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HUMAN SACRIFICES IN GOOMSUR.

THE incorruptible seed of Divine truth has long been scattered over many a dark region in the East, and the results have been as various, and, to no small extent, VOL. II.

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as valuable and decided as in any other part of the great field of Christian Missions. But there yet remain large portions of India, amid the cheerless depths of whose moral gloom the light of the everlasting Gospel has never yet appeared, or, at best, has only shed a faint, unsteady ray.

The district of Goomsur, forming the north-western extremity of the Northern Circars, at some distance from the Society's Station of Vizagapatam, maintains in this respect a melancholy pre-eminence. The state of its native inhabitants indicates an urgent necessity for attempts to plant among them the Gospel of the Redeemer; and, from a consideration of the most recent intelligence which has been received, representing scenes of torture and bloodshed in connexion with the religious rites of the people which have never been exceeded in any quarter of the world, the Directors feel that as soon as circumstances will permit, Missionary operations in that country should be commenced. The intelligence referred

to was published in a Madras paper at the commencement of last year; and our brother, the Rev. W. H. Drew, by whom it has been transmitted to this country, considers the thrilling statements which it embraces fully entitled to belief. They are as follow:

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Miria Pooja, or human sacrifice, takes place in Goomsur once a year, in one or other of the confederate Mootas* in succession. The victims are stolen from the low country, or brought from some other distant part, and sold to those mootas where the sacrifices are offered if children, they are kept until they attain a proper age. The cruel ceremony is thus performed.

"When the appointed day arrives, the Khoonds+ assemble from all parts of the country, dressed in their finery; some with bear-skins thrown over their shoulders, others with the tails of peacocks flowing behind them, and the long-winding feather of the jungle cork waving on their heads. Thus decked out, they dance, leap, and revel, beating drums, and playing on an instrument not unlike in sound to the Highland pipe. Soon after noon the Jani, or presiding priest, with the aid of his assistants, fastens the unfortunate victim to a strong post, firmly fixed into the ground; and then, standing erect, the living sacrifice suffers the unutterable torture (humanity shudders at the recital) of having the flesh cut off from his bones in small pieces by the knives of the savage crowd, who rush on him and contend with each other for a portion of the gory and quivering substance. Great value is attached to the first morsel thus severed from the victim's body, for it is supposed to possess superior virtues, and a proportionate eagerness is evinced to acquire it.

"In Guddapore, another and equally cruel sacrifice frequently precedes the one already described. A trench seven feet long is dug, along which the human victim is suspended alive, the neck and heels being fastened with ropes to stakes firmly fixed at each end of the excavation, so that to prevent strangulation he is compelled to support himself by extending his hands over each side of his grave. “The presiding priest, Jani, after performing some ceremonies in honour of the goddess Manekisiri, takes an axe and inflicts six cuts at equal distances from the back of the neck to the feet, repeating the numbers one, two, &c., as he proceeds, Rondi, Rendi, Moonjii, Nalgi, Chingi, Lajgi, and at the seventh, Argi, decapitates the victim-the body falls into the pit, and is covered with earth; after which the hellish orgies first described are enacted.

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Women are sacrificed as well as men; and since the arrival of the troops in the Khoond country, a female found her way into the Collector's camp, at Patringia, with fetters on her legs. She had escaped during the confusion of an attack by our men on the Wulsa (hiding-place) of the people who had charge of her,

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and related that she had been sold by her brother!! to a Mootikoo of one of the Patringia Mootas for the purpose of being sacrificed. I need not say that she was instantly released, and that she abjured all further connexion with her people."

It cannot be supposed that any object is sought by the recital of such horrifying events as the foregoing, except more deeply to impress upon the minds of Christians the value of the privileges which they possess; the sorrows, the sufferings, and the cruelties connected with heathenism; the fact that there is no sure remedy for these great evils but the humanising and healing influences of the Gospel of the Son of God; together with the powerful obligations under which all, who bear his name and enjoy his salvation, are placed, to communicate to the heathen, by all the means in their power, the blessings with which they are so richly favoured.

Mr. Drew, impressed with similar reflections, observes in reference to the above painful occurrences :

"Such is the state of this portion of the inhabitants of India in the nineteenth century. I have every reason to believe the account to be true. There is no need to attempt to exaggerate such scenes. Here are melancholy and revolting proofs that the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.' The idolatry of the Hindus, not content with merely having such fruits, has made them sacred, and brought them into the worship of God, insulting his purity by the obscenity of its rites, and denying his love by their cruelty. O Christians, who live in the midst of all the blessings of favoured England, look on these scenes of misery and debasement; contrast them with your own happy condition; remember through whose sufferings and death your privileges have come to you, and remember, also, that He who sent his messages of love to you, bids you go into all nations and proclaim them to every creature. O remember the dignity and blessedness to which the Gospel of Jesus could raise these miserable slaves of Satan, and be stirred up to new zeal in the glorious cause of Missions; pray more fervently, labour more earnestly, and live more self-denyingly, that the period may be hastened when all men shall be blessed in Christ, and all nations shall call him blessed."

CALCUTTA MISSION.

In the following Report from our devoted brother, the Rev. A. F. Lacroix, numerous features of interest are brought to view in connexion with the Society's operations at the above important Mission. The efforts in progress there to extend the knowledge of the English language among the native inhabitants, and to prepare, by a suitable course of instruction, a number of intelligent young men, natives of the country, to labour as Christian teachers in the Bengal Presidency, will be regarded as peculiarly encouraging, and replete with the promise of future good to this part of India. Impressions of the character, value, and claims of the Christian religion appear to multiply and strengthen in the native mind; and, although there is yet little decided and positive evidence that many of those, for whom the Missionaries of Christ are anxiously praying and labouring, have passed from death unto life, no doubt can be felt that the Gospel is gradually striking deeper and deeper into the moral soil of India. Of this more emphatic proof could not be found than that which is involved in the statements and reasonings of its enemies, as exemplified at the close of the subjoined Re

port.

Writing to the Foreign Secretary, under date 26th May last, Mr. Lacroix thus proceeds, first in reference to the

Native Christian Institution.

At the end of last year, the boys and girls of our Christian Institution, who, until that period, had resided with Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, were divided. Mrs. Campbell proposed keeping the girls; and there being no one else to take charge of the boys, I consented to undertake that task, though already fully engaged. As the house I then occupied was not suited for this purpose, I removed to Bhowanipore, (which forms the southern part of Calcutta,) where I had succeeded in obtaining a house, with a large compound, every way fitted for a school, and situated in the midst of a dense native population. The Christian boys have, since last January, resided there with me. The English department of their education has been undertaken by Messrs. Campbell and Bradbury; and the Bengalee, with religious instruction and general superintendence, has fallen to my share. It is a matter of gratification to me to state, that three of the youths are apparently under the operation of Divine grace.

English Day School.

The English day school for heathen boys, which was formerly at Kidderpore, has also been removed to my house. In this, Messrs. Campbell and Bradbury have taken the superintendence of the scientific department, and I of the religious. The number of pupils is at present about sixty, several of them sons of Brahmins. The attendance is on the increase. As a detailed account of this school, as well as ofthe Christian Institution, will be given in the next report of the Bengal Auxiliary Society, it is not necessary I should enlarge on the subject at present.

Theological Class.

With a view to supply the great and immediate need of native teachers, which is felt at all our stations, I have lately commenced a small theological class, composed of five individuals, viz. :-the oldest pupil of the Christian Institution; two young men from Mr. Campbell's Station at Krishnapore; another young man, from Rammakal Choke, who had spent some time at Serampore College; and Radhanath, (Rumsey Paterson,) who, though he has already been employed as a catechist, yet requires further instruction in some branches. They are taught through the medium of the Bengalee language, and the course of instruction consists in a critical and practical study of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, systematic theology, the evi

dences of Christianity, and church history. The young men also write weekly an essay or short sermon on a given portion of Scripture, which, after it has received the needful corrections, they preach in my presence to small congregations of heathen, which are always easily collected. This is with a view to accustom them to the work in which they are likely to be employed, and to teach them to address their countrymen with ease and propriety.

I purpose, when they shall have made some progress in their present studies, to read with them the Ramayon, the Mohabharot, and other Hindu Shastres, in order to furnish them with a thorough knowledge of the system they will be called to oppose; and it is my earnest hope, that at no great distance of time, they will all be employed as assistants, at one or other of the Stations connected with our Society.

Preaching.

My present house being situated on the road that leads to Kali Ghat, which is one of the greatest thoroughfares in Calcutta, I have erected a small chapel in my compound, where I sit and converse with the passers-by, and distribute tracts when I can spare any time, which, I regret to say, is but seldom; however, two of the young men of the theological class often supply my place. In the chapels of the Society at Calcutta, I have continued to preach regularly, nearly every day, to increasingly attentive and numerous audiences, at the same time distributing tracts and holding conversations and discussions with the people. Messrs. Piffard and Campbell, I am thankful to say, have, since the commencement of this year, kindly given me all the assistance they could in the Calcutta chapels.

General aspect of Society.

The general aspect of things at Calcutta and its neighbourhood, on the whole, is not unfavourable. There is much inquiry, much apparent attention to the subject of Christianity, observable among the natives; although I fear little of it is as yet of a genuine and saving nature. A new feature, which I think to be a token for good, is becoming more and more perceptible. I allude to the open hostility to Christianity now displayed by numbers of Hindus, whose apathy in religious matters, so long complained of, seems at last to be yielding. It has ever been remarked, that it is when Satan finds his kingdom tottering, and his power about to

be curtailed, that he excites his adherents to opposition. It is, therefore, a cause for rejoicing rather than for lamenting, that we see this beginning to be the case in this part of Bengal.

As a specimen of this spirit of hostility to the Gospel, and also of the progress which, in the opinion of its very enemies, Christianity has made, I beg to subjoin a literal translation of two articles, which appeared lately in two of the native newspapers, devoted to the support of Hindu orthodoxy. The first of these extracts, you will observe, has reference to the efforts of Missionaries by means of schools; and the second to those by means of preaching :

THE NATIVE PRESS.

Extract from the Bengalee Newspaper, Sumachar-Chundrika, of February, 1837."It may be in the recollection of our readers that we had inserted in the 'Chundrika' of the 18th Magh (30th January) last, an advertisement by Kesobram Bose, of Copil Parra, regarding his son, Dwarkanath Bose, who, being placed under the tuition of Missionaries, has relinquished Hinduism, and has in consequence been excommunicated, and lost all claim upon the said Kesobram as a father. Look at the strange behaviour of the Missionaries! They, with a view to delude boys to ruin, have spread the net of schools in which many have already been entangled, and their welfare, in this world as well as in the next, lost. Consider, what happiness can boys derive who are deprived of parental care and the benefit of their wealth, wandering like homeless vagrants? Should the Missionaries, on the occasion of a person embracing Christianity, let him have a house, a wife, and the wherewithal to subsist upon for life, the loss on the part of the convert would not be very great.

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'Consider, again, whether the Missionaries are not the most cruel people in the world. It is true that dacoits (highway-men) will rob you of your money, but they will not deprive you of your life, except in case of your not giving it up. How big dacoits the Missionaries are is not unknown to men possessed of sense! How dear children are to parents is impossible to describe in writing, and they are in the habit of snatching such dear objects from parents! And what is the consequence? The children

thus taken away, though their parents may be rolling in riches, are reduced to great poverty, and their wives are obliged to live like widows in the life-time of their husbands. Indeed, before life is extinct, they are dead to their relatives. That God Almighty has created a more cruel set of beings than the Missionaries, we do not see. Although the English are not warm in their affection to their offspring, and indifferent

as to the return of kindnesses with which they are loaded; yet would any Missionary like to be bereft of his child by a Mogul, for the purpose of making a Mussulman or slave of him, and say, 'that he chose a straight path, and I am not at all sorry for it,' and treat the matter with indifference?"

Extract from the Bengalee Newspaper, Shumbad Prubhakor, of the 13th February, 1837. We would strongly advise that all these honey-mouthed, but world-destroying Missionaries, should have a mark put on their white faces, and that they be driven out of this city; for until of late years, the inhabitants used, without meeting any opposition, to acquire religious merit by observing the precepts and ceremonies of the Vedas. Moreover, the Hindus never find fault with, nor attack the religion of others; but these white-faced, crafty Missionaries, whose sole aim it is to destroy the religion of other people, have erected in different places tiled or thatched houses, (chapels,) where they stand with fear-inspiring looks, and, agreeably to the command of their own foreign shastre, called the Bible, proclaim the acts and praises of the Son of Lady Mary, lifting up both hands, and moving backward and forward as if they were dancing; and, by every kind of wily contrivance, are destroying the religion and the caste of the Hindus. We repeat, therefore, our opinion, that the measure alluded to above (viz., putting a mark on their faces and expelling them from the city) should by all means be resorted to.

"But is it not a matter of astonishment that the rulers of the country are honouring the very men who are seeking to injure others; whilst those of their subjects [meaning the Hindus] who are spending a great part of their lives in religious exercises and holy acts, are neglected by them? Be this as it may, a great deal of injustice is now being committed. If it be decreed that Hinduism shall cease to exist, there is no one to prevent this calamity! We could write much on this matter, and bring forward many arguments; but what is the use of it if the public authorities pay no attention to the subject?"

These extracts, Mr. Lacroix continues, will speak for themselves. Although they display much animosity against Missionaries and Christianity in general, it nevertheless cannot but be gratifying to observe the very opponents of the truth giving their testimony that the efforts of Missionaries in Calcutta have not been altogether in vain.

Hostility to the Gospel is, however, not expressed only by words or in writing. At present, whenever a respectable Hindu is

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