Mysore Commission. It lies opposite the best passes between Madras and the west coast, and from it branch out roads to Bellary on the north, to Mangalore on the India ocean, as well as to all parts of the province of Mysore itself. Immense trade too is carried through it, thus complet ing the other elements by which its importance is determined. But there are other large towns in the province. Chittledroog, the head of a Subdivision, has 14,000 people. Goobee with 6000; Coonghul with 10,000 and Toomkoor are all purely native towns. Mysore, the residence of the deposed Raja, is also a most important spot; as well as the decayed town of Seringapatam. The people which occupy this immense territory are the Canarese. They are an interesting race; thoroughly Hindu; and have been little affected by the Musalmán conquest of India which fell on them from Bijnagar. Their simple village habits, government, hospitality, and gentleness still continue; Europeans even having had but little intercourse with them.

They have been almost entirely neglected by missionary societies. The first attempt at missionary labour among them was made by Mr. Hands and Mr. Reeve of the London Missionary Society at Bellary, at the very north of the Canarese territory, in 1810. Mr. Hands by whom the station was opened had great disadvantages to contend with in native work. He had neither Grammar, Dictionary, nor Vocabulary: he had to form all for himself: but met his difficulties with a patient spirit and soon began to conquer them. Meanwhile he made friends among the Europeans, for whose good he maintained regular services: and opened a free school for the destitute children of the soldiery. He thus sought to be useful to his countrymen, while yet unable to speak the Canarese tongue. In 1813, he established an English school for the natives, selecting the best scholars in the Telugu and Canarese schools. He began also to translate the Bible and was aided in this work by his colleague Mr. Reeve. Subsequently a native church was founded, boarding schools were opened: and a mission press established. A second Canarese mission was begun in 1820 at Bangalore, a more central station than Bellary, by two missionaries of the same Society. At first much attention was paid to the large English population in the Cantonment: and to the Tamil people connected with them. As the town of Bangalore was under the Government of the Mysore Raja, the missionaries could not venture to preach in its bazars and streets to the Canarese population. They endeavoured however to get their native teachers placed in the surrounding towns and on one occasion resorted to an ingenious device to secure their

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object which may be noticed. There is a custom among Hindus, when one native wishes to obtain a gift from another, which is at first refused, that he should sit pertinaciously at his door, day after day, until his request is granted. As any evil which may happen to him is superstitiously believed to revert to the person who refuses, such a proceeding is much dreaded. It is called sitting in dherna. When Mr. Campbell wished to get ground for his catechist's house in a town near Bangalore, and had obtained the Raja's order, the Foujdar who was hostile, purposely delayed executing it. Mr. Campbell then said to one of his catechists; "Now, Jacob, you must go every day to the cutchery and sit in dherna on the Foujdar, while we pray for success.” For six weeks he went, each day reminding the Foujdar that he waited for his final orders: and at length they were issued. Things went on unsatisfactorily for ten years, till 1830; when the system of government was changed, the province was taken under the charge of the Hon. East India Company and the way for preaching the gospel every where was opened in the fullest degree. A very interesting fact occurred in connection with this change of government which made a deep impression on the people and is worth mentioning. In order to see it well carried out, Lord William Bentinck, then Governor-General, went up to the Mysore: but he travelled without escort of any kind. The country people were astounded when they saw him riding alone in his palankeen, and conceived from the circumstance the highest idea both of his character and of English greatness. "Why! say they to this day, if only a little Polygar goes to the next village, he must have his guards and attendants with their swords, and so on: but here the man that rules from the Himalaya to Rameswaram, comes as if he were nobody. Abáh! what a wonderful people you are!"

The Wesleyans established a mission in Bangalore in 1821: but it was long confined to English and Tamil services, the former of which were exceedingly useful among the soldiery. The Canarese mission was commenced in 1836 by Mr. Garrett: when an English school was established and a press put up. Both these establishments are now very efficiently conducted;-in fact almost more so than any of their kind that I saw out of Madras. The English school receives from the government a monthly allowance of three hundred and fifty rupees, and is admirably provided with materials for instruction. Both the missions at Bangalore are prosperous. Their services for the heathen; their Christian chapels in both native languages: their boarding, vernacular and English schools. are all maintained by a good staff of missionaries. There is one unfor

tunate circumstance about their location which may be noticed. The two missions, with their mission houses and land, stand side by side just out of the native town. This is not however their fault. The Wesleyans were there first; and when the London Missionaries were wishing to build their Canarese mission houses quite clear of the Cantonment, they chose a spot just away from the native town, but on the side opposite to that of their Wesleyan brethren. They then applied through the proper officer, to the head of the Mysore Commission for a grant of the land: but he replied: "What! do these missionary gentlemen want to SPREAD their webs like spiders, to catch the natives. No, no; put them down alongside of the others." And there unfortunately they are. The greatest harmony however has always prevailed between the brethren of the two bodies: they travel together, preach together, and are intimate personal friends. I had the pleasure of meeting the whole of them at one time during my short visit to Bangalore.

In the limited compass of these Lectures it is impossible to detail at length the history of these useful Missions: or to describe, as they deserve, the interesting events which have taken place during the growth of their prosperity. We might contemplate with pleasure the gradual progress of Canarese christian literature; the translation of the BIBLE; the compilation of the Dictionary; the preparation of the Grammars both in English and Canarese: the increase of christian tracts and schoolbooks and other useful labours of the presses at Bellary and Bangalore. We might shew the great benefits which have resulted from the Christian Boarding Schools, especially that at Bellary, under Mr. Reid: record the usefulness of the Theological Class at Bangalore; or detail the progress of the Native Churches. Most worthy too of special mention are the life, character and history of SAMUEL FLAVEL, the Native Pastor of the Bellary Church, whose steady consistency, fidelity and zeal for the Lord's work, present an excellent model for the imitation of his countrymen the native preachers. But all these things we must pass by, in order rather to describe the progress of the gospel among the people generally.

Instances might readily be multiplied of individual conversions that have occurred in connection with these various missions: all illustrating the silent but sure progress of the gospel, the difficulties in the way of its profession, and the all-powerful grace of the Saviour by which those difficulties are triumphantly overcome. One convert, in his heathen days the priest of a temple, said on his baptism at Goobee ;-"I have travelled

day by day to gather flowers; I have talked and put on temple garments; I have made offerings to the idols. Yet no idol, either in dreams or when awake, has said to me, 'Thy sins are forgiven; thou receivest salvation; thy sins are washed away.' I have fasted and prayed; but it has never said to me: Thou shalt escape hell and enjoy heaven.' The idol is a lie, I forsake it and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and God." How many have borne similar testimony: and for the same reasons have passed over from the domains of Hinduism, into the kingdom and church of Christ.

At the present time in the purely Canarese country, the Mysore and Balaghat (of which Bellary is the capital), there are seven missionary stations, with sixteen missionaries and fifteen catechists. The church members are 284 in number, and the Christian community consists of 736 individuals. The only boarding schools are in the London Missions at Bellary and Bangalore: they contain forty-three boys and sixty girls. These schools have been found extensively useful, and from them have come forth several useful labourers in the mission; both school teachers and native preachers. Twenty vernacular boys' schools are maintained in and around the principal stations, with 560 scholars; and five girls' day-schools with 130 girls. Five hundred boys are studying in the English schools.

It will be seen from this statement that a great deal more might be done for the MYSORE, than what is doing at the present time. Only Bangalore and Bellary are well maintained stations. Yet the whole country, salubrious and healthy, with a simple and intelligent people, is open to missions which, judging from the recent growth of the older stations, might soon be prosperous.

The state of public feeling with respect to Christianity is no longer what it was. Indifference in former days was added to ignorance. But the extensive itinerancies of the Missionaries, and the wide spread of tracts and portions of the Bible which are both read and talked over by the people, have enlightened them greatly as to the truths of the Bible, have excited a universal expectation of their ultimate triumph, and produced in many individual minds, the secret conviction that to be a Christian is both right and good. Mr. Hardey of Bangalore, the Wesleyan Missionary, in one of his recent Reports has furnished some remarkable illustrations of this fact, which are best given in his own words.

In 1850, Messrs. Hardey and Sanderson took a tour of more than six hundred miles, from Mysore to Bangalore, and thence northward through

an immense number of villages and towns. They preached to thousands of people, many of whom had never heard the gospel before, and distributed a large number of scriptures and tracts. Their hearers listened with marked attention. In places where Christian truth was somewhat known, there was opposition and fierce argument: and in one village, the sight of a converted brahmin excited a tremendous outburst of rage. In the large towns of Davanagerry and Chittledroog, the interest aroused by their visit was intense, and visibly increased during their stay. Congregations of all classes amounting sometimes to five hundred persons, heard their addresses with solemn stillness. Missionaries had never been there before. "In journeying through the country," says Mr. Morris of Coonghul, "one sees temples left to decay, the worship of idols rejected and ceremonies abolished. We want an increase of human instrumentality, under Divine Providence and grace. Had we more labourers much might be done." In Bidnagairy for eight years the people have forsaken their temple, declaring that as the idol could not protect himself, he is no God. They assert also that they are Christians: but like hundreds in Bengal, they have never had the courage and grace needed to profess the gospel. The same thing happened at Singonhully near Goobee. A missionary one day going near the temple of Runga found that it wore a very desolate appearance. Might he go in ?-he asked of the people. Oh yes, he was at perfect liberty. With his shoes and hat? Yes: it did not matter. He went in and found the whole going to ruin. He asked the reason and was told the following story. "You one day told us that Runga could not be God, because he could do nothing for himself; much less could he do good to us who worshipped. We thought this was a wise speech, and agreed to leave the god alone and try. We soon found that his light went out; and that his garlands of flowers became dry and shrivelled. Moreover just at that time, the roof fell in over his head, exposing him to the heat and rain. We saw that he was helpless and there we left him." Who will say after such a fact that missionary labours are useless? The people of that village have not however embraced the gospel. One man was most reluctant to hold intercourse with the missionaries, apparently dreading its results. That man was the first to come out, and he and his family, now grown up, have proved most zealous and consistent christians.

In 1851, Mr. Hardey who was stationed at Bangalore thus spoke of his general preaching labours. "This year has been decidedly the most interesting I have known amongst the Natives. Our congregations have uniformly been large, and in general deeply attentive. We have always com

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