at the temple. The Brahmins, of course, would not allow us to go down to the yard where the temples are, nor did we care for doing so. Hideous images were in front of the temple and cut in the walls. In the temple itself is a ling, or black stone, the object of devotion. All pilgrims, who visit this place, present some offering. One of our men, who earns four rupees a month, offered here four ánás, at Gaunu Koond eight ánás, as much at Kidarnath, and nine ánás at Budrinath, and, I believe, at some other place at least three ánás, so that he had offered one-half of his monthly wages to the temples. If superstition has such a power, how great the influence that the true faith of Christ ought to exercise on the hearts and lives of its professors!" BHIM OODAR. "We left Tree Jogee early on the next morning, and breakfasted at a place called Gauru Koond. Here is a hot spring, which flows into a tank of about twenty feet square. In this tank all pilgrims bathe, without any distinction of caste. Before bathing, every one, whose father and mother are dead, shaves his head and beard, and makes some offering for the dead. We could scarcely recognise some of our people after undergoing this operation, they presented so grotesque an appearance. The scenery from Gauru Koond to Bhim Oodar is exceedingly grand. The mountains are precipitous, and there are numerous cascades, one of which falls about a thousand feet perpendicularly down from a precipice, in a white line of spray-a truly magnificent object. The road winds along the side of the hills, sometimes cut into the rock, sometimes like a bridge built over a precipice, now close to the brink of the river, then eight hundred or a thousand feet above it; innumerable little streams shooting out from their sources, and tumbling down from rock to rock, on both sides of the glen, into the roaring and foaming river below. Occasionally you catch in front a glimpse of the enormous snowy mountain of Kedar, at the sight of which every other object is forgotten. "About one o'clock, P.M., we reached our halting place, Blim Oodar. There are a great number of natural caves in the rocks, which the pilgrims have improved by excavations, and these are used as resting-places for them, between Gauru Koond and Kidarnath. A little beyond this is also a little level ground, which is used for the erection of huts, formed of branches of trees, at the season when the greatest concourse of pilgrims takes place; these, and the caves, are the means of protecting hundreds of the wretched pilgrims from the rigour of the climate, and of thereby preserving their lives. The natives call a cave Oodar, and have added Bhim; for they say that Rajah Bhim, with his host, occupied them for a time. The hills in the background are on the left side of the river Kedar Ganga. The glen is very narrow and precipitous, so much so that one could throw a stone across it to the other side of the hills. We shot a deer here across this glen, which was grazing on the other side. Considering that the mountains on each side are often nearly perpendicular, rising to the height of five or six thousand feet, it appears next to impossible that they could be clothed with beautiful forests up to the highest line of trees, but such is the case. There are oak, rhododendron, yam, and, towards the summit, pine and cypress trees. We pitched our tent close to this spot, but had a very narrow space on the slope of the hill for a lodging; however, by digging a little away from the side of the hill, we got as much room as the width of our tent required. Near to our pitchingground there was a dangerous snow bridge, over which the pilgrims had to pass. This snow bridge was hollowed out beneath by a precipitous mountain stream, and over it was a narrow causeway, which slopes outward towards the roaring torrents below. The day before we arrived here, an old woman had slipped down this narrow path, and was instantly carried away by the torrent beneath a large bed of snow, where no human power could save her. We spoke to the Pandas or temple servants, whose business it is to look after the roads and bridges, concerning this accident, but they very coolly remarked that it was a piece of good fortune for this old woman, that she had thus died on her way to Kidarnath, having at once obtained salvation. As the summits of all the mountains around us were covered with snow, and much snow also in the bed of the river, it was very cold in the evening and through the night. But having rolled a few large pieces of wood towards our tent, we made a huge The roaring stream, on the brink of which we had pitched our tent, occasioned us a restless night. We breakfasted at eight, and started for Kidarnath. We left our tent and all the baggage at Bhim Oodar, as none of the pilgrims stay over night up at Kidarnath, on account of the excessive cold and accumulation of snow. We had to climb and walk over three or four miles of deep snow. We soon reached the limit of the forest line, where the character of the scenery undergoes a disagreeable change. Emerging from the beautiful forest, you enter the region of bleak rocks, covered with ice and snow. About twelve o'clock we arrived at an open valley, surrounded on three sides by huge mountains. In this glen the temple of Kidar stands. Half a mile before reaching the temple, we had to cross the Kedar Ganga, which issues out of the snow, and is only a very short distance visible, and then disap Though this pears again beneath the snow. river is as cold as ice, yet a great many of the pilgrims bathe in it. A little further in advance, between the river and the temple, is a small house, built over a hot spring, in which all pilgrims bathe preparatory to their presenting themselves before their idol at the temple. The temple, which is dedicated to an incarnation of Seva, is a substantial edifice, built of stone handsomely carved. The top of the temple is surmounted by gilt balls, which give it a brilliant appearance. This present building has only recently been completed at the expense of Kajee Amer Sing and his family. The temple (see Engraving, page 249) stands about 12,000 feet above the sea, and the snowy mountain which overhangs it rises 12,900 feet more; the total altitude, therefore, of the Kidarnath Peak, is 24,900 feet above the sea. These mountains, the Pandas say, consist of gold and alabaster, on which Siva and his wife Parvati reside. When conversing with them about this fiction, they said, that to sinful men these mountains appear to be nothing but snow and ice, but in reality they are gold. The scenery here is awe-inspiring; as far as the eye could reach nothing but snow, and ice, and huge glaciers. In the sketch you see, on both sides, in front of the temple, what appear to be little hil locks: these are the roofs of rows of houses still buried under ten to twelve feet of snow. In winter the temple is submerged in the same way. I have endeavoured to represent some pilgrims going up to Kedar, and among them a rich Hindoo, who is carried in a Jampán by four men. Another is carried in a basket on the back of a hill-man. Near the bridge is a blind man led by another. The most devoted of the pilgrims walk barefooted over the snow-so our Pandit did. The number of pilgrims visiting this place is in some years from fifteen to twenty thousand. A few annually devote themselves to destruction there, either by precipitating themselves from the summit of a particular rock, or by penetrating into the Himalaya till over of these pilgrims come from very distant places. Rajputáná, Gwalier, Panjab-ill. One man we met, who came from Cutch; he travelled through central India, up to Gangotri, down again to Sreenagar, thence to Kidarnath, and he said he intended to visit Budrinath, and down again to Allahabad, Benares, Gaya, to Juggarnath, from which place he intended to return home. He had already been more than seven months on his journey. He was an old man, and had seven children at home. The Rawal, or chief priest, of this temple is invariably a native of the Malabar coast, and the Limgam sect; he does not, however, live at Kidarnath, but at Okinath, three marches below that place. More than fifty villages belong to the temple, the revenues of which the Rawal draws. We did not stay long at Kidarnath, having got very wet feet from walking in the snow. About three o'clock we reached Bhim Oodar again in safety, but quite knocked up with fatigue." MISSIONARY PROGRESS IN INDIA. Is former numbers we have taken occasion to refer to the decisive testimony borne by the advocates of Hindooism to the fact, that not withstanding all their efforts to stay the progress and lessen the influence of Christianity, its great leading truths have, through the teaching of the Missionaries, become extensively known among the rising, generation of India. Seeing that they cannot deny the evidence of facts, the friends of the ancient superstition now resort to the artful, but stale device of attacking the Christian faith with the weapons of the infidel writers of Europe. In illustration of these remarks, we have the pleasure to give insertion to the following article, from the Friend of India of the 12th of August, ult., and nothing can be more satisfactory than the admissions made by the Hindoo writer, as quoted in the article, with regard to the actual progress of Christian light and knowledge: "A number of educated Hindoos, in despair of checking the progress of Christianity by the ordinary weapons of calumny and persecution, have resorted to the more civilized expedient of attacking its doctrines at the root. They have commenced the publication of a monthly periodical filled with extracts from infidel writers, which they are endeavouring to circulate as an antidote to the teaching of the Missionaries. We have not the slightest intention of admitting a po lemical discussion into these columns, but we cannot allow the admissions with which they preface their objections to pass without a word of comment. They say: "The vigorous exertions of the preachers of the gospel have tended to spread widely the knowledge of the Christian religion among the natives of India: there can hardly be found an educated Hindoo that knows not something about it. They leave nothing untried that can efficiently contribute to its propagation. By means of schools, sermons, lectures, offering handsome prices to successful essayists, and other indirect measures, they insidiously cause the youths of this country to be initiated in the doctrines of Christianity. The labours of the Missionaries, it must be confessed, have been in this respect, to a certain extent, crowned with success, though in producing conviction on the mind of the Hindoo population in regard to the soundness of the claims of their religion, they have not met with equally happy results. But when it is found that the acquaintance of the people with the subject of Christianity has grown so general, and that they have got it, with some enlightened exceptions, of course, through no other medium than that of its advocates, it is exceedingly desirable that they should be made aware of what is said against it by eminent men born and educated in countries where the religion of Jesus is found to form the national faith.' "It would scarcely be possible to bear stronger testimony to the zeal, activity, and success of the Missionary body than is con tained in these few lines. They indicate profound conviction on the part of the Hin doo community, that their strongholds are no longer impregnable, that the ground has been mined beneath their feet, and that the movement may commence at any moment which will terminate in the subversion of the system which they have surrounded with so many safeguards. The feeling of indifference almost approaching to contempt with which Missionary effort was once regarded, has given place to that vague alarm which is the forerunner of gratifying success. It is felt even by those who are most wedded to their own superstition, that the cause of which the Missionaries are the pioneers is advancing rapidly, and that with whatever rigour the external observances of Hindooism may be maintained, its vital strength is rapidly declining. They dare not rely upon the vigour of idolatrous attachment in the rising generation, and are consequently compelled to search for new weapons, and to place themselves in an attitude of defence, instead of depending solely upon the vis inertia which has so long befriended them. They occupy very much the position held by paganism in the time of Diocletian-not yet defeated, but fairly frightened into a fierce, spasmodic activity most favourable to the progress of truth. admissions of weakness do not come from one quarter alone. We quoted recently from the Bhaskur, the statement of a moderate Hindoo The that the rising generation care nothing for the prejudices of antiquity. The Vedantists, who have themselves abandoned the essential peculiarities of Hindooism, are also beginning to feel that their attitude is insecure, and manifest a bitterness of spirit very different from the tone of triumph they at first assumed. There are signs on every hand that we are witnessing the beginning of the end. "We make these remarks not so much for the benefit of our readers in India, to whom the facts are sufficiently patent, but for those in England who are of course able to perceive only the external signs of Missionary progress. We have observed with regret, that at the great May Meetings of the metropolis there was a disposition among some of the principal speakers to assume a defensive attitude in respect to Indian Missions, as if they felt that the striking manifestations of improvement in the islands of the West Indies and the South Seas, in Africa and New Zealand, were wanting in Hindostan. Such an attitude is totally uncalled for, and proceeds, we believe, mainly from the difficulty of making Englishmen understand the enormous strength of circumstances-if we may be allowed the expression-which environs an old superstition long after it has lost its vitality. The forest is still standing, and they cannot from their distant point of view see that the trees have been marked, and the ground surveyed, and that nothing but the work of demolition remains to be accomplished. Meanwhile, it is well that they should learn from the mouths of Hindoos themselves, how far the cause which they have at heart has been silently yet steadily advancing." POLYNESIA. MANGAIA. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE MISSIONARY. THE REV. W. Wyatt Gill, who formed one of the Missionary band on board the John Williams, on her leaving England, in July, 1851, for the Islands of the Pacific, has furnished the following lively and descriptive narrative of the incidents of the voyage between Tahiti and Mangaia, his own destination, and of his feelings and impressions on coming into contact, for the first time, with the interesting scenes of Missionary life and labour. Under date Mangaia, March 10th, ult., Mr. Gill writes: "We arrived at Tahiti on February 4th after a pleasant voyage. Whilst there, I had the pleasure of accompanying Mr. Chisholm on a visit to some distant outstations. We travelled to Malaena (distant twenty miles from Papeete) on a Saturday. On the following day, four services were held in the different villages on our homeward route. I shall never forget my emotions, when, for the first time in my life, I worshipped with a congregation of native Christians. With great pleasure I delivered brief addresses, which Mr. Chisholm kindly translated to the people. I was everywhere struck by the numbers in attendance, and the decorum observed. When we returned to Papeete, we found a gathering of native teachers at the house of Mr. Howe; I think seventeen were present. They are certainly a fine set of men. When I saw them, all I had heard and said in faveur of native agency, rushed upon my memory with two-fold force. I had, afterwards, the pleasure of a visit to Papara, along with several others of our party. Upon the whole, I have been delighted to find, that the people still hold dear their Evangelical and Protestant principles; and that French arms and Catholic priests had done so little, during the years they have been trampling down this garden of the Lord. May our brethren, who accompanied us thus far, be enabled to do much for the God of peace and truth! "On February 12th, we set sail for Eimco; and, on Sunday, the 15th, we landed at Huahine. In consequence of the difficulty of warping the vessel into harbour, for the first time, morning service was omitted. In the afternoon we attended native service on shore; and, at night, good Mr. Barff preached to us on board. We found things quite peaceful here. The old queen had been discarded, and an interesting young man had been appointed her successor, without a blow being struck. Whilst at this island, a large party of us went to visit an inland lake. After sailing, or rather paddling over it, we rested in a little chapel, built on the site of a marae (heathen temple). "We afterwards climbed a steep hill to see the old national marae,-now overgrown with lofty trees. Around lay the memorials of many a human sacrifice. As I looked at all this, I could not but thank God for the mighty and happy change he has here wrought. Raiatea, which "Feb. 24th, we left for we reached in a few hours. War had not yet broken out, but was continually apprehended. It was interesting to visit the scene of Williams's labours; but sad to find such drawbacks to the prosperity of the work now existing. On the 26th we left Raiatea, and reached Borabara. The gentlemen went ashore with the Captain; but our anchor was not cast. We remained ashore just long enough to see Mr. and Mrs. Krause, and their two young German friends. I was much pleased with the chapel. After an hour's stay ashore, we returned to our ship. The same evening we were sailing direct for Mangaia. Very early on Monday morning, March 1st, its outline was visible. tumult of feeling that gave rise to! A long voyage of seven and a half months just terminated, and the scene of my future labours full in view. After breakfast, Mr. George Gill came aboard. When he found there was a Missionary for Mangaia, he wept tears of joy, and then with the natives that accompanied him, he gave a long shout of triumph. Well, I thought this was a good beginning. I found that my fellow-labourer had a warm heart, and that is something valuable. After a wetting in crossing the reef, we all got What a ashore. The first thing that struck me was the large chapel; and the comfortable and altogether creditable dwelling in which I am now writing. Our reception by Mr. G. Gill, and the people, has been most cordial. Such a shaking of hands-one almost wanted an extra pair for the occasion. "Next day, several of us set off with Mr. Buzacott to see the inland villages. Mr. Buzacott preached at both, to the great delight of the natives. We found in each village a substantial stone chapel, and a schoolhouse in preparation. I suppose 600 were present at one village chapel, and 800 at the other. In the largest of these villages (Tamarua) I am eventually to labour. The people, of course, wish me to go at once; but that would scarcely be wise. It is intended for me to reside at Oneroa with Mr. G. Gill, or near him, for three months, and then go to Tamarua; meantime paying the people occasional visits. We parted from our dear friends aboard the John Williams, on March the 4th, after a meeting had been arranged for the Missionaries of this group in the month of May or June next. I esteem it no slight privilege to have gained the friendship of such excellent people as Mr. and Mrs. Buzacott. To them, in a considerable degree, the comfort of our voyage was owing. "We have received the greatest kindness from our esteemed fellow-labourers. I now long to acquire the native language. What was done aboard, with Mr. Buzacott's kind assistance, is a decided advantage. It will be no slight pleasure, when I can freely express myself to natives on the momentous topics of Christianity. "The Bibles have excited great interest. All the superior copies, allotted for Mangaia, are disposed of; in all, about 120 copies have been distributed already. The day before yesterday, the first case was opened in the chapel, after special thanksgiving had been offered. It is quite refreshing to observe the great interest with which the sacred volume is perused by these people. May it be abundantly blessed!" |