—When the missionary steamer owned by the mission of the Free Church of Scotland was to be placed on Lake Nyassa, the leader of the expedition applied to the chief of the tribe for reliable help to carry the craft around the Murchison Cataracts. The chief responded by sending eight hundred women,—a compliment certainly to the trustworthiness of the sex. “Some of them came fifty miles, bringing their provisions with them. These women were intrusted with the whole, when if a single portion of the steamer had been lost, the whole scheme would have failed. They carried it in two hundred and fifty loads in five days, under a tropical sun, seventy-five miles, to an elevation of 1,800 feet, and not a nail or screw was lost. They ‘trusted the Englishman,’ asking no questions of wages, and receiving each six yards of calico; and for the sake of being liberal, each was given an extra yard.”—_Heathen Woman’s Friend_. —The sudden death of Rev. Dr. Mullens, of peritonitis, at Aden, is announced. He has been for some years a Christian leader in Great Britain, and his opinions have had great weight with intelligent Christians throughout the world. He has been the chief Corresponding Secretary of the great London Missionary Society during about twenty years—a position of great responsibility and usefulness, and one of the most influential in the Church of Christ. Before he was called to this service he had been for many years a successful missionary in India. Two or three months ago, by his own request—if memory serves us faithfully—he was appointed by the Society to accompany a band of young missionaries to Zanzibar, and to go on, if necessary, if his judgment so decided, to Lake Tanganyika, in the heart of Southern Africa. It was expected that his strong sense and remarkable executive ability would see and organize some method to overcome the serious obstacles and difficulties which lie in the path of missions to Central Africa. On arriving at Zanzibar, Dr. Mullens decided, in the exercise of the discretion given him by the Board, to proceed onward, in company with Messrs. Griffith and Southon, to Lake Tanganyika. The party left Zanzibar on the afternoon of Friday, June 13th, and having landed at Saadani, started for the interior. Letters dated Ndumi, June 16th, report that all the members of the expedition were in excellent health, and were well on their way westward. News of his death on the 10th of July has brought sadness to many hearts outside of the circle who will most deeply miss his counsels and mourn his loss. He was not yet fifty-nine years of age, and was one of the foremost men of the present time in foreign missions, having been, perhaps, the most prominent leader in the Basle Missionary Conference held in October last.