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PREACHING AT MACOSSANE, IN SOUTH AFRICA.

OUR readers will be gratified by the following extract of an instructive work on Missions, recently published by M. Arbousset and M. Daumas, of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society. The passage derives additional interest from the fact, that the country it describes constitutes a part of the extensive and noble field which has long engaged the attention and energies of our brethren at Griqua Town and Kuruman; and, in which, on the return of the Rev. Robert Moffat and his new associates in labour, the operations of the Society will be continued on an enlarged scale and with renewed vigour :

After travelling three leagues in a northerly direction, from Kuening, which is situated at the foot of the Blue Mountains, we arrived at Macossane, a town governed by the Chief Mota, a younger brother of Sekoniela.

This town, which stands on a large and elevated plain, is composed of several distinct groups of habitations. The distant view is bounded by an amphitheatre of mountains. At the foot of the plain flows the rapid Tlotse, which may be regarded as the second source of the Caledon River. The eye reposes, on all sides, upon rich and fertile valleys, fields of millet and Indian corn, and numerous flocks and herds.

This would be an excellent locality for a Missionary station. The population is considerable; and the town itself, with its environs, offers a sphere sufficiently ample for the activity of two or three Missionaries, who could have nothing to fear from any opposition on the part of the Chief. Mota is a mild and benevolent man, and much beloved by the Bechuanas, who rally round him with ardent attachment.

Mota had formerly heard the Gospel preached at Merabing; but to his people it was almost entirely strange. They gathered about us in a circle, and listened with profound silence, and the most fixed attention. It was under the vault of hea ven, and by the light of the moon, we held our solemn meeting. (See page 141.) The service having been opened by a song of praise, followed by prayer, a sermon was preached on those fine words of the royal prophet, in the eighth Psalm, “O Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour."

The discourse was concluded with some reflections on the work of redemption by the ministry of the Son of man, whom God for a season made lower than the angels, and whom he has crowned with glory and honour.

The next morning, when we set out, the Chief Mota and his people manifested their regret at not having amongst them a man of God to instruct them in the Christian faith.

• Account of an Exploratory Journey to the North East of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.

RESTORATION OF THE GATES OF THE TEMPLE OF SOMNAUTH. THE Directors have noticed with deep regret the following recent Proclamation of the Governor-General, addressed to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India :MY BROTHERS AND MY FRIENDS,-Our victorious army bears the gates of the temple of Somnauth in triumph from Affghanistan, and the despoiled tomb of Sultan Mahmood looks upon the ruins of Ghuznee. The insult of 800 years is at last avenged. The gates of the temple of Somnauth, so long the memorial of your humiliation, are become the proudest record of your national glory, the proof of your superiority in arms over the nations beyond the Indus.

To you, Princes and Chiefs of Sirhind, of Rajwara, of Malwa, and of Guzerat, I shall commit this glorious trophy of successful war. You will, yourselves, with all honour, transmit the gates of sandal-wood through your respective territories to the restored temple of Somnauth. The Chiefs of Sirhind shall be informed, at what time our victorious army will first deliver the gates of the temple into their guardianship, at the foot of the bridge of the Sutlej.

MY BROTHERS AND MY FRIENDS,-I have ever relied, with confidence, upon your attachment to the British Government. You see how worthy it proves itself of your love, when, regarding your honour as its own, it exerts the power of its arms to restore to you the gates of the temple of Somnauth, so long the memorial of your subjection to the Affghans.

For myself, identified with you in interest and in feeling, I regard, with all your own enthusiasm, the high achievements of that heroic army; reflecting alike immortal honour upon my native and upon my adopted country.

To preserve and to improve the happy union of our two countries, necessary as it is to the welfare of both, is the constant object of my thoughts. Upon that union depends the security of every ally, as well as of every subject of the British Government, from the miseries whereby, in former times, India was afflicted: through that alone has our army now waved its triumphant standards over the ruins of Ghuznee, and planted them upon the Bala Hissar of Cabool.

May that good Providence, which has hitherto so manifestly protected me, still extend to me its favour, that I may so use the power now entrusted to my hands, as to advance your prosperity and secure your happiness, by placing the union of our two countries upon foundations which may render it eternal.

(Signed)

ELLENBOROUGH.

The following extract from the Friend of India will explain to our readers the true character of the facts referred to in the Proclamation:

When the Governor-General speaks of the " despoiled tomb of Sultan Mahmood," looking down upon the ruins of Ghuzni, we naturally ask, whether the despoiling of tombs, and the ruin of cities are actions of which a civilized and a Christian Government has reason to boast? To many, indeed, it will appear, that the original removal of the gates in a barbarous age was open to less censure than their restoration, under such circumstances, in an age of civilization. But is it becoming the head of the British Government to pay that homage to an idol, which is implied in the pompous conveyance of these gates from Ghuzni to Somnauth? A Christian will naturally ask, whether this homage is the return of gratitude which we are offering, as a Government, to that gracious Providence, to whose goodness we have been pre-eminently indebted for the rescue of our prisoners and the success of our expedition? Even if the highest political object was to be secured by thus associating our name and influence with the degrading institutions of idolatry; if the salvation of the empire itself hung upon this transaction; it may well be asked, whether we are at liberty to seek that object by endeavouring to re-establish an idol temple, which in its palmy days was the most filthy brothel in India, and where five hundred courtezans were daily employed in dancing before the image?

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But whither are the gates to be conducted? The temple of Somnauth is in ruins. little that remains of it has been converted into a Mahommedan mosque. Not only has the remembrance of the temple been utterly lost, but the temple itself has ceased to exist as a Hindoo sanctuary; and there is literally no building at Somnauth, to which the gates can be affixed, excepting a Mahommedan mosque. When the gates have been transmitted with all honour through Sirhind, and Rajwara, and Malwa, and Guzerat, to what establishment of priests is the sacred deposit to be given? There is not a Hindoo Brahmin there to welcome them back. The whole population of the town is Mahommedan. The Proclamation speaks of a "restored temple." Who is to restore it? Is it intended that the

British Government shall be at the expense of turning a Mahommedan shrine into an idolatrous temple, in order that it may serve as a monument of its victories in Affghanistan? Will the Governor-General procure a fresh idol, and set the Brahmins to re-consecrate the defiled gates?

The appended Petition, on the subject of this Proclamation, has been presented by the Directors, to both Houses of Parliament; and it is desirable that the friends of the several Missionary Institutions throughout the country should adopt a similar mode of expressing their disapprobation of an act so repugnant to the principles of our common Christianity, and so disastrous in its tendency to the spiritual interests of the Hindoos. The Directors are assured the measure they have adopted will elicit the cordial sympathy and support of the friends of religion generally; and they cherish a strong hope that, through the prompt interference of the Legislature, stimulated by the force of public opinion, the serious evil which they deprecate may be mercifully prevented.

The Petition of the Undersigned the Directors of the London Missionary Society. Humbly sheweth,-That your Petitioners are entrusted with the direction and management of an Institution formed in London in the year 1795, "for the sole object of spreading the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations;" and that, for the accomplishment of this benevolent and sacred design, the generous contributions of the Members of the Society now exceed £80,000 per annum.

That, in addition to extended operations in the islands of the South Pacific Ocean, Africa, and the West Indies, the Society has prosecuted Missionary Labours in India for more than five-and-forty years; and that it has at present in that Country (including the Honourable Company's Territory, and the Protected States,) 51 Missionaries, 273 European and Native Assistants, who occupy upwards of 120 Stations, and that with these there are connected nearly 500 schools, in which instruction is gratuitously afforded to many thousands of the native population.

That, encouraged by the measure of success which, under the blessing of God, has attended the various labours of the self-denying and devoted Agents of the Society, your Petitioners confidently anticipate, from the unrestricted application of the same scriptural means, the gradual improvement of the natives in knowledge and in social habits; and the ultimate triumph of the Christian faith over the absurdities and abominations of idolatry. That your Petitioners, deeply sensible of the serious obstruction to the propagation of Christianity in India, which heretofore existed in the connexion of the British Government with the idolatrous rites and ceremonies of the natives, have regarded the various measures adopted by her Majesty's Government, and the Honourable the Court of Direc tors of the East India Company, for the removal of this evil, with pleasure and thankfulness.

That, under the influence of these feelings, your Petitioners have read with the deepest regret, and the most painful apprehensions, the Proclamation of the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India, addressed to the Hindoo chiefs and people, in which they are congratulated in the strongest terms, on the victorious removal, by the united British and Native army, of the gates of an ancient idol temple, from the tomb of a Mussulman conqueror at Ghuznee, accompanied by directions for the transmission of "these trophies with all honour, to the restored temple of Somnauth."

That while your Petitioners abstain from pronouncing on the impolicy of these measures, and while they are unwilling to condemn the motives of his Lordship the GovernorGeneral in adopting such proceedings, they entertain the strongest conviction that, by the native population of India, they will be regarded as expressions of the highest honour, from the Representative of a Christian nation, to their false gods; and that, by their direct tendency, they will operate as a formidable obstruction to the labours of the Christian Missionary, by strengthening the prejudices of the Mahometan, and confirming the blind confidence of the idolater.

Your Petitioners, therefore, most earnestly pray that your (Right) Honourable House will adopt such measures as may be best calculated to counteract the influence of these ill-judged measures, and to prevent the recurrence of proceedings so dishonourable to our character, and so injurious to our influence as a Christian Nation.

And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.

MISSIONARY LABOURS IN THE BECHUANA COUNTRY.

In the early part of last year, the Rev. David Livingston, accompanied by two members of the native church at Kuruman, proceeded on a journey to the interior of the Bechuana country, with a view to the furtherance of the Gospel among the barbarous and benighted tribes scattered over those extensive regions. From the narrative of his arduous labours, transmitted under date of July last, the following passages are selected, describing his visit to one of the most numerous and interesting tribes, to whom his efforts were directed at this period :

Our route to the Bamangwato skirted the sandy desert which flanks the Bechuana country to the westward; and, as the sand proved very fatiguing, when within 40 or or 50 miles from that people, the oxen were unable to proceed farther, and I had to leave both oxen and wagon, and perform my visit on foot. But I had not the least reason to regret having done so, for the Chief (Sekomi) was evidently pleased that I had thrown myself on his bounty, without the least appearance of distrust. Indeed, before I had been ten minutes in his company, and while sitting, surrounded by hundreds of his people, he began to show his satisfaction by feeding me with the flesh of a rhinoceros, and some other things which they consider dainties. He then took me to the house of his mother, presented me with a large elephant's tusk, and more food; and, as we became better acquainted, he frequently and emphatically exclaimed, "You have come to us just like rain;" and, "if you had brought your wagon, I should have detained you at least a month, looking at you."

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Sekomi has a large number of people under him in the town alone I numbered 600 houses, which considerably exceed what I have been able to count in any other Bechuana town in the country. But they are all very small, and cannot contain many individuals each. The one in which I lived was quite as large as any in the town, and three of us could not sleep in it without touching each other, unless we put out our fire. The population is sunk in the very lowest state both of mental and moral degradation it would be difficult, if not impossible, for Christians at home to realize any thing like an accurate notion of the grossness of that darkness which shrouds their minds. I could not ascertain that they had the least idea of a future state; and though they have some notions which seem to be connected with a belief in its existence, I have not met one who could put the necessary links together in the chain of reasoning, so as to become possessed of the definite idea. Indeed, they all confess that they never think of anything connected with death, and do not wish the introduction of that subject.

Their conceptions of Deity are of the

most vague and contradictory nature, and the name of God conveys no more to their understanding than the idea of superiority. Hence they do not hesitate to apply the name to their Chiefs. I was every day shocked by being addressed by that title; and, although it as often furnished me with a text from which to tell them of the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, yet it deeply pained me, and I never felt so fully convinced of the lamentable deterioration of my species before. It is, indeed, a mournful truth, that "man has become like the beasts that perish."

The country abounds with lions, and so much are they dreaded by the natives, that a man never goes out alone. The women have always some one to guard them when they go to their gardens, and they always go in companies to draw water, for the sake of the protection which numbers give. Nor are these precautions unnecessary. For a time I could not believe it. But the earnestness with which the Chief reproved me one day for going a few hundred yards from the town unattended, and the circumstance that he always sent an attendant, if at any time he saw me going out afterwards; together with the fact, that a woman was actually devoured in her garden during my visit, and that very near the town from which I had frequently walked so far, fully convinced me that there were good grounds for their fears and precautions. It was most affecting to hear the cries of the orphan children of this woman. During the whole day after her death, the surrounding rocks and valleys rung and re-echoed with their bitter cries. I frequently thought as I listened to the loud sobs, painfully indicative of the sorrows of those who have no hope, that if some of our churches could have heard their sad wailings, it would have awakened the firm resolution to do more for the heathen than they have done.

In some countries the light which the Gospel once shed has gone out, and darkness has succeeded. But though eighteen centuries have elapsed since life and immortality were brought to light, there is no certainty that these dark regions were ever before visited for the purpose of making known the light, and liberty, and peace of the glorious Gospel. It would seem that

the myriads who have peopled these regions have always passed away into darkness, and no ray from heaven ever beamed on their path. And with whom does the guilt rest, if not with us who compose the church militant on earth? My mind is filled with sadness, when I contemplate the prospects of these large masses of immortal beings. I see no hope for them except in native agents. The more I see of the country, its large extent of surface, with its scattered population, and each tribe separated by a formidable distance from almost every

other, the more convinced I feel, that it will be impossible, if not impolitic, for the church to supply them all with Europeans. Native Christians can make known the way of life there are some in connexion with both this and the church at Griqua Town, who have done it effectually. Others, too, are rising up, who will soon be capable of teaching; and if their energies are not brought into operation by taking up the field now open before us, I do not see where the benevolent spirit springing up among the converts of the two missions is to find an outlet.

I may, perhaps, be permitted to relate an incident which seems to indicate that even the darkest minds feel the need of a something to speak peace to their troubled thoughts. On one occasion, Sekomi having sat by me in the hut for some time, in deep thought, at length addressed me by a pompous title, and said, "I wish you would change my heart! Give me medicine to change it, for it is proud, proud and angry, angry, always." I lifted up the Testament, and was about to tell him of the only way in which the heart can be changed, but he interrupted me by saying, "Nay, I wish to have it changed by medicine to drink, and have it changed at once, for it is always very proud, and very uneasy, and continually angry with some one.' He then rose and went away. This seemed to me the more remarkable, as we had not then

spoken to either him or his people on the necessity of a change of heart.

Another incident, which also happened amongst the Bamang wato, gave me some encouragement to hope that even itinerating by native Christians may, by the divine blessing, be productive of good. Late one evening, as I was sitting on one side of the hut, a young man, having a most intelligent expression of countenance, came in with a present of food, and said, "I once carried the gun of Sepamore (a member of the church here) when he was in this country hunting; and I asked him what he thought about God." (Here he gave me a surprisingly correct account of the Supreme Being.) 'But," added he, "What do you say? ?" Most gladly I confirmed what he had heard, and added a little more to his stock, by telling him of "Jesus and the resurrection." This may have been all curiosity. But it may please the Holy Spirit to operate by even these small portions of truth, and lead some, though unknown to us, into the regions of everlasting glory. And if so, our itineracies will not be in vain.

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I was much gratified by the hospitality shown by the Bamangwato to myself, and the two natives who accompanied me. We came among them without any thing to insure us a good reception; and, after living for a fortnight, entirely on the bounty of the Chief, when we left he sent thirty of his people to guard us, and carry the presents he had given both to myself and people, safely to the wagon. Four of his men he instructed to proceed with me to Kuruman, and bring him back a faithful report of all the wonderful things I had told him. They are, an under Chief of his, and three servants. I wish and pray that I may be useful to them, so that when they return they may tell not only of the strange customs of the "Makuas," but also of the "wonderful works of God."

SOUTH SEAS.

SAMOAS.

(From Rev. W. Harbutt, Upolu, Jan. 24, 1842.)

With respect to our missionary labours, we have abundant reason to thank God and take courage. Many are the tokens of his favour which we have enjoyed since we came amongst this people. Before entering on details, I shall give a brief account of the station in which we reside, and of its former condition. A short time before the first visit of Mr. Williams to the islands, Atua, then the most powerful division of Upolu, became involved in war; and the

two remaining divisions, named O-le-tuamasaga and Aana, combined with the powerful chiefs of Manono and Savaii, ravaged the whole of this beautiful district; whilst a fleet of canoes, belonging to Tonga, which happened to be here at the time of the war, went round the coast, and laid waste the whole of the villages on the seashore. The inhabitants were driven to their strongholds in the mountains, where they resided more than six months. Many af

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