think me most capable to fill,-provided it is for the furtherance of the Redeemer's Kingdom. My business for fifteen years back has been to manage a large family, consisting of fifteen to more than twenty persons, most of them grown persons;-besides several families living on my land, that came directly under my care.-My own family consists of seven persons, myself and wife, and five children, two boys and three girls; all remarkably healthy, and well educated according to their age, the oldest fourteen, the youngest two years old,-all trained to industry when out of school."

Mr. Conger is himself about 36 years old,-a Christian of good report; by trade a carpenter, but accustomed to turn his hand to various kinds of business, as carpentry, cabinet-making, coopering, blacksmithing, and farming; all which he has had upon a large scale under his direction. "He has been," says his minister, the Rev. Mr. King, "for ten years past one of the most industrious, and persevering, men in the business of the world, that I ever knew." For six years in his youth, he was a schoolmaster; and for the two last years has been a principal teacher in a Sabbath school.

When the determination of Mr. Conger came to be known, others of kindred spirit connected with him in business, and some of them by family alliance, and whose minds bad for some time before been employed on the subject, came to a similar resolution. Messrs. John Vail, a farmer, John Talmage a blacksmith, and John Mott, a carpenter, but all of them more or less, like Mr. Conger, accustomed to different kinds of business,-offered themselves, with very satisfactory recommendations; and were accordingly accepted for the service. Mr. Vail has a family of five children; Mr. Talmage and Mr. Mott are young men recently married.

These four devoted men, have given themselves to the service, on the same principle with the missionaries and assistants now at the stations, as an engagement for life; consecrating themselves, their faculties, and their earnings, to the sacred and benevolent object of christianizing and civilizing the Aborigines; and expecting no earthly compensation but a comfortable maintenance. Their children, when they come of age, are of course to be held as free in regard to any engagement for the service, as any other persons.

Preparations have been made with all convenient despatch; and the company, well supplied with various mechanical tools, and such household articles as are suitable to take with them,-started from Rockaway, as it is supposed, on Monday of the last week, travelling with waggons, and expecting to reach Brainerd about the first of November.

The hope is entertained, and with a degree of confidence, that in a short time, by the exercise of husbandry, and the various mechanical trades, in which they are skilled, they will supply the establishment with the principal provisions, requisite for its support, and thus save this Board a heavy expense.

The establishment at Brainerd is regarded by your Committee as a Primary Institution, to serve as a centre of operations for evangeliz

About the time they were to start Mr. Vail's family was heavily visited with sickness, which detained them until the 27th of the month.

1

ing and civilizing the Cherokee nation;-to be enlarged and advanced, as mearts shall be afforded,and as shall be found to be advisable; and to have branches connected with it, in the form of Local Schools, in different parts of the Cherokee country. The local schools, being established in places of densest population, may be attended by children living at home; and a farm, of larger or smaller extent, may yield to it the means of support.

For one school of this kind, a place has been selected, and preparations are now in forwardness. It will be 50 or 60 miles southeasterly from Brainerd, and under the immediate care of Mr. Hall, one of the first assistants of the mission.

This school is established at the earnest desire and solicitation of the natives residing in that neighborhood. Similar solicitations have been made for schools, in other places. And it is a fact of especial importance, that a disposition favorable to the general design, and even an ardent desire for schools, is prevailing throughout the nation. Some evidences of this fact will be interesting to the Board. About the first of November, ten months ago, a council of the nation was held, at which Mr. Hoyt was present. He was received with marked kindness and attention. On the evening before the council was opened, he had a free and lengthened conversation with the aged king and the chiefs, and found them in a most pleasant disposition. [See Pan. for Jan. p. 43.]

The next day, when the council was in session, Mr. Hoyt was admitted to an audience, and made a talk to them; stating the intentions and objects of the mission, and expressing the feelings and desires of the missionaries, and of their patrons and friends. [See Pan. for Jan. p. 44.]

On the first of January, the king and one of the principal chiefs from the southern part of the nation, visited the school at Brainerd. [See Pan. July, pp. 324, 325.]

This Board have been apprised, that it was the intention of the U. S. government, to procure an extended exchange of lands, and to remove the Cherokees and other Indian nations and tribes, residing on this side the Mississippi, over into the wilderness of the Arkansaw, and of the Missouri. The Cherokees, being urgently pressed with proposals, in pursuance of this intention, were in great consternation and distress; and a delegation of twelve of their principal men, with the well known and excellent chief, Charles R. Hicks, at the head, were appointed by the council of the nation, to go to the city of Washington on the subject. Communications, relating to the business, were made to your Committee; and a desire was signified, that one of the Committee or an agent of the Board, might be present with the delegation, The Committee could not but feel, that it was a crisis of great moment; and the Corresponding Secretary was deputed to Washington. Accordingly, about the middle of February, he met the Cherokee delegation there.

A principal argument, employed on the part of the Cherokees, was;-That their removal from their country, where they had begun to cultivate the land, and made considerable advances in civilizing arts; and where a system of instruction for their general improvement had

That

commenced with the fairest prospects of success;-into a boundless wilderness, where every thing would invite and impel them to revert to the hunting, and wandering and savage life,-would frustrate the desires of the better part of the nation, and destroy the hopes of their benevolent friends; and, in effect, doom them to extermination. the desire for civilization had become prevalent among them; and their capability of improvement, and of being elevated to the rank and to the enjoyments of civilized people, had been decisively evinced by the success, which had attended the attempts for their instruction. The argument appears to have had weight with the government; and the delegation, instead of finding themselves obliged, as their fears had led them to anticipate, to sign a virtual surrender of their country, had the high satisfaction to put their signatures to a treaty of a very different kind.

This treaty, after a cession of lands by the Cherokees, in consideration of a portion of the nation having migrated to the Arkansaw, and had lands assigned to them there, secures to them the remainder of their country in perpetuity. And of the ceded lands, an appropriation is made of about a hundred thousand acres, for a perpetual school fund, to be applied, under the direction of the President of the United States, to the instruction of the Cherokees on this side of the Mississippi.

This, the Committee are persuaded, will be regarded by the Board, and by all, who wish well to the American Aborigines, as a signally auspicious event. It is auspicious, as it shows on the part of the government, not only a favorable disposition towards the Indians, but also a conviction that they can be, and must be, civilized; and a settled and generous purpose to patronize and aid the benevolent work. It is auspicious, as it provides funds which eventually will not be small, for promoting the design. And it is auspicious in the influence, which it has, and which it will have, upon the Cherokees and other Indian nations, and upon the American community. It marks, indeed, a new and propitious era.

The Cherokee delegates and the nation, were filled with joy and gratitude. In the Journal of the mission, April 12th, the brethren record: [See Pan. Aug. pp. 371, 372.]

In this connexion, another circumstance recorded in the Journal, May 27th, will be regarded with interest:-[See Pan. Aug. p. $73.] Your Committee have no ordinary satisfaction in recording this visit, in which the dignified condescension, the generous philanthropy, and the paternal character of the President of the United States, appear in so amiable and interesting a light. It has excited, and will excite, most grateful feelings, not only in this Board, but in this Christian community extensively.

Hitherto the Lord has continued to smile on this favored mission. Its prosperity has been great: and its prospects are cheering. Every encouragement is afforded to prosecute the design, with humble and grateful reliance on that Almighty Aid, which has been so graciously granted.

CHOCTAWS.

A year ago this mission was just commencing. As then reported, the Rev. Mr. Kingsbury and Mr. Williams and wife, having taken an affecting leave of Brainerd, had recently arrived in the Choctaw nation, and selected the scite for their station; and Mr. Peter Kanouse, and Messrs. John G. Kanouse and Moses Jewell with their wives, from New Jersey and New York, were on their way to join the mission. [See Pan. for July, p. 318.]

This consecrated spot has since been named Elliot, in affectionate memorial of the venerable "Apostle of the American Indians."

In three or four days after the felling of the first tree, their first house of logs was raised. [See the page last quoted.]

On the day after, the brethren, in the midst of their difficulties and discouragements, had raised the log of their first little cottage, they were cheered with a report, that three or four men were at Natchez, coming to their assistance; and in ten days afterwards, on the 29th of Aug. the assistants from New Jersey and New York arrived at the station "in safety, though much worn down by fatigue." [See Pan. for July, p. 314.]

The arrival of these assistants, and particularly of the females, was subsequently seen to be a reason for more especial gratitude, than was at first apprehended; as in about a week afterwards, Mrs. Williams, before the only female at the station, was seized with a severe fever, by which she was brought near to death.

Mr. Peter Kanouse, whose health for some time before leaving New Jersey had been feeble, and who suffered much in the passage by water to New Orleans, soon after reaching the station found his health declining; and, becoming in a short time persuaded, that he should not be able to render assistance in the arduous labors of the mission, on the 5th of October, with many painful regrets, left Elliot and returned to his family.

In November, Miss Sarah B. Varnum, and Miss Judith Chase, under the particular care of your Committee, and with a respectable company of passengers, were embarked at Salem, for the purpose of joining the mission. They were met at New Orleans by Mr. Kingsbury, whose marriage to Miss Varnum was there solemnized; and by whom they were conducted thence to the station, where they arrived on the first of February. About a fortnight before, Mr. Aries V. Williams, an approved brother of him, who went with Mr. Kingsbury from Brainerd, arrived there as an assistant.

Thus increased and strengthened, the mission was filled with grateful joy.

"We have our trials," says Mr. Kingsbury, in a letter at the time, "but they seem only such as are calculated to keep us humble, and teach us our dependence. And we have so many mercies, that we think no people are so highly favored as ourselves."

Among the trials alluded to, were sicknesses with which, in greater or less degrees, several members of the mission family of both sexes had been visited; various disappointments and difficulties in regard to VOL. XV.

procuring provisions and necessary help; and many inconveniences, privations, and hardships, unavoidable in the commencement of such an establishment so far in the wilderness.

Meanwhile, however, the work was advancing. And in a letter bearing date April 12, only about eight months from the felling of the first tree, the brethren say; [See Pan. for July, pp. 314, 315.]

On the last Sabbath in March, after solemn preparation, by fasting and prayer, a church was organized at the mission house; and the dying love of the Lord Jesus was commemorated, in the Holy Supper. [See Pan. for Oct. p. 469 ]

As yet they were not prepared to commence the school. A schoolhouse, and some other buildings, were wanted; and their hands were not sufficient for the erection of them. The Choctaw people, however, not aware of the preparations, which were requisite, or of the difficulties to be surmounted, became impatient and urgent: and about the middle of April eight promising children were brought from a distance of 160 miles, to be placed at the school; the parents having been informed, that the mission was in readiness to receive them. It was a trying case. To turn the children away, would not only be a great disappointment to the parents, but make an unfavorable impression upon the nation; and to receive them under circumstances then existing, was a matter of extreme difficulty, and no small risk; especially, as, if they were received, others also must be taken. After prayerful deliberation, as the parents seemed willing to have their children disposed of, as circumstances would render necessary, if they might only be left, the brethren decided in favor of receiving them. "We felt it to be our duty," they say, "to keep the children, and open our school; believing that the Lord would continue to provide."

Accordingly, on the 19th of April, the school was commenced with ten Choctaw children.

The next morning after the opening of the school, Mr. Kingsbury was seized with a severe illness; which, at first, was a bilious fever; but, after two or three weeks, changed to a regular intermittent, which continued with variations, into June. During this period, from April to June, all the members of the mission, male and female, were visited with sickness, in a greater or less degree, and some of them were not slightly ill.

Referring to their sicknesses, the brethren say,

"We cannot impute these repeated afflictions to any particular unfavorableness of our situation. That we should be affected by a great change of climate was to be expected, especially considering our many exposures. Nor was the change of climate greater than the change of diet: both must have had considerable effect on our health.”

Their labors, their hardships, their exposures were great;-and their privations, owing to the newness of their situation, their distance from white settlements, and the unusual scarcity of bread stuffs the last winter, in that country, were also great. But the Lord was gracious. The lives of them all were precious in his sight; and health has been restored to the mission..