Church missionary intelligencer

labour in the building of the church himself, to save the Society. "We are not well enough off," he writes, "to make the Society a present of part of our salary, but if we save expense it is just the same.'

The Bishop of Saskatchewan has sent the following interesting journal of a visit lately paid by him to Asisippi:

May 6, 1881.-Started from Prince Albert in company with the Rev. Canon Mackay, C.M.S. Secretary. The same day we crossed the Saskatchewan at Carlton, and camped about a mile beyond the river.

May 7. - Continued our journey. About 3 p.m. we reached Snake Plain, the first Indian Reserve. It is a very fine section of country, well wooded and watered, the soil being good and well adapted for farming. We had service in the chief's house-thirty persons present. I addressed them at some length, explaining the work that the Church Missionary Society had done among their brethren at Red River, Moose, Athabasca, and throughout Rupert's Land generally, and expressing my regret that in their anxiety to have a separate missionary stationed at Snake Plain, the chief and some of the people should have separated themselves from Mr. Hines' Mission and invited a Presbyterian minister to come amongst them, after all he had done for them. The service was conducted in Cree by Canon Mackay. I was much pleased to notice how heartily they joined in it.

The

After service we left for Asisippi, which we reached the same night and where we were hospitably entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Hines. The country through which we passed is very beautiful and contains a great deal of good farming land. The Reserve at Asisippi is well chosen, and possesses every natural advantage in the way of wood, water, and good soil, to render it a most desirable location for the Indians. Mission buildings are excellent. The church is a neat, substantial edificejust what I should call a model Mission church. It owes much of its neatness to the personal efforts of Mr. Hines, who did a great deal towards it with his own hands. The dwelling-house is commodious and comfortable, strongly and neatly built, and likely to last for many years. I cannot help thinking that independently of the comfort of the missionary it is a great point gained to have a neat and comfortable Mission house. It becomes in some sort a model

for the Indians. In the neat, tidy appearance of some of their small dwellinghouses I recognized the effect of the excellent example set before them by Mr. Hines.

Sunday, May 8.-Morning service in the church (St. Mark's) at 10.30. The service was conducted in Cree by the Rev. Canon Mackay and Rev. Mr. Hines. I was pleased to notice the ease and clearness with which Mr. Hines read the service. He has mastered the language so well that he can now preach in it and converse with the people readily. My sermon was interpreted by the Rev. Canon Mackay. I then confirmed fiftytwo persons, including " Star Blanket," the chief of the Asisippi Indians, and two of his councillors. Of these, eight were from the Snake Plain Reserve, one being a councillor. The latter, an old man, walked the whole distance of twenty-five miles to be present at the service. In the afternoon there was a second service, when Canon Mackay preached, and Holy Communion was administered to twenty-eight persons. I stated that I would be glad to meet the heads of families in the school-house on Monday.

May 9.-A meeting was held of the heads of families in the school-house. There was a full attendance. I addressed them with special reference to the progress made at Asisippi, and the state of things at Snake Plain Reserve. I pointed out that the fact of eight persons having come all the way from that Reserve to Asisippi to be confirmed and to partake of Holy Communion was a sufficient proof that they valued their connexion with the Church of England Mission, and that, therefore, both Mr. Hines and myself felt that it would be his duty to visit and exercise a pastoral charge over these members of the Church, and any others who might prefer remaining in connexion with the C.M.S. Mission.

I then invited any of the Indians present to narrate their experiences and give their views. The first who stood up was the councillor from Snake Plain. He said, "I am much rejoiced at the

prospect of the Mission being continued at the Snake Plain. I love the Church of England, her services, her teaching, her Prayer Book. I never miss an opportunity of attending the church at Asisippi for Holy Communion, though I travel twenty-five miles to do so."

The next speaker was Utukwukoop, or "Star Blanket," the chief of the Asisippi Indians. He is a fine, intelligent-looking old man, and has used his influence among the Indians in forwarding the work of the Mission. He said, "I am glad to see you. My heart has been full of thankfulness these two days. I was once a poor heathen-ignorant of God. I heard the truth of the Gospel through Mr. Hines. For a time I was unsettled, but now I believe in the Saviour, and never have any desire to return to my old ways. In old times I have camped on the very spot where the church is now standing. I was then engaged in hunting or making war. thank God for what I see to-day. I regard the buildings of the Mission as God's work, and the coming of the Bishop seems to be the completion of the work. The Indians of my band have the same thankful feelings as myself. With God's help I will give all the aid I can to the Mission as long as I have strength to sit up. I do not claim credit for turning my people to the Christian religion, it was their own wish."

Star Blanket was followed by his brother, Jacob Susukwumos, a councillor. He said, "I, too, am thankful for what I see to-day. I almost cried yesterday when I saw the Bishop and two clergymen in our church. I have been not only a heathen, but a conjuror or medicine-man. I knew every heathen superstition: I paid to be taught all the mysteries. God has seen fit to change my mind, and I am now a Christian. The change must have come from God-it could not have come from myself. God showed me that I was in the power of the Evil One, and that I could only escape by coming to Jesus. Both I and the others here were brought to the Saviour by God's blessing on the teaching of Mr. Hines. I heard in church yesterday, that heathen superstitions are crumbling away, and that Christianity is growing and spreading. I believe that this is true. I am thankful to see the church completed_and the Mission growing so strong. I re

member that in my heathen days I once camped with my wife and child on the very spot where the church is now built. It was evening, and I was sitting_just where the church door now is. I felt very lonely-just like a beast, for I knew not God. I little thought then, though no doubt God had ordained it, that in the very place where I sat, the church would be built, and that my wife would be the first buried there. She was then, like myself, a poor heathen, but before she died she was brought to Jesus, and was a baptized member of His Church. Her favourite hymn during her last illness was:

"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,

And did my Sovereign die?'"

When he had finished, Peter Kakasoo (the hider) rose and said, "From the first time I heard the Gospel I believed it, and tried to follow it. My constant effort has been to help the progress of the work. I hope we shall receive a supply of Cree Prayer Books in the syllabic character. They are much wanted in the Mission." On inquiry I found that this Indian was the first man baptized at Asisippi by Mr. Hines ; that he then became a Scripture reader to the Indians in the plains, and that he has been a great help to Mr. Hines.

The chief, Star Blanket, now spoke again. He said, While I was still a heathen some of my children were baptized by a Roman Catholic priest. I was away on the war-path when the priest came to my tent, and baptized my two children. My wife told me of it on my return. From time to time the priest came to my camp and baptized one after another of my children. I myself was never at home when he came, and both my wife and myself remained heathen. My children, as they grew older, were never taught anything by the priest. They grew up quite ignorant of Christianity. Once I happened to be at Carlton when the Roman Catholic Bishop came there and hired me for a journey. When we camped at night the Bishop asked me to come to prayers. I said I knew nothing about it-that I did not know what prayer meant. The Bishop asked me if I hated religion, and I said I knew nothing about it. I asked the Bishop what was the use of the priest baptizing my children,

of my children, who were baptized by the Roman Catholic priest, were instructed by Mr. Hines, and confirmed yesterday.'

Before the meeting closed the chief's brother stated in conversation that not one of the children baptized by the Roman Catholic priest had ever received any instruction from him. All that they know has been taught them by Mr. Hines, and his Native helper, David Stranger. The councillor from Snake Plain added that his children, six in number, had been baptized by Mr. Hines one of them is since dead. Both he and his wife were also baptized by Mr. Hines.

and then teaching them nothing. I also said that if the Bishop would send some one to teach them I would allow it to be done. The Bishop promised to send a priest as teacher in about a year from that time, but I waited eleven years and no teacher came. At last Mr. Hines arrived, and began to teach from the Bible. I invited him to be our minister. In a short time he established his Mission here. Some time after this I again saw the Roman Catholic Bishop. He told me I had done wrong in going to a Protestant minister. I replied that the Roman Catholic priest had done nothing but baptize my children-that he had let them grow up without giving them any instruction, and that he, the Bishop, had not kept his promise to send a priest as teacher. After I invited Mr. Hines to stay with my band, I spoke to the Snake Plain Indians and they all agreed to join in receiving instruction from him. I myself, my wife, and one of my children have been baptized by Mr. Hines. Four We do not know whether the Marquis of Lorne will extend his tour in the Great North-West as far as these remote stations; but if in the interesting accounts of his journey now appearing in the newspapers the Saskatchewan Territories should be mentioned, our readers will be glad to have ready to hand the above particulars of the Society's work there.

At the close of the school-house meeting, service was held in the church with second Confirmation, when six persons were confirmed who did not arrive in time for the Confirmation yesterday.

This makes 58 persons confirmed on this occasion at Asisippi.

J. SASKATCHEWAN.

BISHOP FRENCH ON EDUCATION IN THE PUNJAB. [THE following is an extract from a letter recently received by the Society from the Bishop of Lahore, whose weighty words on the necessity of maintaining the educational work initiated by it deserve to be pondered.]

OU will have during this year much converse with our brother Bateman, whom our dear Lord has so singularly blest in making him a chosen vessel to bear His name before so many of the Punjabi youths, and girded him with the keys whereby entrance has been given to so many into the Church of Christ, and you will learn from him in how many cases the first impres sions have been made by school instruction at Amritsar, Narowal, Lahore, Kangra, Peshawar, and other Christian schools in the Punjab, and it is most certain that a large Bible-reading population is thus being created in the Punjab and light is being carried into many homes. Constant testimony is borne by our civilians to the growth of enlightenment, and of honest, thoughtful search after truth, as well as of honest, conscientious discharge of duty in posts occupied in the public service. An English officer engaged in the land settlement, very plain-spoken, and a penetrating observer of Native character, said to me a month ago that a Native official of the higher classes begged him to allow him to ride alone with him for some distance, and opened his heart to him much as follows:-" Sir, mul

titudes of us are becoming Christians; but for our families, and the bitterness of giving them up, we should at once openly confess ourselves such." This was a man brought up in a Christian school, and, like so many, bearing about with him an overwhelming conviction of the truth of the Gospel. This diffusion of light, and infiltration of faith into the Punjab people would be very largely increased, please God, if the staff of Christian Native teachers were not reduced to a minimum in all our schools (except perhaps the Peshawar). English being read up to a high standard, Christian teaching must be communicated also by men who have read for a B.A. degree, and whose stipends must rise proportionately: such as Baboo Singhi, and Datta (of Peshawar). To commit the Christian instruction of the second and third classes in our schools to men of inferior mark and training to these would be in danger of seriously damaging and curtailing a work which will yield abundant matter of praise and rejoicing before so very long, I believe, to the Church of God. A man came to me three days ago as I was walking in Lahore (he had come in search of me), and said, "Sir, I want you to come and look at a little girls' school I have just established for some zemindars' daughters, about twenty of them" (four miles from Lahore, at a village he described), "in order to teach them English: I want it to be a missionary school distinctly, and I want you to come and see it and examine it, and advise me." Here was a man who has been in rather high government employ, and expecting to rise higher, doubtless brought up in a Christian College, and bent on founding a missionary girls' school. I promised to ride with him on Thursday next at an early hour to have a look at this school and counsel him. The earnestness of this man, not as yet baptized, was striking, and betrays the approach (God knows how soon) of a new order of things, and the breaking in of a broadening stream of Gospel light and liberty. But our Missionary Principals-men like Jukes, Fisher, Briggs, Bambridge, and Shirt, all of whose schools I have been lately examining in their Scriptural knowledge, so far as time permitted, in successive visitations this cold season, must be effectively supported by a band of Native Christian brethren, and to reduce this in number and efficiency by untimely retrenchments would very seriously weaken their hands, depress their energies, and impair the fruit of their zealous and most self-denying labours. I would make a most solemn and searching appeal, if I could, in behalf of their being regarded as the very last whose staff should be reduced in the number or calibre of the men to be employed in the subordinate Christian teaching. Now that the Delhi Cambridge Mission has a B.A. class for the Lahore University on the eve of receiving its diploma, I trust-this class in the first instance to be limited to the head teachers of Mission schoolsit is a most critical period in regard to our whole educational work in the province, and I pray God that nothing may stay your hands from giving full and added effect to the deep-seated hold that work is taking (if I am not grossly deceived) of the hearts of many, many youths and full-grown men amongst us here and in Sindh. Individual proofs and instances of this our brethren Jukes and Bateman are best able to supply.

The Baboos of Bengal are viewing with jealous eye the rapid rise of the Punjab into a province of educational distinction and merit. This has curiously come out of late in attempts to ridicule the proposed university, on which sturdy old Sikhs (among whom one might as little have expected to find a Kirjath Sepher [City of Books] as among the Anakim) have set their hearts with a singular perseverance and strength of determination.

THE MONTH.

N the paragraph last month respecting the Secretariat, it should have been mentioned in addition that valuable temporary assistance has been and is being given, under the circumstances of exceptional pressure then referred to, by the Rev. J. B. Whiting. He has been conducting important correspondence, as Acting Secretary pro tem., with the Missions in both West and East Africa, and in Palestine; and the knowledge gained by him while engaged as one of the deputation to Madeira in February last has proved of great value. General Hutchinson and the Rev. R. Lang will enter upon their regular work on October 1st.

By the death of the Rev. F. Arthur Buxton, of Easneye, on July 25th, the Society has lost a true friend, and the Committee one of the most active of its younger members.

WE regret to announce the death of Miss C. Young, who had laboured for a short time, but with much zeal and efficiency, as a teacher at the Annie Walsh Female Institution, Sierra Leone. She returned home on sick leave a few months ago, and entered into rest on Aug. 3rd.

It is hoped that the contemplated strengthening of the Persia Mission will be effected by the transfer of the Rev. J. J. Bambridge from Sindh. Mr. Bambridge's interesting notes of a voyage he took up the Persian Gulf will not have been forgotten (Intelligencer, October 1880). At the same time the Sindh Mission is to be reinforced by the return to Karâchi of the Rev. A. E. Cowley, who formerly laboured there, but who subsequently joined his father, Archdeacon Cowley, in Rupert's Land, and became minister of St. Clement's, Red River, one of the Society's congregations now independent. Mr. Cowley has for some time been anxious to work again in India, and the improved financial position of the Society has now enabled the Committee to sanction his return.

The Rev. James Martin, one of the nine Islington men ordained at St. Paul's on June 29th, has been selected as the additional missionary for Fuh-chow; and we hope shortly to be able to announce appointments to the Niger, and to the important post of Secretary of the Palestine Mission. The Rev. H. A. Bren, son of the respected head of the Society's Preparatory Institution at Reading, who lately offered for missionary service, is to be Principal of the Robert Money School at Bombay, the Rev. T. Carss having resigned that office after several years' zealous and able service.

LETTERS are to hand from Uganda dated April 10th, from Kagei May 15th, and from Uyui June 14th. As they only arrived on Aug. 22nd, we can but summarize the contents in a few lines. Mr. O'Flaherty and Mr. Stokes, with the Waganda envoys, reached Rubaga on March 18th, and were received very warmly by Mtesa, who has sent a letter to the Queen respecting them. Mr. Stokes and Mr. Pearson then left Uganda, and crossed the Lake to Kagei, where they found Mr. Litchfield very ill. Leaving Mr. Pearson there, Mr. Stokes came on to Uyui, bringing Mr. Litchfield with him. The latter was going to Urambo when the mail left, to consult

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