Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 525

1842.

Kulángsu and Amoy.

507

The journal before us, in the form of a diary, details many occurren. ces of almost every day. The number of Chinese attendants at public worship on the Sabbath, small at first, being not more than three or four, gradually increased to twenty, forty, sixty, and upwards. Many private opportunities also, were improved to communicate, by books, by conversation, &c., the knowledge of revealed religion, and to draw attention to the great interests of the soul, and to those things that bear most directly on its immortal destiny. We will copy the entire journal for two or three days.

"July 12th. Spent a part of the day at Amoy. Our friend, to whose house we went on the former occasion, invited us to dine with him at his new establishment, which he has lately occupied. We went over the bay in his boat, and passed very near one of the piratical craft, which give the inhabitants here so much trouble. We were told the pirates never molest our friend's boat, and that they would be afraid to touch us. We scarcely gave the crowd time to form around us in the street before we reached his new establishment. There we met a company of very respectable and intelligent Chinese, who came partly to offer their congratulations to our host, and partly to see us. The way was thus open for a long conversation on the religion of Jesus, whose simple and reasonable tenets seemed to com- mend themselves convincingly to their minds.

"23d. To-day, had a conversation with one of the merchants, who come to Kulangsú for trade, on the subject of female infanticide. Assuming a coun- tenance of as much indifference as possible, I asked him how many of his own children he had destroyed; he instantly replied, two,' I asked him whether he had spared any; he said one I have saved.' I then inquired how many brothers he had; 'eight,' was his answer. I asked him how many children his eldest brother had destroyed. Five or six. I inquired of the second, third, and all the rest; some had killed four or five, soine two or three, and others had none to destroy. I then asked how many girls there were left among thein all. Three,' was the answer. And how many do you think have been strangled at birth? Probably from twelve to seventeen.' I wished to know the standing and employment of his brothers. One, he said, had attained a literary degree at the public examinations; a second was a teacher; one was a sailor; and the rest were petty merchants, like him- self. Thus it was evidently not necessity, but a cold inhuman calculation of the gains and losses of keeping them, which must have led these men to take the lives of their own offspring. It is so seldom that we can find a man as candid as this, that I am quite incapable of saying whether he and his brothers have not exceeded their neighbors. At present I think they have.

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“Sometime after this conversation, I asked Mr. Boone's teacher whether of his children had been deprived of life. He said no, adding that it was a very wicked act He confessed, however, that his sister, or sister-

any

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