twenty miles since the morning, and were both weary and cold, we felt but little inclination to sleep. This disinclination was probably increased by our proximity to the yawning gulf, and our conviction that the detachment of one small stone from beneath the overhanging pile, on which we were reclining, or the slightest concussion of the earth, which every thing around indicated to be no unfrequent occurrence, would perhaps precipitate us, amidst the horrid crash of falling rocks, into the burning lake immediately before us. The following is an interesting exhibition of domestic affection in all its power of undisguised truth, or, as the Missionaries more correctly call it, a beautiful specimen of native manners. Thus we passed along till we reached his father's house, where a general effu sion of affection and joy, presented itself, which it was impossible to witness without delight. A number of children, who ran on before,had announced his approach. His father, followed by his brothers and several other relations, came out, and met him, and, under the shade of a wide spreading kou tree, fell on his neck, and wept aloud for some minutes; after which they took him by the hand, and led him through a neat little garden into the house. He seated himself on a mat on the floor, while his brothers and sisters gathered round him. Some unloosed his sandals, and rubbed his limbs; others clasped his hand, frequently saluting it by touching it with their noses; others brought him a calabash of water, or a lighted tobacco pipe. One of his sisters, in particular, seemed considerably affected. She clasped his hand, and sat for some time weepAbout 3, P. M. we approached Kaimu. ing by his side. At this we should have This was the birth place of Mauae, and been surprised, had we not known it to be the residence of most of his relations. He the usual manner among the South Sea was a young man belonging to the Gov- islanders of expressing unusual joy or ernor, who had been sent with the canoe, grief. In the present instance, it was the and, since leaving Honuapo, had acted as unrestrained expression of the feelings of our guide. He walked before us as we nature. Indeed every one seemed at a entered the village. The old people from loss how to manifest the sincere pleasure, the houses welcomed him as he passed which his unexpected arrival, after several along, and numbers of the young men years absence, had produced. On first and women came out to meet him, salu-reaching the house, we had thrown ourted him by touching noses, and wept for joy at his arrival. Some took off his hat, and crowned him with a garland of flow-|| ers; others hung round his neck wreaths of a sweet scented plant, resembling ivy,|| or necklaces composed of the nut of the fragrant pandanus. When we reached the house where his sister lived, she ran to meet him, threw her arms around his neck, and having affectionately embraced him, walked hand in hand with him through the village. Multitudes of young people and children followed, chanting his name, the names of his parents, the place and circumstances of his birth, and the most remarkable events in the history of his family, in a lively song, which, he afterwards informed us, was composed at his birth. selves down on a mat, and remained silent spectators, not however without being considerably affected by the interesting scene. We had been sitting in the house about an hour, when a' small hog nicely baked under ground, with some good sweet potatoes, was brought in for dinner, of which we were kindly invited to partake. We would cheerfully add other extracts from this interesting tour. But our limits forbid. We have inserted enough to interest our readers in the book, and that interest we hope they will increase by reading it for themselves. MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSION. BURMAH. premature. Our Missionaries, we fear, are not yet released from captivity; but we rejoice that they were at the last acIr is with regret we are compelled to counts alive. Before this time, we have believe, that the information alluded to reason to believe that the war is comple in our last number, contained in the let-ted, and we trust that the Mission, notter from Mr. Newton, of Calcutta, was withstanding its many reverses, will yet FEB. 1826. 9 be established on a foundation more im- || Judson's Burman Dictionary. Nor is it moveable than ever. It was with this ex-important, considering the advantages I pectation that Mr. Hough was about to here have for studying the language, and depart from Calcutta for Rangoon. He the extravagant prices of provisions there is probably at present there, and recom- of all kinds, that I should return at present. mencing, or preparing to recommence, Mr. Hough, I suspect, will return soon, missionary operations. probably by the first opportunity. Calcutta, Aug. 23d, 1825. Very dear and Reverend Father in Christ, I have received your letter, dated Feb. 17, 1825, from which I derived very great pleasure. I have let one opportunity pass without returning the favour; the reason of which was, that Mrs. Wade, at the time, was very ill, and I chose to wait until I might have something favourable to write of her recovery; and, blessed be God for his mercy, she is now convalescent, and gaining her strength, as fast as could be expected in this climate, and especially at this season, which is very sickly. It is with deep regret that I state, we have received no intelligence that can be much relied on, respecting Mr. and Mrs. Judson, and Dr. Price. Your Missionaries of course will inform you relative to the state of the war as affecting the American Mission in the Burman country. It is reported that all the Europeans at Ava are imprisoned, and subsist entirely on the charity of passengers, who throw them a little rice, &c. It has also been reported, that Mrs. Judson is permitted to reside in her own house, and goes to the prison every two or three days to see Mr. Judson. Another report stated, that one of the prisoners was very ill indeed. This is all that we have As to news from Burmah there is very little at present which can be depended upon. It seems that the army which proceeded up the river from Rangoon still continue at Prome, and will do so until the rainy season is over. There are reports respecting the dearheard, and we cannot depend on this. If Missionaries at Ava, and though they cannot be entirely depended upon, our hopes that they are still alive are thereby greatly strengthened. The most probable reports of this kind are stated under oath by an English native Soldier, who was for some time a prisoner at Ava, but who, at length, effected his escape, and found his way to Prome. His testimony states that Dr. Judson, Dr. Price and some English prisoners were in close confinement and in chains, that Mrs. Judson lived in her own house unmolested, and was permitted to visit Dr. J. once or twice in a weck, and to send him and the other prisoners provisions daily. This statement has been corroborated by private letters to Mr. Hough from some of the officers at Prome. We feel exceedingly anxious to return to Rangoon. But I cannot, under two or three months, leave Calcutta on account of my engagement relative to printing Dr. || there is any truth in it, it is consoling to learn that our friends are still alive. God alone can deliver them. Many prayers. are daily presented here for their safety, and we doubt not the churches in your beloved America cease not to supplicate in their behalf. Prayer has opened the prison door in more cases than one; and why should it be less powerful now than in former days? God is not less disposed to hear, and his hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Mrs. Wade is ill. She is now under our roof, and has the best medical attendance. We trust she will soon be restored to health. Judson's revised translation of Matthew, My last letter from an officer in the army, at Prome, and written in May, mentions that Dr. Judson, Dr. Price, and an Englishman, are in chains; that one of them, whom the writer could not learn, was very ill. No mention is made of Mrs. Judson, and I infer that she is not in confinement. Another letter which I have lately received from Rangoon, states that part of the country to be quiet, but that there is a prospect of famine among the inhabitants, as no rice has been cultivated in the country since the war commenced. Provisions are now sold at a very great price. I think of returning, however, in two or three months, as some one of us ought to be there about that time, to make the necessary repairs, and commence arrangements for future missionary operations. The termination of the war cannot be expected, till the fall of the Capital, which event will take place, humanly speaking, about the beginning of next year. The prevailing idea is, that a large proportion of Burmah, will be retained by the English, particularly the lower provinces and Arracan; should this be the case, some of the obstacles in the way of the progress of Christianity will be removed—at least, its progress or regress will not depend upon the will of Majesty. There is no cause why Mr. Boardman should delay. Should it not be practicable for him or us to go to Burmah for some time to come, he can commence the language under good advantages in Bengal. With Christian affection, Rev. Dr. Bolles, Assistant || CAREY STATION LETTER FROM REV. ISAAC M'COY, DATED Dear Brother, On the 5th instant, we sent a perigue with five men in her, to the Thomas Station on Grand river, laden with supplies for that establishment. The following day I set out by land for that place, driving a few cattle. Travelling slowly, brought us on the ninth to an Indian village about 30 miles from Thomas. These people had been apprised of my intention to visit Grand river, and had been instructed by other chiefs to listen to me as I passed their place, which would supersede the necessity of their meeting me at Grand river. We had scarcely pitched our tent in their neighbourhood, before all the men, and some boys, assembled at our camp for conversation. No company ever appeared more easy, pleasant, and friendly, than this. They smoked, and listened, and talked, until late at night. The following day afforded me the satisfaction of shaking hands with numerous Ottawa friends, who came to see me a few hours after I reached our establishment. I informed them that the next day would be prayer-day, (Sabbath) when I should wish to see all their people at our house, the women as well as the men, that I might talk to them on things that are good. It would not be a meeting for the purpose of smoking. On the next day I would meet the men and smoke with them. About 9 o'clock on Sabbath morning, all the inhabitants of Noon-day's village, except a few who were absent from the neighbourhood, assembled, and listened to preaching with remarkable decorum and attention. In the afternoon, I rode five miles down the river with the view of preaching to The chief, Blackskin and his party. whom I had not seen before, met me in his yard, and very affectionately invited me into his house. We had but just seated ourselves when orders were given to prepare food for us, which I informed him was unnecessary, as I had made a they hoped I would feel no uneasiness or account of these things, as the reports were not credited. They told me these things merely because they thought I ought to know them. On the 13th, I called together the two principal chiefs mentioned above, and sev persons, and distributed to them a lot of farming and other utensils, furnished by the government, and forwarded to our care some time since, consisting of ploughs, yokes, chains, axes, hoes, augers, saws, &c. very hasty visit. I acquainted him with my object in calling on him. It was not to smoke, but to talk to him and all his people about God and things that are good, and requested him to assemble his people. Their huts stood close to each other. He spared no pains to show himself friendly, but considered it too greateral subordinate ones, and many other` an innovation of Indian custom to assemble his people to listen to conversation when the meeting was not to be considered a kind of council. He did not mention any objection to my proposal, but, according to Indian custom, when they do not approve of a proposal of this kind, and are unwilling to give a person pain by saying No, he gave me no answer, but followed the request with conversation on a different subject. As soon as I ascer tained the old chief's feelings, I said no more about preaching, said something to the old man and those immediately around him on the subject of religion, visited a sick man in another hut, and returned, and met several others, who, on hearing of my arrival in the neighbourhood, had come in to see me. In our intercourse with the Indians, we endeavour at all times, to avoid every thing that would be considered trifling in our deportment; at the same time there is perhaps no people among whom it is more necessary to appear with an easy familiarity, than among these. Naturally sus picious of the whites, they notice many things which give them pain, of which they do not complain; and attentions || which they consider their due, they seldom fail to reward with expressions of sensible satisfaction, and that delightful Agreeably to our previous arrange- confidence which bursts from the bosom ments, I met on the following day, in of the forlorn on his meeting a friend. Noon-day's village, a pretty large assem- These sentiments were strikingly corrobbly from this, and from Blackskin's vil- || orated on a visit I made to the chief lage, and elsewhere. They expressed a Blackskin on the 14th. I spent the night high opinion of our Missionary labours, in his bark hut, where I was loaded with and most earnestly entreated that they hospitality and kindness, which, with simmight soon be favoured with a school inilar means, could not have been exceeded their place, and with all the instruction and assistance which the Mission, in complete operation, was calculated to afford. Noon-day and Blackskin said they were both growing old, and they desired very much to see, before their deaths, their children enjoying the advantages of education, and of other improvements which they hoped would be made through our means. They were sorry that some of their young men, when intoxicated, had insulted our people, and injured our propérty; but they had been instigated by a mischievous white man whose name they gave me. This man and some others, had endeavoured to disaffect them to the Mission in general, and had circulated among the Ottawas many slanders, the particulars of which they gave me. But in a Christian country, where I was de-` sired to listen to many deeply affecting remarks and narratives respecting the sad and almost friendless state of the Indians, and where I was listened to as a confidential and affectionate friend. 1 On this occasion, as often on similar ones, I felt happy to be a messenger of peace and comfort from friends of humanity who could not visit in person these abodes of despair-I was happy to be the bearer of glad tidings to the poor. The sweet words of our Saviour, " to the poor the gospel is preached," can never be better relished than when, under a due sense of dependence on Almighty God, we talk of the condescending love, súfferings, and righteousness of our blessed Saviour, to the wild, weather-beaten, heart-broken savage of the woods. Eve- || striking, and the effect deepening to his better feelings. Allow me, dear brother, to solicit a moment of your time as you ascend your pulpit in presence of your congregation, and entreat you to indulge the reflection, that at that very time, thousands of Indians dark within and distrest without, ry thing around appears in a state of nature. The voice of necessity alone has been obeyed; nothing has been improved by art or polished by science; and one feels as though he had reached the regions of the lowest state of human nature. Yet, even here, he is rejoiced to find, though enveloped in poverty, wretched-lie lonely in their smoky huts, or tremble ness, superstition, and sin, evidences of the existence of a noble mind, sensible of present woes, dreading the future, struggling to rise, yet ignorant of the means, and ready to bow in despair! I persuade myself, sir, that a visit among these houses of wo in the wilder in the snowy blast or chilling rain, without a hand to point them to a home,without a guide to show the path to heaven! I need not predict the effect of such reflection. In behalf of the poor Ottawas, allow me to exclaim, O that God would have ness, could not fail to benefit the minister compassion,-that Christians would pray, whose lot it should afterwards be to la--that the benevolent would help! bour in the milder climes of civilization and Christianity. The contrast would be Respectfully your obedient servant, RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. DIVIE BETHUNE, ESQ. OF NEW-YORK. At the public meeting called by the Board of Managers of the House of Ref uge, a few weeks since, Hiram Ketchum, Esq. of this city, on submitting a motion, remarked-" That it was not two years since in that room was collected a numerous and highly respectable portion of our fellow citizens convened for the purpose of deliberating on the important measure, which had brought into existence this benevolent institution. I well remember, said Mr. K. how I was delighted on that occasion. We came not together, sir, to make speeches-we came to devise means for the melioration of the condition of the neglected and helpless children of crime. First rose a learned Professor of Columbia College, and in Addisonian style, and with Addisonian wisdom, advocated the cause of the hapless delinquent. In another quarter of the room was heard the silver tones of the District Attorney; presenting the result of his observations and experience. Next, a respectable mechanic presented himself, and proposed a measure, which was finally adopted, aud became a part of our plan. With all these, sir, I was highly delighted, and the recollection comes over my heart, cheering it like the first breath of spring. But there was another, whose speech was, in my estimation the best,because the most to the point. It was made by one, who, since that time, has, as I firmly believe, been called to his reward in another and more perfect state-I allude to the late DIVIE BETHUNE, Esq. This was a merchant's speech-a true business like speech-it have heard your speeches," said he, “I was short, but it was comprehensive. "I like the object-I like your plan—and I subscribe fifty dollars to aid in bringing it into operation." He touched the chord which vibrated in every bosom. His example was immediately followed-and before the assembly dispersed, sixteen hundred dollars were laid on the tablewhich has since been increased to sixteen thousand. CHARLESTON BAPTIST ASSOCIATION. tion was held at Congarce Church, on The Annual Meeting of this Associa Saturday the 5th ult. The Rev. Mr. Dossey delivered the Association Sermon. The Rev. Mr. W. B. Cook was elected Moderator, and the Rev. Mr. R. Missildine, Clerk. Letters from 30 Churches were read. State of the Churches-Baptized 226, Received by letter 42, Restored 14, Dismissed 65, Excluded 51, Dead 50, Communicants 4104. Churches 38; Ordainled Ministers 19; Licensed Preachers 5. |