the missionaries at Tranquebar. During this year, the following increase of the congregation is no ticed; 46 children baptized, 94 heathens properly instructed and baptized, and 17 converts from the Romish communion. Four schools. were regularly maintained.

LOOR, a considerable village in the Carnatic Hindoostan, 12 m. W. Tanjore, inhabited by Collaries, a set of people infamous for theft and robbery, as their name denotes. In 1777, they were all heathens,

The Rev. Mr. Swartz, and other Danish missionaries, occasionally laboured here, and persuaded many to cultivate their fields, and abandon their plundering expeditions, which prepared the way for the establishment of schools and religious in struction. In one day, 7000 men returned to their villages for the purposes of agriculture; the rest of these inhabitants soon followed their example, and gave the following assurance to Mr. Swartz :-" As you have shewed kindness to, us, you shall not have reason to repent of it; we intend to work night and day to shew our regard for you." To this resolution they seemed to adhere; and, about the close of the last century, in this country, through which a traveller could not safely pass, no robberies were committed, and many had embraced Christianity. In 1800, the Christian Knowledge Society had, for some time, exerted a happy influence at this place, by their missionaries, and the establishment of schools. A house for prayer was erected, in which a large congregation attended on the stated instructions of Daw-asagayam, an able and faithful catechist; who received occasional assistance from

These efforts have since been successfully continued.

BUENOS AYRES, so called on account of the peculiar salubrity of

rica: bounded N. by Peru; E. by Brazil and the Atlantic; S. by, Patagonia; N. W. by the Andes, which separate it from Chili. It extends from 14° to 38° 30′ S. lat. about 1700 m. It is rich in mines of gold, silver, and other valuable. metals. Those of Potosi are the richest, and have yielded between 4 and 5,000,000 of dollars annually.

In 1817, the official estimates of the population were 1,300,000, exclusive of Indians, of whom it is supposed more than 700,000 are civilized.

Numerous wandering tribes occupy the N. part of this country.m

Buenos Ayres was formerly a Spanish colony, but independence was declared July 9, 1816. The es tablished religion is Roman Catholic; yet there are many advocates for universal toleration, and it is thought the time is not far distant when Protestants will be permitted to introduce their own forms of worship, notwithstanding the strong prejudices of the Catholics, and the violent opposition of the priests.

Buenos Ayres, the capital of the above province. This city was founded by Mendoza, in 1535, but was afterwards abandoned; and in 1544, another colony of the Spaniards came here, who left it also; but it was rebuilt in 1582, and inhabited by Spaniards and the native Americans. It is well fortified; the streets are straight and paved; and

to guard the place; and almost every Bullom-house has some representation of Satan. Before the devil's houses, which are small thatched huts, 3 or 4 feet high, the blood of animals is sprinkled, a libation of palm wine poured out, and an offering of fruit and rice occasionally made. The Bulloms believe in a state of existence after death, and erect huts over the graves of the dead, in which they place a jug or two to supply the spirits of the deceased with what they want when they come out, as they suppose they do, at different times.

In 1818, the Rev. Mr. Nylander, having resigned his situation as chaplain at Sierra Leone, for the purpose of commencing a missionary station among the Bulloms, had fixed his residence at a place called Yongroo Pomoh, which is described, by the Rev. C. Bickersteth, as "pleasantly situated at the mouth of the Sierra Leone R., nearly opposite to Free Town, and about 7 miles from it." Here he opened a school; and by the suavity of his manners, and the consistency of his conduct, so effectually conciliated the respect and esteem of the natives, that a considerable number of them were, induced to place their children under his tuition. Even the king of Bullom entrusted one of his sons to the care of this excellent missionary; but the young prince had not been long in the seminary before he died. "After he was dead," says Mr. Nylander, "the people were going to ask him, according to their custom, who had killed him: but I was very glad that, after long reasoning in opposition to their opinions, they were satisfied that he had not fallen a victim to the arts of any witch or gregree; but that God, who gave him life at first, had now called him home, to be with him, in a good and happy place:

and I assured his friends, that if they would begin to pray to God, they would once more meet him in that place, and rejoice with him for ever. As I stated my belief that God had killed him, I was allowed to bury him, in white man's fashion,' and the king gave me a burying-place separate from their

own.

"It is lamentable," says the same writer, in another communication, "that the Bulloms should have been left so long without any religious instruction. They live in gross darkness, worshipping evil spirits, and dealing very cruelly with each other, on account of their superstitious witchcraft ; which, perhaps, was encouraged by the inhuman traffic in slaves. If any slave ship had been permitted to appear in the Sierra Leone R., about 15 or more witches would have been sold, and sent off for the coast, since I have been at Bullom." The following facts will exhibit some of their superstitions in an affecting manner.

"A young man, named Jem Kambah, was employed by me, and attended pretty regularly on our family and public worship. Going one day to visit his mother, she gave him two small smooth stones, which she had laid by for that purpose; telling him to wash them every day, and rub them with oil; and that then they would take care of him, and he would prosper-because they were two good spirits.

Mother,' said he, these are stones, how can they take care of me? I hear the white man at Yongroo Pomoh telling us that God alone can help us, and that all our gregrees (charms) are good for nothing. These stones can do me no good: I will, therefore, look to God, and beg him to take care of me.' Thus saying, he threw the stones into the fire, as unworthy of notice.

"This was a heinous sacrilege; and, on his mother acquainting ber friends with it, they sharply reproved him; and told him that, by thus acting, he would make the devil angry, and would bring mischief upon the country. He assured them, however, that he would pay no more attention to any of their customs, but would listen to what he heard at Yongroo Pomoh.

"One Sabbath, after divine service, Jem again went to see his mother, and met the people dancing, and trying some persons for witchcraft. He told them that it was the Lord's day, and that they should not dance, but go to Yongroo Pomoh, to hear what the white man had to say. And then,' he added, you will leave off all dancing and witch-palavers, which are nothing but the work of the devil.' This speech, together with the throwing of the stones into the fire, affronted them so much, that they threatened to punish him; and, the next morning, he was summoned before the king, and accused of having made a witch-gun, and concealed it in his house, for the purpose of killing and injuring his inmate. Jem replied- I never saw a witch-gun, and do not know how to make one. He, therefore, who told you this, did not speak the truth. He was urged to acknowledge it, and then the whole palaver would have an end.

No, said he, I cannot tell a lie merely to please you.' He was then called upon to prove his innocence, by rubbing his arm with a red-hot iron, or by drinking red water; but he coolly replied-I am no fool, to burn myself with the hot iron; and as for the red water palaver, I shall look in my head first ;' mean ing that he should take time to consider the matter. He afterwards came to me, and told me the charges which had been brought

against him; and said, I will drink the red water to clear my self, and to bring my family out of the blame-and I hope God will help me. I advised him to pray, and to consider well what he was going to do.

"A day before the trial, Jem was confined; and persons of both par ties, his friends and enemies, questioned him, and urged him to confess every thing he had done evil. At last the day came; he was carried to the place of execu→ tion, stripped of his clothes, and had some plantain leaves tied roundhis waist. About two tea-spoon⚫ fuls of white rice had been given to him in the morning; and if this rice were thrown up with the red water, it was to prove him innocent. Jem now ascended the scaffold, and drank 8 calabashes (about 41 quarts) of red water, which was administered to him as fast as he could swallow it. He threw all up again, with the rice which he had eaten in the morning; but, as he fainted before he could get downl from the scaffold, it was said that some witch-palaver must be left in his stomach, because the devil wrestled with him; and he was requested to drink the water again. This, however, he refused; ob serving that he had merely drank it in the first instance to please his accusers, and to shew that he was no witch. A few days afterward he came to work again, and the business was dropped; but Jem did not appear so serious, nor did he so regularly attend on public wor ship, as before."

The poor creature whose case is next narrated, had not the cou rage of Kambah, but was terrified into the confession of an imaginary crime, in order to save herself from the further cruelty of her per secutors.

"I was told," says Mr. Ny

lander," that there was a woman very ill with the small-pox, and that another woman, who had just fallen ill of the same disease, had bewitched her. I visited the sick woman first, and found her dangerously ill; afterwards I went to the place where the supposed witch, named Dumfurry, was lying in chains, under a tree, in a high fever--the small-pox just coming out. I begged the people to release her, and to let her lie down comfortably in a house; but they said they could not do it, I must speak to the head man of the town, the king not being at home. I applied to him, but he refused; alleging that she was a bad woman, who had been in the Sheerong (a sort of purgatory, where the evil spirits dwell, and whither the supposed witches resort), where she bought the small-pox, and, by witchcraft, brought the disease upon this woman.

"If she be so skilful,' I said, 'you can make money by her. Loose her, and let her go this night again to the Sheerong, and bring the small-pox, in order to witch the small-pox upon me; and if I catch the disease, I will pay you ten bars.' One said that I had had them, and therefore she could not bring them on me. Why,' said I, if she be a witch, she can cause a stick to have the small-pox tomorrow; and if she knew any thing of witchcraft, she would not stand before you to be flogged, but would bind you all, that you could not catch her. She knows nothing, however, about witch-palaver, and, in your dealing so hardly with her, you do extremely wrong, and displease God.'

"As the poor creature could not be loosed without the consent of the sick woman's husband, I sent for him; and, after some time, he consented that she should be taken

out of the stocks-and so I left them. But the relations of the person dangerously ill began to question the supposed witch, and gave her a severe whipping; and the woman, at length, confessed that she had bewitched her.

"The doctor was now called in to examine the sick person, and he, in his turn, by pretended witchcraft, pretended to take out of the woman's head, 1. A worm, called, in Sierra Leone, the forty foot; 2. A small bag, containing the instruments of a witch-such as a knife, a spoon, a basin, &c.; 3. A. snail; 4. A rope ; and, 5, the smallpox!! The witch was then whipped a second time, and asked whether she had not put all these things into the head of the woman, who 'was now almost dead. She confessed it; and brought forward a man and two women, as having joined with her to kill this woman. The man said that he knew nothing of witchcraft, and consented to prove his innocence by drinking the red water. The two females were whipped, and sent to work; and the principal one was to be put to death, as soon as the sick woman should die. Till then, Dumfurry, the supposed witch, was appointed to guard the sick person, and to drive the flies from her."

"I oppose these foolish witch accusations," says Mr. N. “whereever I can; and numbers of the Bulloms, especially the younger ones, see plainly that it is the power of darkness and ignorance which works upon the minds of the old people; but they dare not say a word in opposition to this evil practice, for fear of being themselves immediately accused of witchcraft.”

Among these benighted people, Mr. Nylander continued to labour for a considerable time, with the most unwearied patience and un