The First Bible for Tierra del Fuego. In another part of our present number our readers will see a request, from the Rev. G. P. Despard, that a Bible, in phonetic type, should be sent out, by the next mail, to Ookokko, whose name and history the friends of our Mission are quite familiar with. The impossibility of getting a Bible in the above type from any bookseller caused the last mail to depart without Mr. Despard's request being fulfilled; but through the kindness of the Rev. James Wood, M. A., of Bath, we are enabled, without further delay, to accomplish this purpose. The following is the inscription on this most deeply interesting volume of the word of God: 66 TO OOKOKKO, AND CAMILENNA, A gift from the Rev. J. Wood, Minister of Christ At the request of their mutual friend, and brother in Missionary to the natives of Tierra del Fuego." Now, let our friends ponder over this fact. Here is a Bible not only sent to, but sent because required by, a native of Tierra del Fuego, who but for the efforts of our Mission, would be at this time a degraded and hopeless savage. In the gift his wife shares, and this is right, for she too has been under Christian instruction, and in large measure has profited thereby, and is eager to learn more. Is it not a success to have arrived at this stage, when a demand is made for even one Bible in phonetic for a Fuegian native? Does it not imply a new era of duty? Does it not encourage us to continue in the work, and to prosecute it with fresh vigour? Surely the representatives of the Fuegian tribes, for whom this book of God is sent, are pledges to us, and promises of a future church to be gathered out of these remote lands to the praise of Christ, and the glory of His kingdom. And yet it is at such a crisis, at such a day-dawn of hope, that some people would persuade us that our labour is in vain. The Lord forgive them their weakness of faith, and endue their minds with the patience of hope. We may indeed be asked, why it is that we adopt the phonetic system in instructing the natives under our care, and this not only in reducing their hitherto unwritten language to writing, but in conveying to them our own language, with its regular forms, and powers of expression? Now we readily acknowledge that the introduction of a new system of writing, where long established custom has fixed the modes of spelling, and where the derivation of words is imperilled by such a change, is scarcely justifiable. A revolution in the spelling-book in England is an achievement by no means desirable; but such a revolution as the phonetic system, when fully carried out, implies, is something to be dreaded. The obliteration of old landmarks, the destruction of the historical character of words, the marred visage of our language, by which its likeness to the great families of speech would be lost, are but a few of the evils to be dreaded from the triumph of the phonetic system at home. And yet we gladly avail ourselves of it abroad. For there can be no doubt that it possesses many excellent qualities, when confined within certain limits, and forbidden to interfere with long-standing claims. Naturally we love our native tongue, and are wedded to its outer forms the more heartily, perhaps, owing to the many difficulties which we have encountered in making ourselves masters of them. We must not, however, disguise these difficulties, especially when we require to use our speech for the instruction of people of low mental power, and barbarous habits. The amount of attention, and the exercise of memory demanded from those who learn to read, and write correctly the English language, are greater, perhaps, than we sometimes suppose. In fact, they are so great that many persons of good general education never attain to accuracy in spelling. And this is not wonderful considering the absolute independence, which exists between the sound of words when pronounced as custom requires, and the sound as suggested by the arrangement of the letters in spelling them correctly. Thus, for instanee, what a variety of sound custom has distributed to the letters-ough. In the following words they occur, but with what puzzling diversity of pronunciation to a person learning to read! -Tough, Cough, Plough, Though, Enough, &c. Now from this simple example any one will see what a tax upon the memory reading and spelling involve, and how difficult it becomes for those, who have not had the advantage of early education, to acquire an accurate knowledge of them. In dealing with a people, who have never had an alphabet, the difficulty of course reaches its highest point, and everything, therefore, which tends to simplify the process of teaching is extremely valuable. Now this is just the point where the phonetic system comes in with great advantage. The distinguishing feature of this system is, that every letter has a distinct, and definite sound. When, therefore, the letters are placed together the mode of pronouncing them is fixed, and certain. Let the pupil first learn the sound of the separate letters, and then a little practice enables him almost without effort to sound them in the combined form of words. The number of the letters in the phonetic alphabet is slightly greater than in our own, but these are readily acquired; and then the process of learning to read becomes com paratively easy. Thus it is that the natives of Tierra del Fuego, who have been under our care, have been taught to read; and those, who not long since were naked, and debased savages, are now learning the words of God, and reading of Jesus Christ. Our friends, will regard with interest this first present of a Bible to a native of Tierra del Fuego for his own use, and rejoice to know that, notwithstanding all obstructions, the work of the Mission in this most difficult sphere of duty has thus far been prospered. To those, and especially to the Rev. G. P. Despard, who have patiently laboured for the accomplishment of this work, and laid the foundation, in God's providence, of the future instruction of the Fuegian tribes in the knowledge of Christ, we cannot but express the thanks of the Church: -for while they labour for Christ, and seek not their praise of men, it is yet our privilege to feel that for the example, which they have set the Church, of which we are members, we may, while thanking God, render likewise to His servants the grateful expression of our love, and admiration. Antarctic Flora. "Tierra del Fuego and Kerguelen's Land are the northern boundary of the antarctic lands, which are scattered round the south pole at immense distances from one another. On these the vegetation decreases as the latitude increases, till at length utter desolation prevails; not a lichen covers the dreary storm-beaten rocks; and, with the exception of a microscopic marine plant, not a sea-weed lives in the gelid waves. In the arctic regions, on the contrary, no land has yet been discovered that is entirely destitute of vegetable life. This remarkable difference does not so much depend on a greater degree of cold in winter as on the want of warmth in summer. In the high northern latitudes the power of the summer sun is so great as to melt the pitch between the planks of the vessels; while in corresponding southern latitudes Fahrenheit's thermometer does not rise above 14, at noon, at a season corresponding to our August. The perpetual snow comes to a much lower latitude in the southern lands than it does in the north. Sandwich Land, in a latitude corresponding to that of the north of Scotland, is perpetually covered with many fathoms of snow. A single species of grass, the Aira antarctica, is the only flowering plant in the South Shetland islands, which are no less ice-bound; and Cockburn Island, one of that group, in the 60th parallel, contains the last vestiges of vegetation; while the Namesake islands, in an equally high latitude, to the north of Scotland, are inhabited and cultivated; nay, South Georgia, in a latitude similar to that of Yorkshire, is always clad in frozen snow, and only produces some mosses, lichens, and wild burnet; while Iceland, 10 de grees nearer the pole, has 870 species, more than half of which are flower-bearing. "The forest covered islands of Tierra del Fuego are only 360 miles from the desolate Shetland group. Such is the difference that a few degrees of latitude can produce in these antarctic regions, combined with an equable climate and excessive humidity. The prevalence of evergreen plants is the most characteristic feature in the Fuegian flora. Densely entangled forests of winter's bark, and two species of beech-trees, grow from the shore to a considerable height on the mountains. Of these, the fagus betuloides, which never loses its brownish-green leaves, prevails almost to the exclusion |