There was a terrible excitement in the town as we arrived; guns were fired, and the people came rushing out en masse to see the vazaha. Most of them, never having been out of their own province, had not seen a white man. They stopped us at the gate to ask the usual questions about the health of Her Majesty, and then told us we were as gods (for which we rebuked them), and that the town was ours, we could go and choose what house we liked, and take whatever we wanted; both of which permissions we declined. They found me a good house, and brought us a plentiful supply of provisions, in the shape of an ox, a pig, fowls, rice, and manioc, together with firewood. Next morning the chiefs had assembled, and we informed them of the object of our coming, and told them that it was very easy for them to ask for teachers, but not so easy for us to supply their want from the far north. That what they ought to do is to appoint some of their own young men to bring their wives and come up to Fianarantsoa to learn, with the view of returning to teach. I undertook to supply such with all they needed in Fianarantsoa, as well as teach them; and I think, from their very enthusiastic reply, containing their thanks and conveying those of their king and people, that some will really come up to be taught. In fact, one young man came to me and said that if the king would allow him he should very much like to come north and learn under me, till he could return and teach his fellow-countrymen, who are in the darkness of heathenism. I thanked the chiefs for their favourable reply, and almost directly after turned my face towards Menàrahaka, where I had left Mr. Riordan. I had had over thirty sick people to attend to during the evening and early morning. GENERAL SUMMARY. The Ibara country appears to be more extensive than the Betsileo, but with a very much smaller population. It lies farther west than we have hitherto thought, and extends to within a journey of a day and a half from the coast, where it joins the Mahafaly, a coast tribe extending from the south of the Ibara to the north. It here joins the Sakalava, on a parallel with Ikalamavony; so that the Sakalava do not occupy the whole west coast, as has hitherto been thought; neither can any part of the Ibara be seen from the hills south and west of Ambohimandroso and Imahazony. It is divided into three populations, each with a desert more or less extensive between them: the eastern, of which Ivohibe is the chief town; the central, of which Ihosy is the most important place; and the western, having Isaly in its centre. I should estimate the total population as about 6,000 or 8,000, and it is fast becoming less. что II.—Medical Missionary Work. O this important branch of the Society's operations it has been our pleasure, from time to time, to direct the attention of the readers of the MISSIONARY CHRONICLE. Since its formation, the Society has had the honour of sending forth many skilled professional gentlemen, who, with true-hearted consecration, have laid their talents upon the missionary altar. Others of our brethren have, as occasion demanded, turned their medical knowledge to good account in the discharge of their missionary duties. In both cases "gifts of healing" have proved the handmaid to a higher vocation-that of pointing to the only remedy for a sin-stricken world. The present London Mission Hospital at HANKOW, North China, was built in the winter and spring of 1873-1874, principally by subscriptions from both foreigners and natives, at a cost of about £1,350. The hospital was opened to patients in the month of June, 1874, by Dr. REID, to whom the Society is under deep obligation for professional help generously rendered during a series of years. In June, 1875, Dr. MACKENZIE, who had been appointed by the Directors medical missionary at the station, arrived in Hankow, and relieved Dr. Reid from his selfimposed burden. The following is a description of the hospital building and the medical work carried on therein :"The new hospital is a doublestoried, substantial, brick building, with lofty well-ventilated rooms. On the ground floor is a large waiting room, capable of seating over two hundred persons, a well arranged dispensary, a store room and consulting rooms. On the upper floor are the wards. One, in the front part of the building, with verandah attached, has been set apart and furnished as a ward for foreigners needing medical aid. It has at present four beds. The other wards, three in number, are devoted to the Chinese. Two of them are small and intended for special cases; the third is a large general ward capable of accommodating from sixteen to twenty beds. Besides the above accommodation there are, outside the main building, small detached rooms for families, and a female ward for six patients. "In the ten months which this report covers, ninety-three patients occupied the native wards-thirteen women and eighty men. Seven patients were received into the foreign ward. "The native patients have to provide their own bedding and food while in the hospital. In this way we escape the danger of having the wards filled with sick beggars, and secure on the whole a very satisfactory class of patients. Our patients are chiefly drawn from the respectable labouring classes such as small tradesmen, mechanics and peasants. No charge is made for admission. Accident cases are admitted at all hours and provided with food when necessary. Ten patients were attended at their own homes in Hankow. 66 Out-patients are seen five days in the week. The new cases during the Of ten months have numbered 3,128. these out-door patients some of the more prevalent diseases have been skin and eye affections, rheumatism and chest diseases, dysentery and malarial fever. Opium smokers have numbered thirty-two. They are not encouraged to come as out-patients, as their treatment when not under supervision is most unsatisfactory. The common reason given for wishing to abandon the drug is poverty. It is a luxury which they cannot now afford, and they come to the hospital simply to be relieved from the suffering con. sequent upon leaving it off; let their cash however become more plentiful and they quickly return to the opium shop. Seven opium smokers having remained as in-patients, and under constant observation, have at any rate been cured for the time, and have gone out free from the dreadful craving which distracts the smoker when he abandons the pipe. The hold this vice gets over men is very great, and no doubt some of these when again thrown among their old associates, with the temptation brought prominently before them, will fall back into the old habit. Failing health, and the desire to be free from the thraldom of such a vice, were the principal reasons which led these men to remain at their own expense some weeks in the hospital. One was led to give up opium from a desire to become a Christian and join the church. He is a Shan-si man and was eventually baptized. Since his admission into the church his conduct has been highly satisfactory. He has just left for his native province, having thoroughly won the confidence and respect of all his fellow-converts. This case encourages us to go on, for we know that when the heart is changed by God, even the craving for the fatal pipe must pass away. Very many take to opium in the first place to relieve disease-as chest affections, dysentery, &c., when native medical aid has failed; and hence among the general patients, a large number of them are smokers. But opium smoking as a vice does not go alone, and there is no doubt that many young lads take to the pipe being attracted in the first instance by the evil surroundings of the opium den." 2. RELIGIOUS WORK. Each day before the medical work begins, and when the patients are assembled in the waiting-room, the Gospel is proclaimed to them by the English missionaries, the Revds. GRIFFITH JOHN and E. BRYANT, and by the native evangelist, SIAU. "This is often done by addressing the remarks made to a few individuals, who seem most attentive and serious, and by getting them to answer and put questions. In this way a general interest is awakened in what is said, and a definite though limited view of divine truth is obtained by some. Mrs. John kindly takes charge of the women who come, and devotes much of her time and energies to their instruction. Mrs. John is assisted by a native Christian whom she employs as a Bible-woman, and who is rendering admirable service in this as well as in other departments of the work. That the women as well as the men get a clear mental knowledge of the truth, we find by frequent questions put to them in the consulting room. "Those who remain as in-patients receive daily religious instruction; and through kindness and attention to their bodily suffering we seek to lead them to the great Physician who alone can meet their spiritual want. In connection with the dissemination of the Gospel amongst the patients it is interesting to notice the large area of country covered. From Ho-nan, Hu-nan and Kiang-si provinces we have received patients in the wards, and from all the districts of Hu-peh, such as Mien-yang, Hiau-kan, Hwang-pi, &c. From Mien-yang alone, though over a hundred English miles distant, we have had twentythree in-patients. In this way the Gospel reaches men who would never probably have come under its influence in any other way, for their homes have not yet been reached by missionary effort. Many of them take away a knowledge at least of the way of salvation; some we believe have gone to their homes humble disciples of Jesus." 3. SUCCESSFUL CURES. In addition to the interesting cases recorded in the Society's last Annual Report, the following instances are given by Dr. Mackenzie: “One man, aged forty, a Ku-jen, graduate of the second degree, living in the province of Kwei-chow, a thousand English miles from Hankow, having to visit Peking and appear before the emperor, was much distressed with the fact that he had a diseased lip. Hearing that there was a foreign hospital at Hankow, and that foreign doctors did very wonderful things, he travelled the long journey to be cured, and went away very well satisfied with the result. "After cases of recovery of sight, numerous blind folk were brought to the dispensary-men whose eyes were entirely destroyed by old standing disease. They had heard that the blind had been cured by coming to us, and they also wanted sight. "One such man was brought by a relation. They had come a long journey, and were evidently strong in faith. It was very hard for them to believe that the case was incurable; and again and again they besought and prayed with tears that they might not be sent away. "Another case of interest, from its spiritual results, is that of a Hwangpi man named Yang, a coppersmith, employed in Hankow. He was in the hospital with pneumonia of one lung, from which he made a good recovery. Coming constantly under the influence of Siau he was converted to Christianity, and has since been himself a zealous missionary, having brought his aged father, and other friends and fellow-workmen into the church. "One man was under treatment for a contusion, the result of a beating he had received from his friends on account of his having become a Christian. "It is very cheering to see the active interest the native Christians take in the hospital. Many of the Hankow Christians are very earnest workers for Christ, and when engaged in seeking the conversion of their relatives or friends they often bring them when ill to the dispensary, hoping that by the benefit they will get to their bodies, and the kind treatment they will personally receive, to gain from them a better attention to, and deeper interest in the Gospel. One earnest Christian, named Ko, recently said when a friend of his was baptized, whom he had in this manner brought as a patient,-'I have brought ten friends, but after being cured, like the lepers in the Gospel, only one has returned to give thanks."" 4. MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. Prejudice and ignorance on the part of those dwelling in the immediate vicinity of the hospital are not uncommon. It is scarcely, therefore, to be wondered at that opposition should be met with by the missionary when visiting new and distant districts. Dr. Mackenzie writes: "During the cold season I accompanied the Rev. Griffith John on missionary visits to the villages situated within a day's journey of Hankow. We sought to combine the healing of the sick with the preaching of the Gospel. In this way seven journeys were made, and the greater number of villages in the immediate neighbourhood of Hankow visited, most of them for the first time by the foreign missionary. I also joined Mr. John in two longer journeys to Hiaukan, a district forty miles distant, where about twenty Christians, who have joined the church in Hankow, reside. ness and energy of H. B. M.'s resident consul, Mr. Alabaster, we were enabled to make a second visit in perfect safety, when Mr. John preached freely in many parts of this very populous district, and accomplished every object of the journey. "ASSISTANTS. There are two medical assistants attached to the hospital. The senior, named Yangkien-tang, a fine promising young man of twenty-five, was brought up in the church and has been connected with the medical work in Hankow since its commencement. He has some knowledge of English, and with his aid 1 was enabled to see patients almost from the day of my arrival. He also thoroughly enters into the missionary objects of the hospital. "Our native preacher Siau has only been a Christian for a year or so; but his remarkable gifts as a preacher and his earnestness of purpose in regard to the salvation of men, led to his being thus early chosen for this important work. We all love and esteem him." 5. PEKING HOSPITAL. The Society's medical mission in the city of PEKING was commenced in the year 1862. It is under the superintendence of Dr. DUDGEON, who is at present on a visit to this country. During the past year, the hospital records include several cases of city Lamas, who came with diseases and were cured. The following interesting case is from MONGOLIA, and has been furnished by the Rev. JAS. GILMOUR:— A petty Mandarin from the Soonite country had been suffering for some two or three years from a bad arm. Hearing of our cure of the Soonite Wang's sister a year or two ago, he came with a small retinue of fol lowers, took lodgings in Peking, paid us regular visits at the hospital, and returned home in three or four weeks cured. This is, I think, the first direct result we have seen from the successful treatment of the Wang's |