BRITISH KAFFRARIA.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. William Impey, dated Mount-Coke, February 19th, 1850.

My last letter was written shortly after the close of our District-Meeting in December last. I now write to inform you of the progress of the work on this station since that period.

Since the opening of our new chapel, the congregations have considerably improved, and I begin to have some fears whether we have not mistaken as to the size of the chapel needed, and that our accommodation will soon be again too limited. We are receiving constant additions to the population of the station; and last week I had an application for permission to reside on the Mission from a party comprising nearly twenty families. These are encouraging tokens of the influence our stations are exerting upon the population of the country; nor are we without more direct proofs of the Divine blessing upon our labours. Last Sunday was indeed a day of refreshing to us. At the morning service seven adults were admitted by baptism to a full participation of the privileges of Christianity. Several of them have been members on trial or catechumens for some time on the D'Urban station, others in this place; and all are, I trust, giving evidence of the sincerity of their professions of Christianity. such occasions we generally take the opportunity of explaining the nature of Christian baptism, and enforcing upon the new converts the obligations and consequent duties that devolve upon them, and also of making appeals to those who are yet without the pale. In the evening we held an interesting sacramental service, when about forty partook of the emblems of our Saviour's dying love. A year ago our whole congregation did not amount to that number. We "thank God, and take courage.'

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Until lately the country has been suffering from severe drought, and immense swarms of locusts have made their appearance, threatening total destruction to the standing crops. At this place we were visited by that fearful scourge. The air was darkened by the countless myriads of the devouring host, and the noise of their wings was like the roaring of the sea. Happily, however, they did not remain long with us, and the damage done is comparatively small. As to the drought, our people, instead, as was once their custom, of applying to the rain-maker for the aid of his abominable witcheries, agreed with one accord to call upon Him who alone giv

eth the early and the latter rain, &c. Sunday, February 3d, was the day appointed for special intercession for fruitful showers. The same week the rain descended, and the floods came, and the country again smiles in verdure, and we again rejoice in hope of abundant food for man and beast. On the Thursday after the Sabbath alluded to we were visited by one of the most fearful storms I ever witnessed. The previous day was excessively hot, the thermometer standing at 104° in the shade, the air charged with electricity. On Thursday, February 7th, the clouds gathered black as night; and about three P.M. the storm broke upon us. I was engaged in the school, when a blinding flash of lightning, accompanied by an instantaneous crash of thunder, shook the whole place. The children almost fell to the ground with the shock, and cried for terror. I was almost afraid to look towards the Mission-house, fearing that either it or some other building must have been struck by the electric fluid; and such, in fact, was the case. Our chapel, which stands on an eminence immediately behind the house, was struck in a most extraordinary manner. The electric fluid seems to have pervaded the whole building, and has left marks of its resistless power in no less than fifty places. Outside, the walls appear as though they had been exposed to a fire of grape-shot, being perforated in all directions: inside, the plaster is in several places struck from the wall; some of the standards of the seats are split; whilst in other places the fluid has taken off a shred from the wood, as though with the most delicate tool. The injury, upon the whole, is very trifling, considering the many places in which it has been inflicted. Had the roof been thatched, instead of covered with zinc, the probability is that the whole would have been in flames, and totally destroyed, a fate which, on the same day, and apparently the result of the same storm, the new school-room in the village of Alice shared. We feel truly grateful that mercy is thus mingled with judgment. Had the storm been a little later in the day, I should most probably have been in the chapel, and the consequences then might have proved fatal. It was during this storm that the rain descended in a manner such as I have seldom witnessed it was as the descent of one sheet of water, which continued for about

half an hour. Various accidents have occurred in different parts of the country by these storms; but, with the exception of what I have above mentioned, we have been spared.

Next week I start for the Colony, to attend some of the Missionary Meetings there. Blessed be God, our work prospers every where it must be so; for it is His work.

SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. J. P. Bertram, dated Wittebergen, Wesleyan Mission-Station, Orange-River. July 9th, 1850.)

I HAVE the honour of again addressing you, and, blessed be God, it is still under favourable circumstances. We can still say, with our Father in the Gospel of our Lord, "The best of all is, God is with us."

Yesterday was a day long to be remembered by us, it being a time set apart by the brethren at the last District-Meeting, for special prayer and supplication to the Lord for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our congregations. At an early hour, the prayer-meeting was well attended, and proved a preparation for the other services of the day. After the Sundayschool closed, the bell rang for the assembling of the people, and the chapel was soon crowded, when I preached from Exod. xii, 26: “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service ?" The congregation was attentive, and listened with deep interest and seriousness. Five adults were baptized; among whom were three promising young men, who will, I trust, become useful Schoolmasters or Local Preachers. All have evidenced by their general deportment, during the time they were on trial, that a saving change had taken place.

At the close of the service a stranger,

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from Aliwal North, remarked, "I should not have believed, had I not seen it, that such a congregation existed among the Blacks. Let infidels come and look at what I have now seen, and that man must be unnatural in feeling, who denies that a great change has taken place among the natives."

In the afternoon I met the Local Preachers, and exhorted them to exercise faith in the Lord, and expect a special blessing during the evening services. The evening was very boisterous, and the rains poured down in torrents; but so anxious were the people to attend, that only one member was absent, and that through sudden illness. It was the time for the sacramental remembrance of the dying love of our blessed Saviour. He was present; many a heart was melted in contrition, many tears of gratitude flowed. It was a solemn season, and we felt it good to be there. At a late hour, after a short prayer-meeting, the services of the Wittebergen church closed. Never will that day be forgotten by many of its members, and we trust some will date it as the day of their conversion to God. When I was about retiring to rest, fatigued, from the labours of the day, I could not help crying, "O for such fatigue and labour every day!"

MISSIONS IN WESTERN AFRICA.

THE recent accounts from the Gold-Coast, Ashanti, and the neighbouring places, have an increasing aspect of hope and encouragement. We call the attention of our friends to the statements contained in a letter from the Rev. Thomas B. Freeman, of the date of "CapeCoast, May 24th, 1850," which they will find in the "Quarterly Paper" for September. The indications which it affords of the high esteem and confidence with which Mr. Freeman is regarded by leading residents in the colony, cannot but be gratifying to the Committee, whom he " serves in the Gospel." The particulars furnished concerning JOHN ANSAH, the Native Prince, now engaged at Kumasi as a Missionary Catechist for our Society, call for thankfulness, and will engage, we doubt not, the earnest sympathies and prayers of many who knew him while he was receiving Christian education in this

country. To this communication we now add two other letters, one from Mr. Frederick Hart respecting Kumasi, and another from Mr. Freeman.

GOLD-COAST.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Thomas B. Freeman, dated Cape-Coast, July 1st, 1850.

I AM glad to say that all is well with the work in the District; we see great causes of encouragement around us. The Lord is fighting for us with the sword of His Spirit, and we feel constrained to cry, throughout this part of the District, "The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge."

A few days back, at a small village, in the immediate vicinity of one of the strong-holds of pagan superstition, I admitted as candidates for churchmembership thirty persons, two of whom are Fetishmen, who seem to have been brought under a Divine influence. These candidates have already commenced building a temporary chapel for Divine worship in their village. I have taken three children from them for education, and their place comes on our Plan for

this quarter on which we are just entering.

We are all feeling a strong desire to have connected with our Mission here a School master and mistress capable of finishing off children from the minor schools, and affording means for taking boarders fro n the families of respectable native residents. There is an anxious feeling on the subject, both within our Missionary circle and out of it. I am busy preparing a plan on the subject to submit to your consideration. I wish it could be sent by this opportunity; but I have been rather overworked lately, and have, unfortunately, felt very poorly for the past three days. It will come, however, I trust, by the brig "Emily" in a few weeks.

Mr. Hart returned safely from Kumasi on the 27th proximo.

ASHANTI-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Frederick Hart, dated Cape-Coast, June 29th, 1850.

THOUGH I feel a little feverish, and am not able to write at much length, yet I think it a duty to write a few lines. On the 13th of May, I left Cape-Coast for Kumasi, in company with the Prince [JOHN ANSAH] and his wife. We reached our destination on the evening of the 21st. I was glad to behold in that dark, wicked, cruel, superstitious town, a Mission-house, &c., and also to be received with kindness into its enclosure by a few who dared to call themselves the followers of Christ. I no sooner had entered Kumasi, than I beheld in many directions both human bones and skulls, and a crowd of rude people engaged in the foolish customs of the country. The King sent word that he would see me with his Chiefs and Captains on the morrow. In the morning the King sent his messenger to say, that he was waiting to see me. When

I entered the court-yard, at the end of which he sat, with a smiling face and a lifted hand he gave tokens of friendship. Having stayed for a short time, by the permission of the King I returned to the Mission-house, with a promise that the King would see me privately; for he is not willing that any religious question should be made public until he under

stands it himself. There is wisdom in so doing, as he dare not act without his Chiefs. The cruelties of the Ashantis are most extreme, of some of which I will try to forward an account in a week or two, with the particulars of my journey to Kumasi, and proceedings while there. But so far as the character of the King has been brought out before me, he appears much higher than might be expected, in spirit, conversation, and manner. When compared with the low customs of the country, you would never think, from his kind treatment in private, that he could sit in the marketplace and sanction the sacrifice of twenty-seven persons in one day, as was the case while I was in the town. shall not soon forget my feelings when I was told of the slaughter of poor helpless slaves, that was to take place in the town. And the night before we gathered as many of the people as possible into the Mission-house, and there, with a glow of delight, not knowing what would follow, I tried to prove, (and I believe myself to have had success to some extent at least,) that the spirits of the slaves about to be sacrificed could not attend as servants on any Chief after death. Every Sabbath, while in Ku

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masi, I got all that I could to assist me, and preached to the natives, who well attended the service of the word of life, while several were being sacrificed amid sounding of drums, horns, &c., at but a little distance from the spot where a small number of us were met to worship God. I was happy in preaching from, "God is love," especially as one of the greatest Chiefs in the country was sitting to hear, who was most attentive, thanked me after the service for the discourse, and said that he would have gone with us to the Mission-house, but that the King had sent for him. Kumasi is a trying place for a Missionary. He has to stand alone in an important sense, and plead the cause of his God. He needs much of heavenly wisdom to direct, and grace to sustain. I am happy to say, that the young Prince, who is now stationed there as a Catechist, is working

hard to advance that cause for which he feels it his delight to live and labour, and that he has the affections of the King, and of many of the people; but he greatly needs your prayers, and the prayers of the churches at home. Our field of labour in this country is extremely large, and increasing in extent almost every week. I do not see how the state of Kumasi can continue as it is for any long period. Many things promise a change. May the Lord hasten it! The climate in Kumasi is more congenial to European constitutions than the Coast. My health was good during the month that I was there; but I felt a change as soon as I reached the Coast. The houses of Kumasi are so small that they are hardly worth the name. The streets are wide, but so unlevel, that unless you are careful your equilibrium is soon lost.

SIERRA-LEONE.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Richard Hart,
dated Freetown, March 13th, 1850.

THE spiritual aspect of our work still continues to be bright and cheering. Religion assumes a steady and triumphant character in this colony. Its blessed influence is very widely felt; and I trust the time is not far distant when every impediment in the way of its advancement shall give place to its universal and peaceful reign.

We have just commenced holding our usual Annual Missionary Meetings in the District. The first took place at Zion chapel, February 19th, 1850. Mr. Smyth, our new Colonial Secretary, took the chair. The Meeting was crowded to excess. Three Clergymen and ourselves addressed the Meeting. It was a most refreshing season. The collection was some little in advance of last year. The Meeting was considered the best that has ever been held in Sierra-Leone. The people, though very poor, raised the noble sum of £16.

In 1848 an Agricultural Society was formed, for the purpose of improving the moral and industrial habits of the inhabitants of Sierra-Leone. This year the Committee of the Society offered two prizes, one of five pounds, the other of

two, for the two best essays on the social, moral, and industrial improvement of the colony. It will be gratifying to the Committee to know, that Mr. Moses Renner, one of our Schoolmasters, who was trained in King Tom's Institution, has obtained the first prize. "Surely we have not laboured in vain, nor spent our strength for nought." May God raise up many more, who shall be burning lights in this dark and benighted part of the world! Africa can never be reclaimed by European instrumentality alone. Her own sons must carry the light of Divine truth into those dark, unvisited regions, where the devil holds an undisputed sway. I do think that God is now preparing many in Sierra-Leone for this mighty work. How He will scatter them among the different nations that people this vast continent, I do not pretend to say. This we must leave with Him.

In conclusion, we would still solicit an interest in the fervent prayers of our dear friends in England, for a richer effusion of His blessed Spirit's influence upon our labours, that many more souls may be converted to God.

SIERRA LEONE.-Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Walter Garry,
dated Freetown, June 13th, 1850.

THOUGH for the last twelve months I have had much affliction, yet I have had more blessings, for which I feel grateful to God.

I was appointed, as you will doubtless have learned before this, by the last District-Meeting, to take charge of the Native Training Institution. This ap

pointment has very considerably in creased my labours, as I take with the rest of my brethren a full share of the Circuit work, besides devoting four hours every day, except Mondays and Saturdays, to the spiritual and intellectual improvement of the students. However, I pray for grace and strength to enable me faithfully to discharge every duty which devolves upon me. We have at present twelve students in the Institution, most of whom are very promising young men. One of them, William Pitt by name, I proposed to our last Local Preachers' Meeting, to come on the Plan as a Local Preacher on trial. A deputation from the Meeting was appointed to hear him preach his trial-sermon, which gave much satisfaction.

We watch over the Institution with anxious solicitude, and sincerely hope and pray, that in it many will be raised up and qualified, who will go forth and declare among their benighted countrymen the "unsearchable riches of Christ." I am happy to report, that the students have made very gratifying progress in their studies. The major part of them have translated some considerable portion of the first book of the Eneid of Virgil, and are reading through St.

John's Gospel, in the original language in which it was written, with tolerable fluency.

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The work of God in the Circuit, I am thankful to say, continues to assume a healthy aspect. "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." We commenced the present year under evident tokens of the Divine favour and blessing. Most of our chapels, during our interesting watch-night service, were very well attended. preached at Croo-Town, on that solemn occasion, to a large and attentive congregation, from Deut. xxxii. 29; and after the close of the service, I held a prayer-meeting, at which no less than fifty-five persons were, we believe, convinced of sin; and out of this number, thirty-five have found peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. the Lord be all the praise and the glory!

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In conclusion, I beg thankfully to acknowledge the receipt of the kind and affectionate letter of the 28th of February last, from the Rev. Dr. Beecham. My heart was gladdened at the thought, that even the least and the most unworthy of your Missionaries is not overlooked by your Committee.

MISSIONS IN THE WEST INDIES.

WE publish, in this Number, somewhat more than the average amount, allowed us by our limited space, of correspondence from the West Indies. We do this because we are apprehensive that the temporary and comparative gloom which has in some respects been cast of late over these Missions, connected chiefly, we believe, with the fact of general colonial depression and difficulty, may have a tendency to produce a degree of indifference respecting them, or to diminish the interest which has hitherto been justly felt on their behalf by our friends and by the Christian public. We earnestly deprecate any such result. Their signally providential origin in the circumstances which led to their commencement by Dr. Coke and his companions,—their remarkable growth and extension,-their incalculable usefulness to the tens of thousands who in successive years have by their instrumentality been brought to Christ, and prepared for the blessedness of heaven, their beneficial influence in promoting the civilisation and social improvement of the Negroes, and the order and tranquillity of the West-Indian communities at large, and the still abounding tokens of the Divine benediction, notwithstanding the prevalence of secular difficulties and distresses, and in the midst of all the trials arising out of the glorious transition from a state of bondage to one of freedom;-these are considerations which no Christian philanthropist can ever forget, and which should make our own, and other kindred Societies, cheerfully willing to continue their utmost exertions for