South Africa. from the lips of the perishing heathen, furnishes, perhaps, one of the most elo Speech of the Chief Waterboer at quent appeals that was ever made to the Cape Town, The following speech will be considered far superior to many of the addresses which are made at Anniversary meetings, and will be found well worthy of perusal. We take it from the London Missionary Magazine of December last, where it is thus introduced:- At the conclusion of a recent visit to Cape Town, Waterboer, the chief of the Griqua nation, took leave of his Christian friends at Union Chapel, on July 22nd, 1839, in an address of which the following is a translation. In the South African Commercial Advertiser, from which this report of the speech is taken, it is observed, that "the chief not knowing till the afternoon of his departure, when he was busy sending away his wagon and his people, that he would be expected to say any thing in the evening, the enclosed speech may be considered as an example of his powers at extempore speaking; and no one who heard the speech, and who understands the Dutch language, will say that it has gained any thing by the translation.. The warmth with which he poured forth his thoughts as they arose in his mind while he was speaking, the adaptation of his manner to the sentiments he uttered, and the talent he has of condensing the meaning of a whole sentence in a single word, cannot be translated into any other language. It is impossible that any one can recollect the history of Waterboer, and compare the naked wandering savage with what he is now, and has been for many years, and question the power of the Gospel to civilize savage men, or the utility of the labors of missionaries. The manner in which he sets forth the spiritual wants of the country, the anxiety of the chiefs of the surrounding tribes to have missionaries, and the command to go, in the commission of Christ to his disciples, in connexion with the word come, as proceeding churches of Christ in their favor." The Chief said, I am glad of another opportunity of meeting with my beloved friends in Union Chapel, and of addressing them before I leave Cape Town. I have been gratified with many things I have seen here, much more so than on former visits. I am about to return to my country and to my people, and I am again returning to my labors and to the conflict. It is the Gospel, my friends, that has brought us together, or we should not have seen each other in this place, and 1 wis.. to remind you before we part, of what the Gospel has done for me and for my people, and for many of my neighbors. Through the Gospel I have found Christ to be my refuge, my deliverer, my friend, my all. The Gospel has enlightened me and given me life, and 1 stand before you as a fellow worker with God in his kingdom. The Gospel has done wonders for my people in producing a mighty and blessed change among them. There was a time when we were no people. We were few in number, and wanderers of the desert, shut out from the world, in ignorance, in sinful abominaBut the tions, and in wretchedness. Gospel has enlightened them, and wrought a decided moral change upon many of them. It has induced them to locate, to form an orderly community, to engage in agricultural pursuits, to adopt civilized habits, and to love peace and seek to promote it. They are anxious for the education of their children, and highly value the privileges of their schools; they render important assistance in the mission; they contribute of their substance to the cause, according to their ability; they desire, and labor for the salvation of their neighbors; and now family religion is observed generally throughout our large district. This is what the Gospel has effected among us; and many of our neighbors around us have been brought to the enjoyment of the same blessings, and they now desire the same privileges. the whole country is open to missionaries. We have but two missionaries in our large district, and it would be impossible for them to operate on the whole district, were it not for the assistance they receive from the churches they have planted. But they have important assistance in their labors both from Griqua and Bechuana brethren. And we are all bound to render assistance, and to labor to the utmost of our ability in this great work. The love of Christ has laid us under infinite obligations to extend the boundaries of his kingdom. He has loved us and given himself for us. He has manifested his love to us in dying for us. We are not our own, we are bought with a price, therefore we are bound to glorify God with our bodies and with our spirits, which are his. We should live under the constraining influence of the love of Christ, and thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. Let us live for Christ, my friends. There is no other true enjoyment on earth than this. Christ has laid his disciples under immense obligations by his last command. In giving his disciples his parting blessing on earth, he gave them his last command, and he said go, and he still says to believers, go, go, go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature ; and the nations of the interior are stretching forth their arms, and saying to you, come, come, come! The chiefs and the mass of the people || pel. The work is great in our quarter— around us, beholding what the Gospel has done for the Griquas and for many among the Bechuanas, are stretching forth their arms and crying out" Come over and help us." Every tribe in our neighborhood is begging for teachers. The Corannas, the Bushmen, the Batlapi, the Bashutu, the Baralong, and the Baharoetze, are all crying out for help, for the schoolmaster, for instruction, and the means of improvement. And, my friends, shall they cry to you, the people of God, in vain? Shall they look to you for the water of life, and will you see them perish of thirst? Shall they ask you for the bread of life, and will you give them a stone? What a blessed world would this be if it were under the influence of the Gospel! What a scene would the deserts in the interior of this land present, if all the people were righteous, if all were brought to trust, to love, and to follow Christ! Owing to the power of the Gospel, my own people give me very little trouble, and there would be little for magistrates and rulers to do if the Gospel universally prevailed. It is the power of God to the salvation of all men. Go to the mountains and preach the Gospel to the wildest Bushman, and, if blessed to him, he will descend to the plain, and unite with the people of God in their duties and enjoyments. Let us all unite in promoting the interests of the kingdom of Christ; let us send to the nations in the interior the Gospel of peace. From what the Gospel has already done, we have great encourageinent to exert ourselves. For your encouragement I shall here mention that there is a part of the Bashutu tribe living at Griqua Town. The Bergenaars robbed them of their cattle, drove them from their country, murdered many of them, and enslaved many others. I attacked the banditti, delivered the Bashutu, gave them back their cattle, and they followed me to Griqua Town, and were brought under the Gospel. They have been instructed, and, I hope, many of them are converted to God; they live in fellowship with the people of God, and labor to extend the blessings of the Gos And can you resist the command of your Redeemer, and shut your ears to the wants, and miseries, and cries of those who look to you, and stretch forth their hands to you for help—for the privileges and blessings of the Gospel? Let us then, my friends, listen to the voice of our friend in heaven, and to the cries of our brethren in the wilderness, and on the mountains of the interior, whose souls are perishing daily. The loss of the soul is not merely the loss of a temporal good, but it is an infinite and eternal loss. The infinite value of the soul greatly increases our obligations to make vigorous efforts, and to labor for its || ed we should feel that they may soon conversion, safety, and happiness. I have learn, from the blessed religion of the now discharged my conscience, on behalf Lord Jesus, to love their neighbor as of those chiefs and tribes who have visited me, and sent me messages from every quarter around my country, to request me to procure teachers for them, and with this appeal to your obligations, to your consciences, and to your sympathies, I shall now take my leave of you, and it is more than probable you will never see me here again. The journey is long and difficult, and I shall now soon be old. I beg an interest in your prayers. Christ has taught us to pray. He taught his disciples to pray, and in that short prayer he included all things we have necessary for our bodies and for our souls. It is vastly comprehensive, and embraces every thing regarding his kingdom. He teaches us to pray, "Thy kingdom come." Brethren pray for us, that we may be conducted to our home and to our people in safety; that we may be made blessings; and that the Gospel may continue to be prosperous, till the whole of the interior of this country be filled with the knowledge and love of Christ. Endía. A new order of Murderers. themselves! Major Sleeman's Report on Megpunna ism. We now redeem our pledge of giving an abstract of the valuable report which has just been sent into Government, on the subject of Megpunnaism. This barbarous term refers to a division of the crime of Thuggee, out of which it grew, after the siege of Bhurtpore, in 1826. While the Thugs murder their victims to obtain their wealth, the Megpunnas immolate travellers to obtain their children, whom they afterwards sell into slavery. The great founder of this system, Kheama Jemadar, was considered so holy a man, that after his arrest, he was intreated by the villagers to extinguish a fire which had broken out in a village; and by a singular coincidence, the fire ceased as his hands were extended to heaven in supplication. The greater part of the gangs, who have engaged in this revolting system of murder, sustain the character of religious mendicants; and the system itself is firmly believed to be under the patronage of the goddess Kalee. In common with the Thugs they have a slang language, common to all the initiated. Unlike the Thugs, however, they always take their families with them on these murderous expedi tions; the females assist in inveigling travellers, and in taking charge of the children, till they can be disposed of. Their victims are generally chosen from the more indigent classes, the disappearance of whom is less likely to excite suspicion, than that of more wealthy individuals; and they find that it is more lucrative, as well as more safe, to murder the poor for the sake of their children, than the opulent for their wealth. The Brinjarras, who are widely scattered throughout receive the children of the murdered pathe Upper Provinces, are ever ready to We have seen occasional notices of the existence of a class of people in India, who make their living by murdering travellers and other persons in order to enslave their children. Much light has recently been thrown on their horrible occupation, by the vigorous efforts of the British authorities to suppress them. We subjoin a notice of an official Report on this subject made to the Government of the Bengal Presidency.-Our readers will not fail to observe that these atrocious offenders find a refuge from the accusations of conscience in the worship of Kalee; religion and mur-rents; and they enjoy many facilities for der go hand in hand often among the poor heathen. How deeply concern. subsequently distributing them among the brothels of the principal cities, or dis JEWUN, Approver. Q. You were confined in the Muttra jail for Thuggee three years ago? posing of them to men of wealth and consideration. Suspicion may be at once lulled by the declaration, that the children were purchased from indigent parents, who had no longer the means of support-seeagunge, and one of the Bunjarrah Thugs ing them. The system is of so recent an origin, that it has not as yet spread farther than the Upper Dooab, the Delhi territories, and the Rajpootana and Alwar States; and the number of the initiated does not exceed three or four hundred. The conviction of offenders is rendered difficult by the custom they adopt of throwing the bodies of their victims into the nearest river, and by the distance to which the children are carried, and the obstacles which are found in tracing and identifying them. The present Report consists of the confessions of some of the principal offenders, and the depositions which were taken in cases brought to light by the exertions of the officers in the Thuggee department. From the confessions, we select some of the replies which will serve to shew the total extinction of all human feeling which this system induces. Q. You were, I understand, confined by the Paloundee chief five years ago, for kidnapping children; where did you get them? A. Yes, I murdered in company with a large gang of Thugs, eight travellers at Belochepore, and took six of their children, with four other Thugs, to Paloundee, and the Rajah, hearing of our arrival, ordered us to be arrested, and we were kept in jail four months. Q. What became of the children? A. The Paloundee chief took them away from us, and sent them to the Commissioners of Delhi. Q. After your release from Paloundee, did you ever go on Thuggee? A. Yes, I have never had any other occupation. Q. What price were you in the habit of getting for the children you obtained? A. We formerly used to get 80 or 100 Rupees for fair good-looking children, A. Yes, I murdered four people at Hus being dissatisfied with the division of the plunder, went and related the particulars of the murder to the Thannadar, who arrested twenty-two of us. Q. Were any children of the murdered people recovered? A. Yes, six of them; one of whom a boy, named Girdharee, recognized me, and told the Magistrate I had murdered his parents with a sword. Q. How came you to escape punishment on that occasion ? A. Owing to some discrepancies in the statement of the boy, who did not witness the murder of his parents; but we attributed our success in getting released on this occasion, to the Goddess Kalee, and we disbursed 24 Rupees in her name, among the Brahmans and poor people. MOOSMT. UMREE alias KHUMBA. Q. How long have you been confined in the Delhi jail, and for what crime? A. About six years; and for the murder of three travellers near Delhi. Q. How came this murder to be brought to light? A. The children of the murdered people were recognized by some of their relatives, who detailed the particulars of the murder of their parents. cerned in this murder? Q. How many of your sons were con A. Three, who were all hung, as well as two others of my relations. Q. I understand you were formerly a Thug Jemadarnee. Is this correct? A. Yes; my husband had a gang of forty accompanied on Thuggee. or fifty men and women, whom I always Q. Did you ever perform the office of Lugh andoss or strangler? A. No, the female Thugs are only employed in taking charge of the children of the murdered people. RADHA, a woman of the Jatnee caste. Q. Where were your parents murder. ed? A. Near the village of Dunkaree, in the Boolundshuhur district. Q. How many Thugs were present on this occasion ? A. Between forty and fifty. Q. What time of the day was this woman murdered? A. About 12 o'clock, and her body was covered over with clothes, and removed during the night by my adopted husband, Q. Did you witness the murder of your Hurree Sing and others. parents? A. No, they were murdered during the night, and I and my two young brothers were entrusted to the charge of the female Thugs, and we were offered for sale a few days afterwards to some gypsies, who would not give a sufficient sum for me, and I was subsequently adopted by Salga Jemadar, a relation of Khema. Q. Have you ever heard any thing of your two brothers, since the murder of your Q. What became of her three children? A. They were sold to Khoshallee Bunjarrah for 20 Rupees." The Report closes with a list of two hundred and twenty-three Thugs employed in the system of murdering indigent parents for the sake of their children, who are still at large; together with their age, caste, connections, and their respective districts; and a note appended to it, says: "A gang of forty-four of the above prisoners has been arrested by Lieut. Mills, since this list was preferred; and with them seven more children of murdered parents have been recovered." It is to be hoped that the energetic measures adopted by Major Sleeman and his Assistants, have been successful in arresting the progress of this crime, if not of extinguishing it altogether. Without such vigorous exertions there can be little doubt that it would, like its parent crime, have spread to the utmost limits of this empire, marking its progress with desolation and death. [Friend of India, April, 1839. Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MISSIONS. India Missions. LODIANA. JOURNAL OF THE REV. MESSRS. [Continued from page 59.] vation, and productions of the country between this and Lodiana may not be amiss. The soils in the vicinity of the road are of two kinds only, embracing the high and low land. The latter is that formed by the depositions of the river, and its boundary is generally marked by the bank before spoken of as running parallel with the Sutlej, though not always equally distant. The high land is that which has never been inundated by the river. The former possesses much the best soil, is comparatively free from sand, contains more moisture, and hence is the most A few words respecting the soil, cultivaluable for purposes of cultivation. In Arrive at Firozpur—Soil, Cultivation, &c. March 26th. Arrived at Firozpur. This day we passed through a great number of deep cuts in the ground, which, but for their meandering course, one would not hesitate to say were old canals, dug probably for purposes of irrigation, though the earth is naturally more moist than is usual in this country. |