great man of the big praying ship to get his vessel into deep water, let us be strong and finish that which we have now begun. Yes, these are my words to you all and to myself, that, knowing as we do that it was this new praying ship's mother which first brought the teachers to us who spoke to us about God, while yet we were in darkness, killing and eating each other, and knew nothing of heaven or hell, now it is our duty to do something in return for the great love which first Captain Morgan and then Captain Williams have shown us. And now that an opportunity is given us, let us be strong, and work day and night to keep the praying ship afloat. The grief of the great man of the praying ship is great: yes, my words are true, I have seen the grief of the Captain, that it is very great, and that of his wife is like unto his; yes, the sorrow of those two servants of God for their ship is exceedingly great. We see them as they walk the deck, and are sad, and their hearts are weak, so that they are not able to eat, and, because the ship, which is filling the place of her mother, which is dead, has struck upon a reef, their hearts are weak with grief, and there is no more strength in their bones. Alas, alas! for the new John Williams' she is still very weak; let us have compassion on her and keep her alive. Thank God the praying ship is now afloat again, but she is very leaky; let every one of us, therefore, work with our hands to keep her from sinking, and pray to God to give us strength.

"My young friends, many of you cannot remember much about our state in the time of our darkness, and before the praying ship first visited our land, and you should never

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cease to thank God that you did not live and die in heathen darkness, but that, while you were yet children, God commanded his servants to leave their comfortable homes and their friends, and property, and good food, and come over the great sea and the stormy waters to our dark land, and to live among us in our sickly land, work hard, and be content with our bad food, all for the sake of telling us about Jesus the Saviour of sinners. I can remember when the praying ship first came to Aneiteum, and sent the two Samoan teachers on shore in a boat at Epage, and how my uncle Namumse and I carried the teachers from the boat

to the shore, and Namumse gave them a pig for a feast, and how our hearts were broken when we saw that they did not kill it, but kept it alive.

"When we first saw the ship, and the white men in her, we were afraid, and thought the ship a big spirit, and all the men little spirits. But after a time, the teachers began to talk to us about God, the good land, and prayer; and then made a day of rest which is now our Sabbath. We went in numbers to see them, and in time made them a better house near the shore, where they spoke the good Word to us.

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Now, my friends, this was the commencement of our Christianity, for up until that time we never heard of the great, great God, nor of the good land. Yes, my words are true, God be praised for sending us the good Word. Had God not put it into the hearts of his servants to come from light lands to us, and tell us of Jesus, we would still be in darkness, destroying each other, and perhaps I might have destroyed some of you.

"Let us be strong, and have compassion on the people of all these dark lands, and help God's servants now with the praying ship. Thank God for bringing them all here safely to speak on this land with each other about the work on the dark lands around us, and also for bringing the missionaries by the big praying ship safely to this island.

"Men of Aneiteum, these are my words to you this day. I have no more to say."

THE REV. JAS. DUTHIE'S SCHOOL, NAGERCOIL.

N this most valuable institution, represented in the

above picture, our devoted missionary, Mr. Duthie, has been striving to train up Indian boys and youths for the service of Christ, and God has greatly blessed his endeavours. During the past year as many as seventythree were residing in the institution, receiving instruction to fit them to become native teachers, and to prepare them for general Christian usefulness. Every day they study the Word of God in their various classes, and at morning

and evening worship one of them offers prayer. When Saturday evening arrives, they hold a special prayer-meeting, and have an address. On Sunday, between the public services, they carefully write out the notes of the sermons they have heard, and at night they read them over to Mr. Duthie.

Some of the elder students go out in the afternoon to the villages to speak of Christ and salvation to the heathen, and thus, by practice, they become "apt to teach."

In addition to this central Institution, Mr. Duthie has several Tamil village-schools, and also night-schools for boys and girls, in which Mrs. Duthie has taken great interest. Of one of these-the Mahomedan lads' night-school -Mr. Duthie gives the following somewhat amusing account, but which, nevertheless, shows how much they need the instruction which such a school affords.

THE BOYS' EXAMINATION.

"One evening, having to examine the school, I made the new class of scholars read their Tamil First Lesson Book, and, anxious to test their general knowledge, asked them to tell me what is the difference between an ox and a dog (of which they had just read). They answered, They are both beasts; the one is only larger than the other. There is no other difference, because an ox has four legs and a tail, and so has a dog.'

After making them point out the various marks of difference and describe the uses of the several members of these animals, I said, 'Friends, you have told me that the tail of an ox is useful in driving away the flies that annoy it. Would it not be a desirable thing if we likewise were provided with tails?' This they all answered in the affirmative. Then I required them to tell me one by one, what number of tails they would like to have. Then