solicited and obtained, and "dedication to Her Majesty" graciously permitted. The copy before us belongs to the "tenth thousand :" the work has been received favourably; and, under all the circumstances of the case, well deserves such a reception. It comes from Scotland, and is a good specimen of the piety, thoughtfulness, and principled respect for the Sabbath, so often found in Scotland in the class whose members were to compete for the prize.

The Life of Mrs. Savage, by Sir John Bickerton Williams. A new Edition, 18mo., pp. xxiv, 228. Religious Tract Society.-Mrs. Savage was the daughter of Philip Henry, and the sister of the Commentator. Some years ago, Sir John Williams published what may be termed a library edition of her Life, compiled from a Diary, and copious manuscripts found after her death. are glad to see an edition in the present form. It is a fine exhibition of female piety, especially as existing among the Nonconformists in the days of Mrs. Savage. There is an excellent "Preface,' written by the venerable William Jay.

We

A Manual of Prayers for the Young. By the Rev. E. Bickersteth, Rector of Watton, Herts. 18mo., pp. xii, 299. Seeleys. Properly speaking, the work is a "Help to Prayer," which, though designed specially for the young, may be very useful to all. There are not only forms of prayer, but collections of texts, arranged under suitable heads, to be employed in prayer. To assist in acquiring a proper gift for extemporary prayer, hints, distributed under regular heads, are likewise given, intended both to aid the memory and to be suggestive of subjects. Occasionally we see evidences of the Calvinism (the very mild Calvinism) of the pious and esteemed author; but this does not prevent us from saying, that the "Manual" he has furnished, properly used, may be a very valuable aid to many.

The Memoir of Sarah B. Judson, Member of the American Mission to Burmah. By Fanny Forester. With an Introductory Notice, by Edward Bean Underhill. 12mo., pp. xii, 180. Aylott and Jones.-A valuable addition to the female biography of our Missionary literature, and in every respect worthy of preceding volumes, which have again and again fanned the piety, cheered the heart, and lightened the labour, of many a labourer on the Missionary field.

Astronomy, and the Use of the Globes. For Schools and Families. By John Middleton. 12mo., pp. xii, 226. Jarrold and Sons.-The volume is well arranged,

the illustrations are excellent, and the whole manual is eminently practical.

Magic, Pretended Miracles, and Natural Phenomena. Monthly Series. Religious Tract Society.

The Tahtar Tribes. Monthly Series. Religious Tract Society.

Our English Bible. Monthly Series. Religious Tract Society.

The Origin and Progress of Language. Monthly Series. Religious Tract Society.

The History of Rome, from the earliest Times to the Fall of the Empire. 12mo., pp. 438. Religious Tract Society.

Athens: its Grandeur and Decay. 12mo., pp. 192. Religious Tract Society. -A melancholy instance of the vicissi tude of all human affairs! Its former pre-eminence in the scale of nations renders an acquaintance with the history of Athens necessary to all who have any claim to be thought well read or tolerably informed. In this volume much is comprised in little, and it bids fair to be extensively circulated, and also popular.

Composition and Punctuation familiarly explained, for those who have neglected the Study of Grammar; and wherein Foreigners who may be learning English will also find Information calculated to facilitate their Progress in the Understanding of the Language. By Justin Brenan. Sixth Edition. 18mo., pp. 192. Effingham Wilson. We have been highly gratified with the perusal of this volume: a desideratum long wanted is at length supplied. It abounds in plain sense; and the best-informed of our readers will find much in its pages that will amply repay perusal.

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Hints for the Times; or, the Religions of Sentiment, Form, and of Feeling, contrasted with vital Godliness. By the Rev. George Smith, M.A., of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, late a Missionary in China, and Author of an Exploratory Visit to the Consular Cities of China. Foolscap 8vo., pp. 63. Cambric, gilt edges. Hatchards.-Brief, as "hints" should be good, as those should be which are intended for the present "times." In the section on the religion of "forms," there are some valuable remarks on the Anglo-Popery of the day. All the sons of Oxford, happily, are not faithless.

Grace and Peace: a brief and practical Summary of the fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel. Foolscap 8vo., pp. vii, 163. Nisbets.-The Table of Contents" will show to what subjects the volume is devoted :-"The right

thousand, subject to the sway of the King of Old Calabar, and are accessible to our Missionaries. Each town has its King or Headman; but the chief authority is vested in Eyo Honesty, of Creek-Town, a man of remarkable sagacity, intelligence, and integrity, who is more proud of his justly-bestowed title of "honesty," than he would be of any name that could be given. The population is divided into two classes, freemen and slaves; the latter being the great majority. These are either employed on the provisiongrounds, which are at some distance from the towns, or in the operations of trade. The freemen are all engaged in trade, and are mainly dependent upon it for their support and influence. Even the King, who has no revenue from his subjects, carries on trade to a great extent, is of active business habits, keeps regular accounts, and owes all his power to the weight of his character, and the wealth which he has acquired from trading. The slaves are generally treated with kindness; and there seems to be a process of internal emancipation, the children of the third generation generally becoming free. It is a happy circumstance that persons have ceased to be exported as slaves from this district for a considerable number of years. That horrid traffic is totally suppressed in the Bight of Biafra. This result is to be ascribed to the beneficial influence of a growing trade, and to the treaties made with the Chiefs by the British Government. The trade which is carried on at Old Calabar, and which is entirely in the hands of merchants in Liverpool, is chiefly in palm-oil. The palm-oil is brought from the interior, and is exchanged for British goods. The humanizing influence of legitimate commerce is becoming every year more obvious. Not only has it enlarged the views of the people, and to a certain degree improved their manners; not only has it enabled them to have comfortable houses, and to furnish them, in many instances, with costly articles of European manufacture; but it has taught them that it is for their interest to live at peace with their neighbours. A striking instance of this occurred only a few months ago. Eyamba, the late King of Old Calabar, who died in May, 1847, was engaged in war with the people of Omun, a powerful tribe on the Cross river. This war had the effect of diminishing the quantity of oil that could be obtained from the interior, and was thus injurious to both parties. Consequently, as soon as King Eyo was firmly established in the Government, he fitted out a

large expedition, sufficient, if necessary, to demonstrate his power, and to show that he did not seek peace from a sense of weakness; but he put on board his war-canoes a great quantity of valuable goods, intended as a present to the enemy, and sent before him the Canoe of Peace, decked with palm-branches. The result was, that in a short time matters were satisfactorily adjusted, and a cordial peace established.

The mode of government at Old Calabar is, in the case of freemen, by common consultation and agreement. They meet together in the palaver-house, talk over the matter, and no measure can become law that has not a majority of votes. The great difficulty which they feel is to keep in subjection their numerous slaves. This seems to be managed chiefly by the aid of superstition. They have a secret institution, called Egbo, of which the King is Chief or Grand-Master, the main design of which seems to be to awe into submission the common people. The initiated alone have a right to the privileges of Egbo, are present at the meetings of the order, and are acquainted with its mysteries. Egbo is supposed to be a supernatural being, who resides in the bush, and who comes forth only on special occasions, and when his services are needed. He is brought into town carefully concealed and guarded, attended by persons fantastically dressed, and is led in procession, preceded by the Egbo-drum and rude music, to the palaver-house, into which none but the initiated are permitted to go. The Egbo-man, or the servant of Egbo, arrayed in the strangest costume, runs, on Egbo-days, through the streets of the town, brandishing a large whip, and inflicting severe flagellations on all the non-initiated, especially females, that come within his reach. The terror which this mysterious being inspires is very great; so much so, that the sound of the Egbo-drum will make the scholars in the school to tremble. This strange personage figures in all their processions, masquerades, and numerous public ceremonies; and, on certain days, called "brass" Egbo, when a yellow flag is seen floating on the King's house, none but a few privileged gentlemen are allowed to walk the streets. The town is as quiet as if it were destitute of inhabitants. It is a singular circumstance that though our Missionaries have been there for two years, and have been in daily and most friendly intercourse with the Kings and Chiefs, yet they have not been able to penetrate the mystery of Egbo, nor to find an individual that would disclose its

secrets.

This remarkable fidelity to their engagements is a feature honourable to the people, and shows that they have moral elements that may be moulded into a noble and energetic character. It is a gratifying fact, in connexion with this subject, that, by express Egbo law, the person of a white man is inviolable; and thus, by the kind overruling of divine Providence, this mysterious institution throws a shield of safety around our countrymen.

II. The religious belief and customs of the people. They believe in the existence of God and of the devil, in a future state, and in the immortality of the soul; but their ideas on these subjects are dim and confused, and have, by the wickedness of the heart, and the malignant teaching of Satan, been framed into a system of superstition, dark, cruel, and sanguinary. They are a people embedded in superstition, a great part of whose time is occupied in the observance of senseless and most destructive rites. It is rather curious that they regard one day of the week as a Sabbath, that they all practise circumcision, that on festivaldays they sprinkle the blood of the Egbogoat, and that they make a covenant of friendship between parties that were at variance, by putting on them the blood of a slain goat, mixed with certain ingredients; things which indicate the remains of the patriarchal religion. Their personal worship, so far as it has been ascertained, may be divided into two parts: that which is observed within the house, and that which takes place in the courtyard. The worship within the house consists in adoring a human skull, stuck upon the top of a stick, around the handle of which a bunch of feathers is tied. This disgusting object, their domestic idol, is said to exist in every house in Old Calabar. The worship in the courtyard is of this kind in the middle of the yard there is a basin of water placed at the foot of a small tree, which is planted for the purpose. This basin is never emptied of its contents, but is once a week filled with a fresh supply of water; and on the day when this is done, the second day of the week, called God's day, they "offer a fowl, or some other small thing of that sort, which is tied by the foot to the tree," and then they "pray to Abasi Ebum, the great god, but without confession of sin, and solely for temporal benefits." The basin of dirty water, the dead fowl, and the small bush, are seen in the court-yard; but their acts of worship are so brief that our Missionaries have never beheld

:

them engaged in them. Happily, these things are not to be found in King Eyo's yard: "he prays," he himself says, "in his heart at all times." A prevalent and dreadful custom is connected with their belief in magical or supernatural influence. They believe that one person can so exert an evil influence upon another as to cause his death. This custom has two parts. The first leads them, when unwell, to consult the juju, or religious man, a sort of professional necromancer, who, after performing strange ceremonies with an appropriate apparatus of bones, teeth, and bits of snakes' skins, gives his opinion on the case, either enjoining the invalid to sacrifice an animal, or accusing some person of being the cause of his malady. The second leads them to subject the accused to a process of public judicial trial. The death of persons of rank is usually ascribed to this evil influence. Suspicion falls upon certain parties, and these are obliged in a public manner to vindicate themselves, by drinking water into which a poison-nut has been infused; the opinion being that the innocent escape, and that the guilty only die. But the truth is, it is a fatal draught, terminating invariably in death, except when the stomach of the person rejects it. It is fearful to think to what an extent this custom prevails, and how numerous are its victims. The journals of our Missionaries abound with most affecting details of its deadly operation. One specimen may be given from a journal kept by a native Chief. When Duke Ephraim died, in 1834, the principal people were summoned to the palaver-house for the purpose of inquiring into the cause of his death. Suspicion fell upon fifteen persons, whose names are mentioned, and these were obliged to chop nut, as it is called, to drink the poisoned water; and opposite each name, with one exception, is marked the word "dead;" and, next morning, five wives of the deceased were made to undergo the same ordeal, and the record says, "All dead;" and so, Mr. Waddell adds, "the entries go on from day to day, like a registry of executions, a regular record of cold-blooded murders, daily committed."

But the most desolating and sanguinary of all their customs is the practice of sacrificing human victims, for the benefit of deceased persons of rank. This horrid custom arises from the belief that the future world corresponds to the present; that the same wants are felt, the same relationships sustained, and the same pursuits followed; and therefore, that the

station and happiness of a person depend upon the number of followers and slaves that are killed and sent after him. The effect of this belief is, that in proportion to the dignity of the departed, the rank and power of the survivers, and the warmth of affection which they cherish for the deceased, is the number of victims that are seized and immolated. Acquaintances also testify their respect for the dead, and sympathy with the sorrowing relations, by destroying a few of their slaves. The agents in this wholesale system of murder are the nearest relations of the deceased, who evince their affection and their grief, by exerting themselves to catch by force, by stratagem, and by all manner of ways, and destroy as many of their fellowcreatures as they can. It is a season of terror. The slaves, from whose ranks the victims are usually taken, flee to the bush for shelter, the doors of the houses are fastened, and every one is afraid to go abroad. And when it is considered that the funeral ceremonies continue for four months, and that at the beginning, and especially at the close of this period, when the grand carnival, or make-devil, as they call it, takes place, great exertions are made to obtain victims, it will at once be obvious that this is a practice which spreads terror and mourning through every part of the community. It prevails in the greater part of western Central Africa, and is drenching the land with blood. Mr. Bowdich, who resided for some time as British Consul at Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti, states that when the mother of the King of that country died, upwards of three thousand victims were slain, to do her honour. Even at Old Calabar, though the custom is less bloody than it was, several sad scenes have occurred within these two years. There is reason to fear that no person of note dies, whose grave is not washed with human blood. In 1846, when a nephew of King Eyamba died, at least one hundred victims were destroyed; and when Eyamba himself died, in May, 1847, as many, including thirty of his wives, and some of the school-children, were cut off. Most harrowing accounts of these butcheries are given in the journals of the Mission. It is scarcely possible to over-estimate the number of victims which this one custom, this engine of the grand arch-murderer, operating daily, and over so great an extent of country, destroys annually in Central Africa; and surely, now that Missionaries have removed the veil that shrouded these atrocities, and have held VOL. IV.-FOURTH SERIES.

them up to the view of the Christian church, the friends of Jesus will hasten to stop the effusion of blood, and to heal the wounds of that most miserable land. It is a gratifying circumstance that at Old Calabar the people have become ashamed of this practice, and do it only in secret. The remonstrances of English Captains, of British officers, and of the Missionaries have weakened its power. King Eyo has put it down in CreekTown, and is labouring prudently to abolish it in his whole dominions; and, within these few months the Kings and Chiefs have, in compliance with the request of the British Government, publicly signed a bond to abandon it altogether: so that there is reason to anticipate that there it will soon cease to devour. I have said that the funeral rites last for four months. During this period the person is said to be sick only, not dead; and if he be a King, none is chosen to fill his place. The last two weeks are devoted to public mourning, when terrible cries and lamentations are heard, volleys of musketry are fired, and public processions, dances, and masquerades take place, in which all the wealth and splendour of the town are displayed. At the beginning of the four months a devilhouse, as it is styled, is built; a small structure, open at one end, in which are exposed cloths, domestic utensils and food, intended as an offering to the evil spirit. Surely, when all these things are considered, we may say, "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty," and "the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils."

They

III. The operations of the Missionaries. 1. Building Operations. Their first work, after being kindly welcomed by the Chiefs, in April, 1846, was to erect Mission premises. have put up three comfortable framewooden houses at Duke-Town, CreekTown, and Old-Town. To avoid as much as possible the destructive malaria which prevails in that part of Africa, these are built on elevated and airy spots, exposed to the sea-breeze. The station at Duke-Town was a small hill, overlooking the river, about three hundred feet high, surmounted by a devil-house, and clothed with wood, filled with human skeletons. It was literally a Golgotha, a place of skulls, a scene where Satan had his seat. But the wood has been cut down, the skeletons have been removed, and the devil-house has been swept away, and in its stead has been erected a house for the worship of the living and true 4 U