1857.] DR. LIVINGSTONE ON EAST AFRICA. 111 that commerce has not yet done any thing like half its work. It is just beginning to extend itself, and Christianity is just beginning with her work for the future. Some years ago we knew nothing at all of many articles of commerce, which now enter into the families of the poorest classes. You knew nothing of gutta percha, or of caoutchouc, which are now applied to innumerable uses; and I believe that, in this new fertile country, which I have had the honour to bring to the knowledge of Europeans, many most useful articles will yet be found; and that we, feeling our dependence upon that country, will do our duty in another respect. There is one article which I believe is quite new to commerce. I have brought a few of the plants with me, and they have been subjected to the manipulation of one of the firms of this city. This plant affords a fibrous tissue; and I have the opinion of one of the foremost firms in the city, that, when prepared, it is worth between 50%. and 601. a ton. Now, this plant is totally unknown in Europe: it is a substitute for flax, and will be, I believe, a very excellent flax. Now, this is only one of the many things which, I believe, exists in that country, and which are unknown to the rest of the world. When I came through the country, I came on the principle of having as little luggage as possible. I did not wish to excite the cupidity of the natives, and I went with as small an amount of luggage as possible; and on that account I could not bring away many things which I thought might be interesting to my countrymen at home. But, with respect to the fruits, I passed summarily through the country without a scientific examination of it; but I found upwards of a dozen fruits totally unknown in England. These fruits I cannot be a very good judge of what they are, because, generally, I was very hungry when I got them; but certainly they were much better than the crab-apple, from which we suppose our own apple has come, or the sloes, from which have come our plums. They are very much superior, indeed, to those fruits; and if they had the benefit of cultivation, I have no doubt but that we should have a very acceptable addition to our fruits. The tribes in the interior of the country are totally different from those on the coast. They have always been anxious to have intercourse with white men. They knew little at all of white men, or of what we were. The wonderful manufactures-that of the cotton-plant, for instance-would, I believe, induce the people of a fertile country to cultivate what we need in exchange. We have a little cotton grown at different points all over the country. The cotton does not require much care, as the soil is so exceedingly fertile; and, I think, if any one of you should pass into that country, and travel through grass so high, that, when sitting upon the ox, it quite covers the head of the person so sitting, you would come to the conclusion I have arrived at, namely, that almost any thing might be produced there; and the people in the centre of the country are most anxious to have intercourse with Europeans. Now I hope that God will spare my life to open this field. This flax which I have spoken of, and which is worth between 50l. and 60%. a ton, is not cultivated at all. If we find they can employ their servants to cultivate such things, and that they can sell them to advantage, and that we can benefit by the exchange, I hope that a way will be got into the centre of the country. I hope that Africa will be opened to the gospel, and that the time will come when the central Africans will be admitted into the community of nations. We ourselves have but lately got 112 A RECENT INCIDENT OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. [OCT. quit of a restrictive system, and we can feel for those who have been compelled, for advantage, to sell their own children for the sake of a little cloth. I have seen children sold for about twelve shells. In the centre of the country you may get a slave for two shells. At the coast those shells are very cheap, but in the centre of the country they are quite as valuable as the Lord Mayor's badge. In order to show his great friendship for me, one of the great chiefs came to me during the night. He did not wish to show his friendship before his people; he wanted to give me a proof of his friendship somewhat in the same manner in which you now honour me. He entered my little tent, and took out a small shell, and hung it round my neck, and said, "There you see a proof of my friendship; and when the path for commerce is made, let it come through my town." I will just again return you my most heartfelt thanks for the honour you have conferred on me; and, as to the future, I hope you will all kindly make allowances for a great undertaking, as it must necessarily be small in the beginning. It is only by hard work that success can be reached. We must work hard, and constantly. You must enter as the way opens, and I have no doubt that the future will be glorious but the beginning must be in a small way; and although you may not hear of any thing grand or memorable that I have done, yet recollect that I hope to be borne on by the same principles, that have actuated me for the time past, in all future time. I again thank you the honour you have done me. for A RECENT INCIDENT OF THE SLAVE TRADE. THE African race have strong natural affections, and the love of near relations towards each other is very strong, so much so that years of absence have not sufficed to efface it. What these warm-hearted people have suffered from the action of the slave-trade, when parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, have been torn from each other it is difficult to conceive. Nor have these sad scenes entirely ceased. The slave-trade still lives, and the African, although not to the same extent, continues to be a sufferer. A boy, the son of a chief in the Kittim river, Sherbro, was engaged, as is usual with youths of his age, in fishing. He was alone in his canoe, which he had brought to anchor, and was completely absorbed in his pursuit. A large canoe hove in sight, coming down the river. There appeared to be many people on board. They hailed the boy, and told him, if he had caught any fish to bring it, as they wished to buy. Unsuspicious of danger, and anxious to dispose of his day's spoil, he was soon alongside of them, when, lo, they violently seized him and dragged him into their canoe! Alas! it was full of slaves, of which he was condemned to form one. In vain his struggles-they overpowered him; in vain his cries-they gagged him. His father's village was in sight, and there were strong arms there and willing friends to put out for his deliverance had they been aware of his danger, but they knew not of it. How could they? his cries were stifled. It was, moreover, far advanced in the day, and the shades of evening fell rapidly. The departing light took from him all hope, and as the darkness fell thick around him, he found his heart grow more sad and dark, for he who had been free was a slave-boy, 1857.] A RECENT INCIDENT OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. 113 perhaps for life. Cleverly was the victim caught, and the robbers rejoiced in their ingenuity, and mocked the poor boy's grief. Long and dreary was the night. He slept, but it was broken sleep, the sleep of sorrow, full of the remembrance of those whom he should never see again; and when he awoke, there was nothing around him save the wide wide waste of waters. He sat silent and broken down, for help, the help of man, was far away, and of God and his help he knew nothing, for he was a poor heathen boy. Poor Chow Boam, for that was his name, so young, and yet so friendless! He was only a very little boy, and might they not have spared him? Alas! no. Slave-dealers have no pity. Three days had passed away since they had left the Kittim river, and every hour brought them nearer to their destination, and then they should all be sold to the white man, when, lo, a schooner hove in sight! Right well the slave-dealers knew her, and her mission too. She was Britishone of the cruizing squadron, on the look-out for miscreants such as they were. The boat's sail was lowered, and they lay still upon the waters, in the hope they might escape notice. But the watchful glass, as it swept the waters, had detected them, and the schooner soon hove down upon them; and as the waters shoaled, the ship's boats were manned, and then commenced the chase. Earnestly did the Susus strain and toil to reach the shore and bolt into the jungle, but the English boats gained rapidly upon them, and then did these bad men prepare for fight. Muskets, knives, and poisoned arrows were formidably brandished. But the muscular hand of the British sailor was soon upon the neck of his prostrate foe, and the bound and pinioned slave-dealers found themselves dealt with as they had dealt with others. Lieutenant Harger soon carried his prize into Freetown. The court pronounced the seizure good and lawful, and all the slaves were set at liberty, among whom were four boys, and four girls, our friend, Chow Boam, being one of the number. He was sent to Regent, and placed under the care of one of our Missionaries, and there both soul and body were cared for, and he was tenderly dealt with. Poor little fellow! it was, indeed, a happy change for him. But while grateful to his new friends, he could not forget those whom he had lost, and he wondered should he ever see them again, when one day he heard his name called, Chow Boam ! He could scarcely believe his ears, for it was the sound of a familiar voice. They were friends, sent by his parents to look for him. They had heard that he had been rescued, and it had put joy into their hearts. The Governor called Chow Boam before him, and dismissed him with words of kindness; and the boy left in a few days, his heart bounding with joy at the prospect of soon seeing his father and his mother in his own home. Alas! there is a worse captivity, to which we are consenting parties, which takes us away from one better and kinder far than any earthly parent. Who shall rescue us from this, before we are for ever lost? There is one! He is on the watch, to deliver enslaved souls! He has freed many, very many. May He look with compassion on millions tied and bound with the chain of their sins, and break their bonds asunder! and may the words of instruction, which he heard at Regent, be so blessed to him, that Chow Boam may be amongst the number. m "BEYOND THEIR POWER, THEY WERE WILLING." WHILE the storm is drifting over the Bengal Presidency, the southern part of India has so far remained in peace. May it please God of his great mercy to continue this tranquillity! In the northern provinces, Missionary work, for the present, is suspended; but in the south the Christian churches, through the grace of God raised up from among the heathen, are being established in the faith, and increase in number daily. One proof of their healthy state is their interest in the conversion of their heathen countrymen, and their readiness, out of their deep poverty, to contribute to that great work. In this respect their example may put many from amongst ourselves to shame, who, with large means at their disposal, give nothing, that the gospel may be preached more extensively. A Missionary, in one of the more settled districts of Tinnevelly, thus speaks of the strong interest existing amongst his people, and their willingness to help forward the efforts for the conversion of their heathen countrymen, which are being made throughout the unevangelized country to the northward :— "The duty of the people, to assist in sending the gospel of salvation to the dark places in the north of Tinnevelly, has been brought before them, and responded to in a cheering manner. A hint thrown out at the beginning of the present year has been generally adopted. The head of every Christian household takes a handful of rice from the principal meal of the day, and sets it aside for the native Missionary Society. Also as many collecting pots as I could obtain have been distributed. The handful of rice makes little difference in the meal. The giving of it interferes with no other object. It keeps the subject daily before the eyes of the people, and the last, though not the least, consideration which be added is, I hope the Society will be nearly seventy rupees richer by it and by our rude collecting pots." may Another feature is, a more pervading spirit of prayer and supplication. May it be as the heavy drops which herald the coming showers. Here, in this fact-the increased spirit of prayer amongst the people we have the healthful reaction of their Missionary efforts. With what measure we mete, it is measured to us again, and God prepares the church for enlarged blessing, by an enlargement in prayer of the hearts of its people. THE KOY PEOPLE ON THE GODAVERY. We live in a moist climate, where the clouds are ever dropping rain upon the earth. In India months elapse without a shower, and the intense heat parches up the land; while at another period of the year, the rain descends in torrents, for many days together, and in a few hours, more water is outpoured than falls in England, during an entire year. The rivers overflow their banks, and vast tracts of country are flooded. Thus the country is in extremes, suffering at one time from the want, and at another from the waste, of water. What is desirable is, to equalise the supply. At those seasons of the year, when the rivers are flushed with incessant rains, lakes and tanks are necessary, into which the overplus may be introduced, and there stored up, until the dry season comes, when it proves invaluable for the purposes of irrigation. The necessity of such 1857.] THE KOY PEOPLE OF THE GODAVERY. 115 works had been early seen by the intelligent natives of India, and of late years our own Government has directed its attention to the repair of old works and the construction of new ones; of the latter, the most remarkable are those carried forward on the Godavery. This river takes its rise fifty miles east from the western shore of Hindustan, in the British district of Ahmednuggur, and on the eastern declivity of the western Ghauts, and, after a winding course of 898 miles in a south-easterly direction, falls into the Bay of Bengal. It was decided to try and save, for useful purposes, the surplus discharge of this great river, by the construction of a dam across its bed, where there was no other foundation than loose sand. But this difficulty was overcome. Round pits of three feet diameter are built in the bed of the river. Into these earthern cylinders were sunk, one fitting into the other, as the sand and water are removed. In this way each cylinder is built up to the surface, until it has penetrated from twelve to fourteen feet. The cylinder is then filled with rough stones and clay, by which means a solid pillar is formed, and on such the dam is built, 4200 yards long, from Dowlesweram on the east bank, to Wadapellay on the west. Now it was during the prosecution of these, and other works of improvement, on the Godavery, that one of the officers engaged in their direction, who had been brought to know the value of a Saviour, and desired to make him known to others, had his attention drawn to an interesting race of people called the Koy people, for whose instruction no effort has yet been made. We introduce his account of them, in the hope that it may stir up many a heart to earnest prayer on behalf of the secluded portions of our race, that they may be visited by mercy. "An opening has lately been made from our possessions on the coast into a part of the Nizam's territories, as a field for Missions. A few years ago it was quite closed up. Only one or two Europeans had ever visited it, and it was almost equally an unknown land to the natives of the coast districts, who had, and still have, in a great measure, a dread of penerating into the interior beyond the Ghauts. Colonel Cotton's persevering efforts to induce the Government to remove the few natural obstacles which prevent the Godavery from being the great highway of communication between the countries of Nagpore, Berar, and the eastern canal, have resulted in the carrying out of a complete scheme for the improvement of that river, and its full and hearty adoption by the Madras Government. Several expeditions, in the course of the last four years' have been sent up the river, to explore and survey it, and works of a temporary character, to facilitate the navigation of the obstructed parts of it, have already been commenced, and will, no doubt, be proceeded with in the coming working season. The exorbitant transit duties, which the Zemindars on its banks formerly levied on all produce conveyed by the river, will have been finally put an end to. Thus all the impediments which have hitherto prevented the navigation of this fine river, and the opening out of its valley to Christian influence and European enterprise, are in process of removal. Already trade has sprung up. There is an increasing communication between Budrachellum and the rich deltas of the Godavery and Kistuah. The boundary between the Nizam's territories and Nagpore includes a narrow strip of country on the north side of the Godavery, along a length of about 200 miles. If this tract of country be transferred to the British rule, increased |