NELSON'S KINDNESS OF HEART. -Nelson's kindness of heart exhibits itself every where. Scarcely can a page of his correspondence be opened without some evidence of his affectionate disposition. Habitually he treated all under his command, down to the very powdermonkey, as his children; and they had for him a love as for a father. In a private letter to his brother, speaking of his Midshipmen, he calls them by the very name: "All my children are well," he says. A letter from Lady Hughes, describing a scene on board the "Boreas," in which she was a passenger, is beautiful: "As a woman, I can only be a judge of those things which I could comprehend, such as his attention to the young gentlemen who had the happiness of being on his quarter-deck. It may reasonably be supposed, that, among the number of thirty, there must be timid as well as bold the timid he never rebuked, but always wished to show them he desired nothing of them that he would not instantly do himself; and I have known him say, 'Well, Sir, I am going a race to the mast-head, and beg I may meet you there.' No denial could be given to such a wish, and the poor fellow instantly began his march. His Lordship never took the least notice with what alacrity it was done; but, when he met in top, instantly began speaking in the most cheerful manner, and saying how much a person was to be pitied that could fancy there was any danger or even any thing disagreeable in the attempt. After this excellent example, I have seen the timid youth lead another, and rehearse his Captain's word. How wise and kind was such a proceeding! In like manner he every day went into the school-room, and saw them at their nautical business; and at twelve o'clock he was first upon deck with his quadrant. No one there could be behind-hand in their business, when their Captain set them so good an example. One other circumstance I must mention, which will close the subject, which was the day we landed at Barbadoes. We were to dine at the Governor's. Our dear Captain said, 'You must permit me, Lady Hughes, to carry one of my aidesde-camp with me;' and when he presented him to the Governor, he said, "Your Excellency must excuse me for bringing one of my Midshipmen, as I make it a rule to introduce them to all

the good company I can, as they have few to look up to besides myself during the time they are at sea.' This kindness and attention made the young people highly esteem him; and even his wishes, could they have been known, would have been instantly complied with."-Despatches and Letters of Admiral Lord Nelson.

PREPARATORY LABOURS OF A SETTLER IN AUSTRALIA.-Day after day it was no slight army of trees against which we had to do battle; we had to fight hard with them to gain possession of the soil, for the trees in those days were giants. I then felt thankful, knowing well how to appreciate my advantages, that having been born and brought up on an English farm, all kinds of tools, agricultural and others, were at home in my hands. There was a world of work, digging to lay bare the roots, felling, and then cutting the boles and boughs up with the saw and axe. Such of the boles as were good for anything we cut into proper lengths for posts; splitting and mortising them for that purpose.

Rails also we had to get when there were any boughs straight enough. Some of the trees were of unconscionable girth, six or eight yards in circumference. Immense was the space of ground that had to be dug away to lay bare the roots. And then, what roots! they were too large to be cut through with the axe; we were compelled to saw them in two with the crosscut saw. One of these monsters of the wild was fifteen days burning, burning night and day, and was a regular oxroasting fire all the time. We entirely routed the quiet of that old primeval forest-solitude, rousing the echo of ages on the other side of the river, that shouted back to us the stroke of the axe, and the groan and crash of falling gum-trees. Night never came too soon, and we slept without rocking. what curious and novel creatures-bandicoots, flying squirrels, opossums, bats, snakes, guanas, and lizards-we disturbed, bringing down with dust and thunder their old domiciles about their ears! Sometimes, also, we found nests of young birds, and of young wild cats; pretty black creatures, spotted white. The wild denizens looked at us wildly, thinking, probably, that we were rough reformers, desperate radicals, and had no respect for immemorial and vested

Then

pity, to the extent that is necessary, these poor uninstructed Heathen? Ah! what avails praying, and not sending The Heathen are not saved; they do not pray for "how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" &c.

:

Í have recommended the employment of two or three young men, of established piety and promise, connected with, and brought up on, our Mission Institution at Khamiesberg. My plan is to employ them, in the first instance, as interpreters and Schoolmasters, under my own superintendence; and to give them farther instruction in things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and general useful knowledge, as circumstances may allow. One has been with me whom I have mentioned before. Two others are recommended, who can read and write the Dutch language, and, of course, speak the Namaqua, which is their vernacular

tongue. It is to me, and no doubt will be to you, a pleasing consideration, that our old Institution is furnishing useful agents for extending the Mission-work in this country. They are married men, and will have to take their families with them. It requires the exercise of selfdenial to leave a comfortable home at Khamiesberg, to go and live in the Damara country; yet I find they are willing to do this. I hope the expense of each will not exceed £25 per annum. They must have waggons and oxen to transport them to the scene of their labours, for which a sum must be advanced; but I think they will be able and willing to allow an annual deduction from their salaries, to purchase the waggons, that they may become their own property. I trust the Committee will approve of this arrangement. We must look to native agents to engage in this work, under the superintendence of European Missionaries.

November

I HAVE already written you at some length concerning the openings for Missionary exertions in the Damara country, and now I will add a few particulars

more.

About thirty-seven years ago the Missionary work was undertaken in GreatNamaqualand. At that time, in the whole country, from the frontier of the colony on the south to the northern boundaries of the Namaqua tribes, from the thirtieth to the twenty-third degree of south latitude, no worship existed, no knowledge of God and spiritual subsistences were enjoyed, and scarcely a sign of civilization or humanity was left to relieve the distresses of the philanthropic beholder, throughout this vast moral desert. Such was the condition in which this portion of Africa was then found by the first Missionary labourers. What is the state of this section of the continent now? They who first engaged in the work met with numerous obstacles and discouragements; some were taken away by death, others removed to labour elsewhere; but they had carried the word of God into the regions beyond the Gariep; in the name of the Lord they had set up their banners, they entered upon the work of sowing the seed of the kingdom with tears and prayers, and God owned and blessed. So that, notwithstanding reverses, notwithstanding the loss of life, (for Threlfall fell, with his devoted native companions,

10th, 1846.

in the prosecution of Missionary labour, and the enterprising Cook descended to his grave in the morning of life,) we now see the progress of Christianity, and the advancement of civilization; and this happy result is traceable to the influence of the word of God, the Gospel of our common salvation. Man is mortal, Missionaries die: "but the word of our Lord shall stand for ever." Thousands of the Namaquas can now read, or are learning to read, the Scriptures; and are beginning to act and think as rational, responsible, and immortal beings. At Nisbet-Bath, and its various subordinate or branch establishments, five or six hundred church-members have learnt to worship God, to place their trust in their Creator and Redeemer, to regard him as their Judge, and to look for the world to come. They join heartily in his praises. They are consoled with a sense of his favour. Their hearts, their affectionate regards, are set on things that are above. They desire a better country. Wars and robberies, revenge and bloodshedding, cease; they love their fellow-men, respect their rights, and pity their miseries they pray for their countrymen, they pray for their enemies; they contribute towards the spread of the Gospel, that others may hear of and embrace the salvation which they enjoy, or are seeking to obtain. This place is only a specimen. Look at Bethany and its off

shoots; where, probably, a similar number have been blessed and elevated, and, to a similar extent, are enjoying the fruits of Missionary instructions. But still farther north, over vast regions, the happy results of Missionary labours have been exemplified. In the immediate vicinity of the Damara tribes, Christian churches exist; and the Damaras themselves see the very people who were once their enemies living in peace with them, and using means for their conversion, and for the promotion of their best interests. This is the effect of preaching and making known the Gospel in Great-Namaqualand. I will state the facts as briefly as possible.

In the year 1837, the late Rev. Edward Cook wrote from Nisbet-Bath to Jonker Afrikaner, who was then living near the Damaras, and who had accompanied Sir J. Alexander in several of his excursions in the northern parts of Great-Namaqualand. Amongst other

things, Mr. Cook urged the Chief to make peace with the Damaras, and restrain his people from committing depredations on them. At this instigation, and with the hope of getting a Missionary, he soon commenced the work of pacification. It was at once a novel and difficult undertaking. For upwards of sixty years the Namaquas and the Damaras had been in the habit of looking upon each other as avowed enemies, and with deadly hatred. They neither gave nor hoped for quarter. For a Namaqua to meet a Damara, or a Damara a Namaqua, in a defenceless state, was much the same as to meet an enraged lion, with no means of defence, or power of escape. No single Namaqua could, therefore, go to the Damaras; and had a number gone, they would have been regarded as a war-party, and would have been treated accordingly. One plan only suggested itself, namely,

was

to look out for small Damara parties, men or women, seize them, treat them kindly, give them presents, explain the proposals of peace, and send them home to their friends, with a request that their friends would, if they approved of the proposal, send back an answer. Three or four experiments of this kind were made without any apparent success. The messengers thus procured did not return. About three years were expended in such negotiations, before peace secured. At length the work was accomplished, the Damaras believed that the Namaquas were sincere ; peace was introduced, and the way for the extension of the Mission was laid open amongst the Damara tribes, and to the undiscovered interior of the north and north-east. We are now in a fair way to carry the Gospel onward until the Missionaries from Western Africa form a junction with the Missionaries of Damaraland. Where shall we meet? Who will help us in this vast design? Will not the Anti-Slavery Society? We shall, at all events, help that philanthropic body. Some of the labourers who began this great work have departed hence their graves urge us on; their unburied remains bid us be courageous. Look at this picture, and say whether God has not blessed the labours of his servants, your Missionaries, to an extent of which you have not rightly conceived. Help is wanted, more help. O, send the Gospel to this vast region, that we may fill up the allotted space! I am encouraged by meeting here S. J. Bourne, Esq., the Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who has already furnished me with a supply of Bibles and Testaments, and has promised me a liberal grant for the use of our schools. I like to labour in connexion with this institution.

solemnity of their feelings, as the various truths of the Gospel are unfolded to their view, and applied to their consciences. And when the services of the sanctuary are closed, they may frequently be seen sitting in groups near the chapel conversing together on such parts of the sermon as have most particularly arrested their attention. It is exceedingly refreshing to myself and Mrs. Ridsdale, to meet our classes; as then we see most decidedly their improvement in grace and knowledge. 4 I

The references there made to the instruction that has been administered, either in sermons or in the regular morning exposition of the Scriptures, are often very intelligent, and sometimes remarkably striking: so that, though we frequently attend those means languid and exhausted by the debilitating influence of the climate, we often return refreshed and quickened in spirit. Never did we experience more (I might almost venture to say, so much) spiritual enjoyment, even in our delightful classmeetings in England, than we do whilst listening to the simple and artless, but sincere and intelligent, Christian experience of many of our Namaqua members. We feel that they are "fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel."

we

I have adverted to the daily exposition of the Scriptures. This forms part of what may be rightly called our morning family worship for the whole village. At about eight o'clock every morning, the bell is rung, and the people assemble in the chapel, when commence by singing; the Scriptures are read consecutively; and when the portion for the morning is finished, we conclude with prayer. By continuing this plan, the entire New Testament has been read, accompanied by expository and applicatory remarks. I am now regularly perusing the Old Testament, the histories of which, rising up successively and connectedly before their view, excite unbounded interest, and form subjects of conversation in their little groups, sometimes for several hours in succession. These histories possess a peculiar interest, and are seen with peculiar vividness by them, because of the exact resemblance subsisting in many things between their customs and those of the Israelites and their progenitors, who, like themselves, were a pastoral people. Independently of this circumstance, which invests everything historic in the former part of the Old Testament with an interest and tangibility that renders it easy of comprehension to their minds, those Scriptures especially furnish every possible variety of instruction, and supply ground for many useful remarks that would never be suggested by any other course of reading. This plan has, in consequence, become a very favourite one with our people, and with myself. The reading of merely detached portions of the Scriptures to a people so imperfectly acquainted with any part of them, can be but of little service;

whereas, by their regular perusal and exposition, interest is excited, connected views are taken, and their minds become insensibly expanded, and better prepared to comprehend any spiritual instruction that may be given. Their own remark is, "In former times we did not seem as if we could understand; but now our understanding is open." On Monday and Friday evenings, when no service is held in the chapel, the bell is tolled (not rung, as on other occasions) for family prayer in their own houses; and it is often very delightful, on going outside our dwelling a few minutes afterwards, to hear the voice of praise ascending from many a habitation, and then followed by the prayers and supplications of the heads of their respective households. I introduced this plan more than a twelvemonth since, thinking it would tend more than any other towards preserving them in spiritual life when they are necessitated to leave the Station in times of scarcity, and seek subsistence for themselves and for their cattle in places where they cannot be reached by their Pastor. Our Sabbath-worship begins at early dawn; for at sunrise the natives hold a prayer-meeting, conducted by one of themselves. In the morning and evening I preach; and in the afternoon the Sunday-school is held, which is attended by old and young, and by the members generally, male and female. All the drudgery of learning to read is omitted on that day, and is reserved for the week-days. Those who belong to the Bible-class read the chapter from which the morning text is taken, and are then examined on the sermon, as to its divisions, subdivisions, and what they can remember of its general design: whilst those who are not so far advanced sit in small circles in the chapel, with a Teacher appointed to each, who endeavours to impress on their minds those parts of the sermon he can best remember or best converse on. And at the close of this part of the school-duties, a short account of the lives and deaths of pious children, and others, is read, by which interest and instruction are combined. During the last four months this department has been regularly filled by Mrs. Ridsdale, in the absence of Mr. M'Leod, our Schoolmaster. By this course of instruction the Sabbath-school is rendered as profitable to the children as the other services are to the adult hearers, and it is equally appreciated by young and old.

The efforts made by the people to continue on the Station are worthy of all