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have been detached from its face, and fallen to the base, leaving numerous jutting prominences, some of which are loosely held by the arms of the parasitical wild fig, whose roots find a passage into every crevice, and often bind together the broken fragments. With a steady head, and with fingers and toes accustomed to climbing, a person, by pursuing a zigzag course, may reach the summit at this point. The fallen rocks, piled up from the base, afford a very practicable flight of steps above the highest tops of the gorgeous scarlet-flowered coral trees, which throw their shadows over the mouth of the cave, and crowd the banks of the brook. Above, the precipice has a slight declination and a rough uneven surface, so that naked feet and hands, with care, may ascend it to a narrow ledge this ledge, though in some places less than the width of a man's foot, serves as a path to a natural parapet, in which one armed man might conceal himself, and defend the ascent against an army.

By a path, with like various alternations, the margin of the summit is reached, where a full view of the region below is spread out before the eye of the spectator. At the base of the western mountains the Salwen is seen, plunging down its mighty waters to Martaban and Maulmein, where they are joined by the Gying, that bounds the prospect on the south and east; while little islands of forest trees, each concealing beneath its shade a quiet hamlet, dimple the whole plain; and babbling brooks thread their wandering ways like veins of silver, or mark the courses of their hidden waters by the emerald hue of their banks.

Turning from the prospect below, and climbing upward on men's shoulders, a gap in the rocks above is reached; then, descending a few yards, the spectator is astonished to find himself on the edge of a large basin, like the crater of an extinct volcano. Around and beyond, on the opposite side of the gulf, for miles in extent, dark precipitous crags, of every imaginable and unimaginable form, fling down their tall shadows a thousand feet above the place of entrance, enclosing an area of several square miles; and, after a descent of one or two hundred feet, an uneven plain is reached, covered with a luxuriant forest. My guide said none but Karens had ever before ascended the precipice, or entered within its precincts. Indeed, that there was here one of the largest, strongest, and most remarkable castles that nature ever built, had never been imagined. Its chief point of weakness is the lack of water: yet it is far from being wholly destitute of that. About a mile from the entrance a gradual ascent of a hundred feet leads to the summit of a precipitous glen; and on descending about two hundred feet, by natural steps in the craggy rocks, a small stream of water is seen gushing from the face of a precipice, which the guide said he thought resembled the rock struck by Moses in the Arabian desert. This affords a never-failing supply of several quarts, and sometimes_gallons, of pure water hourly throughout the year. In the days of the Burman emperor Alompra, before his successes in Pegu, a large number of Karens were besieged here by the Siamese; and tradition says that nearly the whole perished for the lack of food and water. From the sufferings of that period, or perhaps a previous one, the place has acquired the name of Dongyang, "The weeping city;" and the stream, Htieyang, "The brook of tears."

VOL. VI. NEW SERIES.

SCENERY IN THE IJEBU COUNTRY.

IJEBU is one of the provinces of the Yoruba country, lying to the N. E. of Lagos, and in a S. E. direction from Abbeokuta. It was from this quarter that marauding expeditions were accustomed to issue

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[DEC.

forth, attacking and wasting the towns of the Egbas, and selling their captives into slavery. About two years back it was first visited by our Missionaries, and the foundation laid for Missionary efforts, at Ofin, the residence of one of the Ijebu kings, the akarigbo of Ijebu Remu, and at another town, called Ikorodu.

The Ijebu scenery is often very beautiful. The line of road becomes a beautiful avenue or lane. Numerous Napoleonas, with their dark green leaves and curious flowers-some proceeding at once from the trunk or branches, others strewing the ground-border the road; solitary, gigantic cotton-trees rear their lofty stems; and palm-trees abound in every direction; so much so, that if other trees were cut down, the palmtrees alone would give the country the appearance of a forest. The wide path, arched over head, affords an agreeable protection from the sunbeams, while occasionally a watercourse presents itself, crossed by a rustic bridge. Such a bridge, from a sketch by the late Dr. Irving, is shown in our Frontispiece. Sometimes the path becomes open, and fields of corn appear on either hand. Then an Ijebu town is approached, a wall and thatched gate, flanked with towers of defence, crossing the end of an avenue, from whence issues forth a dense crowd of men, women, and children, who greet the visitor with hearty salu

tations.

We trust that Christianity will soon take root in this land, and, stretching forth its branches, afford to the inhabitants a shade from various evils to which, from time immemorial, they have been exposed. Our recent despatches from this part of Africa inform us that Kosoko, the ex-chief of Lagos, has been endeavouring to induce the Ijebus to join with him and Gezo, king of Dahomey, in an attack on Abbeokuta and Lagos, but has been resisted by the akarigbo of Ofin. There are restless spirits in the country, who dislike the existing tranquillity, because it interferes with the prosecution of the slave-trade; but their devices, we are encouraged to believe, will prove to be ineffectual.

THE PARSIS.

THE Parsís are the lineal descendants of the fire-worshippers of Persia, who emigrated to India when the Mahommedans overran their country. There they maintain their religion, which consists in the worship of the elements, and the renunciation of idols. They are an industrious and enterprising people, and, under the protection of the British Government, have risen to the highest place in literature, commerce, and artisanship. One of their number, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, at Bombay, has expended on public benevolence no less a sum than 250,000l.

Some seventeen years ago a movement in favour of Christianity took place among the Parsís of Bombay, the result of which was, the giving to Western India its first ordained ministers, the Rev. Hormazdji Pestonji, and the Rev. Dhanjibhai Nauroji. Recently a new excitement of the same kind has occurred amongst them. Four Parsí youths, about seventeen years of age, students in the Elphinstone Institution, the principal Government Seminary in Bombay,

1856.]

:

in June last sought admission into the Christian church by the Free Church Mission. For two years they had been inquirers, wandering through the jungles of deism and infidelity, until at length they were brought into communication with Christian Missionaries, and, as they expressed themselves in a letter to the Missionaries, became convinced "that Parsíism is a false religion, and that every comfort, joy, hope, success, and every good thing in the world, as well as in the world to come, are concentrated in the Lord Jesus." Having been forewarned of the fiery trial through which they would have to pass, they were received into the Mission house. No sooner had their relatives heard of it than the house began to be thronged the police were called in to guard the place, and the relatives were admitted. Painful scenes followed. They fell down at the feet of the young men, embraced, kissed them, wept over them, beseeching them to return. That day the young men stood fast: the next day the female relatives came: this also they endured, although nearly fainting from exhaustion. The third day messengers arrived to say that the fathers of three of them, and the mother of the fourth, were dying; and, from seven o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, these young men were beset and importuned by their friends and others, all occupying a respectable position in the Bombay community. At last, one, in anguish about his mother, wished to go home for an hour, on the assurance that he should be permitted to return; a promise which was not kept. On the fifth day two others yielded; but the fourth, Dairamji, the oldest and most advanced of them, with a wife and child too, remained stedfast. At the date of the last accounts, however, the efforts to recover him had not ceased.

The following extract of a letter from our Secretary at Bombay, the Rev. G. Candy, will show that this movement amongst the Parsis is not confined to Bombay—

A Parsí youth, by name Ruttonjee, a pupil of the Government Institution at Ahmednuggur, was sent to some relatives at this place, some five or six weeks ago, it is believed for the purpose of checking his desires after Christianity, there being a considerable stir just then among the pupils of the Government Institution at Ahmednuggur upon the subject of religion. Shortly after he arrived, he by stealth attended Mr. Price and his Parsí catechist, Sorabjee Khursedjee, for Christian

instruction.

This he was enabled to continue for some time without detection. At length, however, it was discovered, and his friends at Ahmednuggur were summoned hither for the purpose of removing him. On the very day that they arrived here, Ruttonjee, learning what was their object, slipped out of the house, and ran off straight to Mr. Price's house at Shurrunpúr, and threw himself upon his protection, avowing his determination to become a Christian. His own wish was, not to allow an interview with his relatives, but he acquiesced in Mr. Price's recommendation to see them. He, however, remained firm in his determina

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[DEC. tion to continue at Mr. Price's, and to join himself to the Christian church. He was then summoned before the magistrate, to whom he stated his determination, and was allowed by him to return to Mr. Price's. Mr. Price originally fixed upon Sunday the 22d ult. for Ruttonjee's baptism, but subsequently deferred it until the 29th, in order that Mrs. Candy and I might have the pleasure of being present at it. But on Thursday the 26th Mr. Price received a communication, which convinced him, that, unless measures were expedited, serious obstructions of an official character would be interposed. Upon this he summoned his colleagues, Messrs. Mengé and Frost, to give him their counsel. They unanimously agreed to baptize Ruttonjee then and there, and so anticipate all difficulties. This was accordingly done.

The convert's age is eighteen or nineteen, and he is both a husband and father. He is a very pleasing young man, both in appearance and manners, and is, I trust, a true convert.

May grace be granted him to adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour in all things, and may he be an instrument of much good among his countrymen !

wwwwww

RUPERT'S LAND MISSIONS.

We have received from Rupert's Land journals and despatches which contain an account of the proceedings of our Missionaries, and the progress of their work, throughout the year ending the 31st of July last. They are of a most satisfactory and encouraging character. All the stations have been visited with a greater or less measure of blessing, and we are constrained to say, with the Psalmist, "Thy paths drop fatness: they drop upon the pastures of

the wilderness.

We mention one fact which will cause a glad feeling in the hearts of all who are interested in the Indian race of America-that there is no fear now of their becoming extinct, at least so far as those tribes are concerned amongst whom pure scriptural Christianity is being introduced. The process of depopulation has been arrested by the action of the gospel. Sin, after all, is the great destroyer of man. It generates vices and evil practices of various kinds which are destructive, and the divine declaration is fulfilled, "Men of bloods and deceit shall not live out half their days." It is not merely in the barren wilds of Rupert's Land that races of men have been found in a wasting and decaying state. We might then have thought that their decrease arose from the inclemency of the climate, and the want of sufficient food. But in the rich and beautiful islands of the South Seas, where the climate is delightful, and abundant and nutritious food for man, the bread fruit, and the taro root, grow spontaneously without an effort on his part, the same solemn process was going forward when Christian Missionaries first arrived there; so much so, that a few years more would, in all probability, have left them without inhabitants. The decay of races may be traced, not so much to the pressure of disadvantages from without,