In point of returns for labour, we obtained the speediest and most satisfactory from the schools. At least one-half of our congregations were heathen, or semi-heathen; and while we were glad to get them within sound of the Gospel, we knew that many of them attended church only from fear of the queen--a mistaken fear. The ‘fear of God’ had little to do with it. The sight that used to gladden my heart most, when I preached at my own station, was the 200 children sitting there in front of me. They answered the questions put to them with a fervour and eagerness which did one’s heart good. They led the singing. Their voices made the church ring with the songs of salvation. They were the most attentive listeners to the sermon, and their eyes sparkled with an intelligence of which their poor parents knew nothing, and never would know: they were too old to learn, even if they wished to, which many of them did not. From the schools of the first missionaries came some of the foremost of the martyrs, and the best and most devoted pastors in the country. The truth learned by those men in the schools of former times sank into their hearts, and in due season brought forth fruit, before and conspicuously during the ‘killing times.’ Our schools were not merely secular institutions, they were essentially religious. Our Quarterly Meeting became a source of strength to the churches. When the ritualists tried to gain a footing in the district, it was only the vigorous measures adopted by the Quarterly Meeting that saved one of the best of our churches from being ruined. The pastor who had invited them was an ignorant man, who had caused more trouble than all the other pastors of the district; but he was the petty chief of that village. He had been appointed to be the chief pastor of the church before we settled at Fìhàonana. Being the chief of the village, many of the members were afraid to take action against him. They appealed to the Quarterly Meeting for help. The case was taken up very warmly; Razàka and other two of the chief pastors were appointed to visit the church on the following Sabbath, suspend the pastor from office and membership, and appoint the second pastor in his place. On the following Tuesday, when the would-be ‘successors of the Apostles’ arrived to do what the Apostle Paul carefully avoided, ‘lest he should build upon another man’s foundation,’ they found that their quondam friend, who had promised to hand over the church and congregation to them, was no longer a member of that church, and therefore had no power to carry out his promise. Knowing the man as I did, and how such things were managed, I strongly suspect that he felt certain in his own mind, even if he had no positive promise, that his services would be handsomely recognized. Happily the whole affair was frustrated by the prompt action of the Quarterly Meeting.