During the night and the whole of the next day the wind was either contrary, or so light as not to enable us to stem the current: it was intensely hot; the thermometer stood at about 96°. The commander of our vessel went this morning to a market held in a neighbouring village, to purchase some trifles for the vessel; and it may show the poverty of the country, and the cheapness of the different articles, to observe, that having bought all the commodities which he wanted for a few pice', he was unable in the whole market to get change for a rupee, or about two shillings.

66

In the evening we again went on shore to another village, resembling the first in its essential features, but placed in a yet more fertile soil. The houses stood literally in a thicket of fruit-trees, plantains, and flowering shrubs; the muddy ponds were covered with the broad-leaved lotus, and the adjacent paddy," or rice-fields, were terminated by a wood of tall coco-nut trees, between whose stems the light was visible, pretty much like a grove of Scotch firs. I here remarked the difference between the coco and the palmira; the latter with a narrower leaf than the former, and at this time of year without fruit, with which the other abounded. For a few pice' one of the lads climbed up the tallest of these with great agility, notwithstanding the total want of boughs, and the slipperiness of the bark. My wife was anxious to look into one of their houses, but found its owners unwilling to allow her. At length one old fellow, I believe to get us away from his own threshold, said he would show us a very fine house. We followed him to a cottage somewhat larger than those which we had yet seen; but on our entering its little court-yard, the people came in much earnestness to prevent our proceeding farther. We had, however, a fair opportunity of seeing an Indian

1 A small copper coin, about the value of our halfpenny.

In front was a small

farm-yard and homestead. mud building, with a thatched verandah looking towards the village, and behind was a court filled with coco-nut husks, and a little rice straw; in the centre of this was a round thatched building, raised on bamboos about a foot from the ground, which they said was a "Goliah," or granary; round it were small mud cottages, each to all appearance an apartment in the dwelling. In one corner was a little mill, something like a crab-mill, to be worked by a man, for separating the rice from the husk. By all which we could see through the open doors, the floor of the apartments was of clay, devoid of furniture and light, except what the door admitted. A Brahmin now appeared, a formal pompous man, who spoke better Hindoostanee than the one whom we had seen before. I was surprised to find that in these villages, and Mr. Mill tells me that it is the case almost all over India, the word "Grigi," a corruption of "Ecclesia," is employed when speaking of any place of worship. Most of these people looked unhealthy. Their village and its vicinity appeared to owe their fertility to excessive humidity under a burning sun. Most of the huts were surrounded by stagnant water; and near the entrance of one of them they showed us a little elevated mound like a grave, which they said was their refuge when the last inundation was at its height. So closely and mysteriously do the instruments of production and destruction, plenty and pestilence, life and death, tread on the heels of each other!

Besides tamarinds, cocos, palmiras, plantains, and banyans, there were some other trees of which we could not learn the European name. One was the neem, a tree not very unlike the acacia, the leaves of which are used to keep moth from books and clothes. Another I supposed to be manchineel,—a tree like a very large rhododendron, but not without flowers; its thick club-ended branches, when wounded,

exuded1 a milky juice in large quantities, which the natives said would blister the fingers. We saw one jackall run into the woods: the cries of these animals grew loud and incessant as we returned to the ship, and so nearly resembled the voice of children at play, that it was scarcely possible at first to ascribe them to any other source. On our arrival at the vessel we found two "Bholiahs," or large row boats, with convenient cabins, sent to take us up the river, as it was impossible, with such light winds, for the yacht to stem the force of the current.-Bp. Heber.

CHRIST ASLEEP IN THE HEART.
(From St. Augustine.)

THOU hast heard an insult, it is the wind; thou art angry, it is a wave. When, therefore, the wind blows, and the wave swells, the ship is endangered, the heart is in jeopardy, the heart is tossed to and fro. When thou hast heard an insult, thou longest to be avenged and lo! avenged thou hast been, and, rejoicing in another's harm, thou hast suffered shipwreck. And why is this? Because CHRIST is asleep in thee. What does this mean-CHRIST is asleep in thee? Thou hast forgotten CHRIST. Rouse Him up then; call CHRIST to mind; let CHRIST awake in thee; give heed to Him! What didst thou wish? To be avenged. Hast thou forgotten, that when He was crucified, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?" He who was asleep in thy heart did not wish to be avenged. Awake Him up then; call Him to remembrance. The remembrance of Him is His word! The remembrance of Him is His command. And then wilt thou say, if CHRIST be awake in thee, What manner of man am I, who wish to be avenged? Who am I who deal out threatenings against another

1 Oozed out.

man? I may die, perhaps, before I am avenged. And when at my last breath, inflamed with rage and thirsting for vengeance, I shall depart out of this body, He will not receive me who did not wish to be avenged: He will not receive me, who said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; forgive, and it shall be forgiven you." Therefore will I refrain myself from my wrath, and return to the repose of my heart. CHRIST hath commanded the sea; tranquillity is restored.

Now what I have said as to anger, hold fast as a rule in all your temptations. A temptation has sprung up; it is the wind: thou art disturbed; it Awake up CHRIST then; let Him speak

is a wave. with thee. "Who is this, since the winds and the sea obey Him?" Who is this, whom the sea obeyeth? "The sea is His, and He made it." All things were made by Him. Imitate the winds and the sea better: obey the Creator. At CHRIST'S command the sea giveth ear, and art thou deaf? The sea heareth, and the wind ceaseth; and dost thou still blow on? What I am saying, doing, devising :—what is all this, but to be blowing on, and to be unwilling to stop in obedience to the word of CHRIST? Let not the wave master you in this troubled state of your heart. Yet, since we are but men, if the wind should drive us on, and stir up the affections of our souls, let us not despair; let us awake CHRIST, that we may sail on a tranquil sea, and so come to our country.-St. Augustine (Oxford Translation, with a word or two altered).

SYMEON.

SYMEON was son of Clopas, who was brother of Joseph'. Thus he was reputed cousin-german to the LORD. His mother was Mary, sister of the

1 Euseb. E. H. iii. 11.

Virgin 2. Thus he again stood in the same relation to the LORD; and he was in the vigour of ripe manhood" when the long-expected SAVIOUR revealed Himself to the world. We know that at first Jesus disappointed the expectations even of his own family, and that for some time not even his brethren believed in Him. But Symeon overcame all these impediments, and attached himself to JESUS, though in what position he stood as a disciple of our LORD is not known: since, however, the kinsmen of the LORD were held in so much honour after His ascension', he was probably called upon to assist at the council of Jerusalem, and was also entrusted with the care of one of those congregations, into which this Church, so numerous even under its sorest afflictions, was divided.

But we know nothing of his position in the Church with certainty, till in one of the murderous riots with which the Jews ever and anon assailed the flock of CHRIST, they threw its bishop, James, the brother of the LORD, down from the battlements of the temple, and then stoned him to death'. Upon this a solemn assembly was held of the Church, to which there came from all quarters the Apostles (such at least as were within reach), the disciples and the kinsmen of the LORD. They elected Symeon into the place of James. Perhaps not only his relationship to the LORD, and private character, but also his age as a disciple contributed to this choice. For, as heresy was now beginning to rear its head in the Church, it was of the utmost importance, that they whose authority was to be looked up to, should have been, if possible, eye-witnesses and hearers of the LORD Himself. Such men would be able, by their

2 Euseb. E. H. 32. John xix. 25.

3 Suffering under Trajan at the age of 120. Euseb. E. H. iii. 32. whose whole account of Symeon is given from Hegesippus.

John vii. 5.

Euseb. H. E. iii. 11. 6 Acts xv. 8 Ib. iii. 11.

7 Euseb. H. E. ii. 23.