Missionary Notices. feel the power of saving grace, and when In consequence of the severity of the winter, we have not been able to visit the surrounding tribes so often as we could wish; but as summer is approach. ing, we have resolved to see, if possible, all within our reach. There has been much sickness also among the people this season; and medicines have been in constant request. My soul has been grieved to witness the poverty of the people; and especially their want of clothing; for, although some of the principal Chiefs are employed in procuring timber for Europeans, and are remunerated by clothing, &c., the poorer part of the community obtain but a small share of such remuneration for their labours; and I believe the people will find the timber trade an unprofitable speculation. They cannot attend to their plantations, and get timber, at the same time; and in consequence of neglecting the former, they have suffered many privations. From my own personal observation last year, I believe that many died for want of suitable nourishment, having had to subsist upon fern-root, and that of an indifferent kind. We have of late been trying to get the Chiefs to pay more attention to the building of their houses, so that they may be more comfortable in the winter season. Some have attended to our instructions; and we now witness a change for the better in one or two places near our station. Mr. Turner, like another Felix Neff, has been giving them line upon line, and precept upon precept; but, like the people under the charge of that excellent Pastor, they appear in general unwilling to carry his plans into operation. But we must persevere, and perhaps we shall see the time when they will generally yield to our persuasions. The daughter of one of our most respectable Chiefs, now named Thomas Walker, (after Thomas Walker, Esq., of Stockton-upon-Tees, a well-known friend of our Missions,) has been ill for some time, and we fear that she will not recover. She was a fine, healthy, robust young woman, and lately married to an interesting young Chief, named William Barton. Her illness was induced by sleeping in damp clothes upon the ground; and we fear that consumption will be the consequence of her imprudence. people will often remain in their wet Chiefs and clothes for some time; and we have to entreat them to change, in order to avoid sickness and death. Coughs are very common at this time, brought on by cold and exposure. We have to supply them frequently with our tea and sugar, importunate widow, in begging they will to warm their cold frames; and, like the not be denied. If the friends of Missions could send us a supply of cotton and check shirts, and other articles of blessing upon the poorer classes. Seveclothing, they would confer a great ral natives are here from Waikato, who neighbourhood, some of whom are almost appear to have settled down in the naked, and must suffer much in this inclement season. They remain here, in order that they may hear the word of God; and many, we believe, are sincere seekers of salvation. I meet a class every week, composed nearly altogether experience is encouraging. It is deeply of Waikato natives; and their religious affecting to hear those natives pray for their friends and relations whom they have left behind in Waikato, and to witness their desire that their countrymen should be brought into the fold of from that part of the land pray of late; Christ. We have heard two Chiefs and, in propriety of expression, they would not be surpassed by those who take part in our prayer-meetings at their own and their fellows' wants, the home. They introduce into their prayers Missionaries in this and in all lands, and the salvation of the whole world. Some of the Class-Leaders who reside in this neighbourhood frequently take part in mornings of the Lord's day, and they our prayer-meetings, especially in the are particularly devout in their petitions. ded to Heathenism are now, with their The several Leaders who were once wedrespective charges, travelling, we trust, to the kingdom of heaven: they call upon family worship are especially strict and God in public and in private; and in attentive. The children of our people, struction on the Sabbath; and Mr. too, are brought under a course of inBuller, who came from Sydney with Mr. Turner, is very diligent in assembling them together. He has been recommended to the Committee for our work; Missionary. and we believe he will make a useful We want labourers are few." "The harvest truly is great, and the more help. Waima and Mangamuka, where hundreds of natives reside, demand our affection and sympathy; the former especially, where the prospects are very encouraging. I am more than ever convinced that we must live more among the people, in order to meet their various wants, and in order also to bring them under that Christian superstition soon be swept from the land! Amen and amen. We are thankful to God that all of us on this station enjoy tolerable health. We have suffered from the inclemency of the weather; but spring begins to appear, and we look forward to a summer which will compensate for the severity of winter. Let me entreat a continued interest in your prayers for myself and family, and my brethren and their families. MISSIONS IN THE WEST INDIES. JAMAICA.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. T. Curtis, dated Hermitage, near Black-River, Nov. 3d, 1837. Our DURING this year some of our people have been brought into the enjoyment of a clear sense of God's pardoning love, and are now, I believe, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Our congregations continue quite as good as they have ever been since I came to the Circuit. Our small place at Black-River is, in general, uncomfortably crowded, especially on a Sunday evening. I preach there every Sunday and Wednesday evening. small place here is also tolerably well filled, out of the way as it is, every other Sunday morning. I feel bound to say, ⚫ however, that till we have better chapelaccommodation both here and at BlackRiver, we can hardly expect to have any thing like a flourishing cause at either place. Without regular places of worship, the people, though they may, as indeed they do, come occasionally, and many of them regularly, to hear, will yet not connect themselves with us as members, because they fear that by and by we may leave them. It was my fixed purpose to erect a chapel at Mountain-Side in the course of this year, without any, or a very trifling, expense to the Society; but I have been unhappily disappointed of the land which had been promised, and have also entirely failed hitherto in procuring any other. I do not, however, despair of finally succeeding in this important point, and that soon. Our people here are willing to do any thing and every thing they can in the way of labour; and many of them have long been anxious to begin the business. If I am allowed to remain in the Circuit another year, I shall, if it be within the range of possibility, get up a place. It must, of course, be of a very humble description; and I shall have to get most of the work done by our own people for nothing, or nearly so. As to a chapel at Black-River, I am quite certain I could obtain a very liberal amount of subscriptions in the town and parish towards the erection of one, but cannot say at present what the erection of a suitable one might cost. We had recently a very pleasing Missionary Meeting there, for which his Honour the Custos granted the use of the Court House in a very obliging manner. JAMAICA.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. J. Gregory, dated Manchioneal, December 5th, 1837. DURING the last two or three months, sickness and death have prevailed to an alarming extent around the neighbourhood in which I reside, both among whites and the coloured population. There are but few Europeans residing in the district of Manchioneal, probably not more than thirty; and out of these, in the course of one month, six have died of the bilious fever. For some time I was the only Minister in the place capable of doing duty, and was called upon to bury members of the Established and Baptist Churches, the officiating Clergyman and Baptist Minister being both sick of fever. Throughout the sickly season I was mercifully preserved in health. Our society and congregations throughout the Circuit are rapidly increasing. Weekly many are added to the church, and I trust such as are saved from the world and sin. At our Quarterly Meeting, held at Bath, on the 10th of October, Missionary Notices. we found that, besides filling up all vacancies occasioned by deaths, removals, &c., for the past quarter, we had a net increase of eighty-eight, and the same number remaining yet on trial; and, during the present year, for the three past quarters, our total increase is one hundred and twenty-three. To God be all the praise! I am sorry that I cannot devote so much of my attention to the Sundayschool at Manchioneal as I could wish; for, since Rocky-Point chapel has been opened, we have been obliged to take every other Sunday's preaching from Manchioneal and give it to Rocky-Point; and, changing regularly with Mr. Edney, I am only at the former place one Sabbath in the month. Having no active person to take a part in the school, it is not now so well attended to as I could desire. I hope the time is not far distant when the Bath Circuit will have three Preachers. On Saturday last, the foundation-stone for the intended new school-house at Rocky-Point was laid, in the name of the holy Trinity; and I pray that it may be made a blessing to the young and rising generation. A collection was made, which amounted to between three and four pounds currency. our prosperity in other respects we have You will be happy to learn that with great peace in our borders. spirit of faction has not spread its soulThe demon destroying influence in our society here; nor from present appearances is it likely ber being satisfied with Methodism as it to do, every Leader, Steward, and memis. Certain Resolutions were passed at their confidence in our Conference, &c. our Quarterly-Meeting, expressive of At our Leaders' Meeting, held at Manchioneal, on Tuesday evening, November 28th, I read to them the Committee's kind address to the societies in Jamaica ; when they begged me, in my next communication to the Committee, to assure them of their unabating and increased attachment to the present system of our mittee for so affectionately regarding Connexion, and their love to the Comthem, and for the zeal manifested on all occasions for their spiritual and everlasting welfare. POSTSCRIPT. April 19th, 1838. It is a painful part of our duty to make our readers acquainted, in. the present Number, with such particulars as have reached us respecting two distressing shipwrecks, by which it has pleased God to exercise the faith and submission of a considerable number of our highlyvalued Missionaries. These narratives, we trust, will stimulate our friends, under a deepened sense of our entire dependence upon divine providence for the accomplishment of all our plans of usefulness, to be more than ever fervent and constant in supplication for the preservation of those of our Missionary brethren and their families who, in the course of public duty, are called to "travel by land or by water." And with our prayers should be mingled our devout and grateful thanksgivings, that, among so large a number of labourers as is employed by this Society, and of whom so many are often unavoidably exposed to "perils in the sea," such disasters as we now record have been of comparatively very rare occurrence. offer united praises to Almighty God for the cheering fact, that in the Nor must we omit to cases here reported no loss of life has been permitted to take place; so that the calamity has been mercifully rendered as light as, under such circumstances, could well be expected. The first case to which we have referred is the SHIPWRECK OF MISSIONARIES NEAR MADRAS. IT will be remembered, that the Rev. Jonathan Crowther and family, accompanied by five other Wesleyan Missionaries, the Rev. Messrs, Best, Male, Jenkins, R. D. Griffith, and W. S. Fox, of whom the three first-named were married, We regret to state, that intelligence has reached us, by the overland despatch, which left Bombay on the 28th January, and arrived in London on the 29th of March, of the probable loss of this vessel; but, at the same time, we are informed, that all the passengers and crew had been safely landed, and that there was hope, also, that a considerable part of the cargo would be saved. The Asiatic Journal for April contains the following announcement : "The Elizabeth, Thomas, from Bristol to Madras, ran on shore on the evening of the 9th of January, near Linga Chetty's choultry, (fifty-seven miles south of Madras,) and is lost; crew and passengers saved. The cargo expected to be landed with little damage; but from the shallowness of the water there is no chance of our getting the vessel afloat. The weather was fine, and there was very little surf, at the time she ran ashore." No letters have been received at the Mission-House from Mr. Crowther, or from the Missionaries at Madras; but we have seen the Bombay Gazette, of the 26th January, which gives an extract from the Madras United Service Gazette, of the 13th of January, containing the following particulars, additional to those in the above extract from the Asiatic Journal. It states that when the Elizabeth had run aground, on the evening of the 9th, the Surgeon of the ship, and the Rev. Richard D. Griffith, Missionary, came ashore on a catamaram, a raft of three logs of wood lashed together, in order to obtain assistance;-that they walked more than ten miles to Sadras, an old Dutch settlement, where they failed to obtain boats, or any other aid; -they then pursued their journey on foot all the way to Madras, where they arrived in the afternoon of Thursday, the 11th. Mr. Carver, the resident Missionary, left Madras the same night, with palanquins and other help, for the relief of the distressed party. It further states, that a traveller, who arrived in Madras from the south, brought intelligence that all the passengers, including the ladies and children, had been safely landed, and had been conveyed to Sadras, where they were lodged in the bungalow, or travellers' rest-house, waiting for the means of pursuing their journey to Madras. It appears that there is considerable difficulty in obtaining any extraordinary assistance on that part of the Coromandel coast in which our friends were overtaken with this calamity. The land is intersected by the Pallaur, a very broad river, and by an arm of the sea, as well as by narrow streams and stagnant waters : very much of the country lies waste, and is covered with jungle, or forest; it has few inhabitants, and those for the most part poor, and without any means of sheltering or helping a party of Europeans in distress. Linga Chetty's choultry, near which the vessel went aground, is a large stone building erected for the temporary shelter of native or other travellers, but affording no accommodation beyond the naked walls and roof; and is equally open to all comers. The services of the Madras native, who accompanied the party from this country as a servant, would prove of value to them in these circumstances, from his knowledge of the language and the people. The Surgeon and Mr. Griffith would have many inconveniencies and some dangers to encounter in their journey on foot to Madras, the roads being a mere track through the sand, and many of the numerous rivers having no bridges, and not having even boats to carry passengers across. It was a favourable circumstance that the moon was at full on the 10th. We trust that these intrepid travellers will not have suffered in their health from their unused fatigue and exposure; and that the next mail, which may be expected within a month, will bring us favourable intelligence concerning the whole party, and the beautiful ship in which they sailed. The dangers and sufferings of our excellent brethren and sisters will not have been without their use, if they occasion, as they surely ought to do, an increased interest for the promotion of Christianity in the vast and important regions of India, to which these Missionaries are appointed. SHIPWRECK OF MISSIONARIES NEAR ST. VINCENT'S. THE particulars are communicated in the following letter from the Rev. W. Moister, dated Grenada, Feb. 1st, 1838 :- I TAKE up my pen to communicate the melancholy intelligence of the shipwreck of Mrs. Moister and myself, with the brethren Cullingford, Crane, Marsden, and Blackwell, on the commencement of our passage to the District Meeting, then about to be held in Trinidad. On the afternoon of Tuesday last, we had made every preparation for our intended voyage. A schooner, unusually comfortable and commodious, had been engaged for the occasion. She had come round from Kingstown to Calliaqua, in the island of St. Vincent. All our luggage was shipped, and we ourselves embarked, never more happy in prospect of the future. We weighed anchor; but we had not proceeded many hundred yards, before we found our vessel rocking on the coral reef, on the windward side of the harbour; and, in one short hour, the beautiful" Haidee" was completely dashed to pieces, and our luggage scattered in every direction. Thanks be to God, no lives were lost; and we, his servants, are spared to declare the goodness of our heavenly Father. On On seeing our dangerous situation, a number of boats came off to our assistance, both from the shipping and from the shore, without delay; and every possible exertion was made both to save life and property. My dear wife was the only female on board, and she was first lifted into a boat. The brethren then followed. Being able to swim, I did not feel so anxious for myself, but last of all I jumped into a boat. I soon perceived that it was not the boat in which we had placed my dear Mrs. M. looking around, I saw her in another boat, seated by my friend, Captain Radford. I immedately rushed forward and took my seat by her, that I might support and soothe her in case of fear and agitation; but I was pleasingly surprised to find her more calm and unmoved than any of us. The boat in which we sat moved off, and we went on board the "Jane and Barbara." We watched with peculiar feelings, till sunset, the efforts made to save our luggage and other property on board. Some was carried to the ships in the harbour, and some on shore. I believe most of our principal things were recovered from the wreck, though pilfering to a considerable extent had taken place in the midst of the confusion. But you may imagine the state in which our luggage was found, and the amount of damage sustained, when I inform you that most of our trunks and boxes were taken out of the sinking vessel when she was nearly full of water. All the brethren have experienced con siderable loss and damage; but mine will, no doubt, be much the greatest, as they were merely going to the District-Meeting, and had only the quantity of luggage with them required for the occasion; while I, being on my way to my new station, had my books and all my earthly goods on board. I have only had time to examine two or three trunks, the contents of which I found completely drenched in salt water; and while I write these lines, I am not only "a stranger in a strange land," but am literally faint, and wet, and weary with extreme exertion, and have not a dry shirt in the world. These are trying circumstances. I feel them to be so; but they do not tend to abate my attachment to that glorious cause in which I am engaged, and in which I am called to suffer. The privations and dangers to which I have been exposed, both in Africa and in the West Indies, do not for one moment deter me from persevering in the path of duty. I can, from my heart, adopt the language of the Apostle: "But none of these things move me; neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the Gospel of the grace of God." In these sentiments of confidence and gratitude to God, I know my dear wife most sincerely unites with me. She is now taking a little rest by my side, being almost worn out with constant fatigue. We feel truly thankful to God for all his preserving mercies; and our souls are humbled beneath his mighty hand. May our future lives constantly show forth the praise of Him who has promised to be our never-failing Friend! I have only time to add, that on the day after the wreck we obtained another vessel, collected our scattered luggage, damaged as it was, and embarked for this island, where we arrived in safety about seven o'clock this morning. To-morrow we proceed to Trinidad. We have no doubt that, while the Committee rejoice that we have been so mercifully preserved from the jaws of death, they will sympathize with us in our sufferings, and take into their kind consideration the loss which we have sustained. If, on examination, I find my books in the same condition as our wearing apparel, my loss will be very great. RETURN OF THE REV. B. CLOUGH. This excellent Missionary, with his family, arrived in London, on the 12th instant, having been most reluctantly compelled, through the |