ney; you will be freed from many anxieties that a carriage would occasion, independent of the loss your carriage will certainly be to you if you dispose of it at all, which if you cannot do during the time you stay at Teflis, as was our case, you leave it in almost all cases to certain destruction by the sun or rain. That you may meet with no difficulty at St. Petersburgh, bring as few things as possible, and also that you may travel light, encumber yourself with neither bedding nor blankets; what few things may be necessary, can be easily obtained at St. Petersburgh. When you reach that place, you will find many who both can and will give you every counsel and every assistance. Going only with one cart and three horses, you would meet with none of those detentions for horses, which so large a party as ours was exposed to; and being very light, they would pass very easily over the marshy places and sands, where a heavy carriage would stick; in fact, the journey from Petersburgh to Astrakhan, unless there were females or children, might with comfort and ease be performed in three weeks, which would be a great saving of expense and time. At Astrakhan you will again find those who can and will give you every advice and help that can be obtained from man; but let us never forget this is at best but a poor thing; we must learn to throw ourselves unreservedly on the Lord, and he will bring it to pass; and if our

course is directed by any other confidence than in him, we shall be finally disappointed, and the most promising circumstances will lose all their power to afford comfort if the bow is not seen in the cloud, and the greatest facilities will be but obstructions; on the other hand, if our confidence is in the Lord Jehovah's everlasting strength, then in the most unpromising situations we have a peace which cannot be taken from us. To this everlasting strength alone we ascribe our safety, for we had neither wisdom nor foresight to which we could ascribe it; as far as we looked on much before, we looked wrong, and provided ourselves with incumbrances. Therefore to the Lord be the praise now and for ever.

OBSERVATIONS AT BAGDAD.

With

February 14, 1830.-We have now been in Bagdad more than two months, and the first impression of chilling opposition to all one's natural and spiritual feelings is beginning to wear away and that which seemed an impenetrable brazen wall, begins to afford to diligent search little fissures where hope may enter. schools we might immediately begin with every prospect of considerable usefulness. In our intercourse with the Armenians, we should experience little obstruction; but from the Catholics much. There is in those of any rank, a sort of sullen suspicion that seems an almost inseparable part of their system, arising from the nature of the means they themselves are led to employ in carrying on the interests of the Papal see.

Major Taylor has again received letters from the Patriarch of Mosul, relating to attempts on the part of the Roman Catholic emissaries to get possession of his churches.

From the most accurate inquiry we have been able to make, the Christian population of this city appears to be about 2,000, of whom 700 are Armenian, the rest Roman Catholic. The Jews are about from eight to ten thousand, the rest are Mahomedans, whose numbers I do

not know; but about 70,000 is probably not far from the truth.

I was struck by the reply of our Effendi, to a question from Mr. Pfander, Why he did not read the Christian books? He said, "That if he did so, his head would be turned, and he should become an infidel." How like the argument of the church of Rome! He added, "that much knowledge turned the heads of the people, and made them unbelievers; and for this reason not more than three or four of their own sciences are generally taught." He would not translate the Koran with Pfander; he said,

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they were not allowed to do it, unless to those whom they believed to be seriously thinking of embracing the religion of the Prophet."

A Jew who comes frequently to see me, brought with him another Jew of considerable wealth, who is a British subject; he has resided thirty-three years in India; he said, had he not been a British subject, so great is the oppression under which his people are kept here, and so fearful of appearing to have any wealth were they, that he should not have dared to wear the clothes he then had on, although there was nothing in his appearance calculated to attract attention. He said, he had some books which Mr. Wolff left him; so that we may hope that all which was done by him here, was not labour in vain, but that if it be the Lord's will, the seed sown, may spring up and bear fruit.

Nothing, however, can exceed the degraded state of the Jews, who seem utterly destitute of every moral principle.

We called on Aga Minas, an Armenian, who has been the servant of the East India Company in this place for many years, and we carried him one of the last editions of the New Testament in the vulgar Armenian; he read it, and gave a very favourable judgment of its clearness, and of the ease with which it would be understood by the Armenians here. We then spoke to him about a school, into which he very heartily entered, and promised every assistance in his power in promoting it. This has led us to take the question of opening a school into consideration, and we have finally determined, the Lord willing, to enter upon it as soon as any accommodation can be provided. But as we have no one yet able to take this department, we must commence with a native schoolmaster, making only one condition, that the New Testament shall be the only school book for reading, until it may please God to send out some one to take upon him this most important charge. These considerations have also led us to feel that it would be desirable to go and reside in the Christian quarter of the city, that we might be near the children we wish to have. We therefore got Aga Minas to look out for a house for us, and he has now found one large enough to contain the school and schoolmaster's