with the authorities of Liberia to abandon the slave-trade for ever. In many ways these people are coming under the influence of the true religion, are learning the arts of civilized life, and having their attention directed to the abundant sources of wealth, which exist around them in the vegetable and mineral products of the country
A great encouragement to missionary effort among these people is found in the absence of all organized system in their religion. The world does not present another instance of a people so free from fixed religious ideas and practices. Their few incoherent superstitious and idolatrous practices have little that is defined or formidable, compared with the magnificent system of the Chinese theology, supported by the prestige of antiquity and venerated names, and interwoven through the texture of an elaborately constructed empire. Nor is it to be compared with the subtle and ingenious system of the Hindus, perpetuated and rendered imposing by its philosophic mien, its voluminous commentaries, its cunning and numerous priesthood, and the barbaric splendour of its public ceremonies. Nor has it any Grand Lama, any Prophet of God, any Incas, any altars, any temples, any sacred books, any oracles, any demigods, any nymphs or naiads, any system of caste, or, indeed, (with the few exceptions mentioned) any associations or prepossessions, any old authoritative errors or deep-rooted prejudices, which would oppose the formidable barriers so commonly frowning upon and discouraging the Christian missionary in other
