Andries Stoffles was one of the very few of the Hottentot converts whom we have had the happiness of welcoming among us. By multitudes of the friends of Africa in this country, he is affectionately remembered, as one who was renewed after the image of Christ. Stoffles came to plead the cause of his wronged and suffering countrymen; to ask on their behalf for the sympathy and aid of British Christians. He was a powerful advocate, for he possessed, in union with the influences of religion, the eloquence of nature and the strength of truth, and left no heart unmoved, no mind unconvinced by his statements and his appeals. Having sickened in our ungenial climate, he returned to Africa, but only survived a few days after reaching the Cape. To his latest hour, we are assured that he had peace and joy in believing; and the light of the Saviour's love fell fully on his soul as it departed to the world of glory. Many friends will be gratified by the following brief narrative of his life, kindly furnished by an honoured Missionary of the Society now in Africa :

His birth and early life.

Andries Stoffles was born about the year 1776, on the banks of the Bosjesman River. He was a Hottentot of the Gonah tribe, which, as a distinct tribe, though once numerous, has now almost ceased to exist. The country which they inhabited is called the Zuirveld, lying between the Gamtoos and the Great Fish River. From his boy

hood, Stoffles was a close observer, and was gifted with an excellent memory. With a naturally sound judgment he possessed an active mind and a sanguine temperament; and consequently at an early age he was found mingling in the fierce feuds and conflicts which arose at that period between the Dutch Boors and Hottentots. In one of these engagements he was severely wounded, and narrowly escaped the loss of life. On another occasion, a waggon went over his body and nearly killed him. These accidents caused much pain to him in after life, and, in his own opinion, considerably aggravated, if they did not originate, the disorder under which he eventually died. After his conversion, the remembrance of occurrences which had so nearly proved fatal, always deeply affected him, and he was frequently heard to remark, that had he died then, he should have been lost for

ever.

His conversion.

An event which greatly determined his future course in life was the circumstance of his being taken prisoner by the Caffres, and carried from his own country into Caffreland. There he resided for some time, learnt the Caffre language, and was employed as an interpreter. In that capacity -he was taken by a Caffre chief to Bethelsdorp, about the year 1810. Stoffles was then in a savage state, and arrayed in the Caffre fashion, his only clothing a dressed cow skin thrown loosely over his shoulders, and his body smeared with grease and red ochre. When first he attended Divine worship at

Bethelsdorp, he was so ignorant of its purpose and meaning, as to suppose that the people had assembled to receive rations of provisions, or presents of beads and buttons. But he was soon undeceived-Divine grace speedily reached his heart, though it was some time before his mind was fully enlightened as to the way of salvation. His second attendance in the house of God has been thus characteristically described by himself:

"The preacher spoke of every thing I had done from my childhood. I said to myself,This is very strange, surely my cousin must have gone to the Missionary and told him all about me.' My cousin said, 'No, I never spoke about you to the Missionary. The Bible is that which tells you about your own heart,'"'

The conviction of sin smote immediately upon his conscience, and he was no longer the same man. True, he returned to the Caffres, and tried to be happy in his former ways; in dancing, and merriment, and idle mirth; but conscience pursued him, and he could find no rest.

Labouring under a deep sense of sin, and having in vain sought relief to his mind in heathen companionship, Stoffles returned to Bethelsdorp, and again listened to the preaching of the Gospel; but his convictions were only strengthened, and the agitation of his mind increased in proportion. Overcome by his internal conflicts, he frequently hastened from the chapel to the bush, weeping aloud. Here, it is said, he would spend hours and even days apart from human intercourse, praying to God for mercy, and seeking for rest to his heavyladen spirit. In this state he continued for two or three years, bowed down under the consciousness of guilt, beset by the terrors of self-condemnation, and unable to apply to himself the rich remedies of the Gospel of peace. But He who hath promised not to break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax, at length shed abroad a

fluence of the climate, and causes before referred to, and it was recommended that he should leave England immediately. On the 7th of Nov. he embarked for Africa, with the Rev. J. Read, jun., and the Rev. E. Williams. At the commencement of the voyage, his health apparently rallied; but after crossing the line, a relapse followed, and on his arrival at the Cape he began rapidly to sink. He was confined at Green Point for a short time, but was finally released from suffering on the 18th of March, 1837.

In his dying hours, his mind was calm and resigned. He had never, he said, enjoyed more of the presence of God his Saviour than during the voyage. When he ceased to anticipate recovery, he expressed

regret at not being spared "to go and tell his people what he had seen and heard in England. He would go and tell his story in heaven, but he thought they knew more there than he could tell them."

The death of Stoffles will be lamented by multitudes of the natives, both within and beyond the Colony; the people of Kat River were scarcely to be comforted, and it was feared by some that his wife and daughter, who were exceedingly attached to him, would fall sacrifices to their grief. But many prayers have been offered on their behalf, that their deep affliction may bring forth abundantly the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN GOOMSUR.

COMMUNICATIONS on this painful subject were made to the friends of the Society in the Missionary Magazine for last month. It was likewise stated, that from a view of the information they had received, the Directors had been led to contemplate a Mission to Goomsur, the scene of the almost unexampled cruelties to which attention was then reluctantly invited. Intelligence on the same subject has been subsequently received from our Missionaries at Vizagapatam; the tenour of which fully sustains the views previously entertained by the Directors, and which they are persuaded have since been extensively adopted among the disciples of Christ in this country. It will be seen by the details now given, that a Mission to the Khoonds would be attended by many circumstances of a peculiarly favourable, kind. True, their superstition is deeply-rooted, and sanguinary in the extreme; the human victims whose blood it requires are doomed in earliest childhood to the sacrificial knife, a fact which in itself is calculated to deepen the impression of the moral callousness of the people, and to enfeeble the hope of their speedy acceptation of the Gospel of Christ. But, on the other hand, it will be observed, that the Khoonds are chiefly a pastoral race, comparatively secluded from the world, and free from many of the vices and prejudices which abound amid the great masses of mind in India; that they are exempt from the thraldom of caste, one of the strongest barriers with which in India the Truth has to contend; that their priests exercise but little power over them, and that probably even their dreadful custom of offering human sacrifices arises, not from wanton barbarity and delight in blood, but from a deep conviction in the minds of the people, that it cannot be dispensed with, its observance being apparently regarded by them as essential to the fertility of the land, on the products of which they mainly rely for subsistence. There appears good ground to hope that the people would willingly abstain from this great enormity if once convinced of its uselessness as well as its criminality. Under these circumstances, the field now before us urgently calls for the earliest efforts which can be made on its behalf, and must be regarded as peculiarly inviting to the Missionaries of Christ. Messrs. Gordon and Porter, under date 4th of August last, thus write :

"The late war in the Goomsur Country (a district situated 200 miles from hence) has opened a most important and interesting field of Missionary labour, which we hope the Society will take up. The Khoonds, a people inhabiting the hilly part of that country, appear quite distinct in manners and religion from the people inhabiting the plains. They have no caste among them, nor any of the

peculiar manners of the Hindus. They are barbarous and uncivilised, and their superstition is of a most sanguinary kind; they offer human sacrifices, and present the blood of the victims as a libation to their goddess, the Earth, or Ceres. These people have among them an order of priests, who are not so much venerated by them as the Brahmins are by the Hindus. In reference to their sanguinary customs, the following is an extract of a letter which has appeared in one of the Madras papers :

"The Khoonds are now discovered to be in the habit of sacrificing children annually at sowing time, in a most cruel manner, for the purpose of propitiating the demon of their worship, and of securing, as they suppose, a good harvest by the blood of their victims.

"At this season of the year,* just before the turmeric shrub is planted, the Khoonds make the sacrifice alluded to. They select, as their victims, male children who are devoted from infancy to this purpose, and are sold to the Mallees or Kunwars+ of the different villages. . When the ground is ready, the victim is led forth, bound to bamboos for the better security, and taken into the open plain. The cultivators assemble, and, at the supposed auspicious moment, commence the dreadful carnage by hacking (with knives) the body of the truly pitiable creature; each cutting off a part as quickly as possible, and hastening with it to the field whose fertility is the object to be secured. The blood, in which the Khoonds imagine the virtue of the spell to subsist, is then made, by pressure of the hand, to fall in drops upon the soil; and the flesh, not yet cold, is cast into the same ground. In hewing the body great care is taken not to touch a vital part; for should death occur before the blood is dropped on the field, the charm, according to the notions of the people, would be lost.

"Some of the Khoonds, on being expostulated with, asked what else they could do, as they should have no crops if they neglected to perform this ceremony. Yesterday," continues the writer, "twenty-five intended victims who had been rescued by the Madras officers, were brought into the camp, and a party was sent out last night to rescue several unfortunate creatures about to be thus immolated."

Messrs. Gordon and Potter further state, that "fourteen children, rescued by the officers of the Madras army, when bound for sacrifice, had been placed under the care of the Collector at Ganjam. We regret to add, that the Collector is now dead the children will in consequence be located at Chicacole, under the care of a pious civilian in the Company's service residing there. As soon as a Missionary comes to Chicacole, that gentleman will transfer the children to his Their instruction in the Christian religion will aid in forming a groundwork for the introduction and establishment of the Gospel in that idolatrous country, whose condition and whose claims are now beginning to be so fearfully disclosed.

care.

"We hope,” the brethren observe in conclusion, "it will not be long before the Directors determine upon a Mission to the Khoonds, to declare amongst these blinded and debased people the unsearchable riches of Him who is Lord of the harvests, both of heaven and of earth, and on whom the children of men are alike dependent for the bread which perisheth, and that which endureth to everlasting life."

MISSION AT BENARES.

THIS ancient citadel of the hoary but polluted priesthood of Hinduism, in which the great adversary of souls had so long held undisputed dominion, is gradually

yielding to the power of the Cross. A growing conviction among the natives, Hindu and Mohammedan, of the emptiness and absurdity of their wearisome, debasing, and withal expensive superstitions, is the most prominent, if not the most hopeful, attribute of the deep moral ferment which has been produced by the dissemination of the truths of Christianity. From this a fast-spreading incitement to inquiry into the claims of our holy religion has naturally arisen, marked, as it would be expected, by the utmost diversity of motive, conduct, and disposi tion, in those who seek for information on the subject. Out of the immense number of immortal beings thus alternating, in every conceivable state of mind, between dumb idols and the living God, agitated by contending claims, interests, and feelings; some convinced without being changed, loving the darkness rather than the light; others believing the Gospel and anxious to embrace it, but held back by the dread of persecution or contempt; while others still remain wholly unmoved by the truths which are proclaimed; a few have, through the riches of Divine grace, been brought into fellowship with Christ, and formed into a church in connexion with this Mission. Letters dated in May last, including these and other features of interest, and addressed to the Foreign Secretary, have recently been received from the Rev. W. Buyers, one of the devoted Missionaries at Benares. After mentioning the happy death of a native female, a member of the Hindustani church, whose last hours were brightened by a calm and steady reliance on the Saviour, Mr. Buyers proceeds as follows:

Devotees.

There is one class of people with whom we have more to do at Benares than, perhaps, any of our brethren elsewhere, and with whom it is very difficult to know how to deal. These are the devotees who come on pilgrimages. Benares swarms with thousands of them from all parts of India. Many of them on hearing the Gospel are much struck, and almost every month some of them appear so much affected, that they openly profess their convictions, and strip off their pilgrim badges, Brahminical strings, &c., join our people, and request to be baptised. We might have baptised twenty or thirty of these people during the year. The difficulty with them is this, they are in general incorrigible wanderers, and to stay in one place would be misery to them. Those of them who have been regular devotees, were never accustomed to any work, or to any regular habits. Every place is their home, and from the regard in which they are held by the people, they can every where live in abundance.

Such persons, when impressed with the Gospel, will give themselves up to it with great apparent zeal, and in many cases seem very sincere. They will stay with us months, and, contrary to their usual habits, will even work diligently with their hands, and sometimes behave so well, and attend to the word with such simplicity of heart, that no objection to their baptism seems possible; and yet, perhaps, either before or after baptism they will go away without telling any one, of seeming at all to alter their minds. Out of this class there have been some excellent converts in India; but the insecurity connected

with them is so great, that we scarcely know what to do. It is impossible to lay down any rule as to the length of time a man should be kept a candidate for baptism, as one may give more decided evidence of character in three days than another would do in as many years.

We have lost several of this class in whom we had much confidence. Some were baptised, and others almost approved of. Not one of them acted improperly; and it is possible some of them were rather enticed, or forced away, by friends who had come in search of them. One of them had a wife and children about two hundred miles from Benares, and wished to go for them, but has not returned. There is one consolation, that although these have left us, they have carried the knowledge of Christ with them, and may yet feel it more powerfully, and, perhaps, spread some information respecting it over the country. I know of one who, though he left the Christians, has never joined again with the heathen in their worship, &c., but constantly shuts his shop on the Sabbath, and spends the day in reading the Scriptures. In this country there are many remarkable developments of character, such as are not to be met with in Europe; and this one feature is, perhaps, almost peculiar to India, that there are men who give up family and fortune for the Gospel, and yet will prefer living as solitary outcasts in the midst of the heathen, bearing the reproach of Christianity, but shrinking from association with Christians.

Comparative view-Hindustani Church.
You congratulate us on the progress that