self, and had many superstitions which we could
not help thinking as sad.

After some difficulty he found the men we were in search of, and got
them to accompany us to the tent where the poor Veddah lay. He sat up
while some came in, and others stood in front of it, and asked them some
questions, to which they replied briefly. I had little doubt that it
was about the devil-dancers, and that they told him they had been doing
their best for his recovery. Then he spoke to them long and earnestly,
though it seemed to me that his voice was growing weaker and weaker.
Still so eager, so absorbed was he in his subject, that he felt neither
pain nor weakness. Now and then he asked questions, and his auditors
replied. Then he went on again speaking rapidly, and oh, how earnestly!
He was evidently full of his subject; he was well aware how short might
be the time allowed him to impart to his friends those sacred, precious,
all-important truths he had himself learned. As he went on speaking,
his countenance seemed to assume an almost beatific expression; the
tones of his voice were full of melody. His friends listened with rapt
attention, tears streaming down from their eyes, their breasts heaved;
but not one moved his position, not a gesture was made. Truly it seemed
as if some holy blessed spirit animated the dark form of one whom, under
other circumstances, we should have supposed to be a mere ignorant
debased savage. I thought he must have sunk exhausted from the effort
he made to speak, but the spirit which animated him gave him strength
which seemed, not his own. The sun went down, darkness came on rapidly,
still he continued speaking. How solemnly impressive was that night
scene!

Our tents had been pitched under a tope of tamarind trees, near a small
but beautiful lake, which seemed to reflect every star which shone so
brilliantly in the cloudless and clear sky, while the constellation of
the Southern Cross assisted to remind me that we were in a far-off land,
and in another hemisphere to that in which I was born. At the same
time, it seemed a sign and assurance that the glorious truths of the
Christian's faith, so long but dimly known in those regions, should from
henceforth be widely scattered throughout the whole of those broad lands
where that magnificent group of stars can be seen.

As I looked around I could see the elephants standing a little way off
under the trees, fanning themselves lazily with branc