PEACE RIVER, BETWEEN FORT VERMILLION AND FORT DUNVEGAN.

PEACE RIVER, NEAR FORT DUNVEGAN.

THE CHURCH MI

BISHOP BOMPAS'S

To

AST winter, Bishop Metlakahtla and Missionary Society Pacific coast. difficult journey glance at any map of North mountain chain runs right down and that the rivers on its west s while those on its east side flow the Gulf of Orleans; some, as peg, and so to Hudson's Bay; so to the Arctic Sea. Of the la the Athabasca River, the Peace the immense territories drained kenzie itself, with the large lal Diocese of Athabasca. The w British Columbia, and Bishop request of the Bishop of that die

Now the Peace River, though Mountains, has its source on th another mountain chain; and be access to the Pacific, it flows miles, and then, turning eastwa Rocky Mountains by a tremendo long. No boat of any kind h rapid, the roar of which ever 6,000 feet above. But except fo a short cut of only twelve mile great mountain region is by the in winter by dog carriole on the

A most vivid description of given in Major Butler's Wild No permitted by Messrs. Sampson 1 panying pictures. They suffic should be noted that the "Black just referred to, but another, of through which a boat may, wit safely taken.

Bishop Bompas on this journe He made a push to get across b way; and he succeeded, though it, was a hard one.

The Bishop's episcopal reside Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca. Place of many Waters," and, at Fort stands, the Athabasca and Slave River, which, after passing mately becomes the Mackenzie, miles falls into the Polar Sea. Chipewyan for the month of Jan zero, or 55 below freezing-point December the wind blew with a the square foot. "It is, perha who gives these figures, "to say bascan winter." Yet Fort Chipe C.M.S. stations in Bishop Bomp Simpson, and Archdeacon McDo and 1,500 miles, at least, respect These "forts are but woode dozen buildings, including the h pany's agent and his men (mostly in the country, or half-breeds), an Indians bring in and sell for bl ammunition. "Wild, desolate, "are these isolated trading spots: the feelings with which one beh

ONARY GLEANER.

A

ACE WITH WINTER. mpas of Athabasca paid a visit to other stations of the Church British Columbia, on the North this, he had to take a long and ss the Rocky Mountains. erica will show that this great e continent from north to south; flow down to the Pacific Ocean, me into the Mississipi, and so to Saskatchewan, into Lake Winnisome into the Mackenzie, and , there are three great streams, iver, and the Liard River; and them, and by the mighty Macconnected with them, form the ern side of the mountains is in pas's journey was taken at the

e.

Hows to the east from the Rocky western side, between them and

cut off by this latter chain from thwards between them for 300 forces its way right through the chasm or cañon thirty-five miles ever ventured down this awful es up to the top of the rocks his distance, which is avoided by ver a pass, the route over that ace River-in summer by boat,

s route and its grand scenery is Land. From that work we are & Co. to take the four accomly explain themselves; but it on" is not the "Great Cañon - tributary of the Peace River, ery great skill and caution, be

id not use dog carrioles at all. oats before the ice blocked the "race with winter," as he calls

such as it is!-is at Fort habasca means "The Meetingcorner of the Lake where the ce Rivers combine to form the rough Great Slave Lake, ultiafter a course of some 2,000 e average temperature at Fort y, 1844, was 23 degrees below nd in the preceding month of al pressure of 1,160 pounds to needless," says Major Butler, re about the rigour of an Athaan is the southernmost of the s diocese. Mr. Reeve at Fort at Fort McPherson, are 500 y away to the north-east. tockades, enclosing, perhaps, a ea of the Hudson's Bay Comite men of Scotch descent born he stores for the furs which the ets, ribbons, beads, guns, and remote," writes Major Butler, ad yet it is difficult to describe them across some ice-bound

lake or silent river, as the dog trains wind slowly amidst the snow. Coming in from the wilderness, from the wrack of tempest and the bitter cold, wearied with long marches, footsore or frozen, one looks upon the wooden house as some palace of rest and contentment."

"One

The Bishop left Lake Athabasca to ascend Peace River in September, in a canoe. Passing Fort Vermillion, where the Rev. A. Garrioch is stationed, he reached Fort Dunvegan, after a voyage of 600 miles against the stream. At this place, according to the map, you are very near the Rocky Mountains; yet from a hill 1,000 feet high you can see no trace of them feels," says Major Butler, "half inclined to doubt the reality of the mountain barrier one has so long looked for in vain." Bishop Bompas started forward again on Oct. 8th, and after five days' more canoe travel, arrived at Fort St. John, where the towering snow-peaks come into view for the first time.

"It is

a remote spot," writes Butler, in a land which is itself remote. To the north and south and east all is endless wildernesswilderness of pine and prairie, of lake and stream; and from out the plain to the west, forty or fifty miles away, great snowy On the 17th the Bishop peaks rise up against the sky."

reached the mouth of the Great Cañon, whence, leaving the canoe, he had to march twelve miles over the rocks to the other end, as already mentioned. Then, taking another canoe, his crew had eleven days' hard work, "poling" against the stream, to Macleod's Lake Fort, almost at the very head of Peace River, which was reached on Oct. 29th. Winter was now rapidly coming on. Hard frost already reigned, and huge blocks of ice were floating down the river. But 1,000 miles had now been accomplished, quite two-thirds of the whole distance.

A land journey of eighty miles had now to be taken across the watershed dividing east and west. Sunday, Nov. 4th, was spent at Fort St. James, where the Hudson's Bay Company's officer had lived for twenty years without ever seeing a minister of the Gospel. Then followed seven days' canoeing across lakes and down rivers (it was down now towards the Pacific), to Fort Babine, and then another march across the last mountain chain. The "race with winter" was now a desperate one. The Indian carriers could scarcely be persuaded to take the journey. But the mountains were successfully crossed, and as the party descended the western slopes, they left their rival, grim Winter, "frowning down upon them from the heights behind." He made, however, yet one last effort" with a heavy snowstorm as the canoe descended the Skeena; but as they "approached the mild breezes of the Pacific, he ventured to follow them no longer"; and on Nov. 24th the Bishop arrived safely at Metlakahtla.

The maps for this latter part of the route are mostly very uncertain, but the one in Major Butler's book gives it fairly enough. The Bishop says, "The character of the scenery continued mountainous and rocky throughout our whole journey, the height of the mountains rather increasing till we approached the coast, the highest peaks being on the portage between Babine Lake and Skeena Forks. At the same point the trees change most remarkably from the dark forbidding pine to the graceful cedar; and the people also change from the Chipewyan race that stretch, like their own pines, from the shores of Hudson's Bay, to the more lively coast tribes that fringe, like their own cedars, the shores of the Pacific."

Of the neglected tribes on the western side the Bishop gives a sad account, and earnestly pleads for missionaries to be sent among them; and the Rev. R. Tomlinson, of the North Pacific Mission, has been designated to this difficult and trying work. We trust that God's time has at length come for the yet unevangelised Indians of the Rocky Mountains, and that we may soon be able to sing with reference to them

On your far hills, long cold and grey,

Has dawned the everlasting day!

THE JOYFUL SOUND.
Psalm lxxxix. 15.

OOW sweet the sounds that come and go
Above the round earth's silent breast-
The thrush's song across the snow,

The winds that rock her leaf-hid nest,
The bee's hum through the flowery land,
The sea's cool music on the summer strand.
Glad was the Shophar's* far-sent voice,
Loud echoed by the granary-door;

It bade the weary land rejoice

For freedom and the fruit-strewn floor;
Fields rested for their rightful lord;
Lost faces met around the ancient board.
But sweeter far than Nature's song,
Or trumpet's call to Jubilee,
From heaven did herald-angels throng;
Eternal music thrilled our sky;
The stars together sang, Amen,
Glory to God on high, goodwill to men.
The Lord was there! Immanuel,

Of seraph-harps the theme and king,
Oped the great year acceptable,

Came by His woes our bliss to bring;
Set free the tides of joyful sound

And bade them swell and flow to earth's last bound.
Sweet sound-of blood, of pardoned sin,

Of new birth by His Spirit's power!
Justly the unjust entered in

At starry gates in death's glad hour,
Or, militant on earth awhile,

Walked in the morning glow of God's own smile.
Thus onward swells the joyful sound;

It sings of life beside the bier;
The Coliseum's roar was drowned

By this in many a martyr's ear;
This triumphed by the cross of shame;
This rung above the blast of mounting flame.
The Pole's vast silence, hark! awakes,

Glad voices sound o'er fields of snow;
And o'er the blue of Afric's lakes,

And where old Nile and Niger flow:
Swift as the veiled earth leaps to sight,
Morn's hymn pursues the flying rear of night.
Flow, flow, thou tide of heaven-born song;
Flood yet the expanse of China's plain;
Thy waves amidst her hills prolong-

Ah! let them know the unknown strain;
Till Heaven has dawned, till Christ is crowned,
And life eternal thrills with joyful sound.
HANGCHOW, January, 1878.

A. E. MOULE.

BISHOP CROWTHER: HIS LIFE AND WORK.

VIII.-UP THE NIGER AGAIN.

LTHOUGH for twelve years after the return of the ill-fated Niger Expedition of 1841, the great river dropped almost out of sight, the white man was not forgotten by the tribes upon its banks. Year by year old King Obi, who had given the visitors so warm a welcome at Ibo, used to look wistfully down the stream for the ship that never came. "The white man," he said to his sons, "has forgotten me, and his promise too"; and he died without again hearing the message of salvation.

Meanwhile the trade with Bonny, Old Calabar, and other places on the coast, which has since so wonderfully developed, began to be cultivated, and Consul Beecroft, of Fernando Po, visited several places in the delta. When Dr. Vidal landed at Sierra Leone in 1852, as the first Bishop of that colony, a petition was presented to him signed by a hundred of the liberated slaves there who belonged to the Ibo tribes, asking him to send missionaries to their fatherland on the Niger, as had been done for the country of the Yorubas. In response to this appeal, the Church Missionary Society sent a Native clergyman, the Rev. E. Jones, with three of the Ibo Christians, to Fernando Po to see what could be done; but the way proved to be not yet open.

*The trumpet of ram's horn used in proclaiming the Year of Jubilee.

At length, in 1854, the second Niger Expedition, consisting of a single steamer, the Pleiad, was fitted out at the expense of that tried friend of Africa, Mr. Macgregor Laird, and under the auspices of Government. Its commander was Dr. Baikie, and a free passage was offered by Mr. Laird to Samuel Crowther, now an ordained and experienced missionary. This expedition was a signal success. The Pleiud was up the river 118 days, nearly double the time occupied in 1841, yet not one man died, nor was there any serious sickness. It had occurred to Crowther that the mortality in 1841 might have been due to the noxious vapours generated by the raw and green firewood with which the bunkers had been loaded; and he suggested that it should now be kept in the canoes accompanying the steamer, and only be taken on board as it was wanted. This was done; and he has always attributed the good health enjoyed by the party to this cause. In other ways, he was of essential service to the Expedition; and on its return, Dr. Baikie wrote to him as follows:

Your long and intimate acquaintance with native tribes, and your general knowledge of their customs, peculiarly fit you for a journey such as we have now returned from, and I cannot but feel that your advice was always readily granted to me, nor had I ever the smallest reason to repent having followed it. It is nothing more than a simple fact, that no slight portion of the success we met with in our intercourse with the tribes is due to you.

The geographical results of this Expedition were important. At a point 230 miles from the mouths of the Niger, the channel divides. To the left appears the Kworra, or Niger proper, coming from the northwest; to the right is seen the Tshadda, or Binue, flowing from almost due east (see map, GLEANER of July, 1877). The natives, fancying they can see a difference in the colour of the two streams, call the former "the white water" and the latter "the black water." Before 1854, only the Kworra had been explored. It was the Kworra which Mungo Park had struck in 1797, at a point something like 2,000 miles further up its mighty course. It was the Kworra on which, only some 300 miles above the confluence, he had been afterwards killed. It was the Kworra which the Landers had descended. It was the Kworra which the Albert had ascended in 1841. But the Pleiad, on reaching the confluence, turned eastward, and explored the Binue for nearly 400 miles; and it might have gone further, but for the failure of fuel. Crowther and Dr. Baikie visited Hamarua, an important town belonging to the Mohammedan Foulahs, a dozen miles from the river at the highest point reached. Beyond that point no traveller has yet penetrated. Dr. Barth, indeed, coming from the interior, had struck the Binue about seventy miles further up, only three years before the Pleiad ascended it; but he was compelled to return by the way he came, and this noble stream is one of the last remaining problems of African geography.

Not less encouraging were the openings for missionary effort. Crowther wrote to the Society, "The reception we met with all along, from the kings and chiefs of the countries, was beyond expectation. I believe the time has fully come when Christianity must be introduced on the banks of the Niger. God has provided instruments to begin the work, in the liberated Africans of Sierra Leone, who are natives of the Niger territories." Yes: the wise purpose of God in leading the Society to Sierra Leone was now revealed. The work among the freed slaves settled in the colony, which had been carried on for forty years under great trials of patience, and with heavy sacrifice of life, was now bearing noble fruit. By a marvellous providence, the slave-trade itself had been made the instrument of gathering representatives of a hundred tribes and languages to a common centre, whence, redeemed from heathenism and ignorance as well as from slavery, they could be sent forth again to carry the Gospel to the countries whence they had been kidnapped. "Our God had turned the curse into a blessing." The flourishing Yoruba Mission was already one example of good brought out of evil by these providential circumstances. The Niger Mission was now to be another.

Yet not without further delays. When the Pleiad descended the river after its successful trip, the sons of King Obi, who had received the expedition warmly, and were assured that teachers should soon be sent to them, said, "The words were too good for them to hope they would be realised, and they could not believe anything till that which had been promised was actually done." And three years more elapsed before the white man again appeared.

The problem was, how to get up the river. Trading steamers had not yet begun the regular visits which for some years past have made the Niger a highway of commerce. Mr. Laird pressed the Government to send a small steamer up yearly, as a beginning; but the Crimean War then filled all thoughts and taxed all energies, and there was no time to attend to Africa. On July 18th, 1856, however, after the conclusion of peace, the C.M.S. Committee presented a memorial on the subject to Lord Palmerston, the result of which was an agreement between the Government and Mr. Laird to carry out his proposal; and when the next 18th of July came round, the Dayspring was steaming up the river, with Samuel Crowther on board, commissioned by the Society to locate Native teachers wherever he found suitable openings.

Difficulties, however, there had been, besides those of transport. In a

previous chapter we mentioned the visit of Bishop Weeks to Mr. Crowther at Lagos in December, 1856. He was accompanied by two Sierra Leone missionaries, Messrs. Beale and Frey; and together they conferred with Crowther on the projected Niger Mission, and promised to send him for it from Sierra Leone some of the Native teachers of Ibo, Nupe, and Hausa race. But it pleased God to remove all three from the service of Africa. Mr. Beale died at Lagos, and the Bishop and Mr. Frey on their return to Sierra Leone. Under this heavy blow the West African Mission could not make up its mind to spare the promised teachers, though they were ready and anxious to go; and when the Dayspring was to ascend the river, only one was on board. This was an Ibo, the Rev. J. C. Taylor, pastor of Bathurst, the very village in which Samuel Crowther had passed his boyhood. Simon Jonas, however, the Christian Ibo interpreter who had accompanied both the previous expeditions, was again engaged; and also two Hausa youths, who had been brought to England by the traveller Barth, and had been residing with the Rev. J. F. Schön, assisting him in the Hausa works we have before mentioned, and receiving Christian instruction at his hands. With this utterly inadequate staff, Crowther proceeded up the river in the Dayspring to lay the foundations of the Niger Mission.

OUTLINE MISSIONARY LESSONS. For the Use of Sunday School Teachers. III. THE PROPHET'S PICTURE. "How beautiful upon the mountains!"-Isaiah lii. 7. REAT coming-child thinks of it-imagines what it will be like sees picture in mind's eye: grown up people do the same sometimes.

Old prophet-Isaiah-lived in sad times. Many heathen nations round Israel. Israel commanded not to mix with them; but one thing they ought to have done for themshown them what a happy thing it was to serve God. Instead of this, learned their bad ways. Isaiah a true servant of God-grieved over His people's sin-looked forward and saw in mind's eye a picture of something brighter to come. How know about it? Sometimes people make pictures for themselves that never come true; but God showed this picture to Isaiah.

I. The Picture.

A dark valley-thick mists lying over it-people groping aboutmaking mistakes-hurting themselves and one another-gloomy and wretched (ch. ix. 2, lix. 10). Mountains rising above the valley-a rent in the mist shows the dark summit-there stands a figure bright and beautiful. Only a man-why so bright? Sun shining on him (just as on cloudy day a ray of sunlight falls on one object-or like bright red sail on a dark sca). And he is moving-coming on towards the valleyface full of gladness and kindness-must be bringing some good news. II. What the Picture meant.

People in darkness. What sort of darkness? Heart (Rom. i. 21); understanding (Eph iv. 8); ignorant of what is most important-of God (Acts xvii. 23; 1 Thess. iv. 5, last clause), of way to be saved (Rom. iii. 17). Therefore ways dark (Prov. ii. 13, iv. 19), works dark (İsa. xxix. 15). Millions now in this condition. [Illust.-Snake-gods at Brass, and King Ockiya's idols, C.M. Juv. Inst., 1877, p. 58; Shango, god of fire, C.M. Juv. Inst., Feb., 1878.]

But a messenger should bring them good news. What news? Same as Peter told (Acts x. 36, 43); Paul (Acts xvii. 32, 33, 38). love; of Christ's death; of a home above.

III. What has come of the Picture.

Of God's

No longer something far off, to come to pass by-and-by. A realitygoing on now-sight to be seen in many lands. Feet of messengers have reached frozen shores of North America, burning plains of India, forests of Africa, &c.

What said of these messengers ? "How beautiful!" In whose eyes? (a) Beautiful in the eyes of the people to whom the message comes. Think of poor shut-up women in zenanas of India-wretched slaves in Africa for whom no man cares-Hindus trying to work out salvation by self-torture [see Gleaner, June, 1877, p. 63; July, p. 73; Dec., p. 138], bearing that God cares for them! [See Gleaner, Oct., 1877, p. 113; Nov., 1877, p. 129.]

(b) Beautiful in God's eyes. He says, "How beautiful!" None but God knows depth of darkness (Matt. vi. 23, last clause), nor glory of light (2 Cor. iii. 8).

IV. How the Picture becomes a Reality.

Where are feet seen? Must first go up mountain-go through trouble, toil, and danger, like Paul (2 Cor. xi. 26, 27). [Illust.-The Nyanza missionaries.] Yet so glad to go. Will your feet go up? If can't go, try and help send others. Is the message precious to you? Have you ever said "How beautiful!"?

A PEEP AT HONG KONG.

were some tall upright stones, and red poles for flags and lanterns, standing before a shed like a gipsy's tent, which was set up among some

Leicester.

FROM THE REV. E. DAVYS.

PROMISED that I would some day send you a letter, to tell you a little about Hong Kong, and the Chinese here, as far as I have made acquaintance with them; and this I will now try to do, sending at the same time my affectionate remembrances to you all, and to your parents, and to our superintendents and teachers.

Hong Kong is an island, now belonging to the English, and it is very close to the mainland of China. The sea lying between makes a fine harbour for ships, and always has in it some ships of war, steamboats, and merchant ships of almost all nations, besides a vast number of Chinese junks and boats. It takes about ten minutes to go across the centre of the harbour in one

of the steam-launches or ferryboats, and when you land on the other side you are in China itself. Just at first, however, you are still on English ground, as a small piece on that side also belongs to us. Then there rises a line of very steep hills, and they and all behind them belong to the Canton province of China. The harbour is so large that it cannot escape the fierce winds, which are here called typhoons. The year before

last there was one so terrible that hundreds of those Chinese families who live in boats (as barge people do in our canals) perished. Many of the stone wharfs and harbour walls were washed down, and lie, some of them, still in ruins; and if the storm had lasted a few hours longer, they say that scarcely a building, and no trees, would have been left standing in Hong Kong.

We went across the other day in a Chinese boat. A woman, with a baby tied on her back, had one oar, and held the ropes of the rudder with her feet, and her husband had the other oar. The baby was jolted and jerked up and down with the motion of the mother's rowing till it fell asleep. There were two incense sticks burning all the time in the boat to secure the protection of the spirit of the sea. There was another little child playing about the boat. He had his head carefully shaved, and his Chinese tail just long enough to begin a

were burning to the spirit who takes care of the village. We gave a few books to some people we met, but only here and there one of them could read. Our missionary at Hong Kong hopes soon to send a Native preacher to visit this side, for there are many villages, even before crossing the hills, and there is one walled town (where a mandarin lives), called Cowloon City. It is not a very grand place, more like a Welsh mountain town than a smart English city; as you will guess by my youngest boy's description of it, who invited a friend to come with us next time, and have a "smell"-the said "smell" not being that of sweet flowers, but of fish, pigs, chickens, dogs, ducks, and drains which drain nothing away.

But now to return to Hong Kong itself. It is a long, narrow island made up of steep high hills, with some little level ground here and there near the sea. Many streams fall down among the rocks, in the hollows

plait behind. The children were both boys. There was no little girl. You hardly ever see them. A great many, I fear, are drowned by these boat people.

We landed in a large bustling village, and walked along between many boats and a row of shops. The people stared at my little boys very much, but were not at all rude. Outside the village are a few English gentlemen's houses. The hills are red and bare. They have in some places a little long grass on them, and ferns and bushes, and also wild pine-apples (not eatable); but most of this will soon be withered up by the powerful sun. Further on we climbed up the side of a long low bank, and saw before us an immense field of rice like the greenest grass, growing in the water, and quantities of wild ducks quacking in it, while a Chinaman was beating a gong to drive them away. Beyond was a pretty row of white cottages among some trees, and behind them were the tall bare hills. Here and there you see a white spot on the hills: it is a Chinese mountain grave.

Coming back, we passed by another small village; outside it there

between the hills, and there are some fine places to clamber among thick thorn bushes, rushes, and ferns, and occasionally very curious flowers are to be found. We have only been on the west side of the island, where the large, long town of Victoria lies by the harbour side. It reaches along the shore about four miles, and contains half as many people again as Leicester. There is first the "Praya," or line of buildings by the sea; behind that is the principal street (called Queen's Road) running nearly the whole length of the town, and above that, cut out on the steep hill sides, are two or three other roads. On these upper roads are many handsome English houses, and the public gardens, where you may see almost anything growing in the open air, from a tea plant to a palm tree, and great black and white swallowtailed butterflies dart about, not knowing whether to choose the flowers that are on many of the tall trees or the manycoloured ones below. I will try and describe to you the Praya" first, and then the principal street.

The buildings along the Praya are mostly the great Hongs (or business houses of the merchants), the barracks, offices, shipping-yards, and stores, but there are also a good many Chinese shops. In the busier parts it is hard to get along, for, though broad, it is filled with people. You can hardly go a step with

out being asked on one side in English, by the sedan chair carriers, "Chair, sir?" "You want chair ?" or on the other side by the boat people, "Want a boat? "Want Sam pan?' of which there are hundreds. A "Sam pan " is the common rowing boat. "Sam" in Chinese means three, and the word expresses that the families who live in these boats possess only the three elements of water, air, and fire, but no earth to dwell on. However, when they get on the Praya, the boat children evidently enjoy the land as much as we do, and race, and tumble, and play about right merrily. At four o'clock you see all in these Sam pans, and also in the larger luggage boats and junks, eating their afternoom meal. The old grey grandmother seems at the head of affairs. They help themselves with their chop-sticks out of a general dish, containing a fine mess of rice, bright-coloured vegetables, and bits of fish, duck, or pork, and occasionally frogs; and whether the boat is still, or dancing up and down on a windy day, it makes small difference to them. Every now and then you hear a quantity of crackers fired off, or see a smart red or yellow paper junk floated out on the