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after another hung down their heads and walked quietly out. They were followed by their students, who were seated, some of them, in the front seats, where they had joined in the chorus of yells. They too walked out by twos and threes very quietly, so that by the time I had reached the point indicated above, about fifty had left. Half a dozen priests and twice as many students remained with a large audience which still filled the church, and it seemed as if I could hear a pin drop, so quietly did they listen then for forty minutes, while I switched on to my subject and gave them an earnest talk on the necessity and the way of getting a new heart.

"After speaking eight nights in succession, up till midnight or after, and waking early in the morning, I came home to take up the waiting school work, and my brain feels half-paralyzed yet. But the work is a joyous one, even if one gets very weary in it."

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“I have every reason to long to be constantly at work. Many doors are open and I have had only one rebuff. One day a woman in the street most cordially invited me to visit her. I went, but her husband, who opened the door, told me that she had gone to church. I went another day, and had just entered the court when he appeared at the door of a room calling out like a crazy man, What have you come here for? Go away! Go away, I say!' Of course I politely departed. My going about with Nazloo from house to house has attracted much attention, and especially during Lent. The arachnort, vartabeds, and priests have scolded and

warned their people against us, in some cases refusing the communion to those who should continue to take lessons of Nazloo. This cost her four scholars. She has suffered far more than I, as only boys or very rude young men dare to call after or laugh at me in the street. Once only did a boy throw a stone which hit

me.

"But Nazloo, my assistant, has been abused right and left, until well frightened. She is startled every now and then by rumors that she is to be beaten-indeed she heard that several women had vowed by the mass that they would beat her and me. Stones have been thrown at her. I am sure that her scholars love her very much, and those who have been obliged to drop their lessons mourn greatly. One day she had been reviled and blamed at a house where she had been, when a little boy who stood at the gate said as she left, Read the fifth chapter of Matthew and be comforted.' Women have tried to entice her into houses as if to take lessons, but only for the purpose of abusing her. One day while I was walking in the street the sexton of the church asked of the man with me, 'Is that the teacher who preaches from house to house?' Another day a group of men by the same church were overheard saying, as they looked after me, 'That is the Arakyaloohi (female apostle), is it?'

"A strong effort has just been made in our church to have it take a firmer stand on the matter of marriages, baptisms, funerals, and the communion, that a Protestant should feel it his duty to have these services in his own church and have his family a unit in the matter. Five new members were received into the church Sabbath before last, when we had a most solemn and beautiful communion service. One of these new members is a teacher in the boys' school, two others are brides, former pupils of Misses Johnson and Kimball, one a teacher in the girls' school, and another a pupil there all most promising. Our hearts were very glad. Dr. Raynolds received them with tender and fitting words, and he and Mr. Greene

each had a share in the communion service. Eighty women and children were present - a large number. Of course many were Gregorians, and we were delighted to see that they were deeply impressed by the service and enjoyed it. Many came up to shake hands with and congratulate the new members afterward. Miss Ladd asked me to take the whole company in one great Sabbathschool class. How I enjoyed explaining our lesson, the 53d of Isaiah, to those bright, attentive listeners."

MOOSH.

Mr. Cole, writing May 17 from Bitlis, says of Moosh :

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Notwithstanding the terrible poverty there has never seemed to me such a set time to favor' that city of some 1,500 inhabitants. To begin with, that notorious Moussa Bey is an exile down in Arabia, and so we have no rehearsals of murders, outrages in families, plunder, etc., poured into our ears as at other times. Never during these seven years since we came into the field has there been such freedom for poor peasants that way. All this goes to show how easy it would be for the Turk to govern even his outlaws if he would only make such leading ones an example, as in this case. But we are very sorry to say that the Gregorians, or,

more properly, their schools in Moosh, have become so involved in a sort of pseudo-political organization that they are all much under the cloud before the government. Some twenty scholars and teachers have been sent off into exile, while four are sentenced for life in such miserable prisons as only such a land can produce. This is all the more unfortunate because that miserable Moussa often boasted that only he could keep down the large Armenian element, and now this secret organization seems in some sort a tacit admittal of as much, - at least so the Turks may choose to interpret it,— and hence there is a flying report abroad that the Bey is to come back again!

"But to Moosh city. I have said it was the set time' for this place. Hitherto those Gregorian schools absorbed everything, as they made no demands on the scholars, even supplying the ink and paper. But now that the parents see into what their children have been led as members of such schools, they look toward us, saying they have confidence in us, not only for education, but for morality and true manhood. Hence, if we only had the proper buildings and other arrangements, we might look for a large accession both for a boys' and girls' school. We trust the Lord will open the way this."

Notes from the Wide Field.

AFRICA.

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LAKE NYASA. We have chronicled recently the entrance of the Moravians upon missionary work at the northern end of Lake Nyasa. The Berlin Society has also founded a mission in the same district, headed by Mr. Merensky, who was formerly leader of the mission of the Berlin Society in the Transvaal. His efforts will be directed chiefly to the Konde tribes, the station being some thirty miles from the lake and about 1,000 feet above it. In some African notes by Mr. Carlyle, in The Church Missionary Intelligencer, it is said that Mr. Merensky writes of this region on the north of Lake Nyasa as "almost an idyllic country. Extensive banana groves, wellkept roads, ample, comfortable cottages, large cow-stalls, all so clean and neat that in Europe they would be called pretty." Mr. Carlyle sums up the work now undertaken on Lake Nyasa as follows: There are five missions actively at work, with more than thirty stations; there are on the lake four vessels belonging to the Universities' Mission, and two steamers and a sailing vessel belonging to the African Lakes Company. Steam-launches are in preparation for the Scotch missions at Bandawe and Blantyre.

On the Upper Shiré there are two British gunboats, while on the Zambesi there are several British, Dutch, and Portuguese vessels. It is also reported that the British government has ordered the construction of two gunboats to be placed on Lake Nyasa as speedily as possible. Thus it seems that this interior African lake has been in some good sense taken possession of by missionaries and others from foreign lands.

SOUTH AFRICA. - From reports published in The Mission Field it appears that within the Cape Colony the Reformed Dutch Church has about 300,000 adherents, all but 80,000 of whom are Europeans. The English Church has nearly 140,000 adherents, one half of them being Europeans. The Wesleyan Methodists have over 100,000; the Independents, 66,000; the Presbyterians, 32,000, and the Roman Catholics, 17,000. The population of Cape Colony, including the Griqualands and the Transkei, according to the census of 1891, was 1,527,000, of whom a little over one fifth were Europeans. From these statistics it would seem that this section of Africa may properly be called a Christian colony.

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A CHRISTIAN KING IN WEST AFRICA. King Eyo Honesty VII of Creektown, Old Calabar, has recently died, and an account given of him in the Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland shows that he was a fine specimen of African Christian manhood. From the account given in the Record we glean these facts His name, when a young man, was Ensa, but he was known among the European traders as Henshaw Tom Foster, and received his first instruction in gospel truth in 1847, but was not publicly received to the church till 1858. His uncle was King Eyo II. Ensa was bitterly opposed in his faith by his wife and her family, and inasmuch as he stood in good relations with the missionaries and with the traders he was for a long time distrusted by his people. On one occasion, when he had offended his people in some way, they required him to make oath by what was called mbiam that he had not done what was charged, or else pay a fine of £300. He offered to take the oath on the Bible, but as mbiam was a distinctly heathenish ceremony he refused to take it and paid the fine. Some time after this, the succession having failed, it was proposed to choose Ensa as king, but three influential men prevented his election lest he sell the kingdom to God's white men." The man who was chosen to the place proved incapable, and his principal supporters died, and Ensa was asked to become king. He made two conditions prior to his acceptance: "first, that the king govern, and the people submit to be governed, by the will of God, so far as that will is made known in the Bible, and that there be no religious intolerance; second, that he be not king of a party, but that all connected with Capetown submit to him individually." These conditions were accepted and Ensa was crowned king by the name of Eyo Honesty VII. At the coronation, after a prayer, the king addressed his subjects, inviting them to join with him in doing good, and then addressing the mission he expressed the hope "that God's blessing would continue on its labors, and urging that each member of it cease not day or night to win sinners from sin to Christ." His reign was peaceful and wise. He administered justice impartially; but aroused the antipathy of the heathen chiefs by his firm adherence to Christian customs. He favored the establishment of the British Protectorate, and sought to do much more than he was able to accomplish in the reformation of his people. He had a small library of English books "though very much a man of one book, and that book the Bible." He was a finely built man, over six feet in height, but he was modest and retiring, yet ready to do whatever he could for his people. He was for a time superintendent of the Sunday-school, which office he diligently discharged. If the minister was absent and need arose, he conducted divine service very acceptably. He died on the twenty-fourth of March last. At his funeral there was a vast assembly of mourners, and the writer in the Record speaks of it as a most remarkable fact that when the

funeral was over" the town lay as quiet as if no such event had occurred. How great a change from the too well remembered days when hundreds of slaves would have been murdered to keep him company in the other world." The story of this good African king is a wonderful encouragement to those who are seeking to develop Christian manhood in Africa.

THE SANGHIR ISLANDS.

THE recent awful destruction of life and property by a volcanic eruption at the Sanghir Islands, a group north of Celebes and south of the Philippines, and having a population of from 50,000 to 80,000 souls, makes the following statement in the July number of the Paris Journal des Missions a timely one, though written before the disaster occurred. The Sanghir Isles, although never officially annexed to the Netherlands, are under the Dutch Protectorate and the supervision of the governor-general of Batavia or of Java. The gospel was first preached there by Dutch pastors from Celebes about 1677. Christian baptism saved many from becoming the prey of Mohammedan propagandists. But to this day there are people among them who, thinking that they cannot have too much religion, are baptized and attend Christian worship on Sunday, join with the Mohammedans on Thursday, and between times adore their demons or ancient pagan gods! In 1857 four missionaries were sent to these islands. One of them, named Steller, has remained there thirty-four years, and, thanks to abundant plantations, has managed to bring up his family on a salary of $48 a year! He has printed, in great part at his own expense, a Sacred History and the Heidelberg Catechism in the Sanghir language, and his daughter is now at Utrecht, occupied with a translation of the New Testament and the preparation of a Sanghir grammar and dictionary. Mr. Steller has baptized about 4,000 natives and has a church of 400 communicants. There were 20,000 nominal Christians at the time of the late disaster. According to the telegraphic reports of the eruption which occurred early in June, great masses of flame and stones poured forth from the volcano Gunona, falling all over the island, destroying houses and the lives of thousands of people.

MAURITIUS.

THIS island, under the government of Great Britain, is in the Indian Ocean, 500 miles east of Madagascar. Though it has an area of only 705 English square miles, it has a population of 378,000. It has been said that in no part of the world is there population of this size composed of such a variety of races. The majority come from India, but English and French and African, Malagasy, Chinese, and other nationalities are well represented. The island has been in the possession, successively, of the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and the English, the full sovereignty of the British crown having been acknowledged by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. An interesting article in The Church Missionary Intelligencer for July gives a full report of the missionary work upon the island. Its growth has been gradual but real. This missionary work was commenced by the London Society in 1814, but it is now conducted by the Church Missionary Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Their chief efforts are among the Hindus. The native church council embraces 2,500 adherents, 654 of whom are communicants. Much trouble has arisen on account of the action of the Roman Catholic church in securing government aid for education. The attention of the world has been called to this island because of the recent terrible cyclone which wrought fearful destruction. The island has always been subject to hurricanes, but this one was of an unprecedented character. It lasted but about an hour and a half, but in that short space of time nearly one third of the houses in Port Louis were destroyed, some streets containing the finest houses having been literally swept away. The loss of life and property has been enormous and recovery from the disaster must necessarily be slow.

CHINA.

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A HOSTILE OFFICIAL. One of the incendiary bulletins circulated throughout the province of Honan which served to incite the people to commit outrages upon foreigners and especially upon missionaries was a book entitled " Deathblow to Corrupt Doctrines." At the demand of the foreign ambassadors at Peking, the Viceroy Li Hung Chang and the Tsung-li Yamen, or the official Board of Government, issued an edict against the book calling for its suppression and the destruction of the blocks on which it was printed. A response made to this edict by the Lieutenant-Governor of Honan has just come to light. It is addressed to the Viceroy and is a most remarkable document. The Lieutenant-Governor declares that the book which is condemned in the decree is "in its leading principles in accordance with the sacred exhortation of Yung Cheng to expel monstrous teaching. Its object is to make right learning respected. Every sentence is correct. I bought copy of the book and read it, and saw statements accordant with the sacred exhortations. I knelt to it in reverence; then I rose, sat down and read it carefully. I found its title and contents admirable. The Tsungli Yamen cannot have carefully perused this work. I cannot understand why on receipt of a single dispatch a single note from the barbarian ministers requesting its destruction it hastily did all they wanted to, and wrote requesting your excellency to give circular orders to your subordinates to search for and destroy this work.” This dispatch continues at great length in the same strain, defending the book most vigorously and commending it as giving deathblows to corrupt doctrines; calling on the Viceroy "to write a dispatch to each of the barbarian ministers requesting them to have all Christian books and the blocks for printing them burned," etc! The boldness of this official in addressing the Viceroy is something astonishing, while his spirit and character are shown by his commendation of those infamous publications which have emanated from Honan. That he could send such a dispatch shows that there is little hope of speedy suppression of the hostile spirit in the province of which he is the Lieutenant-Governor.

REACHING MOHAMMEDANS.

INDIA.

Toward the close of last year some account was given in the Missionary Herald of a remarkable work done by Mr. Lefroy, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel mission in Calcutta, among the Moslems; large assemblies having been addressed by Mr. Lefroy during a series of amicable discussions which have been arranged for by the Mohammedans themselves. A member of the English Baptist mission at Delhi reports a similar experience in that city. This missionary, Mr. Dann, having on one occasion fallen into conversation with a half-dozen Mohammedans in the bazaar, he was asked to come again, and on the next day he found about sixty men assembled, and among them a learned Maulvi who had been engaged in the discussions with Mr. Lefroy at Calcutta. After a friendly discussion arrangements were made to meet in a larger place, and the Native Christian Training Institution was chosen, the special point to be discussed being our Lord's divinity. Mr. Dann spoke for an hour and a half, and the Maulvi followed with an address of equal length. The discussion of the topic was then deferred until the Ramadan feast was over, when it will be resumed. As to the results Mr. Dann says it is sufficient to say that 1,000 Mohammedans listened in respectful silence for an hour and a half to an exposition of fundamental and saving truths.

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CONVERSION OF A BRAHMAN. - Mr. Andrew, a missionary of the Scotch Free Church, at Chingleput, reports the conversion at that place of a Brahman youth of about twenty years of age, belonging to a rich family. The event has caused the greatest excitement throughout the whole community. The father and relatives came to plead with the son to return to his home. He absolutely refused, declaring that he

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