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to a position which they had never occupied before. Idolatry has waned in Rotumah, and more than half the native population has been brought under the benign influence of Christianity. The Rev. W. Fletcher, B.A., has been on this lovely island five years, and has laboured most diligently, and with great success, in every department of the work. He has effected a translation of the entire New Testament, which he has carefully revised and prepared for the press; and the British and Foreign Bible Society has generously sent out paper and binding materials to Sydney, where Mr. Fletcher will pass the work through the press, and prepare the boon for circulation among the people.

The last account published by the authority of the Australian Conference, under whose direction the whole of the Wesleyan Missions in the South Seas have been placed, are of a very encouraging character. There are now employed in the Fiji Islands and Rotumah thirteen European and forty-four native Missionaries, with upwards of twenty-five thousand Church members and probationers under their pastoral care, whilst over fifty-one thousand scholars are receiving instruction in the Mission-schools. subordinate agents mention is made in the Report of 1 English schoolmaster, 839 catechists, 494 local preachers, 2,260 classleaders; with 105,947 attendants on public worship in 472 chapels and 391 other preaching places.

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Special attention is also given to the training of native agents to enable them to take an efficient and larger share in the great work of evangelising their fellow-countrymen. Besides the training institutions at the head-quarters of each circuit, for several years past an able Missionary has been entirely devoted to this important branch of the work at the Theological Institution at Kandavu, where between forty and fifty of the choicest young men, selected from all parts of Fiji, are receiving instruction of a higher class; and those who have gone forth from this institution have proved its value.

Considering the deeply degraded state of the people, when the Missionaries first arrived at Fiji, thirty-four years ago, and the numerous difficulties with which they have had to contend in the

prosecution of their arduous enterprise, the results of their labours are truly astonishing; and they should excite in our hearts feelings of sincere gratitude to Almighty God for what has been already achieved by the power of His Gospel, whilst they encourage us to renewed efforts for the accomplishment of what still remains to be done before the whole of the people can be said to be won for Christ.

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E have now to call the attention of the reader to the origin and progress of the Missionary enterprise in a country and among a people different in many respects from those which have hitherto passed under review. In the East we meet with heathen temples and systems of idolatry and superstitions which bear upon their front evident marks of hoary antiquity, and which are not so easily overthrown. We will not anticipate, however, but proceed at once, according to the plan adopted in other cases, to take a glance at the country and its inhabitants, as preparatory to a brief account of the means employed for their evangelisation.

India, or Hindustan, as it was formerly called, is a large and important portion of the British Empire, situated in Asia, having Persia and Arabia on the west, and China and Burmah on the east, with the Himalaya Mountains on the north, and the Indian Ocean on the south. In a country of such vast extent, comprising an area of one million three hundred thousand square miles, we are not surprised to find almost every variety of climate and scenery; but from its position, chiefly within the tropics, the heat in many places is oppressive during the greatest part of the year, and it is only in a few mountainous districts that a cool and bracing air is

generally to be found. Hence the climate of India has proved trying to the European constitution, and only a few Englishmen, who go out early in life, become so acclimatised as to endure a residence there for many years without a change. The general aspect of the country presents to the view towering mountains, dense jungles, and extensive verdant plains, which are almost inundated at certain seasons, and which are thereby rendered very productive, especially in paddy, or rice-an article on which the natives chiefly subsist. In addition to the provisions grown for home consumption, various articles of produce are cultivated in India for exportation; among which may be mentioned hemp, cotton, tobacco, sugar, coffee, rice, spices and drugs of various kinds, and numerous other commodities, to the use of which we have been so long accustomed in England, that we now regard them as included among the common necessaries of life.

The island of Ceylon, which is two hundred and seventy-one miles in length, and one hundred and thirty-seven in breadth, and is separated from the mainland by Palk's Straits, differs in some respects from Continental India. The central portions of the island form a vast mountain plain, enclosed on all sides by rugged heights, with a broad belt of low land stretching round its exterior border, reaching thence to the sea. The celebrated mountain called Adam's Peak, is a conspicuous object from almost every point of view, as it rises to the height of 7,420 feet above the level of the sea, and it is associated, in the minds of the natives, with many curious traditions. Ceylon abounds with extensive forests and vast tracts of fertile land, on which most of the articles already mentioned are cultivated, especially coffee, spices, and some other important items of export.

In turning our attention to the inhabitants of India, we are somewhat perplexed as to the best course to pursue. It is no easy task to give an intelligible and succinct account of a population amounting to one hundred and seventy millions, comprising nations and tribes of such diversity of character, language, and religion, as are found in our vast Indian Empire. It may be sufficient for our present purpose to state that the entire population of Continental

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