esus. When the prayers are _prayed_, and not
merely read in the cold formality of office, instead of wearying the
mind by repetition, how often are they the means of arresting our
wandering thoughts, and awakening a devotional feeling! This effect, I
trust, was produced in our minds, as we met together, for the public
services of the day, in the cabin of the ship.

From the 5th to the 9th, we had stiff gales of wind from the same
quarter, which caused the sea to roll with a majesty and grandeur that
I never before witnessed. I stood on the quarterdeck, in admiration of
the scene, and of the wonders of God in the deep, as wave rolled after
wave, occasionally breaking on its _mountainous_ top into a roaring and
foaming surge. But while the waves roar and the winds howl around me, I
am borne in safety through the mighty waters towards the desired haven.
What a fit emblem is this experience of the spiritual and eternal
safety of the Christian, in the ark of the covenant, amidst the foaming
billows of affliction, the wind of temptation, and every storm of trial
raised by man in a fallen and disordered world, branded with so many
marks of its Creator's displeasure.

We were prevented from meeting in the cabin, for divine service, on
Sunday the 12th, from its blowing a hard gale, and the violent tossing
of the ship. We now experienced a sensible alteration in the weather,
as being much milder; and a couple of black wolves and a bear, which we
had on board, were evidently affected by the change of the atmosphere,
as we were bearing up for the Orkney Isles. On the 15th, we anchored in
Stromness harbour, and, leaving this anchorage on the 17th, we reached
Yarmouth Roads, October the 23d; and through a kind protecting
Providence, I landed, on the following day, from the ship, in the
Thames.

Since my departure from England, in May 1820, to this period of my
return, not one accident have I met with, nor have I been called to
experience a single day's illness. Though in perils oft by land and by
sea, and exposed to threatened dangers of the ice, and of the desert,
still my life has been preserved.

* * * * *

Praised be the Lord God of my salvation!

In sending this volume to the press, I feel that I am discharging a
duty which I owe to the natives of the rocks and of the wilderness,
whom I have seen in the darkness and misery of heathenism; and I
ardently desire that the Mission alrea