not been that the sky was a little misty; but we hoped to be in the city that same day, and before leaving it we were expecting to be on thetop of St. Peter's itself.

No sooner had we cast anchor in the harbour than the natives came out in little boats and surrounded our vessel. They had fruit, vegetables, bread, wine, and similar articles for sale. One boat actually had musicians in it, who constituted a little band to welcome us to the shores of Italy; but that was only another form of begging. They played but one tune before they began to make their plea for money in payment for their services.

Near by us, there was a large French vessel, the deck of which was covered with horses that had been transported to Italy, but had not yet been taken ashore. You would have been surprised to see how they got those horses on shore. A large scow or lighter was brought up alongside of the vessel, but then it was away down below the deck on which the horses stood. How could the horses get down there? Ropes were fastened around their bodies, and by means of a block and tackle they were lifted up from where they were, swung round, and then let down into the lighter. The whole time that each was in the air he kicked with all his might, but fortunately no little boy or girl was very near him, and he could not hurt anybody, not even himself.

After the policemen had examined our baggage, we took the cars for Rome. The railroad was in a poor condition; the cars looked as if they had not been cleaned for a month, and the conductor did not seem to care whether they were ventilated or not.

Until we arrived at Palo, the renowned bathing-place of the Romans, the road lay along the shore, and then through a hilly country and meadows, until it reached the Tiber; soon after which we arrived at the depot in Rome. We stopped at the Hotel Minerva, in the Minerva Place, quite near the Pantheon.

I had hardly taken a bath in the room which had been assigned me, before I heard a rap at my door. A guide came in and inquired what my wishes were during my stay in the city. He then added:

"Go with me, and we will see the Pope, for the great procession takes places to-day, and to-morrow the Holy Father leaves the city to go to the mountain at Albano.”

I told him I would do so. We made a contract, and then started off to see that large and beautiful Church, St. Maria Maggiore. When we arrived there we saw a multitude of priests, the Pope's guard, and nearly all the cardinals. They were drawn in their stylish coaches, in one of which the Pope sat, bearing upon his head a peaked cap illuminated with gold. He was clad in a long white under-gown, outside of which there was a rich mantle of deep orange colour, all illuminated with gold. That was Pius IX., who has made so much stir in the world, and who does so much, to keep the world in ignorance and corruption. I noticed that the people paid great respect to him; for they did not know any better-thinking that he was really the successor of St. Peter.. Wherever his coach went, the people would bow down as it passed, and take off their hats. The cardinals followed on after the Pope, and with them their attendants, who held a great red umbrella over each cardinal to prevent the sun from shining on him. The cardinals wore the scarlet mantle and hat, and their coaches were adorned with all kinds of curious designs. I saw Cardinal Antonelli, the most noted of all the cardinals. I could see by his appearance that he was a man of great energy, and I thought also of very wicked designs. Long after the cardinals had passed, the procession of priests continued, and after the priests some of the common people followed. I witnessed all the subsequent ceremonies to good advantage in the church; and the forenoon which I spent there, was, to me, a very pleasant introduction to the wonderful things to be seen in Rome.

I spent my first afternoon and evening in the city, in walking around at random, and looking at whatever my eyes chanced to see. I was struck at once with the careless life of the people. There is but little real cheerfulness depicted in the faces of the people whom you pass in the streets. There are no mechanics to be seen in the openair; no crowd of men, no hum of business of any kind. 'In Rome everything was still-almost as still as the grave. Few people are to be seen in the streets, except ragged beggars, or certain individuals whom you would recognize at once as strangers from different countries. It is not in what Rome now is that its great charm consists, but in what it was in the mementos of former ages that are now to be found among its ruins.

The best place for getting a view of the ancient part of the city is from the top of the Capitol. ascended it, and enjoyed the rare vision there furnished the traveller. I ascended the palace of the Capitol, now called the Campidoglio, from the north side; and at the entrance of the broad stairway, which constitutes the upper end of that street, are two great lions made of basalt. Large buildings stand on either side, one containing the museum, and the other different collections of classical treasures. The Senators' palace is in the middle, and above it is a great tower in which is the bell that is rung when the Pope dies. That palace was used in the middle ages as the place where the Senate met, but it is now a prison. The most beautiful ruin in the city of Rome is the Colosseum, an old Roman amphitheatre, lying between the Palatine, Esquiline and Cælian hills. It is not merely its magnificence and state of preservation that make it so remarkable, but its history as well. It was built by the Emperor Vespasian, in the year A.D. 80, and was finished by Titus. It was dedicated by gladiatorial plays, lasting one hundred days in succession, during which five thousand wild beasts were killed. Subsequently a stroke of lightning damaged the building, but

it was restored in the year A.D. 248. The one-thousandth anniversary of the building of Rome was celebrated here. In the fifteenth century the people began to burn those historical old stones for the purpose of making lime; then they pulled down other parts and built houses out of them. Some of the grandest and most extensive palaces in Rome are built of marble taken from the Colosseum; a cloth factory was erected by Pope Sixtus VI,, and subsequently some of the lower arches were pulled down in order to get saltpetre. It was large enough, originally, to seat ninety thousand, spectators. In one place underground, the wild beasts, which were to fight the gladiators, were concealed, and the arches can still be seen from under which the slaves and Christians came who were compelled to fight those wild beasts. Even a naval fight could be arranged in that great amphitheatre, which is of oval shape, and is six hundred feet long, and five hundred broad.

"

Many of the pleasantest hours I spent in Rome were occupied in wandering over the seats and among the archways of that great, building. I shall never lose the impression that it made upon my mind. Thousands upon

thousands of Christians were there made to fight wild beasts in order to satisfy the bloodthirsty spirit of the proud pagans of other times. ; rod t 18, MOUSSAN 19560 aris

But the descendants of those same Christians have lived in greater security, and the day has now come when Paganism is only a memory, and Christianity the ruling religion of the world. Little did those old Roman Emperors think that the religion they strove to uproot, would, one day, supplant their faith. But that day has come, and as Christianity has conquered the Paganism of the old Romans, so will the bright hour dawn when our pure Protestant faith will triumph over the corruption of Roman Catholicism in Italy and all lands.

ACRIFICE is the foundation of the religion w of all the tribes of Koordistan, and, saving bra few tribes, the Khonds generally pro

pitiated their deity (always malevolent) 350 with human offerings. This has been

handed down through generations, and

bie is regarded as a national duty. Majorhe basin General Campbell spent thirteen years 810501 among these tribes, and from him we learn that the sacrifice is offered to the "Earth "goddess, or to some other, under the effigy of some bird, generally of the peacock, or of an elephant; and generally for the purpose of securing abundant crops and averting calamity. In Jeypore, the human sacrifice is offered to the "blood-red god of battle," on beginning a new fort, an important village, and on the eve of battle.

The victim must be bought with a price. It may be of any age, sex, or caste, adults being best, and the most costly always the most acceptable. They are sometimes purchased of their relatives in times of poverty or famine, but generally are stolen from the plains by professed kidnappers. In some cases, the women devoted to sacrifice are allowed to live until they have borne children to Khond fathers, these children being reared for sacrifice, but exchanged to some other village than that in which they were born, to be offered. The price of the victim is generally paid in pigs, cattle, goats, brass vessels, ornaments, saffron, or wax, money being rarely given.

The sacrifice must be public. For a month prior to the sacrifice, there is much feasting, intoxication, and dancing around the victim, who is adorned with garlands. One day before the sacrifice, the victim is stupefied with toddy, and is bound sitting at the bottom of the post bearing the