houses of Kilpauk. The Female Asylum is one of the last buildings till the traveller has fairly entered the country. This institution deserves a passing notice; is supported by government liberality. The matron was an elderly lady, the widow of a German missionary; the chaplain was also a missionary of the same nation; but there were assistant teachers, and the institution was visited by a board of ladies, the wives of the higher functionaries at Madras. The scholars were generally children of a parentage which would be thought discreditable in wellordered society, though the poor offspring could be chargeable with none of the guilt of their fathers, or the ignominy of their mothers. It might be considered a refuge of mercy, and rendered a nursery for virtuous and enlightened sentiment. According to the training here, would be the character of future wives and mothers among the British soldiery and country-born community.

"I shall never forget the sweet and strange sensations, which, as I went peacefully forward, the new objects in nature excited in my bosom. The rich broad-leaved plantain; the gracefully drooping bamboo; the cocoa-nut, with that mat-like looking binding for every branch; the branches themselves waving with a feathery motion in the wind; the bare lofty trunk and fan-leaf of the tall palm; the slender and elegant stem of the areca; the large aloes; the prickly pear; the stately banian, with its earthseeking, and reproductive, and dropping branches ; and among birds, all strange in plumage, and in note, save the parroquet, here spreading his bright green wings in happy, fearless flight, and giving his natural and untaught scream; - these, and more than I can name, were the novelties we looked upon. My dream of anticipation, more than realised, gave me a delight which found no expression in words. I felt grateful that I had been led and permitted to see India; I wondered at my own ignorance, and at the poverty of my imagination, when I reflected how much the realities around me differed from what my fancy had painted them. How some things surpassed, and others fell short, of my foolish expectations; and yet how natural, how easy all appeared!" One of my visits to this depôt was rendered in compliance with the earnest request of a poor soldier, whose brief history may interest some of my readers.

Many considerations give British inhabitants of India a claim upon the zealous labours of ministers of the gospel, though their ostensible designation primarily respect the natives of that land. Apostolic practice affords a clear precedent for such proceedings; the fact that they are often overlooked by their nominal chaplains strengthens their claim ; the sad effects of their dissipated and immoral lives among the Hindoos cannot be calculated; while the obstacles which such conduct raises against missionary labours are most disheartening and deplorable. It is not less true that genuine Christianity, in the lives of its professors, commends the truth to the consciences of the surrounding idolators; and the cooperation of such fellow-christians is of the highest value in the field of missions. With such views, I did not hesitate often to visit the garrison, the fort, and the cantonment, where I enjoyed numerous facilities, through the friendly countenance of superior and subaltern officers. Regular ministrations of the gospel were maintained weekly in the barrack school-room of Fort St. George. At the close of one service, when the words addressed to the doting rich man, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee," had been the subject of consideration, as I was retiring, one of the soldiers, in a state of poignant distress, met me. I turned aside to ascertain his motive for waiting on me. His words were " Did J. C. (a fellow-soldier) speak to you about me?" My reply was, "No." "Then did my wife tell you any thing about me?" "No," I said; " I do not know who you are, and know nothing about your wife-what is it you want?" "Because, Sir," said he, "you have been preaching about me all this night." This led to inquiry and intercourse. The poor man was a nominal Roman Catholic; had been very profligate, and even awfully wicked, while in the field, as his commanding officer assured me. After passing through a process of severe mental anguish, and encountering much ridicule and opposition from the non-commissioned officers of the regiment, who belonged to the Romish community, he renounced that church, and made a profession of his attachment to Christ, by being baptized as a Protestant.

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Shortly afterward his regiment was home; and as he had married a woman of the

I

country, he volunteered into another corps. He was now at the depôt, waiting orders to march to join his new regiment. It is to Poonamallee that all draughts of fresh British troops are marched when they disembark at Madras. Here also they wait till detachments are ordered to proceed to their several stations in the peninsula. Many wives, widows, and children, of European soldiers, are located here. The population, who required instruction in the English language, were therefore numerous; but the poor man who sustained the office of chaplain was incapacitated for such work as they needed. The soldier came to me on this account, having walked the distance, thirteen miles, to solicit a visit, and one or more sermons. started that evening, and found him returned to the station and busy making arrangements, having obtained a barrack-room, fitted it up, and warned the people. My congregation was large and attentive. Once and again did I meet with them, and found many of them in a state of sad and ruinous ignorance. None of the officers attached to the depôt took a personal interest in the spiritual concerns of the people; but, though Galliolike, they did not object or throw impediments in my way, rather, with courteousness, did they exercise toward me true Indian hospitality-spreading for me a bed and their board. The fortadjutant, who had great influence, here and at Tripassore, gave me all his aid to secure my personal comfort and acceptance with the poor people at both stations. Vegetation is peculiarly luxuriant around this station, and the soil is extensively brought under cultivation for native agriculture ; the paddy, or rice fields bear an abundant crop, and the husbandmen have full protection and a ready market. Five or six permanent staff appointments only are held by European officers: the society is therefore small, but the distance from contiguous stations, and the fresh arrivals from Europe, afford variety and recreation. Poonamallee is more oppressively hot than Madras, being so much farther removed from the benefit of the sea breezes.

Tripassore has been the scene of sanguinary strife in the early period of British conquest in India. In 1781 it was occupied by the troops of Hyder Ali, and reduced by an English force. Scarcely had they taken possession of the fort when Hyder appeared before it and gave battle on the neighbouring plain to his English adversaries. Six hundred men of the Company's troops, and many officers of distinction, were slain on the field, and the fortress of Tripassore was a shelter for the residue of their army, till Hyder retired to the Mysore territory. Thirty years afterwards it was occupied as the cadets' quarters, where they were initiated into the art and discipline of war. The fort is now dismantled, the walls and fosse are no longer means of defence, and the collector of