Wesleyan Mission at New Zealand.

From a gentleman residing in Sydney, we learn, that this mission also enjoys pleasing prospects. The account we have received runs as follows:

"The Rev. Mr. Leigh comes hither for the purpose of recruiting his health, having been very ill for many months past. The Rev. Mr. White also revisits New South Wales by the same conveyance, intending to return almost immediately. The Rev. Mr. Turner, with Mr. Hobbs, remains on the station, in active and abundant employ. Of all the Missionary fields in the South Sea, New Zealand has been considered, from multiplied untoward circumstances, the most uninviting and barren; but that this is no longer the case, the Christian mind must feel thankful. Mr. White, at the monthly missionary prayer-meeting in Macquarie-street, on Monday evening last, related facts that gave birth to hopes of the most flattering success; and which, with all their unborrowed simplicity, only tend to enhance the matchless value of that sure word of prophecy, which goes to declare, that ALL shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.'

"The Wesleyan mission is stationed at Whangarooa; and is under the peculiar patronage (if such it may be termed) of George, the chief who cut off the Boyd: his daughter, a pretty little girl, nearly as fair as an European, is consigned to the care of Mrs. Turner. This chief has two brothers of the same rank with himself, but George has the preponderating influence. He wishes for nothing more cordially than a reconciliation with the commanders of vessels, who are very tenacious of any expression of friendship from a chief so much dreaded. The reluctance of captains to visit Whangarooa evidently produces much anguish in the bosom of George, who was instigated to the destruction of the Boyd, and her ill-fated crew, by the cruelty he met with on board that vessel, while on his return home from this colony. The New Zealanders were loth to believe that the gentlemen of the mission came among thein merely for their good, and that they were not influenced by secular motives. As penetration is not one of the least qualities they possess, a few weeks assured them that their present, future, and eternal good, and theirs only, was the motive which prompted the missionaries to sacrifice all the blessings and benefits of civilized life, and venture among the habitations of cruelty and cannibalism; and this was a point of no small moment gained. Reason and analogy, doubtless directed by a superior Power, constrain the mind of the New Zealand savage to bend to their superior dictates, and acknowledge her darkness and ignorance. They confess that their god is a bad god; but that our God is a good God. For natural genius they yield the palm to none; and they are in the possession of capabilities that only need the fostering power of the Gospel properly to develop them.

"The mission-station is delightfully situated upon the borders of a serpentine fresh-water stream that communicates with the river which empties itself into the ocean by means of a small canal. Villages of natives surround the station; and there is little difficulty in procur

ing a willing congregation in that part of the world. Numbers of children are now in a course of instruction. Mr. White says, that it used to be the practice of paying or rewarding the children for receiving instruction. This custom, so obviously unwise, was at once repressed at Whangarooa. The little ones were in the habit of soliciting payment for allowing the missionaries to teach them; and a denial was followed by a threat to abandon learning. They were then asked who were to pay the missionaries for leaving their native country, friends, and every thing of value, in order to come among and instruct them in that which only concerned their welfare. This reasoning, with God's blessing, at once proved resistless, and ever after the children were in the custom of flocking together for the purpose of being taught! This was another important obstacle overcome. The chiefs are highly delighted with the settlement of missionaries on their shores; and it is admitted by them, that they themselves may not come to a proper knowledge of the true God, and the other grand truths of the Bible, but, that their children will arrive at the possession of those inestimable blessings they have not the least doubt, and with this view they are anxious for the furtherance of the gospel. And here is a third point accomplished.

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We might enter into particulars that would be very entertaining, but we shall wave them for the present, it being our motive to shew, that New Zealand is at length likely to embrace the Gospel, and inay be expected to vie with the Tonga islands. Whoever may live to see the day that missionaries have been established upon the islands of Tonga and New Zealand, the same number of years as those among the Society Isles, will be able to ascertain that the same quantum of good has been effected. Otaheite, and the other islands, fifteen or twenty years ago, were much in the same situation as New Zealand has been hitherto; and yet who is there in the Christian world, at this period, upon looking at those once distracted and abandoned islands, but will exclaim with astonishment" What hath God wrought?" The gentlemen and members of the Church Missionary Society contributed not a little to promote the objects of their Wesleyan brethren, in affording them, upon all occasions, the most prompt and unsolicited assistance.

"It is but justice to say, in addition to_the above, that the Church mission in New Zealand is gradually making way against the many oppositions, that had existence in various unhappy sources, and that an abundant harvest will repay the toils and hardships of those men of God that have continued steadfast and unmoveable in the cause in which they embarked. The dreary gloom of midnight horror is dispersing at the manifestation of the Sun of Righteousness.

phere was crowded with flying joints of roasted | pork.

"The second day was dedicated to making of presents, for which the chief had ample provision in the various articles brought to him by his numerous and affectionate visitors. To us be sent yams, bogs (alive), gnatoo, and mats, as much as forty men could carry. The whole concluded with singing, in which they are peculiarly interesting; and dancing, which they perform very gracefully.

"There are on Tonga nineteen towns and three sacred places; at one of these we have erected our mission-house. I think there are not less than 700 souls in this sacred spot. The town of Hoey is one mile to the east, and Hooloonga is one mile to the west. Vinee, Tooney, and Foamoto, are three towns within an easy walk of Cokevernal. In these there dwell a mass of population, sufficient to occupy the labours of two missionaries, as soon as they shall have acquired a sufficient knowledge of the native language to communicate to the natives religious instructions. For all men, I think, who are acquainted with human nature, and who believe the Sacred Writings, must be aware that nothing else will reach their case. In all parts of the island there are plantations, and people living among them, to clear the banana ground, plant the yam, and various articles of food.

"On the 18th July, I attended a cava ring of the Tonga chiefs, to hear Footoocava describe his visit to New South Wales. Tata had gone to another part of the island for the same purpose. When I came to the house where the chiefs were assembled, I found Moholamo, an old chief, pretending to be inspired; I took my seat by his side, in the Tonga fashion, sitting upon the floor, which consists of clean mats. The old man instantly vociferated "Alloo eea!" "He is gone!" signifying that the Atooa (spirit) was gone out of him. He threw, with great violence, a club after him, in the direction which he believed him to have taken; thus intimating his dislike to those ghostly visitors. Footoocava then touched

the chief's feet both with his hands and with his forehead, which is a ceremony of great respect among the Tongese. The narrative was then commenced. He related, in a most orderly and impressive manner, the particulars of his voyage from Tonga to New Zealand, and from New Zealand to Sydney. Of the former he said nothing favourable, only that there were white men there endeavouring to make the natives wise; upon the mention of which he added this remark, that Missionaries were now sent out from England to all lands, and they were striving with each other, in their several stations, which should first succeed.

"His remarks upon the stone walls, large houses, articles for barter in the shops, number of ships in the harbour, exercising of the soldiers, variety of fruits, enormous size of the horses and horned cattle, extent of the country; and, above all, the unbounded liberality and kindness of our friends, produced an electrifying effect upon the chiefs, who sat amazed and overwhelmed to hear such reports from their own relatives, whose veracity they never questioned. Footoocava also informed them of our schools, and of the sacred attention which the better sort of people in Port

Jackson pay to the Sabbath-day, while the mea varle (people foolish) concerned themselves but little about it. He said that the men of Tonga wonld never be wise till they adopted the same measures as the anga lele (goodminded) people, of New South Wales. The chiefs unanimously replied, that they thought so too.

"The condescending attention, liberality, and admonitions of His Excellency Sir Thomas Brisbane, were detailed with uncommon eloquence and effect. In short, I never witnessed a scene which excited a greater variety of grateful and delightful emotions in my mind than this, in which the best interests of our mission are involved.

"And here I feel myself bound, by the loud and imperative calls of duty and of gratitude, to record the obligations which our Tonga mission is under to His Excellency Sir Thomas, and Lady Brisbane. Their condescending attentions to the two young chiefs whom we sent to the Colony as hostages, secured to us from the Tonga chiefs what could not have been purchased with gold. They said, that before the return of these hostages, they had considered us as so many Atooas (spirits); but now they saw the truth of the case, they resolved upon doing every thing to secure our confidence, and to increase our pleasure. Their after conduct corresponded with their professions; for whereas, in our earlier communications with them, there were many things in their behaviour towards us which rendered it necessary for us to cultivate an acquaintance with patience; after the return of Footoocava and Tata they vied with each other in acts and expressions of kindness towards us.

"Tata's friends brought forty hogs to the ship as a present, in consideration of the many kindnesses shewn to him during his absence. When we were coming away, multitudes gathered round our Mission premises, and having appointed one of their public speakers for that purpose, they called me into the centre of an immense ring, and said, It had been long dark on the Tonga isles, but that our coming had brought daylight among them.' They thanked us for all the riches which the ship from the white man's country had brought among them, and that they would be good-minded towards George and Charles (two young men who remain among them); that their mamahee a cadee, (bellies were sore,) because of our going to the far country, but that they should only have to weep away the moons until our return among them, with several of our relations. They think that all white people are related to one another.

"But they did not stop here; they love not in word only, but in deed and in truth. Hence, they brought to us hogs, baskets of yams, bananas, fruits, and fish; mats, bales of gnatoo, and various other articles, such as they could procure, or such as they supposed we should be pleased with. In these presents, it was impossible that they should have been influenced by any but right and disinterested motives. They seemed to have a much better notion of the object of our mission among them than might be imagined.

"Sitting in one of their cava rings one morning, a mataboolee (a man in rank next to a chief) suggested that he thought we were come

and proceeded faster on those parts where the skin was covered than where it was exposed. In four years, the breast, arms, legs, and thighs, had become wholly white; the hands, feet, and face, were hideously spotted; the skin of the head was changed in spots, and wherever it was changed, the hair had become straight and flaxen. In four years more the change was almost complete. From the beginning he had been a hale, sound man, and no change had taken place in his habits of life; nor was he conscious of any peculiar sensation, except that, where the discoloration was going on, the skin was in a slight degree more sensitive than elsewhere. The same process had taken place to the same extent in one civilized Indian, and had commenced in three others. Dr. Dwight infers, from these and similar facts, that the present difference of complexion does not prove the human species to have sprung from different stocks. He observes, that the Jews have every tint of complexion, from that of Poland, Germany, and England, to that of the black Jews of Hindoostan; and that the Colchians, who were black in the time of Herodotus, are now as white as the Europeans.

To give a Lustre to Plate.-Dissolve alum in a strong ley; scum it carefully, then mix it up with soap, and wash your silver with it, using a linen rag. This will give plate a fine lustre. Caution to Spirit-drinkers. Smuggled Hollands have been often known to be largely impregnated with sugar of lead. A few years ago, this species of adulteration was carried to such an extent in a certain town on the Essex coast, that it produced among the inhabitants a general malady, of which numbers, young and old, died. The distemper was at length discovered to be no other than what is commonly known by the name of the Painter's Colic, and the secret cause of it to be the sugar of lead with which the smuggled Hollands in common use in the town were impregnated. The danger to which persons expose themselves from the use of spirits thus adulterated, is infinitely greater than is generally imagined. Among the persons who suffered from its effects, in the town before alluded to, was a clergyman, whose only offence against intemperance was the habit of drinking a single glass of Hollands and water after supper; yet, small as was the quantity in which he unsuspectingly indulged, such was the virulence of the secret poison it contained, that it proved ultimately the cause of his death. The test for this poison is very simple. Drop into a small quantity of the suspected liquor a single drop of a solution of sulphate of soda, or sulphate of potash. If the liquor assumes a dark, turbid colour, it is a certain proof that it contains metallic poison.

Belzoni.-At the request of some of her friends, Mrs. Belzoni is now preparing a fine lithographic engraving of the late celebrated traveller, of very large dimensions, representing also some of the principal antiquities with which he has enriched our national museum.

To render substances incombustible.-Pound cherry-tree gum and alum, in equal quantities, into powder, and mix the powder with strong wine vinegar, and leave it in a vessel over hot ashes to digest for twenty-four hours. Any thing rubbed with this composition will not burn. Boys who delight in the amusing play

of snap-dragon may prevent the burning of their fingers by the above recipe.

Gout. A poultice containing a large propor tion of camphor has recently been ascertained to give great and decided relief to persons suffering under this most acute affliction.

Paving. A new method of paving the streets, for which a patent has recently been granted to Mr. Chambers, is undergoing the test of experiment in the parish of Mary-lebonne.

Hydrophobia. The death of an useful member of society, a Mr. Samuel Pownal, by this dreadful malady, took place lately, at the Stockport dispensary. After a lapse of seven weeks, he became affected with the usual symptoms of hydrophobia, from the bite of a cat, in his father's house.

Fatal Surgical Lecture. The death of Mr. Sheckleton, demonstrator of anatomy to the royal college of surgeons, Dublin, occurred in the following singular manner. When engaged in delivering a lecture, on the last Monday in May, whilst raising a knife, be slightly cut his finger, which was thus inoculated with the virulent matter from the subject upon which he lectured: inflammation came on, and, after every remedy was tried, he expired on the Friday following.

Death of Mr. Wilson Lowry.-On the morning of Thursday, the 24th ult. after a lingering illness, this justly celebrated engraver, sustaining the character of an honest man, paid the debt of nature. His son, who succeeds him in the profession, bids fair to perpetuate, if not surpass, the eminence which his father had attained.

King and Queen of the Sandwich Islands.-A lithographic print of his Majesty has recently been published, from a drawing by Mr. John Hayter: one of her Majesty, we hear, is in a state of forwardness, and expected shortly to appear.

Steam Vessels in the Netherlands.--The Datch are actively employed in introducing the use of steam vessels into Holland; and one has just been established between Utrecht and Amsterdam, which performs the voyage every day in three hours and a half.

Canals for uniting the Black sea to the Baltic. -A company has just been formed, under the auspices of the emperor, whose object is to unite the Black sea to the Baltic, by means of canals from Dnieper and Nieman.

Education in Denmark.-In Denmark the system of mutual instruction is making great progress. Already 140 schools are established, in which this system is adopted. Count Moltke, who patronized learning when living, has provided for its support by his will, having bequeathed 60,000 rix dollars to be distributed among certain scientific candidates, 10,000 to the academy of the fine arts, and 100,000 to be employed in educating the sons of poor officers.

Nautical Magnetic Premium.-The Board of Longitude have conferred on Mr. Peter Barlow, of the Royal Military Academy, the Parliamentary Premium of £500 for his method of correcting the local magnetic attraction of ships. The method is extremely simple, consisting merely in placing a plate of iron abaft the compass, in such a direction, as to counteract, in any one place, the effects of the other iron in the ship.