Arcot, who sometimes comes into the district, has a circular bungalow erected on the last remnant of the fort walls. About one hundred and thirty invalided soldiers from British regiments reside within the bounds of the fort; most, if not all, married to native or country-born women. No functionary higher than a non-commissioned officer resides among them, and they are visited monthly by the district paymaster, from whom their pension or allowances are regularly received. There is no municipal, and hardly any military authority, or restraint; and, while every man may do what is pleasing in his own eyes, certain mercenary adventurers have frequently introduced to the pensioners a supply of adulterated spirits, the profuse drinking of which has been marked by cases of frantic and fatal madness. For two or three nights, at this time, the dissipation and violence of the hardened drunkard are unbridled and fearful. It would appear as if their former employers, on whose pensioned bounty they now live, desired their death rather than a comfortable old age. On one of my visits to Tripassore an old Irish trooper spoke some plain but forcible truth to me : " I have sarved my king and the Honourable (Company) as a dragoon for twenty-seven years, and now I am cast off just as if I were an ould troop-horse- the Company cares nothing for my sowl." A more general and equally unpromising description of the state of the people was sent to me by a pensioned serjeant of her Majesty's 34th regiment : "The Lord has manifested," he says, "his just displeasure of our abominations. Three men have died in nine days. The first had been drinking nearly three months, and died suddenly on the first instant; another died almost as suddenly on the fifth; and there were scarcely sober men (enough) to carry either of them to the grave: the third died on the ninth. The first I understand did not believe the immortality of the soul. May this awaken your pity and zeal to relieve us: don't be discouraged. I trust the Lord has still some souls in Tripassore." Where the poor outcasts had not sunk into the debasing practices of inebriation, the sordid vice of covetousness evinced its presence and power by the most usurious and extortionate proceedings. They had no chaplain, no missionary, no teacher. I was, I believe, the first person who had brought to bear on their condition any systematic or combined efforts for their improvement. The serjeant, to whom I have referred, speaks of himself in another letter: "To my shame, I must acknowledge, that my backslidings have been many and grievous. I had altogether given myself up for lost. I was afraid to pray. I considered it only presumption. For a considerable time my outward walk appeared as consistent as usual: mark the hypocrisy of my wretched heart! At length the lust that was rankling within burst out like a flame of fire; and, for about thirteen months, I was the slave of every filthy appetite and brutish lust. But still I had no rest. O what ways and methods have I taken to drown the voice of conscience! At length a man came to me, a stranger, and says, 'What a shame it is that there is not a vestige of religion in this place! In the name of God, let a few of us endeavour to form a prayer-meeting.' It immediately struck me this was a message from God, and that if I refused it, it would probably be the last offer of mercy. Since that (time) I have been enabled, through grace, to cry for the blood of sprinkling to be applied to my guilty conscience. The guilt and terror I have felt is beyond description. But at length, I trust, through grace, I have obtained mercy. O, this is such a wonder! I can hardly believe what I feel. Sometimes I have such a sense of the Saviour's love on my heart, that I cannot help but praise him. Then, again, I am tempted to think it is all delusion, but this I know is the device of Satan. I have proof against it; because sin not only is a terror to me, but I really hate it, and I loathe myself on account of it. I love those that bear the image of the Saviour, and long to be holy as he is holy. I long to have done with a sinful body and a sinful world. But I desire to wait his will; and I trust he will give me grace to struggle against flesh and sin."

s;

It was pleasing to discover the fruits of Canaan thus unobtrusively flourishing in such a wilderness ; surely personal religion is sustained by a divine, though invisible power, -proving that it is not of the will of the flesh, of the will of man, or of blood, but of God. I had sincere pleasure in my earliest

intercourse with this good man, and he continued steadfast to the end. I visited this retreat for the pensioned invalid. The collector's bungalow afforded me quiet and retired quarters, in which I held prayer-meetings, preached sermons, and counselled the people. I went from house to house for personal conversation, selected from among them two or three who were in a measure qualified as teachers for Sunday schools for the children, and bespoke the cooperation of the parents for the attendance of the young. Suitable books, &c. were provided for instruction, and the commencement of a library. The intelligent man to whom reference has been made was found qualified to be useful: he had been colour-sergeant, and while in active service had made a profession of religion ; and although he had yielded to the pernicious influence of unrighteous intercourse, his conduct now was most exemplary and modest. He described his past backslidings and the feelings of his heart with singular felicity, and gave evidence of a revived interest in the best things. Were this a place for more detailed accounts, his life was every way worthy of a record. He became a most useful and active benefactor of his fellow-soldiers; and so commended religion to the approbation of men in the higher ranks of the service, that while he conducted prayer-meetings, the collector of the district was not ashamed to appear as a devout hearer, desiring to share in the benefit, as well as to lend his countenance to the maintenance, of the service. Through this means, a grant of ground and timber was obtained, and a liberal subscription was given for the building of a commodious chapel and suitable school-room, which were speedily erected. Both the collector and the humble serjeant have gone to their account; but the good which they did lives after them, and their names are embalmed as the benefactors of those who now dwell at Tripassore.

I felt my incompetency for free intercourse with the natives; but I engaged in religious exercises among them, aided by an intelligent interpreter. The readiness of these poor people to embrace the feeble services which I attempted to render, showed that the harvest was plenteous, though the labourers were few. It gives me sincere pleasure to learn, that if some men sowed, others have been permitted to reap; and that though an obscure and very inefficient husbandman was the first to labour, other men have entered to reap that whereon the labours of others had been bestowed. An English church of nearly twenty members, and a native church of equal numbers, are now planted here: a native school prospers with forty scholars, and an English free-school of fifty-five scholars is maintained, in which the pupils are taught the usual branches of English, and the native language. A native reader itinerates in the surrounding villages; but a missionary is now stationed at the place with pleasing and encouraging prospects of success. May the little one