Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-03-14
Select nlisteIIanD.
Contri' ution of Missionaries to
General and Scientific knowledge.


tanning long, able and interesting article I'M
der the above title, the substance of which we
publish with pleasure. Those who have been
IN the habit of thinking lightly of missionary
enterprises would do we'll to read it and see
whchera as regards scientific knowledge alone
missions are moi well worthy of encourag cement.
May, let them go father and see if missions
have not, with tithe Of the expense, been the
means OF doing as much in this respect as all
the government expeditions ever fitted out for
scientific purposes. Ed.
mo one who has ever read the history of our
own country, and that of the Spanish and Port
ILlgnese colonies of this continent, noticing the
yi7 sE,lr in n n
can Y. peeT nck with the fact that
large part Of our knowledge in regard to the
aborgnes Of America their character, mode Of
life, systems ol religion, &c. is derived from
the journals and letters of Catholic missionaries.
This is by pre~eminence true of the early period
in the history of these colonies. Bancroft would
have told us far less of the tribes who roamed
within our boundaries had his only authorities
been the grave Puritans who built churches and
schools in New England, the solemn Dutchmen
who smoked and dozed in the councils of New
Amsterdam, or the volatile Frenchman who set
tied Montreal We should know far less than
we do of the Aztecs and Incas had Prescott
drawn all his knowledge OF them from the rec
ords left ythe crusades oil Cortes, or the mur-
derous wretches who followed Pizarro. Much
of the information possessed by the world, in
regard to India, China, Japan, the islands of the
Eastern Archipelago Africa, and the interior Of
of South America, from three hundred years ago
down to the present time, has come TO US through
the channel of the Catholic missionaries One
need only glance at the collection of volumes
called Lettres Edlfantes ct Curieuses," to have
some idea of the extent to which this remark is
trne. The Annals of the Propaganda at Rome,
and of the Z" Socice pour la Propagation de la
Fol" at Lyons, prove that the emissarlcs Of the
Catholics are still doing much TO add to the sum
|
Protestant Missions. How much should we
know of the Greenlanders, the Esquineaux of
Labrador, and the tribes that lived within tho
territory Of the U. s., at the period of our revo-
lutio, were it not for what Egede, Crantz, and
the Moravians, have told US? We should be
far less acquainted with China and the Chinese
than we are had the writings of Morrison, Gutz-
latf, Abeel, Will ms, SWith, and ether mission
aries, never seen the light Our Baptist breth-
rem have made US acquainted with that most in.
teresting people the Karens, and have given us
much light in relation to tho Asssu'e-, Israviu-
ces, Arakan and Burmah, at large. Indeed, but
fer the researches Of Missionaries, the whole
peninsula of Farther India would be, in great
part ''tery incognita." The numerous ofici-
ais of the East India Company have not 80 ex-
hausted the description Of Hindostan that mis-
sionaries of the various English, Scotch, and
American societies have not been able to add to
the picture new, curious, an valuable partlcu-
lars. The missions of the Scotch, the Moravi
ans, the London Society, and the American
regard to The Katfirs, the Zuus, and other tribes
of Southern Africa, as well as IN relation to the
country they inlabit Gobat, Krapi, lscnbcrg
and Redmann, have increased our knowledge
of Abyssinia and the more southern countries
of Elsten Africa. Ellis, Stewart, Williams
and others, have brought the islands of the Pa
. &C ii 81 Thn Nat tOr
/" NISSAN, and the Journal of Messrs. Smith ant
# Dwight in Armenia, have thrown flood of ligh
= upon regions and men but little known before
C A number Of Slliman'S Journal contains de
e scription of collection of geological specimen
!. from Syria and Egypt, forwarded by mission
" ary at Bcyrout, with statement of the local
y i:ies in which they were found. The same mum
n ber speaks of collection forwarded IN lik
r. manner by missionary in Greece. Some {
y these specimens were rare and perhaps uuknow
" before. Another number has an article on til
e. geology and in part the botany of the regio
- about the Cape of Coed Hope, written by NJ
n" Champion Another number speaks Of larg
tn collection of bones sent by missionary in Ne
e Zeland to distinguished geologist of Gre,
l Britain. Some of these bones belonged to eI
e. tnct species, hitherto unknown, and anon
us them we're remains of the gigantic birds whc
are supposed to have flown in the air aud wade
lie in the waters of the pre- adamite earth. I'll
o. great scientific value of these antediluvan, ar
as so far as man is concerned, antecreatlona relic
no may be inferred from the regret expressed
a geologists, few months since, at the cSrele
by destruction of bones found in the valley of Il
he Connecticut, and with good reason conjecture
u to have been parts of the skeleton of one of Il
49, huge birds whose footsteps are stamped sin Il
ny rock forever" in that region. The same pap
he gives an account oil the genera geological aspe
ne of New Iceland, drawn from materials FURNISH
he in part by the same author.
Of 1t is well known that the cabinets of our lit
has rary institutions (Ior example that of Amber
D have been enriched by valuable contribute
to from missionaries in geological, botanical, a
we geological point of view. The same is true
, n private collections. The late Mr.. Hibburd
of spoken of as having done much in this dlrecti
no Mr., Perkins Of the Ncsoran mission gives
- attention, as opportunity offers, to subjects c.
, !, nected with natural history The Scotch n
sionary, DR.. Wilson, President of the Bonn
no. Branch of the Asiutic Society, is said to ado
his other claims upon the notice of scient
a. men that of being a distinguished botanis
=. Time will not allow us TO refer to other me
,h, this connection by name.
snd Al many, perhaps most of the missionary
a.. tions accurate meteorological tables are KEEP
shh For example a number of sillim0n contOi
H.. record of observations made daily, for con
erahle period, at twelve stntiOns in Syria,