Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

addressed a Letter, some time back, to his Sovereign, the King of Prussia; with a succinct account of the Missionary Exertions carrying on in India, and particularly in that part in which he was himself called to labour; and accompanied with copies of the Tamul and Telingoo New Testaments-humbly recommending the Missionary Cause to the Patronage of his Sovereign. To this communication His Majesty has graciously replied; closing his Letter, from Berlin, in these words

With pleasure I give you a proof of the interest which I take in your labours, by informing you that I have appointed a permanent pecuniary assistaLce for the Missionary Society established in this city; and cause the inclosed Medal to be sent to you, in order that it may serve as a remembrance

of me.

TRICHINOPOLY.

In the Southern Carnatic-268 miles from Madras.
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY.

1766.

David Rosen, Missionary. Pakiyanaden, Wisuwasanaden, and Nullalambi, Country Priests.

TANJORE.

In the Southern Carnatic-205 miles from Madras.

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY.

1766.

J.C.Kohlhoff, J.G.P. Sperschneider,
Missionaries.

Adeykalam, Nanaparagason,
Country Priests.

No report of proceedings, at either Trichinopoly or Tanjore, has appeared.

NEGAPATAM.

A Seaport, 48 miles east of Tanjore-Inhabitants 30,000.

WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

1821.

Titus Close, Missionary.
Katts, Assistant Missionary.

The Committee report respecting this
Mission:-

This Station, which was for some time left withcut supply, owing to Mr. Squance having been enurely laid aside by a long-continued affliction,

which has at length obliged him to return home, is now again occupied, and with every prospect of success. Mr. Close (from Madras) has been appointed to this Station; with Mr. Katts, an Assistant Missionary from Ceylon. Mr. Close's last Letter is dated April 30. He preaches twice on Sundays, in the Dutch Church; and has commenced a Native School, in the centre of the town. He intended, on Mr. Katts' arrival, to visit Tanjore, Tranquebar, and Trichinopoly. At the latter place there is a considerable Society of pious Soldiers.

Mr. Close has suffered so much in his bealth since he came hither, that his return home is judged necessary.

TRANQUEBAR.

A Danish Settlement, on the East Coast of the
Peninsula-145 miles south-by-west from Madras.
DANISH MISSION COLLEGE.

1706.

Augustus Caemmerer, D. Schrey vogel,
Missionaries.

In 1821, there were 54 Births, 53 Deaths, 2 Converts from the Heathen and 2 from Popery, and 125 Communicants.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
1816.

Isaac Wilson, Missionary.
John Devasagayam,

Native School Inspector.
Nyanapiragasam, Assistant Inspector.
Auben David, Native Catechist.
Native Schoolmasters for Thirty-one Schools.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson arrived, from Madras, Oct. 11, 1821; for the advantage of better preparation for future labours. The loss which he had shortly to sustain in the death of his Wife is known to our Readers; who must have been impressed by the Character and Obituary of that excellent Woman, given at pp. 401-406 of our last Volume.

Mr. Wilson has been allowed the use of the Danish Mission Church for an English Service on Sunday Evenings; which is attended by Europeans and Native Christians, and has not been without a blessing. A Missionary Prayer-Meeting, on the First Monday in the month, was begun by him in March. While he is diligently studying Tamul, he assists the objects of the Mission by particular attention to the Seminarists, who are preparing as Teachers. John Devasagayam writes

By the mercy of the Lord several of our present Seminarists appear more serious than any whom I have hitherto known. I hope the pious labours of Mr. Wilson will be greatly blessed to them. we have now more prospect that some of our Scholars will go forth from us to the work of the Lord with better knowledge and sentiments, yea with hearts more devoted to Ilis cause, than inany who have hitherto left us.

Mr. Bärenbruck, from Madras, spent the month of January in Tranquebar and places in its vicinity.

The Native Inspector pursues his la bours with great steadiness and simplicity. Extracts from his Journals are printed in the Twelfth Appendix to the Twentysecond Report: the Corresponding Committee remark that they will be found

-to throw much light on the state of the Natives generally, both Christians and Heathens; and to exhibit the devout spirit with which the Writer is animated.

At Michaelmas 1821, there were 31 Schools under the Society of these it is said in the Report:

Opposition having been excited, by some Heathen

.

Natives, to the Society's Schools in a few places, the Corresponding Committee give a statement of the consequent fluctuation in the number of the Scholars, from which it appears, that, at the end of December 1820 there were 1634, at the end of April following 1424, at the end of July 1457, and at the end of September 1591. The number having been 1632 at the date of the last Report of the Corr

responding Committee, the decrease on the year was but 41.

VEPERY.

A Village near Madras.

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY.

1727.

BIBLE SOCIETY. 1820.

From the Eighteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, we col lect an abstract of the proceedings of the Auxiliary, during its first year:

Its First Report affords the most satisfactory evi dence of the zeal, caution, and activity with which this Infant Institution has entered on its work of preparing and distributing Versions of the Scriptures, in the languages spoken in the southern part of the Indian Peninsula.

On the preparation of Versions, it is said

At Bellary, a Committee is engaged in examining J.P. Rottler, D.D., Laur. Peter Haubroe, the Rev. Mr. Hands' Version of the New Testa

Missionaries.

The re-establishment of the Press at this Station was noticed in the last Survey. It appears from the First Report of the Madras District Committee, an elaborate historical Document which has called forth just praise from the Parent Society, that effectual measures have been taken for restoring the whole Mission Establishment to a state of efficiency; as it is found to be in possession of very considerable property. In the first year of its re-establishment, the Press issued about 4000 Books and Tracts.

ment, and part of the Old Testament in Canarese. At Madras, a Committee has been formed for the purpose of examining the Version of the Old and New Testament in Tamul, revised by the Rev. Dr. Rottler and the Rev. Mr. Rhenius: meanwhile, the Committee have resolved to strike off 2000 copies of Fabricius's translation of the Old Testament, in its present state, to meet the actual demand. Two Versions of the Malayalim have been submitted to the inspection of persons competent to judge of their merits and specimens of the New Testament in Teloogoo, translated by the late Rev. Mr. Pritchett together with a portion of the Old Testament, have been distributed among persons conversant in that language, for the purpose of obtaining emendatory criticism. Versions have also been prepared in that dialect of the Hindoostanee, which is spoken in this Presidency; and the final adoption of any of them, depends upon inquiries now pending relative to their probable utility.

The distribution of the Scriptures is thus

The National System has been introduced into the Schools. At the end of 1819, the Scholars were 150: at Mid-spoken of :A Depository has been established at the Black summer 1820, they had increased to 201 : Town. In the Native Languages, 2474 copies of and at the close of 1821, they were nearly the Scriptures, either entire or in part, have been Of a Public Examination held Dec. issued; in the English and other European lan22, 1821, the Madras Government Ga-guages, 606: the soldiery and the prisoners in the gaol have shared the benefit of the latter. zette thus reports :

300.

The children were all remarkably clean and healthy: their rapid progress and orderly behaviour reflected the highest credit on their, venerable Pastor the Rev. Dr. Rottler, and his indefatigable coadjutor the Rev. Mr. Haubroe.

The revival of this late neglected Institution, with the great improvements in the system of tuition and the increase of the School, cannot fail to prove a blessing to the populous neighbourhood in which it is situated.

The erection of a New Church was so strongly urged on the Society by the late Bishop of Calcutta, though at an expense of 2000%, that a Resolution was passed to that effect, at a meeting held on the 9th of July. His Lordship, in recommending this measure, thus speaks of the rapid progress of the Vepery Mission:

These increasing demands on your funds, arise out of the highly flourishing state of your Missionary Concerns in that quarter. I question, indeed, whether in the history of Christian Missions from any Church, it will be found to have been surpassed. The Congregation and Schools, which were lately in so distressed a condition, have increased three or four fold.

MADRAS.

The Second of the British Presidencies in India on the east coast of the Peninsula-Inhabitants, 300,000-1020 miles from Calcutta, and 770 miles from Bombay.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 1815.

G.T. Bärenbruck, James Ridsdale,

Missionaries.

Christian, Native Assistant: with Native Readers and Schoolmasters.

Christian, formerly dismissed, has been restored, Sandappen mentioned in the last Survey, grew dissatisfied; and so did Nallapen, another Native Assistant.

The Society has suffered serious loss, by sickness and death, among its friends at Madras: the Rev. James Hough was obliged to embark for England; and was soon followed by the Rev. Charles Church, The Rev. Mr. Thomas, who died at sea,

the Senior Chaplain, has, however, joined the Corresponding Committee; and the Rev. M. Thompson and Mr. G. Casamajor are now on their return to India.

The English Services have been continued by Mr. Ridsdale, and the Tamul by Mr. Bärenbruck. In the English, between 100 and 150 attend on Sunday Mornings, and from 50 to 60 on Tuesday Evenings: there are 14 Communicants

In the Tamul, the Sunday Afternoon-Con- laincy of Poonamallee until his state of gregation at Koorookapettah increases; health obliged him to quit India. A and in the Evening, at the Church, about Tamul School was opened in September 100 attend: the Communicants are 31: 1821, in a commodious building granted various baptisms of Heathen have taken for the purpose; and a neat rustic Church, place. A Monthly Missionary Prayer- 60 feet by 20, close by the road side, has ́ Meeting was established in July 1821; been built, chiefly by local contributions. and a Prayer Meeting is held on the Third The Schoolmaster, Verasawni, had 48 Saturday in the month, for Communi- Scholars. cants, preparatory to the Sacrament.

At the last dates, there were 10 Schools, 14 Schoolmasters, and 358 Children. The Scholars improve in religious knowledge and good feeling. The Corresponding Committee state

The number of children of all classes, Christians and Hindoos, in the Society's Schools, is between three and four thousand; and probably nearly as many more have successively quitted them for various employments in life, after acquiring. through their means, the rudiments of learning and some measure of religious instruction.

English and Tamul Tracts, to the number of 15,300, had been printed, besides occasional papers. The foundation-stone of a School House and a Printing Office, in the Mission Premises, was laid July 3, 1821. The College of Fort St. George had permitted a Fount of Malayalim Types to be cast at their foundry and from their matrices, for the use of the Press at Cotym.

On the subject of the Press, the Treasurer writes, on the 2d of August last :Our Tamul Press is just now commencing the printing of an edition of 2500 copies of the New Testament, with 2500 additional copies of the Go. spels, on account of the Auxiliary Bible Society. The press of the Vepery Mission of the Christian

Knowledge Society is engaged in an edition of the

Tarul Old Testament, on the same account, and our press has undertaken the New on the same terms; which are very moderate, but sufficient to defray the charge of our Establishment: while the undertaking has the happy effect of exhibiting the Three Societies, acting in their respective spheres, and mutually contributing to the propagation of the Sacred Oracles and the common advancement of

our Blessed Faith.

Letters and Instructions of the Corresponding Committee to the Missionaries, with Extracts from the Journals of Mr. Barenbruck and Mr. Ridsdale, are printed in the Eleventh Appendix to the Twentysecond Report.

That Report furnishes a statement of the expenditure of the year in the SouthIndia Mission :—

Madras, 14947. (consisting of 8661. ordinary expenses, and 6281. for new buildings and fitting-up The Mission Church)-Tranquebar, 4467.-Tinnevelly, 14961. (being 9104, ordinary expenditure, and 5861. for the purchase of the Mission Premises)Travancore, including Cotym, Cochin, and Allepie, 16551-Tellicherry and Cannanore, 421.-VizagapaOffice, 521.-making a total of 53521.

tam, 191.-Printing Department, 155/.-Secretary's

A New Station has been formed, at FOONAMALLEE, ten or twelve miles from Madras. The Rev. James Hough, after leaving Palamcottah, occupied the Chap

At TRIPPASOOR, also, a village 18 miles from Poonamallee, A.L. Dennis, Countryborn, has opened, under the Society, an English School. Divine Service is performed on Sundays.

LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
1805.

W. C. Loveless, Cornelius Traveller,
T. Nicholson, Edmund Crisp,

Missionaries.

Assistants, and 13 Native Schoolmasters. Mr. and Mrs. Crisp arrived on the 26th of March.

At the English Service in Black Town, there are 28 Communicants, besides the Mission Families: Prayer Meetings are held on three evenings in the week. At the Vepery Chapel, English Service, morning and evening, is well attended; and at Tamul Services, on Sunday Afternoons and Thursday Evenings, from 30 to 70 are present, of whom only from 10 to 15 are Heathens. The Missionaries were about to itinerate among the numerous population of the suburbs and vicinity of Madras. Four young Men, Countryborn, were preparing for future service: the Directors have resolved to encourage and assist this class of Labourers.

In the English Free Schools, for Europeans and Country-born, there were 126 Boys and 65 Girls. In 13 Native Schools, 2 English and 11 Tamul, under Native Teachers, the average attendance of the Boys was 364: by a new regulation, such Christian and Native Books are used, and such only, as the Missionaries direct; and this regulation was adopted without the loss of any Schoolmaster, and with the loss of only 11 Boys: all who can read commit to memory, weekly, 8 verses of Scrip. ture; and, of these, there were 108 Boys. The Sunday School was making good progress, especially in the committing of Scripture to memory.

WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

1817.

James Lynch, Elijab Hoole, Missionaries.

The New Chapel was opened on the 25th of April. Mr. Hoole writes on this subject

It is a strong and neat building of two stories

written in September 1821, a few months after his arrival:

the lower apartments are well adapted for a print-appear from a Letter of Mr. Kidlinger, ing-office, should a press ever be connected with the Mission at Madras, or for Schools. The upper story, which forms the chapel, is a good room, fifty-seven feet by thirty, and 300 persons may be well accommodated in it.

The old chapel, which stands contiguous, is a low and narrow building; but as it possesses great advantages for native preaching, from its situation on the road side, where crowds frequently stop and hear the words of eternal life, it is allowed to remain, and will undergo some repairs, and be fitted up expressly for that purpose.

On the state of the Mission, the Committee say

Five different places, in the midst of a large Heathen Population, are regularly visited, and have Divine Service performed in Tamul and English and 147 persons have been united in religious society, many of whom have given unequivocal proofs of their conversion to Christ. Four Native Schools are in a state of activity; and, being conducted with express reference to the instruction of the children in the principles of religion, are exerting considerable influence upon their principles and character.

[ocr errors][merged small]

Researches into the literature of the Jews, and inquiries after a large body of that nation generally known by the name of Beni-Israel and supposed by many to be descendants of the Ten Tribes, occupy the attention of the Corresponding Committee. They avail themselves of the opportunities which their situation affords for the dissemination of the Scriptures and Tracts among learned Jews in all parts of Asia, to whom they have access by means of the constant communication maintained between Cochin and the Red Sea, the Persian Gulph, and the Mouths of the Indus. The importance of this part of their plans may be estimated from the consideration that the Jewish Population in Persia, China, India, and Tartary is estimated to exceed 300,000.

TRACT ASSOCIATION.
1818.

The Third Anniversary was held Sep-
tember 18, 1821. Seven Tracts have been
printed by the Association. It has been
aided by a Grant of paper and the sum of
501. from the Religious Tract Society: its
own income, in the Third Year, was about
750 rupees.
From that Society, 13.000
English Tracts had been received: and in
the course of the year, 9069 Tracts had
been distributed, of which 4181 were in
European Languages, and 4888 in Native;
making a total, issued in three years, of

35,421.

PULLICAT.

A Dutch Settlement, 25 miles north of Madras.
NETHERLANDS MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

1821.

John Kidlinger, Missionary. That the labours of a devoted Missionary were urgently required in this place, will

I am in a very extensive sphere of action; and have so much to do, that I am employed from five o'clock in the morning till ten in the evening. Under my direction here are 301 Christians, divided according to their languages-121 Tamul, 140 Portuguese, and 40 Dutch: the Tamnul and Portuguese were baptized in their youth; but that baptism includes their whole Christianity; nor is this surprising, for they have been visited only once a year by a Missionary during the course of 23 years, and the whole remainder of time they were left to themselves. Till I came, a Dutch, a Portuguese, and a Tamul were appointed Readers: the first two I was obliged to remove, on account of their hea-, thenish iniquities. Among the Christians, not one School was to be found in the course of 20 years; though I found two among the heathenish inhabitants: and that is the reason why ignorance prevails in this country; and, with ignorance, idleness and poverty are conjoined.

This is the place where it has pleased the Lord to appoint me to preach the Gospel; and I thank Him that He has already opened to me a door of usefulness.

A Tamul School of 25 Children has been established; and a Dutch School of 44 Children and 6 Adults. The Congregation is good: Prayer Meetings are held weekly, both in Dutch and in Tamul. On these labours the blessing of God is manifestly granted.

VIZAGAPATAM.

A Sea-port, 483 miles north-east of Madras, and
557 south-west of Calcutta.
LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
1805.
John Gordon, Jas. Dawson, Missionaries.

Knowledge and a spirit of inquiry evidently increase among the people at this Station. A Teloogoo and English School, with 4 Native Schools at Vizagapatam and 2 at Cicacole (a town to the north-east), are prosperous. Many Youths commit large portions of the Teloogoo Testament to memory.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. A School for Country-born Children is supported by the Society. It was formed by the late Rev. C. Church, while Chaplain at this Station. The number of Scholars is increasing, and the School of much utility.

CUTTACK.

A Town in the District of Cuttack and Province of Orissa-251 miles, travelling distance, south-west of Calcutta.

GENERAL BAPTIST MISSION.

W. Bampton, J. Peggs, Missionaries.

The Missionaries arrived at Serampore Oct. 15, 1821. They had been conditionally appointed to Assam; but, by the advice of their friends, adopted Cuttack as their scene of labour. Orissa is a British

MIDNAPORE.

A Town, 70 miles west-by-south from Calcutta.
BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

1817.

Province, while the jealousy of the Native | Lordship promised them his countenance Governments would prove a hindrance in and support. Assam. The language, too, is nearly allied to Bengalee, which they had studied, by the help of Mr. Ward, with whom they had sailed in the Abberton as far as Madras, whence he went forward in the Woodford, the Abberton being delayed for some time. The Bible is translated into Orissa, and many copies of the New Testament have been distributed. No Mis-baptisms few. sionary, however, was stationed in the Province. These reasons, with the contiguity of Cuttack to Calcutta, and the immense numbers of pilgrims from all parts of India to the neighbouring temple of Juggernaut, led the Missionaries to prefer Cuttack as their Station.

At an interview with which they were favoured by the Governor-General, His

Cingalese Division.

COLOMBO.

Domingo D'Cruz, Portuguese.
The inquirers have been many, but the

TUMLOCK.

A Town, 35 miles south-west of Calcutta.
BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
1820.

Prankrishna, Native Teacher.

No report has been received.

Ceylon.

The Capital of the Island-Inhabitants, 50,000.

BIBLE SOCIETY.

1812.

Other Institutions, and particularly the Christian Knowledge Society, having undertaken to circulate Religious Tracts and Books in the Island, the Bible Society, by a unanimous Resolution of July 1, 1821, now limits itself to the circulation of the Scriptures.

of 1821, and many were put into immediate circulation.

At the suggestion of the late Bishop of Calcutta, & Printing Press, with an ample supply of paper and ink, has been sent out by the Society: it is proposed that the Press shall be transferred to the Bishop's College, Calcutta, when the urgent demands of Ceylon shall have been supplied. BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 1812.

J. Chater, Hendrick Siers, Missionaries.
Native Assistants and Schoolmasters.

Mr. Chater has relinquished his inten-
tion of visiting England. He continues
to preach in English, Portuguese, and Cin-
galese ; and assists in the Cingalese Trans
lation of the Old Testament.
Schools, the Committee say-

Insufficiency of funds retarding the translation and printing of the Cingalese Old Testament, assistance has been rendered, by the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Calcutta Auxiliary, which will enable the Colombo Society to complete within three years, a work which otherIncreasingly sensible of the vast importance of wise might have occupied six. The pro-Schools, in preparing the way for Missionary Sucgress was thus stated on August 9, 1821

The whole of the Pentateuch is printed: the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and the 1st of Samuel, have been translated; the Psalms and Proverbs had been previously published with the Book of Genesis,

During its Ninth Year, the Society circulated in different languages, 1492 Bibles, Testaments, and separate Books of Scripture-165 Extracts from Genesis-92 Tamul Prayer-Books-and 26 Cingalese

Tracts.

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY.} The edition of the Book of Common Prayer in Cingalese consisted of 1000 copies. It was finished in the beginning Jan. 1828.

Of his

cess, he has paid, of late, particular attention to this department. Six Schools, in Colombo and the villages adjacent, containing 216 pupils, are under his immediate care: no restrictions are imposed by the parents, as to the kind of instruction given: scriptural information is, of course, constantly im parted; and this is imbibed with a readiness that affords Mr. Chater high gratification. At Hangwell,

also, two Schools are established, under the direc tion of Mr. Siers, and his Native Assistants Carolus and Cornelius.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

On the School Fund opened, for Ceylonese Children, as stated in the last Sur vey, the Committee thus speak, in the Twenty-second Report:→

A consideration of the degraded character of the people will commend this Fund to the support of such benevolent persons, as may not only wish to I

« AnteriorContinuar »