Missionary Notices.

returned a mile and a half to the boat,
the tall man with his gun walking arm
We had some diffi-
in arm with me.
culty in wading through coral reefs to
the boat, but through mercy escaped an
entire immersion.

There were at one time some circumstances rather suspicious; such as private signals, winking of the eye, &c. I think it not improbable, that consequences of a serious nature might have attended the visit of any other persons. They talked freely about the Chief being taken, &c.; but regarded us as being actuated by pure friendship in our visit. We reached the ship in safety, where dry clothes, and a little food, were acceptable.

Monday, August 3d.-We passed the New-Hebrides, where Mr. Williams was murdered.

4th.-New-Caledonia in sight. We felt a great wish to visit it; but as none of us know the language of the natives, and understanding that they are to be ranked among the worst of savages, I thought it prudent to postpone the visit for the present, especially as we had no immediate help to offer them.

I

Sunday, 9th. We are not far from Norfolk Island, a penal settlement. preached in the morning, and gave an exposition at night. The wind and sea rose considerably during the day. The two following days, we had almost a hurricane, were under close-reefed sails, and the passengers generally indisposed. We were incapable of thinking on scarcely any other subject, than old friends and old times in England.

15th. During the week I have had
conversations with Mr. Cargill on vari-
ous important matters relating to our
Missions, and on the manners and cus-
toms of the Feejeeans, which have fully
confirmed the opinion I had formed of
them. They have certain marks of
refinement, which one could not have
cannibals.
exist among
supposed to
But the revolting scenes of cruelty are
Treachery and theft are also
many.
practised, but not so much among them-
selves as towards strangers.

One poor man at Rewa, while bathing,
had both arms bitten off by a shark; and
thinking he was rendered useless to soci-
ety, they proposed to strangle him. He
appealed against their decision, saying,
"The shark has not taken my eyes, and
I can serve the King as a watchman."
The appeal was successful, and the
maimed man watches the King's pre-
mises.

There are, as in the Tonga islands, very few men without having a little fin

ger cut off, as an offering to their gods.
I saw one little boy with his arm in a
sling the little finger had just been cut
off as an offering, and the poor fellow
seemed delighted with the fact. The chil-
dren are warriors from their youth, and are
They usually practise
amazingly expert with the spear, the bow
and arrow, &c.
with their weapons on the children of
A little
those who are taken in war.
they cast spears or arrows till he is dead.
boy or girl is placed at a distance, and

For certain crimes the arm of a man
has been cut off by the elbow-joint, then
to the shoulder; afterwards, one leg to
the knee, then higher; the limbs have
then been eaten in the presence of the
living trunk and head; and finally the
head has been cut off.

About eight months ago, twenty bodies
killed in war were taken, and, in front of
our premises at Rewa, were divided
among the inhabitants to be eaten : one
was a fine young woman, in a state of
pregnancy!

One of the King's brothers at Rewa
Two of his wives were
died lately.
strangled, to accompany him to the world
of spirits! One was a very fine young
woman, who went to the King, and said,
"Show love to me, and let me be stran-
gled." He said, "Very well; go and
wash." She went to the river and washed
herself, put on a new native dress, and,
with scented oil on her body, returned to
the King, where all her relatives were.
She kissed each of them, and bade them
farewell. Some wished to save her; but
her brother said, if she did not die, he
would never own her as a sister. Imme-
diately, a large rope was put round her
the windpipe; ten strong men pulled, five
neck, with two knots, one on each side
on each side, while a woman closed her
mouth and nose to prevent breathing.
She was soon dead, and her body was
the Chief and his other wife, in the pre-
placed on a clean mat, and interred with
sence of Messrs. Cargill and Jaggar.

At Somosomo a few months ago, thir-
teen women were strangled outside the
fence where the Missionaries reside: they
of course remonstrated, till their own lives
were in danger. It is thought, however,
that, though in that instance they could
not succeed, their interference will pre-
vent further acts of barbarity and murder.

Hitherto I have been mercifully preserved from all anxiety about my family: the care of the infant churches has occupied all my leisure moments.

Sunday, August 23d.-We saw Mount Dromedary and Cape Howe. I preached evening. in the morning, and Mr. Cargill in the

The usual Monthly Statement of Moneys Received, including some welcome additions to the Special Fund for the Ashantee and GoldCoast Missions, is, from want of room, unavoidably postponed.

LONDON :-Printed by James Nichols, 46, Hoxton-Square,

FOR JUNE, 1841.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN FAIRBOURN:

BY HIS SON, THE REV. JAMES P. FAIRBOURN.

Ir is a matter of regret, that my father has left behind him no memorandums either of his early history, religious experience, or of any facts connected with his labours as a Minister of the Gospel. This brief memoir is therefore compiled from family recollections.

My father, was born at Leppington, a village in the Pocklington Circuit, in the year 1781. His parents were agriculturists. They were respectable in their character, and highly moral in their habits, but unacquainted with the nature of experimental religion. Their family was brought up in an attendance upon the worship connected with the established Church.

When very young, my father was placed at a boarding-school in the neighbourhood, where he remained until he attained his seventeenth year. In youth his disposition was volatile to a more than common degree; his spirit was exceedingly light and buoyant. He was fond of vain amusements, and indulged in them with apparent delight. But even in the midst of youthful follies, the restraining grace of God prevented him from plunging into criminal excesses, and kept him from gross immorality. He was likewise favoured with the powerful strivings of the Holy Spirit.

On one occasion, while engaged with some of his companions in diversion, his fears were more than ordinarily excited; his conscience was aroused, and he was led to a clear discovery of his dangerous condition as a sinner in the sight of God. Various are the means which the infinitely wise God employs in order to bring sinful men to serious reflection, and admonish them to prepare for their eternal state. The instrument employed by infinite Wisdom to impress my father's mind with the importance of religion, was a thunder-storm more than usually terrific: through this awful medium God spoke to his heart; and from that moment he resolved to change his mode of life.

That the impressions thus made on his mind were neither superficial nor transient, his subsequent life sufficiently demonstrated. He became altered in his outward deportment; his volatility was exchanged for seriousness; and so great was the change which took VOL. XX. Third Series. JUNE, 1841.

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