ject was abandoned, and slept as if it had never been. If we look back to the years between 1838 and 1844, we find Captain Gardiner, the pioneer Missionary for South America, at work in Chili in many places, at two distinct periods, and ascertaining that it would be quite possible to find entrance to the Free Indians if any competent Missionary had sufficient patience to sit down on some frontier town and learn their language before entering their territory. Of course it was done? No, no! we had to wait till 1860 before it was begun. Thank God it is begun, and begun hopefully at last. We find him going alone to Patagonia, paying £100 for a passage in the crazy Montgomery, and ascertaining that it would be quite possible to settle there; so convinced was he of this, which was indeed possible at that time, that he endeavoured to find a passage for his wife and family, but he did not go, for they asked £300 to carry him across; but he came to England, and asked rich, Christian England to help him in this open field. And it did so? No, no, neither society nor individual; and the project slept for two years, when he went out with Mr. Hunt, who abandoned all his home prospects to aid him. Of course he went out well provided with a proper vessel, and all that? No, no. Valparaiso sent £200 to help him, and England gave £300, and he was dropped on the coast by a passing vessel, and left to fight his way.

And he failed? Yes, because matters had changed; but even then the real way to set to work was seen by Mr. Hunt, for he writes: "I communicated to Captain Gardiner the outline of a plan I had been seriously thinking of for some days, that I should remain with them (the Patagonians) as one of their tribe.... Captain G. seemed to think it would be a good plan." Well, was it carried out? No, not till last year, when Mr. Schmid tried it, and found it succeed. Captain Gardiner would then have tried to settle at Elizabeth Island, had he had the means of doing so, but he had not. Well, but surely it was done in a year or two at furthest? No, but very probably it may be done next year, if not this year. We find Captain Gardiner from 1845 to 1847 again at work; first in Bolivia, reaching the Gran Chaco by way of its south frontier, and ascertaining that it would be quite possible to reach these Free Indians in the same way as those in Chili, but thinking it wiser to try and hasten his work by means of the local government, and failing after a gleam of hope. But surely the work is by this time carried out? No, no, not yet; perhaps it may be begun this year. Medical men will be our best Missionaries there. We look back again, and we see a fresh effort towards Tierra del Fuego in 1848. It had been abandoned since 1833-fifteen years! Well, the second effort is better planned than the first?

There has been time enough to digest the matter well, and by this time England is no doubt wide awake to her duty and responsibility to her sailors, and she is awake also to the privilege of bringing the Gospel to the degraded Fuegian? No, not yet. An effort is certainly made, but of so paltry a character that the whole expedition goes on to Payta, in Peru, in the same vessel that brought them out. Let us look back once more to 1850; two years more have passed, and the same ground is occupied by a larger party, in a better-planned expedition; but again it fails, and seven martyrs lie on the beach of Woollya!! Out of death comes life, yes, so it always is. At last England is roused, at last it bestirs itself, at last it begins to think seriously about the matter of missions to South America. A proper vessel is at last built, a proper settlement is at last made, and the work goes on with increasing hope till the present day.

But some one says, 'Do you forget the law suit?' No, nor that Satan and infidels live and oppose God's truth, as they always did, and always will: nor yet that men reckon our work futile. But do you forget the late massacre? No, not in the least; nor do we forget that the failure of Captain Gardiner and Mr. Hunt in Patagonia very nearly broke up the infant Patagonian Missionary Society, and they were contented to fund their money in safe security! whereas when Captain

Fell and Mr. Phillips were killed, their widows were cared for, and the Mission was not only not given up, but extended; two Missionaries go to Patagonia instead of one; one has gone to Chili, another is wanting; three are asked for Tierra del Fuego; and two more for North Patagonia, at El Carmen. A very different state of things, a very different feeling of Christian duty, and Christian responsibility; and even now we are labouring to work beyond that large extension, and God is pointing the way, and cheering the heart.

From Monte Video claims and help come to us; they want Missionaries, they are prepared to pay at least in part Missionaries, and they have given, together with Buenos Ayres, £250 to the widows and orphans. Valparaiso enters into our work, and our Missionary there says that about £300 has been given to or saved the Society by Christian merchants there in a few months; he hopes to receive £100 more, possibly has received it by this time. Valparaiso was originally the largest giver to Captain Gardiner in his first expedition. She shows herself unchanged. In Monte Video and Buenos Ayres the Society first began, for it was the promise of £100 per annum from persons there that enabled Captain Gardiner to found a Society in England. They too are unchanged. Brighton was the first to help in the work; this year again Brighton comes

to our help. London next came forward, and London becomes increasingly valuable and helpful to us. Cheltenham next, and Cheltenham has ever remained unchanged. Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Liverpool, Exeter, Plymouth, and many other Associations show no faint heart. In looking forward then we have to deal with hope, bright hope for the future. In South America we see two languages, the Tekeenica and the Tsonica, partially acquired. We find our way increasingly open in Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Chili, and the Pampas, and we believe that even beyond these places we might find open doors if we had the means of entering them. Four devoted Missionaries are on the field, two others are offering, and more are asked for. The Allen Gardiner, saved from the rocks and the fire, is now, we believe, equal to a new voyage, and need only come to England for better fitting up for her important work. More than all, South American Christians are with us in important positions to aid us in money, and by advice, and possibly by oversight also.

In England all is hopeful also. The Society has gained experience which is of great value, and with the strictest enquiry as to her most efficient and cheapest agency in England she bends herself with renewed effort to her increasingly important and extensive foreign operations; in many respects