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At length we conducted our new fellow-labourers to the brig. The Captain paid every attention; took our boat in tow and departed, leav ing us anxiously waiting to hear in due season of their reception and success-nor were we disappointed.

Part of the night previous to their departure, was spent in supplying them, as well as we could, with those articles which they would find both necessary and useful. Every member of the church brought something as a testimonial of his affection-one brought a razor, another a knife, another a roll of cloth, another a few nails; some one little thing and some another; we gave them all the elementary books we could spare, with a few of the Tahitan Gospels of Matthew. Thus we equipped them for this interesting little mission as well as our circumstances would allow.

On August 9th, after a little better than a month's absence, we had the pleasure of seeing the boat return laden with prisoners, the gods of the heathen, taken in this bloodless war, won by the blood of Him who is the Prince of Peace. They were six days at sea in the open boat. On reading their letters, we felt perhaps something of that holy joy that the angelic hosts will experience when they shall shout, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ." The letters were from Auura, the chief of Rurutu, Mahamene and Puna. Although Auura was only with us for a short time, he made such progress that he had completely learned the Spelling-book, part of the Catechism, and could read in the Gospel of Matthew before he left; he could write and spell correctly. The following is a translation of the letter from Mahamene and Puna, the two native teachers, to Messrs. Williams and Threlkeld, dated Rurutu, Friday, July 13, 1821.

"May you two have peace through God in your residence at Raiatea. We think God has heard your prayers, because we received no ill treatment on board the ship, and because we are both now alive at Rurutu. Behold! they have given to us this land, not because we asked it, but because of their own hatred to the evil spirit. Pray earnestly to God that we may have a permanent residence at Rurutu, whilst we are teaching them their letters, and to know the name of the Son of God, and showing them the evil of their ways. On the 8th July the meeting of the chiefs and king was held, when Anura spake thus to the chiefs and king: Friends, this is my desire, and therefore am I come to this land, that you may know the name of the Son of God, and the work of the Holy Spirit, in enlightening our hearts, and the mercy of God towards us. This is my desire, let the evil spirit be this instant cast into the fire. (Meaning the idols of the evil spirit.) Is it agreeable to your kings and chiefs; shall we burn the evil spirit even now; shall we overthrow his kingdom? Do not any more let us worship him; never more let us implore him; let him have no more reign in our hearts. Let him have nothing in this land that has no teachers. Let the government of these little lands become Jehovah's, and his alone, then my heart will rejoice through you. Behold! you thought I had been eater up in the depths of the sea by the evil spirit; but behold, I am not destroyed by him; he is the great foundation of all deceit. I did not know that God would guide me to that land (Raiatea) where the teachers are

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there the word of God flourishes and grows, and behold, God has guided me back again. Will it be agreeable to you that we should assemble together at one place, and all eat together?'

The king and chiefs answered thus, 'It is perfectly agreeable to us, we will receive and hold fast the word of life. We are pleased because of your saying, Burn the evil spirit in the fire. Let every thing made by our hands (as a god) be charred in the fire. Behold you say, O Auura, that we have spirits or souls, we never knew that man possessed a spirit-no; never, never.'

Auura then answered thus; I have one more word to say to you. These two men (the teachers) are chosen by the church at Raiatea. God caused the thought to grow in the hearts of the Missionaries, and behold they have sent them to teach us to read: because of their great love to us these two are sent. The Missionaries think very much of them; for the Missionaries are very compassionate towards us. The people of Raiatea thought, in their regard to these two men, that they would be killed in our land, and that the boat would be seized by us. The Raiateans think our land is a barbarous land; therefore do not ill use these men, but behave with the greatest kindness to them, and then it will be well.' The king and chiefs answered, 'It is perfectly agreeable to us.'

Now, lo! up started two men inspired by the evil spirit. One of the evil spirits said, 'It's agreeable, It's agreeable: we will hold the good word.'* The other man who was also inspired by the evil spirit, thus spake, 'I have seen the foundation of the firmament, up in the sky. Taaroa (the great idol) brought me forth.' Auura then answered the evil spirit thus, Do you leap up then, that we may see you flying up into the sky. Do so now, immediately. Truly thou art even the very foundation of deceit. The people of Rurutu have been completely destroyed through you, and through you alone, and now you shall not deceive us again: we will not be deceived again through you. We know the true

God: begone. If the Son of God stood in our presence you would be ashamed. When Auura had done speaking, he sat down. Mahamene then stood up and said, 'You have agreed and your desire is to Jesus, that he may save your spirits. Ye are the lands for which the Missionaries at Raiatea, Tahiti, Moorea, Huaheine, Borabora, and England have prayed. The churches wherever there are Missionaries, have compassion upon the lands that have no teachers; therefore they subscribe property, that the word of God may be sent to the lands that are without teachers. The Missionaries of Raiatea have sent us two to teach you letters and the name of the true God. May you be saved through Jesus Christ.'

Mahamene then sat down. Puna (the other teacher) then rose and said, 'Dear friends, this is my thought towards you-affection grows in my heart now towards you, in your living in darkness and in the shade of death. Behold you are eating the food of death-the poisonous fish, and drinking bitter water. Behold, we are here before you to make known to you the true God, that you may know him. This I say to you, O king and chiefs, prepare one place where you may all eat together, you and your wives and children, and your king, at one eating place, and there the evil spirit who has just now inspired that man shall be com

Speaking ironically.

pletely ashamed: he has no refuge; but cast away every disgraceful thing from among you, for that is the reason he remains among you. You worship him and he is accustomed to deceive you; but now be fervent in prayer to God that you may escape. Should you not listen to that word, you will die, and you will bear the wrath of God, and you will be led by the evil spirit you have now cast away into the fire of hell; but if you regard the word and the name of the Son of God, you will, by that means, be saved. May you be saved through Jesus Christ.' MAHAMENE. PUNA.

To Messrs. Williams and Threlkeld, Raiatea"

THE eating together (observe the Missionaries) was on the day after the Meeting, and was to be the test of the truth of the word of God. If they died according to the predictions of the priests, namely, that any woman eating either hog or turtle would surely be eaten by the evil spirit; or any one eating on a sacred place would surely die, and be eaten also then they would not destroy their gods; but if no one sustained any injury, they would then utterly destroy all their idols. They met accordingly; and after satisfying their appetites, without sustaining any injury, they arose, boldly seized the gods, and then proceeded to demolish totally the Morais, which was all completely effected that day.

It is worthy of remark, that when the boat first reached the shore, Mahamene and Puna, with their party, knelt down on the spot to return thanks to God for their preservation, not knowing that the spot was sacred to Oro, one of their idols. The Rurutus said immediately, "This people will die." The party also are inadvertently on a sacred spot; and when the Rurutus saw that, they said, "No doubt they will die for this trespass on the sacred ground ;" and looking earnestly, expected some one to have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly; but after they had looked a considerable time, and saw no harm come to them, they changed their minds, and said, "Surely their's is the truth; but perhaps the god will come in the night and kill them: we will wait and see." One man actually went in the night to the wife of the chief (Auura,) who also ate a part of a hog, or turtle, on the sacred spot, and said, "Are you still alive?" When the morning arrived, and the Rur tuans found no harm had happened to any of them, they became exceedingly disgusted at their having been deceived so long by the evil spirit.

POLAND.-JEWS' SOCIETY.

THE following letter from the Rev. R. Knill, in the employ of the London Missionary Society, will be read with interest. It is dated

St. Petersburgh, 3d April, 1822. INTELLIGENCE from the German Missionaries under the patronage of the Edinburgh Jewish Society, states, "At Berditchev, we tarried several days. This place may be termed little Jerusalem in Poland, for it contains 30,000 Jews. Our conversations with them were of a highly interesting and important nature. Thousands of them received our books and tracts, and heard what we said of Jesus as the true Messiah. The prejudices of many seemed to give way, and they confess

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ed that they thought it probable that the Messiah was already come. Several interesting young Jews were with us constantly, and heard all the conversation between us and their people, and at last requested that they might, by some means or other, he taught in this way more perfectly. We cannot say that any of them are really converted, as time only can prove it, but we have great reason to hope, that in a few of them the good seed will spring up, and bring forth fruit to the glory of God. A wide and interesting field is here thrown open to the Chris

tian church."

DANTZIG.-JEWS SOCIETY.

Letter from a converted Jew.

their

"When the Jews at Dantzig learnt that I distributed tracts, superior (the chief Rabbi, I suppose) came to me, and begged to have some tracts. I conversed with him, and made him attentive to the Psalms and the Prophets, by which a Jew ought to be convinced, that Jesus, our Redeemer, is the Messiah. He said, that the Dantzig youth (Jewish of course) would pass over certainly to Christianity, but that it would be difficult for this to happen with the old." He then begs me to send him tracts and Bibles for the Jews.-Consider what it was for the head Rabbi to come on such an errand, and to whom? a converted Jew,-in their eyes a renegado.

UNITED STATES.-GREAT OSAGE MISSION.

THE following information was communicated by Mr. Samuel Newton, to the Edi tor of the Kentucky "Christian Repository," and published in that paper of August 30th. It contains an account of the mission as late as the 28th of July last; and represents the mission as being, on the whole, in a prosperous state.

DEAR SIR, Since my communication in March last, our school has experienced some changes. The number then with us was 18; since that time we have dismissed one for bad conduct, sent one home who was young and hard to manage, two have ran away, and three have been taken away by their parents ;-but the eleven who remain seem permanent scholars. They have been some time with us, and evidently are much attached to us and our customs. The boys, by our regulations, are called three times each day to labour. They are first called at sunrise and labour one hour; at 8 o'clock they are called the second time to labour, and labour awhile and go direct from labouring to school; again at 1 o'clock they are called to labour, and are engaged at labour and in the school four hours. The boys generally perform their tasks cheerfully and adroitly; yet, there is so much of the Indian remaining, that evidently they would often like to be excused.-The girls are equally, or, perhaps, more tractable and apt to learn than the boys.-They sew, wash, and work in the kitchen, at intervals.

June. We have been much engaged in preparing and erecting a mill. The frame is raised for a grist and saw-mill united, worked by water.

The annual rise of the creek has prevented the erecting of the dam; the running part is nearly ready. We have progressed with our agricultural pursuits prosperously;-have split, between 14,000 and 15,000 rails and stakes, enclosed 5 fields, a door. yard of 6 acres, garden of 4 acres, cornfield of 40 acres, potatoe plot of 2 acres, and pasture of 40 acres. The garden, cornfield and potatoe plot are all in cultivation. Our team consists of five horses, and 12 oxen. We have 35 cows, and a good selection of beef and young cattle. We are gaining confidence with the Osages. Several of the principal men, when they were about to take their summer's hunt, brought their treasures and left them with us for safe keeping, until their return. The village is wholly broken up-not one individual in it-all gone a hunting-but not all gone together.-They have taken various routes in small parties. They will return when their corn which is planted at the village becomes fit for roasting.

July. The Indians have many of them returned. It is thought they have been quite successful in hunting. Recently, we have been much elated on account of several of the Indians coming and offering to labour for us. We give them employ when we have work that they can do ;At hoeing we allow them the same that we pay our white labourers.— We have had seven of these red men at a time. An old man came and wanted work. He was told we could not give him. He seemed somewhat displeased; said the white men were at work, (alluding to our steady labourers who were mowing,) evidently thinking that he might have work as well as they. The first Indian who came to labour since the hunt, commenced hoeing late in the afternoon; at night he said he would come next day.-Accordingly, about the middle of A. M. he came and commenced hoeing. At noon, he gave us to understand that he wanted four dollars for what he had done. He was encouraged to continue hoeing until night, and be should be properly rewarded:―at night the Superintendent paid him for one day's work, concluding that the two parts would equal a whole day. The Indian took the 50 cent piece, (the sum which we pay labourers by the day,) and rolled it over and over in his hand, looking very sober, and then returned it, in token that it was not enough; but being assured that it was as much as the white men received, who hoed with him, he again took the money, and, after being presented with a little tobacco, was highly delighted. The next day he again came to labour, notwithstanding his hands were blistered, and several others with him. It has been said that Indians would not work, and that they could not be made to work ;--but we think otherwise; and believe, that the result of a few years will prove it to be otherwise.-Indeed, their progress will be slow; the commencement will be made by but few, and those few will need to be led step by step, that others beholding may be convinced of the utility and pleasure of labouring to procure a subsistence, in preference to their depending on the uncertainty of the chase. Examples presented to the eye of an Indian, do far more to convince, than fine speeches directed to the understanding.

The Mission Family are in general health. Several have had slight touches of the ague and fever. Ill health has occasioned the delay in finishing this letter. Yours in esteem, SAMUEL NEWTON.

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