that vicinity. In one of them, which we employed a man to open anew, I discovered the remnant of an inscription written in the mortar over the entrance of one of the apartments. The letters were in general those of the Greek alphabet. The excavations are all made in rock more or less solid, having a small entrance, but within widening into a court, around which, on every side, are the little chambers for the dead. In one of these which now serves as a shelter for cattle, I counted thirteen of these little separate apartments. Not a vestige of any human skeleton did we see. Of what avail to the rich proprietors of these houses of the dead were all their care and expense to preserve the dead bodies of themselves and their ancestors? They doubtless thought that neither death nor time would blot out their memory from under heaven, but that their remains would be preserved, and the places of their deposit known to the latest generation. But what man lay here, and of what age or nation, are questions which scarcely any one who visits these tombs can think of solving-a mortifying lesson to human pride. "Man giveth up the ghost and where is he?" "The wind passeth over it and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more." The next day being fixed upon for my return I passed by an inland route over the hills and dales of Lebanon to Der El Kamer, where I passed the night pleasantly in the family of Domani, the former teacher of Mr. King, and the day after reached Beyroot. Constantinople. EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER OF MR. GOODELL, Description of his Residence at Buyuk-Dere. AFTER the loss of his house and effects by the burning of Pera, (the part of Constantinople occupied by Franks,) as described at p. 15, Mr. Goodell removed his family to Buyuk-Dere, a village situated on the European side of the Bosphorus, twelve or eighteen miles above Constantinople. As large numbers of the Frank population removed to the same village, they were obliged to occupy such tenements as were found empty. Mr. Goodell, with many others, among whom was Dr. Walsh, chaplain of the British embassy, and a number of American merchants, obtained apartments in an old palace. He remarks that the occupants whom Providence has brought together in this ancient and spacious building form quite a community by themselves, "being from ten different nations, belonging to eight different religious communions, and understanding sixteen different languages." reader to form some idea of the beautiful and The descriptions here given will enable the varied scenery, and the magnificence of the vil lages and single buildings in that part of the world. The appearance of Constantinople was given at p. 319, of the last volume. This house is no other than (in these countries) the well known palace of Scanavi. He was a Greek of great wealth and consideration, who, by courtesy rather than by right, as was the case with some others, had the title of prince. At the commencement of the Greek revolution his head was forfeited, and his splendid palace and extensive gardens were confiscated to government. His five daughters (his wife and son having previously deceased) fled to Odessa. Peace between Russia and the sublime. Porte having been established by the treaty of Adrianople, two of the sisters returned to Buyuk-Dere, with a petition to the sultan for their house and lands; and under the special protection of the autocrat, they presented it in person. The sultan granted their request, and they were permitted to take possession of their property about a year ago, after having been necessarily at some expense in recovering it. The chambers of the palace which they occupy front the principal street in BuyukDere. Three chambers, occupied by Dr. Walsh's family and by our own, front the Bosphorus and the bay, beyond the latter of which is the pretty village of Therapia. The walls of these chambers, or rather of the rooms below, are all laved by the clear. waters of the channel. The fish play under the windows, and we pull them up even into the chambers with hook and line. Between our largest chamber and the largest of those occupied by the princesses, and opening into each by two large folding forty feet square. One side, projecting like doors, is a saloon or spacious hall, about low, is circular, containing nine large wina balcony, and supported by six pillows bedows, each ten feet by five and a half, and having all round it a divan or floor raised six inches high and five feet wide for a sofa. This room is for the most part very handsomely finished; and, in the joyous days of less oft the scene of much hilarity and its first and rightful proprietor, it was doubtpleasure. In this room I now sit writing. And besides the doors leading into the chambers mentioned above, and which were doubtless thrown open on all occasions of festivity and social gaiety, (those being themselves also very large, handsome, and furnished with divans on three sides,) another large folding door leads from the saloon across a sort of corridor to the broad staircase. Half way down, the staircase the marble floor below. The circular part of separates, and each division winds round to this saloon looks to the Giant's Mountain and towards the sun rising across the Bosphorus; and opens by a front door directly on the Asiatic side, all of which can be seen from the summit of the hill in the rear of his residence. The country seems to want nothing but Christianity, education, and good government. under it, into a neat little yard, which, be- || Sea, twenty-eight on the European, and twenty sides roses and pots of lemon-trees and a profusion of white and red oleander growing luxuriantly, contains also two small painted Kiosks, situated, one of them at the southeast corner on the Bosphorus, and the other at the northeast corner on the street. It has two gates on the north and south sides, with a stone walk extending from the one to the other; one of which opens into the street, and the other into theling domes, and lofty gilded minarets of Bosphorus. Boats come directly up to this latter gate, and we find it as convenient to step into one as you in America do to step from the door into a sleigh or carriage. Thus all the way from Constantinople to the Black Sea, villages with beautiful Kiosks, and splendid palaces, and the swel Turkish mosques, succeed each other in rapid succession. The houses are all painted; those more recently built are of a light slate, yellow, or other gay colors; and those with trellised windows are generally known as the abodes of Turkish effeminacy. As all these villages ascend, for the most part, from the very brink of the waves a part or in some instances the whole of the way up the sides of the gently swelling or more precipitous hills, amidst gardens, vineyards, and trees of varied size, and flowers of various hue, the prospect in passing up and down the Bosphorus is to the stranger truly enchanting: Above the villages there is generally to be seen a lovely back ground of wooded hills or rich cultivation; and the spaces between the villages, where such spaces exist, are filled up with a palace, a glen, a shady nook, a limpid stream, a fountain, a barricade, a promontory, a public granary, or a Turkish cemetery, thickly dotted with marble tombs in the midst of beautiful groves of cypresses. Besides the front door that opens into the yard I have just described, another opens directly into the street. Across the street, a gate leads into an enclosure, in which are several kitchens and a good well of water. Beyond this enclosure, and separated from it by a high wall, a gate opens into the extensive gardens, consisting of one, two, and three acres each, rising one above another up the side of the mountain, and containing fruits, flowers, vines, trees, walks, and arbors. These gardens, five in number, and terraced and prepared at great expense, have, since the tragical death of Scanavi, been greatly neglected, and some parts of them are now in a ruinous state. The fishponds have been filled up; the fountains that used to play have long since been unsupplied with water; some of the stone steps that lead from garden to garden have been broken; and many of the lanes and alleys are choked with briars and weeds. But amidst all these desolations, wells without water, and cisterns, reservoirs, and aqueducts out of repair, there are still to be found in luxuriant growth, vines, blackberries, and barberries; the quince, the plumb, the fig, the promegranate and the bay tree; the hornbeam thickly set on each side of a pretty walk; the willow, the pine, the chesnut, and the walnut; and an abund-erally has his summer residence at these or ance of myrtle and roses. One of the walnut trees the princesses point out to us as being American, their father having, as they say, procured the seed from the new world; and I never walk under its shade, or taste of its fruit, without thinking of its origin and the goodly land from which it was taken. It seems to be a favorite with the princesses, and it is certainly a noble tree and every way worthy of its descent. Above these gardens, are extensive vineyards, belonging to different individuals; and on the summit of the mountain or hill we can see both the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora, with the Bosphorus at our feet winding along from the former to the latter, between its beautiful banks and the numerous villages, which on each side partly or entirely cover the bosomy hills. Mr. Goodell then gives the names of fortyeight villages which adorn the banks of the Bosphorus between Constantinople and the Black In the bay between Therapia and BuyukDere, the dark wide spreading Euxine opens to view through the Boghaz. As the wind, if there be not a calm, blows directly up or down the channel, there are generally vessels, sometimes ten or fifteen, riding at anchor in this bay, waiting for a change of wind. Most or all of the ambassadors reside at Therapia and Buyuk-Dere during the fine season. The wealthy Turk, also, gen at some of the pretty villages below. And the greater part of the more respectable Franks and Rayahs may likewise be seen retiring thither after the business of the day. There is, therefore, a constant passing and repassing of the swift and beautiful caiks or boats of the country In descending they are made to keep the midway channel; but in ascending it is necessary, on account of the strong current and for the sake of the counter current, to keep close in shore on the European side. A Turkish effendi, usually seen with an umbrella over his head, whether with or without a sun, skims the water with three pair of oars. The Frank merchants usually engage a caik with two pair. A passage boat, filled with men, women, and children, generally of the lower grades, to the number sometimes of more than a hundred, has six or eight pair. And the sultan in his splendidly carved, * A Turkish word signifying “strait," literally, "throat." and superbly gilt, and magnificently adorned caik, of one hundred and ten feet long and eight or ten wide, with a canopy of satin and the richest crimson, ornamented with needlework and studded with brilliants, cuts his majestic way through the transparent waters with from twenty-four to twenty-eight men at the oar. The rowers have their heads shaved, and wear a very small red cap, just to cover the crown. Besides this and their cotton draw-|| ers, they for the most part have on only a thin silk shirt, with open bosom and large sleeves reaching no farther than the elbow. Thus with a pair of fine, long, broad oars, they exhibit their athletic forms, their strong, full chest, their open front, their healthful,|| sober countenances, their brawny arms, to very great advantage. I have frequently stopped to admire the gracefulness, and apparent ease, with which they speed their way against or through the different cur rents. The distance from Constantinople to the Black Sea is variously estimated at from twenty-two to thirty miles; and from Constantinople to Buyuk-Dere, at from twelve to eighteen miles. A caik with two pair of oars is usually two hours in going from this place to Constantinople, and three hours, sometimes more, in returning. The Bosphorus is generally from one to two miles wide. When the wind blows from the Black Sea down the channel, the strength of the current is much increased; and a caik in ascending finds men, at three different places, standing ready to throw a rope, and pull it round points of land where the rushing of the waters is sufficient to turn a mill. Such, sir, is the Bosphorus; such are the villages and the beauties of the scenery on its banks, and such also is the house and the tragic end of Scanavi. Malta. THE MISSION PRESS. In a letter dated Oct. 16, 1831, Mr. Temple makes the following statement respecting the press under his care. The press has been very actively employed, during the year past, in printing books in Greek for the use of schools. The importance of this branch of Christian labor becomes to us all more and more apparent. This is beginning at the beginning, and the good effects cannot fail to appear in due time. But every thing is beautiful in its season. Our school-books, as far as I am able to ascertain, are very acceptable; and the only objection that has come to my knowledge against any of them, is concerning the arithmetic and the grammar, viz., that they are too simple, or, in other words, adapted to the minds of only very young | children. This is just as we intended it should be. It is gratifying to me, especially, to find reason to believe that my judg ment has not misled me in reference to the selections which I have made of elementary books for schools. I have felt very great, and sometimes painful anxiety on this subject, having heard more than a few objections urged against our earlier publications. Petrokokino does his best, and does, I am happy to assure you, admirably well. I do not believe we could find a better translator. Practice and study have greatly improved his style, as a matter of course, and he is daily improving. We have printed nothing in Italian since I returned here; and indeed we find no opening for any thing in that language, at present. We hope and we believe that it will not always be so. We have not a large stock of tracts on hand in that language, and think it not expedient to increase it till there shall be a call for something of this kind. We have printed as follows, all in modern Greek, viz. in future. I have a strong persuasion that || they will be welcome wherever they shall become known, and not only welcome but highly useful. The arithmetic which we have begun, and the geography which is ready for the press, can neither of them fail to be most acceptable, as they both cover ground that is untrodden. I am very impatient to see them finished. Elementary works on arithmetic, grammar, geography, and history, are indispensable in the schools, and are easily made to contain a great amount of moral and religious instruction. As there are no good elementary books in the modern Greek language, if schools are to be established by the missionaries, they must also make the books which are requisite. And probably in the present state of things in Greece, the public mind cannot be operated upon more favorably or more powerfully in any other manner, than by means of schools and school-books of a strictly religious character. They contribute in various ways to the more extended and greater usefulness of all the other productions of the press. The Scriptures and other religious books can be circulated and read to only a very limited extent, and of course can exert but a limited influence till a reading community shall be raised up by the general establishment of schools. Sandwich Eslands. JOINT LETTER OF MESSRS. BALDWIN, TIN- THE arrival of the reinforcement which embark- An Account of their Voyage. For these three months past we have been looking for an opportunity to inform you of our safe arrival; but none has offered till now. We hoped to have reported our progress while on the passage, but we fell in with only three ships, and neither of these homeward bound. We saw others but they were so far off we could not hail them. and shall always remember him with pleasure, and be happy to see him hereafter. The other officers, also, deserve our grateful remembrance. We had prayers in the morning in the cabin, and in the evening on deck, when the weather would allow; and on most of the Sabbaths a sermon was preached in the forenoon, at which service the captain was uniformly present, and one or more of the mates, and a part of the crew. In the afternoon we had a Bible class for the sailors; but when the weather was cold and wet we visited them in the steerage and forecastle for their religious improvement. We distributed tracts, and furnished Testaments for those who were destitute. Some of them were thoughtful on the subject of religion, but we had little evidence that any were converted. We saw no land except three of the Cape de Verd Islands and Massafuero, till Sabbath, June 5th, when Hawaii appeared like a cloud afar off. In the evening we saw the mountains of Maui, and on Monday morning we sailed by the side of Morokai, and drew near Oahu in the forenoon, where we hoped to land in time for the monthly concert of prayer; but the wind left us to drift, so that the anchor was not cast till the afternoon of Tuesday, June 7th, twentythree weeks from the morning it was taken up at New Bedford. Three of our number went ashore that day; all of us landed the day following. We saw the king and principal chiefs the same afternoon, and were welcomed to reside at the islands. The week after, all the brethren, except Mr. Gulick, met at Honolulu on the business of the mission. The harvest is plenteous; the laborers few. Praying that the Lord of the harvest would bless your efforts to send forth laborers we remain, dear Sir, Yours affectionately. Upon their arrival at Honolulu, the members of the reinforcement addressed a note to Captain Parker, expressing their high sense of his kindness to them, and thanking him for the unwearied pains he had taken to render their situation comfortable and pleasant during the five months and upwards which they spent on board his ship. Captain Parker sent them a very friendly reply.—The stations to which the several members of the reinforcement were as Perhaps nothing unusual attended our voyage. We were at first sea-sick, and the waters were very rough in the Gulf Stream; but after the second week the weather was favorable till we were forty degrees south of the equator, where we had head winds and stormy weather, so that we were forty-signed, were mentioned at p. 72. nine days in beating round Cape Horn. But the Lord preserved us in all our dangers and made our way prosperous. Our accommodations were good, and captain Parker was extremely kind to us, and did all he could to render our passage pleasant. We were sorry to part with him," So great and increasing was the demand for missionary labor, that those now at the islands earnestly request that additional helpers may be sent to them. The large reinforcement which sailed in November last will be most joyfully received. A LETTER OF MR. BING- Formation of a General Temperance Society. THE accession of John Adams (Kuakini) to the office of governor of Oahu, and the energetic measures adopted by him for the reformation of morals, and especially for the suppression of intemperance at Honolulu, were noticed in the last number; as was also the organization of a temperance society for the islands. A more detailed account of this last important measure is contained in the letter inserted here. You know that at different periods pious chiefs have made very commendable efforts to restrain intemperance among their own people; and that these efforts were very extensively successful. But foreigners still claimed the privilege of distilling, vending: and drinking the deadly poison; and under the maladministration of Boki and his successor, Liliha, from twelve to twenty shops and stores were allowed to sell ardent spirits, especially to foreigners. Natives were to some extent carried away by the tide. Intemperance, therefore, still triumphed to an extent almost equal to the foreign population; and many a poor sailor boy, far from friends and home, has parted with his money and his clothes at a dear rate for the intoxicating cups of Honolulu. The government have recently ventured to grapple with the hideous monster, and refused to renew a single license to sell ardent spirits. This circumstance, you may easily imagine, would for a season make the name of the missionaries very current with those whose interests and pleasures were seriously affected by it. Some persons, we understand, attempted to evade the law by selling coffee and giving away rum. We had the honor to become "the song of the drunkard," but encouraged by the union of all the chiefs to withhold their sanction to the trade in ardent spirits, I renewed the proposal for a temperance society among the people, and again stated the principles which were proposed a year ago, when I preached on the subject. My brethren strongly supported the measure. A society was soon formed by the chiefs and people, and about a thousand subscribers were immediately obtained. It is proposed to circulate copies of the resolutions throughout the islands and to get as many names as possible to this national temperance society. The four governors of the islands are the general superintendents of the society, which has a board of managers consisting `of twelve active and serious young men. The constitution is simple and the principles of the society are as follows: These are the resolutions to which we agree. "1. We will not drink ardent spirits for pleasure. "2. We will not deal in ardent spirits for the sake of gain. "3. We will not engage in distilling ardent spirits. "4. We will not treat our relatives, acquaintances, or strangers with ardent spirits. 5. We will not give ardent spirits to workmen on account of their labor." I suppose that you and I have learned not to despise the day of small things. 1 hope our temperance society in this little corner of the world will not be a whit behind your noble temperance institutions in the far more enlightened United States of America. You may perhaps think it strange, but I do not dare to tell this people how much your temperance societies are doing, because it would betray the fearful extent to which intemperance has been and is carried in that distinguished country. The striking fact, however, of a southern dealer's emptying his casks on the ground, because he could not conscientiously sell so dangerous and destructive an article, I am happy to mention; and it strikes our serious natives here, as it does me, as one of the best efforts that has been known for exhausting that fountain of death which is that kind of merchandise imitate so noble, desolating the earth. Let every dealer in so safe an example, and "Joy to the world,' would be the song of the rising generation. I have been told that our young king has ordered a cask of spirits on board of one of The his brigs to be poured into the sea. British consul, I am told, has applied to the his Britannic majesty's ships of war, when governor for permission to buy up rum for they shall touch here, and has been denied. Others, it is said, applied to the governor for the privilege of selling ardent spirits to foreigners only, not to natives. Governor Adams' reply was amusing. "To horses, cattle, and hogs, said he, you may sell rum; but to real men you must not on these shores." In order to estimate correctly the work that has been accomplished in favor of temperance, and how great a change has been wrought in the character and example of the chiefs in this respect, it should be remembered that ten years ago the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands were a nation of drunkards. The king and principal chiefs, instead of restraining the people by laws or by example, were themselves habitually addicted to the grossest intemperance. It was no uncommon thing for the missionaries, when they made tours about the islands, to find whole villages, the chief men and common people, male and female, in a state of beastly intoxication. Now the young king has ordered a cask of spirits found on board one of his vessels to be emptied into the sea, all the principal |