first elements of the gospel of Christ. He began also to translate the Gospel of Luke into their barbarous tongue. But it pleased God to take him away early and he lived not to see his efforts meet with any success. By his will he left that house and property to the mission; a gift equal in value to Rs. 30,000: desiring that the whole establishment might be maintained after his decease.

The Mission was properly commenced in 1846 by the Rev. G. Weigle, who was then visiting the Nilgiri Hills for his health, and was completing his revision of the Canarese Bible. It was intended to serve a double purpose, viz. both as a station for the local mountaineers, and as a sanatarium for the numerous missionaries stationed in Malabar and Canara. In the latter respect, it has proved of great utility to the mission generally while the former object has been also consistently kept in view. Mr. Weigle was soon joined by other labourers, and in a few years the settled staff at Kaity consisted of three missionaries, Messrs. Bühler, Metz and Moerike, who had made the Badaga language their special study. In carrying out their plans, the missionaries soon found that little opportunity existed for public preaching, and that they could best reach their ignorant charge by domestic visits and conversation. They have therefore maintained a constant system of itinerancy, and it is believed that but few of the natives on the hills have never heard the gospel from the lips of these indefatigable wanderers. They also established some schools; the scholars of which varied greatly in number with the fears or fickle disposition of their parents, or with the orders called forth by the policy of the heads of the tribe. To acts of kindness the poor are especially open: and the missionaries soon found that by gifts of medicine and attention to the sick, they had an access to the Badagas superior to every thing else. In one year they vaccinated no less than seven hundred children.

Hitherto they have received no converts, who have made a decided profession. Many have heard with attention, and many have expressed an interest in the truth. The name of Jesus has been uttered in prayer among their mountain torrents: and the New Testament daily worshipped as divine. By some the Saviour has been included among the number of their gods; by others he is feared as an enemy of their idols. The missionaries aware of these things, continue to visit and converse with the people, making their dim light clearer, and striving to remove their dense ignorance of every thing truly spiritual. They have recently added to their means of usefulness the translation of the Badaga Luke, begun

by Mr. Casamajor and finished by Mr. Bühler. They still visit the idol festivals and at the Badaga funerals, which multitudes are accustomed to attend, the missionaries are frequently present. So much is this the case, and so great is the increase of sound views, that the cry has recently been raised: "You have ruined our country: why do you come to all our festivals: stay at home!' They have sown widely the seed of the kingdom: who can doubt that the harvest will at length be reaped.

The mission which has been now briefly described is not carried on by English missionaries, under a Government to which they naturally belong, and in a society of which they are born members. It is a mission established and maintained by foreigners for the welfare of the subjects of a foreign government. But to labours like theirs, what English christian will not extend a hearty welcome, and pray for a hearty blessing. Fellow-believers in the great truth of salvation only by Jesus Christ, they have become fellow-workers with us in seeking the conversion of Hindustan. Thrice blessed be their purpose: thrice blessed their holy toil! Cut off even more than others from home and fatherland, may they feel the sacrifice a thousand-fold made up by Him, for whom it is made. May their work be light, and their hands be strong. May their converts increase, and give them purest joy. May they soon find their sphere of labour brought entirely into the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ!.

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LECTURE SECOND.

ON THE TAMIL MISSIONS

FROM MADRAS TO MADURA.

THE TAMIL COUNTRY.

The country occupied by the real TAMIL people is the plain which lies between the ghauts and the sea in the south-east part of the Presidency. It joins the Telugu land on the north; the river Kistna, between Nellore and Cuddapah, forming the boundary between them; and extends from that line southwards to Tinnevelly. This plain is nearly five hundred miles long and at its widest part, from Tranquebar to the foot of the Nilgiris, has a breadth of two hundred miles. Its soil is mostly dry, but several fine rivers, issuing from the ghauts run across it, of which the largest is the river Cavery. The country is watered twice a year. The north-east monsoon, blowing down the Bay of Bengal, brings large supplies of rain. The south-west monsoon, coming from the Indian Ocean in May, strikes the ghauts on the west coast and the high land of Mysore; and the rain thence produced, falling among the mountains, fills the rivers which run off towards the eastern coast: and thus the Tamil country receives large supplies of water for the second time without a drop of rain directly falling on it. This great plain contains some fine districts. The district of Chingleput, in which Madras is situated; as also Arcot and Chittoor, lie on its northern border. The districts of Salem and Coimbatoor lie along the ghauts, just under the Mysore province and the Nilgiris. Both are rocky districts and abound in various kinds of minerals. The province of Tanjore, between Coimbatoor and the sea is the most fertile of the whole. Its numerous rivers secure for the rich soil a larger supply of moisture than other provinces obtain: while again the value of this supply has been much increased by the canals and aqueducts which the Government has formed for spreading it over the widest surface. South of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, is the hilly district of Dindigul, and south of that again is Madura. Between them and the sea is Ramnad with the island and temple of Rameswaram. The Tamil

country is in general flat, and in some parts appears sandy; but in many places it is pierced by detached and lofty hills, which give a most pleasing variety to the scenery. In this way appear the hill and fort of Gingee near which is a petrified forest; the Cheveroi Hills of the Salem district; the granite hills of Mahavalipuram, out of which the Seven Pagodas are cut; and the noble rock at Trichinopoly, with the French and Fakir rocks in its neighbourhood. Thus also have been formed the majestic hills on which the fort of Dindigul is erected, and those which surround the ancient city of Madura. Most of these hills I have seen and climbed with that peculiar pleasure, which is derived only from the contrast of a many years' residence on a perfectly flat and common-place soil.

THE TAMIL PEOPLE.

The people of this great Tamil plain are in most respects like other Hindus. They dress pretty much like the people of Bengal, except that all respectable natives wear a chapkhan or long-skirted coat above the dhoti or body-dress, and a turban of rather singular shape. The women are fond of coloured dresses, which they wear rather short; and often leave the head uncovered out-of-doors: a thing never done in Upper India. The workmen exhibit in some places the same ingenuity and skill which are found in North India. The goldsmiths of Trichinopoly, with their curious chains, their filagree work, bracelets and pens; the makers of pith-temples, mosques and figures; the carvers in ebony; the painters on talc; and the polishers of opal and marble, furnish illustrations of this fact. The people generally are divided into castes, as Hindus are in North India, but one great peculiarity distinguishes them from the Hindus of the north: namely, the existence of an immense class of Parias or out-castes. There are low castes in Bengal; as for instance the Doms, the Chandáls of Backergunje, the Háris of Burdwan, and the Báuris of Midnapore; these are however limited in number, and constitute compact castes of themselves. But the Parias of Madras are much more numerous, and from the consequent efforts made by respectable men to maintain the superiority of their own families, are much more despised and trodden down. The Sudra again, who is a nobody in Bengal, because the members of all castes form the bulk of the population, in Madras, as being a Hindu by birth, becomes, in contrast to the Paria, a gentleman and man of rank. . This distinction between the races is carried very far throughout the Presidency: and we might be sure

even a-priori that it would have an influence upon the christian church. Woe to the poor man who is born a Paria! However he may rise in wealth or learning, there is degradation in store for him all his days. The Parias form in many parts a third or fourth of the population.

Another peculiarity in the population, utterly unknown in North India, is the distinction into right-hand and left-hand castes. This distinction appears to have had entirely a political origin. It arose seemingly from a deep-rooted quarrel between the five castes of artizans and the brahmins. The goldsmiths, carpenters, blacksmiths, stonemasons and braziers, affirm that they are equal, if not superior, to the brahmins, and have full right to appoint their own priests: that the brahmins are usurpers, and did not exercise their present amount of authority in ancient days. A deadly feud exist between the two parties: and the brahmins in revenge declare, that these five castes with a few others are not proper descendants of Hindus at all, that they are of doubtful origin, left-handed castes; and that other Hindus, including the poor Paria, are right-hand or genuine. The disputes of the two have been sometimes brought by petitions even into the Madras Council Chamber, but the Government has refused to interfere.

THE TAMIL LANGUAGE.

The population of all castes speak Tamil. This language like the people, possesses peculiarities unknown to the tongues of the Bengal Presidency. It is evidently not of Sanskrit origin, like Bengali and Oriya: but is one of the indigenous tongues of India, and merely possesses Sanskrit words thrown in upon the top of it, which words are unknown to all but the educated classes. It has a most complete and extensive literature of its own, distinct from the Hindu Shastres; amongst which are celebrated books of poetry, of moral sayings, of philosophy and also of history. It is worthy of note that the older these books are, the more thoroughly free do they appear from any admixture of Sanskrit. It is evident from such facts that the Tamils were a civilized people, before the brahmins and sudras under Agastya Muni fell upon, and subdued them. Those who have studied the question best, consider that all the languages of South India, the Telugu, Canarese, Máleálim, and Tamil are of Tartar origin; and that a very close affinity exists between them and the Mongolian tongues, both in actual words and in the inflexions of nouns and verbs. It has also been shewn by Dr. Muller in his Bengali Grammar, that

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