Arnsby 15 10 0 4 0 0 3 00 11 16 10 . 37 8 9 760 12 14 2 22 8 6 Sheepshead 11 0 0 63 0 0 Sutton in the Elms 4 1 0 Irvine Female Independent Bible Society.. Chipping Norton, by S. Huckvale, Esq. North East Cambridgeshire Auxiliary, by Banbury and Buckingham, by Mr. Goffe Bath Auxiliary, to account, by J. Smith, Naunton and Guiting, by Rev. J. Burton. 10 13 7 Collections and Subscriptions, by Mr. 65 18 8 *The amount from Leicester includes two donations from C. B. Robinson, Esq.; £25 for additional missionaries to the West Indies, and £25 for the liquidation of the debt owing by the Society. DONATIONS. Mrs. Elizabeth Philips, late of Llanrithan, Executor Mr. John Philips.. 94 1 4 The thanks of the Committee are presented to the Rev. John Craps, of Lincoln, for 250 Pamphlets on Baptism, and to a Friend, for seven New Testaments for the West Indies. A box has been received from Miss Addison Bower, Edinburgh, and a parcel from Mrs. Risdon, for Mr. and Mrs Henderson, of Belize; a parcel from the Rev. J. Russell, Melksham, for Mr. Hayles, Montego Bay; a box from the Rev. P. J. Saffery and Friends, Hastings, for the Rev. Walter Dendy, Bethtephil; a case from Bury for Mr. Quant, Turk's Island; a case and keg from Berwick, for Mr. Clarke, of Jericho; and parcels for Mr. Phillippo, Spanish Town, from Miss Stacey, Tottenham, and Mr. Cartwright, Warwick Place, Holborn, and, also, a box from Miss Collingwood and Ladies at Oxford. Mr. Applegate, at Nassau, acknowledges, with thanks, in a late letter to Fen Court, his having received a box of clothing and fancy articles from Mrs. Salter, of Trowbridge, and friends at Westbury. Our friends who have kindly suggested an enlargement of the Herald, and that it should, in future, be sold, instead of being issued gratuitously, are informed that the subject is under consideration.. *Early numbers of the Herald, or of the other publications of the Society, will be thankfully received at the Mission House. The accounts from Jamaica, subsequent to the 1st of August, having been far too ample to be included in the Herald, a separate pamphlet has just been published, entitled, Freedom in Jamaica; or the First of August, 1838, with a frontispiece, pp. 24. To be had at the Baptist Mission House, Fen Court, Fenchurch Street, or of Mr. Wightman, Paternoster Row, at 2d. each, or 15s. per 100. The profits arising from the sale of this publication will be appropriated towards the object of sending additional Missionaries to Jamaica. J. HADDON, PRINTER, CASTLE-STREET, FINSBURY. THE MISSIONARY MAGAZINE AND CHRONICLE, RELATING CHIEFLY TO THE MISSIONS OF The London Missionary Society. SUBSCRIPTIONS and DONATIONS in aid of the Funds of this Society will be thankfully received by the Treasurer or Secretaries, at the Mission House, Blomfield-street, Finsbury, and by Messrs. Hankey, the Society's Bankers 7, Fenchurch-street, London; in Edinburgh, by Mr. George Yule, Broughton Hall; in Glasgow, by Mr. Risk, 9, Cochranestreet; and in Dublin, by Messrs. J. D. La Touche and Co., or at 7, Lower Abbey-street. PERILS OF TRAVELLING THROUGH THE JUNGLES IN INDIA. THE itinerant labours of the Missionaries at Calcutta, in the extensive and densely peopled neighbourhood of that vast metropolis, have always borne a character of strong and varied interest. The purpose for which these exertions have been made has been two-fold; first, to communicate the Gospel to the natives, and, VOL. II. N secondly, to obtain exact information as to their moral and spiritual condition, with a view to more extended and regular efforts on their behalf. In December last, two of the brethren, the Rev. A. F. Lacroix, and Rev. J. Campbell, with this object in view, proceeded on an excursion up the Isamuttee river, through the districts of Bagundee, Jessore, and Kishnagur. The natives whom they observed, or with whom they held personal intercourse on the way, especially those employed cutting down trees in the jungles and forests, they describe as being extremely ignorant and superstitious; and deeply needing religious instruction, consolation, and peace. The brethren further remarked, that these our fellow beings are not only suffering under the evils of an utter unacquaintance with the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, but that, in their outward circumstances, they are also exposed to numerous calamities of a peculiarly trying nature. Among the latter may be mentioned, the constant peril in which they are placed from the insatiable beasts of prey, and amphibious monsters, which swarm the desolate jungles and rivers of this part of India. Against these ravenous and almost resistless creatures, the defence which they can make is feeble in the extreme; and the bodily wounds, of which multiplied instances occur, followed in many cases by agonising death, but too fully warrant the apprehension of danger, scarcely less painful than the reality it forebodes, under which the unprotected natives almost constantly labour. From the frequency of the accidents experienced in this way, the brethren (who have themselves the same perils to encounter, but with more resolution to meet them, knowing, besides, that no harm can befall them from man or beast without the permission of Him in whose service they go forth) take occasion to notice the advantage which would arise if Missionaries, labouring among a people so situated, possessed, in addition to their own proper qualifications, some share of medical knowledge and skill. This would often be brought into requisition, and it is thought might be the means, not only of serving the cause of humanity, but of securing to the Missionary a large accession of moral influence, which, under the Divine blessing, could scarcely fail to operate in his favour as an ambassador of Christ unto the Gentiles. After entering the Isamuttee river, which they describe as "a beautiful stream, but much infested with alligators, which frequently carry away both human beings and cattle," the brethren proceeded to Takee, and thence to Bagundee, at which place they experienced a most gratifying reception from Dr. Temple, the Superintendent of the East India Company's Salt Agency residing there. His skill in the medical profession, they state, enables him to do much good among the poor natives of this sequestered district, who flock to him from all quarters for advice and medicine. In support of their opinion, as to the desirableness of Missionaries in this part of India being qualified to afford medical and surgical aid to the natives, and also as tending to show that the Bengallees, in cases of emergency, are not destitute of courage and self-possession to the extent generally supposed, the Missionaries mention the following circumstance of which the preceding page contains a representation — "Dr. Temple related to us that some time ago two villagers were returning from a neighbouring market, and had to leap over a ditch that communicated with the river. One of them got safely over; but the other, in attempting to follow his comrade, was seized above the knee by an alligator that lay concealed underneath. The monster was hastening to the river with its prey, when the man had the presence of mind to thrust his thumbs into its eyes. The alligator, unable to bear the pain, instantly let go its hold. The poor man's friend, who had been a spectator of this frightful scene, then rushed forward, pulled him out of the mire, and brought him to Dr. Temple, who found the leg so dreadfully The operation suc lacerated as to render immediate amputation necessary. ceeded, and the man was restored to his family, who, on hearing of the circumstance, had given up all hopes of ever again seeing him alive." Having left Bagundee and visited several other places, the brethren arrived at Poorooa, a large village on the eastern bank of the Isamuttee. They were kindly received by the Zemindar, in whose house they met by appointment six learned Brahmins, heads of native colleges, with whom they held a deeply interesting conversation on the comparative claims of Christianity and Hindooism. This circumstance, which cannot but be regarded as a source of encouragement and hope, is thus noticed : tual attempts to get out of the dilemmas they had brought themselves into, they were visibly much humbled, and better prepared to hear our views of Divine truth; indeed, they even begged we would state them: we then, without being interrupted, acquainted them with the religious system of the Bible, and with the way of salvation as it is in Jesus. They listened with great attention, and much apparent interest. We thus spent three hours in a most agreeable, and, we hope, useful manner;-there was no anger displayed, and no noise made, and the discussion was conducted on both sides with a temperate and friendly spirit. The pundits and the people expressed themselves very anxious that we should remain a few days longer, to tell them more about Christianity, but our time would not allow of this. Before taking leave, we gave to the Zemindar and to the teacher of the school a copy each of the New Testament in Bengallee, and to every pundit a copy of one of the gospels, and requested them to peruse them attentively, and promised, that if spared, one of us, at least, would endeavour to visit them again a few months hence. The Pundits and ourselves sat on chairs at one end of a large open hall, the rest of the apartment being occupied by a concourse of people, who had come to hear the discussion, and who seated themselves on the floor. Being aware that Hindoo pundits have most exalted notions of their own theological knowledge, and the utmost contempt for that of others, we did not deem it prudent to commence at once with the Gospel, which they would probably have received with unbecoming feelings, or met with sophistical arguments, in which they are great adepts. Our object was to produce in them, first a little humility, by convincing them that their system was not quite so tenable and faultless as they, from never having been opposed, had hitherto fondly surmised. We therefore requested them to tell us what the Hindoo shasters teach about the nature and attributes of God, the creation, &c.; and it was not long before they had, as we expected, made several contradictory statements. On this being pointed out to them they commenced differing among themselves also, some maintaining one opinion, and the others another. After much talking, and several ineffecAfter leaving Poorooa, Messrs. Lacroix and Campbell continued their labours in other villages and towns until the 23rd, when they returned to Calcutta. The journal of this interesting tour, which it is fervently hoped and believed will be followed by a measure of the Divine blessing, closes with the following remark : Of the various impressions produced upon our minds during this excursion, the most vivid and forcible was, that the fields are white unto the harvest, but that the labourers are few. Oh, may the Lord of the harvest thrust forth more labourers into his harvest, men full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and endowed with a burning zeal for his glory, and love for the poor perishing heathen! so that this extensive country may speedily be reclaimed from the thraldom of superstition and sin under which it has so long been groaning, and be won to the Lord, to remain as long as the earth endures, a monument of what his grace and his power to save can effect. GOOJURAT IN ITS RELIGIOUS AND MORAL ASPECTS. IN further elucidating the character and tendency of the Hindoo system, and exposing the delusive rites and practices connected with it, Mr. Fyvie thus proceeds : |