with Sir James Brooke, on Penang Hill, to recruit his wife's strength before returning to Sarawak.

The past year has been one of severe trial to the family of the excellent missionary Mr. M'Dougall. After the serious illness of his wife and the death of their infant had obliged them to sail for Singapore, Mr. M‘Dougall writes (February 6th, 1850) :—

"Since our arrival here, we have again been called upon to go through the deep waters of affliction. After watching and vainly endeavouring to alleviate the sufferings of our darling child Harry (whom you may remember having seen in England), we have been called upon to resign him into our Heavenly Father's hands. It is a sad, sad blow to us both, especially to his mother, who has herself so lately escaped the very jaws of death. May God strengthen us to bear this trial aright, and learn thereby to fix all our hopes and thoughts on that home where alone true joys are to be found. Pray for us, that good may come out of this sorrow."

It is very satisfactory to be able to state that the last accounts of Mrs. M'Dougall's health are more favourable, and that change of air and scene seem to have had the effect which her husband's hope anticipated.

The following extracts from the last letters received are of considerable interest :

"Penang Hill, April 6th.

"We arrived here, in company with the Rajah, on the 20th of March, and on our way experienced fresh cause for thankfulness in the protecting Providence of God, which preserved us from a watery grave; for the Hooghly, which conveyed us, was, when near Malacca, run into by a heavily-laden merchant vessel. Had the collision happened a few seconds sooner than it did, she would have struck us amidships, and from her size, and the rate she was going through the water, would have inevitably gone over As it was, she struck us well astern, and did but little comparative damage. We were all on deck at the time, and saw and felt our danger, and most heartily did we return thanks to our Almighty Preserver when it was past. The next morning, being Sunday, I made our escape the subject of my sermon, and I trust we shall all take warning thereby, to devote the remainder of our lives to God, who so mercifully preserved them.

us.

"We hope to return to Singapore, en route for Sarawak, in about three weeks' time. Soon after my return I hope to be enabled to open our church for public service. The glass windows, pulpit, desk, font, &c., are all now in hand at Singapore, and will be ready for me to take back on my return. For the font I have procured a large clam shell, large enough to immerse a child. It is of an elegant scallop shape, and when cleaned with acid, which will make it of a beautiful pearly white both within and without, and mounted on an ebony pedestal, will look exceedingly well, and be both cheaper and handsomer than any I could get made out here. The east window is of coloured glass, given by my friend Mr. Jackson, the assistant resident at Singapore. The central light will represent the Sarawak cross, a red and purple cross on a golden

ground. It is the national flag, and will please the native eye, besides being an appropriate Christian emblem. When our interior is complete, I will send you some drawings of it. I hear the Bishop of Calcutta is coming to Singapore this autumn,— would it not be well to write and request him to consecrate the church? While at Singapore, I completed my translation of the Church Catechism into Malay, for the use of our school children. I have left copies of it with Mr. Keasbury, at Singapore, and with Mr. Laidstedt, the chaplain at Malacca, a good Malay scholar, to revise it and make their remarks thereon; and when I return to Singapore, I intend getting a few copies lithographed by Mr. Keasbury for our immediate use, and purpose moreover taking a man over from Singapore to work our little press at Sarawak, so that we can print it there, together with several other lessons, &c., that we require."

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The application here suggested has since been made to the Bishop of Calcutta, and we have seen a private letter from his Lordship expressing his intention to comply with it. "I am to be at Singapore," he writes, Christmas, 1850, and as it is only five hundred miles from thence to Sarāwak (!) I can go and return in a week if Sir James Brooke will send a steamer for me. I shall take a hundred pounds in my pocket." All honour again to the Colonial Episcopate! The Bishop of Calcutta is even older than his hardy

brother of Toronto.

Since their Report the Committee have published an admirable "Address,” accompanied by letters from Sir James Brooke and Mr. M'Dougall, setting forth the remarkable openings which now present themselves for the Gospel in consequence of the entire suppression of piracy. The latest accounts state that a memorial had been forwarded, signed by about fifty of the principal chiefs of Sarebus and Sakarran, pledging themselves never to commit piracy again, and to do all in their power to prevent it. These chiefs are said to represent two hundred and fifty Dyak villages. They propose speedily to make a pilgrimage to Sarawak to confirm their pledges, where Mr. M'Dougall will be in constant and friendly communication with them, and to whom they have already sent a petition for missionaries.

Sir James Brooke mentions another cluster of Dyak tribes, containing fifty thousand souls, ready to receive the white man's religion; and another within and around the province of Sarawak, containing probably thirty thousand. Within the ken of the settlement of Sambas, Mr. Earl calculated that there were two hundred and fifty thousand Dyaks, and Mr. Dalton, an English merchant, who penetrated a considerable distance up the Coti river, on the east coast, where he lived fifteen months the guest of Dyak tribes, calculated that there were two hundred and seventy thousand Dyaks under three principal chiefs. By Mr. M'Dougall's letter to the noble earl, the chairman of this Committee, it appears probable that these tribes are connected, by a continuous line of towns and villages, with the Dyaks on the north-west. All recent evidence goes to confirm the opinion that the island is well watered by

frequent and cooling showers, as well as by numerous springs and streams which abound in the interior. If the facts be so, the native population (the great object of this Mission) probably amounts to four or five millions, instead of two, as had been generally estimated, though the existence of such a number of human beings would be almost miraculous, with the checks which are known to exist from disease, internal wars, and a horrid superstition, under which human sacrifice has been carried to a greater extreme than among any other human race.

(To be Continued.)

MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.