quarters of a yard in length, with a set-in piece at the shoulders, like a nightgown, sewed up at the sides, but with no goring, to open in the breast, and with two buttons at the neck; for girls, smaller, but in the same proportions. Loose jackets would also do very well; anything that sits loose and easy. For children, till they are about six years of age, we make dresses like little night-gowns or pinafores, tied or buttoned at the neck, and either loose or fastened with a band at the waist.

For bonnets, the women plait a fine kind of matting from prepared pandanas leaf. This we stiffen by a lining of paper, pasted on with arrowroot, and then eut it up into the proper shape, and make them up, lining them with coloured muslin, and trimming them with ribbons when we have them; when we have not ribbons, we trim them with muslin. These bonnets improve the appearance of the women very much. Bonnet wire is, therefore, an article of which we use a great deal; and if any can spare a few old ribbons, or ribbons out of fashion, they will be gladly received.

Shoes and stockings are not required by the natives. They will come to use these by and by, but not till they can buy them themselves. Waterproofs, glazed caps, and all clothes of that kind, are useless in our climate. The heat melts the glazing, and the cloth sticks together, and becomes useless.

For some years past, we have ceased to clothe the general public. They sell their produce to vessels and to the trading establishments on the island, and buy clothing for themselves. We have confined ourselves to the clothing of our teachers and their families, the natives living with us, and the native agency employed in the mission, either in teaching or working; and their clothing, in whole or in part, is the only remuneration they receive for their labours. This is the whole expense incurred by the mission for native agency, and the mission boxes have fully met this hitherto.

Some have asked, Would half-worn clothes do for the mission boxes? The expense of freight to the New Hebrides is so much, that we have not thought it advisable to ask for half-worn clothes from home; besides, half-worn clothes, woollen especially, soon become so mouldy, if they are detained long on the voyage, that the profit is very little. We have got a number of boxes from New Zealand of this kind, as well as of new cloth, and they have been valuable, because the voyage is short, and, in general, they have come free of expense. But in the present case, we shall be taking the boxes with ourselves, and the expenses will be less. The island, too, has been so desolated by the sickness and the hurricane, that the natives will have little to sell for a year or two; and there will be so much mission work to be done to get the ruins repaired, that it will be necessary to be more liberal with clothing for some time, to encourage the natives in their labours in behalf of the mission. On this account, both men and women's half-worn clothing will be very acceptable, and may be collected, as well as new. Half-worn woollen shawls and plaids pack into little bulk, and are very useful. If half-worn clothes are well cleaned, they will go into less bulk, and keep better. It would be better, however, to pack them by themselves, and not to mix them with the new.

In all the congregations where I have been, the ministers' wives, and the other ladies that I have met with, take such an interest in the mission, and shew so much readiness to help it in any way, that I am quite sure that, by the time we are ready to return to the New Hebrides, quite enough of all that is necessary for the mission will be prepared and collected.—I am, Dear Sir, yours, &c. JESSIE INGLIS.

LETTER FROM MR PATON.

Tanna, June 10. 1861.

Rev. John Kay, Secretary to the F. M. Committee. REV. AND DEAR SIR,-I feel exceedingly sorry to inform you that a boat has alled here with the heartrending news that the Eromangans have treacherously murdered Mr and Mrs Gordon, our beloved missionaries. The boat was brought

here by a Tahitian and a party of Eromangans, and was said to belong to Mr Underwood of Aneityum. The party came here after dark last night and left before daylight this morning, but they left an Eromangan lad here, and to-day Nowar, our friendly chief, brought him to tell me of this awful tragedy.

He said, "A large party of Eromango natives went to the mission house and called to Mr Gordon to come and see something they had brought. Suspecting no danger, he went out to them, when a chief got behind him and sunk his axe into Mr Gordon's neck. Mrs Gordon saw him fall and ran into the house crying, but another chief followed her, and dragged her out by the aim to the place where Mr Gordon was lying dying, and then instantly killed her with his axe. They then killed one of Mr Gordon's young men at the same spot, and with axes, spears, and arrows they wounded or killed many of the others who worshipped with them. They intended to feast on the bodies, but all the natives who attended worship assembled and succeeded in getting them buried." Such is the substance of the young man's statement to me through Nowar, who understands the Eromangan language, and I believe it is true.* He also said the chiefs who killed Mr and Mrs Gordon came from the very place where the sandal-wood traders are mostly living, and I fear they would have a hand in it, at least I am sure they would not try to prevent it, for they have long cherished a great hatred towards God's servants, because of the good they were doing on Eromango, and Mr Gordon was always afraid that they would cause the inland natives to do him personal injury. Here these traders have tried by bribery and every means in their power to cause our natives to kill the Aneityumese, and Mr Matheson and me. Lately they have purchased for a little tobacco and powder, and taken away, four females from Port Resolution. Some of them were bound and clubbed for resisting, so that they were taken bleeding and crying to the vessels, yet these misnamed traders bought them like pigs, and treat them with far less kindness; and, of course, we cannot but oppose such sinful conduct, therefore they all hate us and our work.

I trust our dear brother and sister are happy with Jesus, but alas! alas! for those who were the cause of their death, and for poor, oppressed, blood-stained Eromanga!

Mr Gordon had peculiarities, but he was truly a pious, zealous, and devoted missionary, and God was evidently blessing his labours and giving him a great influence over all the natives around them. Mrs Gordon was a pious, devoted person, and much esteemed by all the natives living near them, and she was doing much good among the female part of the population. She had enjoyed an excellent education, and was a most prudent and accomplished lady. From all that I have heard and seen of her, she appeared well qualified for her work, and was full of zeal in its prosecution. Their death is a great loss to our mission, and more especially to Eromango. It will, indeed, be heartrending news for her friends in London, but they may be comforted with the hope that she sleeps in Jesus, and with her dear husband is now enjoying the reward of those who are faithful unto death in his service.

I had great pleasure in visiting them along with Mr Copeland in the John Knox, at the close of last sailing season, and of seeing such evidences of God's work prospering in their hands. Oh! may their instruction not be lost on the young men and women who lived with them, and who, from being degraded savages, had become mild and gentle under their judicious management. would have delighted any Christian to see these young persons; may God keep them from falling back into their heathen customs and superstitions!

It

The party who came in the boat met during the night with our harbour chiefs, and urged them to kill my Aneityum servant and me, and then Mr and Mrs Matheson, and then they proposed to go to Aneityum to assist in performing such horrifying work, for they had heard that the Aneityumese had burned Mr

It will be seen that this account of the massacre differs in some important particulars from the account furnished in the letter written to the Rev. Mr Cuthbertson by the person residing at Dillon's Bay. There is no doubt whatever but this is the account received by Mr Paton. But as this report was furnished by a native from a different part of the island, and whose information must have been obtained by hearsay, the other account, written by a white man of trustworthy character on the spot, is much more likely to be the correct one.

Geddie's church, and now hated the worship of Jehovah; and so they thought to destroy God's servants and his worship at once from all these islands. But as our chiefs refused to kill me at present, or to agree to their plan of destruction, and informed them that it was only one man who burned Mr Geddie's church, and that he was lying in irons and would be severely punished, they all agreed at once to return to Eromango.

To-day our premises have been thronged with armed men, some from inland districts and some from Mr Matheson's station, and nearly all rejoicing and praising the Eromangans for killing God's servants. I heard the leader of a large party saying to them-"The men of Eromango killed Misi Williams long ago. We have killed some of the Samoan and Rarotongan teachers. We banished Misi Turner and Nisbet from our land. We killed an Aneityum teacher on Aniwa, and since Misi came we killed one of his Aneityum men, and no man-of-war come to punish the Eromangans or us for killing the servants of Jehovah. Let us all talk about killing Misi Paton and the Aneityumese till we see if a man-of-war does punish the Eromangans, and, if not, let us all unite in killing the missionaries, and banishing the worship of Jehovah from our land." An inland chief also said in my hearing, "My love to the Eromangans. They are bold, good men the Eromangans to kill Misi and his wife, and to destroy the worship of Jehovah. Our love to the Eromangans." I said God would punish the Eromangans with eternal misery for such wickedness, and that God was angry with him for such bad talk at present. But as they cried out "Our love to the Eromangans," and were becoming excited, I left them. After which my servant Abraham heard them saying, "What makes us lazy? Let us go and hold meetings at all our villages, and talk with each other till we all agree to kill Misi and the Aneityumese when our first chief dies."

Here, as on Eromango, when a leading chief dies, it is the custom to kill one or more persons for causing his death by sorcery; for, in their estimation, every one who dies is killed by some person. Our natives have no proper idea of natural death. A chief died on Eromango, and consequently God's servants were murdered in supposed revenge.

To-night many of our natives are assembled at their village dancing-ground dancing, singing, and yelling, as they do on all great occasions, so that this massacre has caused almost universal joy on Tanna. Such is the infatuation of our natives. Even Nowar, who comes regularly to worship, and is very friendly, had painted his face, and was armed with his bows and axe that he boasts has killed three men and one woman. I asked him how he could profess to love God and his worship, and yet rejoice at his servants being killed. He answered, "Truly, Misi, they have done well. It is very good. For, if the people of Eromanga are severely punished for this, we will all hear of it, and our people will be afraid to kill you, and Mr and Mrs Matheson, so as to destroy the worship from our land. They all say that the Eromangans killed Misi Williams, and that we have killed Samoan, Rarotongan, and Aneityum teachers, and fo.eigners, and no man-of-war has come to punish us; and now, if the Eromangans are not punished, by and by they will kill you, and the Aneityumese, and me, and all who worship at your house." I said, Nowar, let us all be strong to love and worship Jehovah, and he will protect us. It is only bad talk at present. He shrugged his shoulders, saying, Misi, by and by you will see, mind I tell you the truth. I know our Tannese better than you. How is it that Jehovah has not protected Misi Gordon the man, and Misi Gordon the woman, and the Eromango people who worshipped with them? If they are not punished by and by, our people will truly kill you and all who come to worship."

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Several parties assembled, and sat for hours near our house, whispering and talking in the most suspicious manner, but towards evening they all left quietly. Many of them urged Abraham to return to Aneityum when the John Knox came, as our lives were in great danger at present, but he said positively, "I will not leave Misi." At family worship this evening, he said in his prayer in Tannese," O Lord, our Father in heaven, they have killed thy servants on Eromanga. They have banished the Aneityumese from dark Tanna, and now they Want to kill us too. O our Great King, protect us, and make their hearts soft

and sweet to thy worship. Or if they do kill us, do not thou hate us, but wash us in the blood of thy Son Jesus Christ. He came down to earth and shed his blood for sinners. Take us to heaven, to thy good place, where Mr and Mrs Gordon are, and where all thy good servants are singing thy praise, and seeing thy face. O Lord, our hearts are pained just now, and we cry for thy good servants; but make our hearts good, and take away our fears; and make us two, and all thy servants, strong towards thee and towards thy worship, and if they kill us two, let us die together in thy good work, like thy servants Mr and Mrs Gordon, the man and the woman."

Thursday 13th.-Meiki, our leading war-chief, with five of his under chiefs, and a crowd of men and boys, came to our house, apparently much excited, and exceedingly angry. He at once accused the worship and me for being the cause of all the sickness and death that has taken place on Tanna since I came here. "The Eromanga men," he said, "have now killed Mr Gordon, and they are all well." "Long ago we destroyed the worship of Jehovah again and again, and we were well; and now the worship is killing us all, and the inland people will destroy you and it, for we all love the conduct of the Tannese, but hate that of the worship. We will kill you and it, and then we will be good." I tried to shew him that it was their sinful heathen conduct that was making them sick and killing them, and not the worship. "Three nights ago," I said, "you and your men stole a little girl not above seven or eight years of age, and all the men of your village abused her till the morning. Now God is angry at you, and will punish you for such wicked conduct; you know it is very bad." He said, "Such is our conduct, Misi. We and our fathers have loved such conduct, and if the worship condemns it, I say it is forbidden for you to condemn it; if you oppose such good conduct, we will all kill you and destroy the worship." I said, "As God's word condemned such conduct, I must oppose it, and they all knew it was bad. God told me to oppose it by his holy word, and I must obey him before you. Give up your bad conduct, or God will punish you with eternal fire for your wickedness. Remember, I have told you all these things; you now know what is good and what is bad, and when you love and do what is bad, Jehovah will punish you." He said, "Misi, you lie; we like many wives to attend us and do our work. Three of my wives are dead, and three are still living; the worship killed them and my child, and by and by it will kill us all. We hate the worship." I answered, "Meiki, is it good for you to have so many wives, and so many of the young men and also old men to have none? Who does their work? They have to work for themselves, and therefore they all hate you and those chiefs who have six or eight wives, and you hate them, or you would not be guilty of such bad conduct." He hung his head for a while, and then said," Misi, we hate you and the worship, and love our own conduct. My heart is very good, and I hate your teaching. They will kill you." I tried to shew him, if his heart was good, he would not love and do what was so bad continually, and that if they did kill me, God would punish him and them, for he would be the cause of my death. He said, "Very good, very good," and displayed a fiendish hatred to the worship, and to us who are connected with it. A party of six or eight men, from near to Mr Mathieson's station, have been stopping with him for nearly a week now. Three days ago he sent them with four fat pigs to the chiefs, and is doing all he can to get Mr Mathieson destroyed also. Satan seems to have got full posession of this poor man at present, and is leading him on to commit every act of wickedness, and, of course, his people are insufferable, stealing all they can, and doing me every injury in their power. If his hatred and opposition continues, unless God miraculously interposes on our behalf, I fear it will be certain death to us all to remain here. They have killed and feasted on my watch dog, my goats, and my fowls, and my life is threatened and often attempted; yet I have many friends, but they are all afraid to speak, for this savage would instantly kill and feast on them as he did on four men lately.

Public opinion still enables me to keep peace all over and round my side of the island, for which also he is very angry, as he delights in war. It is impossible to think of a savage in whom more wickedness could be concentrated. Oh that our gracious God may have mercy on him! We will not leave Tanna if it is at all possible to remain. May our Great Master prosper our work and protect us.

Nine persons again came to worship at our house on Sabbath morning, and many more would come if they durst. Had it not been for the hatred and excitement that is caused by what has taken place on Eromanga, I had the hope that our people were going to get over their prejudices regarding the measles, and become more friendly than ever.

A chief's son, a young man about sixteen years of age, who lives some six or seven miles inland, now comes and spends a day with me now and then, puts on a kilt, and attends worship on Sabbath, sleeps some nights in Abraham's house, and, with his father's consent, promises, in a short time, to come and stop at the mission house. He is called " Misi's boy;" but his position keeps him from being persecuted, as any other would be; and, as heis a quiet boy, I hope well of him. Oh, that I may not be disappointed!

Just now it seems as if our work was come to a turning point-when it must either prosper, or be put down, on Tanna. Satan is very busy, but our few professed friends are all influential chiefs, so far as Tanna influence goes; and last Sabbath, by their conversation after worship, they gave me great encouragement and strong evidence of friendship. But as many are for killing both them and us at present, they dare not speak out. If God spares us till this crisis passes, I hope a time of peace and prosperity awaits us, but things wear a dark and threatening aspect at present.

Five weeks ago, all my Aneiteumese, except good old Abraham, left in the John Knox, with Mr Copeland, to return to Aneityum. 1 entreated them to remain, but they all said they were so much afraid of the Tannese, they durst not remain longer on Tanna; so that I am now left alone, with this old man.

Our Tannese rejoiced when the Aneiteumese left, and said—“Misi will soon leave us now; for he will be weak to do all his own work, and we will not help him." But I began to erect the frame of my old house, united to my present dwelling, on the hill, and they soon became convinced that I did not intend to leave them; and they continued to become more kind and friendly, and again there was a great demand for clothing among women and children, till the sad news from Eromanga made things worse than ever.

I have just got a letter by a native from Mr and Mrs Matheson; they are both enjoying good health, and God's work is again seeming to prosper with them. Fitty persons were at school last week, and the natives are preparing wood for a new church on the hill beside his new house, which he finds to be more healthy than the old house.

O that God would pour out his Spirit on our work here, and make it to prosper in answer to the prayers of his Church and people, so that benighted Tanna may be enlightened by, and made to rejoice in, the gospel of Jesus.— Yours, &c., JOHN G. PATON.

P. S.-I may here give an extract from Mr Gordon's last letter to me, of date Feb. 15. 1861: My Dear Brother, I have news of the best and of the worst character to communicate. A young man died in the Lord, in December, as we believe. We are still preserved in health in our work, by the God of all grace, whose power alone could have preserved us in all our troubles which have come upon us by the measles, per Blue Bell. Ah, this is a season which we will not soon forget! Some settlements are nearly depopulated, and the principal chiefs are nearly all dead; and, oh, the indescribable fiendish hatred that exists against us! There is quite a famine here, the distress is awful, the cry of mourning perpetual. A few, on both sides of the island, who did not flee from the worship of God, are living, which is now greatly impressing some, and exciting the enmity of others. I cannot now write of perils. We feel very anxious to hear from you. If you have to flee, Aneityum, of course, is the nearest and best place to which you can go. Confidence in us is being restored. Mona remains with us for safety from the fury of his enemies. I cannot visit as usual. The persecution cannot be much worse on Tanna. I hope the worst is past. Mrs G. unites in love to you, and Mr and Mrs Johnston. In great haste, I remain, dear brother, yours truly.-G. N. GORDON."

Alas, it is true. God's faithful servants on Eromanga are murdered, and all the natives say the foreigners advised them to it. J. G. PATON.