THE SECHUANA SCRIPTURES.

"The work of translation and printing progresses slowly but steadily, and just as fast as our circumstances will permit. Br. Ashton has advanced with the printing as far as the end of the 1st Book of Kings, and the 2nd Book is in readiness for the press, so that, when the binding materials so promptly and so kindly forwarded by the Bible Society arrive, we shall be able very soon to place the first volume of the Old Testament into the hands of the Bechuanas, who are incessant in their inquiries as to when the book will be ready. While the process of printing appears to them expeditious, they cannot well understand why so much labour and pains are taken to insure correctness in translation.

SECHELE, CHIEF OF THE BAKWANI. "Sechele returned to this station after my departure to Bloemfontein, but waited till my return, after which he departed with his family and retinue to his country and people.

"He returned from Cape Town, only half satisfied. He doubtless expected more attention to be paid to him by Government authorities, who, for reasons best known to themselves, (of course people have a right to think,) paid him no attention, nor would even regard his tale of woe. Of one thing he was fully convinced, that the Mission friends

were his real friends, and spoke most gratefully of the kindness and attention received from our agent the Rev. W. Thompson.

"He was surprised and delighted with the progress his children had made during their stay with us, in reading, writing, sewing, &c., &c. He remarked that those among his people who had been so violent against their being sent away to such a distance to be reformed,' would, he thought, on their return, hide their heads with shame. Mrs. M. and I felt inclined to retain the two youngest, about ten years of age, but Sechele preferred taking them all with him, as he thought these were equally proficient with the rest, it being his determination to employ them all in different stations in his town, to teach the people to read. They were accordingly sent off with a tolerable supply of clothes, books, writing-paper, and materials. Sechele, before leaving this, engaged Sebobee, one of our native teachers, first among the Batlaros, and then among the Banguaketse, to follow him. Sebobee being willing, we not only gave our cordial consent, but were glad of the arrangement, as, from his wellknown zeal and steadfastness of Christian character, we can only hope for good in carrying on the work of public instruction and encouraging Sechele, by precept and example, in his laudable endeavours to get his people taught to read."

INFANTS.

"Before the introduction of Christianity, probably not fewer than two-thirds of the Samoan race died in infancy and childhood. This mortality arose principally from carelessness and mismanagement in nursing; evils which still prevail to a great extent. Even now, perhaps, one-half of them die before they reach their second year. The poor little things are often carried about with their bare heads exposed to the scorching rays of a vertical sun. Exposure to the

night damps also, and, above all, stuffing them with improper food, are evils which often make us wonder that the mortality among them is not greater than it is. The Samoans were always fond of their children, and would have done anything for them when ill, but, with the exception of external applications for skin diseases, they had no remedies for the numerous disorders of children. Now, they are highly favoured with useful medicines at every Mission station; and, were their care in preventing disease equal to their anxiety to obtain a cure when the child is really ill, there would probably be less sickness among them, and fewerdeaths.

ADULTS.

"The universal opinion of the natives is, that the mortality is now greater among young and middle-aged people than it was formerly. It was common,' they say, 'to see three or four old men in a house, whereas you rarely see more than one now.' Among a people destitute of statistics or records of any kind, it is difficult to speak correctly of an earlier date than some twenty years ago. Since that time, however, the population has been on the decrease. We have not observed any marked disproportion in the deaths of adults of any particular age, compared with other parts of the world. A person died in 1847, who was present at the massacre of M. de Langle and others connected with the exploring expedition of La Perouse, in 1787, and who was then a youth of about fourteen years of age. Judging from his appearance, we may suppose that there are some in every village who must be sixty, seventy, and even eighty years of age.

DISEASES.

"Pulmonary affections, paralysis, diseases of the spine producing humpback, ophthal mia, skin diseases, scrofulous and other ulcers, elephantiasis, and a species of leprosy were among the principal diseases with which they were afflicted. Ophthalmia and various diseases of the eye were very prevalent. There are few cases of total blindness; but many have one of the organs of vision destroyed. Connected with diseases of the eye, pterygium is common; not only single, but double, triple, and even quadruple are occasionally met with. The leprosy of which they speak has greatly abated. They say, that formerly many had it, and suffered from its ulcerous sores until all the fingers of a hand or the toes of a foot had fallen of. The elephantiasis, producing great enlargement of the legs and arms, has, they think, somewhat abated too; only, they say, it prevails among the young men more now than it did formerly. Insanity was occasionally met with. It was invariably traced to the immediate presence of an evil spirit. If furious, the party was tied hand to hand, and foot to foot, until a change for the better appeared. Idiots are not common. Consumption they called 'Moomoo;' and there were certain

native doctors who were supposed to be successful in spearing the disease, or, rather, the spirit causing it. The doctor, when sent for, would come in, sit down before the patient, and chant as follows:"Moomoo e! Moomoo e!

O le a ou velosia atu oe ;'

which in English is,

'O Moomoo! O Moomoo!

They say, that

I'm on the eve of spearing you.' Then he would rise up, flourish about with his spear over the head of the patient, and leave the house. No one dared speak or smile during the ceremony. Influenza is a new disease to the natives. the first attack of it ever known in Samoa was during the Aana war, in 1830, just as the missionaries Williams and Barff, with Tahitian teachers, first reached their shores. The natives at once traced the disease to the foreigners and the new religion; the same opinion, spread throughout these seas, and especially among the islands of the New Hebrides, has proved a serious hindrance to the labours of missionaries and native teachers. Ever since, there have been returns of the disease almost annually. It is generally preceded by unsettled weather, and westerly or southerly winds. Its course is from east to west. It lasts for about a month, and passes off as fine weather and steady easterly winds set in. In many cases it is fatal to old people and those who have been previously weakened by pulmonary diseases. There was an attack in May, 1837, and another in November, 1846, both of which were unusually severe and fatal. They have a tradition of an epidemic answering the description of cholera which raged with fearful violence many years ago. In 1849, hooping-cough made its appearance, and prevailed for several months, among adults as well as children. A good many of the children died; but it has long since quite disappeared. In the course of last year, another new disease surprised the natives, viz., the mumps. It was traced to a vessel from California, and soon spread all over the group. Scarcely a native escaped. It answered the usual description of the attack given in medical works, and passed off in ten days or a fortnight. Hitherto, they have been exempt from small-pox.

We

dread its approach, and some years ago vaccinated all the natives.

MEDICINE.

"The Samoans, in their heathenism, had never recourse to any internal remedy, except an emetic, which they sometimes tried after having eaten a poisonous fish. Sometimes, juices from the bush were tried; at other times, the patient drank water until it was rejected; and, on some occasions, mud, and even the most unmentionable filth was mixed up and taken as an emetic draught. Latterly, as their intercourse with Tongans, Feejeeans, Tahitians, and Sandwich Islanders increased, they made additions to their pharmacopoeia of juices from the bush. As in Egypt, each disease had its particular physician. Anointing the affected part of the body with scented oil, by the native doctors, was common; and to this, charms were frequently added, consisting of some flowers from the bush, done up in a piece of native cloth, and put in a conspicuous place in the thatch over the patient. But now, our European remedies are eagerly sought after; so much so, that every Missionary is obliged to have a dispensary, and to set apart a certain hour every day to give advice and medicine to the sick.

"As they supposed disease to be occasioned by the wrath of some particular deity, their principal desire, in any difficult case, was not for medicine, but to ascertain the cause of the calamity. The friends of the sick went to the high-priest of the village. He was sure to assign some cause; and, whatever that was, they were all anxiety to have it removed, as the means of restoration. If he said they were to give up a canoe to the god, it was given up. If a piece of land was asked, it was passed over at once. Or, if he did not wish anything particularly from the party, he would probably tell them to assemble the family, confess, and throw out.' In this ceremony, each member of the family confessed his crimes, and any judg. ments which, in anger, he had invoked on the family, or upon the particular member of it then ill; and, as a proof that he revoked all such imprecations, he took a little water in his mouth, and spurted it out towards the person who was sick. The custom is still kept up by many, and the sick-bed of a dear friend often forms a confessional, before

which long-concealed and most revolting crimes are disclosed.

IN SURGERY,

They lanced ulcers with a shell or a shark's tooth, and, in a similar way, bled from the arm. For inflammatory swellings, they sometimes tried local bleeding; but shampooing and rubbing with oil were, and are still, the more common remedies in such cases. Cuts they washed in the sea and bound up with a leaf. Into wounds in the scalp they blew the smoke of burnt chestnut wood. To take a barbed spear from the arm or leg, they cut into the limb from the opposite side, and pushed it right through. Amputation they never attempted.

THE TREATMENT OF THE SICK

"Was, as it is now, invariably humane, and all that could be expected. They wanted for no kind of native food which they might desire, night or day, if it was at all in the power of their friends to procure it. In the event of the disease assuming a dangerous form, messengers were despatched to friends at a distance, that they might have an oppor tunity of being in time to see, and say farewell to a departing relative. This is still the custom. The greater the rank, the greater the stir and muster about the sick, of friends from the neighbourhood and from a distance. Every one who goes to visit a sick friend, supposed to be near death, takes with him a present of a fine mat, or some other kind of valuable property, as a farewell expression of regard. Among the worldly. minded, whose interests centre in this life, this heaping together of property by the bedside of a dying relative is still in high repute. But the custom is being opposed. Many, in the light of Christianity, now shun it as cruelty to the dying, and an injury to the living. They wish to direct the thoughts of their departing relatives to heaven rather than earth, and are desirous that the house should be, for a time, a house of mourning,' and free from the distracting formalities, jealousies, and strifes, which are invariably associated with such a collection of property, and its subsequent distribution among the members of the family, just before or immediately after death. But the customs connected with death and burial we must reserve for another paper."-Samoan Reporter.