yet shone in that immense country, which contains nearly one-third of all the human beings in existence. How earnestly should all who love their fellow-creatures, and desire their salvation, pray that the only true God may speedily be made known unto the perishing millions of China; and that they may look unto Him who was lifted up that He might draw all men unto Him. In that excellent periodical, The Sunday at Home, several articles have appeared, entitled, "Missionary Scenes and Adventures in China," from one of which we extract a passage which we think will prove interesting to our readers.

CHINESE VILLAGES.

"After our day's work was done, we were in the habit of taking a walk every evening. The scenery was tame; the highest eminences were tombs. There were few trees, and none of the fresh bracing air so necessary to recruit the jaded frame. There were some streams, but

"Our rivers were not running
brooks,"-

they were slow, muddy pools, crawling listlessly along. They were the best we could find in the neighbourhood, and instinct, I suppose, prompted us to walk along their banks; yet many a pleasant walk we had. The country folk used to watch for us, and most amusing were their remarks. On one of the first evenings

we ventured out, a great troop of boys and girls came scampering over the fields to see

us.

They danced with perfect joy at the sight of us. They accompanied us during our long walk, now running before us and now behind us, and playing all sorts of antics. The boys were innocent of all clothing except a shirt of mud. and a strip of cotton round their waists. One trick especially gave them infinite delight, they dipped their hands in soft mud, and slyly planted a daguerreotype of it on the backs of their companions; then there was a shout of laughter and a chase. When we passed a steading they raced off before us, and it was rather amusing, and not a little ridiculous, to see these young human hippopotami fly through every part of the buildings, crying, "The foreign barbarians are coming! the foreign barbarians are coming!"-well dressed

men as we were.

"We often lingered at these steadings, and had long talks with the inmates. They were deplorably ignorant, and yet devout. What we spoke of the great God, they generally confounded Him with one of their idols. They seemed to have neither hope nor fear of a future life; and imagined the earth was a living creature.

"Who makes your rice to grow? and who causes the trees to bring forth fruit?' we often asked them.

"The earth produces all things,' was the reply.

"But,' taking a handful of the earth, the earth is dead-it has no force-no intelligence. How could that kind of thing produce those fruits, and flowers, and wheat, and rice, and vegetables?'

"Veh hian tuh, veh hian tuh,' i.e., We don't know, we don't know,' was all we could elicit.

"We would generally enlarge, and explain how great, and how kind, and how wise God was, and ask them daily to thank Him and do His commandments.

"We always pray to heaven, and worship earth,' they would say. We never neglect this; and in the spring, before we put the seed into the earth, and in the autumn, when we gather the grain into our barns, we offer sacrifices and worship to heaven and earth.'

"But this is pure folly; you might as well pray to the roof of your house, and worship the chair you sit on. These things have as much intelligence as the other.'

"Perhaps one of more in

44

telligence would say, 'No, they have not. The sky speaks in the thunder-the heavens carry water, and pour it out on our fields. They are all moving-they are evidently living.'

Sometimes did they argue thus, and deeply did we sympathize with them. Poor creatures! what else could they think? Destitute of all knowledge of God, can we blame these poor farmers for attributing life and intelligence to the heavens above them and the earth underneath them? Their ideas of sin were equally vague They generally, like the Chinese of all classes, denied that they were sinners. Once a man

said, I attend to my old parents, I deal honestly, I try to be polite in my intercourse with all-how can I be a sinner ?"

"But have you always done right? and have you never done anything which you knew to be very wrong and wicked?' And even in answer to this question, we receive the reply, No, we have not.'"

tain

readiness of the poor people to receive instruction and to listen to the gospel. We shall extract a few passages, trusting that our readers may thereby be made better acquainted with the wondrous old land

where Abraham sojourned, and Joseph ruled, and Moses vindicated the supremacy of Jehovah. We trust also that not a few may be led to feel a more prayerful interest in the evangelistic work which is becoming gradually more hopeful even among the ignorant and bigoted Moslems.

CAIRO-FIRST ATTEMPT AT

SCHOOL.

"Moslem girls will not come to school; you are sure to fail." Such was the dictum, again and again repeated, when the intended effort was spoken of. Even a native gentleman, educated in England, echoed nearly the same thing that had been said by Europeans, though he cordially wished success to every project that had for its end the good of his country. "They do not wish for education in the lowest class," said he, "especially for girls, who are, as you know, looked on as inferior beings altogether by Moslems.

Be

sides, if you collect a few, who would come from curiosity, some bigot would soon frighten away the children, and tell the. parents you wanted to make Christians of them."

Preplexed, but not in despair, the little room was made ready in spite of all. The poor Syrian family who occupied the lower part of the house (and whose eldest girl, though but thirteen, was to be my sole teacher and assistant), took a lively interest in the

affair, and their children helped to nail up a few prints and texts in Arabic. A workbasket was stocked, and alphabet-cards provided (nothing else was needed to begin with, benches and tables being unnecessary for an Egyptian school). All was ready, except the pupils; how to procure them was the problem.

Our servant had been sent to ask some of his wife's friends to send their daughters, and though a devout Moslem, he seemed to take an interest in the novel concern, and promised he would talk "plenty." Meantime, I, my little teacher, and her mother, looked anxiously out at the window. The good woman hailed the old seedsman opposite, who was just eating his breakfast with his three young daughters, and in most conciliatory tones asked him to send Cadiga and her sisters to learn to read and work. "But we are Moslems, and don't want to learn," was the reply, given in a most sullen voice.

It was necessary to go out into the highways, and urge them to come in. The matron therefore assumed her white veil, we set out together, and went first into the street, and then into the lane, near the house where girls of all sizes appeared to be a very plentiful article. Every woman we met we stopped, and accosted in a friendly way, and then began to speak of the intended

66

her children. Some laughed and passed on, others said, very good," and at last we returned with the promise of several girls, feeling quite triumphant and thankful.

Presently two little girls trotted in, followed by their mothers, and I think their grandmothers also, for several women of different ages and degrees of rags came in, and there was a great deal of unveiling and saluting and chattering. At last the grown-up children departed, and the two little scholars were established on the mat, and were soon joined by several more, till at length, by about ten o'clock, we had nine pupils seated in a semicircle-all Moslems! No recruiting sergeant was ever half so pleased with a handful of future soldiers, for it was beating up for recruits for the Lord! Each was now asked her name in turn, and then who had made her, to which the older ones replied, "Allah" -God. Several little ones said, "Mahomed."

The first verse of the Bible, "In the beginning," &c., was then repeated to them, and they were taught to say it, first each one by herself, and then altogether. This was the begin ning of instruction for them. Poor children!

Though ragged and dirty, the children had not in general the starved looks of too many scholars in our beloved country; nor do ragged clothes

degree of poverty as with us. In the higher classes, a child is often intentionally kept dirty to avoid the evil eye; and, perhaps, this feeling may have given the idea that ragged clothes were no disgrace. In the country villages a blue cotton shirt is the unvarying costume of boys and girls, the latter having the addition of a veil, the former of a cotton сар. But in the city, dress is more varied, and most of the scholars wore coloured pink trousers and little jackets, or some other article: they looked much as if the contents of an old-clothesman's bag had been scattered over them at random, as there was not one of the nine in whole or wellfitting garments. Still, when (between coaxing and a little manual aid) the young faces were all washed clean, they were not a bad looking circle: several had very pretty features,-the soft, black eye of Egypt has great beauty, and they all have white and even teeth.

On the second day we had fourteen scholars. As they entered, each kicked off her slippers, if she possessed any, at the door, and then went up to kiss the hand of the superintendent, and lay it on her head; both of which processes became pleasanter when cleanly habits had come a little into fashion! One little thing was led in by an elder sister, a fine tall girl, about fourteen or fif