God helping us, teach them higher and better things."

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"About seventy people were collected (at Yongroo), building a hut, which was to protect the town. Some called it a gregree hut. The king said it was 'medicine for the town.' I said, 'I suppose devil's house he said, ' Yes;' but it ap peared much better than the usual devil's houses; and we learned afterward that it was a place in which to put a stone, on the death of any one; so that it may be rather called their House of Spirits. There were many women, the upper part of whose faces and legs were painted blue. Some of the people were beating tortoise-shells, and others drums, by way of music. Others were bowing in a solemn way before the house-thus honouring, if not worshipping, the spirits of the dead. The old witch-woman, whose office it is to point out any persons suspected of witchcraft, was there: she had a cutlass in one hand, and a stick in the other. My heart sunk within me at the sight of so much superstition and folly. I felt mingled shame and compassion, to see the degradation of these poor half-naked heathens. We had no interpreter to talk with them."

"There are here (at Madinia) two or three devil's houses; one of which strangers are not permitted to see. They believe, as they say, that if you strike a particular part in that house, when any one has injured you, and then run away, the blow will kill him, to whatever place he may have gone."

"May 12, 1816. Sunday.-I preached a sermon this morning, preparatory to the formation of an Auxiliary Bible S.ciety for Sierra Leone and the other British settlements on the Western Coast of Africa. The Governor requested that all the other places of worship might be shut up, from ten till twelve. We had the service in the court-room, over the gaol, where it will now be constantly kept, till the church is built. It is a large room, and I was pleased to see it full. Mr. Davies said it was the largest congregation he had seen in Africa. They were very attentive whilst I preached from Matt. xxii. 29: Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures. I endeavoured to shew the evils arising from ignorance of the Scriptures; the advantages of being acquainted with them; the duty to help in diffusing them.

"May 16.-This day the meeting was held for the formation of the Society.

The Governor took the chair; and having introduced the subject in a very appropriate manner, was followed by the Chief Justice, myself, Mr. K. Macaulay, Mr. Stormonth, Dr. Bishop, the king's advocate, the Rev. Messrs. Davies, Renner, Butscher, and Nyländer, Major Mackenzie, and Captain Rowe. It was a very interesting meeting, and lasted about two hours."

"Another slave vessel has been captured and brought in, with about forty slaves. There were 300 or 400 on shore, not taken on board at the time of the capture. It is reported, that there are now very many slave vessels on the coast; some in the Rio Pongas, and some in the Rio Nunis. An expedition leaves Sierra Leone to-morrow, for the purpose of capturing as many as possible. It is probable that this colony will soon be filled with recaptured Negroes. What a field for our labours!"

"I said to one of the boys, Go, look at the clock; and tell me what time it is.' He answered, Clock no walk.' 'Do you wind it up?' I said. He replied,No key live there.' This is a specimen of their lively habit of personifying every thing.

"I went to Mr. Davies's girls' schools. There were about 120 children; nearly all recaptured Negro girls. Most of them knew their letters; and some, who have been in only four months, can sew tolerably well. I was much pleased with the state of this school. The school-house was built by Government."

"No cow-pox virus has ever reached the colony, so far as I can learn, in such a state, at least, as to succeed. Small-pox inoculation is pretty generally practised.

"The Governor, to whom I mentioned our exertions in India, said, 'You will do more here in a few months, than you will do in India for many years. The caste prevents them from listening to you there. Here are 10,000 longing to be instructed.' I was struck with the complete answer, furnished by this re- ́ mark, to some comparisons, that have been made at home, unfavourable to our attempts in Africa.

"In the evening, I had some conver. sation with Richard Naloe. I said, 'Richard! great bookmen, in England, say it is of no use to send Mr. Wenzel and Mr. Butscher to teach yon Black People. What say you?' He replied,

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'No, Massa, no! Me live in the country, and no saby God [knew nothing of God]-me go to Rio Pongas-me live a year with Mr. Wenzel-me saby little of God.'-I continued, You do think it, then, of some use to send White People to teach Black Men?' He answered, Yes, Massa! me walk on here in the dark, (pointing to the steps of the piazza)—me have no candle-me fall, me break my arm, or break my leg: but White Man put candle in my hand me see me no fall-me walk down steps me get home safe! Me not know much, but know little about God. Mr. Butscher speaks-and me glad to know more."

SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF

POOR PIOUS CLERGYMEN. It is with much real interest that we remind our readers of this excellent though unobtrusive institution. Its necessity and objects are concisely unfolded in the following remarks of its Committee.

"The faithful minister of the Gospel has much to do, and much to suffer. If his post is honourable, it is also difficult. He must expect many trials which are peculiar to his office, and, indeed, inseparable from it." "His life must be a warfare, under any circumstances; but how much more so when, besides his various difficulties as a minister, his feelings as a man are incessantly agitated by the daily wants of a numerous family, without the means of supplying them-when the hours which he would devote to the improvement of his own mind and to the edification of his parishioners, are imbittered by the obtrusion of anxious concern how to avoid contracting new debts, or to discharge his existing obligations-when the anguish, with which the wants of a wife or children must affect a tender mind, follows him into his study, and even into his pulpit?" "The objects of this Society, though two-fold, are inseparably united-to relieve distress, and promote the cause of true religion-in other words, to faci. litate the progress of real piety in country parishes, by assisting, with pecuniary aid, such truly serious, diligent, and useful Clergymen, as from the smallness of their incomes are the subjects of discouragement and distress. By this, the Society hope to render the ministry of such useful Clergymen more respect ed, and thereby to further the progress

of vital religion in our excellent Establishment in the distant parishes of the kingdom."

The receipts during the last year have been 18281 4s. 24. The total, since its establishment in 1788, 31,1337. 17s.

We proceed to give a few extracts from various letters received by the Society during the last year.

1." I take an early opportunity of informing you, that, to my unspeakable pleasure, I have this evening been favoured with your exceedingly kind and very valuable letter. Many have been the times, when the Committee of your most excellent Society has removed from my mind a very heavy pressure.Our difficulties at the close of the preceding year had become exceedingly serious. My dear, valuable, and laborious wife, and nine children, all wholly dependent upon me for support, witnessed the opening of the letter, and became acquainted with its valuable contents. Silent weeping, and I trust adoring gratitude, were the instant consequence! I hope this unexpected instance of such great Christian beneficence, so seasonably and so kindly bestowed, will never be forgotten by any of us. Oh, may it bind us in stronger bonds of love, to the cause, the cross, and the work of our all-gracious Lord!"

2. "I am curate of a church called where I have been officiating for the last three years; and I trust my labours have not been in vain. My congregation, and the number of communicants, are much increased. There was no Sunday-school in the parish when I first entered upon this curacy; now we have three, consisting of about 160 children, most of whom attend my ministry. I hope good is doing among us, thongh I am sensible of my deficiency in zeal and knowledge. But the sword of the Spirit,' in the hand of the Spirit, is always victorious; so that many are brought to feel and confess that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth.' I am very sorry to be under the necessity of applying for relief. I never received more than twenty pounds a year for serving, and I scarcely hope to receive so much this year, as the incumbent is himself extremely poor. What to do, I know not! I am not willing to leave the poor affectionate people, and so many children, who are attached to me as a father. The Rev.

want, having a wife and EIGHT children, with a certain annual income of only 701. A few days ago I did not know what to do for money to pay what I owed; but the Lord, who hitherto has never forsaken me, supplied my present want by your seasonable relief. May I never be insensible of his goodness!" 8. "Your letter of the 9th instant, with a Bank Post-bill for safely arrived. My heart overflows with joy and gratitude to Almighty God, that such a society as that to which you are secretary, should exist; and that such an humble labourer in Christ's vineyard as myself should have been thought worthy of relief to such a liberal extent. Nor can I express the feelings of my heart upon the occasion of your letter. I can only say, that my prayers will never cease for the prosperity of the Society for the Relief of Poor Pious Clergy. You will please to express my unfeigned gratitude to the gentlemen of the Committee. They will rejoice to hear, that the two churches which I serve, where, in times past, seldom more than a dozen or twenty have attended at each, now often contain, the one 800, and the other 400 persons. And, in a parish where every vice and iniquity prevailed, I have established schools; and last Sabbath I catechized 300 children. I pray earnestly, that we may all strive diligently to promote the glory of God, the honour of our Saviour, the present and eternal welfare of our fellow-sinners. It is a source of extreme grief to me, that I am not able, by my own means, to distribute Bibles, Prayer-books, and tracts, for which I have daily applications."

9. " By the extreme pressure of the times, I am compelled to repeat my application to the Society, and to solicit their benevolent assistance. I need not inform them that my income is too inadequate to support my family, as I have a wife and NINE children, and a curacy of only fifty pounds per ann. Were it not for necessitous circumstances, I would not trouble the Society, for I feel the import of the expression, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' However, as things are, I desire to praise God for such a truly Christian society, to which the faithful ministers of the word of God can relate their tale of woe and misery, when depressed by pinching -poverty, and bowed down with urgent wants and where they generally find -friends to alleviate their distresses, and

relieve their pressing necessities. I can testify from grateful experience, that I have several times been extricated from my difficulties, and my gloomy prospects have been dissipated, by the beneficent and charitable aids of the society."

10. "While preparing for orders, I left my aged mother with a poor relation, promising to return, as I was able, the money he should expend in providing for her maintenance. Having had, since my entering the ministry, to discharge the debt which had been thus contracted, and other unavoidable expenses, and my stipend being only sixty guineas per annum, I have been kept very poor. My dear Saviour had not where to lay his head. The place which my circumstances have enabled me to procure for my residence, is the parlour of a small cottage, which I take yearly. It is the only room we have. The road to it leads through the house, occupied by two old people. The bed on which I sleep, which is the only one we have, is an old chuff bed, which my dear mother preserved, while I was absent, and on which she then slept. My aged parent sleeps on one similar (an old chaff one), which we borrowed of the people under whose roof we dwell. Nearly all other necessaries we borrow of the old people. When my poor mother washes for us, she sits to do it. A little help would be most seasonable and acceptable, as it would enable us to purchase many necessary things."

RUSSIAN BIBLE SOCIETY. Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Ebenezer Henderson, dated Bible Society's House, St. Petersburg, June 8, 1817.

"Yesterday was celebrated the Fourth Anniversary of the Russian Bible Society. Notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, and the inconvenient situation of the Taurian Palace (in one of the magnificent halls of which the meeting was held), it was computed to have been nearly three times more numerously attended than it was last year. Many of the most distinguished personages, both in church and state, honoured the meeting with their presence. I was peculiarly struck with the sight of a groupe of graduated monks and professors, from the Newsky Monastery, and of a number of military officers, high in rank, who appeared in another direction. Representatives of most of the nations for whom we are