Nov 1886

THE

PETP;RITE. VoL . X .

NOVEMBER, 1886 .

No . 64.

EDINBURGH LETTER. INCE the appearance of the last Edinburgh letter much of importance has transpired in the University.

Early in the summer the honour of knighthood was conferred upon the Professors of Anatomy and Forensic Medicine, an honour which was most deservedly merited, and which gave universal satisfaction.

The Rectorial Election, which is a triennial proceeding, took place on the 3oth October, and resulted in the return of Lord Iddesleigh, who defeated Sir Lyon Playfair by a majority of 347 . Immediately after the declaration of the poll a band of excited students marched to the International Exhibition and made an attack on the principal entrance, which was defended by a body of police and exhibition officials. The students would have undoubtedly made their way in had not a large reinforcement of police put a stop to further proceedings.

In the evening the usual torchlight procession was held . After parading the principal streets, escorted by a large body of mounted constabulary, an adjournment was made to the Calton hill, where the remains of the torches were burned . After a verse of ' Auld Lang Syne ' and the National Anthem, the majority formed into procession and marched to the Exhibition, where a long series of skirmishes with the police again took place, and resulted in several of the more or less rowdy being, to use a common expression, ' run in . ' We hear that rustication and a heavy fine was inflicted on those gentlemen so 'run

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in., The above were the proceedings which marked the closing of the Exhibition.

Football shall next engage our attention . The 'Varsity team this season are exceptionally good forward and moderately so behind . Up to the present we have only lost two matches, both in the English tour, against Bradford and Richmond . We, however, had the satisfartion of beating Oxford by a try to nil .

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EDINBURGH LETTER.

The most important matches yet played here were against the West of Scotland and the Edinburgh Academicals, both being drawn games.

L . E . Stevenson, late of Christ's College, Cambridge, is now up here, and is figuring in a leading position in the forward division of the team.

The Representative Council arranged an excellent concert in aid of the Students' Union in the second week in November, at which Marie Roze and several other well-known artistes sang . A few nights after, Marie Roze' s appearance at the Lyceum gave the students, who had assembled in the `gods ' to the number of about twelve hundred, an opportunity of presenting her with a testimonial, which consisted of an academic cap, a bouquet and silver holder with the University arms engraved upon it. After the opera was over the students assembled at the stage door, and unyoking the horses from her carriage drew her in triumph to her hotel.

The long-talked of Fancy Fair in aid of the Union is now being held in the Waverley Market . It appears as if it were to be a great success, as about £6,300 has been taken in three days . We wish it every success, as it is for a most praiseworthy object.

There is a large contingent of O :Ps here now, including L . E. Stevenson, S . Thorley, L . A . Ryott, R . D . C . Rose, C . L . Martin. J. L . Martin, W . T . Murray, A . S . Rose, S . E . Simpson, A . Lister, S. Gay, and A . Graham .

E . I . MAC ESOR.

THE GRIVOLA. (13,o19 feet hiih .)

BOUT five or six hours from Aosta (roughly speaking, due south of it), lies in a green basin the village of Cogne, the mountaineering centre of the Eastern Graian Alps . Aosta is probably well-known, at any rate to some of my readers, as the Augusta Praetoria of ancient times (whence the name Aosta), and as a resting-place on the descent from the Great St . Bernard, or as a pleasant halt (if you go to the Hotel du Mont Blanc) between Zermatt and Cormayuar.

Half-way between Aosta and Cogne is the little hamlet of Vieyes, before reaching which you may spend an extra half hour in descending from the path to the Grand Eyva (the great torrent which descends from Cogne to join the Dora Baltea, the Duria of the Romans) at Pont d'Ael, to see the famous acqueduct now used as a bridge, built as you may still

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easily read on a sharp inscription by Caius Aimus and his son, in the 13th year of the Emperor Augustus . The view from this bridge is one of the glories of the Graians, indeed, of the Alps . The torrent roars four hundred feet below, between rockwalls green with ferns and closeclinging plants, and overhung by limes, whose sweet blossoms scent the summer air ; the Grivola towers ten thousand feet above, with pine woods, bare cliffs, ice and snow revealed in full splendour.

This great peak, the Grivola, is one of the most famous mountains in the Alps . Well seen as this side of it is from the Val d ' Aoste, the great white pyramid of ice and snow " with wedge sublime, " has justly won for itself the name of the "beautiful " Grivola.

Seen on a stormy day, as I once saw it, when the thunder-clouds suddenly lifted, and showed it in all the spotless beauty of fresh-fallen snow, it is a memory ever unforgotten.

Well, to get to business : on August 5th, 188r, my party, consisting of a well-known Alpine clubman (G . P. Baker), the guides, Ulric Almer, son of the famous veteran, Christian Almer, and J . Jossi, of Grindelwald, a Cogne porter, and I, after lunching at the little inn at Vieyes, mounted the path nearly opposite the Cantine leading to the Col de Mesoncles . We enjoyed some lovely sights on our way ; tile glacier of the Grivola with the torrent descending from it framed in pines being especially striking, as also was the view of the Val d'Aoste, from vineyards, cornfields, and meadows, to bare slopes and summits, with the Velan and Grand Cobin towering in the background . At times the Noumenon ' s rugged head, looking almost as fierce as the famous Aiguille de Dru demanded our admiration . (In 1884 I descended him by this side, and having played the part Of what a modern bard styles "precipice-ponderer " on his wild rock face, can strongly recommend him as affording a jolly climb .)

Three al-Les of the Grivola, especially the western one by which we, on the morrow, climbed the mountain, delighted us continuously.

After leaving the forest, which is rich in Linncea borealis, we passed several groups of chalets, but the last were so unsavory after the fragrance of the pines and flowers, that, though we had purposed passing the night there, we decided to push on.

We found a sleeping-place at a height of between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, by the side of a big rock, in full view of the morrow' s work . Our camp in this desolate combe commanded a scene of wild grandeur . In front was the Grivola, with its glacier high up above the bare ice-worn cliffs ; s

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THE GRIVOLA.

on our right, the Col de Mesoncles, a wilderness of stones, the actual ridge consisting of fantastic pinnacles of ochre-coloured rocks (onewild turret was exactly like a figure of Athena Promachos with shield and helmet), and rising on the north in shattered spires, columns and towers to the summit of the Noumenon (11,443 feet) . This strange mass, with its numerous bastions of rock, looked like a huge irregular fortification, battered and weather-worn, of which the Noumenon himself formed the silent and deserted keep.

The guides, assisted by us, stocked up the ground with their axes, picked out the stones (not all though, for there was one that declined to be moved, with which my ribs made very intimate acquaintance later on), built a low wall of stones on the windy side,—and behold our bed!

Baker and I had one blanket under us and one over us ; the men had a blanket each . Luckily, the night was not cold, and though I did not sleep the whole time (8 p .m . till 2 a .m .) I did sleep till r 1 . And then I was not too cold to watch the stars . At one time I heard the angry roar of an avalanche, at another a shooting star sped on its fiery path through the unclouded sky, at another the snow took a ghostly tint in the dim light when the moon was hidden behind the Grivola.

Very early in the morning the guides relit the fire for coffee-making,. and after a chilly breakfast at 3-15 we were on our way.

We were bent on trying a new route up the great mountain . Thesnow arete which is so conspicuous on this side had been already once climbed, but the ridge with the huge shoulder of rock more to the west,. was as yet untouched . When we had attained this ridge we kept along it .

The rocks, as we advanced, became difficult, and it took us 2 hours. to ascend 750 feet.

Here you might hear the dialogue so common on a good climb :. " Are you all right, Almer? " " Yes, sir, you can come on . Put your right foot in this cleft, and then let yourself go . The rock is good ."

Down I go—for here we have to go down instead of up, and try a cut round to the left . The other two follow, my friend sustaining the. difficult part of last man with great success . Then Almer climbs what looks like a smooth rock . I follow, not altogether without misgiving, but find the rock in reality very good to get up, as the rough protuberances give such help "as will serve ." The texture of the rock. itself was excellent, but had been so planed down by the ice of past years as to give but little hold for the feet .

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Here and there my companion's long legs serve him in good stead and he has the laugh of us shorter-limbed mortals.

After these rocks, we came to the precipitous shoulder, so conspicuous in the view of the Grivola from Pont d 'Ael . This was the critical point in the expedition. We had seen for some time a narrow chimney in the rock, and wondered whether Almer would take to it . He did so, and after an exciting scramble we reached the top . This chimney, the height of which by aneroid was two hundred feet, took us one hour and ten minutes to climb . We were fortunate enough to find it free from ice, there being only one block jammed between the sides in which two steps were cut.

Shortly after we quitted the chimney, we reached the edge of a vast chasm, opening down into the Val Savaranche, and backed by a barrier of snow, where we found water, and so stayed for a meal . Hence to the top we mounted by alternate rocks and steep ice and snow slopes, our toil being at times relieved by glorious views down the savage walls into the Val Savaranche, and across to Mont Blanc, who never loses his splendour, when seen from the Graians . The actual summit (13,019 feet) was reached at 12 .. 8 p .m . Thence we descended to Cogne by the usual well-known route . So came to an end one of the most glorious days my friend and I ever enjoyed in the Alps.

SCHOOL LETTER. TERN necessity demands a School Letter, and although there is a

S distinct lack of material out of which to compose one, her demand must be complied with . Football is of course the pursuit which attracts most general interest this term . The XV is now made up and has met with a considerable amount of success . Though they have suffered one or two defeats, they have never been completely outmatched, but even in the matches which they have lost have contrived to render a consistently good account of themselves, while on more than one occasion they have simply walked away with their opponents in a manner which must have considerably astonished them . The Second XV too have not been idle, and the way in which they disposed of Archbishop Holgate's School proves that there will be no lack of material out of which to fill up any vacancies that there may be after this term.

Turning to School games, we find that the School House, after a stubbornly contested game, defeated the School, while the Day Boys

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have on two occasions proved their superiority over the Rev . C . R. Gilbert's House . Of the Juniors, the Rev . C . R . Gilbert's House defeated the School House ; but, as a rule, the Juniors have not shewn themselves particularly enthusiastic in availing themselves of the opportunities offered them of deciding the question of supremacy.

The Second XV it should be mentioned have at length been awarded colours, and even those facetious individuals who endeavour to prove that white is no colour at all must confess that the effect is at one inspiriting and unique.

We hear most encouraging reports of the progress of the Theatricals, and in spite of the number of novices engaged, there seems to be little doubt that the performance will keep up the reputation which the School has won for vigorous and appreciative acting.

We should like to say just a word as to the School colours . It seems somewhat of an anomaly that, in the proper sense of the words, there should be no School colours . It may be said that chocolate and white are the School colours, but, if so, why do the First Eleven wear blue and white? Blue and white is undoubtedly a very pretty combination, but why they should supersede chocolate and white, which are, to say the least of it, quite as pretty, and which have the further advantage of being the proper School colours, it would be hard to say.

If any of our readers better acquainted than ourselves with the traditions of the School can enlighten us on the subject we shall all be delighted to receive their views. _ee

FOOTBALL. v . DURHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL .—Nov . 6, AT YORK. Neither school was strongly represented, Durham being deprived of the services of two of their men, while we had to deplore the absence of Clarke . More miserable weather for playing could not have been imagined. Owing to the rains of the previous week the hollows at the bottom of the field were full of a slimy mixture of mud and water, which made it impossible to get a firm footing, and to add to the misery of both players and spectators a steady rain set in as soon as the game began . On the whole, the School have no great reason to be disappointed with the form shewn by their representatives, at any rate during the first half. Scientific play was out of the question, and the

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game resolved itself into a contest of sheer strength . The School backs hardiy ever had the ball at all, else no doubt they would have given their opponents some trouble . Bulman and Gofton tackled very safely and played a good defensive game, but Vaud was entirely out of form, being apparently rather nervous . The two halves did very fairly on the whole, but were no match for Sadler, who played a grand game throughout. The School forwards behaved fairly well in the packed scrimmages, but were nowhere in the loose . They seemed to be glued together by an irresistible attraction, as they never got free from the scrimmage until the ball was right away, and when they did get free, instead of spreading out across the field, stumbled along like a flock of sheep.

The Durham forwards seemed as smart a lot as ever, and excelled in dribbling . Hampson was by far the best of their three-quarters.

Gofton kicked off uphill, and the forwards, backing up in grand style, got on to the back before he could return it . It was soon evident that the game would be a forward one, as scrimmages were the order of the day from the very first. The Durham forwards relieved their lines with a very nice dribble, and play gradually settled down in neutral territory . Then the superior strength of the Durham forwards began to tell and the School began to be driven back inch by inch.

Jackson made a good attempt to get away, but was collared by Sadler before he made any great progress . Some fumbling on the part of the Durham backs gave the School forwards an opening, and they dribbled up to the half-way flag . At half-time the score stood at 2 minors for Durham to nil. Upon restarting a kind of panic seemed to spread through the home XV, and Sadler obtained a try in a rather difficult position . Hampson shortly after followed suit with another in pretty much the same position, but the attempts at goal were in both cases unsuccessful . The School now played up with far more life, and invaded the Durham 25 once or twice, but were never very dangerous.

Durham obtained another try before time was called, and were thus left winners by 3 tries and 5 minors to nothing.

v . RIPON GRAMMAR SCHOOL .—Nov . 13,

AT RIPON.

This was the return match between the two schools, and ended, like the first one, in a victory for St . Peter 's by r goal, 3 tries, 6 minors to nothing . The game was a very hard and fast one throughout, and

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by no means as one-sided as the score would make it seem . Our opponents had improved wonderfully . They generally carried the packed scrimmages, although their forwards were, if anything, the lighter lot, but were far inferior in passing, and also, strange to say, in dribbling, though in a less degree . The School backs may fairly be said to have won the game . Waud was in grand form, his kicking, running, and passing being yery good indeed . He dropped a very pretty goal and also obtained a try . Bulman and Gofton both played well, although the former fumbled rather more than necessary, and the latter seemed to stop whenever he came up to an opponent . Jackson was by far the better of the two halves and ran and passed splendidly; he, however, should not stand so close to the scrimmage . With regard to the forwards, there seemed a sad lack of shoving power, the whole work being borne by four or five fellows . They would do well to pay more regard to this very necessary part of their duty . On the other hand, their backing up and dribbling shewed a great improvement.

Ripon kicked off against the wind, and for some time neither side could claim any substantial advantage . At last the forwards made a nice combined dribble, and Wilson secured a try . Gofton made a good attempt from a very difficult place . The game then became very fast indeed , the ball travelling from one end of the ground to the other.

Bulman put in some capital kicks, while Wand and Jackson were conspicuous with short runs and neat passing . Waud made a capital run right round the opposing threequarters, who for sometime were four in number, and obtained a try near the touch line . Gofton made another good but unsuccessful attempt . After half-time the School had decidedly the best of the game . Almost immediately, Waud dropped a goal from a good pass of Jackson's . Pulleyn, Day, and ColeHamilton made great efforts to save the game, but the tackling was too good for them . Just before time Rouse obtained another try, which was not improved upon.

v. LEEDS GRAMMAR SCHOOL .—Nov .

20, AT YORK.

Rouse and Clarke were unable to play for the School, but Leeds turned up a man short and had to make up their number by playing their umpire, so that neither school played their strongest team.

Owing to the late arrival of the Leeds train only two thirties were played . The School, however, made good use of them, as they

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succeeded in running up a score of 6 goals, 7 tries, and 4 minor points to nil. During the first half Leeds played up very pluckily, but in the second they fell quite to pieces and hardly attempted to make a show of resistance . Of the backs, Waud, Bulman, Gofton, and Jackson all played a rattling good game . Some of the passing between Waud and Bulman was really first-rate . The forwards all more or less played well ; their shoving was good and well sustained up to the end, and their dribbling and collaring much better than usual . The Leeds backs collared well, but did not seem to have much speed, while Seaton among the forwards played a good game . The tries were obtained by Waud (3), Gofton (3), Bulman (2), Wilson (2), Jackson, Smith, and Hutchings . Wilson kicked 4 goals and Gofton 2.

v . DURHAM. This match was played at Durham on Saturday, Nov . 27th, and -ended in a victory for Durham by 7 goals, 2 tries, 3 minors to r minor . Seeing that Wilson, Gofton, Clarke, W . Procter, and E. Procter were all unable to assist this result was only what was to be expected . In spite, however, of the inequality of the score the game was stubbornly contested throughout, the York forwards playing in truly brilliant form and proving themselves more than a match for their powerful opponents . Over and over again they rushed the ball down into the Durham quarters, but the advantage so gained was nullified by the splendid combination shown by the Durham backs, in fact the running and passing of the whole team was perfect, and it is to their superiority in this respect alone that Durham owe their victory . The most conspicuous amongst them was, undoubtedly, Sadler, whose play at half-back was the feature of the game . Had we had our full team there is not the slightest doubt that an even and exciting game would have been witnessed, and it is not at all impossible, considering the form shown by the forwards, that we might have been successful.

Crosthwaite, having won the toss, elected to kick off and the York forwards following up in fine style got on to the three-quarters before he could return . the first scrimmage being formed in the Durham " 25 ."

Following up their success the York forwards rushed the ball along over the line, a touch-down being the result . From the kick out the Durham backs ran the ball well into the York quarters, and after some lard scrimmaging Sadler succeeded in getting over the line, the same

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player landing a goal . Soon afterwards Wood, after some good passing,,. got a try near the touch line ; Hampson's attempt at goal was unsuccessful . This kind of thing went on till half-time, the York forwards doing their very utmost to save the game, but being frustrated by the splendid combination shown by their opponents' back division . At half-time the score was 4 goals and I try. After the usual interval Durham kicked off, and the game was continued after pretty much the same fashion as before . The most noteworthy incident besides Sadler ' s fine play was a run of Wilkinson ' s . He got the ball from a kick out and succeeded in eluding all his opponents and grounding the ball behind the posts amid loud cheers . Soon after this time was called, leaving Durham victors as above stated . The winning side played well to a man, and they set us an example of combined, unselfish play which we should do well to follow . For S . Peter's the forwards played a splendid game, and it would be invidious to particularize any individual as specially distinguished . The dash and spirit with which they played throughout the whole game reflected great credit upon them all . The backs cannot be said to have made a very brilliant display, but this is only what was to be expected, seeing that three of them belonged to the Second Fifteen, while of the rest only \Vaud was playing in his. usual position.

The following represented S . Peter's :—Forwards, Crosthwaite,.

Bulman, Whaley, Rouse, Hutchings, Allan, Birks, Campbell, A . C. Clarke ; half-backs, Smith, Hood ; three-qaarter backs, \Vaud, Jackson,.

Isherwood ; back, Metcalfe.

MISSIONARY NEWS.

The following letter was received by Mr . Routh from the Bishop of North Caledonia in connection with the North Pacific Mission : He also enclosed the Indian version of several well-known English. hymns ; one of which we give below .

Metlakatla, British Columbia, September 2nd, 1886.

Dear Mr . Routh, I accuse myself of greatly neglecting my staunch friends of: St . Peter's School, Excuses I could offer that would create sympathy,. but I forbear on principle.

If you will permit me I will imagine myself talking to the boys .

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I wish I could as easily take the whole of you in tow as I did lately about go Haida Indians from Queen Charlotte Islands and spin away with you to a lovely spot, the winter haunt of wolves . You would enjoy a charming holiday . I had eight canoes and two boats for a tail to my little steamer Evangeline . She is 48 feet long, but shorter than some of the canoes . Were she transformed from friend to foe she would turn on them and, without any damage to herself, dash through them as so many fragile ornaments . Yet these hollowed-out cedar trees had come over from Nassett, a voyage like that from Brest to Plymouth . They are lovely models, without a nail in their construction, and so flexible that when sailing with a beam wind they are twisted by the leverage of the mast (which is stepped near the bow) to such an extent as to alarm the uninitiated. If you try to make a "dugout, " as they are often called, by no means attempt the Channel passage . But on your river a small specimen of the Haida canoe would delight the eyes of the citizens, and under sail before the wind would put to shame the coxwains of some of your crack boats.

Before you dare the feats of these Haida savages, as an old FrenchCanadian neighbour disdainfully calls them (though his wife is one of them), you will have to be drilled in seamanship by these skilful sailors.

I bought a medium size one, six fathoms in length, for travelling on the rivers where the Evangeline cannot stem the current, though she can on a pinch steam nine knots the hour . But I had five iron ribs screwed inside her, and her bottom to the water line, thinly coppered.

Because she is strong my Indians think her indestructible, and too often make the acquaintance of big boulders barely covered by the foaming current . The blows that made the dents in her bottom would have split any other from end to end . She nearly drowned the bravest man of a crew. Three were towing with a 6o-fathom line, and the shallows made it necessary to keep far out towards the swiftest water.

The towmen were on all fours struggling their best, when an unlucky turn of the steersman's wrist turned her head outward slightly oblique to the direction of the current . In a moment her bow shot outward and she was athwart the stream . The three men were dragged backward like so many helpless flies . Two freed themselves, but the foremost Indian had the loop of the rope over his head and under one arm, scarfwise . We in the canoe were being carried down stream about nine miles an hour and the poor fellow dragged over the boulders in the shallow water at the same rate . I jumped forward, axe in hand, to

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cut the rope, but was relieved to see the Indian was then disentangled and his mates after him at the swiftest . He was rescued, but sadly bruised.

One of my clergy, now on his voyage up to the mines, was once so swept into midstream by the breaking of a towrope, and before the Indians could bring the canoe in shore she had bumped, and her crew, with the cargo, were instantly floundering in the river, clinging to the fragments of their new canoe . These, however, they patiently secured, and after sewing them together with the twisted cedar twigs resumed their voyage with a lightened cargo but burdened hearts.

The gold mines are about a week distance from tidal water on the river Skeena . There a warm welcome always awaits me . The cleanest corner of a log hut is cleared of all but a bear skin or two, on which I spread my blankets after a trout supper and prayers.

One part of the camp is reached by means of steps hewn in the face of a precipice, and it tries a stranger's nerve to mount this Jacob ' s ladder as the miners call it . No obstacle can bar the miner from the precious metal . Their efforts are sometimes heroic to supply the dentist's demands ; just as heroic as ours when we find courage to place our heads in the dentist's power . In later years you may find alleviation in this thought ! You can make that thought the more soothing by remembering how you befriended the miner by helping me . The secretary of my fund wants new subscribers and renewed interest shown.

But while speaking of gold miners I would not have you suppose them men of greed or mean specimens of our race . Not so . They are as brave and kind as sailors, sedate as judges, and venturesome as stockbrokers with other people' s money . They never break their word to the Indians who work for them, and this has made those so employed as faithful to the whites as the instruction of the missionary makes them trustful in God .

September 4th.

During my spring voyage up the Skeena the forest was on fire, and for many days the smoke distressed us . One day while the cooking on the shore was proceeding I strolled into the forest towards the fire in order to watch the ruin . I was to windward of the devouring element and turned unconsciously towards the camp without knowing that it had eaten its way to windward, and then for some minutes I felt serious alarm, thinking my retreat was cut off . I had to swiftly turn to the left and try to head the flames, which I succeeded in doing, and returned

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to my men after a brief but terrible scare . The game must have a warm time of it.

Later in the season on another voyage, when nearer the salt water, the rain poured down incessantly. The trees bear witness to the heavy rainfall in that region, for the great clumps of moss on the huge branches of the cotton trees (a kind of poplar) are not easily distinguished from the crawling porcupines . Some of these are tender and wholesome food . My difficulty one day was to carry three fat fellows I had shot to the camp . The spines hurt badly where they prick . One in each hand held by the foot is no trouble . but the third puzzled me . My Indians yelled with delight when they saw my burden . Skinning, too, is awkward, but hunger makes men ingenious.

Beyond the rainy belt the country is now clothed with beauty that 'vastly increased the charm of the grand scenery . The mountain slopes for a week ' s length of travel are brilliant with great masses of sunny yellow veined with vermilion where the maple rivals the glorious tints of the silver beech and cotton woods . The tall pines as sombre sentinels stand at intervals along the river banks, their feet covered with the tangled brushwood that often hangs over the stream . From the canoe they look like giants for whom nature at this season provides dainty moksins (mocassins) . I cannot describe the beauty of the green, beautiful in decay, the crimson turning to scarlet, browns of every variety, some so dark that they look nearly black by contrast with the snow-white clusters of berries that bears, standing erect, manage to reach and enjoy . The autumn in this remarkably clear atmosphere works wonders on the foiiage . The leaves that drop into the canoe are often as rich in colour as our loveliest garden flowers . This transformation requires clear, bright weather, which is the rule within the coast range of mountains . Besides the salt water where the rainfall is heavy you see only mountains and hills covered with an unbroken forest of pines that we should rejoice to see exchanged for prairie or rolling country, Attractive to the farmer. The hill sides are frequently found too steep for the forest to cling to. Innumerable are the land slides . I have seen an area of hundreds of acres of timber still rooted in the soil :slipping do« n the mountain into the sea with a sullen roar, denuding the mountain and covering the waves with the wreckage . The secret of the mischief is generally a spring high up the mountain which percolates through the soil and, increased in volume by an unusual rainfall, adds to the weight and diminishes the adhesiveness of the soil to its smooth bed of rock .

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MISSIONARY NEWS.

Visitors from Europe are increasing in number . All return charmcd' with the novelty of what they have seen . If I am tedious in trying todescribe the country remember I am too busy to attempt picturesque writing or to revise what first flows from my pen.

It is not everyone who can adapt himself readily to the circumstances of this colonial or missionary life . I am now an old hand and wield my axe as skilfully as a backwoodsman, when I select a camp for the night . More frequently my men fell some trees to build our fire, which burns into the next day, and I clear the brush and help to pitch my tent . I lately took into the interior a missionary and his charming wife. I gave him a few hints about his own tent on the first evening and then threw off my coat and set myself to work . My younger friend I fancied was a little bit scandalised to see his bishop hacking away . He looked at me, I looked at his wife, and looked at his soft palms and tender fingers . At length he began, but he hurt himself, and his wife took away his axe and began manfully to use it . This, of course, could not be allowed, so I left my own tent unfinished and lent my friend a hand and set up his first canvas home . The next evening I also assisted, my friend wearing gloves . After this I left him to his own devices . I once overheard the wife declare she could do it better than he could, which I think was true . After a fortnight's travel' his hands were harder, and the bruises on his shins I think healed . I have now had seven years apprenticeship to this rough kind of life and have learnt a great deal of useful knowledge . About 150 miles from the sea we reached an Indian village where the great chief lay dying.

He was between 5o and 6o years of age and had been ailing for some months . During my residence in the interior I had seen a good deal of him, but regarded him as the mainstay of heathenism . I visited him when he was sick four years ago, but he relied on the arts of the sorcerer to cure him . He declined to take the medicine I offered him or to speak on spiritual subjects . But I explained to him the way of true peace with God . In this last illness he constantly asked for me and I got his messages from time to time, but I could not go to him until April last . As soon as I approached his pallet he sat up and extended both hands and he grasped mine with restrained emotion.

After the salutation he addressed the people around him until he sank exhausted . His words were to this effect :—"You, my people, know how my heart has longed for the bishop to tell him I have been changed . The past is bad . I repent . I will walk in the new way

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shown me by this my friend . I am the lord of this river, but Jesus is my Lord . I have led you in what is evil, I want to lead you in good things . I give myself and my people to God . Remember, I give this village to Jesus . " Then pointing to me he said : " There is my leader, follow him, or any whom he may send to you ." Turning to me he asked "What more shall I do? " I replied : "Be baptized, because Jesus commands you ." Silence followed this, until he said : "I will obey, I will." Among my creed was a young chief of a distant tribe who became his chosen witness and who addressed the older man with propriety and feeling. I asked if he would give me some small token of his renunciation of the old way . This I said because not far from him was the symbol of sorcery, a medicine man's rattle . He stretched out his hand for it and handed it to me . This gave dissatisfaction to some of the onlookers . I baptized him, naming him Stephen, and soon after resumed my voyage. On my return, four days later, I found him still alive, but evidently near his end, and hemmed in by his heathen friends . To my surprise he ordered water to be brought in the basin I had used at his baptism, and, to my horror, he begged me to return to him the rattle! I thought it meant an apostacy . I sat beside him and took his hand in silence . He turned his head toward me and said: "I am faithful, but the return of the rattle will make peace . " Gently, I said : "Brother, I dare not put it into the hand that has taken Jesus for his own . " I looked at the medicine man and said to the chief: That man has troubled you ." Then his mind wandered awhile as he described his vision of heaven ; but he persisted in demanding the rattle . I said I would hand it to any heathen he would point out . He pointed to his wife . She was the trouble . I gave her the rattle, and -soon after took my departure, leaving the heathen, as I thought, in triumph . The medicine man stood on the river's bank denouncing me as I was settling down in my canoe, but, though in bitterness of heart, I committed my cause to God and prayed for the chiefs salvation . He died very shortly afterwards . Since then I have met his nephew who succeeded him in the chieftainship, and was rejoiced . I .cannot tell you how glad and thankful I felt to hear that the old chief had remained faithful to the end, and his last words bestowed his tribe on Jesus his Lord . The young chief regards his uncle ' s will as binding, and regards himself as a catechumen . Before he takes his uncle' s name he must call all the surrounding tribes to a feast, and then the ceremony corresponding with a coronation will take place . I

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had this man under my own instruction some years ago, and this is also a link between us . Should he openly cast in his lot with Christians. and try to lead his tribe into obedience to the One Faith what a victory for the Master !

I have found a missionary spirit in the son of a deceased English clergyman and have sent him to this village . He probably arrived last Wednesday . I am anxious to hear of his reception . He was educated at Canterbury and Trinity College, Dublin, and enters on this difficult work at 24 years of age . I had one voyage with him, when he proved not only a pleasant travelling companion and a good fellow through and through, but also a good shot, an adept at the paddle, a good cook (especially in making porridge), and ready to do whatever had to be done . He is the only white man among the heathen of that tribe, some of whom hate the gospel and its herald for his message sake.

He was more eager than the Indians to follow the mountain sheep that like chamois leaped from crag to crag beyond rifle range ; but our business might not lag long for sport, though we often trusted to it for food.

In the spring I spent a fortnight on the River Nass, which is about 5o miles to the N .W . of the Skeena . At its mouth I anchored about 22 miles from shore because of a sandbank . After I had landed a gale burst over us that prevented my return to the Evangeline because of the surf, and it kept me anxiously watching the steamer's masthead light until towards morning, when the wind fell . My Indian engineer kept up steam all night, and with two anchors and the whole length of the cable out kept the little ship from being driven ashore . Next day I confirmed 32 Indians, several of them so old and feeble that I noticed they could not rise from their knees without help . Their simple faith in Christ was instructive . Among no people have I ever seen more reverence in coming to the Holy Communion, and this is the more remarkable because an ex-missionary objected to their admission on the ground that they could not be trusted to take the chalice into their hands ! It is always safer to obey orders than to consult with one's-self.

The Nass river for about 15 miles averages about a mile wide, but it is obstructed by shifting sand banks, which makes the ship's course wind from shore to shore in a confounding manner . The Evangeline grounded several times, and much time was lost in waiting for the rising

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tide to take us off. After the river's course is narrowed and we get beyond tidal water the channel is deeper, but the current swifter . At a station at the head of tidal water I found about 2,000 Indians encamped fishing for the candle-fish, from which, after boiling, they squeeze out the oil, which they eat as we do butter. I once expressed my disgust at it, but was told there was nothing more strange in eating grease squeezed from a fish than from a cow ! What is nasty to one is nice to another . One taste is as good as another ! Perhaps so, but this fish grease! Ugh . It is worse than cod-liver oil, but quite as nourishing.

There our missionary out of his small salary has this year built a wooden church to seat about 400 persons . Before it was quite finished I conducted the opening services . There were great knot holes and sundry chinks just behind the place assigned me through which the cold wind poured in and gave me a return of bronchitis . The church was crammed with Indians, of whom I baptized three adults, one a chief of some importance . Afterwards, I preached to them.

On kneeling besides the Holy Table I was surprised at sinking into so soft a hassock. After the congregation had left I was curious to examine it, and found it consisted of the missionary 's bedding strapped up and covered with a red blanket . Nearly all his camp belongings were in the sanctuary, Do not be shocked . He did his best, and had been busy till midnight on Saturday in preparing the church . Next day there was a wedding, accompanied with many things that would provoke a smile among you, but no Indian laughed . The day following I pushed on again against a stiff current until I reached a group of decaying villages, one on either bank and one on an island . The Evangeline was recognised, and crowds came off for medical treatment . I stood on the companion stairs and dispensed the drugs according to the best of my judgment . The demand was so great that my stock threatened to give out, upon which I diminished the doses and increased the water from the river . This method depends much on faith in my skill on the part of the patient, as well as obedience to my directions respecting diet and cleanliness, to effect a cure . Pungency is a strong recommendation to any physic in the opinion of an Indian.

To each a kind, and, I trust, a helpful word was spoken . When the bulk of them had gone on shore the Evangeline was crowded, and then further instructions were given.

On, at last we go, miles beyond the point attempted by any other

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steamer, sounding with a pole as we go . The snags are the chief danger . Even here the river is a quarter of a mile wide . Without a good pilot the attempt would have been imprudent . Leaving the Evangeline at anchor in midstream, I proceed in my canoe, that has been in tow, and after a day's hard work reach the canyon, as we pronounce, canon . Here the river is hemmed in by a bed of very hard and heavy lava, reaching about 20 feet above the water, that here and there overhangs the stream . Where the blocks are loose they imperil the voyagers . We pass through in silence and fear, but utter whoops of satisfaction the moment the danger is past . This bed of lava extends miles back from the river to the mountains . There must have been a volcano among the mountains, but the nearest known is a thousand miles distant . Past this lava bed we come to flat benches of alluvial soil that border the river for many miles . Here are rich grasses, lovely flowers, fruit in abundance, and a navigable river, in its season teeming with excellent salmon . Here, and up to its fort hills, will be the farmsteads of a future population that will absorb the Indian . At the head of the navigation we reach a Christian settlement of Indians under the direction of a married missionary, who has set a bright example of making the best of both worlds by Christianising about 70 Indians, and by making, chiefly with his own hands, nice gardens without and a cheerful home inside his log house . When I arrived the land outside his garden still smoked, and I found that only by the most exhausting efforts had he saved his house from the flames . He was pale and nervous when I arrived after the struggle which defeated the fiery fiend.

My duties ended I return swiftly to the Evangeline, and soon we are under weigh . The current was at least six knots an hour, and in order to get good steerage way we must steam through the water another four knots . What if going at from ro to 12 knots we struck a snag or bank? As we shot past the banks my heart beat violently with excitement . I shall not repeat the experiment for the risk is too great . I should have to go wearily through England before I could build another Evangeline.

Since then I have made another trip to the Nass and attempted two . On one I had on board a general from the East Indies and an English parochial clergyman wishful to see missionary work for themselves . To my consternation the steamer stopped, and I found the boiler was leaking and a breakdown inevitable . Fortunately, the sea was smooth, though too deep for the lead to reach the bottom .

To

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anchor then was out of the question . The general volunteered to join some Indians in the boat and take the steamer in tow. The clergyman took to the long sweep and pulled at it manfully, so that we managed to make about 12 miles and reach an anchorage . I set to work and patched the boiler so that we could carry rolbs . of steam, and reached port only a few hours before a gale sprung up that would have placed us in distress, if not in jeopardy, had it come a little sooner . God orders more than the main lines of life . He cares for the details . I have often felt it, and it takes a load of anxiety from one ' s heart at times.

With very kind regards to you, I am, yours sincerely, N . CALEDONIA. (To be continued.)

HYMN IN THE INDIAN LANGUAGE. FATHER OF HEAVEN WHOSE LOVE PROFOUND. No . in Anglican Hymn Book,

180.

1.

Nagwat laka shaqultha shiebunshk Nugum nam gun kshisha aiyougushk Da hadadagum klthnadauk gum Wa'an na gumgaudum dash nugum.

2.

Tkagutgiatgum Lthgolthk, Halamautk Miyan hukama shaganak Da hadadagum klthnadauk gum Wa ' an na wi amun dash nugum

3 . Aiqedum Haih kshanalthk qa dit In da'amiyan da gundiduit Da hadadagum klthnadauk gum Wa'an na gutgiadun dash nugum.

4 . Gwilaunum am ! Nagwat, Haik, Lthgolthk Al gup sha gait gaul lushanalthk Da hadadagum klthnadauk gum Amen .

Wa'an gundidolsha dash nugum .

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The following are the opening sentences of the Litany as translated nto the q Shimoigiat Nagwat ga lakaga : gumgaudun a gum hak-hakgum hadadak ga numi. q God, the Father of Heaven, &c. q Shimoigiat Ithgolthk t'in kshagiaga halizogut : gumgaudun a gum hak-hakgum hadadak ga numi. q God, the Son, &c.

0 Shimioigiat Am da Haiik kshawatk gut gish ga Nagwat ga gunith Lthgolthk gaga : gumgaudun a gum hak-hakgum hadadak ga numi. q God, the Holy Ghost, &c.

Na amsh ga Miyan gut Jesus Christ, dilth na shiebunsk gish ga Shimoigiat ga Lakaga, dilth na shilawalumsh gish ga Am da Haiik ga, dum gup lthawila hoksh ga dada gum .

Amen.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore .

Amen.

NOTES AND ITEMS. G . H . EYRE is playing three-quarters for Durham County, and hisplay in the match v . Yorkshire was greatly admired.

A . SPENCER was first in putting the weight at the Christ College sports.

R . CRAWSHAW is stroking the first Trial Eight at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

L . E . STEVENSON is a regular member of the Edinburgh University Rugby Football XV. J . H . G . WILSON has been elected to an Exhibition at Wadhann College, Oxford,