deserted villages and abandoned paddylands. About twenty souls seemed to be the average population of these hamlets; for, though several contained a larger number, many contained not more than a dozen persons in all. The people appeared very ignorant, and very lazy, manifesting, however, something like a vivacious interest in any news we had from Jaffna, excepting, I regret to say, the news I brought the Gospel. At Neduncurry I was rather surprised to find a Jaffna young man, who was on a visit to the Headman, some connexion of his. He spoke very good Tamil, had a smattering acquaintance with both Christianity and Sivism, and was a ready controversialist. He made his first appearance during an address I delivered to the villagers in the evening, and requested permission to confute some statements I was making; but, according to my invariable practice in such cases, I desired him to have patience, and hear me out. I have generally observed that a man's heat evaporates under the reflection for which I thus give him space, so that he either disappears before the end of the sermon, or, when called upon to speak, makes a civil apology, and expresses himself perfectly satisfied. Not so in this case. Tired though I was, he drew me into a discussion which lasted for an hour. He began by stating that, since the introduction of Christianity into Jaffna, there had been no regular seasons, no copious rains, no ample harvests, as in the good old times of a rampant Sivism. There had been famine, cholera, smallpox, and other fearful epidemics, which calamities he attributed to the displeasure of Siva, whose worship had fallen into comparative disrepute. The people were much impressed by the manner in which my voluble friend stated his case. But when I took up his facts, and admitted them, and showed the people that it was in this way that God punished men when He sent the truth to them, and they refused to embrace it, that this was the way in which He had always dealt with nations, as history proved, that if famine and pestilence had visited Jaffna frequently of late years, as they undoubtedly have, then we should infer that God is angry with the people who have failed to embrace Christ when He is preached from house to house; this was a view the villagers had not thought of, and for which my antagonist was not at all prepared. He ended the controversy by losing his temper, and rudely retiring to bed. Next morning he challenged me to submit the relative merits of Sivism and Christianity to a novel test. He stated that he knew a mantra, by repeating which he could cure a cholera patient, though in the last stage of the disease, and by which he could counteract the effect of the bite of the most deadly snake; and triumphantly demanded if my religion could furnish anything like that! This piece of rodomontade was intended, not for me, but for the ignorant villagers; and I sharply rebuked him before them all for his wickedness and folly. He seemed subdued. On leaving the village I gave him a copy of St. John's Gospel, which he promised to read. On the 5th of September I rode on to Mullativo, where I had given notice of my intention to preach on the Sabbath. The Magistrate of the station received me kindly, and constrained me to be his guest during my stay. Mullativo is a considerable place, having a large Romanist population. These degraded people do not pretend to even the appearance of religion, excepting at the anniversary feast of their patron saint, when they are visited by a Priest from Jaffna. On the 6th, at nine A. M., I preached in Tamil at the Government schoolhouse, on the new birth; and at five in the afternoon, to a small congregation, in English, on the danger of professing Christians relapsing into practical Heathenism on stations like Mullativo, and urged watchfulness and diligence in the discharge of all public and private religious duties. Many of the Government subordinates of that station are Christians by profession, and come from our Jaffna schools. They applied to me to send a Catechist to visit them once a quarter, allowing him to spend a week on the occasion of each visit, that he might go among the people. I felt it in my heart to help them; but we have not the means. I had requested our Schoolmaster at Point-Pedro to induce one of the dhoneys trading to Trincomalee to touch at Mullativo on the 7th, and take me on; and he wrote me to the effect that he had arranged the matter. Accordingly, in the afternoon of the day mentioned, a boat of ten tons, with eighty-six passengers on board, came into the roads to take the Missionary on board. When I state that a majority of the passengers were poor native females returning from a foolish pilgrimage, many of them having infants that were crying for food, that they were packed together like bags of coffee,that horrid sights, sounds, and scents, which I could not describe, were shocking my senses during my forty-eight hours' incarceration on board that craft;-you will conceive that I was anything but comfortable. I am not fastidious; but I really believe that all the inconveniences of the travels of my life would not have made up the misery compressed within that short voyage. I was very much refreshed by my visits to Trincomalee and Batticaloa. The work at the latter station, as far as I could judge, is in a very hopeful state. The Sunday morning congregation was a most animating sight. A chapel full of educated Tamils, men and women, many of them influential from rank and wealth, all of them brought to God by the instrumentality of our own Mission, -all of them drinking in the word with an eagerness which showed how much they felt and loved it, most of them manifesting a responsive sympathy which powerfully excited me, it was a privilege to preach to them. I doubt if it could be surpassed in all India. In the evening I preached in English to a very similar audience. That unworthy opposition which injured the work of God at Batticaloa in former years seems to be dying out, after having excited the disgust of everybody. Mr. Dean accompanied me on my return to Trincomalee; and our District-Meeting commenced September 25th. As you will receive the Minutes in due course, I will not say more than that it was the most agreeable and edifying Meeting of the kind I have attended. When at Trincomalee, I had the pleasure of baptizing the wife of the highest native official in the place. Her husband has been a member of our Society for years. She is connected with a family who are proud of their caste, and their hereditary connexion with Sivism. For many years this woman has been the subject of daily prayer in my family. Recently her Heathen relations have been persecuting her Christian husband; and this seems to have touched her heart, and given strength to a purpose she had long secretly cherished. For years she has conformed to Christian habits in her family, and has listened respectfully to the instructions of her husband. Before I left home, my wife received a private message from her, to the effect that she now had faith, and would publicly confess it when I went down to the DistrictMeeting. I called with Mr. Kilner, whose joy knew no bounds and we had a full conversation with her on the subject of her convictions, the nature of baptism, &c. On the 27th of September I baptized her in the presence of a large congregation. She behaved with great firmness, and answered my questions in a very decided manner. The excitement occasioned amongst the Heathen is immense, and the Sivites have resolved to excommunicate the family. This is well; for they will cling all the more closely to Jesus.-Rev. John Walton, Jaffna, October 6th, 1857. SOUTH AFRICA. KAFFRARIA. FOUR months have now passed since my arrival in South Africa; and no change has taken place but in a downward direction, from bad to worse, so far as the poor Kaffirs are concerned; misery becoming more complete every day, the result of one of the most extraordinary movements which have ever taken place in South Africa. Of Kaffirland and the Kaffirs what can we say? To say they have confounded the whole of the civilized community who knew anything of their previous history, and have become acquainted with their late infatuation and present position, is saying but very little. Surely superstition and infatuation never sported more at ease with its victims, nor ignorance paid more profound submission to delusion, than in the case of this people and their prophet. What has made the Kaffir forget himself, and even his former love of cattle,-for which at any time, day or night, he would risk his life, and loosen his heart-strings from the old idol he loved, and to which all Kaffirland had bowed, if not the knee, yet the whole heart, for generations? Yet such has been the influence of this superstition, that the ties of past generations have been severed in a few months, and herds of cattle which have come down from father to son, from generation to generation, have been swept off by the mandate of the prophet in a year. Kaffir herds never die! They always descend to the oldest son, and are to all intents and purposes heir-loom property. Famine has set in, with all its awful attendant circumstances; for not only was the ban set upon the cattle, but everything that could support life, vegetable as well as animal, so that corn in their store, as well as everything that could yield sustenance, was destroyed; so that on the promised resurrection-day all support was cut off from every believer. All was brought to an end, except perhaps some solitary cow which had been retained to sustain the life of an infant child: but even such was the case, that the eve of that day saw the life-blood of every victim flow; for nothing was to interrupt the new order of things on the coming day. Even the domestic fowl was not allowed to live to disturb the peace of that morn; when the sun was to rise divided into halves, and do battle in the heavens; and when the heavens were to descend to the earth and crush all the unbelievers; when the generations past should arise out of the earth, bringing the cattle before them; when young Kaffirland should spring into life and Epicurean enjoyment, and only the faithful would be left to enjoy the new state of things. So at early dawn the faithful were awake, if they had slept at all; they were moving early by dawn. All was prepared for the reception of the Kaffir patriarchs; houses swept; not a straw lying loose was overlooked, and all men, women, and children posted off each to the respective heights in his vicinity, and waited with the most intent anxiety, stretching their eyes to catch the first movements of the heaving earth, out of which cattle first, and past generations in the rear, were to proceed. And as they were to rise with the sun, so as it pushed forward its morning rays brighter and yet brighter still, so did these poor creatures stand, though they now became excited to the highest pitch of expectation. And the sun did rise as round and as full as ever, and seemed as much at peace with itself as it had ever been. And up it went. Nor did it divide; nor did the earth heave. And all was stil; and it was never so still before, since the Kaffir first trod the soil. And why? The cattle were dead, no lowing of cattle, and so were the smaller cattle; and the people were still; for they were confounded, and the Kaffir laid his hand upon his mouth in token of astonishment and dismay. And hence all was still it was more like universal death than any appearance of a universal resurrection! until at last one more sanguine than the rest intimated there might have been some mistake, and that in all probability it would take place when the sun became strong; and, if so, it must be looked for at mid-day so hope gleamed through the dark soul, and all were anxious to see the sun reach its meridian. And it did reach it, and it passed it; and it did not divide, and it did not battle, nor did the heavens come down to earth, as was promised. But on it went; and again some, like the prophets of Baal, prophesied. : It must take place at eventide. And yet, after all, the sun went down, and left them all in disappointment. And now was set up one universal yell of despair. Women and children, literally destitute in the world, with maddening lamentations seem to have driven some of the men to frenzy. One man, it is said, first put all his children to death, and then terminated his own existence; another is said to have upbraided his Chief for destroying his people, and then, falling on his spear in the Chief's presence, died at his feet. You will be ready to conclude that by this time the spell was completely broken. By no means; and those who know the tact of the old Kaffir rain-makers, and doctors of the old school, were prepared to look upon this as only the first act, the first chapter in a volume of lies. I understand he has plenty of reasous to show why the cattle and the old people did not come; one of which is enough to satisfy his credulous disciples. Thousands have died of starvation, and are still dying; thousands who can reach so far have found, and are still daily finding, their way into the Colony. Multitudes never reach the border, but die far back; and here, as everywhere, famine brings out some of the most selfish forms of human nature. The weakly children are often picked up by our countrymen by the road-side, where, not being able to get along as fast as the parent, they have been left to die. Instances have occurred where the parent has slaughtered his own child for food; but these instances are rare. I know, upon the best authority, that in Pato's tribe alone, even some weeks ago, as many as three hundred of his principal men had died. This is exclusive of young men, lads, women, and children. And that Chief, a few weeks since, went to beg a cow of his brother Kama, who gave him three, and an ox for slaughter. Yet in a short time only one cow of the lot was left; and this, not now from superstition, but the pressing demands of hunger. And yet this is the Chief who, after the war of 1835, returned no less than three thousand head of his cattle. He who has not now, it is said, one single beast to his name, was at that time considered one of the richest, if not the richest, of the Chiefs of Kaffraria. Yet, with all this suffering and dying, the people are still spell-bound; and, although they yield to their circumstances, they do not yield up their faith in their prophet. It is only a matter of time; and the unbelieving have prevented the resurrection, by the want of a uni versal faith. Therefore, those of the faithful who have strength enough left are now plundering the unbelievers; and a struggle is taking place, which we shall have to take part in, however reluctant. Large cattle-folds have been built, and immense corn-holes dug in them, to receive corn, for which the starving, infatuated people still wait. These cornholes are excavated in the cattle-folds, and are in the form of a cone, the opening into the earth being just large enough to admit the body of a man; but, descending to the depth of five or six feet, they are at the bottom from five to eight feet in diameter, and capable of holding eight or ten sacks of corn. When filled, they are covered with a flat stone; and corn, thus well secured, is better kept than in any other way which the Kaffir has at his command. These holes the believers in the prophet are taught to expect will some morning be found full of corn; for it will be put in from below, through a hole which they below will fill up or cover over with a plank! And it is only a few weeks since that these poor deluded people were seen carefully peeping into the hole in the morning, to see if it was full; for thus only are they allowed to peep once a day. As a nation, and as tribes, they have had the truth offered; and as a people, for forty years they have rejected it, although many in the mean time have been saved. The leading truths of the Bible are pretty generally known throughout Kaffirland; and if it be asked why as a people they are so ready to follow blindly a superstition, and to reject the Gospel, the answer will be found in the remarks of that warlike Chief, Makomo, who ten years since said to the Chief Kama, when the latter was being persecuted for his Christianity, “Kama, hold you fast where you are. We Kaffirs do not reject the word of God because we do not believe it, but because we love our sins. We know the word of God is true." The chieftainship at present is a shadow that is daily declining, and must soon go. We are told that all young children now, as soon as born, are taken to the woods to be left there, either to be carried off by wild beasts, or perish with the cold and destitution. The fact is, none can have any conception of Kaffirland now from any previous knowledge of the Kaffirs. I could never have been brought to believe such a state of things from such a cause; and what the end will be is not certain, Missionaries should be on the ground to take advantage of the movement; but everything should be done with great caution. Never, surely, did there appear so favourable an indication that God was about to remove every barrier, especially of a national character, as there is at this time. You will rejoice to hear we are prospering here.-Rev. William Shepstone, Kamastone, August 18th, 1857. NATAL. SUNDAY, July 19th.-The sermons in connexion with the laying of the foundation-stone of a new chapel were preached. The collections were good. 21st. The foundation-stone was laid. The children belonging to the English Sunday-school, the infant-school, and the native day-school,-upwards of two hundred in all, were in attendance, and contributed greatly to the interest of the scene. It was affecting and delightful to see such a number of young persons, of every shade, or nearly every shade, of colour, from the pure English white, down, through the Hottentot yellow, to the deep ebon of some of the Kaffir tribes, assembling together for such a purpose, and wearing faces so blithe and cheerful, Their behaviour was excellent; the darkskinned sons and daughters of Africa rivalling, if not surpassing, in good conduct and orderliness, those of fairer hue. Sunday, August 16th.-I went to the early prayer-meeting. At eleven I preached in the English chapel. In the afternoon I visited the prison, and spoke with both the English and native prisoners. I preached on the subject of repentance in the evening; and we had a delightful service. So happy and profitable a Sabbath I have not enjoyed for a long season. Rev. Frederick Mason, Pietermaritzburg, September 8th, 1857. DEATH. IT is our painful duty to record the death of the Rev. William Bennett, Supernumerary Minister, at Halifax, Nova-Scotia, on the 6th of November, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, and the fifty-eighth of his ministry. This venerable Minister was formerly General Superintendent of the Missions in British North America, and was greatly distinguished for his zealous and successful labours. In the later years of his life he endured much affliction; but his end was eminently peaceful and happy. THE amount of contributions and remittances announced on the Cover of the Notices this month is £8,500. 13s. 2d. DEATHS. THE subject of the following record, like tens of thousands, had great pleasure, and derived much real spiritual profit, in reading the biography of departed saints, as given in our Magazine. And such was her life of faith in the great Redeemer, that it has been thought by some who were well acquainted with MRS. EGGLESTON, that a brief account of her religious experience might be of use to some others. Her maiden name was Jane Hawkins. Thearne, near Beverley, was the place of her birth. Her parents were pious Wesleyans; her father being a Local Preacher several years. They had the happiness to lead their daughter early to think about the salvation of her soul. When fourteen years old, she received her first token of fellowship with God's people. On the first page of her journal, which is dated December 31st, 1809, she writes: "Innumerable have been the mercies of my God, and great has been His faithfulness therefore will I rejoice in Him my salvation, and render Him my heart and life." How ever desirable to know when the subject of any memoir was freely justified by believing in Christ as the only atoning Redeemner, it is more satisfactory to have the corroborating evidences of a loving heart, a diligent attendance on the sacred institutions of religion, and a holy life. These testimonies were borne by Mrs. Eggleston. The first she had by "the love of God shed abroad in her heart by the Holy Ghost given unto her." This it was that delightfully prompted to assiduity in the service of her Divine Master, and a constant desire to do the will of her reconciled God. Notes in her journal, entered at various times, of her sorrows, joys, numerous temptations, conquests obtained in answer to pleadings for supporting grace, and blessed deliverances, bear evidence of her fixedness of purpose. January 1st, 1810, she renewed her cove nant with God, and concluded with the following petition: "O, may these my fixed resolutions be kept, and increased, till I am perfect and entire, lacking nothing." A little later she writes: "Glory be to God, my soul has this day been filled with His love. My hope is full (O glorious hope!) to Mr. Eggleston, a man of God, whom she believed to be an honest, good Methodist. This step was not taken without much serious thought and fervent prayer, or without a full conviction that it was according to the will of God. "O, my adorable Jesus" she says, "let me bear Thine image; yea, let me reflect Thy glory in all my deportment. Let my words, my actions, all testify that I am walking with Jesus, that my treasure and heart are in heaven." Again: "April 14th, 1817.-I have found the Lord daily to own me. I in Him have strong consolation. I am detained by sickness from my class, in which I always derive much comfort and help but, blessed be God, He always makes up the deficiency of outward means, by especially visiting me in private. I feel the eternal God is my refuge. He is the joy and rejoicing of my soul." So was she prepared to find, among many coming trials, that "tribulation worketh patience," and gratitude to God, and confidence in Him. "Christ is my rock," she said, "in the cleft of which I can hide myself and take shelter. I feel my anchor-hold firm in Him, when swelling billows rise."" When possible, God's house of prayer was attended as early as six on the Sabbath morning; and she esteemed it a great privilege to hear the Gospel proclaimed at later hours of the day, whoever was the Preacher. It is obvious from her written account, that she was wont also to hold converse with the Triune God in secret. There it was she more freely breathed out her humble soul in gratitude, for many deliverances from the common enemy, and from dangers and difficulties, both seen and not fully comprehended. There her devout mind meditated on the superabounding goodness of God in creation, providence, and grace. There, with the precious Bible open before her, reading in the attitude and true spirit of prayer and praise, she held delightful communion with the Lord of hosts. She would often exultingly say, "O blessed Jesus! Thou art my all in all." To give glory to the Saviour was her chief delight, in sickness and in health. In the last year of her sojourn, she was bereaved of her affectionate husband, who died in Christ, May 2d. In September, Mrs. Eggleston had an interIn 1811 she was united in matrimony mittent fever, which brought on great |