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MISSIONARY LABOURS AT NINGPO. [MARCH,

Horse Artillery, and the skeletons of two Queen's regiments. But it was difficult to recognise the Queen's soldiers, so jaded and miserable did they look, as slowly and wearily they marched by. Indeed, they looked more like sun-dried skeletons than Englishmen. They wore the dust-coloured Sikh uniform.

Scarcely had they pitched their camp outside the fort, than a furious and unexpected assault was made upon them by the Gwalior rebels, and although bravely repulsed, it was not without severe loss. The wounded. began to come into the fort; bleeding, lacerated, burnt, bruised. They were carried into the Pearl Mosque. There, in this marble temple, the most graceful building in Asia, rough wooden cots were hastily prepared, and mattresses, pillows, and quilts, which the ladies in the fort had long been making, in case of any necessity arising, were in full demand. Ere long the spacious corridors were filled with sick and dying men. The ladies were the nurses. "They attended day and night. To avoid teasing the men by too much nursing, they were in a small separate room, and at stated periods went round to give tea, jelly, soda-water, coffee, soup, or to help in dressing wounds." For weeks that the ladies watched over their charge, never was a word said by a soldier which could shock the gentlest ear. When all was over, and when such of the sick and wounded as recovered were declared convalescent, the soldiers, in order, as they expressed it, to show their gratitude for the kindness of the ladies, modestly asked permission to invite their nurses and all the gentry and society of Agra to an entertainment in the beautiful gardens of the Taj. There, under the walls of the marble mausoleum, amidst flowers and music, these rough veterans, all scarred and mutilated as they were, stood up to thank their countrywomen, who had clothed, fed, and visited them when they were sick. Every lady in Agra was ready to join in this good work, and not one of them but will bear testimony to the delicacy of feeling and conduct, as well as the hearty gratitude, of these brave men. We have read much of the misconduct of the British soldier in India; it is pleasant to be able to record facts of an opposite character.

MISSIONARY LABOURS AT NINGPO, CHINA. THE journals of a new Missionary are usually very interesting; every thing is so fresh to him, and he finds so much that is strange. It is true that his judgment is not so much to be depended upon, because it needs to be corrected by experience; but he is more communicative of many things which the older Missionary never thinks of writing down, because he has become so familiarized with them. The following passages are taken from the journal of a Missionary who has recently arrived_at Ningpo, one of our stations on the Chinese coast. It is dated Nov. 17, 1858, and this may serve to show us how rapid communication has become between the ends of the earth: dated Ningpo, Nov. 17, 1858, it reached London Feb. 3, 1859.

Our eyes are turned especially in the direction of China, now opened by treaty to the efforts of Christian Missionaries, and our prayers are to Him who has opened the door, to provide us with the men who shall enter in. The Rev. George E. Moule, amidst other duties, has been engaged in some journeyings to preach the Gospel more widely. He has been accompanied by the Chinese catechist Bao, a gifted man, and,

1859.]

MISSIONARY LABOURS AT NINGPO.

29

better still, one of thorough earnestness and whole-heartedness in his Master's cause, and love of the word and truth of God. May he continue humble and useful!

Mr. Moule and his companion left Ningpo at seven o'clock on the evening of October 25th, in one of the ordinary travelling boats, and stopping for a short time at the town of Dzian-ding, reached Yu-yiao about three o'clock on the afternoon of the next day, "a very picturesque city of considerable extent. The old, or North City, lies on a delta between two branches of the river, on the southern bank of one of which the New City is situated. The latter has only the name of novelty. The walls are already dilapidated in many parts, and planted as gardens in others. We arrived just at the time of a Chinese riot. The country-people, enraged at some conduct on the part of rich merchants and others, had come up in large numbers to take revenge. This they did by plundering and pulling in pieces two or three large shops and houses, and burning, not carrying off, the plunder. As we watched them from the top of an abrupt hill within the North City, three signal guns were fired, and shortly afterwards the vast crowds were seen wending their way homewards through the surrounding plains, now golden with ripening rice. Bao and myself spoke to small groups of people, whom we found watching the proceedings of the rioters, on the great root of all evil and wickedness, and the remedy. On returning to our boat I began, and the catechist continued, an address to the people who came round to look at the 'red-haired man.' Yü-yiao has often been visited, but not so as to destroy the feeling of curiosity respecting the foreigners, whom they honour with the above general designation.

"Wednesday, Oct. 27-During an early walk I talked to two or three groups of people, and noticed what I had already been informed of, the idiomatic difference between the speech of Yu-yiao and that of Ningpo. I also observed a ludicrous instance of the dread which our strange appearance sometimes excites. A boy of 14 or 15 years of age, whom I met walking along the edge of a narrow canal, walked into the water nearly up to the hips, in order to avoid me. After prayers, breakfast, and some refreshment graciously furnished to me in reading the precious word of God, I started with the catechist for the temple of the city guardian (Dzing-wông-miao, rendered Palladium' by Dr. Williams), talking on the way of the love of Christ, of the responsibility of setting it forth in fulness and simplicity, and withal of the difficulty we mutually felt of ascertaining exactly each other's meaning. We found the temple full of bustle, on the occasion of a devotion to "the two Kings," viz. the introducer and fosterer of Buddhism. There was a large choir of priests chanting, and of women telling their beads, while they repeated the O-mi-da-veh (Amita Buddh, as some say), and made innumerable genuflexions and knockings of the forehead. We stood in one of the side sheds or chapels, and were soon surrounded. I began speaking to the people, asking them if the two kings and other objects of their worship could hear them; then speaking briefly of the one High Ruler, whom I came to preach, of our dependence on Him, of our sins, of the importance of casting away the false, and turning to the true.' I got much attention and some intelligence, and then asked my companion to go on. He spoke at great length. During his speech I retired a few

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MISSIONARY LABOURS AT NINGPO.

[MARCH, steps, to draw away the boys and other restless people, who caused a little disturbance. In this way I soon had a separate crowd, to whom I spoke as well as I could in the way of question and answer, though the latter element was scanty. The catechist, in the meantime, had two or three very close listeners amongst the elder part of his audience. After a while we sat together on a stone to rest, and as the crowd around us was as large as ever, I broke silence with the children, who are always in front, and sometimes very troublesome-speaking of the importance of correct behaviour and deference to elders, and thence returning to our great theme. Then Bao got up and spoke :-' He was an under lettercarrier. God had sent tidings of grace and salvation to the world. The news first reached a foreign people. It was transmitted thence till it reached England. English disciples had carried it to China. At Ningpo he himself had received and understood the news, and now he was gladly employed in carrying it round to make known to his countrymen.' After repeating the essential characteristics of this letter of grace, we left, walking in the direction of the house of a gentleman whom we had met on the hill yesterday, and to whom we had promised a book. We failed in finding his house, partly owing to the number of persons of the same 'honourable surname' with himself. We conversed, however, severally with some scholars for a considerable time, and found that they had the Gospels, having received them from Mr. Cobbold, or other Missionaries. One of them asked for the Geography' published at the Presbyterian Mission Press, of which I had some copies with me. He accordingly

sent a servant to our boat shortly after our return to it, and received a copy for himself and one for a friend. There was a good deal of clamour for books round the boat and in the street; but I gave very few, the number of readers and of genuine applicants being very small indeed. "In the afternoon we went into the New City. We took our stand near a family ancestral hall, and, whilst Bao was addressing the people, I retired a few steps with an intelligent man, who asked me a question, and sat down with him on a bench, which he caused to be brought. I was soon surrounded, and as my friend got captious, or perhaps contemptuous of my imperfect utterance, I addressed myself to the crowd. At last a young scholar asked me a question, of which, after a time. I gathered the meaning. It was, 'How should we reverence Jesus?' I stood up and looked round for Bao, referring my friend to him, as the more intelligible speaker. He came at once, for my crowd had completely destroyed his audience, and presently recognised in the inquirer a person to whom Mr. Cobbold had given the Gospels during a visit to the school where the young man was a student. He therefore referred him to that book. He spoke of the person and office of Jesus from John i. and Matthew i., ii.; the office of the Baptist, from Luke iii., at great length. I added a few words of personal appeal to the young man and the bystanders, and we took our leave.

"Thursday, Oct. 28-Before going to the temple, to which we had promised to make a visit to-day, we walked through the Old City in a different direction, and coming to a stand in a quiet street of private houses, very near to one of the rice shops lately pulled to pieces, we began to speak to the little mob whom we had gathered during our walk. Soon our words were drowned by the gongs and pipes of a bridal pro

1859.] ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLE FOR CHRISTIAN TEACHERS. 31 cession, which turned in at a gate just beyond us. I then began telling the story of the miracle of Cana, and, when I had done, asked Bao to supply my defects. He accordingly addressed the growing crowd, and I, standing at a little distance, spoke to a few, who manifestly paid more attention to my dress than to the speaker. My words chiefly consisted of an appeal, as personal as possible, to an intelligent young man who stood next me. We then walked on to the temple. There the worship went on as yesterday. We walked into the middle of the court, and observing among the bystanders some priests, I asked one of them whether the rites they were performing were true or false. He made no answer, but a brother priest shouted out, False,' and laughed. I repeated his words, and exhorted the people to cast away the false, and return to the true.' We were soon both employed, Bao at first addressing the old devotee women, who came round to gaze at me, and one of whom, taking me for Mr. Cobbold, expressed concern that I did not look so well as formerly. He spoke earnestly to them, and received some attention; but several of the old dames, while giving some heed to his word, and much heed to the foreign clothes, were busy telling their beads and reciting their O-mi-da-veh, notwithstanding. A man now fetched me a seat, and I was soon in conversation with those around me. Two elderly men were very attentive, one of whom afterwards came to the boat for a book. My subject was God our substitute.' We returned to the boat by a wide circuit, walking on the city wall, and accompanied by half-adozen people, with some of whom we were in constant conversation."

ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLE ALONG THE BANKS OF THE NIGER FOR CHRISTIAN TEACHERS. OUR new Mission work along the banks of this river is assuming a most interesting aspect. Let us glance at some of the places where it is going forward."

At Gbebe, at the confluence of the Kworra and Tshadda, the Rev. S. Crowther, in descending the river last autumn from Rabba to Fernando Po, found three Christian visitors waiting for him. He proceeded at once to settle them there. Ground on which Mission premises might be erected had been selected the previous year; and Mr. Crowther sought out the chief, Ama Abokko, in order that a small dwelling-house and little schoolroom might at once be commenced to be erected. The ground was under crop; corn and yams were growing upon it, and it was yet six weeks to the harvest. The chief wanted to know if our friends wished to commence building at once, because, if so, he would order the corn to be rooted out. This was, however, declined. The crops might have been paid for at a valuation, but Mr. Crowther wisely judged, that to have destroyed them would have been painful to the feelings of the farmers, by depriving them of the great satisfaction which they feel in gathering with their hands that which they have planted. The three visitors speak the Nupe, and one of them the Kakanda, languages spoken at the Confluence. They had been amongst the Bassas, to whom they spoke the word of God, with such effect, that the chiefs were anxious to see Mr. Crowther, had his time permitted.

At Idda, still further down the river, Mr. Crowther asked Ehemodina, an old friend, if a lodging could be had near his premises for any Chris

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AFRICAN MISSIONARY IN THE FEEJEE ISLANDS.

[MARCH,

tian teachers who might be sent to Idda, until he could procure a place of his own. His answer is worthy of being remembered "I have plenty of cowries, I have plenty of wives and slaves, I have houses; if you remain five years in my house, nothing shall harm you." He added that he did not look for our money and property, but that it would be his delight to see us fulfilling our promise of forming a settlement at Idda. Mr. Crowther grounds on this an earnest appeal for two Christian visitors of upright principle, speaking the Igara language, to go amongst that people, and fulfil the promise made to them seventeen years ago. Let us pray that the Sierra-Leone church may respond to that appeal, heartily and without delay.

One place more, and we have done-Onitsha, the first station as we go up the river. Here a native Missionary, the Rev. J. C. Taylor, the first Christian teacher in those parts, has laboured diligently for the last year, although in separation from his family, and amidst many difficulties.

Here the fields are white to the harvest. The people are ready to hear. Everywhere there is a panting after the bread of life. Entreaties for teachers to come and settle amongst them is heard from places fifty to eighty miles distant; and our earnest friend writes-"I now appeal to the church for men to come forward and join in this holy cause. Surely there are hopeful signs abroad, and the promise shall be made good"Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God."

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AN AFRICAN MISSIONARY RAISED UP IN THE FEEJEE ISLANDS. THE history of Mr. George Hubbard, of Boston, who is about to enter upon his labours as a Missionary in Africa, accompanied by his wife, happily illustrates the beneficent influence of Christian Missions in their reflex action.

Some years ago there lived in Boston a young man of one of the best families in the city, intelligent, well educated, of agreeable manners and address, and popular with all who knew him. Still, he was generally known as a very "fast" young man, and noted for his extravagance in the expenditure of money, his disregard for those conventionalities and moralities of which society requires the observance of all within its pale. The result of such a career need not be described. The last chance that seemed to be left for the reinstatement of the subject of our story in the good opinion of his friends, of himself, and of the world, was a voyage, in some responsible capacity that should test the sincerity of his desire to reform.

By the aid of friends he procured such an opportunity, and left his native city as the commander of a merchant vessel, bound on a long and somewhat hazardous voyage. In the course of it he found himself among the Feejee Islands, and having occasion to go ashore on one of them, he visited the rude dwelling of a native chief, who entertained him hospitably, and, as he was about to depart, requested him to pray to the Christian God, with his family.

Here was a dilemma. The attitude and act of prayer had long been strange to the youth, and he was not prepared for such a request; and in default of his ability to comply with it, the Feejee chief raised his voice in prayer, while the native of a Christian and civilized land, himself unused