Foreign Missionary Entelligence. It is with real satisfaction, that I am able to inform you of the completion of the New Testament in Burman, about six weeks ago; since which I have added, by way of introduction, an Epitome of the Old Testament, in twelve sections, consisting of a summary of scripture history from the creation to the coming of Christ, and an abstract of the most important prophecies of the Messiah and his kingdom, from the Psalms, Isaiah and other prophets. I trust this work will be found as valuable, as any part of the preceding; for though not, strictly speaking, the word of God, it is I hope it will not be long before the Gospel and Epistles of John are printed. They have been ready for the press above a year, and have been so thoroughly and repeatedly revised, that I flatter my self, that subsequent translators will not find it necessary to make many alterations. Indeed, all the Gospels and the Acts are in a tolerable state; the Epistles are still deficient. But I never read a chapter without a pencil in hand, and Griesbach and Parkhurst at my elbow; and it will be an object with me through life, to bring the translation into such a state, that it be a standard work. may I remain, dear Sir, A. JUDSON, JUK. compiled almost entirely in the FORT WAYNE AND CAREY words of scripture, is received by the converts with great eagerness, and found to be peculiarly interesting and instructive, and forms, moreover, a sort of text-book, from which I am able to communicate much information on the history, types and prophecies of the Old Testament, in a systematic manner. I have heard but little from Ava, since I left. Prince M. sometimes inquires for me, and wishes to hear more about the Christian religion, Brother Price is building a small brick house on the opposite side of the river, the king having given him bricks. I expect to remove as soon as Mrs. Judson returns, from whom I have not, however, received a word of intelligence for nearly ten months. Brother Hough has not yet been able to get types from Bengal; no printing, therefore, has been done since his return. STATIONS. HISTORY OF THE MISSION UNDER To the Editors of the Am. Bap. Magazine. Brethren, In compliance with a request to furnish a summary statement of the progress and present condition of the Carey Mission, I offer the following, deeply regreting the shortness of time, which will allow of only a few hasty remarks. Origin of the Mission. I received my appointment as missionary, in October, 1817. Soon after this, I formed an acquaintance with the Kickapoo and Miami Indians, the tribes nearest to my then residence. In November, 1818, I removed my family into the wilderness on the waters of the Wabash river, Indiana, where we had erected cabins for our accommodation in the neighbourhood of the Miamies. This station was taken, merely as a preparatory step towards a more permanent location of the mission, and was suggested by reasons which would not be misunderstood, but which cannot be detailed at this time. Removal to Fort Wayne. The prejudices and jealousies of the natives were yet to be conquered. By the former, they indulged aversion to civilized habits, and by the latter, were induced to suspect the purity of our motives. In December, 1818, we took into our family our first native scholar. In the course of one year, our school increased to nine or ten native scholars. In this year also, Mr. Corbly Martin was baptized at our house, he being then in the employ ment of the Mission as a hired school teacher. In May, 1820, at the particular request of the principal Miami Chief, Mishewa, (cat) and because we did not possess the means of making the necessary missionary improvements on a more permanent site, we passed through the wilderness, 170 miles, to Fort Wayne, at which place the United States Agent furnished us with houses sufficient for our accommodation, and some land to cultivate, all rent-free. Fort Wayne was a central point to which many Indians resorted, and from which we had an opportunity of extending our acquaintance to the Miamies, Putawatomies, Ottawas, and Shawanees; and as we should be at no expense in the erection of buildings, it was believed that nothing would be lost, but that much would be gained, by making this our temporary residence, until arrangements with the Indians could be made for a permanent location of the mission. Encouraging Prospects. On the 29th of May, 1820, our school went into operation at Fort Wayne, with eight Indian scholars, six of whom we had taken with us from our former residence. On the 2d of July, 1821, our school had increased to 48. On Lord's day, June 18, 1820, I enjoyed the privilege of baptizing a half Indian woman. On the 23d of July, I baptized a white man. June 23d, I baptized a full Indian woman. July 8th, I baptized another Indian woman, a half breed, and on the 15th of the same month, I baptized a white woman whom we had hired to assist in the family. On the 2d of June, 1822, I baptized Johnston Lykins, at that time hired to assist in our school. Distressing want of Missionaries. Hitherto my wife and I, had alone borne the burthen of missionary labours, being under the necessity of hiring that assistance which it was desirable to obtain from missionaries. When I was absent, which was frequent, in transacting business with the natives, and in looking after supplies for the establishment, the superintendence of the whole concern devolved on my wife, as well as the care which a numerous family of small children of our own required. Finding the prejudices of the natives to be giving way, and daily hoping to be reinforced by missionaries, we hoped soon to see the mission permanently located, and amply supported. Favourable openings presenting themselves, we prepared for the location of a station among the Miamies, one among the Putawatomies, and one among the Ottawas, all to act in conjunction. For the support of those schools we had made arrangements for aid, with the United States, and these arrangements were of such character, as to allow us to carry them forward just in proportion to the means furnished by Missionary So cieties. Nothing appeared to be improve their lands also. They wanting but missionaries. It will easily be imagined, that for one solitary missionary with his wife, to conduct a mission among the natives, remote from sources of supplies, was not a small task, and with the assistance of our brother just mentioned, we must feel our labours too multiform, and heavy. Like men at the pumps labouring to keep the ship from sinking, we toiled, and cried for help, until we were forced to abandon our favourable prospects among the Miamies. We prepared to locate ourselves among the Putawatomies, and to extend our labours also to the Ottawas. The consequence was, about 20 Miami children, some of whom had made considerable progress in our school in a knowledge of letters and labour, were abandoned to the wretchedness of the savage life of their relatives. Good effects of the Mission. We had encouraged the inhabitants of one village, to improve their lands, had given them garden seeds, sent our team to haul rails for fence, and to plough their land, and had assisted them in cutting hay on the prairies for a few cattle they had been prevailed upon to purchase. The sole agent of Indian affairs, and another gentleman well acquainted with those Indians, nobly seconded these efforts result of what was done for this village this year, excited them to greater effort the following, and excited in other villages a desire to The have, therefore, in the course of two or three years, fenced, and put into a state of cultivation, between 200 and 300 acres of land, have erected 26 log cabins, and procured a considerable number of cattle and hogs. Present want of Missionaries. A prospect of missionary aid, which seemed not liable to disappoint us, cherished a hope of being able to improve the opening presented among the Ottawas on Grand River of Lake Michigan. The Indians had set apart one inile square of land for the location of the establishment, and I had made arrangements for a blacksmith, together with tools, iron, steel, &c. for the erection of four cabins, for axes, hoes, &c. a waggon and team, all at the expense of the United States, which had also provided a salary of $400 per ann. for a missionary to serve as "teacher for the Ottawas," and furnished two labourers to assist and encourage these Indians in agriculture. So favourable an opening for missionary labours, we believed, had never been presented among the natives of our forests. But when the time arrived for the station to be occupied, we were again disappointed, and those whom we expected to go thither, declined the undertaking. Consequently, we have been able to do nothing more for those people than to give them a blacksmith, and to labourers provided by government, encourage them by means of the to cultivate their lands, while the disappointment has been attended with perplexity and loss to the mission. This opening, howeyer, continues to be inviting; we hope to maintain the field, and occupy it in proportion to our means and the increase of missionaries. Sickness of the family, and preparation for removal to Carey Station. The summer and autumn of 1822, was a season peculiarly af flictive to our family. Forty-three of our family suffered, most of them severely, with Bilious and Typhus fevers. One of my little daughters, and a young man who had just arrived with a view to missionary service, died. It was in this season of frightful sufferings, that the state of our affairs plainly, and imperiously, required us to commence our improvements at Carey, among the Putawatomie Indians. They had set apart one mile square of land for our residence, on the river St. Joseph, 25 miles from Lake Michigan. By virtue of the stipulations of the treaty of Chicago, I had obtain ed a commission as teacher for the Putawatomies, which would afford an annual relief to the mission of $400; also a blacksmith, and tools, iron and steel, some axes, hoes, &c. the cost of erecting five cabins, were obtained by virtue of the stipulation of the treaty. In August we commenced our labours at our new and permanent site, 200 miles north west of Fort Wayne, and continued our labours while our family suffered so dreadfully at Fort Wayne. I made two journeys in the wilderness during the time, and continued at one time, with the hands hired to put up cabins, about six weeks. We still kept our business in operation throughout the season, notwithstanding brother Lykins and myself had each a severe attack of fever. My wife was among the first who sickened, and the last that recovered. Removal from Fort Wayne. On the 9th of November, 1822, we left Fort Wayne with the last of our family, a company of about thirty-two persons, (more than 20 having gone some weeks before) for Carey. The weather was cold, and the ground covered with snow, which at night we raked away, until we found the earth, now frozen, on which to repose the limbs which had been wearied through the day, by travelling in a wilderness, along an Indian path, and without a house in which we could take shelter. Many of our family, at this time, were pale and feeble with their late sickness, and what added to our difficulties; our good brother Lykins was not in company, having gone to Indiana to settle his business there. Sufferings of the Missionaries. The ice in Elksheart, and St. Joseph rivers, was running so as to render crossing both difficult and dangerous; but God took care of us, and eleven days journey brought us to Carey. Our cabins were unfinished and uncomfortable. There was no one at the establishment really interested in the management of its concerns, but my wife and me. Our burthen was greater than could be borne; and twice through the winter, I was, by cold and fatigue, to human appearance, brought near to eternity, and made to feel the probability of leaving my companion in toils, alone, in charge of nine children of our own; thirty native youths now at our house, hoping for the blessings of education; in charge of the whole missionary concern, in the midst of a tribe of uncultivated savages, who had been second to none in hostilities against the whites in time of the late war; 100 miles from the nearest white inhabitants, and 200 miles from a settled country! These prospects occasioned me afterwards to write in my journal for February 11th, the following note. Trial of faith. "In order to forward some work which I was particularly desirous to have completed, I wrought with the hands half the day. I had for some time been afflicted with a severe cold. Fatigue and exposure to the piercing wind to-day, aggravated my disease; and ague, fever, distraction, pains in my limbs, breast, and bowels, with difficulty of breathing, declared my situation to be dangerous. Should I die at this time, what will become of the Mission, and of my family! Must all for which I have toiled for five years be lost in a day! All our adopted children be scattered and lost forever! Brother Lykins has not yet returned, and there is no missionary here to help when I fail. My wife cannot do every thing, Notwithstanding my eyes shall not see these things, nor my ears hear the hapless orphans cry, yet how dreadful it is to die under these apprehensions! It sometimes seems a little hard, that among more than two hundred thousand of our denomination in America there should be none to feel compassion, and that we are thus left alone, to toil, to suffer, and to die." February 11th, brother Lykins arrived, having been detained by severe indisposition. School commences. Our school by an asistants teacher whom we had hired, went into regular operation at our new abode, on the 27th of January. Having to haul all our bread stuff, and other supplies through a wilderness of nearly 200 miles, the consequence was, that we were re peatedly destitute of bread, and at one time, ate our last corn, which article, when it could be obtained, was a substitute for bread. Prospect brightens. It is remarkable that all our sicknesses, privations, and difficulties, have not vitally affected the progress of our affairs with the Indians. Our sphere of operation has been circumscribed, and our opportunities of imparting religious instruction to the adjacent natives, limited. Nevertheless, we have been gradually gaining an ascendency over their prejudices, and moving onward with instruction. Arrival of Missionaries. Last November, a brother William Polke and his family, and a sister Fanny Goodridge, a woman in single life, joined the mission, and promise to be useful and lovely missionaries. State of the School. Our school has increased to 58 native scholars, fed and clothed at the expense of the Mission. 37 of these are males, and 16 females. 21 of these can read the Bible with tolerable facility, and 7 others read imperfectly. 18 write a tolerable hand, others imperfectly. 13 are studying arithmetic, and the residue are in various stages of improvement. During the cropping season, the boys are required to labour on the farm about half their time. Two of them are apprentices to the blacksmith's business. The girls are taught to spin, weave, sew, knit, and all kinds of domestic labour, and many of them are, in several branches, second to none of their age among the whites. Several of the youth are capable of dictating and writing letters, which, though not free from inaccuracies, evince a happy improvement, and promising strength of mind. Disposition of the Natives. The neighbouring natives are friendly, and would give us any tolerable number of their children for instruction, did we possess the means of supporting them. We do not know of any lasting religious impressions being fastened upon any of our rude neighbours, but we have at least the satisfaction of finding them disposed to listen attentively to religious instruction. And it is chiefly on this account, that the necessity which has obliged the writer of this to leave the field of his labours for a while, is to be regretted. Present state of the mission at Carey. For dwellings we have erected |