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neighbours are extremely opposed to them. They receive Christians, who go to visit them, with affection, and delight to entertain them, and learn things from them. They are most anxious to hear the preaching of the Gospel. On the occasions on which I went, from 25 to 30 persons assembled even at night. They told us they were anxious to have some one to instruct them in the truths of Christianity, and to teach their children, and begged us to help them. Mr. Waldock, therefore, went to the village, examined matters, and as there was no one else to send, and very few children came to the Mahagama school, and the people there care nothing about religion, he has given up that school for a time, and sent my brother (the teacher, Migel Perera) to Korigammana. The people there have now finished building a school-room, and have given one of their houses for my brother to live in until they can build a house for him, to whom they are much attached.

"For the last fortnight an intelligent old man, 70 years of age, who was a rigid buddhist, having considered our discourses, has now forsaken Buddhism, accepted Christianity, and exhorts others on the subject. He has often asked to be bap tised, and is extremely anxious for it. Some four of them, before we went to that village, used to go sometimes twelve miles to hear preaching. Mr. Jones has this month baptised twelve of the people of Talanpithia, besides a priest. Though the people of Korigammana are desirous of being baptised, we exercise caution. "We are confident that you will pray, and joyfully thank God with us, for all these things which He is thus doing at Ceylon.

"There are now three newspapers, published in Singhalese, for the illumination of Ceylon, conducted severally by Buddhists, Roman Catholics, and Protestants. We are glad, for by these means the Gospel gets proclaimed. We, too, have had opportunities of exhibiting various subjects in those papers. The religious controversy is still going on. Both parties (the Christian and Buddhist) have published various books and pamphlets. We now perceive, even more than before, the value of your translation of the New Testament; but as we have not the Old Testament, we are like persons who work with only one hand. We trust that God at the right time will give us that also.

"The work which Amaris Silva is doing at Kadugannawa is prospering. Matelle affairs, too, are prospering exceedingly. Our brother Silva, the native pastor, there, suffers a great deal from the Buddhists; but he is able to bear it all.”

THE CYCLONE IN CALCUTTA.

From the facts given below it will be seen that this fearful hurricane has been very destructive to our mission premises. The Lall Bazaar Chapel has had its zinc roof torn off; beyond this we have not yet received the particulars of the damage that has been done.

Under date of Oct. 9, the Rev. C. B. Lewis writes as follows:

"The night of the 4th was rainy and the following morning very dark and wet, but we had little expectation of the terrific storm which was rushing upon us, and which raged with almost unexampled fury for about five hours, uprooting all the noblest trees, tearing out doors and windows, dashing down houses and walls, and inflicting upon the shipping in the river loss which I expect will have to be computed in millions sterling. You will doubtless read many graphic accounts of this tempest in the newspapers. I shall not attempt to describe the howling tempest in its fury, or the scene presented by the country around us, now that all is bright and calm once more. I am anxiously looking for tidings from our stations, that we may know to what extent they have suffered. I can only guess the amount of loss thus far, but I have reason to fear that £1,000 will not repair all the damage we, as a Society, have sustained in house property. I fear that the tidal wave, which in such tempests rushes in from the sea, and which in this instance fringed the Banks of the Hooghley with vessels of all kinds, from dinghys and native cargo boats to large steamers and fine ships of 1500 tons burden, has had ruinous effects upon some of the Christian villages to

the south of Calcutta, and that it will be necessary to do something for the help of the sufferers."

Our readers will especially regret to hear of the damage done at Serampore as detailed in the following excerpt from the Friend of India.

"A tremendous gale, unequalled within the experience of men who have been forty years in the country, has been raging for hours, and has scarcely subsided at the time we write. We know not how far its devastations may have extended, but we can answer for the effects of it in our own locality. It began from the North-East, and turned the river Hooghley into a sea which swept everything before it. It carried away the road which skirts the river at Serampore, and in the height of the gale two large flats foundered-more than one native boat, in front of our own house, sharing their fate. The compound which surrounds the Friend of India house and offices was yesterday studded with fine trees, the growth of a century-to-day it is a wreck. Mahogany trees lie with their roots torn out of the ground, large verandahs deck the paths; and as our house itself is a mere ruin, and our offices a swamp, and the river is rushing in upon us as if determined to make a clean sweep of us altogether, it will be imagined that we have not got our present paper to press under the most cheerful circumstances in the world. After blowing some hours from the north-east the gale shifted round to the south, from whence it is blowing while we write. The destruction of native huts round about Serampore is enormous. Dr. Carey's garden, which was adorned with some rare and beautiful trees, contains now a few melancholy stumps. The whole place is a wilderness, and judging from what we can see of Barrackpore they have not fared much better on that side. If this has been the effect within the range of a few hundred yards, it is too evident that the general destruction must have been immense. The gale is now (9 p.m. Wednesday) moderating; it appears to be a cyclone, and no longer spends its fury in one particular direction."

Since the foregoing account was sent to press, a letter, dated Oct. 16, has come to hand, from the Rev. T. Morgan of Howrah, near Calcutta, in which he observes: "My house is situated in a large garden, and is much exposed, but we have had only one Venetian blown out. If I had not followed the gale in its course, and fastened doors and windows, there would have been nothing left whole in the house. Two large fir trees fell on the beautiful portico of the chapel, and broke it to atoms, and the trees then rested on the roof, and the branches were buried in. But it is a singularly strong roof, and did not break.

"To remove these trees was a work requiring great labour and skill. I went to one of the Superintendents of the Railway, and he, in the kindest manner, placed some fifty men at my disposal. The trees were removed with little injury to the chapel, and by dint of perseverance, we had service on Sunday.

"It is impossible to give you an idea of the universal destruction and desolate appearance of the country. I stood on my verandah, after the storm was over, and its whole appearance was changed. I felt as if I had dropped from the sky in a new country I did not know views familiar to me for twenty-five years."

MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS.
SEWRY, BIRBHOOM.

Two youths of Christian parentage were baptized and added to the Church on Lord's-day, September 4th, and others were expected in the month following. The ordinance was administered by our native brother, Koilas Chunder Nath.

HOWRAH.

Mr. Morgan reports the improved health of himself and Mrs. Morgan. The attendance at the weekly prayer meeting had so increased as to require its transfer to the chapel. Four young persons had lately been baptized, and a hopeful state of feeling exists among the congregation.

KHOOLNAH, JESSORE.

The native church at Buridanga will for the future depend on its own resources. The native preacher has lately been transferred to Khoolnah, to labour among its numerous population. The missionary will, from time to time, visit the little church at Buridanga.

CHINA, CHEFOO.

Mr. Kloekers informs us that he is engaged in building a small chapel at TsoongKia. The cholera has again broken out in Chefoo, and the Chinese were dying in large numbers. Mrs. Laughton has suffered slightly, but was recovering. Mr. Laughton is occasionally assisted by Cheng-si-seng, a nephew of our respected brother, Ching. He is a young man of good abilities, and is employed as a clerk in the Custom House. He is very fond of spending his evenings in preaching and teaching, purely as a work of love.

BRITTANY.

Mr. Jenkins is much engaged in completing at press the small edition of the Breton New Testament, and in preparing tracts for distribution. At Tremel much attention is paid to the gospel, and the efforts of the priests to hinder its spread avail little. The colporteurs are well received, and are active in their employment.

The congregations in Guingamp are not quite so large, some families having left the town; but various incidents prove that the Word of God is sought after.

HOME PROCEEDINGS.

The meetings held during the past month have been numerous and important. Dr. Underhill and the Rev. R. Bion have gone over Glamorganshire, beginning with Cardiff, going on thence to Swansea, and ending at Llanelly. The Rev. W. Teall and W. A. Claxton, have visited Leicestershire, and the Rev. J. Diboll East Gloucestershire. Of these meetings generally we have received good accounts. Our friends in the latter district did not rely wholly on pulpit or printed announcements, but they had a small slip, about half the size of this page, on which was an invitation to come "to the meeting to be held to-night," and which was left at every house in each place,-certainly a most effectual method of calling attention to the service. Mr. Heritage writes, "without exception the attendance has been larger, and our meetings were never so good." The brethren in the locality rendered most efficient aid. When the pastors in any given district take up the cause personally and warmly, such effects are sure to follow. We rejoice to find that "the collections will exceed both the ordinary and special of last year." If this be done everywhere, then our financial position will be one to occasion great joy.

After the Rev. T. Evans had finished his engagements in East Lancashire, in Oct., he went to the north-west, taking Preston, where there had been no meeting for four years; Lancaster, a new cause, and none before; Tottlebank, Blackpool, and Inskip, where they had two services the same day! The missionary spirit kindled here by our brother Thompson, now in Africa, is not likely to die out. In this district our brother was well supported by Revs. W. F. Burchell and Webb. Mr. Evans has also visited Tewkesbury and the vicinity, and the various Churches in the Shropshire Auxiliary. At some of these services the Rev. J. Robinson, of Calcutta, was expected to be present, but the very serious illness of Mrs. Robinson prevented his going from home, and the Rev. W. Teall kindly supplied his place. We beg an interest in the prayers of our friends for our afflicted friend.

The last African mail brought us tidings of the safe arrival of Rev. A. Saker and his party at Sierra Leone, Oct. 13th. By this time they are all safe, we hope, at Cameroons.

The Revs. J. Parsons and J. Jackson, with their wives, sailed for Calcutta, in the Trevelyan, on Tuesday, the 15th ult. We have received tidings of them since their departure. They were detained in the Downs by contrary winds up

to the 24th.

The Rev. F. and Mrs. Kingdon have been heard from, off Angier, in the Straits of Sunda, Sept. 3rd; all well.

FINANCES.

We were beginning to feel somewhat anxious on this subject, as remittances did not come in as we had expected. Lately, however, the stream has began to flow again, and we hope that all Treasurers and Secretaries of auxiliaries will remit as fast as they can, and not wait for their accounts to be closed up, but send on what they have from time to time. This prevents the necessity of borrowing too freely of our Bankers, who act most generously towards the Society, and upon whose kindness it would be wrong to trespass. The news from Calcutta should stimulate all our friends to fresh efforts to supply the loss occasioned by the dreadful storm.

MISSION SCHOOLS.

Most of our friends are aware that there are schools for the children of missionaries, at Walthamstow for their daughters, and at Blackheath for their sons. Here they are well educated and cared for, a Committee of Ladies and Gentlemen watching over them with the utmost kindness. The premises at Walthamstow have been recently purchased at a cost of over £5,000, and they will be greatly enlarged and improved. The school at Blackheath is now out of debt-the building, which is handsome and spacious, having just been paid for; and the debt on current expenditure, which had gradually grown up to a formidable sum while the efforts were being made to pay for it, was cleared off at a public dinner, at which our Treasurer presided. Över £1,600 were raised on the occasion. To both these objects the Committee had great pleasure, in uniting with the Directors of the London Mission, in making proportionable grants. We hope the future career of these valuable institutions, so beneficial to the children of our honoured missionaries, will be even more prosperous than the past.

REV. J. CLARK BROWN'S TOWN.

JAMAICA.

We beg respectully to call the attention of our friends to the appeal made by our friend in the "Freeman" of Nov. 2. From his letter we learn that, owing to the failure of the crops, scarcity of food and water, in consequence of severe and repeated droughts, the peasantry are plunged into great distress. They are in sad want of clothes, and he asks if some would not contribute the means of purchasing materials for clothing, if ladies in our congregations would not cheerfully make up garments for the aged and destitute, especially children; and if others could not supply warm homely garments, by which we understand clothes no longer to be used. We have received some contributions from a few Churches in Scotland, and private friends; but we appeal again through the "Herald," and hope not in vain. Any parcels or donations sent to the Mission House shall be duly forwarded.

JUVENILE HERALD.

The new volume for the year is now ready, and a very handsome little book it is. Its contents are very varied and instructive. Parents will do well to present their children with a copy at Christmas, or as a new year's gift, if it has not regularly been taken in; and our young friends who have not purchased it would help the Society by helping to extend its sale.

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CONTRIBUTIONS,

Received on account of the Baptist Missionary Society, from October 21st to November 20th, 1864.

W. &O. denotes that the Contribution is for Widows and Orphans; N. P. for Native Preachers; T. for Translations.

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.

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