animal food; and those who have abandoned it cannot but speak in the same tone of its superior excellence as an article of food. It is common among them, when they see a fine man, to say, What fine eating that man would be in the same way that we should speak of an ox. It is quite a mistake to suppose that they eat human flesh merely from revenge. Many of them have only one reason, namely, because they prefer it to other food; others eat it from pride; others, no doubt, in time of war, from revenge. It is positively affirmed by the natives themselves, that, in some parts of Navetelavu, the people eat raw human flesh, and even chew it in their mouths, as sailors do tobacco. Sometimes a man is cooked whole, and brought to the chief with a wig and a head-dress on, in a sitting posture, with a club, or something of the kind, in his hand, so that in the distance he can scarcely be distinguished from a living being. On some occasions they eat their own friends. If a fine young man is shot in war, his own party will secure him, if possible: they will have a mock funeral, and bury him; then dig him up in the night, and eat him. This, however, I believe, is not common. The priests at Bau are not allowed to eat human flesh. Women sometimes eat it; and they take a pleasure in greasing the mouths of little children with a portion of it, to prevent a disease to which they are subject. Some districts in the group do not eat human flesh, for the same reasons that some will not eat fowls, fish, &c.,—these things being the shrine of their god, in which he is supposed to reside when not in 'Bulu,' the world of spirits. Sometimes a man is mutilated, and cooked by piecemeal, while still alive; and instances have been known of a part of the body being cut off, and the person himself being obliged to eat it. Seru cut a man up by piecemeal, and roasted the pieces on the coals, and, shocking to relate, ate them in the poor fellow's presence; and the late King of Rawa cut off the arm of one of his servants, and compelled her to eat a part of it! We know,' says one of the missionaries, that these are both facts;' they are not, however, common occurrences; but I could state worse, very much worse things than these, that have occurred in this land of darkness and blood; but I dare not write them, they are too horrible to be told."-Pp. 309-311.

Here, as in the Friendly Islands, Romish priests have introduced themselves; and their influence, so far as good is concerned, is, perhaps, a little worse than that of the Puseyite bishop of New-Zealand. Mr. Young gives some amazing specimens of the spontaneous adroitness with which the native preachers sometimes foil the priests. A priest at Tolongo tried to convince one of these native agents that he would lose his soul among the Wesleyans; but failing with the man, he tried his eloquence on the preacher's wife, in his absence. He went at once to the priest, and informed him that he understood he had been to see his wife, which was certainly very like the serpent going to Eve when Adam was out of the way, and that he had now come to hear anything the priest might wish to say to him. After answering many questions, the native teacher requested permission to ask the priest one question. "How is it," said he, "that a priest in your Church has not a wife?" The priest replied, "Has God a wife?" This question, bordering on profanity, was doubtless designed as a poser; but it failed to be so, for the native promptly replied, "Does God eat? If you are gods, or claim to be as God, be consistent throughout. If it be because God has no wife, that

you have not one, do not eat, because God does not eat; do not drink, because God does not drink; do not live in a house, because God does not live in a house; do not wear clothes, because God does not wear them: be as God throughout!" This was indeed answering a fool according to his folly. Still better is the following:

6

"It appears that about two years ago there was a gracious revival of religion at Lakemba. Many of the young people were convinced of sin, and some of them cried out because of the disquietude of their souls. This circumstance was seized upon by one of the Romish priests, who, under pretence of deep interest in the welfare of the young people, urged the king to put a stop to the revival, lest they should all go deranged; for,' said he, this is the work of the devil.' 'Well,' said Twineyau, I am not much acquainted with such things, neither do I pretend to be a teacher of priests; but, to my mind, that which you say is the work of the devil, looks very much like what took place on the day of Pentecost, when those pricked in their heart said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Well might one of the priests say, as he is reported to have said, 'We came too late to these islands: we ought to have been here before the Scriptures.'"-P. 284.

A very important question, with regard to missionary operations in general, is asked and answered in the following passage:

"Can any measures be taken to civilize the natives, before they embrace Christianity? I think not. We have not been able to succeed in any degree in improving the condition of the people,' says one of our missionaries, excepting so far as we have been the means of their conversion. We cannot even persuade them to send their children to school, until they have abandoned heathenism. They can see no use for education, except for religious purposes, and oppose this first step to civilization on the ground of its being unnecessary. The same remarks will apply to decent clothing. One of the great objections the heathen in these parts have to Christianity is, that the persons professing it wear a decent dress, instead of the mere apology for one which they wear. The natives, however, soon acquire a taste for civilization, when they have abandoned heathenism; but until then they dislike anything that is not Feejeean.' They will conform to the customs of others on board a vessel, or in the house of a missionary; but they would have a strong objection against adopting those customs as their own. I believe, from all I have heard and seen, that no impression of a really favourable kind can be made upon them by anything except Christianity, and this is of course a powerful motive to the missionaries to do what they can to induce them to embrace the gospel. It is not one among many ways of doing them good,-it is the only way to be relied on. Commerce may improve them; but then it depends on the way it is conducted. One ship will raise them a little from their degradation; another, by sanctioning many of their present evil habits, will sink them lower. We have not seen,' says another of our missionaries, 'the good effects of foreigners residing among the natives. However long they reside, they leave them much the same as they found them."”—P. 313.

Our last extract from this interesting volume contains Mr. Young's mature views upon the results of his mission, and upon the prospects of Methodism in Australia and Polynesia, under its new and independent organization.

"Australia is doubtless designed to occupy a prominent position in the world's future history, and to become the centre of light in the southern hemisphere. The Australian Wesleyans being aware of this, are evincing an earnest and noble solicitude to increase the number of their faithful ministers, that Wesleyanism may take its full share in giving a Christian impress to the institutions, and in directing the destinies of this great country. Many of them are wealthy, and are also liberal. During the last twelve months, in addition to contributions in support of local objects, they have contributed £1,950 toward the outfit and passage of additional ministers, besides upward of £3,000 to the funds of the Parent Society; and I am happy to say that on the Wesleyan Churches in Australia being formed into a distinct, though affiliated connexion, they will cheerfully undertake to support all their ministers, maintain their own institutions, and contribute a handsome sum annually for purely missionary purposes.

"It has sometimes been said that the British Conference will sacrifice the cause of Christ, rather than part with any of its power. That witness is not true. It possesses power in Australasia and Polynesia, legitimately obtained, and hitherto wisely exercised, but now proposes to give up that power. And why? Not as the result of any pressure from without, for there has been none; nor yet at the request of the parties concerned, for no such request has been made; but simply because it believes that the time has arrived when it can transfer its power to other hands with advantage to the cause of religion; thus subordinating its power to the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom,--a principle upon which, as I believe, it invariably endeavours to act, whatever may be said to the contrary.

"This arrangement will invest our mission Churches in Australasia and Polynesia with great responsibility; and some have anxiously inquired, Are they sufficiently qualified to undertake that responsibility? I believe they are. But are the ministers not too juvenile to occupy a position so important? I think they are not. In Australia alone there are nineteen ministers who have sustained the sacred office from eighteen to thirty-three years; and there are several others in New-Zealand and Polynesia of equal standing. Comparison here would be improper; but there are ministers in these regions, of deep piety, ardent zeal, sober judgment, noble enterprise, and considerable mental power, equal to any emergency that may arise; and among whom will doubtless be found the Thompsons, Barbers, Pawsons, and Mathers of the Australasian connexion. Nor is there any lack of enlightened and able laymen to cooperate with the ministers in rendering the contemplated arrangement a blessing to the Southern World. I have no fear lest they should betray the generous confidence about to be reposed in them, or disappoint the expectation formed of their ability to manage their own affairs."-Pp. 403, 404.

We take our leave of this unpretending volume with increased respect for its author's head and heart; and with renewed admiration of the zeal, fidelity, and success with which the Wesleyans of England have prosecuted the work of Christian missions in pagan lands. When the "ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion," multitudes shall rise up from the far-off isles of the sea to "call them blessed," the devoted and heroic men who have sacrificed all that civilized life holds dear, and often life itself, in order to carry the name of CHRIST to the ends of the earth.

ART. VII.-SHORT REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

(1.) OUR stock of geographical and statistical information is always growing, and there is constant need of new works to keep us "up with the times." Every few years new maps, new charts, and new gazetteers are needed: the old ones become like yesterday's newspaper, only valuable historically. We welcome, therefore, most heartily, the appearance of "Harper's Statistical Gazetteer of the World, with Special Reference to the United States and British America,” (1855, 8vo.,) of which we have received six numbers. In preparing this book, the editor (Mr. J. C. Smith) has employed not only the existing manuals of the subject, but also the latest sources of information including the most recent censuses made in both hemispheres, and also the newest books of geography, travels, and statistics. The work is to be completed in ten numbers, and illustrated by seven maps prepared expressly for it. It will be the Gazetteer of the age.

(2.) THE most highly-finished gift-book for the coming year that we have seen, is "Jerusalem and its Vicinity, by the Rev. W. H. ODENHEIMER, A. M.” (Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co., 1855; 12mo., pp. 218.) The text consists of a series of familiar lectures, on "the sacred localities connected with the week before the resurrection,” delivered by Mr. Odenheimer to his congregation, and describing his own personal impressions of a visit to the Holy Land. With these are interwoven the reflections proper to a Christian congregation, in contemplating the scenes and the times of our Master's sufferings and triumph. Mr. Odenheimer has a greater fund of credulity with regard to the traditions of Palestine than we can boast of; and certain veins of thought in his lectures adapt them rather to an Episcopal congregation than to any other: but there is a great deal of beauty in his descriptions, and much piety in his aims. The work is finely illustrated by steel plates.

(3.) "The Nemesis of Power, by JAMES A. ST. JOHN" (1854; 18mo., pp. 254) is an attempt at unfolding the causes and forms of revolutions. Mr. St. John believes that the future history of the world, during many centuries, will be little but a record of civil contests. A bitter hater of arbitrary power, he selects its worst abuses and disgraces, and crowds them into his small canvas with terrible effect. He hates the Church of Rome with the most cordial hatred, too; holding it as the great abettor of despotism throughout the world. He believes the English constitution to be the model of a free state,-complicated, indeed, and incomplete, yet advancing constantly toward perfection.

(4.) MESSRS. APPLETON & Co. have reprinted “Russia, translated from the French of the Marquis de Custine." (1854; 12mo., pp. 499.) Its reissue at the present crisis cannot but be acceptable, as the work is, in many respects,

the best description of Russian society, especially in the higher classes, that has yet appeared. The present edition leaves out some unessential detailspersonal to M. Custine—but all that is substantial in his graphic descriptions and easy narrative is retained.

(5.) "Memoirs of Celebrated Characters, by ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE.” (New-York: Harper & Brothers, 1854; 2 vols., 12mo.) M. Lamartine has found his forte; he is eminently a writer of sketches; he writes history but it is history in portraits and pictures. The work before us is the first in which he has really given play to his proper powers to the fullest extent. His object is to exhibit the human race in action; to illustrate history by exhibiting the great men and great deeds, the deep shadows and great lights, the great perversities and high moral perfections of the race.

"Now to give the general reader this exhibition of the human race in action, it is not necessary, as it might be supposed, to evoke a multitude of historic names and personages from the catacombs of literature. No: the human is vast, but not infinite. A hundred principal actors, at most, are sufficient to represent, under the pen of the historian, the drama, sometimes varied, but oftener uniform, of human vicissitudes. Everything depends on a judicious choice of characters.

"There are also two ways of choosing them. They may be selected in respect to the greatness or importance of their conventional rank in the world, the nobility of their race, the brilliancy of their reign, the immensity of their empire, the magnificence of their title, the multitude of their subjects, or the prowess of their armies. On the other hand, they may be chosen in regard to their natural ability, the extent of their ideas, the influence which their appearance exercised upon human intellect, the greatness of the personal part they acted, the holiness of their lives upon earth, their labours, their persecutions, and sometimes their death; for such is often their only reward for the truths they brought into the world. They must especially be selected for the epic or dramatic interest of their lives. In this point of view, the more one of these great actors of the drama of existence has been maligned, the more unhappy he is, the more he is persecuted, the more there is of toil, vicissitude, tears, and blood in his history, the more there is also of interest, love, passion, and devotion in the feeling of posterity toward him, and the more strongly he impresses himself on the imagination. From this point of view in the human heart, which is that of the masses, Socrates is more historical than Alexander, Christopher Columbus than Charles the Fifth, Torquato Tasso than the Medici, or than Francis the First.

These are the characters we have sought out for our biographies. We do not lose sight of the immense ascendency given by rank, royalty, military power, or hereditary dynastic authority to the leaders of nations and shepherds of the people in modern times. An exalted destiny is the foundation of a high influence. The same natural abilities which, when placed by fortune at the bottom of the scale, only shine for a narrow circle in the mediocrity of common life, illumine the whole human race when Providence places them on high. A great idea dies unborn in an obscure man without power, while it produces great results in one who sits upon a throne. We must be blind or envious to deny this truth. A man's social position is one of the conditions of his action on his fellows. Rank is an initiation to glory. When we have met with personal valour in sovereigns or royal legislators, we give them the first place in history; but when we have seen in other, obscure ranks of life, men, superior in themselves, but usually neglected, or placed in the lowest ranks by distributers of fameas, for instance, prophets, philosophers, poets, orators, historians, artists, artisans, martyrs to a faith, useful in the world-we have restored to these naturally great men the position, which of right belongs to them, among the