left hand. Part of her dark skin was burnt off, and we thought she had lost one hand, but I now believe this was a mistake. The mo tion of her head, in this new position, indicated pain, and she continued to live for perhaps two or three minutes longer. The other gentlemen then went home, but I staid a little longer, and saw the bodies taken out; for though the women are burnt to death in these pits, the bodies are taken out whilst they are distinguishable, and consumed in two different fires. At least that is the case here, and we are told it is done that the son may make sure of some fragment of both his parents, to throw into the Ganges.

"Now the ropes came into use, which, I have said, were wetted with cow dung and water: one of them was doubled, and the middle thrown down to catch the man's chin. I think it was guided to his chin by a bamboo : one or two bamboo levers were then put under his head to raise it, and get the rope round his neck. The rope was then twisted, that is, the two ends of it were twisted together, in order to fasten it, and they began to draw; but they failed, for the rope slipped off. Another man then attempted to fasten the rope; he succeeded, and they drew up the body, with the exception, I think, of the legs; but it was quite dark, and no. thing could be seen, but by the light of the fire. As they were not very expeditious, the ropes must have been in considerable danger of being burnt, but the people threw a little water on them occasionally, to prevent it. They then tried to raise the woman, but could not easily get the rope round her neck, so they put it on her arm, which projected in such a way as to favor their doing so, and after twisting it well, they drew her nearly to the top of the pit, but they seemed afraid that they should lose her again, if they trusted entirely to her arm, so she was held just below the edge of the pit, till another man put the other rope under her chin, and she was then drawn quite up. Some of the people then employed themselves in arranging the wood for the fires, that were to consume the bodies, and I stood perhaps ten minutes longer, finally leaving both bodies on the brink of the pit, that of the woman still blazing. The joints of her knees were exposed, and most of the flesh burnt off one leg. I said yesterday to a fourth gentleman who was present, "did you ever see such a scene before ?" to which he "replied "No, and I will never see such a scene again." Such are *the facts, and I leave them to produce their own effect.

I remain, &c.

3

W. BAMPTON."

CEYLON. -"Sir Edward Paget arrived at Colombo, as successor in the Government to Sir Robert Brownrigg, on the 1st of February 1822; Sir Edward Barnes, who had, in the mean time, held the office of Lieutenant Governor, returning home : but Sir Edward Paget having been appointed, on the retirement of the Marquis of Hastings, Commander-in-Chief in Bengal, Sir Edward Barnes returned to Ceylon to assume the Government of the Island. Sir Edward has always been the friend of those who labour for the good of the Natives under his authority.

"Sir Richard Ottley, we regret to say, was obliged, last summer, by the state of his health, to take a voyage to the Cape.

"This Colony has been highly favoured, in the beneficent views of persons in authority. A deserved testimony is borne on this subject, in the following passage of the Tenth Report of the Colombo Bible Society:

"It is not solely to the number of copies of the Scriptures which the Committee have been enabled to circulate, important as that object undoubtedly is, that the advantages arising from an Institution of this nature are to be estimated. Much, very much, is to be expected from the beneficial influence of example. The Natives of this Colony have now, for a long course of years, beheld the Governor of the island, and all the principal Officers of the Government, however various and dissimilar may be their general habits and pursuits, steadily combined together in cordial and zealons co-operation for the advancement of one object, obviously disinterested on their part, and solely intended to promote the welfare of the people. “A Narrative of the Establishment and Progress of the Wes

Gg

leyan Missions in Ceylon and India, was published, last year, by Mr. W, H. Harvard, in an 8vo volume of nearly 500 pages. Mr. Harvard was one of the first Missionaries of the Society to the East, who went out with Dr. Coke. After his death at sea, they landed at Bombay; from which place, Mr. Harvard's associates proceeded to Ceylon in June 1814, he himself not landing there till February 1815. Having spent about four years in the Island, during which he contributed greatly to the establishment of the Mission, particularly in its printing department, ill health obliged him to leave it, on his return home, in February 1819. The Volume contains ample notices relative to Bombay and Ceylon, and their respective inhabitants; and conveys much interesting information, in a truly Christian spirit."

The missionary stations in Ceylon are arranged in two divi sions, the Cingalese, and the Tamul. In the former are included Columbo, Negombo, Kornegalle, Kandy, Cotta, Cultura, Baddagame, Galle, and Matura: and in the latter, Batticaloe, Trincomalee, Tillipally, Batticotta, Oodooville, Panditeripo, Manepy, Jaffua, and Nellore. These stations are occupied by twenty-five missionaries, with a number of native and other assistants, who are under the patronage of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, the Baptist Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society, and the American Board of Missions.

66

INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.- The following extracts will shew the provision making for the supply of the Scriptures to this Division of our Survey. It is stated, in the last Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

*By the Eleventh Report of the Columbo Bible Society, we are happy to see, that," the entire volume of Sacred Writ has been translated and printed in the Singhalese language, and the greater part of the impression of one thousand copies has been already drawn from the stores of the Society for the purpose of distribution Two thousand copies of the Tamul New Testament are being printed at Madras for the Society.

"The Malay Bible, in the Arabic character, had been carried on as far as the Book of Job, and is probably nearly completed: every opportunity for conveying the New Testament of this Version to the coasts of Sumatra, and other parts, has been improved. The whole remaining stock of your Malay Bible with Roman characters, formerly in the Depository of your Society, has been transferred, by sale, to the Netherlands Bible Society; as the Moluccas and other Islands, for the use of which it was designed, are included in the sphere of that Institution : among the reasons for instant compliance with the wish expressed by the Netherlands Society, to obtain possession of this Version, one was furnished by the gratifying intelligence communicated by the Rev. Mr. Kam of Amboyna, that the distribution of the New Testament had excited a great desire for the whole Bible: in the mean time the Amsterdam Committee are engaged in printing an edition of the whole Bible in this character; and the utmost care is taken to secure its cor

rectness.

"The Sumatra Auxiliary has presented to the Baptist Missionaries at Bencoolen the sum of 800 rupees, to enable them to print the Gospel of St. John in the Malay. The Rev. Mr. Robinson had previously translated the Gospel of St. Matthew, "many copies of which," writes the Secretary, "have been distributed among the Natives in this neighbourhood. They are readily received; and by some, I have reason to believe, are read with considerable attention."

"We have lately had applications from some of the people of Moco-Moco, to the northward, and other distant parts of the coast, for copies of the New Testament, which are also read in our Native Schools at the request of the scholars." 'We add an extract relative to Amboyna, from the Report of the Netherlands Bible Society.

66

"The Malay New Testament, in the Roman character, is so widely circulating in the islands of Amboyna, that although 10,000 copies had been forwarded thither by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and afterward a considerable number of copies of the whole Bible had been transmitted from the same source, yet the want is so great, and the applications so urgent, that a new edition is now preparing at Haerlem, of which the Netherlands Bible Society has pledged itself for 5000 copies, and the British and Foreign Bible Society for 1000 copies of the New Testament and 500 of the whole Bible, when printed.

"Letters from the Rev. Joseph Kam, of Amboyna, state that the eight Missionaries, mentioned in the last Survey as sent out by the Netherlands Missionary Society, had proceeded to their respective destinations. No Missionary remained at Amboyna but Mr. Kam: seven or eight more were wanted for other islands.

'Amboyna being favourably situated for intercourse with many groupes of islands around it, a Missionary Society has been formed there, in order to afford assistance in the support of the Missionaries of the Netherlands Society, and to aid the . printing of School Books and Tracts,"

Sumatra, Java, and Amboyna, are the islands included in this division. In Sumatra there are three stations, Bencoolen, Padang, and Sebolga, occupied by four missionaries of the Baptist Missionary Society. In Java there are two stations, Batavia and Salatiga, with four missionaries, two from the Baptist, and two from the London Missionary Society. In Amboyna the London Missionary Society has one missionary. In all, six stations, and nine missionaries.

AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. A full and accurate account of the principal object in this Division of the Survey, the Colony of New South-Wales and its Dependencies, has been made public in the Reports of the Commissioner of Inquiry, John Thomas Biggs, Esq. who was sent out by Government to investigate the condition of that Colony. The First Report, on the state and management of the Convicts, was ordered, in June 1822, by the House of Commons, to be printed: it forms a folio volume of 186 pages. A Second Report, of 90 pages, on the Judicial Establishments of New South-Wales, and a Third, of 112 pages, on its Agriculture and Trade, its Ecclesiastical and Medical Establishments, the state and character of its Population, and the amount of its Revenue and Expenditure, were printed by order of the house in the subsequent session.

"These Reports furnish a fund of important information and evince great sagacity and diligence. The Commissioner may not have acquired, in every instance, as we shall in one case point out, the means of forming an exact and discriminating judgement of things; but, every where, there appears to us to be a vigilant endeavour to do justice to all parties, in travelling through a complicated and difficult inquiry, intimately blended with the passions and interests of individuals. A most honourable testimony is borne by the Commissioner to the character and conduct of the First Chaplain of the Colony,