Constantinople, and the Committee have not heard of their arrival at Trebizond.

A missionary has been designated to the interior of Asia Minor, and the Cominittee trust it will please the Head of the church to permit them to commence a station there before the next annual meeting.

MISSION TO SYRIA AND THE HOLY LAND.

BEYROOT.-Isaac Bird, Eli Smith, William M. Thomson, and Story Hebard, Missionaries; Mrs. Bird, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Thomson. Mrs. Dodge and Miss Rebecca W. Williams, Teachers.

Tannoos El Haddad, Native Catechist.

JERUSALEM.-George B. Whiting and John F. Lanneau, Missionaries; and Mrs.

Whiting.

CYPRUS. (Connected with the Syrian mission.) Lorenzo W. Pease and James L. Thompson, Missionaries; and Mrs. Pease.

On the way to Syria.-Miss Betsey Tilden, Teacher.

On the way to Cyprus.-Daniel Ladd, Missionary, and wife.

(3 stations, 9 missionaries, 9 female assistant missionaries, and 1 native helper.)

Messrs. Thompson, Lanneau, and Hebard sailed from Boston in the brig Massachusetts, on the 3d of December, and reached Beyroot on the 14th of May. Miss Tilden accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Jackson in the same vessel as far as Smyrna, where she remained at the latest dates, waiting for a convenient opportunity for Syria. Miss Williams arrived at Beyroot on the 13th of November, and immediately relieved Mrs. Smith of a portion of her cares in the school.

This accession to the mission furnishes an associate for Mr. Whiting at Jerusalem, and may perhaps lead also to the commencement of a new station.

On the 3d of August, 1835, Mr. W. M. Thomson was married to Mrs. Abbott, widow of the late English consul for Syria, whose kindness to the mission the Committee have had frequent occasion to acknowledge in past years. From an early period in the history of the mission, she has given decisive evidence of attachment to the cause and kingdom of the Lord Jesus.

Mount Lebanon has been subdued by the pasha of Egypt without bloodshed, and the whole country of Syria is now disarmed and quiet, hoping, in sullen silence, for relief from abroad. Meanwhile it is a fact, in the providence of God, that almost every change in that part of the world, opens the door still wider for missionary efforts, and calls for fresh activity from those who take an interest in propagating the gospel. Lebanon is completely open. Missionaries

can go where they please. The Druze population in 'particular have been rendered accessible to the truth. They are frequently seen at the chapel of the mission. Mr. Bird preached every Sabbath to a small congregation of them, during his residence at Aaleih, on mount Lebanon, in the summer of last year. The young shekhs of the village were among the number present. The Druzes listened with great attention and seriousness, and received and read the New Testament and other religious books with eagerness. Their number is estimated at sixty or seventy thousand, and they are professedly the followers of Mohammed. It is supposed that many of them are really pagans, or at best very skeptical in respect to religious matters. The people of Aaleih entreated that a school might be opened in their village, and a similar request was received from a village in the neighborhood. Mrs. Dodge did in fact collect a very interesting school of girls, chiefly Druzes, in Aaleih.

The following table will exhibit the state of the schools in July 1835.

Mrs. Smith had fifty scholars during the previous six months. There were upwards of fifty writers in the schools. One of the schools, taught by Tannoos el Haddad, a pious native, in point of direct religious instruction will bear comparison with any common elementary school in America, and the good effect on the children is very apparent. There is also an Arabic Sabbath school of about twenty girls, chiefly from Mrs. Smith's school; and the mission was about commencing two schools for Druzes on Mount Lebanon, probably at the villages above referred to.

A seminary or high school was commenced some months since. The estimated expense of each scholar for boarding, clothing, etc., for a year, is from thirty-five to forty dollars. For important reasons the pupils are to lodge, eat and dress in the style of the country. The course of study will embrace, (1.) The Arabic language, to be thoroughly and grammatically studied through the whole course; thus furnishing writers, speakers, instructors, and translators. (2.) The English language which will form an important part of the whole

course. It is now a popular study, and will probably become more and more so. The grand object will be to put the scholars in possession of the knowledge and piety contained in that language. (3.) Geography and astronomy. (4.) Civil and ecclesiastical history with chronology. (5.) Mathematics, as far as books can be obtained for the purpose. (6.) Rhetoric, which in the Arab sense is a popular study. (7.) Natural and moral philosophy. (8.) Composition and translation. (9.) The bible, to be regularly studied through the course. Combined with the study of the bible will be that of natural theology. (10) Sacred music. In all these departments, there is a great and in some an entire deficiency of books. The seminary and the press, however, with the divine blessing upon the labors of the mission, will gradually supply the demand. To the seminary also, under God, must we look for native assistants to send out among the villages in the mountains and elsewhere, to read and explain the scriptures, exhort, and, where it shall be practicable, to hold prayermeetings. The mission has, with encouraging success, made trial of Tannoos in this service, who has been already mentioned, though he needs more knowledge and experience.

The printing establishment, which was introduced into Syria two years ago, is now brought before the Committee by the mission with urgent claims for its enlargement. This, and the press of the Church Missionary Society at Malta, and the press of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London, are the only ones employed in printing evangelical or elementary school-books in Arabic, a language spoken probably by more than thirty millions of people. At the same time, suitable elementary books can be found in none of the departments of education, and nearly all are needed at once, as well as books of christian doctrine and devotion. It is said also by the mission to be a fact that there is no Arabic type in existence which is adapted to the taste of the Arabs; that is, none conformed to the most approved standard of Arabic caligraphy; for it is doubtless known to the Board that the Arabic language has no printed character in distinction from the written. It is proposed, therefore, as a preliminary measure of much importance, that two founts of type be cast in perfect imitation of models which Mr. Smith has been at great pains to collect, and which are much admired by the best judges in Syria. The matrices being made, several founts may be made from them, and different institutions thus enabled to print books, the typography and general aspect of which will be so much the more pleasing to the Arabs, as they are difficult to be suited in these matters. It may be necessary and worth while for Mr. Smith to visit the United States for this purpose.

At Jerusalem Mr. Whiting has found much encouragement to distribute books and tracts among the numerous pilgrims who annually and from all quarters visit the holy city. The greater part were sold. A little more than a year ago, having succeeded in procuring

a teacher, he opened a school. At the same time a few Moslem girls were sent by their parents to Mrs. Whiting to be taught to read and sew.

A deeply interesting case occurred among the Druzes, in the early part of the present year. The Druzes are by profession Mohammedans, and are recognized as such by the laws of the country, and according to law the penalty is death for renouncing the Moslem faith. A Druze declared himself a convert to the christian religion through the labors of our brethren at Beyroot, and openly and boldly professed himself a christian. He was seized and imprisoned by the governor of Beyroot, but remained firm in the purpose to die rather than deny the Lord Jesus. He was observed to spend much time in prayer. Meanwhile his case was made known to an officer next in authority to Ibrahim Pasha, who visited Beyroot about that time, and the man was at length ordered to go free, on the ground that the Druzes by precedent might change their religion and remain harmless. The result of this decision may be very auspicious among that people.

In April of last year, Mr. Whiting, in company with some others, made a journey into the "hill country" of Judea, as far as Hebron, which was on various accounts highly interesting.

The lamented decease of Doct. Dodge, mentioned in the last Report, has rendered it very important that another physician should be sent to this mission.

The Committee are under the necessity of adding, that Mrs. Bird's health became such at the close of last year, as to make it expedient for her and her husband to leave Syria, with the expectation that they should visit this country. They have spent several months at Smyrna, and not without decisive benefit to her health.

CYPRUS. Mr. and Mrs. Ladd sailed from Boston, July 16th in the schooner Sea Eagle. They are designated to Cyprus, on condition that a salubrious and otherwise eligible place is found on the island for a missionary station. Indeed, the prosecution of the mission must probably depend upon this, as the demand for laborers elsewhere is so great, and the laborers are so few.

The arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Pease at Larnaca, in Cyprus, on the 11th of December, 1834, was mentioned in the last Report, as was also the exploration of the greater part of the island by himself and Mr. Thomson of the Syrian mission. Mr. Thomson arrived from Beyroot on the 18th of January, 1835, and they commenced their journey on the 23d. At Nicosia they had an interview with the archbishop. This prelate had already established a Lancasterian school, containing about sixty boys, and furnished with books from the mission presses. Our brethren spent three days with him, and he was earnest and apparently sincere in requesting them to establish schools throughout all the island. He also expressed his approbation

of the plan of a central high school for educating teachers. Messrs. Thomson and Pease estimate the number of Greek christians on the island at about 70,000, and there does not appear to be any serious obstacle in the way of distributing the scriptures and diffusing the knowledge of the gospel among them, except the insalubrious nature of the climate and the small number of missionaries at command. It was thought, however, that Lapithos, a large village on the northwestern shore, two days ride from Larnaca, within and around which are about 15,000 souls, might prove to be a healthy place of residence. It is situated on the northern declivity of a range of mountains. "Its location," say the brethren, "is charming. Beginning at the base of the mountains, it extends up its steep declivity about a thousand feet, at which height the perpendicular precipices of the mountain commence, and greatly shelter it from the hot south winds. The whole coast of Caramania is in full view, from whose snow-capt mountains cool and refreshing breezes are wafted across the narrow channel that separates Cyprus from the main land. A magnificent fountain also bursts out from these perpendicular precipices, and foaming and roaring down through the whole village, finds its way to the sea through the narrow but fertile plain below. The fountain, besides turning a number of mills in its descent, is distributed through the gardens, and tumbling from terrace to terrace, forms numerous cascades, which must greatly alleviate the intense heat of a Cyprus summer." For an intelligent and interesting account of the tour of these brethren, and of the results of their observations, the Board is referred to the Missionary Herald for November and December of last year.

The tour was completed about the middle of February, when the two brethren, with Mrs. Pease, proceeded to Beyroot. The death of Doct. Dodge, in the meanwhile, seemed to make it necessary that Mr. Pease should remain in Syria, and become associated with Mr. Whiting at Jerusalem. Strong developements of a consumptive tendency in Mrs. Pease, in respect to which the elevated position of Jerusalem was deemed unfavorable, induced the mission to advise a return to Cyprus. Mr. Pease left Beyroot with his family on the 11th of October, and, landed at Larnaca on the 15th. There he found a flourishing school of more than fifty scholars under the direction of Mr. Pierides, a well-informed Greek gentleman, familiar with the English language.

wives.

MISSION TO THE NESTORIANS OF PERSIA.

OORMIAH.-Justin Perkins, Missionary; Asahel Grant, M. D., Physician; and their (1 station, 1 missionary, 1 physician, and 2 female assistant missionaries.)

The last Report left Mr. Perkins diligently studying the Syriac language at Tabreez, with the aid of a Nestorian bishop and priest.