844. His holy M. Eccl. 11 & 12. Jam. 4. E. Hag. 2. 1-10, or Mal. 3 & 4. John 9. 1-29. 26 M Krapf d., 1881. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall 27 T Glory ye in His holy name, 1 Ch. 16. 10. [see God, Mat. 5. 8. 28 W All that is within me, bless His holy name, Ps. 103. 1. [105. 42. 29 T Gaza Miss. beg., 1878. He remembered His holy promise, Ps. 30 F St. Andrew. King Ockiya bapt., 1879. They rest not day and [night. saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Rev. 4. 8. MORE JERSEY BREEZES. X.-Our Influence. "What have they seen in thine house?"-2 Kings xx. 15. HE bountiful Father of the Universe loves best to accomplish His mighty works in silence. The thunders of judgment are His strange work. In the noiseless dawn, the refreshing twilight, the unfolding flower-bud, the trembling dewdrop, great things doeth He which we cannot comprehend; and by these He daily seeks to instil into our restless hearts the sweet lesson, that in Quietness and in Confidence shall be our strength. "These are My miracles," He whispers, when winter's icy chain melts before the balmy breath of spring-tide; when "Peace, be still," has made the storm a calm; or when the ruddy glow of health suffuses the cheek in whose hollow the pale lily had languished. But, too often, we are slow of heart to believe; we see no beauty in such simple teachings, that we should desire them, and so we pass them unheedingly by. The Lord of Creation also loves to work gradually. "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." No haste, no hurry, no confusion. No waste of time or energy. "The mills of God grind slowly." What a contrast to earthly methods of procedure. When man sets about some so-called great undertaking, what excitement, what impatience, what publicity! What an absence of calmness, of dignity, of sublime self-repression! I please" is still the impassable barrier to our eager strivings. As in the physical world, so also in the moral, He works in His And the mainspring of all result, own way, at His own time. for Good or Ill, is that power of marvellous subtlety, gentle as the woodland zephyr, yet strong as links of adamant, which we know by the name of Influence. We feel its effects, yet how difficult to define what it is. It is constantly reversing our private decisions, and carrying us whither we would not. Or, on the other hand, it startles us with the discovery, that through unguarded word or deed of ours, another has been led to alter his line of conduct completely, causing thereby an entirely new crystallisation of interests, with all that this entails. What a thrill of grateful joy kindles our spirits when we accidentally find that some word in due season, dropped by the wayside in a long-ago wandering, was carried into the good ground of an honest heart by Him to whom nothing is trivial, and left there to fructify a thousandfold. But there is a reverse to this pleasant picture. There is a thrill of remorse at harm irreparably done through our Influence. Let us consider these things and be wise. The spell we wield over those around our hearths and homes is all the more potent, because it is unconscious. Never man spake like the Saviour; never was influence on earth like His. And yet was daily life ever more seemingly devoid of plan? He did the duty that lay nearest, with His eye and heart fixed on His Father in heaven. "This one thing I do" was written on His whole bearing until He could send forth the triumphant cry, "It is finished.' And what of ourselves? Poor fallible creatures that we are, we yet may humbly aim, as He did, at attaining the grand ideal of a truly consecrated life. If we thus aim and persevere, we need trouble little about the effect of our Influence. As we are busy here and there, fulfilling our Godgiven and therefore delightful tasks, we shall, with no special effort, be " doing good." It cannot be otherwise, whether we are permitted to see this or not. By our words, spoken and written, by our actions, at home or abroad, by all that makes us what we are after "long patience," those who see us will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. Is not this a cheering thought for those of us who long to be Light Bearers, and who fear they are doing little for the Master? Let us keep very close to Him; let us follow His dear teachings simply; let us tell Him our love, our labours, and our longing; and see if some glad surprise do not soon fill our cup with blessing. After all, we may be working "together with God," and while we sadly imagined our toil was vain, perhaps we were accomplishing great things in the priceless souls whom we would die to benefit, through the quiet irresistible force of holy Influence. A. M. V. THE NATIVE CHURCH IN MADRAS. XCEPTING the Mission to Mohammedans, the whole of the Church Missionary Society's work in and around the great city of MADRAS, the capital of Southern India, is now done by the Native clergy and laity. The readers of the GLEANER will like to know something of the place concerning which so unique a fact can be stated, and something too of the work itself; more especially as, during the whole ten years that this periodical has existed, not a single article or picture illustrative of missionary work in Madras has appeared! Madras is not an ancient city. Fort St. George, as it was formerly called, was one of the earliest settlements of the old East India Company in India, being built in the reign of Charles I. The modern Madras is the third city in India, with a population of 406,112. It extends nine miles along the sea-coast, with an average breadth of three miles, and consists really of twenty-three towns or villages, with parks and gardens intervening. Speaking roughly, it may be said that six-eighths of the population are heathen, one-eighth Mohammedan, and one-eighth Christian: the latter section including Europeans and persons of mixed descent, and a large number of very ignorant Native Romanists, descendants of the old Jesuit converts. The Native Protestant Christians number between 6,000 and 7,000. Connected with the Church Missionary Society there are two Native congregations, one in "Black Town," and the other in "Chintadrepettah," of which the Revs. Vedhanayagam Simeon and William T. Satthianadhan are the pastors. The two pastorates are combined under one Church Council, of which Mr. Satthianadhan is Chairman. This Council has also lately taken charge of some small village congregations in the outlying Palaveram District. Altogether, there are connected with it 1,543 Native baptized Christians, of whom 659 are communicants. The last Annual Reports of the Council and its work occupy more than fifty pages in three numbers of the Madras C.M. Record. There were 61 baptisms last year, of which 17 represented accessions from heathenism; and 20 Romanists were received into communion. The contributions of the Christians amounted to 2,346 rupees, It is a Literary Institute on Christian principles for educated Native Christians, with the reading-room, library, lectures, and discussion classes, so familiar to us in England; but the Madras Society sets us an example by the character of its public lectures, if we may judge by the titles of them in one of the courses-"God," "Man," "Revelation," "Atonement," "Death," "Resurrection," "Judgment." "The lectures," says the Report signed by Mr. Tharyan, "were eminently calculated to satisfy earnest seekers after truth." We must not forget the admirable work of that excellent Christian lady, Mrs. Satthianadhan, whose visit to England with her husband in 1878 will be remembered by many of our readers. She is a diligent zenana visitor, and has access to some eighty private houses, where she teaches the Hindu ladies. She has also seven important girls' schools, three supported by the C.M.S., and four by the C.E.Z.M.S., in which 500 girls are taught. Mr. Satthianadhan has sent us an interesting printed account of the proceedings at the last anniversary of these schools, which was held on Feb. 27th in the Napier Park School, a building presented to the Native Church by Lord and Lady Napier, when the former was Governor of Madras. We give a short extract: ZION CHURCH, MADRAS: REV. W. T. SATTHIANADHAN, PASTOR. tures, committee meetings, &c., &c., and will bear comparison with any parochial report in England. The Sunday-schools, which meet from 6.30 to 7.30 A.M., have 430 scholars. "When the Sunday-schools close with prayer," writes Mr. Satthianadhan, "it is interesting to see the children march out in order through the public streets singing a Christian lyric, thus affording a testimony to the influence of Christianity to the heathen around." Another Native clergyman, the Rev. Samuel John, a brother of Mrs. Satthianadhan, is employed by the Society as a missionary to the educated Hindus. He describes his work as threefold, viz., " (1) house to house visitation and individual conversation, (2) addressing Hindus collectively at public meetings, (3) publishing lectures on religious subjects." He has friendly intercourse with Native officials connected with public departments, such as the Supreme Court, the Bank, the Municipal Offices, &c., as well as magistrates, lawyers, merchants, &c., and with many Native graduates and undergraduates of the Madras University. Very many of this class have cast off idolatry and become avowed infidels; but Mr. John has been much encouraged by the interest manifested in the Gospel message. There is also an interesting institution called the Chintadrepettah Christian Association, of which Mr. P. T. Tharyan, B.A., is Secretary. "The Napier Park School-itself a model building-was very tastefully decorated for the occasion. Festoons of flowers were arranged to form a canopy over the little girls who were to receive prizes, and who were seated in lively expectation in the centre of the room, or rather the court that formed the centre of the hall. Their own profusely jewelled heads, and the flowers with which the hair of most of them was adorned, were quite in keeping with the decorations of the building. Before the main business of the afternoon came on, they were allowed to relieve their feelings by rising and pouring forth hearty salaams' upon each new arrival among the visitors. At length Mrs. Carmichael, who has more than once taken similar duty at the anniversaries, arrived to preside. Miss Gell, Mrs. Warlow, Mr. and Mrs. Dumergue, the Hon. Rajah G. N. Gajapati Rau, M.R.Ry. Vijiaranga Moodeliar, M.R.Ry. Ramasawmy Naidoo, the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. E. Sell, Mrs. Billing, and many other friends of the cause were present. "The proceedings were commenced with prayer by the Rev. M. G. Goldsmith, after which a Tamil lyric was sung. Miss Satthianadhan presided at the harmonium. The Report was then read by the Rev. W. T. Satthianad han. This was followed, after due applause, by a Telugu lyric, and then came the distribution of the prizes. Work-boxes aid dolls seemed to be the chief articles given away; Mrs. Carmichael had a kind word for them as she gave these away, and soon each of the privileged group was laden with a prize. Then came an English hymn-There's a land that is fairer than day '-which was well sung. The Rev. E. Sell then rose and proposed a vote of thanks to Mrs. Carmichael for presiding. On behalf of Mrs. Carmichael Mr. Dumergue next read as follows: "Mrs. Carmichael has asked me to return her sincerest thanks for the kind expressions with which she has been received. She desires me to say what great pleasure it has given her to preside on the occasion. It is very gratifying to learn from the report just read the results that have rewarded Mrs. Satthianadhan's toil and painstaking in the good work. The report we have now heard is particularly satisfactory where it alludes to the home teaching, which the girls receive after they leave the school. This Mrs. Carmichael considers is a most important matter; and to hear what is being done in this direction will, she knows, be good news to Lord Napier. Mrs. Carmichael feels the more pleasure in presiding to-day, when the prospects of the school are so bright, as this may be the last occasion on which she will have the pleasure of so presiding. Mrs. Carmichael wishes to leave to the schools under Mrs. Satthianadhan's kind and fostering care her best and earnest wishes for its future prosperity and ever increasing success." Mr. and Mrs. Satthianadhan have the happiness of being well supported in all their good work by their children. Miss Annie Satthianadhan should be especially mentioned. She does much zenana work; and she carries on a society of Christian children called the Juvenile Association, the meetings of which are very interesting and profitable. Many friends I will be interested to hear that the two sons were both married on July 6th. One of them, Samuel, is a graduate of Cambridge, where he took double honours, in Mathematics (junior optime) and Moral Science. It is an interesting evidence of the position of the Native Church in Madras, that the Government have lately appointed Mr. Satthianadhan a Fellow of Madras University, which makes him a member of the Governing Body. The Church, indeed, though but small in numbers, increases more and more in strength, and has, we doubt not, a great future before it. If there were no other result of our work in India but what we have now briefly described, we might well praise God for it. But Madras is only one of our 77 C.M.S. stations in India; its Native Christians are only the seventieth part of those connected with the Society in that country; its Native clergy are only three out of 121 belonging to the C.M.S. alone. Let facts like these be remembered when we meet friends who tell us that there is nothing doing. "The works of the Lord are great"; but they are only "sought out of them that have pleasure therein." Yet India is still a heathen country, and Madras still a heathen city, looked at in the mass. The Christians are but a small minority yet. We want more missionaries, more prayer, more selfdenying effort, if India is to be won for Christ. THE LATE MRS. COLE, OF MPWAPWA. LL who are interested in our East and Central African Missions will hear with deep regret of the death of the second lady to reside in the interior. Mrs. Last, of Mamboia, died on March 10th from sunstroke; and now, on July 22nd, Mrs. Cole, of Mpwapwa, has died from the effects of a chill. Truly God moves in a mysterious way. The presence of two Englishwomen in the heart of Africa seemed a special earnest of future blessing; and now both are gone! The following letter received from Mrs. Cole only a month or two ago, will show how brightly and hopefully she and her husband were working at Kisokwi, their new MRS. SATTHIANADHAN AND HER ZENANA PUPILS. HOW TO NAME SUNDAY-SCHOOL CLASSES. A circular on Sunday-schools, issued by the Bishop of Madras, rather stirred us up to try and make them more effectual, both as a means of building up our Christians and of evangelising. For many years there had been a Sunday-school in Raghavapuram. Still it needed more life, and so we tried at once to re-organise not only this, but all the Sunday-schools in the district. In Raghavapuram there had always been a difficulty about numbering the classes, from the fact that the old people who could not read did not like to feel that they were in a class below the young men and women who could read, and vice versa. To get over this difficulty the catechist, following Galatians v. 22, 23, called the old men's class "Faith Class," the old women's class "Peace Class," the young men's class "Obedience Class," and so on. station, six miles from Mpwapwa: It is a pleasure to me to think that our little son, the first white child born in Central Africa, was the means, in a slight degree, of bringing the children together for instruction. The Wa-Gogo say he belongs to them, for he was born amongst them; that all other white men come from afar, but his home is U-Gogo. It was on the day of his baptism, when many of the natives came to the service, that the chief of Kisokwi was asked, and promised to let the children come to school. The very next day about a dozen came, and since then our numbers have varied from ten to thirty. Many of them come from two miles distance off, and none of them live less than one mile away. Our chief's children come very regularly every afternoon, Sunday included. The scholars are divided into three classes. I teach the six most advanced to read, my husband takes the next six, and our servant we have taught to read takes the other children and those who come irregularly. The children all unite in the church for religious instruction from Mr. Cole. They have learned to sing about half-a-dozen hymns, such as Jesus who lives above the sky," There is a happy land." Mr. Cole has taught them the Lord's Prayer and a few texts. The children are very intelligent, and learn quickly; they seem to have good memories too. Once or twice there has been a strike amongst the scholars. When school was over they asked for cloth for coming to school. When they were refused they said they would not come again "bweti," i.e., for nothing. Accordingly the following day they stayed away. Mr. Cole went to see the chief, and told him what was our object in coming here, and said, further, that if the people refused to be taught and to send their children to us for instruction, our "wakubwa," great people or elders, at home would wish us to leave them and go and teach some other people who were more desirous to learn. At this the chief exclaimed greatly. He said it was his wish that the children should be taught, and the children should be made to come. It is the mothers who want the cloth to wear themselves, for when I have given the children anything to wear I find they prefer wearing their own clothes, and leave those I have given them at home, or give them to their mothers. We expect to hear grumbling from time to time, for the Wa-Gogo are very grasping, and we cannot wonder much that they wish to be paid for attending school, as they do it to please us and not from any desire to learn. Besides this, the mothers do not like their girls to leave their work of assisting to grind the corn, and it is the children who mind the cattle, drive away the monkeys from the corn, and help in the gardens. Occasionally we give them little presents, or rather rewards. Two or three times a week we give the children some Native potatoes, of which they are very fond; our garden produces unusually fine ones. Then I am often able to spare a joint or two of meat when we kill a sheep or goat, especially when the weather is very warm, and often they carry away a good part of an antelope, wild pig, &c., caught in our pits or shot by my husband. Meat is a very great treat for the Wa-Gogo, for although possessing large flocks of cows, sheep, and goats, they very rarely kill an animal unless it is dying. Their cattle is their wealth. To show you that the people appreciate our living amongst them, I will tell you what happened the other day. The old chief of far Kisokwi, of whom we know but little, sent a man to us in a very excited state, begging that we would put up our flag near his village. The man said that large caravans of Wa-Nyamwezi, under an Arab master, were about to pass through Kisokwi, and would eat up everything they passed in the fields; but if the flag of the Mzungu (white man) were seen, they would leave the fields untouched. We lent the flag, and the caravans passed quietly through the place. Mr. Cole told the man to tell the chief that he did not want their country, he wanted the people for God. Ngakuku was a young man of a most daring and desperate character, but from the time that the missionaries settled at his native village, Mata-mata, he gave tokens of the power of the new influences upon his character. War was raging around the station at that time, and the young convert was destined to suffer severely from it, though of course he took no part in it. With some other natives he engaged to convey some of the mission property to Tauranga, a place of greater security. On their return, night overtook them unawares, and they resolved to spend it in a deserted raupo hut; but before daybreak the barking of their dogs forewarned them of the approach of an attacking party, who had discovered them by the light of their fires. Happily there was time for them to escape and conceal themselves amongst the high ferns, for just as the enemy reached the hut, they caught sight of the English catechist's tent at a little distance, and rushed towards it. They would not touch his person, though they carried off every thing but the clothes he had on. They then returned to the hut. All had escaped but one. It was thought that Ngakuku's little daughter Tarore, five years old, had accompanied her father and his companions in their, flight, but she had been overlooked in the twilight; she was lying still upon the floor, I will just finish what I began by telling you of Mr. Cole's work amongst the Mission people. On Saturday afternoons three or four of the men come voluntarily to Mr. Cole for explanation of the Bible and the plan of salvation. It is something to give up part of their half-sleeping the dreamless sleep of childhood. May we say that, holiday. They are very patient and attentive, but are very slow scholars. Mr. Cole has a short service every morning for the people, when he teaches them the Bible History. Some of them say they are ready to follow God and keep His commaudments, and I really think they do want to become Christians, but I think their minds are so dark that it will be some time before they can understand the way of salvation. Yet Mr. Hannington said the thought struck him as he sat in the church and watched the attentive listeners, Now why should not these become Christians and work amongst their brethren around? Mr. Cole is most earnest for their conversion, especially since he has become more hopeful of them. He speaks Ki-Swahili fluently, and always preaches extempore.. He is giving nearly all his time to the study of Ki-Gogo and Ki-Sagara. I am his scribe, and copy out what he roughly jots down. He has a good Ki-Gogo Vocabulary. HE influence of the Word of God, translated into Maori, and circulated, though often in very small portions, among the people, is a remarkable feature of the progress of mission work amongst them. Their thirst for instruction was extraordinary, and no trouble was thought too great that would unlock for them, by a knowledge of reading, the treasures contained in printed volumes. They would spend hours in teaching one another this accomplishment; the demand for books was greater than it was possible to supply, and they thought nothing of a journey of many miles if one was to be obtained. A missionary tells us that he had promised a single New Testament to a congregation distant about five days' journey, as a reward for the labour and pains spent in the erection of their chapel. One of the party went with him the whole way back, nearly a week's journey, to get it, and finding the expected supply had not arrived, went on twenty-five miles further to secure it. Thus, going and returning, the poor fellow made a twelve days' journey to obtain the coveted treasure. A New Testament or a Prayer Book was very frequently preferred to any other payment, and an English teacher of the Bay of Islands, on his return from an expedition to the south, told the missionaries that if he had but taken books with him, he might have obtained a supply of provisions in almost any quantity, and at his own price. The history of one little copy of the Gospel of St. Luke deserves particular mention. young as she was, this little one had already become a lamb of Jesus' fold? We know not, but there is evidence of her being so good a child at school that she had already learned to read, and received a copy of a Gospel as a reward. So great was her delight in this treasure, that she carried it with her wherever she went. The bloodthirsty savages fell upon her as dogs upon a helpless lamb. She was instantly killed, her heart torn out, and the top of her head taken with it, to be carried away as an offering to some evil demon. Too late, alas! the fugitives discovered she was not amongst their number; they returned to the hut, to find nothing but her mangled remains. It was a fiery chariot that had borne her from their midst, but who could doubt the little spirit was safely folded now in the arms of the Good Shepherd? Once Ngakuku would have been mad with a desire for vengeance. Now he meekly carried the body of his little cherished one back to the settlement, and asking leave to address his countrymen when assembled for her funeral, he besought them, "Do not you rise to seek a payment for her. God will do that. Let this be the finishing of the war, now let peace be made. Perhaps this murder is a sign of God's anger towards us for our sins. Turn to Him; believe, or you will all perish." Would it be possible to find a more speaking comment upon the words of Scripture, "A new creature in Christ Jesus," than in this striking incident? But it is with one of the books stolen from Ngakuku on this occasion (perhaps little Tarore's, upon this point there does not seem to be decisive evidence) that we have more particularly to do. Bearing in mind that the convert had thus been stripped of one or more of his literary treasures, we must transport ourselves in imagination to the extreme south of the Northern island, close to Cook's Straits. A chieftain in these districts named Raparahau was at this time another Hongi in the successful ravages which he committed upon the surrounding tribes, and not in his own land only, but across the water southwards in the one known by the name of the "Middle Island." He bore the character of being strong to work and strong to talk," amongst his heathen countrymen, meaning that he was equally great in fighting as in boasting. He became the father of a little son, who narrowly escaped death when newly born, at the hands of his own unnatural mother. She was just about to put an end to his little life, for what reason we know not, when his father decided he should live, and snatching him from her, carried him off in a basket. He desired to make him a 66 |
