number of christian books and portions of the Scriptures distributed. Besides this we have preached the gospel in more than one hundred villages in the Ahmednuggur district, spending a day or two in a place. This, as will be seen from the above statement, is little more than one thirtieth of the towns and vil

the revenues of the village are devoted to the temple and the worship of the deity, and to the support of a number of brahmins, etc. Hence, in riding twenty miles, the missionary may preach in a village belonging to the English, in another to Sindia, in a third to Holkor, a fourth to the god Gunputtee, or Kanoba, Randhaba, etc. This state of things ex-lages in the Ahmednuggur collectorate. isted before the conquest by the English, and has been suffered by them to remain as they found it.

Destitution of Christian Instruction.

Only one tour has been made in the territories of the Nizam east of us, and that of one hundred miles in an easterly direction, and by the Scottish mission.* If the heart of the Christian sickens at the idea of so vast a population, in the Making Ahmednuggur, the place of nineteenth century, enveloped in the acour present station, a centre, we look cumulated darkness of ages, without around on every side upon a vast region even the means of being otherwise, how of moral darkness. Looking westward, much more must it sicken when he looks we see a single missionary station at into their condition, and sees the bonPoona, eighty-three miles distant. Here dage of superstition, and the abominaare two Scottish missionaries. To the tions, the cruelties, and wickedness, northwest there is one station at Nas- which idolatry has entailed from generaseek, one hundred miles distant, and tion to generation on this mass of human three missionaries of the church of Eng- beings. The claims of these 40,000,000 land. Casting the eye to the north, it are no less imperious on christendom bemeets not a cheering spot till it stretches cause the wretched sufferers do not beyond the confines of India. Bearing themselves present and enforce them. to the northeast, we meet missionaries at Who will say that the poor, starving, Delhi, 830 miles; Agra, 750; Alladabad, diseased beggar, who lies in our path, 500; and at Benares. To the east there has less claims on our pity, because he is no missionary this side of the Bengal is so stupified by disease that he cannot presidency, at Nagpore four hundred petition for our charity, or demand our miles there is a chaplain, but no mission-humanity? Such is the nature of the ary till we reach Orissa. To the south-claims of the heathen. east there is no missionary station this side of Hydrabad, 335 miles, nor even there; to the south the first missionaries we meet are at Belgaura, 300 miles. Taking the above named places as limits, the area inclosed can scarcely be less than eight hundred miles by one thousand in extent, and probably containing 40,000,000 inhabitants. It should be observed that the abovementioned limits have respect only to Ahmednuggur; for many of the above-mentioned places are as far inland as Ahmednuggur, leaving beyond them an immense field, not yet cultivated, or even surveyed.

Such is the extent of the unevangelized regions in the interior of India. By far the greater proportion of the thousands of towns and villages comprehended within these limits have never yet been visited by a christian missionary. Previous to the establishment of the station at Ahmednuggur, two years ago, the Scottish missionaries had made two preaching tours as far east as this place; and in the latter they proceeded

north as far as Nasseek. Since our removal hither the gospel has been preach

The fact of this extensive inland country having been, within these few years, thrown open to the labors of the missionary, ought, no doubt, to be regarded by the church of Christ as a divine intimation that the long night of death, which has for so many centuries brooded over this land, is now about to pass away, and the Sun of Righteousness ere long arise and shine and make these regions of the shadow of death as the city which needeth not the light of the sun or the moon, for the Lord God shall be the light thereof.

Of the population of the Deccan, Mr. Read supposes that one tenth of the adult males, and perhaps one eighth of the male youth are able to read. A female may occasionally be found who can read respectably, though they are as one in a thousand, or one in ten thousand. The Mahrattas cannot be said to have a taste for reading, except that a few are fond of reading coarse fictions; the principal reason probably is that they regard all matters of

* Since writing the above, two tours have been

ed in Nuggur almost daily, and a great made by our missionaries to Juulna, Auringubad, etc.

science, history, religion, etc., as settled by their forefathers and written in their Shasters, and that all further reading, writing, or discussion on these subjects is vain and impious. Still, Mr. Read remarks, those who are able to read are generally willing to receive Christian books gratuitously, and as they are generally small, it is hoped that they are read.

Climate of the Deccan.

The British Deccan, (or the British possessions in the Deccan,) is much elevated above the sea coast. It may be called an extensive table land of the Ghauts. In travelling from Bombay to Ahmednuggur we ascend these abrupt mountains on the west by a winding road to Kundala, a village at the top of the Ghauts, now of some celebrity as an invalid station. Here the traveller meets a more salubrious atmosphere, at an elevation of 3,000 feet above the sea coast, or the Concan below. As he proceeds towards Ahmednuggur by Poonah, he passes, without descending, over an inmense plain, undulated by gentle slopes, or broken up by small abrupt hills and vallies, and intersected by a great number of streams and rivulets, besides four or five rivers of considerable magnitude. Except in the rainy season, most of these are but channels of rivers, without water. For eight months in the year the Deccan presents but little more than one unbroken waste of barrenness and desolation. No fences, no houses, except in the villages, no vegetation, except now and then a field about a well, which is cultivated as a garden and artificially watered; and scarcely a tree cheers the eye of the traveller, except it be a fruit or shade tree about the village. From November till July the whole country presents but one dismal aspect of parched earth or barren rock. On the return of the rains the grass, flowers, weeds, vines, and a most luxuriant vegetation of every description, spring up as by magic, and the field, which a few days before seemed as destitute of the root or seed of vegetation as the ash heap, is now covered with green, and even the barren rock seems to have vegetated.

The climate is dry and variable. The quantity of rain which falls at Ahmednuggur is much less than-probably not more than half-that which falls on the coast. Hence all who can endeavor to spend this season east of the Ghauts. Then follows the month of October, which is every where in India an unhealthy month. But as the insalubrity

of this month arises principally from the decay of vegetation, and the quantity of rain being less, and of consequence vegetation less, in the Deccan, it may be less noxious than in other places. expected that this month would prove

The following months, November, December, January, and February, are delightfully cool. Flannel beneath or woolen clothes are found comfortable till ten or eleven o'clock in the morning.Then follows three months of excessive

heat and dryness. The hot winds begin to blow about the middle of March, and continue till the commencement of the rains in June. During this period the hot winds blow from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon. These winds resemble more the fumes from a heated furnace, than the ordinary summer breeze of New England. On this account people immure themselves in their houses during these hours, closing their doors and windows so as to shut out the heated air. The walls being thick the cool air of the morning is retained and the house season, though oppressive to all, and kept comparatively comfortable. This very trying to persons of feeble constitutions, is not in general insalubrious, though the heat in the shade generally is from 90 degrees to 100 degrees of Fahrenheit; and in the sun, from 120 degrees to 125 degrees. In a close room the degree of heat is reduced about 10 de

grees.

The climate of the Deccan is, of course, more invigorating than that of the Con

can.

bay is very trying to the constitution, is The rainy season, which in Bomhere a delightful and healthful season. We have but a few days of heavy rains, while the remainder of the time the burning rays of the sun for the most part of the time are interrupted by light clouds, and the atmosphere cooled by refreshing showers.

Native Schools and School Books

Views respecting Education.

In most native towns and villages there are schools supported by the people. In these schools the boys learn to read, write, and keep accounts. Female schools seem never to have been thought of. In many, and perhaps most of these schools, the teachers, who of course are natives, appear not inferior to those natives who are employed in mission schools. They are in general competent to teach the branches which are regarded as being essential in the education of a boy, and are, I believe, more faithful

pecuniary benefit which is held out to || In looking forward to this time I have

the girls removes the objections of their parents, who are generally poor. Since female schools have become rather common in Bombay, the odium is very much diminished. Girls thus being drawn in and taught to read, their fathers no doubt feel gratified with their attainments, and wish them to continue in school. Still, however, in most instances, the withdrawal of the presents would, we fear, be followed with a withdrawal of nine tenths of the scholars. In the manner explained, the prejudice against female education has been considerably diminished-not as we could wish, by any general desire among the people to have their girls educated, in itself considered. There are, no doubt, some among the brahmins and Parsees who would like to have their girls educated, but have an objection to sending them to a christian school.

Endian Archipelago.

had some anxious forebodings as to the future, and even the startling question came up, Can I leave my family? But the Lord happily brought me to a full, and entire acquiescence in his will, in a way peculiarly his own. A few evenings since a thunderbolt struck so near our house, that the sound caught my attention almost before the flash, and with a startling crash, the likeness of which I never before heard. It seemed to bring home, with such force to my mind the power of the Almighty, his power to take life, even when we might be dwel ling under the same roof; and to preserve it, even when we might be exposed to the ferocity of wild men and wilder animals, that I felt like a little child at his feet, and have since felt nought but a perfect acquiescence in his will on the subject. On the contrary, I have rejoiced in that my name was written in heaven. And truly I can say when the time of separation came, I seemed to lean on the promises, "As thy day, so shall thy

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE strength be;" and "Lo, I am with you

LATE MESSRS. MUNSON AND LYMAN.

A full statement of the circumstances of the

always," as one would lean on the arm of a friend.

8. We weighed anchor at half past six o'clock this morning, and with a gentle breeze soon left the shipping in the roads far astern. It was indeed encouraging to reflect that as the sails are filling to the breeze to bear us on our perilous and responsible enterprise, the friends of Christ are assembling in our

of missions, that he will prosper all who are laboring in foreign lands; and I am not without hope that we, too, are re

much on our own account, as on account of the reference our labors have to the kingdom of God. To embark at any

melancholy and lamented death of Messrs. Munson and Lyman, so far as the circumstances were known, was given in the Herald for March, pp. 98-105. It will be recollected that one part of the work committed to their charge, was to make a tour of observation and inquiry among the islands of the Indian Arch-native land for united prayer to the God ipelago; especially those commonly denominated the Malayan group, comprehending Sumatra and some small islands in its neigh-membered at the throne of grace, not so borhood, Java, Celebes, Borneo, etc. In the prosecution of this work, they left Batavia in April, 1834, visited Pulo Battoo, and Pulo Nyas, with the smaller islands adjacent, which are situated near the southwestern coast of Sumatra, and proceeded to the latter island, where they were cut off by the Battas. The vessel in which they embarked conveyed them directly to Padang, about midway on the coast of Sumatra. The following article contains a few extracts from their journals, which will show the kind of labors in which they were engaged and the spirit which animated them in the closing period of their life. Anticipations respecting the Voyage

Intercourse with the Passengers.

April 7, 1834. Embarked on board the Diederieca, capt. Townsend, for Padang.

time in this cause we would fain have

confidence in the Almighty, that he would give prosperity to his cause. But to weigh anchor and move out of the harbor under the prayers of the church is truly animating and encouraging.

Our barque, which is only of 250 tons burthen, (though having much deck There are American, Indian, and Dutch room,) presents quite a Babel scene. passengers, besides soldiers, European and native, and twenty-five convicts in chains; while the crew are made up of Portuguese, Bengallees, and Malays. The languages spoken by these ninety souls are twelve in number, viz., English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Bengalee, Moor, Javanese, Malay, Chinese, and Niyas, while there is

scarcely an individual, if one, on board || rain descended in torrents; the sails that who does not understand more or less of Malay.