number require it. The whole congregation then kneeling down, a doxology is sung, and the service concluded, by pronouncing the blessing: after which the newly-baptized come to the missionaries into the vestry, and are exhorted to faithfulness and constancy in the performance of their baptismal vow. They are likewise taught to know and pronounce the names given to them. Their gratitude and compunction of heart, on these solemn occasions, are generally expressed more by tears than words." p. 49. The author having finished, for the present, his business at Groenekloof, determined to proceed without delay to Gnadenthal, the earliest of the missionary establishments in these quarters; and, to this end, made the best of his way to Cape Town. We were happy to peruse the following ob servations. "I spent the afternoon with the Reverend Mr. Hesse, who shewed me the church and premises belonging to the Lutheran congregation in this place. It is but of late years, that the Dutch would permit the Lutherans to have an establishment at the Cape. The spirit of toleration, introduced with the English government, has now set them quite at liberty; and it redounds much to their honour, that, though a small congregation, and not rich, they have made a most comfortable provision for their minister, and spared no expense in erecting a handsome church and parsonagehouse. Mr. Hesse's garden is filled with a great variety of singular plants, trees, and shrubs, the produce both of this and other southern regions." PP. 52, 53. The author's account of his journey to Gnadenthal is very entertaining, and our young readers, at least, will thank us for the few sentences in which he describes the mode of travelling. "If we were impatient to reach the end of our journey, our oxen seemed more so, for on being again yoked to the waggon, the Hottentots could hardly keep them from going off in a wild gallop. They almost ran over the boys who led the foremost. As the shaft-oxen cannot keep a waggon back on a steep descent, and a drag-chain does not always answer the purpose on these rough roads, the way of the Hottentots is to tack down a hill. To a traveller not accustomed to it, it appears rather dangerous to be driving among the heath, high bushes, mole-hills, and ants' nests, where in England there would be a certainty of oversetting, especially in turning so suddenly as these people do. But they guide fourteen or sixteen oxen with the greatest skill; and the length of the waggons, yielding to the unevenness of the road, keeps them upright, notwithstanding the violent jolting experienced by the travellers." p. 58. His description of the first approach to Gnadenthal must, especially if the reader could turn his eye at the same moment to the pleasing sketch which is designed to illustrate it, delight every humane mind. "Gnadenthal lies about an English mile from the ford; and as we drew nearer, the number of those who came to meet us, every moment increased. The entrance into the village is through lanes enclosed by hedge-rows, and the dwellings of the missionaries appear under a grove planted by the first three brethren, Marsveld, Schwinn, and Kuehnel, some time after their arrival in 1792. "Little do I now wouder at the rapture with which this place is spoken of by travellers, who, after traversing a dreary, uncultivated country, without a tree to screen them from the scorching rays of the sun, find themselves transported into a situation, by nature the most barren and wild, but now rendered fruitful and inviting, by the persevering diligence and energy of a few plain, pious, sensible, and judicious men, who came hither, not seeking their own profit, but that of the most despised of nations; and while they directed their own and their hearers' hearts to the dwellings of bliss and glory above, taught them those things, which have made even their earthly dwelling comparatively a kind of paradise, and changed filth and misery into comfort and peace. "The missionaries and their wives received us with the greatest kindness and hospitality, while a fresh company of Hottentots, standing under some venerable and wide-spreading oaks, which overshadow the court, welcomed us by singing a hymn, and by every token of affectionate regard. We joined with our whole hearts in their thanksgivings to God our Preserver, for the numberless favours received at His hands throughout the whole of our travels by land and sea." p. 59. Gnadenthal is about 120 miles to the east of Cape Town. The first settlement in this place was made by a Moravian of the name of Schmidt, in 1737, who, after enduring many hardships, and labouring with some partial success, both in civilizing and Christianizing the Hottentots, in his neighbourhood, came back to Europe for fresh powers, and was prevented by the Dutch government from returning to the Cape. In 1792 however, fresh permission was given to the United Brethren to send out missionaries, of which they gladly availed themselves; and three of their missionaries landed and immediately sought out the dwelling of George Schmidt. The following account is given of their proceedings. "In 1792, when the three missionaries, Henry Marsveld, Daniel Schwinn, and John Christian Kuehnel, came hither, they found an old woman, Helena, baptized by Brother Schmidt, still alive, who delivered to them the New Testament he had given her. But few vestiges of his dwelling remained. The place was a perfect wilderness: at present thirteen hundred Hottentots inhabit the village. The name Gnadenthal was given to it by the Dutch Governor Jansen." p. 61. They found also a wide-spreading pear-tree planted by their first missionary; and it served the Brethren, in 1792, for a school and a church. The author gives us, in page 66, a brief journal of a missionary day at Gnadenthal. "We rose at the first sound of the bell, which rings at half-past five. At that time the family meet in the dining. room, read the texts of Scripture ap. pointed for the day, sing some verses generally out of hymns connected with their contents, or any other morninghymn, and then take a dish of coffee; but what they call breakfast is not ready till eight o'clock, and is more like a lun. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 220. cheon. Very little time is spent at their meals. Between twelve and one, they dine; drink tea or coffee at two; sup between six and seven, and go to the church at eight, when the whole congregation meet for evening worship. meetings for one or other division of Every day, however, has its regular the congregatiou, for instruction in the Christian doctrines. The schools are held in the forenoon for the boys, and in the afternoon for the girls." Mr.Latrobe's musical compositions, Those who are acquainted with interest with which he penned the or collections, will understand the following passage. "To-day I heard with much pleasure a party of men and women, employed garden, both before and after their meal, as day-labourers in the missionaries' which they enjoyed in the shade of the grove, most melodiously singing a verse by way of a grace. One of the women sung a correct second, and very sweetly performed that figure in music, called Retardation, from which I judge that dissonants are not the invention of art, would be more easy than to form a but the production of nature. Nothing chorus of the most delightful voices, in four parts, from among this smooththroated nation." pp. 68, 69. The following account of the internal regulations of the mission, will be interesting to all who may be occupied in promoting the progress of religion at home or abroad. "Before I proceed in my narrative, it may be proper to give an account of some of the internal regulations of the missionary settlements of the United Brethren, which are the same in every country. The Gospel is preached to all heathen, to whom the missionaries can gain access; and every one is invited to be reconciled to God, through the atone ment made by Jesus Christ. Besides the public testimony of the Gospel, the missionaries are diligently employed in visiting and conversing with the heathen in their dwellings. If any come to the missionaries for further instruction, giving in their names, they are called New People, and special attention is paid to them. If their subsequent conduct proves their sincerity, and they desire to be initiated into the Christian church by holy baptism, they 2 K are considered as candidates for baptism, and, after previous instruction, and a convenient time of probation, baptized. In admitting them to the holy communion, they are first permitted to be once present as spectators, and called Candidates for the Communion; and, after some time, become communicants. Each of these divisions has separate meetings, in which they are instructed in all things relating to a godly life and walk. Separate meetings are also held with other divisions of the congregation; with the children, the single men, the single women, the mar ried people, the widowers, and widows, in which the admonitions and precepts given in the holy Scriptures for each state of life are inculcated. Every member of the congregation is expected to come, at stated seasons, to converse with the missionaries; the men with a missionary, and the women with his wife; by which a more perfect knowledge of the individuals is gained, and an opportunity afforded to each, to request and receive special advice. From among the most approved of the people of both sexes, assistants are appointed in large congregations, who visit the sick, make reports to the missionaries, and help to maintain order. Others are employed as chapel servants, who take their turn in attendance." p. 72. Thus also his statement with regard to the celebration of the Lord's Supper : "But to return to the celebration of the Lord's Supper-The devotion and fervour, with which the Hottentots present attended to the service, and received the sacred elements, were peculiarly striking to my mind. Their singing was melodious, but rather too soft. I was told in apology, that not all of them were acquainted with the hymns sung by the minister who officiated. A post-communion followed, for such as had been necessarily prevented from attending before, by family duties, watching, or other hindrances. I retired to my room, rather overwhelmed by the feelings and reflections of my mind, and with a heart filled with thankfulness to God our Saviour, for such a manifestation of his power and grace, as I had just witnessed. It may appear like enthusiasm, but I asked no longer, Am I really and bodily in Gnadenthal?' but,' Am I yet on earth?" p. 75. No man concerned for the welfare of souls, will dispute the truth or value of the following sentences. "In the evening, the liturgy, or hymn, treating of our Saviour's sufferings, appointed in our church for Friday evening's worship, was sung in a spirit of humble thankfulness for our redemption. This is the grand subject, which has proved the means of conversion, civilization, and happiness in time and eternity, to believers of every tribe and nation. May it be and remain our constant theme, in spite of either a deriding world, or the vain conceits and specious arguments of such as pretend to superior insight, and think that they have found something higher and more effectual!" p. 81. We have, soon after this, a very interesting account of a journey of the author's to Groenekloof; of which we regret that we have not space sufficient to transcribe the details. On the 10th of February he arrived once more at that settlement. Our readers may wish, however, to know how the halfanimal Hottentots, as they have been called, received him. Let them then read the following passage. "Soon after four in the morning, I heard the sweet sound of Hottentot voices, singing a hymn in the hall before my chamber-door. It reminded me, that this day was my birth-day, which had been mentioned to them by some of the missionaries. I was struck and affected by this mark of their regard : nor was their mode of expressing it confined to a morning-song. They had dressed out my chair, at the common table, with branches of oak and laurel; and Sister Schmidt's school-children, in order not to be behind in their kind offices, having begged their mistress to mark on a large white muslin handkerchief, some English words expressive of their good will towards me, they managed to embroider them with a species of creeper called cat's-thorn, and fastened the muslin in front of a table, covered with a white cloth, and decorated with festoons of cat's thorn, and field-flowers. On the table stood five large bouquets, in glasses. The whole arrangement did credit to their taste, for Sister Schmidt had left it en tirely to their own invention. This table I found placed in my room, on returning from my morning's walk. The words were; May success crown every action.' "Recapitulating, within my own heart, the undeserved mercies of God my Saviour, experienced during the year past, I felt particularly grateful for the favour conferred upon me, to behold with my own eyes, and hear with my own ears, what He has wrought in this distant land for the accomplishment of his thoughts of peace towards the Gentile world. To serve such a cause, shall, by his enabling grace, be my heart's delight, during the remainder of my earthly pilgrimage.” p. 101. The author next visited Cape Town; and on the 21st we find him again on his way to Gnadenthal, where be immediately began to prepare for his journey into the interior. The object of this journey was to fix upon a spot for the establishment of a third missionary settlement; and most of the remaining part of the volume is occupied with the journal of this expedition. We should have been sincerely happy, if our space had allowed us, to follow the author, step by step, through his interesting tour. We apprehend that no account, equally full, accurate, and important, exists of the interior of the Cape. Indeed, the works respecting that country, which have been issued with such profusion, within the last year, to satisfy the public curiosity, at a moment when such numbers of our population have been meditating an expatriation in those quarters, have been of a very catchpenny kind. And we are disposed to think that to this work of Mr. Latrobe the emigrant must chiefly resort for such details as may send him a well furnished traveller to his new home. Nor should this property of the volume be undervalued. The case of America may teach us the extreme difficulty of collecting precise information from a distance, especially where party motives come in to colour the narrative. Different writers, following the impulse of taste, interest, or political feeling, have transmitted to us accounts of the western world so widely different, or rather so obstinately repugnant to each other, that blot out the names, and the reader would be likely to attribute the various accounts rather to two antipodal nations than to the same country. It is not the only mischief of this species of inaccuracy that indivividuals are grossly misled in the expectations with which they embark for the American continent. If certain "patriots," spurning at the very embarrassing restraints of law and civilization, have puffed up their compatriots with false expectances, and lulled them into golden dreams, the vilifiers and traducers of America have not been less mischievous. It is with deep regret that we perceive men of intelligence allowing themselves to speak of that continent as though the soil were an universal swamp, and the people more detestable than the soil. Surely it is unworthy of a great nation either to fancy faults where they do not exist, or to blazon them where they do. America, doubtless, has some bad soil, and many vulgar, illiterate, and money-getting inhabitants. But she has also soils and rivers, and valleys and coasts, capable of raising her to a high rank among the nations of the earth: she has many citizens of fine talents and distinguished virtue: she has a large sprinkling of religious feeling and moral virtue over her country: she has drawn largely in her political institutions on the wisdom and experience of her mother country: she has English blood in her veins, English spirit in her character; and we entertain a confident persuasion that she will, under God, do much eventually to promote the progress of freedom, the interests of com merce, and the illumination of the savage hordes by which she is surrounded. But we must return from a digression into which we have been led by a deep sense of the injustice often done to America, and an apprehension of the bad spirit towards our own country, which is sure to be cherished by this misconduct, to proceed with our extracts from the tour before us. It is one of the valuable qualities of the author, as a traveller, that, although he discovers, as far as we can judge, no disposition to throw too bright a colouring over the object before him, he sees every thing with a favourable eye, and throws a veil over defects which it can answer no good purpose to discover and display. We must pass over his account of the mode of travelling in Africa; but if our readers will be pleased to figure to themselves the author, with Mr. Melville, surveyor to the government, Brother Schmidt and his wife, &c.&c. with their two spanns of oxen and waggons, jumbled up and down in a most wild, dislocating, and romantic country, week after week-now climbing a perpendicular hill, and now shooting into a precipitous valley-listening to the only music of those woods and glens, the howl of wolves, the roar of tygers, and the hissing of serpents-sleeping sometimes in tents, and sometimes in farm-houses-sometimes welcomed by a kind Hottentot, and sometimes "snubbed " by a cross Dutch farmer, but always good humoured, satisfied, and grateful they will have a general picture of an expedition of which we can present them but a few details. Some, however, they shall have. The next extract we shall make is very satisfactory as to the improvement of the Hottentots under the instruction of the missionaries. "The Veldcornet expressed his admiration of the appearance and behaviour of our Hottentots, exhibiting, as he said, such a contrast to that of the miserable and neglected race of Hotten tots living among the boors. Nothing was more encouraging and satisfactory to us, than such remarks; nor is there a more convincing proof of the benefit conferred upon this nation, by the intronecessity of obtaining more opportuniduction of Christianity. It shows the ties for planting missions among them, in which Christian instruction and civilization go hand in hand. "In this part of the country, more than about Gnadenthal and Groenekloof, one may behold the state of degra dation into which the Hottentot nation has sunk, the blame and shame of which lie heavy with some of the former possessors of this land, who, first having robbed the aborigines of their paternal inheritance, took advantage of their tame and defenceless state, to thrust them down into the most abject servitude. In this they are, by some, far worse treated than purchased slaves, who are spared, because, if lamed or destroyed by excessive labour or cruel treatment, they cannot be replaced but yet superior considerations, which make at an enormous expense. But there are us desire the propagation of Christianity among the heathen. They are summed up in that earnest prayer of every true believer, that Christ may see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.' Though the conversion of the hearts of those to whom his servants preach the Gospel, is their principal aim, yet it is most gratifying to perceive, that even men of no religion acknowledge the effects of the Gospel in the mind and manners of those who have received it in faith." p. 193. Nor are those of the Hottentots, who have not, as yet, been brought within the civilizing and Christianizing influence of a Moravian settlement, insensible to the benefits of such a situation. "Meanwhile, Brother Stein had visited the Hottentots and slaves belong. ing to Mr. Van Roy's farm, in their bondhoeks, or huts, and had much useful conversation with them. They had heard, that we were in search of a place to build a settlement, and the Hottentots declared, that they would all come and live in it, that they might hear the word of God; and, had they known, last night, that we were teachers from Gnadenthal, they would have come to our camp, and begged to be instructed. They had ob |