to receive a letter from Brother in the rocks in the wilderness. Thus Schmelen, who had sent both oxen these natural cups, richly supplied and men to our assistance. Wearied by a kind Providence, are running of this lonesome place, we had begun over. This evening our religious to be extremely impatient; but hope worship was performed on the north now revived again, and we took side of the river, when the stillness of courage. the night, the rolling stream, and the aspiring mountains, seemed to add weight to the emphatical words, now is the day of salvation." 24. We were busy in making the raft, which consisted of a number of poles fastened together with the bark of the thorn-tree. In the evening it was complete, and brought to the most convenient place for swimming. 25. Brother K. and his wife, with their two children, went upon the raft; two people swam before, two or three on each side, and four behind. Having never before beheld so leaky a ship, we had our fears about it; yet with much labour on the part of the swimmers, accompanied with shoutings the most terrific, they reached the northern bank in safety. All our baggage having been got over, the waggon was taken to pieces, and brought through in the same manner. On this occasion an ox was slaughtered, and the whole animal was cut up and suspended on the bushes, trees, &c. On each side of the river were cooks, who had constant employ. Every pot that could be procured was filled to the brim, and every Bushman, when opportunity offered, was roasting his steak amongst the ashes. 27. The whole process of floating was exceedingly tedious. The raft was of such a construction, that it was loaded about ten different times before our work was completed. The lowering clouds, which yesterday rolled ove the mountains, poured upon us their contents during the night. There being only two or three watering-places between this river and Bethany, (about 250 miles,) we considered the falling rain as a providential blessing. Thus it was with Israel, "who passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well, the rain also filleth the pools." A trackless desert was now before us, a land destitute of fountains; and for some months there has been no rain; but the refreshing showers, which have watered the thirsty earth, have also filled the basons which are found 66 28. We intended to have begun travelling early in the afternoon, but some of the oxen were missing. In some places the sands were rather deep, but having fresh oxen we got quickly through them. A little before midnight, our dogs caught a species of the antelope, which the Dutch call Gensbok-gawloop, or Runquick. The temperature of the atmosphere being many degrees colder than by the Great River, we felt it very severely. 29. At Namos we found a few bushes, which had been put together in the form of a fold for sheep or goats: this indicates that Bushmen occasionally visit those parts. 30. Brother K. spoke to our company on not being hearers only, but doers of the word. A huge rock raised its irregular head near our encampment, which not only served as a hiding-place from the wind, but reminded us of the necessity of committing ourselves to Him, who " is a refuge for the oppressed; a refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble." On leaving Nabees, in the afternoon, we passed the grave of a Bushman; the stones were piled upon it to the height of five feet, and the bow, arrows, and broken spear of the deceased were lying on the pile. Some of Brother Schmelen's people had been acquainted with the Bushman here interred, and they informed us that he died in consequence of being wounded by a poisoned arrow, shot by the hand of his wife's father. We halted in the bed of Droog River, (dry river.) May 1. We were much hindered this morning by an unruly ox, which would not draw: many a heavy stroke was given him, but he continued obstiuate. The mountains we passed to-day had quite a different appearance from those by the Great River, or in Little Namacqua-land. The large steps on every side appeared with such regularity, that one might have supposed them to be the work of art. We passed Brukbout Fountain in the forenoon, where good water was obtained. In the afternoon a herd of zebras came near; but discovering their danger, they scampered away. Towards evening, the foosteps of lions were discovered, but we travelled on unmolested. Halted at Weerklank, (Echo.) 2. The light of the morning discovered to us an immense mountain of solid rock, which, however, has not escaped the mouldering hand of time. Huge masses thereof had found their way to the ground, and though beautiful as the Parian marble, they were gradually crumbling to atoms. Thus do all earthly things decay, "but the word of Gon endureth for ever." We passed many graves, on which large heaps of stones had been piled. On passing those graves, the Namacquas who have not heard the Gospel attend to an old ceremony. They mutter a sort of prayer to the deceased, requesting plenty of cattle, great prosperity, and salvation from affliction and death. They then throw stones, bushes, or the dung of animals, on the pile. An old Namacqua of our company said, he had long attended to the ceremony, but received no advantages from it, being after all miserably poor. At Unce, good water was found among long reeds, which grow plentifully in the river. Some of our hunting party shot an Eiland, and two pack-oxen were sent to bring it to the place of our encampment. The people were busy in cooking most of the night: the place being surrounded with trees, their large fires caused such abundance of smoke, that our lodgings were rendered exceedingly disagreeable. About midnight I was awakened by Brother K. and my wife, to hear the roaring of a lion. Imagination can do much; for it happened to be nothing but an old Namacqua, troubled in his sleep, who lay snoring under a tree near the waggon. 3. We travelled on a jolting road till the middle of the afternoon, when fresh oxen were put to the waggon, and our route was continued till after midnight. We halted at Kaamobegrip, where the roar of the royal monster actually annoyed us. 4. We set out early this morning, and halted at noon amongst some large trees of the Camelthorn species: they afforded us a cooling shade. A little after sun-set we made another halt. 5. At eight this morning, we beheld the institution called Bethany. When two or three furlongs off, our people fired a salute, which put all the people upon the settlement in motion. On hearing the first report of our muskets, brother Schmelen and his people were in the Church, offering their morning sacrifice of prayer and praise. No Christian Missionary having before visited brother S., he was almost overcome with joy at our arrival ; and when we came to bow at his family altar, he seemed indeed lost in love and praise. It is now forty days since we left Steinkopff, during which we have not seen a single dwelling-house of any description, nor even so much as one inhabited hovel. The country we have travelled is a complete wilderness, in every sense of the word, and, with the exception of a few Bushmen and Namacquas by the Orange River, is entirely destitute of inhabitants. None but he who has travelled through such a desert can form a correct idea of our joy, on arriving at this station, which led to reflections of that "better country," where the followers of JESUS, from every "nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people," shall meet together; "Where all their toils are o'er, Their suffering and their pain; 6. About seven this morning, the trumpet (a beast's horn) was sounded, and the people assembled in the church. Mr. S. having read a few verses from the New Testament, proceeded to ask questions on each subject contained therein. When any seemed at a loss to give an appropriate answer, he assisted them, lest they should be discouraged. The place in which religious worship is held, is spacious, but in a state of decay, in consequence of which a new one has been proposed, the walls of which are already about two feet in height. The new dwelling-house lately completed is built of stone, and is a very strong, substantial building. The fountain is by far the strongest we have seen either in Great or Little Namacqualand, and its streams are led over a considerable piece of ground which has been cultivated for gardens. Around the place, and in its vicinity, there is plenty of grass, and the people are possessed of numerous herds of cattle, on which they chiefly subsist. Two solid masses of iron were brought to the Institution, by one of the old Namacquas; the least of the pieces might be reckoned at six or eight hundred weight; the other almost twice as heavy. The Namacquas cut off such pieces as they need with chisels, and it being per fectly malleable, they work it up according to their proficiency in the smith's business, of which most of them are remarkably fond. The Namacquas were reminded this evening of the Missionary Meetings in England. 7. I spoke to the congregation of the glad tidings of salvation by JESUS CHRIST, and baptized the daughter of brother Kitching man. In the afternoon we commemorated the sufferings of our dying LORD with the church, and in the evening brother K. spoke of the joy experienced by Barnabas on witnessing the grace of GoD in the city of Antioch. Many of the people had never seen a white female before, in consequence of which our European wives had many admirers. (To be continued.) Brief View of the Proceedings of other Missionary Societies; extracted from their latest publications. BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Batavia-Mr. ROBINSON writes: The time is come, when I much need a fellow-labourer: my work increases, and my strength diminishes. I do not say, that there is a great door open, but it is high time for us to attempt something on a larger scale, and to make, if possible, a regular and well-directed attack on Muhammedanism. We must, if you will assist us, make a strenuous effort to establish schools; we must go all round the country, where the Malay language is spoken, and preach and disperse religious tracts. Other tracts must be written; school-books, and books containing the first principles of useful knowledge, must be prepared and circulated; and, in short, every effort must be made to enlighten the public mind, and to prepare the way of the LORD. Muhammedanism is, I believe, Satan's strongest fort; and our post seems to be on the most impregnable side of that fort. We must not expect an easy victory; the siege will be long, and success will long appear doubtful; some of us shall most likely die in the attempt. but others will live to hear the shout of victory. "We have now, at Batavia, four members, who have been baptized in Java; and we have besides them, five men of hopeful piety, who pray in turn at our prayer-meetings. There are also a few women, who seem to be pious; and two persons, if no more, appear to have died in the LORD; to say nothing of a poor Chinaman, who says he will die under the feet of JESUS. Add these together, and you will find them more than ten, the number for which Sodom might have been saved; and shall Java then be rejected?" Samarang.-This Station affords greater facilities than Batavia, for intercourse with the original inhabitants of Java. Mr. Bruckner writes :"One day I went to some villages, where I intended to converse with the inhabitants on the Gospel. After they had related to me a number of things respecting their lands and houses, &c., I told them that it was not merely necessary to care for the body, but especially for the soul; and in order to bring it more closely to them, and to introduce the Gospel to them, I asked what they thought would become of their souls hereafter. They replied, this question was too deep for them, as they never had troubled their minds with such things. I expressed that I pitied them very much. In the mean time some had gone to call the priest of the village, who soon arrived he was an old venerablelooking man. I asked him whether be could read and write? He replied, he could read a little, but write he could not. I entered into a conversation with him on religion, in the presence of the people, who were staring at us, as if they heard something quite new. I spent a very pleasant hour with them. I hope to visit them as often as I can. I must observe that the people higher up the country are far less acquainted with the particular tenets of the Mahometan religion, though they are called Mussulmans, than the people a long the sea-shore, and are therefore the fittest subjects for the Gospel, as their prejudices are less. "On Sundays I have regular preaching in Malay to a few poor people, who profess themselves Christians. Though I see that the number of hearers does not increase, I will not give it up as long as there ner. are two or three. An old man amongst them, who had regularly attended, was so sick, that he could not come; I visited him in his house, reminding him of that which I had spoken repeatedly to them, namely, of our salvation in JESUS CHRIST, and that we were all miserable and lost sinners without him. He replied to me with tears in his eyes, that he was no sinYou may suppose that I would rather have heard such a language with tears without that no. Though I suppose he had lived all his lifetime in whoredom, he was still selfrighteous. I asked him whether he was not called a Christian. Yes, he said. Now, I said, if you, being called a Christian, have not loved JESUS CHRIST with all your heart, and expressed this love by living according to his precepts, then you are a great sinner, though you, perhaps, have not committed murder and theft. This put him to silence. After recommending him to think about those things I had spoken to him about, and to pray to God for light and assistance, I left him for this time. "In my attempt of translating the New Testament into Javanese, I am come to the end of Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. I have also begun the revision of the Gospel of Matthew, to adapt it more to the use of the natives." The following instance of the liberality of a poor native Christian woman, at Calcutta, given in the last report of this Society, will be read with great pleasure. A Portuguese woman, a member of the Church, having been employed as a servant in a respectable family, had saved a small sum, which she was desirous of devoting, in some way, to the cause of GOD. Nothing better having occurred to her, she offered to rent a piece of ground, and build on it a Bengalee place of worship at her own expense. After having ascertained, to their entire satisfaction, that her design, in this proposal, was to promote the work of GOD, the Missionaries acceded to her request. The house was built; and the following Letter, which she sent to Mr. Eustace Carey on the occa sion, will interest every pious reader, by the strain of evangelical simplicity in which it is written. "May the glorious God be victorious! "My dear Brother "I am by no means worthy to write to you, or even to call you Brother, because I am a very insignificant person. It is through the love of the LORD, that I have been able to call you Brother. I have one request to make; and it is, that you will not think any thing of the house; for it was not from me, but from the hand of God. If the LORD alone had not given me the mind, I should have been able to do nothing at all. O LORD! thy mercy is great! thy death is all in all! I could stand in the streets to proclaim thy praise, but then men would say I was mad. O LORD! what shall I do to proclaim thy praise? "A few days ago, as I was sitting and meditating, my mind was exceedingly happy; and I said, 'O my mind, come, let us build a house, in which we may proclaim the praise of the LORD!' After this, however, I did not know whether I should do it or not; because I thought, "O my mind if this is only done with the body, then I shall be certainly like the idolaters, who think there is merit in such things.' Then my mind was afraid. But I said, 'O my mind, whence has this desire arisen? how do I know but it came from the hand of the LORD? O gracious LORD, if it came froin thee, give me an humble mind, that, in this, thy name may be glorified. O LORD, we are the oultivators; what can we do? Thou art the giver of the fruit! Thou canst do all things! Nothing is impossible with thee! Let me not trust in my own wisdom; but, in every thing, acknowledge thee! "May the grace, love, and peace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST be with ail the Brethren and Sisters. Amen! (Signed) "An insignificant Handmaid of the LORD." LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.SOUTH-SEA MISSION. Extracts of a Letter from the Missionaries in the Island of Raiatea, dated September 5, 1819. Our School and Chapel have been well attended ever since we have been here, (i. e. at Raiatea); and the attendance is much increased of late, as we have successfully employed our efforts to induce the natives to fix their habitations around us; and thus we have them, in a great degree, under our immediate inspection and instruction. Instead of the wilderness which we found here, (for there were only two houses then in the district,) there is now a clear open space, and a range of houses along the seabeach, nearly two miles in length, besides others situated inland. But we also desire, in a spiritual sense, to see the wilderness blossom as the rose." 66 We were not a little gratified, a short time since, to see with what spirit the Kings and Chiefs exerted themselves, in order to regulate the affairs of the people under them. They first held a meeting, at which they requested us to be present. King Tapa addressed the people present, in number about 1400, and said, "Let us try and form our conduct by the word which we learn from our teachers, and by the word of God, which we read every day. Stop; our wickedness is very great. Re member it is I who am speaking. If the son of any king is wicked, and deserves to die, he shall die. If any king continues in his sin, and is worthy of death, he shall die; and if I am worthy of death, I will die also. Let all the people remember, that the man who deserves to die, shall die. We will regard the voice of our teachers, for Gon hath sent them. Take care, all of you, lest he be angry; for if he be angry, he will take our teachers away, and we shall again be in darkness." He then enquired of us what course must be pursued in order to prevent the man from casting away his wife, or the wife her husband. He was informed, that when the evil heart was cast away, they would cast away all evil practices. He was likewise furnished with a register, in which the names of all married persons were to be entered; and it was prescribed, that all who intended marriage should go to the king, and make their intentions known, after which their names should be entered in the register. All this was the spontaneous effusion of their own minds, resulting partly from a murder, which had been com mitted by a chief of one of the neighbouring islands, and partly from our |