Morning Calm v.5 no.47(1894 May.)

THE MORNING CALM. NO. 47. VOL. V.] MAY 1894. [PRICE ID. The Bishop's Letter. SEOUL : January 1894. DEAR FRIENDS, Last month I left off with a mention of the scheme which Dr. Landis is endeavoring to work out for the benefit of the numerous blind people in Corea. They will always be a difficulty to us, for they possess great power and influence. The people suppose that their infirmity, which prevents them from seeing external objects, enables them to have a clearer insight into the invisible world than those who have the use of their eyes. You will understand how readily this supposed power lends itself to their superstitious tendencies. The services of the blind are indeed sought in periods of sickness, in casting horoscopes, even in selecting sites of buildings, odd though this appears. There are schools for the blind, in which they are in structed in the technicalities of their profession. When once a boy is grown to manhood, therefore, it will be difficult to get him to realise the misfortune of his blindness, which, indeed, becomes to him often a great source of gain. What we propose to do is to get young children who have few friends, and perhaps fewer resources, and endeavor to teach them to read. We believe that when once such a thing is seen to be within their reach, a real blow will have been struck at the system of idle folly which now imposes on the credulity of the Coreans of all classes. The first thing is to adapt the alphabet to the purpose-not an easy matter, because, in spite of their possessing letters, the Coreans are more accustomed to read by syllables. The words in a Corean book are not separated as in English. On the other hand, the syllables are separated. There is never any difficulty in seeing where syllables begin and end. Where a word begins and ends is, to the beginner, a seemingly hopeless task to discover. You can form a good idea of this for yourselves if you will write a single sentence in English in such a way that each syllable in each word is written separately, one underneath the other from the top of the page to the bottom in a vertical line, with an equal space between each syllable, with nothing to mark the end of a word, and without any stops. Now try to read your sentence. It is not easy, is it? Using an adaptation of the Braille system (of six dots) we have already formed an alphabet, which looks as if it would answer our purpose. I suspect, however, one needs to be a blind Corean before one can say that the alphabet is a good one. We shall probably adopt it, and rely upon our blind students hereafter to improve upon it for themselves. When Mr. Hodge was in Peking, he had much talk with Mr. Murray, whose work amongst the blind in China is well known. Mr. Murray showed him the printing press where the blind were all printing their own books. This we propose to do too, and shall teach our first scholars not only to read, but to print, that is to say, to puncture the thick prepared paper, and so raise on the other side a series of dots which, when felt by the fingers of the reader, will enable him to read the letters which they are intended to represent. The apparatus for all this will not be expensive, and will consist chiefly of the paper, the tools for punching, and a few frames to receive and confine the sheets. I left Chemulpó shortly before the feast of the Epiphany. and had a walk to Seoul, which at the commencement was most enjoyable, and at the conclusion was very much the reverse. The day was calm and cloudless. There had been a hard frost the night before, which kept the ground in excellent condition for walking, until past noon. Then, however, the sun seemed to have it all its own way, and up to four o'clock the mud and slush were very trying. I met Mr. Trollope on the way, walking to Chemulpó, from whence after his Sunday duties he was to go to Kang Hoa to spend a short time with Mr. Warner. Whilst there, he was asked by Mr. Hutchinson, the head-master of the Corean School, to examine the pupils. I hope he will send a report to Morning Calm. The quiet of Kang Hoa proved so helpful to him that I begged him to remain there, which he has done, practically for the whole of the month. His revision of the Tract now occupies all his time, and it is only in a place like Kang Hoa that all his time can be given. Mr. Warner started at the end of the month on a trip to the North with two of the Corean students who just then broke up for their New Year's holidays. They live some fifty miles from Kang Hoa and have invited Mr. Warner to stop with them. Meanwhile, Chemulpó is being looked after by Mr. Davies, who, with his teacher and his books, is preparing himself for his approaching ordination. Mr. Hodge, Dr. Baldock, and I are the sole occupants of Nak Tong. The former has been busy with a Churchman's Sheet Almanack in Corean, adapted to the Corean year, which begins this year on February 6th (Shrove Tuesday). This almanack is a very brilliant affair with the Sundays all printed in red. It has but few readers, but we hope it will be useful in the wards of our hospitals and in our servants' quarters. It is more an experiment than anything else, and looks very well. The work in St. Matthew's Hospital goes on smoothly and satisfactorily, though one of the little boys, a hopeless case from the first, has died, not, however, without having first been baptized by Mr. Trollope. Miss Cooke at the women's hospital has an increase in the number of her inpatients, and has frequent calls to visit families in the neighborhood of Seoul. The Sisters are all well and happy, and the services, both in St. Peter's and in the Advent, are well attended. From Niu Chwang I have heard (up to the 2nd of January) from Mr. and Mrs. Doxat. They had both been suffering a little from the extreme cold, but at that date had recovered their usual health, and wrote in excellent spirits. A calamity, however, had befallen them in common with other European residents in Niu Chwang. Their house had been broken into at night by thieves, who had made off with a good deal that they could ill spare. They have now a watchman who walks about the compound all night beating a wooden clapper. On first hearing these clappers one feels that one would rather take one's chance of the thieves. But you soon get accustomed to the noise and sleep through it. The watchmen know this, by the way, for they vigorously clap you off to sleep, and are clapping when you wake in the morning. Should you, however, wake in the middle of the night, there is a suspicious silence, which suggests that you may be the only watchman awake. When there is nothing to be said, people talk about the weather. At the end of a long letter I shall not incur the charge of having nothing to write about, if I add a word about the extraordinarily fine winter we are having. It is not so cold as previous winters, though it is quite cold enough. The remarkable thing about this month, however, is the enormous quantity of sunshine we have had. The snow on the ground fell in December, and now only rests in secluded places and on the northern slopes of the mountains. Writing at the time of our New Year, I venture, in a January letter, to wish you all the happiness for which I daily pray, and am, Dear friends, Yours affectionately, C. J. CORFE.

Association of Prayer and Work for Corea. APRIL reports have been received from a considerable number of localities, and, although no large sales of work have been held during the past three months, the total of money sent in, as shown on the accompanying fly-leaf, exceeds that of the April quarter of 1893 by about £40. The number of names of new members is not quite so satisfactory, yet we are most grateful for the growth and strengthening of our work of daily intercession that this list, though comparatively a short one, tells of. In our list of secretaries this month two secretaries will be seen to have been transferred, namely, Mrs. Miller, from Kings town, in Ireland, to Inverness (we hope that someone will volunteer to take her place in our first and only Irish locality), and Mrs. Morrell, our valued secretary for Great Torrington, in Devon, who will now act as our secretary at Shute, also in Devon. Miss Sutcliff very kindly succeeds her at Great Torrington. The Rev. W. J. Badger having left St. James', Devonport, we are sorry to say that that locality must be omitted from our lists, although the vicar kindly promises that the needs of Corea shall continue to be remembered at the monthly intercessions in church. The Rev. A. Campion has kindly undertaken to act as our secretary at Sneyd, Burslem. Miss M. Duncan writes that the Sale of Work at Tavistock is to take place during the third week in May. She is very grateful for the many parcels of articles for sale that have been sent her by the readers of Morning Calm. The following extract from a private letter of Bishop Corfe's will be of interest to all the friends of his Mission : “First, let me ask if you have read in the Pall Mall Magazine, of June 1893, an article by G. N. Curzon on 'Strange Cities in the Far East,' in which he describes Seoul ? If not, please lose no time in procuring a copy. It is absolutely the best description of our capital. I have only just read it, and immediately wished that all my friends could do the same. His powers of observation are close, and his style of writing is very graphic. I do not think there is much more to be said in order to make you all understand the conditions of our life here .... While on the subject of literature we would recommend all who care (or, still more, all who do not care) for the cause of Missions to read the masterly article on ‘The Progress and Prospects of Church Missions’ in the Quarterly Review for January 1894 It will be found strikingly interesting, and most inspiriting, by home workers for Foreign Missions." M. M. CHAMBERS HODGETTS, Exeter : April 11, 1894. Gen. Sec.

Hospital Naval Fund. THE following letter has been received from Sister Nora, the Sister-in-Charge (Community of St. Peter) of St. Matthew's Hospital, Seoul, which has been forwarded to us through the Hon. Sec. of the Hospital Naval Fund : - "SEOUL: February 1894. "In the autumn we made an entirely new departure in work. Women are so separated in Corea that for Sisters to nurse men seemed an impossible innovation, and likely to arouse native prejudice. However. Dr. Wiles, who had found great difficulties during his two years of medical and surgical work in Seoul from the want of proper nursing, was most anxious to try the experiment and hopeful about its success. Before he returned to England last summer he had a small hospital commenced, to be nursed by the Sisters-just one ward to contain six beds, two small rooms, and a kitchen ; it was finished by the end of the rainy season, and dedicated by the Bishop on St. Matthew's Day-hence called St. Matthew's Hospital. "On September 30th our two first patients were admitted -an old man with a diseased foot and ankle, since removed, and an utterly destitute lad of twenty, who would be classed as a ‘tramp' in England. The latter was in a most neglected state as to clothes and cleanliness, and seemed too ill to recover, but after a slight operation he improved, and with food and nursing was able to go out cured at the end of six weeks. He has since come to thank us for our care, looking brisk and well dressed, and we overheard him telling the patients that he owes it to the kind doctor and the Sisters that he is able to work again. A little boy of eight years old was our next admission, suffering from a fractured hip. At first his father or brother never left him, being suspicious of us; indeed, the first night after his operation, when Dr. Baldock had given him a sleeping draught, his father took great trouble to keep him awake, last he was poisoned and would die if he slept! After a short time their vigilance relaxed, and they left him to our care, saying they knew he was happy and having everything possible done for him. The next patient was a lad of sixteen with pneumonia, who soon recovered and returned to his situation -a poor one, so that it showed a real sense of gratitude when he appeared a short time after, bringing a string of eggs as a thank-offering.

• Eggs in Corea are packed between rice straw, and look as if strung-thirty in each hank.

“We have had another boy of five years old, the son of a poor widow of the better class, who has since been a patient in the Women's Hospital. He had evidently been much petted, and at first cried a great deal, and begged to go home whenever his relations came to see him. This longing soon changed into calling his little corner bed his home, and asking to remain here always, and when the doctor told his friends he was incurable and could not live long, they declined to have him back. He was carried into the Sisters' sitting-room on the Feast of the Epiphany, and baptized by the Rev. M. N. Trollope. Two days afterwards the sad little suffering Taisie, who never smiled, became the glad little Gaspar * (*Gaspar is a Corean name.) in Paradise. " The expected difficulties with the patients have not arisen yet ; they are grateful, respectful, and amenable to discipline, especially to what must be trying to every Corean--the discipline of soap and water ! They are anxious to come in and loth to leave. Within a fortnight from the opening of the Hospital five patients were admitted, and our sixth bed was soon filled. All appreciate the comfort of the ward, as well as what they consider its beauty ; it certainly forms a striking contrast to the ordinary Corean hovel. In this country rooms are not measured by feet, but by " kongs”-the space of 8 feet square, which can be warmed comfortably by one kong, or underground oven ; and few of the rooms, even in the better class houses, are more than this size. A two-kong room is a large one. Our ward, therefore, in Corean parlance, is a six-kong room -that is, 24 feet by 16 feet, and lofty in proportion; as usual, unceiled, with dark beams and rafters, which have a picturesque effect. Instead of a mud floor warmed by a wood fire underneath, it is boarded and kept to 70 degrees Fahrenheit by an excellent stove in the centre. It has large glass windows, not the Corean paper ones, facing south and looking on the wooded slopes of Nam San, the hill on which the beacon of safety is kindled every night to assure the King that his dominions are in peace. There are a few quaint Corean and Japanese pictures on the white-papered walls; also some homely English ones with bright coloring, from the Graphic, much appreciated by the sick folks. The floor is covered with reed mats gaily colored in patterns, while screens and curtains of Turkey red help to make the ward look cheerful. " At first it seems strange to English eyes to see the patients lying on the floor on native mattresses resembling wadded mats, and only a small hard round pillow for the back of the neck; but they are quite in their element, and, with warm scarlet or green blankets wrapped round them, are both comfortable and picturesque. They have three meals a day, carried in on native round tables about 12 inches high and 18 inches in diameter, used for food only. One is placed beside each bed, with spoon and chopsticks all complete. The meals consist of an invariable bowl of boiled rice and variable "panchang " - i.e. three or four small basins of fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, &c. &c., highly flavored with capsicums, which are grown in the country in profusion, and may be seen whole or ground in huge baskets in the streets and shops. When the meal is over the long pipes are lighted, generally from one of the old-fashioned small tinder-boxes which every Corean carries in his pouch for the purpose, matches being still a foreign article. As each patient has a tray to rest his pipe on, there is no danger from ashes or sparks falling on the inflammable mats, or still more inflammable cotton-wadded calico clothing. The food of each adult patient costs 300 cash a day, children half price, so that at the present rate of exchange a man is well fed for ten days for half-a-crown! This, of course, does not include special diets for the more seriously ill, who have strong beef-tea, cocoa, milk, and stimulants, as the doctor considers necessary. Fuel is the most expensive item. Coals are dear. Having to be carried long distances on men's backs, they are quite double the ordinary London price, whether they are Japanese or Corean. This year fuel is an extra price, as the King bought up all the native coal to make the electric light for his palace. Wood is also expensive, as the supply decreases, not having been replanted on the hills by the Mandarins in the proportion in which it is cut down for firewood. In this climate for upwards of six months of the year fuel is a necessity, and if the ward temperature falls below 70 degrees, the patients, accustomed to their small kong-heated rooms, complain of the cold. “We are anxious, if possible, to increase the Hospital accommodation, especially to add a ward for infectious diseases. Most of the patients already admitted have been surgical cases, and their operations successful, but there are a large number of cases which cannot be admitted, and which equally need constant medical care and the nursing they cannot have at home. Many Coreans suffer from a disease called "impyeng," which resembles acute influenza, and which invariably proves fatal in their houses, but when treated in a hospital and well nourished they usually recover. “Impyeng" is infectious and cannot be admitted among others, so for this we need a separate ward, if only funds were forthcoming to build and then carry it on. Building in this country is rapid and not nearly so expensive as in England. Still it is as much as can be done at present to support our two hospitals, which both seem to be doing good and increasing work -not only in healing the suffering, but in doing away the national dislike and distrust of foreigners, and, we hope, opening the door to more direct missionary enterprise." A GENERAL Meeting of the members of the Hospital Naval Fund will be held, by kind permission of the Council, in the theatre of the United Service Institution, Whitehall, on Wednesday, May 2nd, at 4.30 P.M. All subscribers, donors, and collectors of contributions are members, and entitled to vote at a general meeting, and it is hoped that many will be able to attend. The principal business will be to confirm the action of the Executive Committee during the past four years, and to consider the question of extending medical assistance to Manchuria. Besides members of the Hospital Naval Fund, all friends of the Corean Mission are invited to the meeting. J. B. HARBORD, Hon, Sec. H.N.F.

Jottings from a Journal. ON May 1st Mr. Hodge and I started on a journey up country, under orders from the Bishop, to explore and report upon the islands of Kang-Hoa and Kyo-Tong, which are situated at the mouth of the Han River. From the island of Kyo-Tong we were instructed to cross by sea to the mainland, and make our way through the province of Hoang-Hai-To up as far as the town of Tchai-ryeng, at which place we were to take a boat and proceed up the Kyel-Tong and Tai-Tong rivers as far as Pyeng Yang, the capital of the province of Pyeng-Yang-To. From Pyeng-Yang, after having made inquiries as to the possibilities of navigation on the river further north, we were to return by a different route to Tchai-ryeng, and then strike away to right angles across the mountains, in order to make for the highest navigable part of the Paik-chyen River. Here we were to hire a boat and proceed down the river as far as the Hoa-sye-kang tributary, which takes one up to within ten miles of the city of Song-To. From Song-To we were to travel up north and try to strike the highest navigable point on the Im-Chin River, in the province of Kang-Ouen-To Having found this point and secured a boat, we were to come down to the mouth of the Im-Chin, re-enter the Han River, and return to Seoul. The journey was calculated to occupy us for about two months. (I am afraid that all these details are dull and uninteresting, but sober facts are apt to be prosaic, and we have not very much that is exciting or even interesting to chronicle. During the last few months, indeed, the air has been rife with rumors of war and trouble here, but the scare has now apparently passed away, and the king remains secure upon his throne for the present. We left Seoul in the early morning by the little river steamer, and arrived at the island of Kang-Hoa about noon, Mr. Trollope kindly accompanying us for the first three days of our journey. Here we landed after some difficulty, owing to the mud-banks, which were rather difficult to scramble up; we were carried up on the backs of long-suffering Corean coolies, who, on arriving on terra firma, were very loud in their demands for “beer-money," as they said we were all exceptionally heavy men, and had well-nigh broken their backs by our weight. From the landing-stage it is three miles' walk into the town, and we arrived there in good time to secure a comfortable inn, where we took up our quarters for a week. The island is about twenty-five miles long by ten miles wide, and is exceedingly fertile and very mountainous; rice, wheat, beans, and barley are cultivated in the valleys and lowlying land in great quantities. Some of the mountains on the island are a fair height, and from one called Solko San we obtained a beautiful view of the whole island. The town of Kang-Hoa contains 1,500 houses, and there are seventeen small villages besides upon the island, making in all a total of 10,500 houses. This is a stronghold of Buddhism, and there are said to be thirty monasteries among the hills; four of them are very large and famous institutions, and we visited one which contained a hundred monks, and which is well known all over the country. After staying a week on Kang-Hoa, and distributing a large number of hospital advertisements, we left for Kyo-Tong, which is a smaller island about three miles off. This island is twelve miles long and ten miles across the town is a small one, containing not more than 200 houses; in the whole island, however, there are twenty-one other small Villages, making a total of about 1,500 houses in all. This Island is more barren and much more poverty-stricken in appearance than Kang-Hoa, and there are no oxen at all in the place, whereas Kang-Hoa is a famous country for breeding Oxen. Corean oxen are a very fine type, and the bulls are much larger and better built than our English ones; possibly this is due to the fact that the calves are allowed to have all the milk from the cow, for cows are not used for milking in Corea, and butter and milk are as yet unknown commodities in Corea. Near the town of Kyo-Tong there is a very fine Confucian temple. The only ornaments in the temple are thrones consisting of wooden chairs, with a table in front of each and a candle-stick. Confucius' throne is in the middle, slightly raised above the others, and on the right hand are the seats belonging to Mencius and An-cha, and on the left those of Ching-cha and Cha-sa, while the less notable disciples are ranged in order on either hand; among them are the seats of some Corean philosophers, though there are not very many. At stated periods the literati of the place, together with the Governor, come there to worship and offer food before the thrones. A certain number of families on the island have the privilege of being responsible for the expenses of keeping the temple in repair. (To be continued.)

The Society of the Sacred Mission. " THE Director of this Society has asked me to state in a few words how I came to be a member. At various times in the history of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa there have been men who have desired to live the Religious life, believing that by living the common life under a rule they would be better able to serve God and forward the objects of the Mission. Many have said the Mission is in itself a Religious body, having all things in common, no salaries being given and all sharing at the same table. That is true, but it is not what is technically known as the Religious life, and men are not bound together by any rule or to each other in any special way. Bishop Steere looked forward to the day when communities of men should be working in Africa akin to the old monastic institutions, and he wrote a letter at some length on the subject to Church Work in 1877, which is reproduced in his memoir. Speaking once of the difficulties men had in bearing with one another, he said that the remedy was to live under rule. The reason why no attempt has hitherto been made is because in a climate where men are continually being removed by sickness and death there can be no permanency without a mother house at home to which men may return when necessary, and where they may be trained before going out, for it is obvious that a man cannot go out and be a "Religious" for a year or two, and then when he becomes sick or goes home for a change relapse into a "Secular." "Our attention being drawn to this Society by the fact of two of its members joining our Mission, it seems to have occurred at the same time to the Bishop and myself that here was our opportunity of introducing " Community life" for men-we have it already for women into East Africa. It was an opportunity I had been watching for since at least 1877. The Bishop having communicated his idea to me, and it having become necessary for me to take a change on account of health, I came home, and with his consent was admitted into the Society with the object of forming a “House” at Magila on my return, there being two men already there, and at least one other preparing to go out as a member The Bishop's plan is that living together at Magila as headquarters, carrying our work there, whatever it may be, as priest, printer, carpenter, storekeeper, or what not, we shall also go out either daily or periodically as evangelists in the surrounding villages. All who are trained here do not necessarily go out as members of the Society, though it would be a happy thing if they did ; but in any case, as we have seen, the training they have received is a splendid thing for them, and diminishes immensely the possibility of being failures when they do go out. In order to maintain the work, at least four scholarships of ₤50 per annum are needed for fresh candidates, men whose services ought not to be lost to the Mission field. Those who are unable themselves to go to the Mission field will find it a privilege to be the means of training others. If anyone is in doubt let him come and see us, and it will vanish, I confidently believe. Any priest or priests desiring the Religious life, and to aid Mission work, would find satisfaction here, where he could materially assist in the training of candidates or eventually go out to the Mission field himself. H. W. WOODWARD, S.S.M., U.M.C.A.

The Spirit of Missions. "MISSIONS in the South Seas generally are far the most pleasing result of the presence of the white man, and those in Samoa are the best I have ever seen. I had conceived a great prejudice against Missions in the South Seas, but I had no sooner come here than that prejudice was at first reduced and at last annihilated. Those who deblatterate against Missions have only one thing to do - to come and see them on the spot." -Mr. R. L. Stevenson), quoted in “The Southern Cross." A letter recently written by the Rev. J. Batchelor to friends in England gives an account of the great spread of the Faith among the AINU OF JAPAN. After telling how, as we have already seen, some 200 have recently accepted Christianity, and some ten villages now contain Christians instead of two, Mr. Batchelor goes on to say: " But it must not be supposed that because so many have been gathered out from heathenism this year that all is easy and plain sailing, as the saying goes. What do you think of a whole congregation in hysterics through being told that God created serpents? Yet this very thing happened. "There is a kind of hysteria among the Ainu women, the principal feature of which is to burst out with a long string of ejaculations while another is speaking, specially when something is said which a person subject to such fits does not like. The mention of the word 'snake' is almost certain to produce this effect upon most women. Those who suffer from this complaint to a great degree are sometimes dangerous, not only to themselves, but also to others. While under these hysterical spells, some women are said to always do exactly the opposite to what they are told. Thus, a woman is attacked with this disease while she has a knife in her hand. If told to throw it away, she will thrust it into her body, or otherwise damage her person; if told to cut herself with it, she will throw it away. Should she have a cup, pot, or ladle, or anything in that way in her hand, and should be told to throw it away, she will keep it; and if told to keep it, she will as likely as not throw it at someone. I have seen women run away when another has been under one of these spells. While preaching I once had nearly fifty women worked up into this state of hystería, simply because I told them in the matter of my discourse that God created all things, the serpents not excepted. That God should have created the snake was more than they could stand. The snake, they say, is the devil, and the devil's work. I got my audience quiet by simply making a few passes with my hand, and staring at the noisiest of the people with all my might. It was all over in a minute, and things went on smoothly again. Truly a preacher to the Ainus has to feel his way very carefully." Of another occasion Mr. Batchelor writes: “One day I happened to be addressing an audience on the subject of the 'Pearl of Great Price,' illustrating my remarks by means of the ‘Religious Tract Society’ picture on that subject. The camel took the fancy of the people at once, and the poor pearl was simply nowhere! I had to give up all idea of speaking of the pearl on that occasion, and take the camel as my text. There is plenty to tell of that wonderful animal. There seem to be more wonders connected with the camel and its anatomy and powers of endurance than some of the Ainus can believe. After showing God's wonderful power and wisdom in so constructing the camel that it is eminently adapted to its surroundings; that it can travel several days without water, as it carries its own water-vat along with it; that men's lives have been saved by killing these animals and taking the water they had stored up for their own use, &c., &c., one witty Ainu asked in a very quiet but distinct voice, ‘And, sir, is not the camel so constructed that it can carry a drop of wine also ? Evidently the camel was more than that man could swallow. The audience roared with laughter, even more, when I told the man that I was lecturing about sober camels and not about drunken Ainus ; for that man, like many others of his race, was very much addicted to drink, and was often seen with a wine bottle in his hand. My address for that day closed here." The highest point within the capital of Uganda is the hill of Namirembe; and upon it the highest point is the great native church, Bishop Tucker's cathedral. It has, as the Rev. R. P. Ashe says, a great straw-built dome, supported on some two or three hundred pillars, some of which took 100 men to drag into position. Nothing could give a better idea of the vigorous work carried on by the Central African Mission upon the shores and islands of Lake Nyasa than the log of the “Charles Jansen." A week of this was recently published in Central Africa, as follows: - “ Oct. 31, 1893.-The Rev. W. P. J. [Johnson] celebrated on shore at Utonga. We got under weigh at 8.25 A.M., reaching Kango 8.45 ; landed the Rev. W. P. J. to teach. We buy our wood at this village, stick by stick, giving a pinch of native salt for each. The salt we buy at a village the south end of the Lake, and as it is very scarce here there is a great demand for it. Leaving Kango at 10.10, we reached Mataka's at 10.50; landed the Rev. W. P. J. to teach. Left again at 12.10, reaching Likoma 12.50; anchored for the day. Landed the mails and took in stores. "Nov. 1.-Started at 5.15 A.M.; reached Ngofi 6.40; went on shore to celebration; wooded and left at 12.45 ; reached Mataka's 12.58 ; landed Mr. Johnson ; left at 2 o'clock, reaching Kango at 2.25 ; landed the Rev. W. P. J.; leaving again at 3.20, reached Likoma 3.45 ; landed the Rev. W. P. J.; leaving again at 4-55 with the Archdeacon, reached Chisumulu at 6.15; anchored for the night. On shore to service. "Nov. 2.–Celebration on shore. Got up steam at 8.55, reaching Likoma at 10.50 ; landed the Archdeacon, and taking on the Bishop and the Rev. W. P. J.; leaving at 11.45, reached Kango at 12.20, landed the Rev. W. P. J. to teach ; the steamer wooded and left at 1.50, reaching Utonga 2.8; left again 3.30, reached Rye Bay at 6 P.M.; anchored for the night. Landed the Rev. W. P. J. at Kango to teach, and after dinner he walked over to Chisanga for celebration the next morning. "Nov. 3.- At anchor, repairing and cleaning. Mr. Pearson surveyed the boiler, advising that a new one should be ordered at once. In the afternoon the Rev. W. P. J. walked on to Pachia, to celebrate there the next morning. “Nov. 4.-Started at 9.35, reached Pachia at 10.32, landed the Bishop; wooded, left again at 3.25, reached Msumba 4.10; anchored for the night. Bought a lot of bamboo to take down to Mponda's for building. "Nov. 5.-Sunday, Anchored at Msumba. Went on shore to services, the Bishop celebrating in the morning (native service) and preaching in the evening, Mr. Johnson interpreting. “Nov. 6.-Got under weigh at 6.15, reached Mluluka at 8.20; landed some letters for Dr. Hine at Unangu; left at 9.20, passing Malambi Point 1.5, reached Monkey Bay at 6.55; anchored for the night. "Nov. 7.-Left at 7.30 A.M., reached Malabene at 8.2; landed the Rev. W. P. J.; here we wooded. Leaving at 10.20, we reached Pankudzi at 11.10, landed the Rev. W. P. J.; again took in wood and left at 12.30, anchored off the bar at 3.15. The water being so very low in the Lake now, it's no use our trying to get over until the rains. Went down to the Fort to see if the 'Sherriff’ was up with any stores for us, and was very pleased to find her there with a full cargo—the first we have received for four months. Got the boat up and shipped our cargo ready to start back to-morrow." A very pathetic story is told in the April number of the Mission Field by the Rev. Canon Widdicombe. A Fingo girl named Mamotlabelo, of about eighteen years, had attended the Mission services at Thlotse Heights (Basutoland), and was greatly moved towards Christianity. Alarmed by this, her heathen parents took her to a succession of heathen dances, with a view to removing the influence of Christianity. They were successful, but the victory was a terrible one, and the poor girl went raving mad. Her earlier life, however, still retained traces of its old tendencies, and she used to frequent the services of the Church still, crying and moaning, or throwing herself before the clergy and grovelling on the ground. So things continued till the beginning of Lent, but on Shrove Tuesday, during matins she began shrieking and howling so terribly that the service could not proceed. But the rest of the story must be given in Canon Widdicombe's own words: "In a moment a thought came into my head, which I forthwith proceeded to carry out. I left my place in the chancel, and, amidst the breathless silence of the little congregation (there were about thirty present, most of them Christians). I walked quietly down the church to the space at the west end near the porch, where the heathen usually sit, and where I saw the girl standing before me, howling with all her might, as if transfixed with fear and terror.... I went up to her, looked into her eyes, and held up my finger before her in warning. She seemed dazed, poor thing, at the sight of the Christian priest in surplice and stole standing thus before her. Then I signed her reverently with the sign of the Cross upon her forehead, and she howled no more. I went back to my stall, and the service continued quietly to the end. The girl's mother was standing behind her, looking the picture of misery, poor old creature. She had come, I suppose, to take what care she could of her child. Mamotlabelo did not howl again, except once after service, outside the church, after she had left the building, and then only for a few moments. She rapidly recovered her reason, and within a month was perfectly sane and well. She came to church daily, and was quite gentle and docile.... A short time after she procured an old skirt wherewith to cover her nakedness, and was so bent upon becoming a Christian, that her relations, who are all inveterate heathens, held a family council on the subject, the result of which was that she has not been allowed to come near the Mission any more. I am told that she implores her people to let her go, but they are obdurate, and turn a deaf ear to her entreaties. " It is a touching case, and one that shows the power of the Cross very beautifully. For the present, the evil within her has been cast out, but she is, as you see, surrounded by debasing influences, and Satan is crafty and strong, I want you, therefore, of your charity to pray for the poor thing, that the hindrances to her baptism may be removed, and that the Lord Jesus may triumph in her through His Divine Grace. Pray also for the conversion of her misguided parents. These sort of things are like pages from primitive Church history. They help, too, to strengthen one's faith in the presence and power of Jesus with and in His Church." "One of the beliefs of the CHINESE is that everybody has three souls; and, if a person is very ill, it is assumed that at least one of his souls has departed; therefore it behoves the relations to look for it and entice it back to inhabit the body of the patient. "A curious incident in connection with this belief is told by a missionary in China. Passing along the street he met a woman carrying a lighted lantern, though it was broad daylight, and holding up a large green umbrella, though the weather was quite fine. On her arm she held a child's garment. While she walked she plaintively called some one by name. Her child was very ill, and she was looking for the soul that had already departed and must be hovering about the neighborhood. She was calling to the truant spirit to come back, and carrying the lantern to help it find its way. She carried the garment of her child in order that the soul might recognise it at once and re inhabit, while the umbrella was to protect it from the sun and render it otherwise happy and comfortable. When she got back home she would lay the garment on her child, and the recaptured soul would enter again and restore the patient's health."-New York Church Mission News.

Ordination. On the second Sunday in Lent, at the Mission Church of the Advent in Seoul, Corea, the Rev. Maurice Wilton Davies, Deacon, late of St. Boniface College, Warminster, was ordained priest by the Right Reverend Bishop Corfe, Missionary Bishop of the Church of England in Corea and the Province of Shing King, in Manchuria.