"Sept. 30.-Had the following conversation with my teacher, as nearly as I can recollect it. This man has been with me about three months, and is the most sensible, learned, and candid man, that I have ever found among the Burmans. He is forty-seven years of age, and his name is Oo OUNG MENG. I began by saying, Mr. J is dead. Oo. I have heard so. J. His soul is lost, think. Oo. Why so? J. He was not a disciple of Christ. Oo. How do you know that? You could not see his soul. J. How do you know whether the root of the mango tree is good? You cannot see it; but you can judge by the fruit on its branches. Thus I know that Mr. J

was not a disciple of Christ, because his
words and actions 'were not such as indi-
cate a disciple. Oo. And so all who are
not disciples of Christ are lost! J. Yes,
all, whether Burnians or foreigners.
Oo. This is hard. J. Yes, it is hard, in-
deed; otherwise I should not have come
all this way, and left parents and all to
tell you of Christ. [He seemed to feel
the force of this, and after stopping a lit-
tle, he said,] How is it that the disciples
of Christ are so fortunate above all
men? J. Are not all men sinners, and
"deserving of punishment in a future state?
Oo. Yes, all must suffer in some future
state for the sins they commit. The pu-
nishment follows the crime as surely as
the wheel of the cart follows the footsteps
of the ox.
J. Now, according to the
Burman system, there is no escape. Ac-
cording to the Christian system there is.
Jesus Christ has died in the place of sin-
ners, has borne their sins, and now those
who believe on him, and become his dis-
ciples, are released from the punishment
they deserve. At death they are re-
ceived into heaven, and are happy for

ever. Oo. That I will never believe.
My mind is very stiff on this one point,
namely, that all existence involves in it.
self principles of misery and destruction.
The whole universe is only destruction
and reproduction. It therefore becomes
a wise man to raise his desires above all
things that exist, and aspire to Nigbun,
the state where there is no existence.
J. Teacher, there are two evil futurities,
and one good. A miserable future exist-
ence is evil, and annihilation, or Nigban,
is an evil, a fearful evil. A happy fu-
ture existence is alone good. Oo. I admit
that is best if it could be perpetual;
but it cannot be. Whatever is, is liable
to change, and misery, and destruction.
Nigban is the only permanent good, and
that good has been obtained by Gauda
ma, the last deity. J. If there be no
eternal being, you cannot account for
any thing. Whence this world, and all
that we see? Oo. Fate. J. Fate! The
cause must always be equal to the effect.
See, I raise this table; see also that ant
under it: Suppose I were invisible:
would a wise man say the ant raised it?
Fate is a
Now fate is not even an ant.
word, that is all. It is not an agent, not
a thing. What is fate? Oo. The fate
of creatures is the influence which their
good or bad deeds have on their future
existence. J. If influence be exerted,
If there be a
there must be an exerter.
determination, there must be a deter-
miner. Oo. No: there is no determiner.
There cannot be an eternal being. J.
Consider this point. It is a main point
of true wisdom. Whenever there is an
execution of a purpose, there must be an
agent. Oo. [after a little thought] I
must say that my mind is very decided
and hard, and unless you tell me some-
thing more to the purpose, I shall never
believe. J. Well, teacher, I wish you
to believe, not for my profit, but for yours.
I daily pray the true God to give you
light that you may believe. Whether
you will ever believe in this world, I
dont know: but when you die, I know
you will believe what I now say. You
will then appear before the God that
you now deny. Oo. I dont know that.
J. I have heard that one Burman many
years ago embraced the Portuguese reli-
gion, and that he was your relation. Oo.
He was a brother of my grandfather.
J. At Ava, or here? Oo. At Ava he be-
came a Portuguese; afterwards went to
a ship-country with a ship-priest, and
returned to Ava. J. I have heard he
was put to death for his religion. Oo.
No he was imprisoned and tortured by
order of the emperor. At last he escaped
from their hands, fled to Rangoon, and
afterwards to Bengal, where they say he

died. J. Did any of his family join him? | o. None. All forsook him; and he wandered about, despised and rejected by all. J. Do you think that he was a decided Christian, and had got a new mind? Oo. I think so; for when he was tortured hard, he held out. J. Did he ever talk with you about religion? Oo. Yes. J. Why did you not listen to him? Oo. I did not listen. J. Did you ever know any other Burman that changed his own for a foreign religion? Oo. I have heard that there is one now | in Rangoon, who became a Portuguese; but he keeps himself concealed, and I have never seen him."

SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

(Communicated by Dr. Ryland.)

THE Sandwich Islands, situated in the Pacific Ocean, between 18° 50' and 20° 16' N. Lat. and 203° 47' and 205 E. Long. from Greenwich, are eleven in number. Nine of them are under one king, called Tamahamaah. The other two are under his brother, called Tamoree, These princes are men of un- | common activity and enterprize : they are labouring to introduce the arts of

civilization among their subjects. All the islands are fertile, and the climate salubrious. Owyhee, the largest of the islands, is supposed to contain from one to two hundred thousand inhabitants. And the population of all the islands may be stated at from three to 500,000. The islands, however, are capable of sustaining a much greater population than this, and probably will, as soon as Christianity shall have abolished their cruelties, and civilization increased the facilities of living. The natives are friendly and hospitable to strangers, although the unfortunate captain Cook here lost his life by a sudden impulse of resentment. They are enslaved by the horrid rites of idolatry: they worship blocks of wood and stone, and not uhfrequently stain their cruel altars with human blood.

Five youths from these islands are now educating in America, who appear already to be converted to Christianity, one of whom is the son of Tamoree; another, Benjamin Carhooa, a native of Owyhee, has resided several years in Boston, and belongs to a Baptist church in that city, composed of people of colour.

Domestic Religious Intelligence.

AFRICAN INSTITUTION.

WEST INDIA SLAVERY.

FROM a series of pamphlets, entitled "West Indian Sketches, drawn from authentic Sources," we shall occasionally make a few extracts, in order to excite in our readers an abhorrence of that abominable traffic in human flesh, which is still the disgrace of many of our countrymen; and also to show them the necessity of giving support to every measure calculated to better the condition of this degraded class of our fellowcreatures. The following anecdote is extracted from a work of Dr. Pinckard, on Colonial Bondage, and relates to what is called,

THE DRIVING SYSTEM.

1. "At one spot, in the course of our ride, we had our attention arrested, by observing a party of four, almost naked, females, working in a cane field. Curio'sity would not allow us to pass on with

out devoting to them a moment of particular regard: We therefore went 'a little off the road to approach them nearer; when we found that they were

labouring with the hoe, to dig, or cut

up the ground, preparatory to the planting of sugar; and that a stout, robustlooking man, apparently white, was following them, holding a whip at their backs. Observing that he was the only one of the party who was idle, we inquired why he did not partake of the task, and were told, in reply, that it was not his business-that he had only to keep the women at work, and to make them feel the weight of the whip if they grew idle, or relaxed from their labour."

Vol. I.

P. 140.

2. "On my way down the coast lately from Mahaica, I observed among the slaves, what to me was a novelty; although I was told, by a gentleman of the colony, that it was by no means uncommon. In one of the fields we passed a gang of negroes employed at their labour, with a female driver carrying

the whip at their backs. On my remarking that it was not a becoming duty for the beau sexe-that the nature of the lady might be too tender to admit of her correcting the strong, and her arm too feeble to enable her to chastise the idle my companion replied, that I was much mistaken; for, on the contrary, the women drivers' were sometimes peculiarly severe, and often corrected the stoutest slaves with no feeble arm." Vol. II. p. 121.

proprietors of slaves at this place, whe are upon the fist of the special jurymen for the province of Columbo, and who are, therefore, all personally known to me. The proposal was well received by them; and they, at the general meeting which they called, to take the contents of that letter into consideration, unanimously came to the resolution, that all children born of their slaves, after the 12th of August next, should be free; (the 12th of August was fixed upon by them at my suggestion, as a compliment to the opportunity of observing a species of the Prince Regent.) They afterwards Negro-labour that was new to me; hav-appointed a committee, from among

3. "In the course of our walk, I had

ing met a party of sixteen naked slaves, male and female, in the act of dragging the trunk of an immense tree out of the forest, with ropes. They were conducted by a driver with his whip; and pulled on the load by mere strength of arm, having no assistance from any machinery, and only availing themselves of the simple expedient of placing small billets of wood under the tree, at short distances from each other, in order to prevent it from sinking into the dirt, and doubling their toil." Vol. II. p. 199.

for the purpose of carrying their benethemselves, to frame certain resolutions, volent intention into effect. The principal object of these resolutions is, as children, born free after the 12th of Auyou will perceive, to secure that the gust next, shall be provided for by the fourteen; it being supposed, that after masters of their parents until the age of they have attained that age, they will be able to provide for themselves.

place, consist of about one hundred and "The Dutch special jurymen of this thirty of the most respectable Dutch 4. In walking through Kingston, gentlemen; in which number are con(Jamaica,) I observed an example of tained almost all the Dutch who are large slavery unlike any that had met my eye proprietors of slaves. Besides those to windward-sixteen or eighteen Ne- gentlemen, there are jurymen of all the groes, linked in a sort of harness, and different casts among the natives; such forming a regular team, were drawing as Vellales, Fishumen, men of the Mean immense trunk of mahogany, con-habaddle, or Cinnamon Department, ducted by a driver with a cart-whip, who went whistling at their side, and flogging them on, precisely as an English carter does his horses." Vol. II. p. 371.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN

CEYLON.

It is truly gratifying to subjoin an instance of a contrary description; and to state, that effectual measures have been taken for the abolition of slavery in Ceylon, in the East Indies. The Honourable Sir Alexander Johnston has

addressed a letter to the African Society, dated Columbo, 22d July, 1816, in which he says:

Chitties, or Mahomedans. The moment the jurymen of these casts heard of the resolution which had been come to by the Dutch special jurymen, they were so much struck with the example which had been set them, that they also immediately addressed me in the same manner as the Dutch had done, announcing their acquiescence in the measure which had been adopted by the Dutch, and their unanimous determination to consider free, all children that may be born of their slaves after the 12th of August.

"The example of the jurymen of Columbo, is, I understand, to be immediately followed by all the jurymen on the island: you will, I am sure, be delighted to hear of this event. The state of domestic slavery, which has prevailed in this island for three centuries, may now be considered at un end."

"I have, for the last ten years of my residence in Ceylon, been endeavouring, as I believe I have often mentioned to you, to get the principal proprietors of slaves on the island, to fix a day after It is due to those worthy persons, which all children born of their slaves whose names, to the amount of 64, are shall be considered as free. My endea-signed to their letter, to give an extract vours have at last, as you will see by the from it, to show the sentiments by which inclosed papers, been attended with suc- they were influenced in adopting this cess. I wrote, on the 10th of this month, measure. They say, a jetter upon the subject, to the principal

"We beg leave to assure your lord

ship, that the proposal conveyed by your lordship's letter is gratifying to our feelings; and it is our earnest desire, if possible, to disencumber ourselves of that unnatural character, of being proprietors of human beings: but we feel regret in adding, that the circumstances of every individual among us, does not allow a sudden and total abolition of slavery, without subjecting both the proprietors, and the slaves themselves, to material and serious injuries.",

In concluding their letter, they thus strongly express themselves, by calling these measures for the abolition of the slavery," The extinction of a traffic avowedly repugnant to every moral and religious virtue."

MISSION TO THE HIGHLANDS. THE Baptist church, meeting in Morrison's Court, Glasgow, (elders, Messrs. Watt and Buchan,) have published an address to the societies of Christians in Scotland, of similar sentiments, giving an account of the labours of two itinerants, William Tulloch and Peter Fisher, during seven weeks in the Highlands and Islands. They travelled about 360 miles; preached about 80 times, and addressed about 4,400 persons.

Extract of a letter from Mr James Buchan, of Glasgow, to Mr. Ivimey, dated Dec. 28, 1816.

"The printed letter herewith sent, will show you that we are not forgetting the Highlands of Scotland. Many parts of them are destitute almost as India. At present there seems to be a considerable shaking of the dry bones. If we can, we mean to send more preachers among them, with the glad tidings of salvation, through the finished work of God, manifest in the flesh.

"In the summer of 1815, a Baptist church of about eighteen members, with their pastor, Allen M.Dumed, left Breadalbane, Perthshire, and emigrated to British North America: they all sailed in one ship. The other day there was a letter from the pastor, which was as follows:-On their voyage they were well used, and he preached to the crew and passengers every Lord's day. They passed the winter in Montreal. Mr. M'Dumed preached either there, or in the country, about twelve miles distant, every Lord's-day. At the latter place, one man would have been baptized, but for the severity of the weather at the time. In the spring of 1816, the church removed to about eighty-three miles

from Montreal, where they have settled. After they left, the person above referred to continued to meet with all. that came in the neighbourhood of Montreal, and read and endeavoured to explain the scriptures to them, Mr. M'Dumed says, that the church met comfortably under the shade of a tree : he is with them every other Lord's-day. The day he is absent, he goes to a considerable distance and preaches. His audience is, in general, pretty numerous, and he hopes his labours are not without success. In the neighbourhood where they have settled, there had been a Presbyterian minister; but he had died a little time before they arrived. Between where they are and Montreal, there are but two ministers; the one a Roman Catholic priest, and the other a minister of the church of England. In the opposite direction, going up the country, he says, he does not know how far he might travel, without meeting any person who should point out the way to eternal life. As to Bibles, there is a great want of them. At one place where Mr. MD. preached, he asked, why they came without Bibles; they replied, because they had them not. He requested they would let him know how many it would require to supply each family that wanted with a copy; they answered, 150. He has a demand of Bibles to supply this lack. Previously to this period, he had distributed a considerable number of Bibles and Testaments, which he took out from hence; some of which were purchased by himself, but the greater part were given him for distribution, by the Glasgow Auxiliary Bible Society.

"I hope the Baptist Missionary So. ciety will print the last Memoir of the Translation, in its present state, for sale. It is a curiosity which most, literary characters would like to have. Dr. McGill, Professor of Divinity in our University, wishes very much that this should be done. Yours, "JAMES BUCHAN."

ORDINATION.

WARMINSTER, WILTS. ON Wednesday, the 20th of Novem ber, the Rev. Joseph Mitchell was set apart to the pastoral office over the Baptist church at Warminster, Wilts. Service was commenced with reading a prayer by Mr. Winter, of Beckington. Mr. Bulgin, of Poole, stated the nature of a gospel church, and described the character and privileges of its members. Mr. Gough, of Westbury Leigh, asked the usual questions of the church and

Poetry.

London: Printed by J. BARFIELD, 91,Wardour-Street, Soho.