tained two hundred and ninety-seven members, since which time considerable additions have been received. Its present number is supposed to be more than three hundred, notwithstanding the numerous deaths which occurred during the prevalence of the cholera and fever in 1837 and 1838. In the last mentioned year twenty-three are reported as having died by these diseases, or one in every thirteen of the members. One of the effects of this great mortality was an impression on the minds of the Karens that the place selected for their Christian home was peculiarly insalubrious, and that here they should be exposed to repeated ravages of pestilence. Under this impression many have moved from the village, and some of the members of the church have been scattered; but few of them, however, have gone so far from Mata as to prevent their meeting with the church for worship on the Sabbath, or their children from returning to attend the school.

The above account was written in the latter part of 1837. We learn from other and later communications that prosperity was continued to the village, and its population increased, till their congregation on the Sabbath was found frequently to number more than six hundred persons, and on week evenings, from two to three hundred. As the zayat in which they were accustomed to assemble for worship, though it would contain an assembly of five hundred, had become too small to accommodate all who met on the Sabbath, the church erected a larger one, which was first occupied on the evening of March 4, 1837. In reference to this effort of the There is in connection with the church an inchurch, Mrs. Wade writes-"The Karen Chris-teresting Maternal Association, which has been tians at first thought of hiring Burmans from in existence more than four years. Its objects Tavoy to come and build their zayat, as they are to "gain information respecting the right could finish it more elegantly; but they finally management of children, and to meet the first concluded it would be more suitable and more Wednesday after every full moon, to pray that pleasing to God, to have it built by Christians; these children may be converted." The imand I doubt whether any building was ever portance of the first object to Karen mothers erected with more prayer, or consecrated with will be perceived, when it is recollected that in feelings more acceptable to God." their heathen state they are accustomed to beat their children with great severity, under the influence of bursts of violent anger, and at all other times to leave them without restraint to

The church has continued to grow in uumbers, and it is hoped that it has also increased in knowledge and piety. In June, 1838, it con

who went out from this class. The church has been accustomed to observe a day of fasting and prayer, in reference to these assistants, when about to start on an excursion into the jungle and distant villages, and then to send them out by two and two to proclaim the gospel. There is also an interesting Sabbath school in connection with the church, which is superintended by the missionary during the dry season.

The location is peculiarly well adapted for a large town. It stands on a bluff nearly one hundred feet high at the fork of the Tenasserim, about two hundred miles above Mergui, in latitude 14° 12', and in a direct line about twenty miles E. N. E. of Tavoy. It is near the principal road from

the gratification of their own wills. Of the | sion has resulted from the labors of individuals practical results of this Association, witnessed in the families of the Karen Christian mothers, Mrs. Wade writes-" I spent a great deal of time when here last year, in trying to teach them how to govern their families. I have now the happiness of knowing that these mothers are obeyed and loved by their children generally, and the secret of the change which I witness is this when a child is disobedient, the mother takes it into the inner room, and then bows down and prays to God to direct and assist her and to give her wicked child a new heart. She then corrects it in a way she thinks God will approve. This is not what is performed now and then, but a daily practice throughout the village; and if any one is seen to get angry with her child, she is immediately reminded of the rule by some one of the family or neigh-Tavoy to Bangkok, and the Siamese settlebors." They have been blessed to a very pleasing extent, also, in the attainment of their second object, as appears by the account of their first anniversary meeting, communicated by Mrs. Wade, which states that "thirteen of the children were reported as having been hopefully converted the past year;" and by that of the second anniversary, that "eight of the youth and children were reported as hopefully converted the past year, in connection with their mothers' prayers."

A weekly prayer meeting is observed by the female members of the church, which is attended by from seventy to one hundred and twenty females, but recently converted from heathenism. It is remarked of them, that it is deeply affect ing to see how anxious they are to receive instruction; and that no one of them ever refuses to pray when called upon.

A school is maintained at Mata, taught by converted Karens, but superintended by Mrs. Wade during her residence there for the dry season. It has contained from sixty to eighty pupils, who have been taught to read and write their own language, which has recently been reduced to writing by the missionaries. The school "has cost but three and a half dollars per month, as the Mata people build and repair the school-house, and board, and sometimes clothe, all the children who come to the school from other villages." The superintendent has a large class of intelligent young lads and misses in the day school, under her own instruction, whom she is endeavoring to qualify for teachers; and there is in connection with the school a bible class, taught by the missionary, which when last reported contained sixteen pupils, who are endeavoring to prepare themselves for becoming preachers and school teachers. Many have been baptized and added to the church from villages distant from Mata, whose conver

ments are only two or three days' walk distant. On the Tenasserim, four miles below the village, is a hot spring strongly impregnated with sulphureted hydrogen gas, and which might be made very useful in the treatment of the cutaneous diseases to which the Karens are peculiarly subject. Although the village is surrounded by nountains at no great distance, there are several miles of level land, capable of being converted into paddy fields of the first quality, and supporting a large population, in the immediate vicinity. Thengan, Hopea Odorata, the best wood in the province, is found near; sapan wood, Cisalpina Sapan, a valuable dye, is found bordering the Tenasserim, a few days' journey below; and a short distance up the river Ben, the wood oil tree, Dip'ercarpus Grandiflora, abounds, which produces an oil that has been pronounced in England more valuable than fish oil, in currying leather. The natives, both Burmans and Karens, make torches of it, by mixing it with rotten wood or chopped straw, till it is of such a consistency that it can be rolled up in large leaves and used like a candle. Cardamom.s, artichokes, ginger and saffron all grow wid, as do chesnuts and mangoes. Honey and beeswax are gathered in considerable quantities every year. All kinds of game abound, from the delicate moscus, (a small deer not larger than a rabbit,) to the majestic elk, as large as an ox; and from the squirrel to the bison, the rhinoceros and the elephant. Wild fowls, ducks, pigeons, partridges, pheasants and peacocks, are common in the forests around.

A few miles west of Mata are the tin works, where many persons, under the Burman government, were formerly constantly employed in searching for the ore; but at present they are nearly abandoned, as the work is not found very profitable;