To-day we hired a carriage, and, provided with lunch, started early for Heliopolis" Matareeh," as they call it. The drive gave us a nearer and clearer view of the land of Egypt. For two hours we passed through greenest corn and clover, along roads raised above the fields, (so as to be passable in the annual summer-floods,) at times sheltered by beautiful groves of acacias and tamarisks, at others exposed to a glowing sun. Our first halt was under a curious and very ancient fig-tree, growing in a wild garden near the ruins, the traditionary refuge of Joseph when, with the young child and His mother, he fled into Egypt. The trunk of the tree is of immense size, and strangely gnarled and twisted,-the site, of course, too apocryphal to excite much feeling. Close by, on the verge of the encroaching desert, are the remains of the city of the Sun; they are very slight, and the sands of the neighbouring wilderness render them continually less and less traceable. Earthen mounds enclose gardens and orchards of orange and lemon trees; in the midst an ancient pool,-"the Spring of the Sun;" and not far off a solitary red granite obelisk. We sat down in its sharplydefined, cool shadow, and realized fully for the first time that we had reached the land of antiquities. This is the oldest monument of the kind in the world, retaining its original position. Here for three thousand years more it has silently reared its sculptured shaft. A hundred years before Joseph was sold into Egypt, here it stood: Potipherah, his wife's father, was high-priest to the Temple of the Sun, of which it is a vestige. Oft he must have gazed on it, probably with youthful wonder, in the days of his humiliation; perhaps with stern scorn of the idolatry to which it ministered, in his manhood's power and exaltation. Manasseh and Ephraim were born under its shadow. It heard the groans and saw the tears of Israel for hundreds of weary years. Moses grew up in the city it adorned, and learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians from its priests and wise men. Strange to think of all the eyes that have traced its hieroglyphics, almost as perfect still as when first cut. Herodotus speaks of it, Plato visited it, and legions of ancients besides; and here, to all appearance, it will stand till “the day of the Lord," which shall be upon everything that is high and lifted up, bringing them low, that He alone may be exalted. We made a sketch of it, and then climbed the mound formed by the ruins of the walls that originally surrounded the city and temple. Never shall I forget the feelings awakened in our minds by the view from one point,-8 view which, in its essential features, must have been familiar to Joseph and Moses; though Memphis, instead of Cairo, was then the living centre in the distance. On ascending the long rampart alluded to, an extensive view of the deep-green land of Egypt and the contiguous desert burst upon us. There they lay side by side, like life and death; so clear the line of demareation between them, that you might stand with one foot in Egypt and the other in the desert; like two differently-coloured fields, whose edges met and touched as far as the eye could follow them. The one, verdant, fruitful, thickly-inhabited, rich, and restful to the eye; the other bare, brown, barren, sunburnt, and solitary; a desolate and dead expanse, stretching far away into the descending shades of evening. As we gazed in silence on the indescribable contrast, and remembered the three millions whom the Lord led forth of old from this green and fertile land, into that "great and terrible wilderness,” we felt, as we never felt before, the deep significance of that exodus, as a type of present Christian experience. That contrast, how like the world in its two great aspects, as it looks to the natural man, and as it appears to the spiritual man; or as it looks to the same man before and after conversion. Egypt, is it not fair, and soft, and attractive? O how fertile and flowery, how rich and fruitful, how inviting its pleasures, how beautiful its whole aspect! Yes; but it is the house of bondage, the place of cruel taskmasters, the land of bitter groans and hidden tears, of degradation, misery, and mercilessness. Over it hangs the death-doom; its chariots and its mighty men are to be whelmed in destruction; the redeemed of the Lord shall not dwell there. The desert! O how naked, how appalling, how bleak and bare, how trackless and dangerous, how destitute of all resources to sustain life! Yes; but it speaks life and liberty to the captive, and it is the region best fitted to develop the resources of the Almighty One who leads His people into it. Its circumstances of difficulty and terrible exposure call for the pillar and the cloud; its utter want of all things demands the opening of the windows of heaven; travelling through the land of drought, the rock (the smitten rock) shall yield water; and since earth denies it, heaven shall give bread,—the unfailing daily manna, angels' food; better far than the flesh-pots of Egypt! And then the desert, and the desert only, leads to Canaan; it is the road they must traverse who would reach the rest that remains for the people of God.-"British Herald," (Edinburgh.) VARIETIES. ETHNOLOGY OF AUSTRALIA.-In a paper recently read at the Ethnological Society, Mr. Oldfield expressed his opinion that the New Hollanders are mainly of Malay descent, the physiognomy in both being, to his view, essentially the same, and their language cognate. As even at the present time the Malay proas sometimes visit the northern shores of Australia in quest of the trepang, there seems good foundation for the supposition that those people colonized the parts bordering on Torres Straits, and, thence spreading southward, in process of time have peopled the whole continent. But although the Alfoura may be considered principally of Malay origin, it seems probable that there has been a mixture of negro blood; for the New Hollander possesses some of the characters of both families. He thinks it probable, in the first instance, different hordes of the Malay family (principally from New-Guinea, where the Malay and negro races seem to have blended) settled on the northern shores of New Holland, it being necessary to suppose that these bands of colonists were of many distinct tribes, and that the parts thus peopled were remote from each other; otherwise it would be impossible to account for the great differences in customs and languages observable among the various Australian tribes. These hordes in their subsequent migrations seized on the facilities offered for subsistence by the physical conditions of the country, following, to some extent, the lines marking the distribution of plants. Taking peculiar customs as evincing community of origin, he con siders that these migrations have seldom taken the direct southward course; and hence, in many instances, these bands of emigrants must have crossed the lines of migration of other hordes, leaving their traces at the point of transit. This supposition would certainly account for the diversities in customs of contiguous tribes, as well as for the similarity of usages among very distant ones. Thus for example the practice of tattooing the chest extends from the mouth of the Murchison south-east towards the great Australian Bight. The custom of tattooing the back prevails, as far as is yet known, from the country north of Moreton-Bay towards the interior in a southwesterly direction. The practice of perforating the septum of the nostrils seems prevalent over the whole continent, furnishing, he thinks, a proof of the community of descent of all the Australian tribes; but as this custom prevails amongst most savages, too much stress must not be laid on its presence amongst the New Hollanders. WHAT DOES MAN LIVE UPON ?— What do men really live upon? The answers will be various enough. The Guacho, who, in the wide pampas of Buenos Ayres, managing his half-wild horse with incredible dexterity, throws the lasso or bolas to catch the ostrich, the guanaco, or the wild bull, consumes daily from ten to twelve pounds of meat, and regards it as a high feast-day when in any hacienda he gains a variety in the shape of a morsel of pumpkin. The 66 word bread does not exist in his vocabulary. The Irishman, on the other hand, regales himself in careless mirth on his potatoes and point," after a day of painful labour, he who cannot help making a joke even of the name he gives to his scanty meal. Meat is a strange idea to him, and he is happy indeed if four times a year he can add a herring to season the mealy tubers. The hunter of the prairies lays low the buffalo with sure bullet; and its juicy, fat-streaked hump, roasted between two hot stones, is to him the greatest of delicacies. Meanwhile, the industrious Chinese carries to market his carefully-fattened rats, delicately arranged upon white sticks, certain to find a good customer among the epicures of Pekin; and in his hot, smoky hut, fast buried beneath the snow and ice, the Greenlander consumes his fat, which he has just carved, rejoicing over the costly prize, from a stranded whale. Here the black slave sucks the sugar-cane, and eats his banana; there the African mer chant fills his wallet with sweet dates, his sole sustenance in the long desert journey; and there the Siamese crams himself with a quantity of rice, from which an European would shrink appalled. And wheresoever, over the whole inhabited earth, we approach and demand hospitality, in almost every little spot a different kind of food is set before us, and the "daily bread" offered in another form.-The Plant, a Biography, by Schleider. THE EXTREME NORTH-EAST OF NORTH AMERICA.-At a recent meeting of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, Dr. Kennicott gave some interesting particulars of a large tract of land called the Barren Ground, in the occupation of the Hudson-Bay Company, being the extreme north-east portion of North America, east of Hudson-Bay, whither he had been under the auspices of the Audubon and other learned societies, to make collections and observations in natural history. The speaker described the Barren Land as of vast extent, covering thousands of square miles which had never yet been trodden by the foot of the white man, and probably was unknown to the Indian. Nothing but lichens and mosses grow on this vast territory, and the animals and flora which are found on it are very marked and peculiar. He said that the immense tract of land bore about the same relation to the prairie as the prairie bears to the wooded country. With very few exceptions, there was nothing to be seen but the lowest kind of flora. His visit there was in the winter, and he had felt the weather quite warm. The speaker spoke of the migration of birds northward across the tract during spring. In high winds, when they flew low, he had shot several of them, and found, upon examination of the seeds they had eaten, that they were such as could have come only from the State of California, or the neighbourhood of Oregon. He stated that he had observed several specimens of granite and very fine copper, the latter so pure that the Indians had had no difficulty in making it into spear-heads; and he had lit his pipe at a fire caused by the spontaneous combustion of a peculiar kind of coal which had been burning, possibly, for thousands of years. The artificial heat produced by these fires was very considerable, and where the heat existed, quite a peculiar odour of plants was produced. The country abounded with lakes; but the geographical description of them, which had been generally furnished by Indians, could not be relied upon The lecturer spoke of the aquatic habits of the Esquimaux to be found on the Copper River, and made some interesting allusions to the magnetic pole and the discoveries of Sir John Ross and his nephew in connexion therewith. In reply to Professor Andrews, the lecturer said that he had not observed any description of fungi growing on the Barren Ground. The colour of the lichens and moss was from a greyish white to a dull brown. He had seen trees thirty feet high growing on the rock, with not more than a peck of earth for their roots. They offered very little resistance to the wind, and were frequently blown down. The Indians made their bows from the roots. He spoke at length upon the indigenous animals to be found on the Barren Ground, and their peculiarities; mentioning the musk ox, the Barren-Ground reindeer, the Barren Ground bear, and the polar bear.Montreal Witness. WHAT HAVE THE ENGLISH DONE FOR THE IONIAN ISLANDS ?—They have made roads which the natives hardly seem inclined to keep in repair. They have supplied the towns with water; and they have greatly improved the streets, the public buildings, the harbours, and the defences. They have taught the people to respect and understand justice, and latterly encouraged general education among all classes. They have, as a Government, dealt with perfect fairness to all classes; and they have done much to check both lawless violence and that perpetual litigation which is so common in the south of Europe. In all these respects they have attended to the material wants of the people,and deserve credit.—Professor Anstey. POETRY. THE SUPPLIANT. (John xv. 7.) ALL night the lonely suppliant pray'd, "O, peace! what profit do you gain From empty words and babblings vain? 'Come, Lord-O come!' you cry alway; You pour your heart out night and day; Yet still no murmur of reply, No voice that answers, Here am I !'" Then sank that stricken heart in dust; That word had wither'd all its trust: No strength retain'd it now to pray, While Faith and Hope had fled away; And ill that mourner now had fared, Thus by the tempter's art ensnared, But that at length beside his bed His sorrowing Angel stood, and said: "Doth it repent thee of thy love, That never now is heard above Thy prayer; that now not any more It knocks at heaven's gate as before?" "I am cast out-I find no place, No hearing at the throne of grace. VOL. X-FIFTH SERIES. 3 B WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOCIETY. ANNUAL MEETING. (Concluded from page 560.) THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE said: However I may regret that the valued friend who has just left the chair has been compelled to withdraw for a while, I cannot but feel it is a subject of great congratulation to this Society that a gentleman holding so distinguished a position, and required to serve upon a Royal Commission on a subject of such great importance, should be willing to take the chair upon an occasion like this; to consecrate the great powers of mind and all the influence which he possesses to the support of the cause of revealed religion, and the extension of the knowlege of Christianity both at home and abroad. That, I am sure, is a just subject of congratulation to all the lovers of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as to the lovers of the Methodist Missionary Society. The Resolution which I am intrusted to move is : "That the Report, a summary of which has now been read, be adopted and printed; and that this Meeting, while rejoicing in the measure of success which has attended Missionary operations, acknowledges that the state of mankind at large demands the sympathy of the church of Christ, and the utmost efforts which can be put forth for making known the salvation of the Gospel to all the families of the earth." My first duty is to apologize for the absence of some of my respected friends and predecessors in office, whom the Committee thought it desirable to invite on this Jubilee Anniversary. They thought it to be-and I am sure that the Meeting can very well sympathize with the Committee in that feeling-a becoming and proper thing, that, on this occasion, all those venerated and beloved men, who have filled the chair of the Conference, should, if possible, be here to support the chairman of the Meeting. You will anticipate, I am sure, the circumstances which have led many of them to decline of necessity the invitation of the Committee. The pressure of infirmity, I am sorry to say, in some cases, and previous important engagements which it was impossible to postpone in the case of others, have compelled them to decline the invitation. However, seven, the number of perfection, I am happy to say, are here to grace this platform. We are happy that we see amongst them one of the few surviving founders of the Society-(alluding to the Rev. Thomas Jackson). I am sure that we shall thank God that He has been pleased to spare his life to this day, and to listen to such a report as the Meeting has now heard; such a report as any man who should have ventured to predict when the Society was formed fifty years ago would have been deemed fit to be an inmate of Bedlam; but certainly not fit for the Methodist Conference. So wonderfully has it pleased our Heavenly Father to transcend all our expectations, and do for us exceedingly above, not, indeed, what we ought to expect; but what, as matter of fact, we did not expect, or ask, or think. Long may it please God to spare the life of our venerable friend and those by whom he is surrounded, and with whom he is a sociated, to rejoice in the success of this Society. I feel it to be a matter of duty, too, to offer, in passing, very briefly the tribute of my sincere admiration and regard for one of the venerable men whose name has just now been pronounced in our hearing. It was my privilege, when a very little boy, hardly higher than the rail before me, again and again to accompany William Toase in his visits to the prison-ships in the River Medway, I remember well, how, week after week, as he took among them the Scriptures, and tracts, in their own language, as he held religious services, and superintended the holding of schools for their children, be was privileged to sow the seed of eternal life under circumstances of the most peculiar and interesting character. And I remember how, thirty or forty years after those visits had passed away, he has had occasion to rejoice in tracing the blessing of God on the seed thus sown, and learning how some of those persons, in very various stations in life, and in very different circumstances in society, had been brought under the influence of Divine truth, and made partakers of saving grace. They carried back to France the blessings that they received in the prisons and prison-ships in England; and the number and importance of the results so achieved we must wait to learn accurately in the day when all secrets shall be disclosed. They will never be known until that day; but we may well |