sufficient to counterpoise the difficulty. While this is the deplorable fact, it is pre

es in which they are instructed. We anticipate essential benefit from this plan. The very responsible duty of fixing the expenses of schools at as low a rate as is practicable and just, is continually urged upon us by every consideration of the vast extent of the demand for them, and by the immense deficiency of appropriations already made, or likely to be made, to cover that demand. Indeed, to be profuse in the expenditure of Christian charities in any case, involves a palpable absurdity, and a want either of discretion or fidelity.

Should it be said that it is necessary to raise the allowances to the teachers in order to obtain competent men and to secure their continuance in the employ, we reply, that, so far from experiencing any difficulty in obtaining teachers, we have been obliged for want of larger funds, to refuse a large number of applicants who were competent to the business; and that during our experience of seven years in the management of schools, not a single teacher has left our employ for a more lucrative one, if we except a very few cases in which the teachers had proved themselves unworthy of their charge, or found the place where the school was located not to furnish a sufficient number of schol

ars.

The latter circumstance can occur only in small villages, and in a few such instances, where we thought it particularly desirable to establish schools, we have made the teachers some allowances in addition to the one rupee per month for five scholars.

As to the qualifications of the teachers, we select such as are competent to teach all that is usually taught in their own schools, and from the time they enter our employ, we consider them as scholars in a course of study and improvement; and when the requisite elementary books, now in a course of preparation, are put into their hands, their proficiency will soon be far more than sufficient to carry their pupils forward in the elements of learning as far as they can possibly go, until they are in some way induced to remain longer at school than they have hitherto done. And it would be highly gratifying to us and beneficial to the cause of education here, were a judicious scale of premiums to be furnished, to induce a select number of the most promising boys in the schools to continue longer at their studies. From the great poverty of the people, it is, in many cases, so difficult for the parents to dispense with the services of their boys after they become able to render them any kind of assistance, that their valuation of further attainments at school is totally in

one or two rupees a month, by way of premium, would be sufficient to secure the protracted and regular attendance of the most promising boys. Indeed, it seems almost indispensably necessary that something of this nature should be done, and we ardently hope that the offerings of a benevolent public will soon enable us to extend such encouragement to some of our cleverest scholars.

We are sensible, however, that the great ends of education are to be effected by the general diffusion of a moderate degree of learning through the great mass of community, rather than by promoting to higher attainments, a small number of that community; and that, to instruct the few and neglect the many, is directly to contravene that grand principle which has now become so popular in England and America. We contemplate a community in nearly the lowest scale of mental improvement. "The amendment must begin from the lowest step. It is only by facilitating and encouraging the education of a rising generation, that any thing solid can be done; a process to which I am satisfied the parents will every where be found eagerly disposed, from what they have seen of the advantages of our science." So said that noble patron of native free schools, the Marquis of Hastings, in a public discourse, in the college of Fort William.

We have before us also a report of an institution for the support and encouragement of native schools in Bengal, in which it is stated, that there, the economy in the management of them is so strict, that the entire expense, on an average, for each child, is but "nearly three rupees" a year. But at the rate we pay, each boy in the school, costs on an average, three rupees, two quarters and fifty reas.*

It may be interesting to some to be informed that our schools contain 136 Jewish children, and 54 females, of whom 29 are Jewesses. It is but very lately that we have made particular exertions to bring female children into a course of instruction, and the success of our efforts has far exceeded our expectations. We have recently established a school which we call the "female school," in which there are seventeen Jewish girls, with a prospect of the number being increased.

Five of our schools are supported by small associations, mostly female, in America, and receive a name significant of their benefactors.

On a subscription paper, appen ded o os of these Reports, about 3,000 rupees, or

* About $1,62.

about 1,300 dollars, were subscribed by European residents. Five hundred and ninetyfive rupees, of this sum, were annual subscriptions. This shews the estimation, in which these schools are held by gentlemen residing on the spot, some of whom possess the highest mental cultivation.

Mr. Garrett states, that, according to late accounts from their brethren in Ceylon, the several stations in Jaffna had been graciously visited with an outpouring of the Spirit. Hopes were entertained with respect

God shall "bring back the captivity of his people," the proclamation will go forth, "Cast up, cast up the high way, gather out the stones." Saith Jehovah, I will make all my mountains a way.— Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain."

It was gratifying to find among the peasants of the mountains so many marks of industry.--Almost every spot of earth, which was not reserved for the sake of the pines, or for pasturage for the flocks, was sown with grain, or set with vines, or

PALESTINE MISSION.

JOURNAL OF MR. GOODELL AT BEYROUT. It will be remembered, that our numbers for July and August contained the united journal of Messrs. Bird and Goodell at Beyrout down to the close of the last year, when the former left that place, in company with Mr. King, for Jerusalem. We now make a few extracts from Mr. Goodell's journal, descriptive of the country, of its inhabitants, &c.

Roads, Cultivation, &c.

Feb. 10, 1824. Accompanied Mr. Lewis to Antoora, for the sake of getting a quantity of Hebrew and Arabic Scriptures, which belonged to Mr. Fisk. The former part of our way was on the shore of the Mediterranean, and we had to ford several rivers, which rushed down from the mountains on the right. The latter part of the way was up and down the sides of Lebanon, which are very rocky and precipitous. The animals of this country, after looking a while for a good foot-hold, pick their way with great carefulness, and will go where in New England it would be thought impossible. They generally follow the same track, till it appears to be rendered impassable, and then select another; and, when this is worse than the former, they return to the old track. A false step would, in some instances, prove fatal. As the mountaineers are more secure in proportion as their ways are impassable, they have of course, no inducement to repair them. But as knowledge shall increase, and religion shall revive, and liberty shall be enjoyed, those improvements, which are made in other Christian countries, will doubtless be made here. When

the principal article of traffic, the mulberry fields are most abundant. They are all made level, however steep the mountain, by banking up the lower part with a wall, whose height is of course as the steepness of the ground, and the width of the field. To see these fields of mulberries rising one above another, even in some instances to the very summits of the adjacent hills, cannot fail to remind the.Christian observer of the ancient prophecy; "Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?"

On the 11th, Monsignor Gondolfy, the Apos tolical Vicar for all Syria, called to welcome Mr. Lewis on his return. In the course of the conversation he remarked, that the order of the Maronite Patriarch, suppressing the Scriptures, (See Miss. Her. for July p. 215.) was without his knowledge, without any consultation with other ecclesiastics, and without any authority from Rome.

Convents, and Ringing of bells among the Mountains.

Spent most of the day in rambling alone through the fields, and pines, in climbing the rocks, and in viewing the humble cottages of the mountains of Lebanon. Towards evening, returned and walked on the terrace of the college of Antoora. From the terrace, I counted 12 convents, situated on the adjacent elevated peaks of the mountains; and every few minutes my attention was arrested by the ringing of the bell, (the first I have heard in this country,) calling the monks or nuns, in one or another of these convents, to their routine of devotion, to some "silver saint, or golden god." As the sound was wafted on the evening breeze from mountain top to mountain top, it came sweetly to my ear, and I wept as it reminded me of the churches, and colleges, and academies, of my native country. As I turned my thoughts to the superstitions, and idolatries, with which it

was associated, and to which it was made subservient in these "chambers of imagery," my tears flowed afresh, and I endeavored to pour forth the prayer of the prophet, "O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in wrath remember mercy."

Climate in February.

Mr. Goodell speaks of tempests of wind, hail and rain, accompanied by much thunder and lightning. At this season, the rain sometimes continues from five to seven days; and then only two or three days of sunshine are enjoyed before another storm commences. The general range of the thermometer was between 50 and 60°. But on the 5th of March it was at 80.

During the continuance of the storms, our cold stone houses are wet,and we sit without any fire, wrapped in our cloaks, till the sun mercifully appears to dry our houses, our beds, and other furniture. But we have great cause to bless and extol the King of Heaven, all whose ways are right, that we have been favored with uninterrupted health.

15. I went with a copy of the Arabic Bible to a house in which several families reside, and in which I found, also, a number of visiters. Four young men present read each a portion of the word of God, whilst the rest listened. To encourage them to spend the Lord's day in reading the Scriptures, I afterwards carried over a copy of the book of Genesis and gave them. When I came away, they all said, "The peace of God be upon thee;" and one very little boy, who had read a part of the first Psalm, cried, as long as I could hear him, "My peace upon thee! My peace upon thee!"

Two Greeks called for tracts, with which I supplied them. When I told them of the printing press, which was in constant operation at Malta principally for the Greeks, they replied, laying their hand upon their breast, and raising their eyes towards heaven, "It must all have been done through the tender mercy of the Messiah."

On the 20th Mr. G. met with the Rev. Samuel Cooper, a Catholic priest, from Philadelphia, in the United States, who was going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Want of Religious Instruction. The priests of this country, I believe, are in no instance known to visit the people for the purpose of instructing them. All their duties are public ones, and most

of these are performed in a language, which is not understood by the common people. The service of the Romish church is in Latin; that of the Greek church, in ancient Greek; that of the Syrian and Maronite churches, in Syriac; that of the Jews, in Hebrew; that of the Turks, in Arabic. In most instances, the common people of these different sects know almost as little of the language in which their religious service is performed, as the people of America know of old Saxon. It may be truly said, that they "all feed on ashes." They "worship they know not what " "They grope for the wall like the blind, and they grope as if they had no eyes; they stumble at noon-day as in the night;" and they "know not at what they stumble." In reading the prophets one cannot fail to be struck with the exact picture, which they have given even of this very generation. In the 6th chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah, for instance, there is, so far as my observation and information have extended, an almost perfect representation of the character and wretchedness of the present inhabitants of this country.

March 19.

Vernal Scenery.

For the last fifteen days, we have had a cloudless sky. The orange trees are now in bloom, the mulberry trees, which were stripped of their leaves in December, are now clothed afresh; the fig-tree is just putting forth her green figs; and the flowers, which have been abundant through the whole winter, have now a livelier hue, and diffuse a sweeter fragrance. We look abroad from our terrace, and lo, all nature wears the aspect of loveliness. To the left is the city of Beyrout; and beyond it "the great and wide sea;" which now lies unruffled as far as the eye can reach. Before us, in the east, is a delightful prospect of Lebanon, ascending sublimely above the clouds; while, to a great extent around us, are gardens and fields, or rather forests in all the luxuriance of spring, embosoming the numerous cottages of beings, "made a little lower than the angels." "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of the birds is come, the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the figtree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good

smell."

A Turkish Funeral.

20. This morning a Turk of considerable distinction was buried. This event was early announced by the screams of the women as they passed mournfully along to

the place of interment. They, being collected in great numbers, and in still greater numbers among the graves, wrapped, as they are on all occasions, in a large white sheet, smote upon their breasts or waved their handkerchiefs in the air, and addressing the deceased, cried, "You are gone! you are nothing! you are dead! You have no mother to weep over your grave! you have no sister to weep over your grave! Why did you die! O why did you die?" They would then vent their feelings in the loudest screams, and appear frantic with grief. After this had continued more than an hour, being repeated on every accession to their numbers, a large concourse of men appeared with the corpse, and with various garments and articles of the de ceased, and with about twenty banners unfurled. They walked fast, all singing and bowing down their heads to the earth. The standards were placed, several together, in opposite points near the grave, and all the men arranging themselves around them, went through their service on a low key of voice, but with all their strength, and at the same time bowing their heads and bodies, with all the violence possible. The body is always, I believe, taken out of the coffin to be placed beneath the ground, and the coffin returned to the city for future occasions. Every morning and evening, for perhaps a month, the friends visit the grave; the women and children to strew myrtle upon it, and the men to say their prayers, with the vehemence above described. This burialplace I should think, contained not less than ten acres of ground. There are two others near the city, which are not so large. The graves are generally arranged with great order and neatness.

As we walked along, and viewed these numerous "grassy hillocks," on the right hand and on the left, and asked, "Where are now the souls that once animated the bodies of this great congregation of the dead?" it has been an awful reflection, that not one professed follower of the Lamb rests in gentle slumbers here. Not an individual, who could say, "I am a friend of Christ, and hope to live and reign with him forever," was ever permitted to lodge in these darksome cells, until the bright morn of delivery from the abodes of corruption. O ye disciples of Jesus, who hope to have a part in the first resurrection, is it nothing to you, that generation after generation of the deluded followers of the false prophet go down to the grave with a lie in their right hand? that they give up the ghost, if not execrating, yet abhorring the very name of that Savior, whose blood only can wash away their pollutions, and make them fit

for a holy heaven? Among the many objects of prayer, which the churches have before them at the "Monthly Concert," let this be one,-that, amidst the present political disturbances and revolutions in these countries, the way may be prepared for preaching "the Gospel of peace" to these men of cruelty and blood, and for directing unto Him, who is "the way, the truth, and the life," these wanderers from happiness and heaven.

Another Missionary to Palestine.

21. Some Arab women called in the morning to whom I read the Scriptures. Just before we commenced our public services at the house of the consul, our hearts were cheered by the arrival of the Rev. Mr. Cook, a missionary from England. He was sent out by the Methodist Missionary Society, and spent several weeks at Malta in the family of our dear brother Temple. It is one pleasant part of our business to cultivate an acquaintance with missionaries from different societies, and to unite our counsels, our efforts, and prayers with theirs for "the peace of Jeru salem;" and we are happy, as they pass to and fro, to be able to accommodate them with a little chamber in our own house. It is indeed a little one, just large enough to contain “a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick," together with a few books, and is emphatically the prophet's chamber.

22. By Mr. Cook we received our Firmans from the grand Signior, giving us permission to travel with our families in any part of the Turkish empire. They had been forwarded from Constantinople to the care of Mr. Lee at Alexandria. We received also several packages of books, pamphlets, and letters from our dear Christian friends in various parts of America. Extracts from some of these letters, which contained interesting accounts of the work of the Holy Spirit, were translated into French, by Mr. Cook, to be sent by him to the south of France, where he has labored as a missionary, to encourage the poor Protestants there to pray more fervently for "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." Who can tell how many of God's suffering despised people may be comforted and quickened, and how many sinners may be converted, by means of these extracts! Who can tell how many souls our correspondents may meet in heaven, in consequence of them. In the communications, which our Christian friends make us from time to time, let them remember, that the influence may not only be felt in the soul of the missionary, but may be conveyed to

others also, of different nations, and kindreds, and tongues."

Mode of Travelling.

April 2. For the sake of enjoying, for a few days, the mountain air, and with the hope of finding a girl to take care of the babe, we all, with the daughter of the English consul, rode this day with Mr. Lewis to Antoora. The mode of travelling in this country is on horses, mules, and asses, generally the last. The country is too rough to make much use of camels; and the native Christians are in perpetual danger of having their horses, or mules violently taken from them on the road, and pressed into the service of the Pasha to carry some express. As the traveller always takes his bed with him, this, with the blankets, &c. is placed upon the ass, and the traveller upon the top of the whole, without bridle or stirrups, and nothing but a single cord tied round the head of the poor animal to guide him. He paces along at the rate of two or three and a half miles an hour, according to the road. By means of ropes, however, I furnished the ladies with stirrups, and in this style, which forcibly reminded us of patriarchal times, we left Beyrout at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. As we were all in the English costume, and as the ladies were without veils, and rode in the English fashion, (unlike all the women of this country, who always ride like men,) we of course excited some observation. Men, women, and children ran from their cottages and fields to gaze. They had never witnessed such a sight before. They were, however, not wanting in civility, though in some instances rudely expressed, and they invariably returned our salutations with much appearance of friendliness. Owing to unavoidable interruptions, we did not reach Antoora, till near two hours after sunset. The night was dark, the way exceedingly rugged, some of our beasts fell; and the Arabs, as is always the case in any difficulty, were very contrary. But, through the tender care of our heavenly Father, we arrived in safety.

LETTER FROM MR. BIRD TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY.

THE letter, from which the following extracts are made, was written at Jerusalem, on the 27th of last March.

Whatever relates to the prosperity of Boston, will never fail to interest our feelings, especially if that prosperity is of the religious kind. Your account, therefore,

of what we trust God has been doing to revive his work among you, was read with peculiar pleasure. We pray that the blessed Almighty Spirit, which, from the day of Pentecost until now, has accompanied the preaching of the Gospel, will continue his renovating influences in your city. On this hill, where the Redeemer suffered, I sit, and gaze through my window at the Mount where he gave the parting assurance not to forsake his disciples in the work of preaching his Gospel. I look down on the grassy area around the former temple, where possibly it was that the thousands were suddenly pricked in their hearts at the preaching of Peter. I trace the Gospel from that day, as it spreads on the right and left, to the coasts of India, and Ameriica, and find, through the lapse of many centuries, the same power attending it,consciences wounded, fears excited, pride humbled, the inquiry extorted, "Men, brethren, what shall we do?" I admire anew the faithfulness of our divine Master, and address myself with fresh pleasure to his work. I hope you pray, my dear brother, that the days of Peter's faithful preaching, the days of religious revivals, may soon return, and visit this desolate city. The new light, which would beam from the divine word, the pure worship and effectual prayers that.would be offered, and the inquiries that would be likely to be excited among Mussulmans, would all furnish a subject of sublime and delightful contemplation.

What we ourselves have the prospect of doing for Jerusalem, we cannot easily judge until we shall have become able to converse readily with the people. At present, the door seems quite open for EFFORT among them. If we had the languages and strength sufficient, I suppose we might converse with hundreds of pilgrims and natives in a day. But men here do not seem to be under the influence of argument. It is with difficulty that they see the reason of a thing, and when they have seen it, they are inclined to put a slighter value on it, than on some vague tradition about the subject. It is really wonderful in a country like this, where falsehood is so abundant, how ready men are to rely on mere report.

Mr. Bird adds,-that "one or two missionaries might do immense good in the Ionian Islands, which are under English pro-. tection. One or two might be stationed at Smyrna; and I know not how many might be profitably employed in Syria and Palestine. Mr. Temple, we think, ought not to be alone at Malta."