Show letter lefter from elder richard Balla ballantyne styne to doat spra sprays dated catta calcutta may lath 1853 no 2 laus bazar basar bros leonard and woolley accompanied by bro west left this city last katurd saturday for chinee chiacu raw a distance of thirty miles in that place there are nine members of the church in good faith circulars were issued then giving notice that several elders had arrived from the valley and that discourses would be delivered on sabbath and tuesday evening but very few strangers attended I 1 would remark in relation to the european population in this country that it is very difficult t to 0 yet get access to them or induce them to turn out an and attend meeting I 1 express this opinion in relation to the majority from my very limited observation and the better experience of our broth breth ter seal 1 v lere I 1 pe r e w ta n california they 1 I come to make I 1 their fortunes and in the meantime live a good deal after the secluded fashions of the aristocracy of old En england giand besides they are filled with prejudice and the revelations to the world at this particular era has no tendency to remove it from their bosoms in an article published a few days since in one of the leading journals it was however admitted that pol polygamy y gam was sustained by the bible and the editor suid said K he did not net feel disposed to argue the question it te is ray my emores sion that we will have to preach from house he U so to 0 house to the extent of the opportunities aff afford ft in order to be successful among a certain class the natives around calcutta are a very fickle race there have been about baptized in other parts of the country the natives are said to be a somewhat better people to pass through one of ef their bazaars in this place a thousand voices are heard amid the greatest excitement entreating the passer pamer by to trade here arid there and everywhere they carry out this practice with the grea greatest teet enthusiasm as though it was truly meritorious to deprive a neighbor of a customer no feelings seem to be hurt by it so we concluded the course must be popular and approved by all selfish speculation seems t to 0 be the predominant vice notwithstanding these prevailing traits of character I 1 believe a great work will be done in india the population Is immense and if only one in a hundred should be saved what a mighty accession there would be to the kingdom of god my mission is to madras and I 1 am sanguine in the belief that with bra owen and skelton my fellow laborers we will be able to do a good work work in that city and the extensive territory around it our way does not yet open yesterday we labored diligently to obtain a passage in connection with br west of the ceylon mission not net being r successful we went to the american consul to enquire for information respecting facilities of shipping ac and of his own accord he kindly wrote a letter to the agent of the oriental steam line enquiring it if he could not give us the advantage of a cheap passage as the amount of our filthy lucre was a somewhat orne what small we have not yet tried its virtue but probably will this afternoon I 1 would here remark respecting the american consul here that he has conversed with us no in a very cordi cordia A manner and offered any assistance to us in his power I 1 ought to have mentioned that br west as a also br richards arrived here from wednesday evening leaving bra leonard and woolley to labor in that place br richards feels as aa though he would like to return to england he and br willis have certai certainly I 1 the credit of being zealous in the cause anif zeal zea however without knowledge does not always secure the salvation of the rock flock in regard to the provi dences of the lord to te the in missions is they have been truly ernly extraordinary we have lacked for nothing the meetings here are an still very thinly attended notwithstanding the novelty of so many elders from america but br jones is writing a pamphlet being a reply to one in circulation of seen scan d dous character which probably will when published re remove eve some of the hatred and indifference of this priest es t ridden place the brethren we are all in good health and spirits and are devising measures to get to their various fields of labor br willis willie is up the country to the north about 1000 miles near the die Him maleh mountains I 1 last sabbath a br bond who had withdrawn was re baptized we had sacrament in the afternoon no 0 n when he be was confirmed br richards has had the gift ift of healing hea linit to a powerful extent in his g labors many any have been n instantaneously raised to health some cases cams of cholera healed devils commanded to leave houses ac the cholera has been M raging in d this is city before and ever since our arrival there are are about six hundred registered deaths daily chiefly natives as they form the bulk of the population several american captains have been carried off b by li it since our arrival the natives burn most meet of their dead in a place reserved for that purpose and are often carried to the yard where the fires burn before life is extinct and there await the departure |