As a Missionary with the Bible in his hand looks on the natives, he seriously ponders how the truth can, humanly speaking, be most readily commended to them. His first aim must be to reach their intellects. They stand before him as a people that are entirely unbelievers, and who cannot be blamed for being so. How shall they believe without a preacher? It is well when they state plainly that they disbelieve and point out their reasons, but alas! they often assent to everything from mere politeness. Still, they are well able to appreciate the narrative parts of the Scriptures. Persons fond of doctrine in its purest form think that the tales of Joseph and his brethren, of Saul and David, are so much packing in the sacred volume, but on coming into contact with the strong unsophisticated intellect of the savage, one becomes alive to the sublimity and power of this part of Scripture. These natives readily understand the Old Testament; familiar as they are with a state of civilisation, where a “younger brother” may be sold like Joseph, where a chief (like Saul) hunts a rival among mountains and caves, and where a headman thinks nothing of dividing a child to settle a dispute. A person in Britain thinks it almost incredible that a king could break promises like Pharoah; but to the subjects of an African chief, the narrative of this is the merest commonplace, while they feel that such falsehood in the prince would rather call forth the applause of his people so long as it seemed to be in their interest. Our pupils had often to write about these Scripture subjects in their own words. When they wrote on English affairs their remarks were extremely ludicrous; but by reading their Bible themes I have benefited as much as by studying a commentary. Again, they can understand and appreciate _parables_. They are all familiar with this species of literature, since many of their own tales have double meanings. The natives of course hold no theory of the universe that excludes _miracles_. In their own tales they have the miraculous and look for some teaching in connection with it, a habit which they may be taught to carry with them in using the Scripture records. In my first effort at translating Jonah, my little tutor thought there was some mistake and changed my proposed version. He felt it would be more natural for Jonah to “swallow the fish”. But it was a “great fish!” Still the same answer came. “No, a very great fish like a crocodile.” The dark countenance turned fully round upon me, and the sharp eyes regarded me with a strange quiet stare. He approved of my original rendering, and wondered what I would venture on next. Perhaps he thought I was “far gone” or perhaps I had come near something he had heard before. They have themselves a story of a man that was caught by a crocodile and effected his escape while laid past till the crocodile should be hungry. Their literature also contains some stories regarding the division of the waters of a river or