particularly when the brethren were itinerating; and in this case no additional demands would be made on the Society's funds on his account; while it would tend very much to disentangle the missionaries from the affairs of this world.

Is there no friend of the Lord Jesus in Scotland, prepared to offer his services in this work? If there be, he might render an important service to the mission, and I am persuaded without being a loser in his temporal

concerns.

r 2

Wednesday, 20th October. Was visited by Shorah, a Cabardian Wyden, of whom I understand mention has been made oftener than once, by my brethren, in their communications to the Directors. He had just returned from the Carachai country, situated at the bottom of Alburrows, whose lofty summit had opened on my view in my progress up the vale of the Cuma; and as I naturally felt my curiosity awakened by the presence of one who had so lately touched the approach to its eternal snows, I made some general enquiries respecting it, before proceeding to converse with him on his views of the Christian system.

He told us, that the top of the mountain was considered as absolutely inaccessible. Around the bottom of the snow line, there is constantly a strong wind, before which the snow is drifted about in such a manner, as of itself to present almost an insuperable difficulty in the way of adventurers who might be daring enough to make the attempt. Above the snow line, the surface is rendered extremely rugged and dangerous, sometimes by tremendous fissures in the frozen snow, at other times by huge masses of it which, tumbling down from the superior regions, in large icy fragments,

present a barrier too formidable to be surmounted. The rocks in that quarter, he told us, were quite of a different appearance from the rocks in this country, being distinguished by a metallic lustre, which serves to confirm the natives in their opinion that they are blended with the precious metals, for which reason they are extremely jealous if they observe strangers picking up any fragments of them, lest they be tempted to make inroads upon the country for the sake of its hidden treasures. He had succeeded in securing a few small frag ments, which he promised to shew me afterwards, but durst not attempt bringing large specimens, lest he should be detected.

The distance from this to Alburrows, he told us, was about three days' journey. It might be approached in safety, he thought, even by Europeans, by adopting proper precautions-travelling in the dress of the natives, for example, and placing themselves under the protection of some powerful chief, whose name would be respected. The natives, named the Carachais, are Mohammedans: their language is a dialect of the Tartar, interspersed with a number of words not in use upon the lines, though the number of such words is not so great as to occasion any great difficulty in con versing with them. They knew of the existence of the missionary establishment here, but when he left that country, the chief thing of

a religious nature that occupied their attention, as well as that of the Cabardians and Mohammedans on the lines, was a kind of circular letter from Mecca, warning all good mussulmans that the day of judgment was at hand, and solemnly exhorting them to repentance. He had a copy of the circular along with him, written in Turkish, which he read and explained to Mr Galloway, who, as interpreter, told me the substance of it in English. It contains a pretty faithful picture of the sins prevalent among the Mohammedans of the present day, with a solemn admonition to repentance; but, as a whole, is one of the most glaring impositions ever practised on the credulity of the ignorant, and absolutely below contempt, were it not that the interest which the ringleaders of Islamism take in promoting its circulation, serves to shew the idea which they have formed of the blindness of the common people, while the credit it met with, and the alarm it is said to have excited, go far to prove that their ideas on this point are not far from being correct. Among other methods prescribed for escaping the wrath to come, the following is worthy of notice;-paying fifty copeiks to a writer for transcribing a copy of the circular for the use of the faithful. Of this part of it Shora himself seemed to be ashamed. -Having disposed of preliminary topics, Mr. Galloway asked him whether he had been read

ing the New Testament he had received from the missionaries, and how he liked it? In reply, he had no faults to find with the morality of the gospels; but he could not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. It was impossible in the nature of things that it could be So. How could God have a son ! The idea he could not comprehend; the doctrine he could not receive. After directing his attention to what the Scriptures teach respecting the constitution of our Saviour's person, as being "Immanuel, God with us," we told him, that though we firmly believed the union of the divine and human nature in the person of Christ, on the authority of God's own word, we did not profess to comprehend the nature of the union, nor pretend to explain it; adding at the same time, that the incomprehensibility of the doctrine furnished no more reason for refusing to embrace it, when plainly revealed, than our inability to comprehend the nature of the union of soul and body, did for denying the obvious fact, that the body which we know to be a material substance is animated by a spiritual substance named the soul. He answered, This does not apply to the case in hand. Man, from his nature, is a changeable being, but God unchangeable; and if Christ had been God by nature, he never could have become man, because this implies mutability; according to this doctrine, his nature must have undergone a