breadth was 90 miles, his height 9,000; his roar was like thunder; his tusks were white, sharp, and fearful; fire flashed from his eyes like lightning. So is he described in one of the Puránas or sacred writings. In the subterranean regions he is encountered by a demon, Hiranyáksha (the golden eyed), who claimed the earth as his own. Speedily vanquishing this opposing demon he bore up the earth upon his mighty tusks. Into the cavities made by his feet the waters of the deluge rushed with thundering noise, and the orb of the earth was seen supported on his tusks, as though he had been sporting in a lake, and borne off a lotus-flower from its surface!

Then from the regions of the blessed was heard the chorus of the saints, who, inspired with delight, and lowly bending before the sterneyed supporter of the earth, sang "Triumph, Lord of Lords, supreme! Thine eyes, O omnipotent, are day and night. They who know true wisdom, and whose minds are pure, behold this whole world as one with divine knowledge, as one with thee, O god!" The mighty boar quickly placed the earth on the surface of the ocean, where it floats like a vast vessel. He then divided it by mountains as of old, and created in it all forms of being; and thus was his work completed.

Such is the absurd history, taken almost literally from their sacred books, of one of the fabled incarnations of a Hindû Deity. Who does not earnestly long and pray for the time when the true Incarnation, the WORD that was made flesh," shall become known to the millions of India, that they may, believing on Him, obtain "eternal life."

G. U. P.

DEATH OF BISHOP COLERIDGE.

The Missions of the Church of England have sustained a heavy loss in the sudden removal of this laborious and exemplary Bishop. He was consecrated, in the opening flower of manhood's prime, to the see of Barbados in the West Indies, which at that time comprehended the present dioceses of Antigua and Guiana, and was one of the most laborious fields among our Colonial Bishoprics. In this arduous station he continued, winning all who knew him by the grace and vigour of his character, till the year 1842, when he thought fit, though still in good health, and with his noble figure scarcely bowed by age, to give place to younger minds, and returned to England. On his resignation, Dr. Parry was consecrated to Barbados, Dr. Davis to Antigua, and Dr. Austin to Guiana: the vacancy having been taken advantage of to increase the number of our chief pastors abroad.

Bishop Coleridge was now, for some little time, unemployed; till on the erection of the Missionary College of St. Augustine at Canterbury, (of which our readers must some day have an account), he was selected by the late Archbishop of Canterbury, who had always a just opinion of his merits, for the post of Warden. The choice was felt to be eminently felicitous, both as regarded the individual, and the distinguished order to which he belonged. Of his conduct in this situation, the following extract from the letter of one who visited the College, but a short time before it sustained its present bereavement, may afford a just idea.

"On Sunday morning (Dec. 9), the chapel service was at half-past nine; the Warden preached a sermon that seemed to be well suited to the congregation; it was both instructive and devotional. He made use of the occasion to speak of the good Queen Dowager, and quite naturally introduced some special Missionary remarks. You may easily believe that I was very thankful to receive, once more in that chapel, with some of the best friends I have in the world, the holy communion, which (by the statutes) is administered there weekly, besides holy days. *

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"The first requisite to the successful conduct of such an institution is found here, in the active, energetic, and fatherly care and superintendence of the Warden. Every one felt that he was under his watchful and considerate eye, and nothing seemed to escape him. From the servants upward, he knew what each had to do, and saw that he did it. The studies, the amusements, the health, the spiritual welfare of the young men individually, were objects of his interest and regard. From the tradesmen's bills to the cure of souls, he gave his mind to the least and to the greatest things in their due proportion. Do you recollect that Sewell says in his Journal of a Residence at S. Columba, that the Warden, while arranging the system of a moral and spiritual cducation for the youths in all its extent, did not forget the smallest details of house management; which he illustrates, by the fact of his buying a mousetrap, and giving an organ! It is this faculty, so needful in conducting great works, which you and I have so often admired in the Bishop of New Zealand."

The sermon, which is here alluded to, must have been one of the last -perhaps the very last,-preached by Bishop Coleridge. His frank, kindly, and spiritual intercourse with the Missionary Students was on the point of terminating. He went down into Devonshire for the Christmas vacation, and as he was walking over his fields, employing on some little agricultural detail the active mind which had just parted from the pulpit and the Warden's chair, he was suddenly seized with

faintness. He had just time to exclaim that he felt very ill, when he fell into his bailiff's arms, and in a few minutes had ceased to breathe! His death was occasioned by an attack of the heart.

He has gone to the grave, not only with the tears of a large and affectionate circle of relatives and private friends, and the lasting regrets of many juniors and dependants, but attended by the tender respect and lamentations of hundreds, who (like ourselves) knew him only by the report of his piety and virtue, and "esteemed him very highly in love for his work's sake."

OTAGO IN NEW ZEALAND.

Among the papers, which have reached us from the Colonies, is a weekly sheet called the Otago News. Though the settlement is little more than a year old, it rejoices in a second newspaper, called the Otago Journal: and considering that the whole population of the capital and the country adjacent is but 760 souls, this appears to be a sufficient supply of periodical literature.

The capital town is called Dunedin: it is situate at the head of a bay, having a port, (called by the natives Koputai, but by the settlers designated Port Chalmers), about midway between the town and the entrance to the harbour. The first party of settlers embarked for Otago on 23rd November 1847, and the first anniversary of the settlement was celebrated at Dunedin, on the 23rd and 24th March 1849. Sailing and rowing matches, with hurdle races, and a ball at the conclusion, attended by forty or fifty ladies and gentlemen, attested the satisfaction of the colonists with the origin and progress of their settlement.

We cannot say, however, that we are particularly enchanted with the accounts now given us of their moral and social prosperity. The price of provisions is high; beef, 7d. and 8d. per pound; bread, 10d. the 4lb. loaf; and cheese (from Port Cooper, in New Zealand), 1s. 6d, and 2s. the pound. Wood, also, (the fuel of the country) is noted as an expensive article; and clothing is about 50 or 60 per cent. above the home price. On the other hand, wages are scarcely high enough in proportion; mechanics averaging from five to seven shillings a day, and labourers from three to four. There is a great demand, we are told, for agricultural labourers, shepherds, and general servants; to whom our journal promises the following scale of wages:-shepherds, from £30 to £40 per annum, with rations for themselves and wives; labourers and farm servants, from £20 to £30, with rations; female servants, from £12 to £20.

The town "is but moderately supplied with good water," and the streets, which are 66 feet wide, "will, in time, be drained and gravelled!" From a table of ships entered inwards and outwards beyond seas, we observe that 17 vessels have arrived with cargoes of cattle, sheep, and sundries, but the trade of the settlement has only mustered exports enough for one-a cargo of oil and bones to the South Seas and the United States. About 40 vessels, however, are reported as sailing coastwise to other parts of New Zealand, but the nature of their cargoes is not stated.

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The rent of land from the New Zealand company is £4 a year for a quarter of an acre of town land, for three years, with a valuation at the end of that time for the buildings upon it: and £4, also, for a section of 10 acres in the suburbs, for the same period-valuation allowed for improvements. The usual rent charged for dwelling houses (of wood) is about 25 per cent., and in some instances 35, on their original value. The weather is described as "very variable," particularly from April to July, which is the wet season. The rain is generally accompanied with a "cool" southwest wind: the town is also exposed to strong winds from the north-east. The thermometer ranges from a mean average of 68 to 54: frost and snow are rare, and summer heats seldom exceed 80 degrees in the shade. Dunedin already boasts of a police magistrate, two physicians, one solicitor, three merchants, two butchers, two bakers, five shoe makers, one tailor, and several carpenters, sawyers, and "store-keepers;" which last, we suppose, includes the keepers of dram shops: for Otago is a Scottish settlement, and our northern brethern are little likely to leave the whisky entirely uncared for.

Our readers will observe that no clergyman is enumerated in this list, and we believe there is not one, nor at present likely to be one, in the settlement. Religion, however, has not been forgotten;

on the contrary, we have a long article, headed "Religious Institutions," which professes to be addressed "to men imbued with Christian principle, who set a high value upon religious ordinances, and the means of a Christian education." There is an edifice, also, we find, already “set apart for a church, a plain wooden building, with a public library appended." A "manse" too, is mentioned, though not a minister. The fact is, that the established religion in Otago is, or is to be, that of the Free Church of Scotland," and it is instructive to observe how cleverly these opponents of establishments at home contrive one for themselves at the antipodes. Out of the price paid for the land, it appears that five shillings an acre is to be set apart for the purposes of this sect, but " all denominations are at liberty, if they think fit, to provide other institu

tions for themselves." The Otago Journal, however, argues very gravely, that "Christian men will prefer to avail themselves of the institutions provided, though these may not, in everything, conform to their own ideas." (Did the Free Church do so in Scotland?) This paper, also, defends the establishment of the Free Kirk from the accusation of violating" civil and religious liberty," on the ground, that "the particular denomination to be preferred" is declared before-hand, and liberty is given to all others to establish themselves at their own expense!

How much more forcibly these arguments apply to the Church at home, established by our ancestors, not as a particular denomination which they happened to prefer, but as the One True Church of the SAVIOUR in whom they believed, our readers need not be told. Whether they will accomplish the object aimed at in Otago, we may be permitted to doubt. It is not likely, for instance, that our own Church will forego her Mission in that part of the world (should circumstances call upon her to exercise it), because a sect, which arose out of a quarel in Scotland a few years since, has "declared before-hand" its intention to be preferred in Otago. For the present, however, it appears that neither minister nor school-master of any kind is numbered among its inhabitants. Possibly the "Police Magistrate" is discharging both functions during the interim.