ve found it convenient to profess the Christian faith. I have known
individuals of this class who bore a good character, and were regular in
their attendance on public worship. We had a number of them in our
native Christian congregation at Benares, and we had for years a weekly
meeting in their quarters. I cannot, however, speak highly of them as a
class, either as to intelligence or goodness. Not a few went to a place
of Christian worship only on Christmas Day, or on the occasion of a
marriage or baptism, and their general conduct was no honour to the
Christian name. Yet these people are proud of being ranked as
Christians. We had a striking illustration of this at Benares. A person
died, the son of an English colonel by a Muhammadan wife. I knew the man
well. He often called on me, and was eager for discussion. He
continually avowed himself a follower of Muhammad. He was never seen in
a place of Christian worship, and was often seen in the mosque. When he
died, the relatives of his mother made arrangements for the funeral; but
the drummers and Christian camp-followers gathered in numbers, went to
the magistrate, and claimed the body on the ground that the man had been
baptized in infancy. As the result of inquiry it was found that at the
father's instance he had been baptized, and on this account the body was
made over to the Christians, who carried it to the grave in triumph, as
if they had achieved a great victory for their faith, the chaplain of
the station reading the funeral service. The native Christians connected
with the different missions in Benares for the most part kept aloof.

I have already spoken of orphans and their descendants, and need say
nothing more about their character. They form a considerable portion of
the native Christian community in the North-West.

[Sidenote: UNWORTHY ADHERENTS.]

All our missions have had accessions from both Hindus and Muhammadans,
but chiefly from Hindus. I heartily wish I could say all have joined us
from right motives. This I cannot say. It is undeniable that persons
have joined us from unworthy motives, some because they have broken with
their brethren, others who are pressed by want in hope of support, and
others again in anticipation of a life of less toil if they can get
under the wing of a missionary. There have even been individuals who
have made it a trade to be baptized, who have told most plausible
stories, have hung on missionaries for a time, and have the