Early in December, Mr. Robt. Arthington, of Leeds, Eng., signified his readiness to pay over the £3,000 he had pledged as a nucleus, provided we would plant a mission on the Upper Nile. Already Dr. O. H. White, Secretary of the Freedmen’s Missions Aid Society of London, had made good progress in securing £3,000 additional to Mr. Arthington’s pledge for the same purpose. It was evident to us that the $30,000 asked for from Great Britain toward the $50,000 fund for this mission would be speedily made up. As we had pledged ourselves to furnish $20,000 on condition that we received in all from Great Britain $30,000, the question of the establishment of the mission directly was thrown upon us. We felt that the call to us was to go forward, and Mr. Ladd’s services were secured at the earliest day possible with a view to this necessity. As the plan of sending forward two men to look over the mission field, select a site for the station, and to determine what supplies and facilities would be needful for the mission, fully met Mr. Arthington’s view, we determined to send forward Mr. Ladd early in the autumn for the purpose mentioned. We were happy, also, in securing the services of a former parishioner of Mr. Ladd, Dr. E. E. Snow, a physician of much experience, to accompany him on his journey. These two brethren left New York in September. They had provided themselves with a valuable letter from Secretary Blaine, instructing the Consul General of the United States at Cairo to further their object as much as he might be able. On their way they purposed to procure letters of introduction from the English Government, hoping thereby to be assisted in making favorable arrangements with the Khedive of Egypt for transportation to the field of their destination, and also for the privilege of using a steamboat on the waters of the Upper Nile. Their plan of route will be to visit Cairo, and proceed from thence to Souakim, on the Red Sea; from this point they will pursue a camel route a distance of 240 miles to Berber, where they hope to find steamboat facilities for the remainder of their journey. The point which they seek to reach is about 1,500 miles in a direct line south of the Mediterranean and near the mouth of the Sobat, where the people are in the depth of barbarism. It is the hope of your Committee that Brothers Ladd and Snow will be able to return in early summer, at which time Dr. Snow will devote himself to procuring a suitable steamer for mission purposes on the Nile, and other supplies and facilities needful for the comfort and success of the enterprise. Supt. Ladd will devote himself to organizing a suitable corps of missionaries for the Arthington mission, two of whom are already under appointment, with a view of proceeding up the Nile next autumn to their field of labor. Our African work is not without its hazards, its embarrassments and inevitable discouragements. We believe, however, that the good tidings of great joy must be preached to the