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eight teachers.

The number of organized churches is four, of which one was organized during the year. Three of these are in Canton, and one in the city of San-Ui, 80 miles distant, by the river course. The aggregate membership is 499, of whom 94 were received during the year, 86 on profession of faith, and 8 by certificate from other churches. The number of preaching places is 20, of which 8 are in Canton city. At most of these places there is preaching daily. There are 25 schools, with an enrollment of 730 scholars, distributed as follows: Training school for men 16; boarding school for women and girls 72; boys' day schools 335; girls day schools 307. Considerable work has been done in translating and preparing books. More itinerating has been done than in any former year. Some 350 villages and cities have been visited, in 29 districts of the province. Dr. Kerr, whose work is supported by the Canton Medical Missionary Society, gives the following hospital statistics :-Out-patients, 19,332; in-patients 1,064; surgical operations 1,115; vaccinations 194. It was resolved to locate a foreign missionary station at Liu-chau, in the north-west part of the province,

and distant from Canton, by the river course, about 300 miles. Messrs. White and Thomson were placed in charge of this enterprise, and expect, if possible, to move thither, with their families, during the year. There has been a mission chapel there already for two years. A comparison of the statistics of last year's report with this year's, may not be without interest. At the close of last year we had 17 native helpers; at the close of this year 21; last year 7 Bible women, this year 13; last year 23 teachers, this year 28; last year 17 places of preaching, this year 20; last year 3 organized churches, this year 4; last year total membership 418, this year 499; last year number added to the churches 63, this year 91; last year total number in Sabbath Schools, and Bible classes 230, this year 300; last year contributions $165.30, this year $234; last year whole number of schools 20, this year 25; last year whole number of scholars 511, this year 730; last year whole number of outpatients and in-patients at the hospital 17,386, this year 20,396; last year total number of books and tracts sold or given away 40,894, this year 43,970.

Notices of Recent Publications.

Hours with the Bible, or The Scriptures in the light of modern discovery and knowledge. By Cunningham Geikie, D.D. Vol. I. From Creation to the Patriarchs. Vol. II. From Moses to the Judges, 1881.

THIS very interesting work is by the author of "The Life and Words of Christ." All who have had the oppor unity of reading his former

work will be auxious obtain this later one. It is especially valuable to missionaries, as the author does for them what they have not the

time or the opportunity to do for | themselves. He, having the full opportunity and time to examine a long list of books containing the result of "modern discovery and knowledge" has carefully examined them as they illustrate and explain various points in the Sacred Scriptures. These volumes consulted comprise most of the recent publications of France and Germany, as well as of Great Britain, on geology, natural history, archaelogical discovery in Egypt Babylon, Nineveh and Judea, recent histories of all these lands, works on comparative religions, geography, &c., &c. In successive chapters he presents a careful synopsis of principles and facts, selected from this wide range of research, that bear upon subjects presented in the Bible. Chap. II., gives a summary of "Ancient Ideas, Sacred and Profane, of God and Nature."

Subsequent chapters discuss such subjects as "Ancient Legends of Creation," "The age of the World," "The story of Eden," "The Antiquity of Man," "The Flood," " The Table of Nations," "The Migration of Abraham," "Palestine and Egypt in Abraham's Day," "Egypt before the Hebrew sojourn," "Moses," "The plagues of Egypt, &c., &c." The devout student of the Bible, who in the mission field often laments his want of access to works of research, will here find a most interesting summary of their works on points which are of the greatest interest to him. In the reading of this book he will find his faith in the divine Word greatly strengthened, and be led more and more to feel how futile are all efforts, which are made to weaken "the firm foundation of his faith." We most warmly commend the work to all our readers.

Annual Report of the Evangelical Alliance of Japan, for the year 1881.
THE contents of this pamphlet are
I. Minutes of the Ninth Annual
Meeting. II. Table of Statistics.
III. Address of the retiring Pre-
sident.

9. Churches partially self-supporting-59; an increase of 32. 10. Baptized adult converts-3811; an increase of 1110. 11. Baptized children-601; an increase of 336. The Table of Statistics is drawn 12. Boys' schools and mixed schools up with great care and completeness-59; an increase of 25. 13. Scholars giving the names of the eighteen in these schools-1584; an increase Missionary Societies that have labor- of 994. 14. Girls' schools-18; an ers in that country. We copy the increase of 3. 15. Scholars in these summary as presented by the retir-607; an increase of 116. 16. Theoing President as it gives the increase under each item during the year 1881-1. Married male missionaries-78; which shows an increase of 12. 2. Unmarried male missionaries-10; a decrease of 1. 3. Unmarried female missionaries-48; an increase of 8. 4. Whole number of missionaries-136; an increase of 19. 5. Stations where missionaries reside-36; unchanged. 6. Outstations where no missionaries reside-111; an increase of 35. 7. Organized churches-83; an increase of 19. 8. Churches wholly selfsupporting-15; an increase of 2.

logical schools-6; an increase of 2. 17. Theological students-93; an increase of 6. 18. Sunday-schools101; an increase of 38. 19. Scholars in these-3764; an increase of 1253. 20. Native ministers-38; an increase of 22. 21. Unordained native preachers and catechists-124; an increase of 30. 22. Colporteurs10; an increase of 8. 23. Bible women-20; a decrease of 4. 24. Hospitals-4; an increase of 2. 25. In-patients treated in these-183; a decrease of 97. 26. Dispensaries4; a decrease of 1. 27. Patients treated in these-18,027; an increase

of 4,741. 28. Medical students5; a decrease of 21. 29. Contributions of native Christians for all purposes during the year, in paper Yen-8772; an increase of 5583. 30. Bibles, New Testaments, and portions of the Scriptures sold115,000 copies. 31. Printed pages in these-18,000,000. 32. Received for the same-Yen 16,000. This is a most interesting statement of the

progress in every part of the work during the year. The contributions of the native Christians evidences that they appreciate the Gospel. And we may expect to hear in the near future of abundant more fruit from the wide circulation of the New Testament by sales among a reading and inquiring people. May the Lord bless the labors of his servants yet more abundantly.

tions which Mr. Giles had made to the D. V. of the New Testament. If Mr. M. had done this with suaviter in modo it would have been very gratifying to his friends.

The China Review: for January-February, 1882.
THIS number of the Review is of
more than average interest. Those
interested in the study of Buddhism
will find Mr. T. Watters' Paper one
containing much information. Mr.
Piton contributes an interesting
"Page in the History of China."
Mr. Masters, successfully answers
some of the most important excep-

Some of the "Notices of New Books" and of the items among "Notes and Queries" are of special interest to general readers.

the order appears to be very inappropriate. Then if, for sufficient reasons, it was considered expedient to use a colloquial text, it appears to us, it would be much better to use the mandarin colloquial; for then it could have an extensive circulation. But being in the Shanghai colloquial text it is necessarily restricted to the vicinity of Shanghai.

The New Testament in Shanghai Colloquial with Notes in Easy Book style. By Rev. Wm. Muirhead, London Missionary Society. THIS edition of the New Testament in two volumes is very substantially bound in cloth with strong thread. The type of the text is large and clear. The notes are in smaller type and are appended to the end of each chapter instead of being in connection with the verse or passage explained. But many pages are sadly disfigured by the number of typographical errors which have been corrected with the pen. But that which strikes us, as very incongruous is the use of a colloquial text in connection with explanation in book style. The reasons which justify the use of colloquial in translation of the S.S. is that many readers can understand the colloquial who can not understand the book style. It would, on this ground, be suitable to use colloquial in explaining the text in book style. But to reverse

The Notes are in a plain and easy style and would be very suitable in an edition of the Delegates Version. But in case it was proposed to append these notes to that Version of the N. T. it would be proper to add to these notes additional notes explanatory of the erudite words in the text. With a colloquial text explanation of words are not needed. But notes explaining words would be very desirable when the Delegates Version was used as the text.

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THE difference of usage, and consequent uncertainty in regard to the notation of many common Chinese characters, gives rise to ' various readings,' sometimes as arbitrary as those in any other language; as in the phrases from Hamlet, "to the manner [manor] born," "I [eye] shall not look upon his like again." Of a variety of such discrepancies, a single phrase will furnish a sufficient example. Ta pa shih () to practice athletics, often written also with a different character (T), and both forms have been noted in Williams' Dictionary. Errors arising from mistaking one character for another are common. Thus in Mr. Scarborough's list (No. 1164), we have the saying: "Though nine times you present an accusation, the last must agree with the first" (A.). This is merely a mistake due to homophony. The correct reading is: ^#7. i.e. A lawsuit, however protracted, can never go beyond the original documents. So likewise in No. 862, The larger fishes impose upon the shrimps, and the shrimps in turn impose on the clay (

C.). What is it to "impose on the clay ?" The copyist has fallen into error, and a better text reads: 大魚吃小魚小魚吃水 ONE.) The large fish eat the small fish; the small fish eat the water insects; the water insects eat water plants and mud’—a saying which contains a compendious and accurate description of the relation between the higher officials the lower officials and the people of China; a relation to which the lines of Swift are singularly applicable:

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The effort to apprehend the full bearing of a Chinese sentence at the first hearing, resembles the attempt to solve a fresh conundrum off

hand; for even if the answer is correct, there is no means of proving it to be so, while the chances of lighting upon the correct answer are often tenuous in the extreme. Witness the following: . -. He who has never heard this phrase, will be a good guesser if he interprets it aright at the very first hearing. The ideal fighting quail, we are to suppose, is capable of giving, say a thousand pecks with his bill, before he is exhausted. This superiority distances all competition; but upon some unlucky occasion the bird of a thousand rounds capacity, meets with an opponent so entirely beyond himself in fighting power, that he finds himself vanquished at the very first blow. Hence the proverb becomes equivalent to the adage: There are always plenty of other able men’(能人後頭有能人。).

The following example affords an instance of a wide field of conjecture through which we are suffered to roam(旣吃泥鰍不怕擁 R). This saying in its current use signifies: 'Take the responsibility of your own acts.' Yet probably very few Chinese would be able to give any satisfactory explanation of its terms. The most natural one makes it refer to the capture of the ni ch'iu-a fish which burrows in the mud and which must be seized by the fisherman through a hole (), which he digs for the purpose. But who ever speaks of boring a hole as digging out an eye,' and even were such an expression natural, where is the peril of punching an aperture in soft mud? There is obviously a mistake somewhere, which has been perpetuated from generation to generation (..) like the 'First catch your hare' of Mrs. Glass' receipt book. A restored text has been proposed, which, it will be seen, like the restoration of some mediæval architecture, leaves very little of the original, as follows:μ. 7.i.e. Since the criminal has been caught and condemned, and is to be beheaded to-morrow at sunrise, let him not fear on the preceding evening to indulge in the customary feast. In other words, let us carry through whatever we have begun-eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die. Almost every writer who touches upon the difficulties of the Chinese language, adorns his tale with illustrations of the fatal facility with which an inexperienced speaker struggling to express a particular idea, may-owing to the bewilderments of homophony and the puzzle of tones-succeed only in conveying to his hearer another idea, utterly incongruous with his intended meaning. These examples of slips of the Tongue, may be appropriately matched by slips of the Ear, slips which are the prerogative not of the beginner only, but of nearly all foreigners who wrestle with Chinese speech. Of misunderstandings arising from ambiguity of expression, it would be unfair in this connection to take account, since such traps waylay

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