VOL. VI. NEW SERIES. K MISSIONARY TOURS IN THE INTERIOR OF CHINA. OUR Missionaries on the Chinese coast have been enabled to penetrate much further into the interior than they had previously found possible. Long journeys have been undertaken, and cities and towns visited, where no Missionaries ever had been before. Surrounded by great crowds of people, they have been kindly and 98 MISSIONARY TOURS IN THE INTERIOR OF CHINA. SEPT. courteously treated, and have had opportunity of making known the gospel, and distributing Christian books, which have been thankfully received. We have lying before us a narrative of one of these tours, undertaken in December last from Ningpo, into the interior of Chekeang province. The party consisted of our own Missionary, the Rev. R. H. Cobbold, the Rev. Mr. Nevins, of the American Presbyterian Mission, and an elderly Chinese, a fair scholar, and a most pious and faithful Christian. On reaching the city of Sing-tsông they found hospitality in a neat-looking temple outside the east gate, presided over by a priest of the Buddhist faith, who received them kindly, and gave up his own room for their use. The remainder of the afternoon was spent chiefly at the Ching-wang-meaou, or principal temple of the city, where was assembled a large and noisy crowd. At night several scholars called, one a young man, who was the head of one of the most influential families in the city. Early the next morning they set out to visit the great "lion" of the place and neighbourhood, the "Monastery of the gigantic Buddha." Mr. Cobbold thus narrates the result of their excursion After winding into the hills about a mile from the city walls, we found the object of our search in a most romantic and rocky glen. A path wound in under the rocks and trees, where squirrels in abundance were squabbling about their breakfast. It led us at length into the gateway of the monastery, and we found the enormous figure of the Buddha in a building partly natural and partly artificial. It was a huge cave, the front of which had been built up with blocks of stone to resemble a building. On entering the cave, the appearance of the place was exactly similar to the ordinary Buddhist temples, but the chief figure, from which the monastery receives its name, is of gigantic dimensions, carved in relief on the face of the solid rock, for which there was perhaps a natural aptitude in the form of the cave itself. The finer parts of the dress, the lines of the hand, the finger-nails, &c., are probably done in plaster: the rest is all solid stone, and the whole figure is very thickly gilt. It is in a sitting posture, with the hands brought together, and the knees widely extended. It is fifty feet high, and the extreme width between the knees is also about fifty feet. In the hand there is a gilt figure half the size of life. The ears, according to Chinese ideas of beauty, are enormously long, and yet a person standing on the shoulders of the figure could only just reach the top of the ear. This remarkable work of art is visited by pilgrims from all parts of the province, and the priests no doubt reap a golden harvest from the offerings of the crowds of devotees. It was breakfast-time, and we might have accepted the pressing invitation of the monks to join them in their repast, had not our heretical stomachs, still more confirmed in their prejudices by the keen morning air, craved more solid food than the kitchen of the monastery would be likely to supply. Mr. Nevins begged of one of the priests a small figure, but it was one in bronze, which had come from the far west, the sacred region of Buddha himself, and, like some little idol that has had the papal benediction, 1856.] MISSIONARY TOURS IN THE INTERIOR OF CHINA. 99 was too precious to be deposited in the hands of an unbeliever. A smaller figure, of native workmanship, was, however, presented, as a memento of the visit. After seeing the other remarkable parts of the establishment, we found our way back to our quarters, and to our breakfast. On this journey various points of interest presented themselves. One afforded the Missionaries special encouragement-that, in places where they had not been previously, they found copies of the New Testament, distributed at Ningpo, and which had found their way into the interior. On visiting a Chinese gentleman, the owner of a large, well-built, and very handsome house, near Sing-tsông, they found one of them. The outside cover had been torn off, probably to make a book for silks for one of the young ladies of the family, but the book itself was entire. Their host stated that he had received it from Mr. Cobbold at Ningpo. The road not unfrequently led them through a country abounding in villages, where large crowds were gathered together, to whom the Missionaries spoke of the one true God, and His mercy in Christ to poor sinners. One place, called Dziangloh, may have its parallel elsewhere in China, but certainly in no other part of the world. Its peculiarity consists in this, that all its inhabitants, to the number of 20,000, have the same surname. Mr. Cobbold says "We laugh at our Walkers, Joneses, Smiths, and Browns; but 20,000 Walkers in one place, and nobody else but the Walkers there, would be a strange thing indeed. If a person on his arrival were to ask for Mr. Walker, he would have of course about five thousand to one whether he hit on the right family or not. Here the name was Dzing." On entering this place the people at first seemed shy, but after a little time their confidence was gained, and the Missionaries were encompassed by a great mass, about a thousand of whom crowded into an ancestral temple, which the keeper had been persuaded to keep open. They both spoke until darkness compelled them to desist. A tea merchant invited them to be his guests; and when he found that other arrangements prevented their coming, he sent them, for breakfast next morning, chickens and ham, country wine, and Indian-corn cakes. Here they had the opportunity of seeing a marriage procession, a very gay affair. Many of the ornaments used were very handsome, being, no doubt, old heir-looms of richlywrought embroidery. The sedan chair was tastefully decorated with festoons of coloured calico; the music loud, but not harmonious. The bridegroom was preceded by a long line of scholars, with their red-tasselled hats. These narratives afford us a glimpse into the interior of that densely-populated country. To our perception we know nothing more affecting. Great cities, and crowded villages, inhabited by a remarkably well-ordered and industrious people, where life 100 CUMBERLAND STATION, NORTH-WEST AMERICA. [SEPT. flows on in the old channels which it has used for generations, and men build and plant, and buy and sell, and marry and are given in marriage, and scholars pursue their lore, and tradesmen ply their craft, and the farmer prepares his fields; and amongst all this busy multitude God is unknown! How solemn! how fitted to awaken in the heart of the man who knows God as his Father in Christ the desire to go forth and tell these poor people the glad tidings of great joy! CUMBERLAND STATION, NORTH-WEST AMERICA. THE divine blessing continues to rest on this little spot, reclaimed from the wilderness, and now changed into a garden of the Lord. The trees of righteousness planted there flourish and bear fruit, and the tidings we receive from it remind us of the proverb, "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." The following letter from the native clergyman, the Rev. H. Budd, dated January 7, 1856, will read pleasantly. It shows how the word of God, having taken root at Cumberland, is sending out its branches in different directions, and how the work of evangelization is advancing at Moose Lake and the Nepowewin. The Indians continue much with us; and when any of the men are obliged to go off hunting, they soon, come back to join in the means of grace provided for their growth in the divine life. Our church is well filled every Lord's-day, and we have an average attendance of between seventy and eighty children in the school. These are learning to read God's holy word, both in English and in their mother tongue. They read any of our translations fluently, carry their books home, and read the same to their parents. In temporal and spiritual things there is an advancement and improvement from year to year. What a change is wrought in our Indians! I have been an eyewitness of the most deplorable state in which they were sunk when I was first sent to them in 1840. And now I can gaze with wonder and gratitude, and with tears of thankfulness filling my eye, and exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" To see them exchange their wild and savage disposition for the spirit of the meek and lowly Jesus fills my heart with gratitude to that Saviour, who has called them "out of darkness into His marvellous light." On Christmas-day we had them assembled around the table of the Lord, when I had the privilege of administering the sacrament of the Lord's supper to upwards of ninety of the Communicants. I humbly trust that He who has promised His blessing to two or three assembled in His name, has been in the midst of us and blessed us. Oh, how refreshing to have the table' of the Lord spread here in the wilderness, and to partake of the memorials of His body and blood! It did my heart good to see our communicants come forward with such humble diffidence around the communion rails, and commemorate the dying love of our Saviour. We have had one death since my last letter: one of the communicants has entered into her rest. She died rather suddenly, before any one 1856.] CUMBERLAND STATION, NORTH-WEST AMERICA. 101 expected it; but she was so calm and full of hope as to astonish the people in the house. After having exhorted her children and friends around her, she calmly fell asleep in Jesus. We have also had several baptisms here, but they have been principally little infants belonging to our Christian Indians. I have made my quarterly visit to Moose Lake since I wrote you last, and I am happy in being able to say that the converts of Moose Lake continue stedfast in the faith, and humbly endeavour, in the strength of God, to adorn the doctrine of Christ their Saviour by a consistent life. They are more firm and strong in the profession of Christianity than they used to be formerly. They used to be overcome by the heathen party almost as soon as they embraced Christianity, and every year we had to mourn over backsliders; but now there is no drawing back: they would rather go forward, and they do go forward, notwihstanding the endeavours of their heathen neighbours to bring them back again. And they are very useful to the heathen party, inasmuch as they are always with them, and always talking to them of the religion which they find so good for themselves. Henry Cockran and John Umfreville are both at the Moose-Lake Station, and are well qualified to preach to the Indians in their own tongues, and carry on the work which has been begun. The school at Moose Lake is going on, and is kept up regularly: upwards of twenty children were attending the school when I was down, and I found them improving. The heathen Indians visit the station often, and Henry and John have many an opportunity of preaching to them. As the Christian party is getting stronger, its influence is greater on the heathen, and in that way one heathen family after another will be drawn and caught in the gospel net. Henry Cockran is very attentive to his duties in the school, and there are some boys promising well. And John Umfreville is very active and zealous, and very anxious for the conversion of the heathen. Henry and he take the Sunday services turn about, and the week-day evening lectures, and they keep some children and board them, and these children attend the school daily. I shall be going down to see them again, God willing, as soon as this mail has passed. I have heard several times from the Nepowe win since my last. Thomas Cook and Joseph Turner are both there, and were doing very well when I heard from them last. They were doing better in the way of getting provisions, and more toward the necessary buildings for the carrying on of the work, than they did last winter. Thomas has gone out several times towards the plains, to be able to tell the Indians of Jesus' love for them. One very great obstacle to the Indians of the Nepowewin receiving the gospel of Christ is, that we cannot get at them. They come to Fort a la Crosse two or three times in a whole year, to trade their provisions, &c., and they come over to the Mission every time; but their stay is so short that it is impossible to say much to them, and they cannot remember what they have heard when we see nothing of them till the next half-year. This will always be our trouble until some of the Indians are induced to settle. Some few families are more stationary, and live more about the Mission; and four families have made some gardens, and planted some potatos, which |