while the men were warming themselves. I did not find them disposed to enter into conversation, but rather disposed to laugh at the mention of sin and holiness. I therefore soon left them, grieving for their hardness.

· Jan. 23,1836—I went again to the house mentioned above, and read to the women part of one of Mrs. Candy's little stories, telling them I would take another opportunity of reading to them the conclusion. They did not listen with any great pleasure, even to a simple interesting narrative. I am grieved to find that the hearts of most of them are wholly set upon covetousness.

Jan. 25-A gentleman of the Purthoo caste, who has lately obtained the situation of Moonsif, or Native Commissioner, at Nassuck, paid me a long visit this morning. He wished for a little assistance with regard to a letter, which I was glad to be able to afford him. Our conversation was chiefly about English manners, customs, produce, and manufactures. He cordially admitted the advantages of education in general. I made some of my little girls from the school read to him, in hopes of interesting him in behalf of female education.

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Jan. 27-Baba Deekshit's son came to beg a few sheets of writing-paper. I asked what he was now studying. He replied, "Hindoo law." I asked what would be the advantages of his study. He said, "I shall get fame among my own people; and, were the Government Brahminical, I should get money too." "Fame and money," I replied, "avail us nought, when we come to die."- You might say the same," he said, of every kind of knowledge." I replied, "No: there is one kind of knowledge, the benefits of which will endure throughout eternity. In our Holy Book we are told how we may obtain the love and favour of God." -He replied, In our Shasters, the love of God is very far off." In our Shasters," I said, the love of God is manifested." I was proceeding to tell him how this love was manifested in the person of Christ Jesus, when the young disputant struck off into other subjects, wanting to prove that Ram and Krishna were, equally with Jesus, incarnations of the Deity. Soon after this, a poor Brahmin, with whom Mr. Farrar sometimes studies Sanscrit, came to bring me some shlokas (stanzas) he had composed, grounded upon our Shaster. I found they were in

honour of Joseph, the husband of Mary: "O divine form or image of Joseph, I worship thee! thy form is full of joy and truth!" I told the composer that these shlokas were not in the least grounded upon our Shaster. We were told to make no idols: we should not even bow down to the image of Jesus Christ Himself; and we worshipped God alone, not Joseph, who was a mere man.

Jan. 28-Baba Deekshit called, and a great deal of my time was consumed in showing him maps; but I gladly devoted the time to him, giving him such proofs as I was able, of the correctness of our system of geography. He appears greatly struck with the difference between our geography and that taught by his Shasters; and borrowed a map, upon which a few names are written in Mahratta, that he might show it to some of his friends, and compare it with the descriptions of the Shasters. In the evening, I visited two native houses; but this is an undertaking in which I grievously feel the want of a companion to keep me in countenance. The people crowd about my palanquin when I alight from it, and stare at me, till I feel quite nervous. Then the rude boys call me names, or shout out my own name in a disagreeable, disrespectful manner; so that I still feel this duty to be the most irksome and dispiriting which falls within my sphere.

Feb. 8-It seems to be a very general practice of the Nassuck Brahmins, to allow a Soodra family (the lowest caste) to reside in the lower part of their houses. The Koolumbee woman, in return for the asylum thus afforded her, sweeps and cleans the court, verandah, &c. But this practice renders the Koolumbees less accessible to us: many of the Brahmins object to our coming within their gates. It is also a great difficulty in my way; because, knowing the enmity and insolence of the Brahmins, I feel perfectly abashed and timid before them. night, I visited one of the girls, whose mother thus resides upon a Brahmin's verandah; but as soon as I entered into conversation, the Brahmin came to watch me, and I retired.

To

Feb. 13-Called on the stone-cutter. He asked me to give him some brandy. When these people see us interested for their bodily health, or for their salvation, they generally ask us for brandy, money, or clothes. When my little girls read in Matt. vi. 32, After all these things do the

Gentiles seek, they readily admitted how truly this description applied to the people among whom they dwell: the Gentiles seek for nothing else.

པ་

Feb. 21, 1836-Baba Deekshit's son called. This young gentleman bids fair to become an angry and unruly disputer, like those Mr. Farrar meets with by the riverside. After several rude speeches, he told me he knew there was plenty of untruth in our Scriptures. As the boy was disposed to talk to me in this tone, I said, You affirm this of a book you have never read, and know nothing about: I perceive, therefore, you only wish to be rude." This silenced him. Some ladies, on their road to Bombay, were kind enough to come and spend the evening with me. I had not seen a lady for about twelve months before. One of them, a mother, said to me, Do you not mean to go home? How can you give up your children for life?" I had no answer, but that God would give us strength for our day. Perhaps circumstances may arise to bring us and our beloved children together again if not, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

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March 21-One of the little girls in the Murdhee School told me that a few neighbours would meet this afternoon at her house, if I would go and read to them. Mr. Farrar has not thought it prudent for me to visit the people lately, as we are getting into the hot season, and my health is not very good. Such an invitation as the above was, however, gladly accepted. On going to the house, I was invited to a retired and shady inner verandah, where ten or a dozen women soon seated themselves around me. I observed a Joolsee-tree, a plant worshipped by the Hindoos, so that most of them have one growing upon their premises. I spoke to the women on the folly of worshipping plants, rivers, &c. They agreed that there was only one God; but pleaded custom for their idolatrous practices. I read to them a short narrative, with which they were pleased. One of them expressed a childish delight at being able to understand what was written in a book. One of the party was an aged Brahminee widow. As these individuals consider themselves peculiarly holy beings, I was surprised at her coming to sit down among some poor Soodras, and, above all, that she should listen to me. At last, I understood that she wished me to ask Mr. Farrar to give employment to her sons.

April 1-I went last night to call on a woman who had sent for me, because she was unwell, and in great poverty. It would give us cordial gratification to be thus applied to in seasons of distress, could we feel sure we were not imposed upon; but, in general, the Natives have no scruples about begging. In the present instance, the woman assured me she had no food for her children; but one of these children had a thick silver bugle upon his arm, and another round his ancle: the girl, too, was not without her ornaments. When people wish to obtain any thing from us, they generally agree to all that one says; and many of them show that they are not wholly unacquainted with Christian Truth. The husband of this woman was in Mr. Mitchell's service. I reminded him that he must often have been instructed by Mr. Mitchell. He said, "I and my family worship the One God: we have nothing to do with these yatras and purthurs" (yatra or juttra, 'a sacred fair or festival'; purthur, ‘a stone.') The woman said, I call upon Jesus, and He preserves me. The Holy Spirit is present here: this is why I am alive.' April 12-Reading, in course, the Gospel of St. Matthew, we came this morning to the passage, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. I told the women I feared this was their case, as they are ready enough in private, when there is no danger, to declare their faith in Jesus, and renunciation of idols, while I fear that their daily practice is opposed to their profession. Mooktee, one of the women, declared that she believed in Jesus from her heart, and was willing to confess Him publicly, and to become a Christian: but when I had reminded her of the persecution she would have to endure, her zeal slackened; and she only answered," Why should they persecute me?" The cross of persecution is no doubt the obstacle which deters many from acting up to their convictions: but it must not be concealed from any; for Jesus said, He who taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me. The Gossavee woman was here to-day. She is always profuse in her professions; but, when pressed upon the subject, would make it appear that Jesus and Narayun are the same: besides, her visits generally end in a request for tea and sugar, or money, or clothes.

April 21,1836—A young Brahmin called, and spent a great part of the evening with us. He had never heard that the Island of Ceylon had come under English Government, and he had full confidence in all the tales of his Shaster about this island, supposing it to be made of gold, inhabited by giants, and governed by Beebeeshun. When told that Ceylon was an island like all other islands, and that its inhabitants were men like other men, he was perfectly astonished. It was observed to him, that if he acquired knowledge he would detect many similar falsehoods in his Shasters. He replied, "I am ready to argue abundantly about the authority of my Shasters; but with regard to what you tell me of Ceylon, I am confounded: I have no answer to make." May this circumstance invite to reflection and investigation!

June 14-We returned from Oundah about ten days ago; and for the last week I have been able to engage, as usual, in the schools. The girls, today, read a story, from the Ayah and Lady, about a Gossavee; in which it is said, that it is our duty to relieve really poor people; but that to give alms to religious mendicants, well able to work and support themselves, is only encouraging them to live in idleness. There were present twelve beggars, who heard this story. One of them was a middleaged man, who appeared strong and well able to work. When I told him so, he answered, How can I work? I am a Gossavee;"-but seemed ashamed of his excuse. I thought they understood what had been said; for when I turned to the next applicant, who was a woman, she said, I do work, but I cannot earn enough for clothes. Give me clothes, and I will work for bread." I told her that we would make inquiries about her; and that, if really in need, she should be assisted.

June 21-I went this evening to the house of Dhondee's mother, and read to about ten or twelve women. The readiness with which the women assemble, and the attention with which they listen,

at this house, are very gratifying; but it is exceedingly difficult to convey to them any correct ideas connected with Religion; all we say is too apt to be perverted by their own ignorance, in such a manner as would make it appear that we are only confirming them in their own foolish notions. For instance, to-night, after I

had been speaking of hell, telling them that sinners are all in danger of its torments, one of the women began a very fluent description of these torments. Among other things, she said, if a person had only a pice left in the house, and should refuse to give some portion of it, however small, to a Fakeer who happened to beg for it, that in hell that person's body would be branded in every part with that pice. I endeavoured to explain to them, that sin, for which the unrepenting should be punished in hell, did not consist in resisting the clamours of an idle Fakeer, but in breaking the commandments of a Holy God.

July 1-Yesterday evening I called on the old stone-cutter. He assured me that he called on the name of Jesus alone; and added, that he prayed that his good deeds might be weighed against his evil ones. I told him, that should God thus weigh his actions, it would go hard with him; for sin mixes with all we do, tarnishes even our best actions, so that the evil scale would infallibly sink. I said, that it would be better to pray that all his sins might be forgiven and blotted out, through the blood of Jesus. He answered, with the characteristic pliancy of the Hindoos, "I will say that, if you desire me !"

The influence which is steadily and increasingly maintained, by means of Education, upon the minds of the Rising Generation, is one of the most encouraging circumstances in this Mission. Notwithstanding the bitter enmity and persecuting ingenuity of the Brahminical Council (see page 180 of our last Volume), it has pleased God to vouchsafe His peculiar blessing to this branch of the Society's labours. Our Readers will be interested by the following passages, descriptive of the

Progress of the Schools-Examinations

light. The boys had studied six chapters of the Gospel of St. John, about which they were prepared to answer questions. I chose the seventeenth chapter, which contains the prayer of our Lord for His Apostles, and those who should believe, through their word. The boys were questioned about this chapter, verse by verse: three-quarters of an hour were spent in conversing upon it. The boys also read in English; and translated into Mahratta ten pages of Mrs. Mersett's Natural Philosophy, upon which they were questioned. They read a couple of chapters of " England Delineated," in Mahratta; which they translated, or rather repeated, from memory, sentence by sentence, in English. They had committed to memory several pages of Grammar, pieces of English poetry, idiomatical sentences, several pages of the Mahratta Dictionary, giving the meaning of the words in English, and spelling them when required. In writing and arithmetic they were examined by the Master, to whom they showed copies written in English, and in the Mord and Balboeth characters. I think their progress evinces the efficiency of the plan which Mr. Farrar has laid down for their studies,

have but recently commenced their studies. I have arranged for the boys who can understand English to visit me on the Tuesday and Friday evenings, when Mr. Warth has kindly undertaken to give them lessons in music and singing; and Mr. Menge will, with me, endeavour to occupy part of the time in interesting and profitable conversation.

Of the Female School, Mrs. Farrar relates

The attendance of girls at the school, which decreased during the hot season, is now again improving. During the hot season there is usually much sickness among children, and it is also the season of marriages; so that these causes withdraw a number of girls from the school. Several of the girls have been married this year; but I am glad to perceive that this does not, in most cases, prevent their return to the school. Those who have

married into families residing out of the town generally pass a short time, occa sionally, in their husband's family; but when they return to dwell with their own relations they are allowed to come to school. The average attendance is now between sixty and seventy, divided into five classes, whose exercises are as

March 24, 1836-In closing my Journal for this quarter, I am thankful to be able to mention the flourishing state of the Mahratta Girls' School. The daily attendance is now generally above 70. About 55 of these are readers, arranged into classes, according to their proficiency.

At the end of the following Quarter, the Report, made June 30, 1836, is from Mr. and Mrs. Farrar jointly. Mr. Farrar states

The English School passed a creditable examination. The First Class, of eight boys, were examined in reading, Mord, Balboeth, and English writing, English and Mahratta Grammar, arithmetic, Natural Philosophy, the New Testament, and England Delineated. The Second Class, of eight boys, read and construed some portions of the Ayah and Lady, in English and Mahratta, and idiomatical sentences; and answered a few questions on the first rules of grammar. They are making fair progress in arithmetic, and in English and Mahratta writing. The Third Class, of four boys,

mit to memory portions of Scripture, write from dictation, cipher once a week and they have also, once a week, an exercise with me, when they write, from recollection, some of the truths of Christianity; such as, the nature and attributes of God, the manner in which I endeavour, in this exercise, to lead them man was created, his fall, and redemption. to express and write their ideas in their own words. They also work at their needles every day. The Second Class read useful and interesting stories, commit Catechisms to memory, and write words upon sand-boards. They sew every other day, and learn the multiplication table. The Third Class read easy lessons, and are instructed, in a conversational manner, from pictures. The Fourth Class are quite beginners in reading; and the Fifth still at the alphabet. We have eight children brought up in the house, two of whom are able to join in the studies of the boys in the English School: the others read easy English lessons, spell and write, and, by means of pictures, &c., we are teaching them to speak English, and endea

Jan. 5,1836-Last night, I called upon a poor woman, who began making excuses, not because she does not, but because she does, send her daughters to school. She said their father was dead, and she was very poor; so she let them learn to read and write, though it was not the custom of this country. She meant, that she allowed her girls to attend the school

for the sake of the maintenance received

there; but she evidently thought learn ing to read and write was a thing girls should be ashamed of. This shows what value is placed on Female Education at Nassuck.

Jan. 13-While I was reading with the Pundit, he told me he heard a girl, who was sitting at work with her companions in the adjoining room, use some very improper language. I went to the girls, and rebuked them for disputing; and, taking the work from her who was the greatest culprit, desired her to leave the room. I could not have allotted a gentler punishment; but the girl was so much offended, that she went home, threatening she would not come to school again. In the evening, I went to her mother, and spoke to her on the greatness of the sins so prevalent among them. I was sorry to find that the offender herself had gone to bury the remembrance of her own misconduct and my displeasure among the amusements at Ram's Temple, where people are keeping holiday before the idol to-day. Feb. 1 The girls are reading to me Mr. Mitchell's translation of St. Matthew's Gospel. To-day they read the fifth chapter. Some of them seemed astonished at this doctrine, it runs so exactly counter to all their sad habits of contention, revenge, swearing, calling hard names, &c. How different, too, from all they witness in their friends and acquaintances, and from the teaching they receive from their parents! Who,

indeed, but He, who was meek and lowly of heart, could have told us, But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also? While endeavouring to impress upon them how blessed they would be to obtain the meekness of spirit here recommended, I earnestly longed to imbibe the same myself. Are not many of us Christians, myself among the number, too prone to forget these commands of our Master? We may not return, but are we not too ready to resist evil? are we ready enough rather to suffer wrong, and to follow after those things which make for peace? The Lord pour out upon us much of such a spirit!

March 16-Two little girls, about four or five years of age, stole two old writing-boards out of the school-room. They were caught in the fact, and brought back to their Teacher by a boy belonging to the English School. Their mothers were very angry with this boy, and rebuked him for interfering. I sent for the two women, and expostulated with them; telling them of the guilt and sorrow they would bring upon themselves if they encouraged their poor children in these evil ways. I am afraid, however, that what I said made but little impression, as the one seemed only desirous of casting the blame on the child of the other. This morning I inflicted a mild punishment (that of tying the hands together with a band of cloth) upon the little culprits, and spoke to the assembled school upon the evil of stealing. I related anecdotes of the miserable end of the dishonest; questioned the children as to which of God's Commandments had been broken; and thus endeavoured to impress upon their minds the wickedness of theft.

The following passage is by Mr. Farrar:

May 11-The First-Class Boys of the English School came to spend the evening with us. Gunesh Punt, one of the Adawlut Carcoons, also joined our party. While we bear in mind that our conversation should be seasoned with salt, we endeavour, as much as possible, to divest our instructions of all appearance of formality, and to relieve our young friends of every thing resembling cold constraint. This familiar visit both reveals to us the state of their minds, and