of the most remote of Syrian towns, and is situated on a high land: yet here a Jewish synagogue stands near to, or joins hard by the christian chapel, and Jew and Christian have been wont to live in peace in this land of common exile. Cranganore is the place celebrated for the landing of the Apostle Thomas in India, and not far off is the town of Pavoor, where stands an ancient Syrian church, supposed to be the oldest in Malabar, which bears the name of the Apostle. It has a sloping roof, arched windows at one gable, which is the front and main entrance; there are five crosses erect, two on either side of the peaked roof, and one on the highest point, and one in the wall over the door: at the other gable is a round detached tower, slanting roof, and surmounted with a cross; the bells of the Syrians are hung within their chapels, lest they should disturb the heathen gods which may be in the vicinity. The buildings have been compared to some old parish churches in England, the style of which is of Saracenic origin, with buttresses supporting the walls-the beams of the roof, where exposed to view, are ornamented, and the ceiling of the altar and choir is circular and fretted.

While we dwell upon these vestiges of antiquity, and recount the events of their history with a sympathetic interest, it is to us a matter of regret and lamentation, that they should have so long existed, surrounded by darkness and superstition, by error and delusion, both degrading and ruinous, without any successful effort to propagate that truth which

they affirm an Apostle came to Western India to proclaim. And while it is a cause of mutual congratulation between them and us, that we should both possess, in a language which we understand, the sacred oracles of the living God, it is to be deplored, that, though they had obtained them at a very early period, they should have continued to hold them in the Syriac language, without any attempt to translate them into the vernacular dialect of the people themselves. It seems a humbling rebuke to the professors of the Christian name, that a fourth part of the nineteenth century should have passed away before any great progress should be attained in rendering the inspired volume into the Malayalim, their own language, and that this, too, should at last be the work of strangers, who had travelled ten thousand miles to labour among them. Would it not be presumptuous to anticipate or look for exertions becoming Christians from these Syrians, to promote among their neighbours the knowledge of the true God? The people at their doors, the subjects of the same government, still remained bewildered idolaters, and had not been regarded for many ages as fit subjects for evangelical exertion. No wonder that one of themselves should confess, "We are in a degenerate state compared with our forefathers; the glory of our church has passed away; we have preserved the Bible; we have also converts from time to time; but in this christian duty we are not so active as we once were; it is not so creditable now to become Christian in our low estate." To the rajah and his court, whose protection they so long enjoyed, they were known only as Sooriani; but not as professing a religion similar to the faith of that power which had secured to himself his throne, and had for a century been consolidating an empire around him, and has at last become paramount through all India. Surely, if that great light, the word of the living God, had been held up as a lamp of knowledge, then would the people, who so long sat in the region and shadow of death, have beheld and turned to Jehovah with thankfulness and joy.

Something has, however, been done by themselves, and for them, to improve their spiritual condition, and increase their religious and moral influence. The visit of Dr. Buchanan in 1806, and his subsequent publication of what he had seen, imparted excitement to the people themselves ; inquiry, and some little exertion, followed. His Christian Researches stirred up many pious men in his own community at home, and led to the appointment of an Anglican episcopal missionary to the country of Travancore. The Rev. Messrs. Norton, Bailey, Baker, and Fenn, were stationed at Allepie in 1816, and at Cotym in the years 1817 and 1818. A Mr. Redsdale and a Dr. Doran were added to the number after a few years, and several chaplains of the East India Company have exerted themselves among the Syrians, especially Messrs. Hough and Jeffreson. General instruction was promoted by the establishment of schools. Copies of the Syriac Scriptures were sent from the British and Foreign Bible Society. The missionaries carried forward to completion a translation of the Holy Scriptures into the Malayalim language, the vernacular dialect of that province. The liturgy of the church of England was also introduced in the same language into the services of several congregations. At Cotym a Brahminical college of celebrity had existed long before, and another had been recently erected not far distant, for the cultivation of Sanscrit learning. A christian college was founded by the benevolent liberality of Colonel Munro, British resident at Travancore, and had been built in 1815. The rannee, or queen regent of Travancore, was induced to patronise this institution by a gift of 2,000l., and a grant of land called Munro Island, endowments equal to the support of fifty scholarships. The enlightened views on which Colonel Munro exerted himself for this institution, were expressed by him in 1819 in the following statement." It is only by an efficient course of instruction at the college, that a respectable body of native clergy can be procured for the service of the Syrian churches, and for the propagation of Christianity among the heathen." The college was provided with an English (missionary) superintendant, two Syriac and one Hebrew professors, two native teachers of Sanscrit, and an English teacher and assistant. In a short time fifty students were profiting by the advantages of the institution, and the whole Syrian population looked to the college as the eye of their body, making it their boast; while the students gave indications of zeal and progress. Three seminaries, on the plan of free grammar schools, were established, one for the central, one for the northern, and one for the southern divisions of the country. The most promising youths were selected from these for the college, which they entered as soon as vacancies occurred. The number of youths under instruction exceeded a thousand, in common schools, besides the fifty who attended college to prepare for ministerial services in the church. A printing press had also been established, from which the sacred Scriptures (translations), native works, and religious tracts, continued to issue and circulate among the people. The formation of a public, or collegiate library, had been commenced, and several thousand volumes collected.

As an illustration of the interest taken in these proceedings by the Syrian metropolitan, and the partial progress of this ecclesiastic in book learning, as well as the miscellaneous nature of the books, we may mention the following incident. MarDionysius took a pleasure in conducting visiters through the college. To one visiter, after having shewn all other matters, deemed curiosities, he shewed a book, printed in English type, but not in the English language, and expressed his regret that no one of his learned friends had been able to interpret or translate this strange work. The friend to whom he made his complaint, glanced over the page, and found it to be a copy of the Scriptures,