properly acquired, two Catechists and myself will be enough, considering the great calls upon your energies and funds, in our Fuegian and Patagonian enterprises. Araucania, however, with its Pass by Villa Rica to the Pampas, must not be neglected; and I feel sure you will support me as far as possible."

That we consider the above communications from the Rev. A. W. Gardiner very encouraging, we need scarcely repeat; and we have great confidence in the determination of our friends generally to support, and enlarge to the utmost, this most promising branch of our Missionary work. The presence at Lota of a little colony of miners, many of them belonging to our own country, is in Mr. Gardiner's eyes a most providential eircumstance, and we take exactly the same view of the case. It cannot be otherwise than a condition favourable to the Missionary spirit, to have opportunities of direct ministerial work during the time when the labours preliminary to the preaching of Christ to the heathen, tax heavily the faith and patience of the messengers of the Gospel. Such opportunities belong to Mr. Gardiner's position at Lota, and we heartily rejoice in this twofold and corroborative action of the Society's arrangements. But there is a further advantage accruing from the foregoing circumstances. In a

country like Chili, where the principles of religi

ous liberty are imperfectly understood, and where a misguided zeal is constantly fretting itself against everything not shaped in its own ecclesiastical mould, it is necessary, if you do not wish the best motives and objects to be misinterpreted, to observe a very unobtrusive course of action. Above all is it expedient to have a well defined position, so as to avoid the suspicions too easily attaching to seeming adventurers. Now the circumstances of Lota admirably meet these requirements, and promise a satisfactory footing for the Missionaries of our Society. We are not surprised, therefore, to find Mr. Gardiner tracing the hand of God in preparing Lota as a basis for Missionary efforts for the Indian tribes, and we trust it is destined to become such. "The history of the miners coming here," he says, "is singular. They were bound to Vancouver's land; but, in consequence of a mutiny, the ship put into Valparaiso, and the contract being considered broken by the disturbance, most of the miners accepted an engagement from the Company here. This event most providentially prepared a little English, or rather Scotch, community, within 25 miles of the Indians, and will enable me as soon as I learn the Indian language, to be in a first-rate sphere of usefulness. At present, life here is isolated, almost like Keppel Island; but yet there are elements here, and germs, and raw materials, which m

turn to much account in our future dealings with the Indians."

We will not prolong these extracts.

We have given them, in order to strengthen the hearts and hands of our friends at home, and to call forth their utmost encrgies in behalf of the Mission. We trust we shall not be disappointed.

Description of Chili, by S. S. Hill.

"The republic of Chili comprises a mere narrow strip of land lying between the Andes and the South Pacific Ocean, from the latitude of 250 to that of 43° 45', and is the most southern of the five in dependent states which lie wholly on the western side of South America. It is bounded on the north by Bolivia, and on the south by Patagonia, while the Andes and the Ocean form its eastern and western boundaries. Thus, while its length extends over more than eighteen degrees of latitude, its breadth is not more than from eighty to about two hundred miles.

"The several Cordilleras or chains of mountains in the more northern of these latitudes are of great breadth, but they become narrower as they approach the south, where they are generally also of inferior altitude. The highest mountains in Chili are about 17,000 feet above the level of the ocean; and they give occasion for travellers to observe, whatever may be the relative heat felt on the lower lands in high latitudes in the northern and southern

hemispheres, that the line of perpetual snow in the temperate climates in the northern is considerably lower than that in the southern. If we go no further, indeed, than the Sandwich Islands, which are within the tropics in the northern hemisphere, we shall find that the summits of the mountains of Owhyee, which rise only to 14,000 feet, are capped with perpetual snow, while those in Chili, which are 3000 feet higher, and about ten degrees further from the equator, and at a much greater distance from the sea, do not remain covered with the frozen element above six or seven months in the year.

Throughout almost the whole of this country are found valleys and ravines, through which numerous streams and torrents carry the waters across the intervening region between the mountains and the ocean. With few exceptions, however, these streams are not large; but they are extremely rapid in their descent, until they reach the level country. In the spring especially they swell considerably from the melting of the snow in the mountains; but the hours of their increase and decrease may be easily calculated by attention to the temperature of the atmosphere and the distance of the mountains from which the streams descend.

"In the valleys, especially towards the south, a soil is found which provides for the maintenance of the greater part of the population. But rain falls so rarely in the northern districts, that it is only by irrigation along the banks of the streams, that the ground can be made serviceable for the purposes of agriculture. At the season, however, when these become swollen by the melting of the snow on the higher lands during the heat of the day, the inhabitants are afforded the means of refreshing great portions of the soil,

"There are, however, several larger rivers in Chili, among which the Maule is the most remarkable. It runs towards the south, through a fine country abounding in timber, and evidently calculated to be the future garden of the republic.

"At the mouth of the river Maypu, in the latitude of 340 S., there is a safe harbour; but this is within a bar upon which is found only eleven feet of water. This river waters extensive plains across which its stream descends.

"The climate of Chili is the finest that is found upon the western coast of South America. During the warmer seasons of the year, the south and south-west winds prevail and temper the heat of the middle latitudes, though they have less force in the northern districts. Early in May, however, these winds usually give place to gales from the north and north-west, frequently accompanied with so much rain as to render it surprising that the soil should retain so much of its original sterility. In the southern districts, the rainy season sometimes continues even for six or seven months, which is sufficient to account for their superior fertility. But notwithstanding this, it has been remarked that there are few countries inhabited by any of the European race where the inhabitants enjoy so near an exemption from infectious and endemic diseases.

"The lands about the capital of Chili, and in the valleys between the Cordilleras of the Andes in these latitudes, are much more fertile than those upon the coast, notwithstanding the greater altitude at which they lie; and this seems to arise from the deposits brought down from the mountains and placed upon the soil during the melting of the snows in the spring

season.