292

UNHEALTHY STATIONS.

healthy; and we are not sure that Holligall is favourable to the European constitution. It is therefore desirable for this cause alone, even if there were no other, that natives who are less liable to suffer from the climate, should be employed, instead of Europeans. Should this experiment, in the present instance, prove successful, as I am confident it will, the employment of native judges may then, by degrees, be extended to some other remote and unhealthy districts, such as Soondah, and in time to every place where their services may be useful.”

Amidsts such trials and sufferings, what could be expected? Yet the labours of the brethren have prospered. A suitable chapel has been obtained; many schools have been established, in which a Christian education is given, and contained in 1831, no fewer than 512 children, of whom 142 were girls; many readers endeavoured to propagate the gospel; and some in the midst of trials and persecutions, have dared to acknowledge Christ, and have maintained their profession with great satisfaction to all. As to idolatry itself, Mr. Thompson remarks in 1835, "I have reason to be fully assured that if the people were only protected from their head men, who, without the sanction of the government, levy contributions forcibly upon them, as a source of gain to themselves, after defraying the expenses of their superstitions, that idolatry would die of itself, as it regards the public observ

ance of it. The people in this village express their expectation that next year nothing will be done to honour their stone god. The schoolmaster at Kalloorvilley has, with another proprietor of a joint pagoda renounced, by a formal deed, his connexion with it, and left it to the only remaining shareholder. When a Hindoo gives up property, or when the proprietors of temples, deem them not worth holding, something is evidently going on."

A seminary has also been established for the education of the young, with the hope that some from among them may arise to praise the Lord. The question of caste seemed for a time to stand as a barrier against its progress; but as prejudice has given way, and knowledge has increased, the objection has been removed, and Mr. Thompson alluding to it says, "From the seminary, three youths have been sent out during the year to take charge of schools; one having been sent at the request of the head men of the place, has a good school; the others have not been able to collect so many children; but I confidently anticipate their exercising a more efficient influence in promoting a solid education, and that they will be able to collect a greater number to enjoy its benefits. At present, ten youths are under instruction, besides several day-scholars. The eldest have acquired a very considerable knowledge of divine things, and promise well at a future period to be useful labourers with us. Three instances have been mentioned of children being the

means of directing their parents' attention to Christianity, and where the reading of heathen legends in the evening, has given place to the children reading the word of God. Some months ago, we were invited to commence a school in Paroor-a very large village, and to send a person who was capable of teaching the people and their children Christianity. This is the first case in which the head men of a village have united in such a request. One of the seminary youths was sent as schoolmaster, and there seems a decided inclination to learn. In one house, the worship of the true God is established.