Government this last quarter, and is sued, in lieu of rice, to the different towns in the mountains; and a considerable quantity remains yet to be sold. The payment for the cassada amounts to 5221. sterling; besides Indian-corn, &c. which has been sold in the markets at Regent's Town and Freetown.

❝ Several of the people are preparing to build permanent houses, with the money which they have received for the fruit of their industry. Three have commenced already."

A few months after, Mr. Johnson reports

"I stated in my last, that we had 36 candidates for baptism: 34 were baptized on the first Sunday in November; and continue to walk, so far as I know, agreeably to the Gospel.

There are a considerable number who are candidates for baptism; and, if their conduct should continue to be consistent, will, if it please God, be baptized at a future period. About 300 have attended at the Lord's Table every month. Since the rains have abated, the scholars in the evening school have increased. The number of scholars is 473.

"I am happy to state that 501. have been collected, this last year, among the people of Regent's Town, in aid of the Church Missionary Society; and 71. in aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society. More cassada has been sold to Government."

Mr. Johnson elsewhere writes"Our present population is 1216. Of these, 525 are under rations from Government: the remainder maintain themselves. Only boys and girls, mechanics, and such as are infirm, receive support from Government. At present we issue half rice, and the other half cassada, which we buy from those who maintain themselves. As we have more cassada than we can consume, I solicited his excellency to allow us to supply either Bathurst or Leopold. He granted my request, and our people now sup. ply Gloucester and Bathurst with half provision, as also those of Regent's Town who receive rations. I must confess, that, when I inspected our farms, I was agreeably surprised, as the progress of our agriculture far surpassed my expectation. What is this but the fruits of the Gospel?"

The testimony of various witnesses entirely accords with the represent ations here given of the rapid pro

gress of this settlement. Sir Charles MacCarthy assured the Committee of the Society, in reference to Mr. Johnson's labours at this station, that the effect of them had been under-rated in his communications, rather than too highly coloured as some might imagine. His excellency stated, that the Foreign Commissioners now resident at Freetown on the Mixed Commission for the adjudication of slave vessels, once attended public worship at Regent's Town in his company, and all expressed their surprise and gratification at the state of the congregation.

The opening of the Christian Institution with 26 youths was stated in the last Report. Owing to the want of teachers, the instruction of these youths had very much devolved, in the midst of his other labours, ou Mr. Johnson. Seven of the most promising of them, with William Tamba, William Davis, and David Noah, were receiving instruction from him, twice a day, on such subjects as were likely to enlarge their minds. He had also two classes, containing 18 youths, under special instruction, chiefly in English Grammar. At an examination, which took place before the chaplains and missionaries, their writing indicated great improvement: they appeared fully to understand the English Grammar; and their answers to the questions put to them on various parts of Scripture afforded great pleasure to all present. Mr. Johnson writes" I hope that some will very soon be able to conduct a school; but we will not part with them, till we can send them away with safety."

It is the wish of the Society, gradually to place the schools in Freetown and in the country towns, on such a footing as to afford an education to the children of the colony adequate to all the purposes of the labouring and trading classes of this rising community; and, from these schools, to select, as opportunity offers, youths of sound principles, good character, and promising talents, to receive, in the Institution, the advantages of Christian education. Such an institution may thus become the head-quarters of teachers, sent out on excursions among the heathen, who might return and repose for a while, and then renew their journeys, till prospects of permanent usefulness should open before them. Natives in authority, in different places, who might wish for schoolmasters, might be

supplied from such an Institution; and these schoolmasters might read the Scriptures to the people, and prepare the way for missionaries. Such are some, of the pleasing prospects which appear, to be unfolding upon Africa, by means of the invaluable labours of the Church Missionary Society.

(To be continued.)

NORTH-AMERICAN INDIANS. An interesting narrative has lately appeared in the Missionary Register, of an extensive journey among several of the Indian tribes of North America, by Mr. Hodgson, a gentleman of Liverpool, from which we shall select a few passages descriptive of the religious state of the natives, and of the missionary settlements of Elliot among the Choctaws, and Brainerd among the Cherokees, which the writer inspected in the course of his route.

The first of the Indian nations visited by Mr. Hodgson was the Creek, respecting whose moral condition we learn the following particulars.

"My host regretted, in the most feeling terms, the injury which the morals of the Indians have sustained from their intercourse with Whites; and especially from the introduction of whiskey, which has been their bane. A murderer is now publicly executed; the law of private retaliation becoming gradually obsolete. Stealing is punish ed, for the first offence, by whipping; for the second, by the loss of the ears; for the third, by death-the amount, stolen being disregarded. My host remembers when there was no law against stealing; the crime itself being almost unknown-when the Indians would go a hunting, or frolicking,' for one or two days, leaving their clothes on the bushes opposite their wigwams, in a populous neighbourhood, or their silver trinkets and ornaments hanging in their open huts. Confidence and generosity were then their characteristic virtues. A desire of gain, caught from the Whites, has chilled their liberality; and abused credulity has taught them sus picion and deceit. He considers them to be still attached to the English, although disappointed in not having received greater assistance from them in late wars. This, however, they attribute, rather to the distance of the British, which renders them less valuable allies than they expected, than to a treacherous violation of their promises. What

ever the first glow of British feeling may dictate, on hearing of their attachment, enlightened humanity will not repine, if, under their present circumstances, they are becoming daily more closely connected with the American Government, which has evinced an active solicitude for their civilization.

"Our recluse told us, that they have a general idea of a Supreme Being; but no religious days, nor any religious rites, unless, as he is disposed to believe, their Green-Corn Dance be one. Before the corn turns yellow, the inhabitants of each town or district assemble; and a certain number enter the streets of what is more properly called the town, with the war-whoop and savage yells, firing their arrows in the air, and going several times round the pole. They then take emetics, and fast two days; dancing round the pole a, great part of the night. All the fires in the township are then extinguished, and the hearths cleared, and new fires kindled by rubbing two sticks. After this they parch some of the new corn, and, feasting a little, disperse to their several homes. Many of the old chiefs are of opinion, that their ancestors intended this ceremony as a thank-offering to the Supreme Being, for the fruits of the earth, and for success in hunting

or in war.

"The more reflecting of the Creeks think much, but say little, of the change which is taking place in their condition. They see plainly that, with respect to their future destiny, it is a question of civilization or extinction; and a question, the decision of which cannot be long postponed. They are therefore become very solicitous for the establishment of schools; and the introduction of the various arts, from which the Whites derive their superiority. In some of these, they have already made considerable progress; and the nation, at this time, exhibits a very interesting spectacle of society in several of its earlier stages."

"We left the Indians in the middle of their games, and rejoiced to think of the blessings which missionary efforts are preparing for them."

Our traveller a few miles farther on turned aside, with the intention of visiting the missionary settlement among the Choctaws, at Elliot, about 60 miles distant from the road. Of this visit he gives the following narrative :—

"Our course was through the woods, along a blazed path about a foot broad; and, as it was necessary to procure a guide, our host rode with us till he had engaged an Indian, who, for a dollar, attended us twenty-five miles on his little horse. At night we reached the cabin of a half-breed, who took us in. We found him setting a trap for a wolf, which had attempted, a few hours before, to carry off a pig in sight of the family.

"In the course of the evening, one of the missionary brethren arrived from Elliot, for some cattle, which were ranging in the woods: he promised us a hearty welcome at that establishment.

"The following day we set off early, our friends having procured us an Indian to take us the first twelve miles: he could not speak English; but, having received his quarter of a dollar, and parted from us at the appointed place, he returned to draw our track in the sand, pointing out all the forks and little cross-paths, and again left us. After proceeding about a mile, where we were a little embarrassed, we were surprised to find him again at our side, making motions to direct our route. Again we shook hands and parted: but being again puzzled by a diverging path, half

"We had a delightful ride along our Indian path, through a forest of fine oaks; which, within ten or twelve miles of Yaloo Busha, was occasionally interspersed with small natural prairies, and assumed the appearance of an English park. I felt as if I was approaching consecrated ground; and the confidence which I had in the kindness of those on whom I was going to intrude myself -for Christian kindness is not capricious-relieved me from any awkwardness about my reception. If I had felt any, it would soon have been dismissed by the simple hospitality of the missionaries.

"Soon after my arrival, we proceeded to the school, just as a half-breed, who has taken great interest in it, was preparing to give the children 'a talk,' previously to returning home sixty miles distant. He is a chief of great influence, and a man of comprehensive views. He first translated into Choctaw, a letter to the children, from some benevolent friends in the North, who had sent it with a present of a box of clothes: he then gave them a long address in Choctaw. When he took his leave, he shook hands with me-said he was glad to hear that the White people in England were interested in the welfare of their Red brethren-that the Choctaws were sensible of their want of instruction, and that their teachers were pleased to say that they were not incapable of it-that they were grateful for what had been done, and were aware that it was their duty to co-ope rate, to the utmost of their ability, with those who were exerting themselves on their behalf.

"As soon as school was over, the boys repaired to their agricultural labours; their instructor working, with them, and communicating information in the most affectionate manner: the girls proceeded to their sewing and domestic employments, under the missionary sisters. They were afterwards at liberty, till the supper-bell rang; when we all sat down together to bread and milk, and various preparations of Indian

a; the Missionaries presiding at the fferent tables, and confining themselves, as is their custom, except in case of sickness, to precisely the same food as the scholars. After supper, a chapter in the Bible was read, with Scott's Practical Observations. This was followed by singing and prayer; and then all retired to their little rooms, in their log cabins.

"In the morning, at day-light, the boys were at their agriculture, and the girls at their domestic employments. About seven o'clock, we assembled for reading, singing, and prayer; and, soon afterward, for breakfast. After an interval for play, the school opened with prayer and singing, a chapter in the Bible, and examination on the subject of the chapter of the preceding day. The children then proceeded to reading, writing, accounts, and English Grammar, on a modification of the British System. The instructors say that they never knew White children learn with so much facility; and the specimens of writing exhibited unequivocal proofs of rapid progress. Many spoke English very well.

"Toward evening I was gratified by the arrival of the Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, who has the general superintendence of the mission. He had been determining the direction of a path, to be blazed to another settlement, on the Tombigbee river, in Alabama; and although he had slept in the woods in heavy rain the preceding night, he sat up in my room till after midnight, and the following morning rode with us seven miles, to see us safe across the Yaloo Busha.

"The immediate object of the settlement of Elliot (called by the Indians Yaloo Busha, from its proximity to a little river of that name which falls into the Yazoo,) is the religious instruction of the natives. The Missionaries are, however, aware, that this must necessarily be preceded or accompanied by their civilization; and that mere preaching to the adult Indians, though partially beneficial to the present genera tion, would not probably be attended with any general or permanent results. While, therefore, the religious interests of the children are the objects nearest to their hearts, they are anxious to put them in possession of those qualifications, which may secure to them an important influence in the councils of

their nation, and enable them gradually to induce their roaming brethren to abandon their erratic habits for the occupations of civilized life. The general feelings of the nation, at this moment, are most auspicious to their undertaking. For the reasons which I assigned when speaking of the Creeks, the community at large is most solicitous for civilization. In this they have made some progress; many of them are growing cotton, and spinning and weaving it into coarse clothing.

"Of the three districts or towns into which the 15 or 20,000 souls who compose this nation are divided, one has appropriated to the use of schools, its annuity for seventeen years, of 2000 dollars per annum from the United States for ceded lands; another its annuity of 1000 dollars per annum, with the prospect of 1000 more; and one has requested the United States, not only to forbid the introduction of ammunition into the nation, that the hunter may be compelled to work; but to send their annuity in implements of husandry. At a recent General Council of the Chiefs, 1800 dollars in money, and up. ward of eighty cows and calves, were subscribed for the use of schools; and the total contribution of the Choctaws to this object exceeds 70,000 dollars.

"Surely here is noble encourage ment for active benevolence! and the industry, judgment, and piety, of the seven or eight brethren and sisters at Elliot seem to qualify them, in a peculiar manner, for their responsible office. They have all distinct departments; the Rev. Mr. Kingsbury being the superintendant; another brother, the physician and steward; another, the instructor of the children; another, the manager of the farm. The females also have separate and definitive duties. At present, they are over-worked; and Mr. Kingsbury greatly regretted that so much of his attention was necessarily engrossed by secular concerns. But, coming into a wilderness, in which the first tree was felled but about eighteen months since, they have had something to do, to erect ten or eleven little log buildings, to bring into cultivation 40 or 50 acres of woodland, and to raise upward of 200 head of cattle. A deep seuse, however, of the impor tance of their object, and an unfaultering confidence in God's blessing on their exertions, having supported them under

the difficulties of an infant settlement; and under the still severer trials of a final separation from the circle of their dearest friends, and a total renunciation of every object of worldly ambition. "Their situation notwithstanding is an enviable one. In a happy exemption from most of the cares and many of the temptations of common life-conversant with the most delightful and elevated objects of contemplation-stimulated to perpetual activity, by an imperious sense of duty-and conscious of disinterested sacrifices in the noblest causecan we wonder if they manifest a degree of cheerfulness and tranquillity, seldom exhibited even by eminent Christians, who are more in the world? I was particularly struck with their apparent humility, with the kindness of their manner toward one another, and the minute attentions which they seemed solicitous to reciprocate.

"They spoke very lightly of their privations,and of the trials which the world supposes to be their greatest; sensible, as they said, that these are often experienced, in at least as great a degree, by the soldier, the sailor, or even the merchant. Yet, in this country, these trials are by no means trifling. Lying out for two or three months in the woods, with their little babes-in tents which cannot resist the rain, here fall ing in torrents such as I never saw in England-within sound of the nightly howling of wolves, and occasionally visited by panthers, which have approached almost to the door-the females of the mission must be allowed to require some courage; while, during many seasons of the year, the men cannot go twenty miles from home (and they are sometimes obliged to go thirty or forty for provisions) without swimming their horses over four or five creeks.

"Their real trials, they stated to consist in their own imperfections; and in those mental maladies, which the retirement of a desert cannot cure.

"In the course of our walks,Mr. Williams pointed out to me a simple tomb, in which he had deposited the remains of a younger brother; who lost his way in the desert when coming out to join them, and whose long exposure to rain and fasting laid the seeds of a fatal disease. It was almost in sight of one of those Indian Mounds, which I have often met with in the woods, and of which

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 241.

the oldest Indians can give no account. They resemble the Cairns in Scotland; and one of the Missionaries mentioned having seen a skeleton dug out of one of them.

"I was highly gratified by my visit to Elliot-this garden in a moral wilderness; and was pleased with the opportunity of seeing a missionary settlement in its infant state, before the wounds of recent separation from kindred and friends had ceased to bleed, and habit had rendered the Missionaries familiar with the peculiarities of their novel situation.

"The sight of the children also, many of them still in Indian costume, was most interesting. I could not help imagining that before me might be some Alfred of this Western world, the fature founder of institutions which were to enlighten and civilize his country— some Choctaw Swartz or Elliot, destined to disseminate the blessings of Christianity, from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from the Gulph of Mexico to the Frozen Sea. I contrasted them in their social, their moral, and their religious condition, with the straggling hunters and their painted faces, who occasionally stared through the windows; or, with the half-naked savages, whom we had seen in the forests a few nights before, dancing round their midnight fires, with their tomahawks and scalping knives, rending the air with their fierce war-whoop, or making the woods thrill with their savage yells. But they form a yet stronger contrast with the poor Indians, whom we had seen on the frontier-corrupted, degraded, and debased by their intercourse with English, Irish, or American traders.

"It was not without emotion that I parted, in all human probability for ever in this world, from my kind and interesting friends, and prepared to return to the tumultuous scenes of a busy world; from which-if life be sparedmy thoughts will often stray to the sacred solitudes of Yaloo Busha, as to a source of the most grateful and refreshing recollections. I was almost the first person from a distance, who had visited this remote settlement; andwas charged with several letters to the friends of the Missionaries. I believe they had pleasure in thinking that I should probably in a few weeks see those, the endearments of whose society they had I