But I believe he bears a secret grudge against us for the protection given to run-away slaves of his. This subject is a delicate one. It looks very well to give protection to slaves when they come and say they are going to be sold. Yet the relation between a chief and his servants is one of the things that go to form the social order of these tribes; and by treating the matter rashly, we may bring about a great deal of anarchy. _Friday, Dec. 6._—Mrs. Macdonald’s sewing-class contains twelve girls, who seem very willing to learn. We had some difficulty in obtaining female pupils, as the Yao girls are engaged at a very early age, and after such engagement they are not so free as they would otherwise be. Many of our female pupils are slave girls who have come here for protection; they live on the station, and as they increase in number, they will require a female monitor for themselves. At present the care of them gives us much anxiety; only they marry as soon as they find a husband. All our earlier intercourse with the natives brought before us the cheerful side of their character. I found them always full of fun. As they have no difficulty in procuring food, clothes, or houses, they suffer from none of the cares that press so heavily on Europeans. Still, we discovered that they had their troubles too. The first occasion I saw any sorrow, was in connection with death. It was about seven o’clock in the morning when a message came from a father asking me to be present at the interment of his little child. On enquiring when the funeral would take place, I found that it was to be immediately. On going to the village, we saw that a few of the man’s neighbours had assembled, and were waiting for our arrival. As soon as the Englishmen had all come, two natives entered the house. Here the little child was stretched upon a bamboo mat, with a piece of calico thrown over its body. The mother lay mourning on the side of the mat. The father we had already passed sitting outside the house with a few men round him. He took no farther part in the funeral ceremony; contrary to our expectation, he did not accompany the body to its last resting-place. The two natives that went inside removed the calico from the child’s body, then they folded the mat round the corpse, and tied it up so that the whole formed a small cylindrical parcel. After this the men came to the outside again and washed their hands very carefully. They did this, not for the purpose of ordinary cleanliness (natives are not so careful in this respect), it was a ceremonial act, deemed necessary after touching the dead. Two men now took up the body, and carried it the whole way. The headman of the village seemed to think it was his place to follow next the bearers. Some of us had an idea that the child would be interred near the house, but the procession went on to a time-consecrated burying-ground. Once or twice the bearers seemed to lose their way, and then the headman went to