As

Shumsha Khan was formerly orderly sepoy to Major Brett at Cannanore. He became intimate with that gentleman's servants, but more particularly so with Nathanael, son of Peter Zechariah, the head servant. Nathanael was one day reading the New Testament, the Mohammedan sepoy inquired into the nature of the book, and earnestly desired to hear it read to him. After many refusals his request was at length_reluctantly complied with. He heard with great pleasure, and came day after day to hear more, and committed some verses to memory. He was particularly struck with that passage which speaks of a voice being heard from heaven saying, "This is my beloved

Son: hear ye him." By degrees he expressed a desire to forsake his own false way, and to profess the true one.

On per

ceiving this desire, Nathanael, to the extent of his ability, addressed to him some very suitable observations, which the Mohammedan, of his own accord, contrasted with the teaching of his own Câzees, and propounded some questions as to the veracity of Mohammed's alleged miracles. These were exposed, and Shumsha Khan admitted him to be a false prophet-compared the lives and doctrines of Jesus and Mohammed-recurred again to the witness from heaven, and concluded by observing, that he found the Christian religion more suitable to the necessities of his soul, and was, accordingly,

prayer

desirous of professing it, and of being baptized. These conversations continued afterwards during several months, and Nathanael obtained permission from Isaac David, then native teacher at Cannanore, for Shumsha Khan to attend the preaching and meetings. This the latter did with great regularity, earnestness, and improvement in knowledge. He also obtained some small books, and requested his acquaintance among the sepoys who could read, to read them aloud to himself and others. When his mother, brethren, and relations, heard of his proceedings, they mocked him, said he was gone to join the flock of the heavenly Vedam-was mad-was a destroyer of his race-was without sense, and similar expressions. He continued unmoved, and boldly made known his faith to all around. In consequence, Nathanael inquired concerning his intentions, and he repeated his firm resolve to be baptized, quoting Christ's command, and adding that when his master should go to Madras, he was desirous to follow and be baptized there, in order to avoid the inconveniences he would be otherwise subject to from some of his relations. A somewhat lengthened conversation followed on caste, distinctions among Christians, and the opposite nature of such distinctions to the nature of the gospel, enforced both by Scripture, history, and precept. Shumsha Khan admitted that there ought to be but one caste, and continued his endeavours to advance in faith and holiness.

The native teacher, Isaac David, hearing of these matters, himself held some conversation with the sepoy; but, appearing to doubt his stability, dismissed him for a time.

After these things, Major Brett being about to remove to Belgaum, Nathanael asked permission for the sepoy to accompany them. Major Brett expressed a strong doubt whether a Mohammedan would ever become a sincere Christian; but, notwithstanding, gave the required permission. A short time after arriving at that place, the 2 M

sepoy, with Peter Zecharias and Nathanael, waited on Rev. J. Taylor, Missionary at Belgaum. Nathanael and Shumsha Khan had previously made special prayer for the blessing of the Holy Spirit. The conversation ended with an avowal from Mr. Taylor to Zecharias, that he thought no one could say what the sepoy had stated, unless he were a partaker of the Holy Ghost. Permission was given him to attend on prayer, but his baptism was, for a time, deferred. Subsequently, Zecharias and Nathanael proceeded to Madras, and Shumsha Khan, having no other residence, took up his abode with the other sepoys. When there, he one day entered into a discussion with the Câzee, who came on some particular occasion, and held an assembly; and though the sepoy was superior in argument, yet, on declaring at its close, his resolution to forsake Islamism, he was treated with hatred, contempt, and mockery; the spirit of their wit consisting in calling him Peter, Ignatius, Antony, and the like names. His fortitude, decision, and piety, appear, however, to have been duly appreciated by Rev. Joseph Taylor, who baptized him, by the Christian name of David, in 1828. Either immediately, or soon after, he was also admitted to the Lord's table, and continued steadfast in doctrine and fellowship. His friends made an attempt to recover him to his first faith in vain; he rejected their solicitations, warned them faithfully of their own danger, and concluded by desiring them to regard him the same as if dead. From this mind he has not swerved.

In the early part of the present year (1831) he was introduced to the Missionary of the Pursewaukum district, Madras, by his two friends, themselves members of the Pursewaukum native church, he being then a Golundauze sepoy, at St. Thomas's Mount. The Missionary was gratified at the conspicuous evidence which was afforded of his piety and steadfastness. An account, of which the above is an abstract, was drawn up in Tamil for the further satisfaction of the Missionary and the native church; and, after the usual nomination, David (late Shumsha Khan) was unanimously and gladly received as a church member, in full communion, on the 7th of July last. At the instance of Captain C., of the Artillery, he has been introduced to the study of the written Tamil language, being first discharged from the Golundauze battalion, and receiving, from that gentleman, a small monthly stipend for his support. Nathanael (who is much more advanced in learning) has been recommended to a similar employ by Captain L., of the Engineers. The indications of Providence will be attended to in any future directions which they may receive.

COIMBATOOR.

Report of the Coimbatoor Mission, from June 30, to December 31, 1831.

During the past six months, in one or two places, the schools have met with a little opposition from some reprobate characters, but the authorities here having investigated the matter, they were soon silenced.

A few Roman Catholics have made in

quiries about true Christianity, and have had several conversations with me on the subject, having come several miles for that purpose. But, I fear, unless they be content to lose all for the gospel's sake, there is very little hope concerning them, as their priest appears to have absolute authority over

them.

Two have been removed, by death, from my little congregation during the last half year, and I have every reason to conclude they died in the faith and hope of the gospel.

The little band of professing Christians collected here have had a share of the troubles arising from their profession, and some from other circumstances, which, if thoroughly investigated, might probably have the same origin.

Two, who had excited hopes of being sin cere in their inquiries and professions, after having forsaken the worship of idols, and knowing something of the one true God, but finding the strict purity of Christianity, have become Deists, and no persuasion can convince them that, although they now be lieve there is only one God, that they, as sinners, require a Saviour and Mediator.

One person has joined my little congregation from among the heathen. He was a strict idolater, but, having received an invi tation to attend the preaching of the gospel, he complied, and I have every reason to hope the same was made the "power of salvation" to him, for, after regularly at tending some time, he became convinced of the sin and folly of idolatry; and on a great feast held here, in honour of a particularly celebrated idol, I was surprised he did not attend it, and inquired the cause, when he, to my astonishment, declared "he had done for ever with such things." He has been a diligent student of the Bible, and his knowledge concerning our holy religion is surprising; so much so, that I do hope he has, indeed, been taught by the Spirit of God. One or two more have left idolatry, and placed themselves under Christian in

struction.

The prejudice against female education at this place is very great, which may be gathered from the fact, that after I had succeeded in collecting a large assembly to hear the truths of the gospel in a large village, they nearly all immediately separated on my mentioning the advantages that would accrue could their women read, and that such ought to be the

case. Many individuals, with whom I or Mrs. Addis have spoken on the subject, suppose that by teaching their daughters to read, &c., we have a design of making them dancing-girls for the pagodas, as they are the only females who are so instructed (a few among the Brahmin caste excepted). And several respectable people here have declared, even after having had their doubts on the above subject removed, that for people to suppose that, by allowing their daughters to be taught reading, &c., they even intended such a thing would be a great disgrace. The case is widely different in the Travancore country.

The influence of the Brahmins in this place has lately received a great revival, and appears more formidable, from some concessions they have obtained. But while almost insurmountable barriers present themselves to those engaged in disseminating the truths of the gospel around, and the heart mourns over the trials of some of the followers of Christ collected at this place, yet consolation ought to be drawn from the fact, that although the Great Disposer of events has suffered some of his children to be visited with the rod of affliction very severely here, he is adding to his family a few.

I have had fewer visits from the heathen at the mission-house the last few months than I had some time ago, and some of the respectable heathen appear a little more reserved and cautious, I suppose, in consequence of my plans and statements being a little better understood; and, perhaps, the circumstances above-mentioned might also deter some from inquiring much about a religion they see unsupported, and even its followers apparently lightly esteemed, by many called after the name of its Author.

A short time ago I applied to the Madras government for permission to reside at this place. After investigating the circumstances connected with my removal hither, I received the sanction of the governor in council for my permanent residence here.

The place of worship still remains unfurnished, although I have had liberal subscriptions towards the same.

Materials and

workmanship, in consequence of the constant demand for the Neelgherries, are very high and scarce, so that a place (although not large) cannot be built here for the same sum as in many other parts of India.

All the European residents continue very friendly to me and my family; and although there have been several changes, we have experienced no diminution of neighbourly feeling, which makes our situation pleasant, even in the midst of our daily discouragements. (Signed) W. B. ADDIS.

SOUTH AFRICA,

DESTRUCTIVE INUNDATION AT

HANKEY.

In the Monthly Chronicle for October last (page 459), we communicated some particulars of the gratifying moral and, as to not a few, spiritual change which had taken place among the Hottentots at the above-mentioned station. We now deeply regret to state, that, not many months after those particulars had been laid before the public, the settlement at Hankey was visited by an alarming and destructive inundation, the consequence of violent and excessive rains, which has devastated, to a great extent, the works raised, by the industry and perseverance of the people, for providing the means of subsistence. While this disaster has proved a severe trial of their faith and patience, it has afforded them an opportunity of again displaying their energy and resolution in the efforts they have already made to repair the injury the settlement has sustained.

The distress produced by this calamity forcibly appeals to the sympathy of those who feel a lively interest in the promotion of religion and civilization among formerly untutored and uncultivated tribes, and who take delight in rendering to virtuous and industrious sufferers the means of extricating themselves from the consequences of disasters, which ordinary penetration might not foresee, and human power could not

avert.

In restoring the settlement, it is proposed to build substantial dwelling-houses instead of those of less durable construction which previously existed, and which have been either totally destroyed or irreparably injured by the late inundation; and to provide, in future, more effectually for the irrigation of the ground necessary to the purposes of cultivation, if the Christian public shall furnish the means of making a new water-course (and this appears to be indispensable), in which iron pipes are designed to be substituted, as the only expedient for its protection from the violence of the elements, which, it is now fully ascertained, no wood-work, however firmly con

structed, would, in every case, effectually resist. When our friends consider how much the subsistence and external prosperity of such a settlement as that in question depend on agriculture and gardening, and again, how much these, in such a country as South Africa, depend on adequate means of irrigation, they will feel how desirable it must be to extend to the poor Hottentots at Hankey the means necessary for the accomplishment of so important an object.

The following letters from the Rev. Dr. Philip; Messrs. Kitchingman and Melvill, missionaries at Hankey, and a gentleman resident in the colony-a friend to Christian missions, and who has, on several former occasions, shown his readiness to perform acts of kindness in behalf of the Society—will enable our readers more fully to understand the real nature and extent of the calamity in question, and, we trust, will, at the same time, effectually second this less forcible introductory appeal to their benevolence and liberality.

Extracts of a Letter from Rev. Dr. Philip, dated Cape Town, March 15, 1832, addressed to the Directors.

Towards the end of February, the eastern coast of Africa was visited by one of the most violent gales in the recollection of any of the captains who suffered by it; and it appears, from the accounts we have received hy the last post, that its effects by land have not been less destructive than they have been at sea. At Algoa Bay, and at Bethelsdorp, considerable damage has been done; but the fury of the tempest seems to have alighted upon our beautiful and flourishing station of Hankey. Before this visitation of providence, every thing at this institution was in the most promising state. The water-course, the greatest work of the kind ever attempted in this colony, had been finished, and the people were just beginning to look for the firstfruits of their immense labour and sacrifices, when this work of years, the admiration of every visiter, and the hope of the people, has been rendered useless by a floed as unexpected as it has been destructive in its effects. The success which attended the appeal made in 1823, in favour of Theopolis and Bethelsdorp, when visited by a similar calamity, leads me to think that a similar appeal in favour of Hankey would not be in vain. The

present condition of this station furnishes a strong claim on the friends of missions. The lands on which the institution stands were partly purchased by the Hottentots; the water-course has been to them a work of years, to which they have, during that time, freely given their labour, in the hope that it would one day remunerate them; and last, and not least, God has, during the past year, visited that station, showering upon it the blessings of his grace, in a manner beyond what has been seen at any of our other stations in the colony. In 1830, the state of religion and morals at that institution was such that the missionary and his wife earnestly requested that they might be removed to another place, alleging, as a reason of their request, the unpromising state of the people. In the beginning of 1831, several of the most ungodly of the people became alarmed for the salvation of their souls, and in the course of a few months from that period, the awakening became general, and has continued since to increase so much, that that institution now wears the most encouraging and pleasing aspect. We took up this institution in its infancy, we supported it when religion and morals were in a very low state among its members; and now that God has blessed it, and poured out his Spirit upon the people, we cannot desert them under an affliction not brought upon them by imprudence, or any bad conduct of their own. While we have no ground to believe that the same flood would not have happened if there had been no missionary station at Hankey, nor have had any reason to have hoped that God would interpose by a miracle to have prevented it on account of that station, we must regard it as a trial of the people's faith, and as designed to furnish the people at home with an opportunity of showing their love to them, not as they have already shown their love to them, as strangers to the covenant of promise, but as brethren beloved for the Father's sake. (Signed) JOHN PHILIP.

tremendous, that no person, unacquainted with African rivers, can possibly form an idea of it, bringing down bush-wood, large trees, and logs from the neighbouring forest. Fearing the river might rise to an unusual height during the night, so as to endanger our dwellings, we consulted upon the necessity of keeping watch; but while speaking it swelled so suddenly as to convince us we must immediately remove our goods. A number of people, men and women, came running down to our assistance; but before any thing could be taken away the water had surrounded the houses. In half an hour we succeeded in carrying out the greatest part, and having placed the rest in a situation where we supposed they would not get wet, we waded through the water, knee deep, to the chapel, the roof of which is in such a state that we found it difficult to find a dry place in it. As the river continued to swell we were obliged to keep watch at night, during which time it rose twenty inches above the floor in some of the rooms of the mission-houses, and came within twelve paces of our temporary abode, but rapidly returned to its natural course before morning. We are indebted to a kind Providence, that this unpleasant event did not happen in the dead of the night, when the consequences might have been most serious.

We regret to say that those houses which were originally only intended as temporary habitations have received serious injury. The foundations have been completely sapped, and in one part the wall has given way, and we fear the first high wind or rain will bring it down. We need not say, the other parts, from their wetness, cannot at present be occupied without endangering our health. It appears to us that it would be a loss of money and labour to put these buildings in repair, as well from the slight manner in which they were built, as from the constant danger they are in of being inundated. We, therefore, strongly urge you to take into immediate consideration the propriety of erecting new dwelling-houses in a more eligible situation. We have further to state, that our gardens have been almost laid waste; thirty fruittrees have been more or less injured. One of the largest apricot trees we ever recollect to have seen in the colony, has been entirely rooted up and carried away; some others, of considerable size, have also been borne down by the torrent. Of twenty of the people's gardens along the river, and twelve on the corn-lands, planted after the corn was reaped, destroyed, and others partially da

Some are

maged.

To us the most painful circumstance, connested with this trying occurrence, is the present state of the water-course. Upon examination, we have found that the sluice has been carried away. From the spot where it stood, for about twelve hundred yards, the

water-course is almost entirely destroyed. It was in this part where, with immense labour, the greatest depth of soil was cut through in making it; the high bank on the side of the river has, in many places, for a considerable distance, been taken away, and deep excavations formed; other parts are entirely filled up with sand. To prevent the devastating effects of similar floods, it appears to us necessary to make an entire new cut for the whole of the above-mentioned distance. The upper wooden gutters, which extended above two hundred yards along a precipice, have been carried down by the torrent; some of which have been seen on the sea-shore, others in pieces on the banks of the river; few, probably, will be fit for use again. The artificial bank, which had been raised to support the wood-work, has also been partly washed down, and about sixty yards of the water-course below this part, where the side of the hill on which it is made is precipitous, is also so materially injured that a fresh cut higher up will be necessary, which can only be effected with considerable difficulty and labour. Many other places along the watercourse will need considerable repair. From what we have seen we are convinced that no wood-work, however well secured, will be able to stand against these periodical torrents, these gutters having been displaced once, and carried away twice, within the last five months. We are of opinion that iron pipes, to convey the water along the precipice, are absolutely necessary to secure a constant and uninterrupted supply for the station for the purpose of irrigation. Were some of our friends of missions in England, connected with iron foundries, fully acquainted with the vast importance and absolute necessity of irrigation, not only in raising corn and vegetables for the institution, but for general agricultural purposes, by which the improvement of its inhabitants in civil life is promoted, and a constant attendance of themselves and children on religious instruction rendered practicable, we have no doubt they would present the Society with the number that would be required, or, at least, render some assistance toward this desired object.

Considering the immense labour and expense which would be required from the Hottentots to put the water-course in a state to bring down the water again for the use of the institution, and also that the period for paying their taxes is at hand, we submit whether, on the present occasion, the friends of missions within the colony, or in England, ought not to be solicited to render some pecuniary aid.

(Signed)

JAMES KITCHINGMAN, JOHN MELVILL.