pulation, is greatly altered for the better. Thirdly, a branch Savings Bank was opened some few months since; and although but of yesterday, its funds amount to about £200 sterling, most of which belongs to the very lowest orders. On Saturday evening last, I was obliged to attend as one of the managers; and was surprised to see little children coming in with what they had contrived to save during the week, amounting to sixpences, threepences, and skillings. Several Hottentots, who had renounced the practice of soopie (dram) drinking, were likewise amongst the number. Fourthly, we have also a printing-press at work, and a weekly newspaper, styled Graham's Town Journal;' which, although not on a very large scale as yet, is, nevertheless, increasingly interesting.

the C

"ALEXANDER MACDONALD.”

"We have the satisfaction," says the Editor of the above-mentioned journal, "to lay before our readers the following communication from a correspondent, on the subject of the late gratifying examination of the Graham's Town infant-school; from which we perceive with great pleasure, that this highly useful and interesting institution is likely to receive from the inhabitants the encouragement and support it so well deserves :

"On Monday, December 19th, 1831, the Annual Meeting of the Graham's Town Infant-School Society was held in the Wesleyan chapel, which had been conveniently fitted up for the occasion.

"Soon after eleven o'clock, the children, between sixty and seventy in number, were introduced; and, being arranged in due order on an elevated platform, in full view of the company assembled to witness the examination, they with great spirit and precision entered into the peculiar exercises of this highly interesting institution.

"Extracts from the Report of the Committee.

"It is with no ordinary degree of pleasure, and of

thankfulness to divine Providence for the success that has attended their labour, that the Committee submit to the patrons of the Graham's Town Infant-School a report of their proceedings during the last year.

"In the execution of the trust reposed in them, and pursuant to a recommendation of a general meeting of the subscribers, the Committee completed on advantageous terms the purchase of suitable premises for a schoolhouse, which they immediately repaired and fitted up for the purpose. During the year they have been enabled by the liberality of the public to discharge the first instalment of the purchase-money, amounting to £37 10s., and likewise to clear off a debt of £41 4s. 7 d. sterling, for alterations indispensably necessary in adapting the building for the purpose of an infant-school. His Excellency the Governor was pleased to remit the transfer duty on the purchase, by which a saving was effected of sixty rix-dollars.

"Your Committee have now to state, that, from the increase of the school, and the impossibility of accommodating the number of children who at present attend, it has become necessary that an addition should be made to these premises; and it having been ascertained that a suitable building may be erected for the sum of £140, it is not too much to expect, when the importance of the object is considered, that the liberality of the public will not permit the institution to languish for want of means to effect this very essential improvement.

"The Committee have great satisfaction in stating, that, at the outset of the undertaking, much delay and expense were saved to the Society by the benevolent kindness of Mrs. Atkinson. *

"The Committee feel their inadequacy to do full justice to her important services, which were entirely gratuitous,

* Mrs. A. is the wife of the Rev. Mr. Atkinson, of the London Missionary Society.

or to convey to their constituents a correct idea of the admiration excited in all who witnessed her ardent zeal, and her unceasing exertions to further the objects of the Society.

"An application was also directed to the Secretary of the infant-school at Cape Town, for assistance in procuring lessons, materials, and books; which was cordially met by the Society established there, furnishing a supply to the extent of £9 11s. 6d., which sum was immediately remitted.

"The Committee have also gratefully to acknowledge the generous assistance afforded to this Society by His Excellency the Governor, and other friends of the institution in Cape Town; who, at the solicitation of one of their members, who happened to be called thither on private affairs, readily contributed in aid of its funds.

"The progress made by the children has been fully equal to the expectations formed on this point at the commencement of the undertaking. Those who have had more frequent opportunities of visiting the school, have been highly gratified by the pleasing intelligence of many of the children; and it has been very generally remarked, that, where they have attended regularly, they are easily distinguished for superior intellectual acuteness and decorum of manners, from others who have been less attentive, or whose parents have not availed themselves of the benefits offered by this institution.

"It is yet too early to exhibit any permanent or individual examples; but, without being too sanguine, or calculating too much on prospective advantages, we may be certain, that to teach the young habits of cleanliness, punctuality, order, and subordination; to store the infant mind with useful and momentous truths, before it becomes vitiated by the contaminating influence of the world, must be attended with effects which will have a beneficial influence on their whole lives.

"Your Committee may here be allowed to bear testimony to the valuable assistance given to the school by Master Buchanan, a youth who had been educated for a teacher of the system; whose services were kindly offered to the Society, through the medium of the Hon. Commissioner General, during the period occupied in making preparations for the commencement of a school at Balfour, the new settlement on the Kat River. To his assiduity the present efficiency of the school may be partly attributed. It may also be observed, that Mrs. Prynn, the teacher, has devoted a portion of her time in instructing the elder girls in needle-work and other suitable employments; while her matronly attention to the younger children has ensured the confidence of the parents, and given much satisfaction.

"The Committee have great satisfaction in stating that a measure has lately been adopted, which, under the divine blessing, appears fraught with the most important advantages. They refer to the appointment of a Committee of twenty-four ladies, who have kindly undertaken to act as inspectors of the school in weekly rotation."

As the influence of religion has diffused and extended itself throughout the settlement, a Missionary spirit also has been gradually kindling amongst the people. Hence the Albany Missionary Society has now assumed a degree of importance far exceeding our most sanguine expectations; and the annual Missionary Meetings, held at Graham's Town in January or February, generally excite intense interest among all classes of the inhabitants. On the platform may be seen Kaffer Chiefs, and Ministers of all the various denominations around us,-Episcopalian, Independent, Baptist, and Presbyterian; which, of course, forms one of the most interesting features of the occasion. The amount of subscriptions and donations, inclusive of various small sums from the Caffrarian stations, transmitted to the parent Society in London last

year, was no less a sum than £365 0s. 3d.!* But it is not by gold and silver only that this transplanted people are zealously assisting us in the grand work of evangelization the great Head of the church is raising up, from amongst them, men also to proceed with the everlasting Gospel in their hands, to the savage hordes of the interior. Two of the emigrants are now employed as Missionaries; and seven or eight others as artisans or schoolmasters. Like the vine, therefore, the church is here sending forth her branches over the wall; and the wandering sons of Ham are sitting down under its shade, and partaking of its fruit. "The wilderness and solitary place shall be glad for them; the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

CHAPTER XVIII.

Kat River Settlement-The Missionary's Grave-Affecting Scene-Sikana's Hymn-African Traveller's Soliloquy— Hottentot Village—The Bushman—His Habits—Armour— Barbarity-Indescribable Delusion-A Remarkable Providence-Deliverance from a Lion-Pleasing Effects of Religious Knowledge-Balfour-Extermination of Mokomo's Clan-Neutral Territory-Infringement of Native Rights-Kaffer shot by an English Trader-Inefficiency of Colonial Law-Existing Oppressions on the Northern Frontier-Enslavement of seven Children-Concluding

Appeal.

IMMEDIATELY adjoining Albany to the north-west, lies the tract of country lately allotted to the scattered aborigines, within the colony. As this was actually occupied by the Kaffers up to a very recent period, it naturally falls with

* See Wesleyan Missionary Report, 1833, p. 115.