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night, after witnessing the sabbath as spent by the poor Africans, I was made a witness to the manner in which it was spent by Europeans, and these highlyfavoured Britons. I found my messmates playing at cards. God, I beseech thee, for the sake of those few who call on thy name, do not take thy candlestick from among us, though richly deserved.'

Shortly after writing this letter, Robert was seized with the fever peculiar to Sierra-Leone. Delirium came on almost immediately. No time was given to the young man to ask for mercy, or to witness for God. A few short days of illness were suffered, and his body was laid in a sailor's grave, in the mighty deep, but his freed spirit ascended to God. The solemn service was read over his remains, and the words, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth," were in full accordance with the feelings which inspired him while living. Robert knew not that his letter was that of a dying man; yet who, that reads this narrative, is not ready to exclaim, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." Which of us cannot add, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" Robert had entered his twenty-eighth year when he died, on the 12th of October, 1844.

P.

TREASURES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. No. I.

THE IRISH ELK.

THERE are two splendid skeletons in the British Museum, of quadrupeds, which now extinct, have become so, as there is every reason to believe, within a comparatively recent date. We allude to those of the Irish elk, and the enormous mastodon. The Irish elk, so called from the abundance of its semi-fossilized bones in the turf bogs and marl pits of Ireland, which country appears to have been once its stronghold, evidently belonged to the same section of the deer tribe as our delicate fallow-deer, and not to that comprehending the elk of Scandinavia, or of North America. It was widely spread; for its remains occur in the Isle of Man, and also in France, Italy, and Germany;

they have also been found in England, but far more sparingly than in Ireland.

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It is remarkable, however, that few perfect skeletons have been discovered, although in Ireland the bones are common in some districts as to attract but little regard; and skulls, with the vast and expanded antlers, have been used for stopping gaps in walls.* The bones are generally found dispersed confusedly beneath the turf, in a deposit of shelly marl,-and sometimes under this latter, resting on a stratum of clay, and almost always are in admirable preservation. A perfect skeleton exists in the museum of the Royal Dublin Society, in the Royal Museum of the University of Edinburgh, and another in the British Museum. They are truly magnificent, and lead back the mind to the time when this noble deer, equalled in stature by no living species, not even by the elk, wandered over the hills, and ranged the wilds, fearless even of the wolf, which, with his mighty antlers, he could keep at bay. These antlers are palmate, like those of the fallow deer, but much more so-the breadth of the palmation being in the Dublin specimen two feet nine inches; the span of both horns together, (measured over the skull,) is eleven feet ten inches, and their circumference at the root something more than one foot. The height of the animal at the shoulders is six feet six inches, and the length of the spine, from the head to the tail, ten feet ten inches; the length of the head is one foot and nearly nine inches. These details will give some idea of what the living animal must have been.

It was the opinion of Cuvier that, as in the case of the reindeer, the females were provided with antlers, as well as the male; and there are reasons, from the characters of the skulls, to believe that Cuvier was correct; for skulls of animals, evidently aged, are found, the antlers of which are smaller and lighter than those of the skulls of younger individuals. "What," says professor Jameson," could

mittee of Natural Philosophy of the Royal Dublin * In a report which Mr. Hart made to the ComSociety and which was printed in their Proceedings of July, 1824, he alluded to an instance of a pair Tipperary. Since that he has learned that a pair of these horns having been used as a field-gate near has been in use for a similar purpose near Newcastle, county of Wicklow, until they were decom

posed by the action of the weather. There is also a specimen in Charlemont House, the town residence of the earl of Charlemont, which is said to have been rivulet in the county of Tyrone. used for some time as a temporary bridge across a

have been the use of these immense
horns? It is quite evident that they
would prevent the animal making any
progress through a thickly wooded coun-
try; that the long, tapering, pointed
antlers, (digitations of the palm,) were
totally unfit for lopping off the branches
of trees, a use to which the elk sometimes
applies his horns. It would rather appear
that they were given the animal as wea-
pons for its protection-a purpose for
which they seem to have been admirably
designed; for their lateral expansion is
such, that should occasion require the
animal to use them in his defence, their
extreme tips would easily reach beyond
the remotest parts of his body; and if we |
consider the powerful muscles for moving
the head, whose attachments occupied
the extensive surfaces of the cervical
vertebræ, with the length of the lever
afforded by the horns themselves, we can
easily conceive how he could wield them
with a force and velocity which would
deal destruction to an enemy having the
hardihood to venture within their range."
That the wolf was one of those enemies,
we cannot doubt-perhaps, also the hyæ-
na; and there are good reasons for be-
lieving that man, an enemy far more
formidable, chased this noble deer, both
in Ireland and on the continent, although
there are neither records nor traditions
respecting it. A skull of this species,
described by professor Goldfuss, of Bonn,
was discovered a few years since in Ger-
many, in the same drain with several
stone hatchets and urns. In the seventh
volume of the "Archæologia Britannica,"
a letter from the Countess of Moira is
published, in which is detailed the account
of a human being found in gravel, under
eleven feet of peat, soaked in the bog
water. It was in good preservation, and
completely clothed in antique garments
of hair. This hair, it is suggested, may
probably have belonged to this fossil
deer, the bones of which are found under
the peat, in the same situation as the
body in question. "But" says professor
Jameson," I more conclusive evidence on
this question is derived from the appear-
ance exhibited by a rib, presented by
archdeacon Maunsell to the Royal Dublin
Society, in which I discovered an oval
opening near to its lower edge, the long
diameter of which is parallel to the length
of the rib; its margin is depressed on the
outer, and raised on the inner surface,
round which there is an irregular effusion

of callus, (bony deposit.) This opening had evidently been produced by a sharppointed instrument, which did not penetrate so deep as to cause the animal's death, but which remained fixed in the opening for some time afterwards; in fact, it was such an effect as would be produced by the head of an arrow remaining in the wound after the shaft is broken off."

Thus, then, we may presume that, in distant ages, upon which, as it respects Ireland and Britain, (if then islands,) history throws no light, the savage hunter of the hills chased this mighty beast, for the sake of its flesh, its skin, and its hair. Who were the rude tribes, and of what origin, which, “ere Greece and Rome had writ their annals," occupied the island of Erin? Were they of the Celtic stock, or a people of distinct origin, preceding the Celta in their occupation of western Europe? Who can tell? Of this, however, we may be sure the chase was their principal occupation; the deer roamed the hills, the wolf prowled in the glens, and, perchance, other beasts of prey, obliged man to contest with them the possession of the soil.

With respect to the wolf, we know that it owes its extirpation in Ireland to the continued agency of the hunter; but to what causes are we to attribute the extinction of the Irish elk, not only in Ireland, but in Britain, and on the continent? It appears, if we may judge from the abunbance of its remains, and their only partially fossilized character—a great portion of animal matter remaining in themthat this noble deer lingered longer in Ireland than in any other part of Europe, and perhaps existed there when it had elsewhere become extinct. If we are to suppose that on the continent, like that huge-horned ox described by Cæsar, the uras of the Heracynian forest, it ultimately failed before the continued and successful persecution of its pursuers, till the last survivor perished, (as has nearly occurred to the aurocks of Lithuania,) are we to attribute the disappearance of the herds in Ireland to the same cause? Have they fallen before the bow and spear of the hunter? It is difficult to determine. Has some sudden catastrophe of nature overwhelmed them?-or were they thinned by some epidemic malady, the few survivors being destroyed by man for his sustenance, almost from necessity? We cannot tell. It is, however, singular that it is mostly under the peat that their

relics are found. Is the formation of the peat bogs, or the deposition of the shelly marl beneath, connected with their extermination?—that is, did the causes which produced these deposits, visit the whole race with destruction? Did some sudden local flood inundate the island, overtop the hills, and, gradually subsiding, dis--that of reconciling immortal souls to perse their bones, depositing, at the same time, the beds of shelly marl in the valleys? If so, why are not the bones of wolves, foxes, and other animals-nay, why are not the bones of man found intermingling with those of the mighty deer? Surely it was not the only animal extant in the ancient land of Erin! All is mere theory and vague conjecture. We know that these noble beasts once roamed the hills, and we have good reason to believe that they were hunted by man. The rest is mystery;- -on that ancient people, and that ancient species of deer, rest the clouds and darkness of vague antiquity.

nor precise and comprehensive views of the relations of that truth to moral subjects; it is something more than all this

often the result of a different cast of mind and combination of ideas. The true missionary character, indeed, is based upon a single sublime conception,

THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.

M.

FOR objects that are not spiritual and eternal, men will seldom renounce the world for themselves and their families, as missionaries must do. Mere philosophers have never gone as missionaries; and seldom do mere philanthropists go into the heathen world, nor would they remain long, should they happen to go. Nor will a merely impulsive, unreflecting piety ever bring about a steady, persevering, laborious, self-denying mission. It generally gives out before the day for embarkation, or retires from the field before the language is acquired and the battle fairly commenced. Nothing but the grand object of reconciling men to God, with a view to their eternal salvation, and the happiness and glory thus resulting to Christ's kingdom, will call any considerable number of missionaries into the foreign field, and keep them cheerfully there. And it is necessary that this object be made to stand out alone, in its greatness and majesty, towering above all other objects, as the hoary-headed monarch of the Alps towers above the inferior mountains around him. It is not fine conceptions of the beautiful and orderly in human society that will fire the zeal of a missionary; it is not rich and glowing conceptions of the life and duties of a pastor: it is not broad and elevated views of theological truth,

God. To gain this with an effective practical power, the missionary needs himself to have passed from death unto life, and to have had deep experience of his own enmity to God and hell-desert, and of the vast transforming agency of the reconciling grace of God in Christ. As this conception has more of moral greatness and sublimity in it than any other that ever entered the mind of man, no missionary can attain to the highest elevation and dignity of his calling, unless he have strong mental power, and a taste for the morally sublime. This the apostle Paul had. What conceptions of his office and work and of spiritual things animated the great soul of that apostle! "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."-" Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him "-"Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God."- "Able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge."

To make persevering and useful missionaries, however, it is not necessary that the power of thought and of spiritual apprehension should come nearly up to that of the apostle Paul. But there should be a similar cast of mind, similar views and feelings, and a similar character. There should be a steady and sober, but real enthusiasm, sustained by a strongly spiritualized doctrinal experience, and by the "powers of the world to come," intent upon reconciling men to God, from a conviction of its transcendent importance.

Such men must compose the great body of every mission, or it will not be worth supporting in the field; and the only way such men can be induced to engage in the work, is by having the idea of spiritual conquest, through the cross of Christ, the predominant and characteristic idea of the enterprise.

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THE KAREN APOSTLE.

EARLY in 1832, accompanied by Ko Thah-byu, the writer, (the Rev. F. Mason,) made an exploring tour through the province. We stopped about noon the first day at Shen Mouktee, an old walled town, but reduced to an inconsiderable village. This town is remarkable for containing the most famous idol in the province. It is said to have been found floating up the river on a peepul log, which stopped opposite the town; and the little brass idol, from being a few inches high, to have miraculously grown to the full size of a man beneath the spreading peepul, that sprang from the log on which it was found. Sometimes, when war or pestilence was approaching, it had been known to weep and moan. These, with other equally veracious legends, draw to its shrine all the devout people of the province; and once a year the inhabitants of Tavoy have a fête for several days, when nearly the whole population make a pilgrimage to MARCH, 1847.

this most holy place. The occasion had passed, but some of the most devout still lingered there; and while the Burman assistant and myself went round to see some neighbouring villages, distributing tracts, I left the old man to rest himself in one of the zayats, supposing that, as natives usually do, he would lie down to sleep. I was surprised, however, on my return, to find him surrounded by a large congregation of Burmans, whose attention seemed to be riveted on his flashing eyes, less, apparently, from love, than from an indescribable power, that may best be compared to the fascinating influence of the serpent over an unconscious brood of chickens. The first sentence I heard, on coming up, was, "Your god uttered with such a peculiar expression was a black kula."* The words were of countenance, that the events of a dozen years have done nothing to efface the impression from my memory. ever a man hated idolatry," observed That is, "a black foreigner."

H

"If.

one of the brethren in conversation, | "Ko Thah-byu did." Now, were I able to throw on canvass Ko Thah-byu's countenance at that moment, as it exists in the picture gallery of my mind, every one that looked on it would go away and say, "If ever a man hated idolatry, Ko Thah-byu did."

valued so much. He looks around, and sees none of his former possessions. Astonished, he exclaims, "Where are my slaves? Where are my buffaloes? I cannot find one of them. Where are my houses and my chests of money? What has become of all my rice and paddy that I laid up in store? Where are all On the evening of the fourth day we the fine clothes, that cost me so much? were, for the first time, in the vicinity of I can find none of them. Who has Karens, at Ka-nyen, and, though exceed- taken them? And where are my wives ingly fatigued, he requested permission and my children? Ah! they are all to go and look for his countrymen. In missing. I can find none of them. I like manner, when we came to Pai, the am lonely and poor indeed. I have nonext stage, he could not be easy to rest thing! But what is this?" The preacher in the Burman village over the sabbath, here entered upon a description of the sufbut must go up the river to preach to the ferings of the soul that is lost; after which Karens. So it was through the whole he represented the rich man as taking up journey. If Karens were accessible, no this lamentation: Oh, what a fool have fatigue, no obstacles, would prevent his I been! I neglected God, the only seeking them out; but if not, he would Saviour, and sought only worldly goods attack the Burmans and their idolatry while on earth, and now I am undone.' most unmercifully, utterly heedless of the While the old man was preaching in this ridicule that they would sometimes heap manner, every eye was fixed on him, and upon him for being an ignorant Karen, every ear was attentive. Soon after he At Palou, near the southern boundary of pursued the following strain: All in our journey, he was left a day or two to this world is misery. Sickness and pain, rest on account of his infirmities, while I fear and anxiety, wars and slaughter, old visited and returned from Pa-la; but it age and death, abound on every hand. appeared on our return that he had spent But hearken! God speaks from on high: nearly the whole of both days in the "Children, why take ye delight, and seek kyoung, talking with the priests and all happiness, in that low village of mortathat came to visit them. In short, Kolity, that thicket of briers and thorns? Thah-byu had a passion for preaching, and it was his ruling passion. On one occasion, when out in a boat with one of the missionaries at Maulmain, he was in evident danger of losing his life, when he cried out, not for God to have mercy on his soul, as might have been expected, (that he felt was safe,) but, "I shall be drowned, and never more preach the word of God to the Karens."

Mr. Boardman has recorded the following specimen of his preaching: "Ko Thah-byu had been describing the folly and hurtfulness of worldly things and worldly tempers, and proceeded to say, 'A worldly man is never satisfied with what he possesses. Let me have more houses, more lands, more buffaloes, more slaves, more clothes, more wives, more children and grandchildren, more gold and silver, more paddy and rice, more boats and vessels; let me be a rich man. This is his language. He thinks of nothing so much as of amassing worldly goods. Of God and religion he is quite unmindful. But watch that man. On a sudden his breath departs, and he finds himself deprived of all he possessed and

Look up to me; I will deliver you, and give you rest, where you shall be for ever blessed and happy.'

On reaching the eastern Karen settlements, which had been the principal scene of his labours, and, with the exception of a single visit of two or three days from Mr. Boardman, of his labours alone, the writer penned his impressions in the following language:

"I cry no longer, "The horrors of heathenism!' but 'The blessings of missions:' I date no longer from a heathen land. Heathenism has fled these banks. I eat the rice, and yams, and fruit, cultivated by Christian hands; look on the fields of Christians, and see no dwellings but those inhabited by Christian families. I am seated in the midst of a Christian village, surrounded by a people that love as Christians, converse as Christians, act like Christians, and look like Christians. If it be worth a voyage across the Atlantic to see the Shenandoah run through the Blue Ridge, surely a voyage around the globe would be amply repaid by a sabbath spent in this valley."

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