—Late news from Bishop Crowther’s mission, on the Niger River, Africa, states that one of the chiefs, Captain Hart, who had been most active at Bonny in the persecution of Christian converts, is dead. On his death-bed he commanded that all his idols be destroyed, warning his followers to have nothing more to do with idol worship. The next day after his death the heathen fell upon the collection of idols with a will. Archdeacon Crowther writes:
“Early this morning they began to destroy the jujus. The work of destruction is great. The poor gods and goddesses are having very hard times in late Captain Hart’s quarters now. They are handled in a most unceremonious and rough manner. Two canoe-loads, it is said, have found their resting-place in the deepest part of the river, and those that float and will not sink are broken into ever so many pieces. Floating wrecks of idols made and worshiped since the days of Captain Hart’s father are to be seen dotted all over the creek to the river in the shipping. Imprecations and abuses have taken the place of worship.”
Bishop Crowther reports that, after a long season at Bonny, in which, owing to persecution, there were no converts, eight persons have been baptized.
—Dr. John Kirk, the British Consul-General at Zanzibar, Africa, writes that Keith Johnson, the leader of the expedition to explore the head of Lake Nyassa, died of dysentery on the 27th of June, at Berobero, 130 miles inland from Dar-es-Salaam. The expedition will be continued by Mr. Thomson, the scientific assistant of Mr. Johnson.
—Mr. John S. Hartland reports his arrival at Bonny, and Mr. W. H. Bentley at Sierra Leone, on the West Coast of Africa. They are both on their way to the English Baptist Mission on the Congo or Livingstone River.
The Indians.
The following paragraph from the Independent so fully expresses our view of the matter of the Ponca Indians, that we both copy and endorse it:
The story which Secretary Schurz tells about the Ponca Indians, while it corrects some misapprehensions in regard to the case, nevertheless confesses that the Government has treated the Indians very unjustly. This the Secretary said in his first annual report. After securing to the Poncas 96,000 acres of land in South-eastern Dakota by the treaties of 1817, 1826 and 1858, the Government in 1868 granted this very land to the Sioux Indians, without any reference to the rights held therein by the Poncas, both by treaty and occupancy. The Sioux Indians were unfriendly to the Poncas, and the collision between these tribes made it necessary for the Government to seek the removal of the Poncas to the Indian Territory. All this was done before the present Administration came into power, and hence it has no responsibility for the wrong done. Secretary Schurz says that “no effort has been spared by the Executive branch of the Government to rectify all the wrongs that the Poncas have suffered, so far as these wrongs can be rectified.” He also says that “a bill for their relief, providing for payment for their lands in Dakota, and also providing for the payment for their new reservation, with an appropriation of $58,000 to reimburse them for their losses, has been sent to Congress by the Interior Department.” We are glad to learn from so good an authority that the Executive Department of the Government recognizes the wrong which has been done to these Indians, and shows a disposition to make an honorable amende therefor. It is to be hoped that Congress will sustain and concur with its efforts.