the Rajah, and to have one heart with the white people.

He is a very prepossessing looking old man, with such a mild expression, and so gentle, loving a look, that one wonders how it could ever have been possible for him to take heads, which doubtless he has in his day, though now he discountenances the practice, as his conduct on a recent occasion plainly showed.

It has been the immemorial custom of the Sakarrans to reserve certain rich lands, which no man was allowed to cultivate until he had taken a head. Gassin, however, allowed the custom to be broken through, when a neighbouring chief resented the matter, and sent to Gassin to say that he would fight him for breaking through the customs of their fathers. Gassin replied, that it was a foolish custom, and he would not keep it any longer, but that if the other persisted he would fight him on the subject with swords and spears, in right earnest, and not with sticks only, with which they are accustomed to settle party fights among themselves, as the Irish do their faction fights with shillelahs. Upon this the other chief came with his followers, and Gassin, who was prepared to fight, argued the point with him, and they agreed that as now the Rajah and the English would not let them pirate, it would be very difficult to get heads, and there would not be qualified men enough to work the lands, and that therefore it would be better for them to give up the custom, as they could not keep it without throwing their lands out of cultivation. Thus this custom, which has been at the very root of their head-taking, has been done away of their own accord. Surely the cloud of thick darkness and barbarism that has so long enveloped them, is fast breaking away; their day of light is dawning, and it is for this Mission to impart to them the true light of the Sun of Righteousness, and not let them be content with the false and deadening glare of Islamism, or the sickly light of Romanism. Dear old Gassin, my heart quite yearns to see him a Christian. He wants me to go back to Sakarran with him; "I will make you a house," he says, "and give you all you want, and you shall teach us, and make my heart glad, and my people's heart glad." He has no small people under him, as the tribes on the Sakarran and Batong Lupor are a population of about 100,000; so at least it would appear from a recent account taken of the quantity of salt they consume, and from the number of war-boats which Gassin says they can man. When well governed they will be a powerful and happy people. I pray that our Church may have the honour of bringing them into Christ's flock.

It would take little persuasion to gain Gassin over. He came to us the other morning, as we were going to prayers, and asked if he might come in and hear us pray; of course I consented,

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and prayed for him too. He was very attentive, and after prayers said, "Well! I like your praying." I asked whether he would like to learn to pray as we do? Oh, yes, if you will come to Sakarran, I will learn, and tell my people to learn." Would that I could go back with him now; but I am doubly and trebly tied to this place, by work which grows and requires my constant presence more and more, and yet nothing can be done effectually with these tribes until we can place Missionaries among them.

1

There is a great work to be carried out in these countries, but it can only be done by a body of men well prepared, and willing to devote themselves heart and soul to their Master's service; and when they are obtained, means must be taken to carry out the whole of the Church's system and discipline, which can alone preserve order and unity and singleness of purpose among the various labourers that may be employed in the Mission. The first steps taken should be to convert the Mission School into a College, so that we could train up our present boys and other native youths for our future supply of Missionaries and Catechists; and if a hospital were attached, which, with the assistance of the Government, could be done at a trifling expense, a practical knowledge of medicine and surgery could be imparted to them, which will be always found a most powerful auxiliary to all Missionaries in these parts. I really think, if the immense opportunities this Mission offers for carrying on the work of evangelization so hopefully, without personal risk to those employed, and at such comparatively small expense, were known to our faithful brethren, both lay and clerical, at home, that neither men nor means would long be wanting to us. We cannot be so far behind the Romanists in zeal and energy. If the Rajah would give them leave, they would swarm here to-morrow, and already, in spite of us, they have sent over Christian Chinese agents to work amongst our Chinese. I do not know them when I see them, but I know that they are here, from the French captain of the trader who brought them over, and who is a Romanist, and very intimate with the members of the Jesuit mission at Singapore; and I fear that to prevent them taking the work out of our hands, my unaided efforts will be of little avail.

In a Mission like this no single man can do more than lay the very first foundations for others to work upon with him; and

1 At Penang the Romanists have such a college, where they educate 150 youths, who supply their Cochin Chinese Missions; it is exceedingly well conducted, and would in many respects furnish a good model; it is self-supporting, the revenues derived from their nutmeg and other plantations, chiefly cultivated by the students, being sufficient to keep it up on its present scale.

when that is done, if he be not speedily assisted by fellowlabourers, his efforts will be next to useless; he may be ever so zealous, ever so hopeful, he will find his calls to labour grow faster than his power to meet them; he will soon have raised expectations that cannot be realized, and hopes that cannot be fulfilled, among the people around him; and then his toil and anxiety to meet them wear him out, his own powers wither, and he is obliged to leave the scene of his labours vacant, or it may be to die in it; and thus all his work, the knowledge and experience he has gained, are lost; for he has had no one to impart them to, and he can leave no one behind to carry out what perhaps has been well begun.

I pray God to stir up the wills of his faithful people at home to listen to the calls made upon the Church to establish this Mission in an efficient manner. A work has been begun by her, and I trust that she will carry it out, and not delay till God calls other labourers to accomplish that which she might have done for the honour and praise of his Holy Name.

To any of my brethren who may feel inclined to join this Mission I can say with truth that I do not know a more pleasant sphere of labour; the people are most interesting, the country beautiful, and the climate delicious, and very healthy for a tropical one. You may travel through the jungle in perfect security from dangerous animals; you may even sleep out in most places at night without dreading that mephitic exhalation which begets the deadly fevers of Africa and İndia. Even agues here are slight; and I have not seen a jungle fever amongst any of the Europeans that has not been brought on by culpable carelessness and reckless exposure. A consumptive man might prolong his life here, and undergo exertion and exposure that he could not attempt in any European climate, even in those recommended to people with thoracic affections. Many a young Fellow of a college, or others after their ordination who from weakness of chest cannot undertake clerical duty, or even live in England, might here employ themselves usefully and actively, and at the same time be effecting their cure much more effectually than by going to Madeira or the South of Europe. I have had two cases under my own eye since I have been here; both would in all probability have died before this in England, where they were always ailing and useless, and both are now in strong health, never think of their chests, and even exert themselves with pleasure. Your faithful Servant,

F. T. McDougall.

P.S. Our church has neither organ nor bells; perhaps some who read this could help us to obtain these desiderata.

THE DUTCH OCCUPATION OF CEYLON.1

No. IV.

DURING the first year of his residence in Kandi, Boschhonder sought no opportunity of distinguishing himself by brilliant feats of arms against the enemy he had undertaken to subdue. Some trifling encounters, attended with small loss and no important results, served to keep alive the hostile spirit between the contending nations; but in these the new Prince of Mingone took no part. With the true phlegmatic spirit of his country, he was calmly making himself acquainted with the resources of the people, and the nature of the ground on which he was to act, and steadily pushing forward his preparations for a decisive campaign; while a company of his own soldiers was cut to pieces at Cotjaar, and the enraged emperor was avenging them burning villages and slaughtering the scattered forces of the unprepared foe.

It was in the August of this year that a calamity in the royal family furnished an occasion to show the high estimation in which the Dutch resident was held. Prince Mahestane, son of Fimala Dherma and Donna Catherina, on whose behalf Camapati professed to hold the crown, died under strong suspicions of having been poisoned by his step-father. The obsequies were conducted with surpassing magnificence, and when the body was laid upon a funeral pile of fragrant wood and costly incense, Boschhonder, as first in rank after the royal family, was called upon to apply the torch to the funeral pyre, and afterwards was invited by the Emperor to the palace, to assist in condoling with the afflicted mother.

At the opening of next year, Boschhonder took the field against the king of Panna, a native prince who had gone over to the enemy. The rebel chief was quickly subdued and brought prisoner to Kandi, where, as a matter of course, he was executed.

Equally successful was the bold Dutchman in a naval engagement with the Portuguese fleet off Cape Comorin; some of their ships he burned, some he captured, and brought back with him a considerable prize of gold.

On his return, he was summoned to the palace to take part in the last act of the domestic tragedy at which he had before officiated. The empress, Donna Catherina, broken-hearted at the loss of her son, had remained since his death in deep seclusion, giving herself up to grief, and abstaining almost entirely from food. And now, finding her end approaching, she sent

1 Continued from p. 211.

for the prince of Uda and Boschhonder; she exacted from them an oath of fidelity, and solemnly appointed them guardians to her five children. These were now introduced into the chamber. The dying woman kissed them tenderly each in turn, and again called upon the two princes to protect and befriend them. She then fixed her eyes upon Camapati, who was present at this scene, and accused him of being the author of her death. Before her departure, the recollections of her early instructions returned vividly upon her. She bitterly bewailed her sins, and above all, her apostasy from the Christain faith, and relapse into idolatry. On the same spot where the funeral pile of her beloved son had so recently been raised, the remains of this noble-hearted princess received like honours from her mourning subjects.

The shock caused to Camapati by the accusation of his empress (for which, indeed, taken literally, there seems to have been no foundation) brought on an attack of illness which threatened a fatal termination. Expecting that his last hour was come, he convened the grandees of his court, and desired them to select from among themselves two Regents who might administer the government until his son should attain to his majority. The princes of Mingone and Uda were chosen without hesitation, and presented to the monarch, by whom they were formally installed as guardians and trustees for the young prince. Camapati, however, recovered, and survived the attack several years, but his health was permanently impaired by it. Scarcely had a year elapsed, when, from motives of policy probably, he meditated a marriage with a daughter of his late empress by her former husband; an alliance which seems to have involved nothing repugnant to the feelings or customs of the country, but which Boschhonder found so revolting, that he urged his majesty, even with tears, to abandon his purpose, and at length succeeded in prevailing upon him to do so.

In spite of all his exertions, the Dutch general found that his progress in expelling the rival power was slow and unsatisfactory. The barbarous material of which his forces were composed were no match for the skilfully trained and well furnished troops opposed to him. Promises had been sent him of assistance from various Dutch settlements; but there seemed no prospect of their immediate fulfilment; each of the numerous stations now occupied by these energetic traders found sufficient employment for all its resources in maintaining or extending its own particular interest. With the permission of the Emperor, and with full powers to negotiate treaties, and contract engagements, Boschhonder sailed to Masulipatan; and having there ascertained how hopeless it was to expect succours from