opportunity of conversing with a few of the natives. At four, P. M., I went into the fort, which is of great extent, enclosing three high hills, and three or four low ones, all which are fortified. I first ascended a kind of tower of eight or ten stories, and at the highest story was surprised to find a contrivance to afford a continual supply of water by pipes communicating with a well at the top of the hills at many hundred feet distance: after visiting the granary and another large building, which they said was the boxing court, I proposed ascending one of the hills; although I pointed out that which seemed the easiest of ascent, several who had hitherto followed me, refused to attempt it; I was afterwards not astonished at this, as I had to rest three times before I reached the top, and one of my bearers, whom I had never seen tired by the longest march, complained of weariness. The ascent is by steps, part cut out of the solid rock, and in part constructed of the stone of which the hill consists. At the top I found temples, and choultries, and palaces, and a granary of elegant and durable structure. While I rested and enjoyed the extensive prospect afforded from so elevated a spot, I nade inquires with regard to the traditions connected with this fort, and learned that it was begun and finished by one King, in whose family it continued three generations only; the last of the three, DERASINGARAJA, was besieged by the Nabob of ARCOT for some arrears of tribute, and the fort stood the siege for as long as it required a tamarind-tree to be raised from the seed, come to perfection, and bear fruit,-a period not less than twelve years. At that time, the fort was throngly inhabited, and contained twelve thousand houses; from what I can observe, the neighbourhood does not contain one-twelfth of that number at present, and this extensive fort is entirely unoccupied, except by monkeys, which are very numerous, and bound unmolested from rock to rock. The hill I ascended is by no means the highest, yet it took me half an hour to descend. The sight of these silent and stupendous monuments of human labour, and greatness, and vanity, is calculated to fill the mind with the most solemn reflections. What unspeakable comfort do those words of CHRIST convey to the mind of the Christian when contemplating such a scene, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away;" and, "He that doeth the will of God shall abide for ever."

13th. Anantapooram.-On my arrival here, I was attracted by the noise of

children at their lessons, and on visiting the school I had some conversation with the master and others who came in my conversation, and a tract I left with them, raised an interest and curiosity in the villagers, which kept me employed a great part of the day in reading and speaking to them. In the course of the forenoon an old man, with a head and beard of shaggy grey hair, brought me a present of flowers and pomegranates. I followed him to his hut in a garden, on the produce of which he and his fa mily subsist. To my inquiries, why he did not share? he said, he had a vo upon him, which he made in sickness about five years ago, to give a certain sum of money to the temple at Tripetty, which he had not been able to perform, and till he had performed it, it was not lawful for him either to shave or dress his hair (compare Acts xxi. 23.) I endeavoured to persuade him that all the good he had ever received mast have proceeded from the one true God, the only proper object of worship, and that he could not be pleased by any observances which gave his honour to graven images. Many people have to-day heard the truth: may the word spoken prove good seed sown in good ground! With the prayogithen, or astrologer of the village, I left a copy of the Teloogoo Gospels, and Acts, and with another person, Matthew's Gospel in Tamul.

14th. Tricaloor.-About six hours march last night brought us to this town, which seems to be one of considerable size and importance. After breakfast I collected my servants and bearers, who, although they are heathens except one, were very attentive while I read and prayed with them about an hour. At noon I had a call from RоHONANTACHARIAR, a Brahmin, I should suppose of some consequence by his attendants: he professed to be better acquainted with Sanscrit than any other language, but received from me a Teloogoo tract, and the Gospel of Matthew in Canarese. He asked my opinion of idolatry, listened respectfully to what I had to say, and acknowledged he had never heard of the nature of Christianity before: he went away, and returned in about two hours with some of his friends, the eldest of them past middle age, and of an honest and open countenance; another was bold, quick, and very disputations. We had a long conversation on the nature of God, of the soul, of true happiness, of heaven, of sin, and hell-torments. The others seemed pleased with my arguments, and if they said any thing it was by way of inquiry; but the last-mentioned dis utant kept up the argument as long as

he could with propriety: at last he admit ted that I was perfectly right, and said that the same doctrines were to be found in some of their Shastras, but that they contained opposite doctrines too, which must be received. I endeavoured to point out the folly of embracing contradictions, entered on the doctrine of the atonement, and contrasted their ineffi-cient observances with the provision of the Gospel. I walked with them to their own village, about two miles, and by the way endeavoured to apply what they had heard, and admitted to be reasonable and good, and to show them the beauty and consistency of truth. A good number of people came together in the village, and I proposed the reading of a Tract, and to answer any objections they might make to it: after passing about an hour with them I returned, beseeching them to leave their lying vanities, and turn to that one true God whom they had now in words acknowledged. What a blow would it be to heathenism, if some of these chief men should become converts to the truth, and act under the influence of Gospel-principles. But how hardly can this be! their pride of caste forbids it; their friends and families would cast them off, the moment they embraced Christianity; and as their present income is from villages and lands, given to them in consideration of their performing certain duties in connexion with idolatry, if they forsake the one they must lose the other, and most probably be reduced to poverty and want. These obstacles however have their use, and serve as a counterbalance to the hypocrisy and deceit for which the Hindoos are proverbial; and when any of

them do renounce all for the reproach of Christ, I should not require much further proof of their sincerity. 15th. Pillirombatti.-Much of the country through which I have been passing several days, lies in its natural state, covered with wild, and, in many places, luxuriant jungle; and the greater part of that which is cleared for cultivation, and which this month should have been covered with a crop ready for the sickle, is neither ploughed nor sown, in conse quence of the drought which extends through the whole of the country: and altogether it does not afford a sufficiency of grass for the cattle, which are driven about in large herds, to great distances, in quest of pasture: some of the people of a village, where we stayed a few minutes this morning to procure a guide, vented their complaints to me on this subject. I told them, it seemed to me that GOD was entering into judgment with the people of this country for their impiety and idolatry, and that the present distress was a call for them to repent. I do not remember to have spent a missionary day more pleasant than this. I had not been long here before I had a considerable number of people around me: I addressed myself particalarly to one man, who appeared the most attentive, and the rest heard. I was thus employed two or three hours in reading and speaking; and, judging from their countenances, I could not help thinking that a lasting impression had been made on the minds of some of them. On the road in the evening, two men looked very earnestly after and followed me: seeing this I called them, and gave them each a Tract and a word of advice.

of the service, and I invited them to come near. Several of the congregation also desired them to come, but they put up the right hand, giving at the same time, one of their negative motions, said they were busy, and retired amidst the invitations of the people.

12th. (Sunday.)This morning I have had a good congregation in the Bazaar

and was somewhat interrupted during the service by the people frequently calling out,' Meethan,' True.

16th. This evening I had the largest congregation in Portuguese I have yet seen in Trincomalee. They read the responses with fervency, and were remarkably attentive during the service.

26th. (Sunday.) This morning I was greatly delighted with my Tamul congregation. Surely the seed sown will bring forth fruit to the glory of GOD. In the evening I preached in English.

December 1st.-During the last month the weather has been so unsettled as to occasion me to have small and irregular congregations. On the 7th I occupied my accustomed place in the Bazaar. The subject was, The rich man lifting up his eyes in hell; which excited their serious attention.

11th. I had an interesting congregation in Portuguese. I have also commenced a meeting for singing, and the Commandant has kindly allowed one of the band to come out with his instrument, to assist us.

14th.-This morning, in the Bazaar, the congregation could not be less in number than two hundred. The marked attention and seeming interest they took in the account of raising LAZARUS from the dead, was truly gratifying to my mind.

16th. This evening I have been into the Fort, and have had the pleasure of admitting eight soldiers and two women into Society, who had been previously on trial.

21st. (Sunday.)—I delivered an exposition in Tamul, on the eighteenth chapter of Luke. A young Brahmin, after the service, inquired, "What is God? What is the Devil? He did not appear satisfied with my answers, and much less was he satisfied with my application. He had no wish to know in what relations he stood to GOD.-I have again been into the Fort, and met the Society. They are pressing forward in the good way.

25th.-I preached in Portuguese, to a large congregation, on Luke, chap ii. verse 15; and in the evening in English, when many of the soldiers were present. In the morning, the school-boys went to pay their respects to the Commandant, the Collector, and other of the inhabit

ants.

Several of them did not know before that we had so many fine heathen children under our care.

January 1st, 1824.-The school-boys were assembled in the Chapel, and examined as to their proficiency in learning, &c. There certainly was much cause for satisfaction in reference to many of them.

8th. In the evening the Portuguese congregation was so small, that I thought it best to hold a meeting for singing. Few people can appreciate my difficulties in reference to the European descendants. They have been so many years without regular services, that they appear to consider them useless.

11th. (Sunday.)-This morning I have had an unusually large and attentive congregation in the Bazaar. This was occasioned by the sudden death of two families, who were poisoned by eating a small fish, called in Tamul, the SoodaMene: by the English, Sardinia Fish. It appears that people have been poisoned at three different periods from the same cause, at this season. On board His Majesty's ship Minden, there were forty people taken ill within ten minutes of each other, who had breakfasted on this fish, but through the prompt assistance of DR. RODGERS, (a most amiable man, who died of the cholera morbus, after having cured hundreds in the same complaint,) only three died. The poison must be very powerful, as death ensues in about two hours. It appears that on Saturday night, soon after the first family had expired, the Collector sent an immediate notice to the inhabitants of the melancholy event; but, unhappily for one family who lived outside of the town, they did not hear the announcement, and they partook of the fatal food. For the morning exposition, I selected the ninetieth Psalm. That part of it which compares our life to grass, is very touching in Tamul,- In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth.'

Sunday, 18th.-I have had a large and interesting congregation in the Bazaar. One little boy, who had committed to memory that part of the hundred and fifteenth Psalm which relates to the gods of the heathen, stood upon a bench, and repeated it to the people. They were much interested.

On the 7th March, (1824,) died MRS. CARVER, wife of the REV. R. CARVER, Wesleyan Missionary, at Jaffna, in a

few hours after having given birth to a daughter. Her funeral was conducted in a most truly christian and interesting

On the 13th of the present month, in some places a little sooner or later, according to situation, a hurricane, the most tremendous, perhaps, ever known to have visited these skies, has swept away, as with a besom, a great part of the towns and settlements on the outislands; leaving the suffering people without houses to screen them from the sun, sufficient clothing to secure them against the weather, or enough of food to save them from a famine! Of about ninety houses in Rocksound, chiefly those of white inhabitants, about seventy-nine are entirely destroyed.

From Tarpum-Bay the particulars have not yet arrived, only in general it is represented as being in ruins; and as the slight Mission-House and Chapel stood on elevated ground, there is little doubt of their destruction. SavannaSound, being surrounded partly by hills, has, I am informed, suffered but moderately; while Palmetto-Point has suffered greatly. Governor's Harbour, though much exposed, is generally standing.

On Harbour-Island, and the surrounding Settlements on Eleuthera, included in that Station, the desolation is indescribable. In Harbour-Island alone, one hundred and three houses, beside the Barracks, the Church, and the Gaol, are entirely destroyed! The Church, which stood on the same hill with our MissionHouse, but considerably above it, fell. MR. THOMPSON had to forsake the Mis

sion-House, and, with his children, to seek shelter, wrapped in blankets, under an old wall. The Mission-House is still standing, and also the Chapel. At the Current there were fifteen houses, including the Chapel, and out of these, twelve houses, besides the Chapel, are wholly gone. At the Bluff there were about thirteen houses, including the Chapel, which was a neat one; but now they have only the ruins of their Chapel, one whole house, and part of another! At Spanish-Wells, the Chapel and all the houses are swept away! Boque is

almost in utter destruction.

To these, we add the devastation in other parts of the Bahamas; the particulars have not reached us, but their condition, from report, bears but too striking an analogy to the state of those places already described.

Green Turtle Key.-Our Missionary residence on Abaco has suffered but littleg but on other parts of that Station considerable injury has been sustained. As it respecis Turk's Island, its distance does not allow me to make any remarks; but as many of the islands in that direction have suffured, it could hardly have escaped the general visitation!

New Providence, thank God, (with the exception of some loss in out-houses, vessels, boats, &c.,) is still entire, having been visited more mildly than many of the islands around it.

OCTOBER 1st.-I visited the Swords Mission: found Brother BELL, a veteran in the cause, indefatigable in his exertions to cultivate a barren soil.-May the barren soil soon become a fruitful

field!

Oct. 3. (Sunday)-I preached in Lower Abbey-Street and White-FriarsStreet Chapel. I was pleased to see their congregations large, respectable, and attentive.

From Dublin I proceeded to Carlow, in company with MR. BEWLEY, and met MR. TAYLOR, of the Dunlavin Mission. His is entirely new, and, properly speaking, missionary ground. On his entering on his work, to which he was appointed by the last Conference, he had not a Chapel or room to preach in, or Society to receive him, or even an individual member to encourage him. But now he preaches in seven villages, has