DR LIVINGSTONE'S STORIES. 59 lion in the day, they keep at a good | sively hot and steamy; the eyes had distance, and clap their hands and always to be fixed on the ground to bow to him as a mark of veneration. avoid being tripped. After that, I So that this is quite a lion's Paradise. say, let those who delight in pedesOne night when the missionary trianism enjoy themselves. It is and his men were resting, they saw good for stoutness, but for me, who a large number of natives apparently had become as lean as a lath, the only preparing to attack them. As, how good I saw in it was to enable an ever, they seemed inclined to wait honest sort of a fellow to realize comtill morning, some of the travellers pletely the idea of the treadmill." lay down to sleep while the rest watched. One man, probably affected by a dream, started up from his sleep, exclaiming, "There they come! There they come!" and rushed off into the darkness, never to be seen again. No doubt he was carried off by a lion. His companions were not attacked as they expected, and the next morning sorrowfully went on their journey, after searching in vain for their lost friend. The party were obliged to proceed with great caution, avoiding the direct road for fear of meeting the savage natives. Dr Livingstone was now without an ox, and found it weary work to walk every step of the way. He writes, "It was not likely that I should know our course well, for the country there is covered with shingle and gravel, bushes, trees, and grass, and we were often without a path, skulking out of the way of villages where we were expected to pay after the purse was empty. It was exces It was with feelings of joy and thankfulness that he found himself within eight miles of the Portuguese town of Tete, where he expected to meet with kind friends. But he was so exhausted with his journey and the heat that he could go no further, but lay down on the ground, and sent messengers to Tete to say that he was coming. The Governor sent back what the Doctor calls "the materials of a civilised breakfast," and strengthened by this, he was able to push on his journey, and arrived at Tete, where the Governor received him with as much kindness as if he had been his own countryman. He was obliged to wait a short time at Tete, until the season would allow of travelling. Here he left his faithful Barotse companions. They promised to wait for him until he should return from England. They would get their living in the meantime by hunting or as boatmen. They are now there waiting for him. Dr Livingstone then left Tete, and travelled three hundred miles to the seaport of Quillimane. He had with him one of his Barotse friends, whom he intended to bring to England, in order that when he got back to his friends at Linyanti he might tell what he had seen in Christian England. When he saw the sea, which was very rough at the time, he was struck with amazement. A British ship-of-war was at Quillimane waiting for Dr Livingstone. As they put off to her in a boat, the waves were running very high, and the boat tossed a good deal. The poor Barotse often looked at Dr Livingstone, and asked "Is this the way you go?" At length they were on board "The Frolic," and set sail for the island of Mauritius. But the poor Barotse had seen too many mar vellous things, and when at last a steamer came close to their ship, moving without sails, his reason gave way, and, in a fit of insanity, he flung himself into the sea, and was drowned. I have now finished the account of Dr Livingstone's wonderful journeys. If you wish to know any more about them, I would recommend you to read his own book, where you will see a great deal that is extremely interesting. If God spares their lives, Dr Livingstone and Mr Moffat will soon be labouring as missionaries in these newly-discovered countries. Let us not forget them when they are there, far away from all Christian or civilized people. Let us pray for them, that the God of heaven may prosper them, protect and bless them. WESTERN POLYNESIA. CHAPTER VI.-FATE. (Continued from page 52.) It would be very delightful, if, in When the mission-ship visited Fate our missionary stories, we had to in 1854, it was to find little else but write of nothing but the triumphs of the Gospel; if there were no sad stories to write of savage cruelty, of persecution, and disappointment. But, alas! it is not so; the missionary has often to sow his seed in tears. disappointment and trouble. The Rev. Charles Hardie, who was one of the missionaries on board, gives a very affecting account of the state of things. He says:— "As we approached the district of Olotapu, we were at first cheered by "I am glad to tell you that I and my wife, the last three months, are getting on in the language. The heathen party are very numerous, but I am permitted to go among them, and many of them are coming to our Sabbath-day services. Oh, what a sweet thing is prayer to God! It may be this whole land will soon be filled with praise to Jesus for the power of His Word. I and Tauri seeing natives coming off in canoes; left at Erakor, died of fever after but much to our surprise and annoy-eight days' illness. Tauri, another ance, as they came near the ship they Rarotongan teacher, stationed at this paddled off to the other side of the place, wrote in 1854 as follows:island. Not long after, however, another canoe came off, having on board a man who had formerly been at Samoa, and from him we learnt that some of the teachers had died of disease since we last left the island; that others had been murdered by the heathen tribes; and that only one remained on shore to give us a full account of the mournful facts. Deeply affected by these sad tidings, and anxious to gain further information, | Vaine, my wife, have two classes of we shortened sail, and lay "off and on" some time, until a great number of canoes, filled with warriors all heavily armed, were seen making for the ship. From their hostile appearance, an attack on the vessel was feared, and the captain determined not to come to an anchor. After some delay, we succeeded in getting off Setephano, the native teacher, and Pomare, the chief of Erakor. "Poor Setephano! On coming on board he was deeply affected-sobs and cries for some time prevented him from uttering a word. At length he told us that he was the only teacher spared amidst the afflictive events of the past year." Vaaru, a devoted, intelligent man, young people, whom we are instructing every morning and evening. They are much pleased in learning; they are diligent, and, we hope they will soon help us in teaching the old people." But Tauri's troubles were at hand. First his wife died; and he said— "Alas! for the heathen; they were just beginning to understand, and to rejoice in her instruction." Then his only child died; and he wrote"This is a severe blow my heart is full of sorrow: my son is dead: I am weeping-but I lean my trouble upon Jesus." In a short time he had lost his brother teacher, his wife, and child. Now he was alone, and when he was attacked by sickness, there was no RECEIVED by Mr McDougall, from a band of northern Indians, as he was starting to attend a missionary conference at Montreal: "BLACK COAT-I want to say a few words to you. I want to say them strong. We want you to repeat them to the Big Black Coat, and to the Black Coats assembled in council. "The Indians down south have fathers and mothers. We are orphans. The Great Spirit has done a great deal for them; he has given them a rich country. He has also sent them missionaries, who have been parents to them. The great Woman Chief, (the Queen of England,) has been a mother to them. She has assisted their missionary to build large schools for them, and from the ocean, was not suffered to live; he was killed after being cruelly tortured. Setephano, the last remaining teacher, was taken away to Samoa; Seralo, too, the warrior who first invited the teachers to Fate, also went with him in the missionary ship, and so Fate was left once more without a Gospel teacher. "The heathen, in their blindness," hated the light, and put it away from them. LETTER, teach them how to work. They are not poor; they have plenty of kind friends. Not so with us: we are orphans-we who live on the north shores of Huron and Superior. The Great Spirit has not given us a rich country; the missionary has not taught us the white man's religion; no teacher has been sent us, nor school-house built for us; we are worse than our forefathers were many years ago. Our forests were full of wild animals-deer, bear, beaver-but the white man came, and induced us to kill off all our furs. He brought his steamboats, and large nets, and drove the fish from our shores. We are poor, and we are getting more so every year. "Now we want you to say to the Big Black Coats that we ask them to AN INDIAN LETTER. help us. We want them very much. We want our sons and daughters to understand paper, and to learn to work. Tell them that we live in a very large country, and there are a great many of us. Tell them about this place that it lies between Huron and Superior; that the land is good; that we raise potatoes, oats, turnips, and all sell for great price; but the Indian knows little about making gardens. Tell them we ask for a school like the one some of us saw at Alnwick, when we went to Moneyaung, (Montreal,) three years ago. We are willing to give some of the best of our land for a farm, and help in building the houses; but we must have white men to teach us the way.' This interesting letter expresses the feeling of many a poor Indian chief, who sees that if his people remain savages-idle, wandering, and shiftless, they can never maintain their ground against the spade, the axe, and the Bible of the white man. The spade, the axe, and the Bible, are the great civilizers of the world; and no tribe or people can long make a stand against them. Rejecting them, they will be swept away; receiving them, the "wilderness will become a fruitful field, and the people shall dwell in sure dwellings," and God will be their God. 63 Some of the Indian missions strikingly illustrate this great truth. "After the gracious effects produced by the Gospel on the wretched Indians of St Clair, there is no room left to doubt," says a governor of Canada, "that all the tribes in North America may be converted to the faith in Christ." What effects were produced? "Instead of lodging in the wretched wigwam, and depending upon a scanty supply of food by hunting and fishing, they live in comfortable houses, surrounded by gardens and fields, which they themselves cultivate. Habits of intemperance and idleness give place to sobriety, industry, and order. The 'songs of Zion' are now sung in those forests where, for ages, the war-cry of the savage, and the growling of wild beasts, were the only sounds that were heard." A gentleman entering one of their pleasant cottages, was met at the door by the father of the family, who said, while tears of thankful joy streamed down his cheeks, "When I came here nine years ago, I was a poor drunken Indian. I had nothing but one dirty blanket; but now," pointing to the various articles in his room, "now I have all these good things that you see, and, what is best of all, I have the love of Christ in my heart." |