68 On the Slate of the Christians inhaUtivg 



rious altitudes ; which yet is allowed to be a phaenomenoa 

 of the same kind and degree as that of the sun and moon, 

 and consequently to depend upon the same cause." 



No attempt, I believe, has yet been made to prove the 

 truth of either of these old theories experimentally ; but, on 

 the contrary, the experiments and observations of Molyneux 

 and Smith show that they are both fallacious. 



From some experiments which I have lately made, it ap- 

 pears that the apparent magnitudes of ail objects vary, as 

 well as those of the sun and moon. 



I am, sir, 

 Your most humble servant, 

 Lynn,. Ez, Walker, 



Oct. 17, 180?; 



XII. Report of the Senior Chaplain of Fort St. George to- 

 the Right Honourahh Lord William Bbntinck, Goi- 



vernor of Madras, on the State of the Christians inhabit- 

 ing the Kingdoms of Cochin atid Travancore. 



Public Department. 



To the Rev. Dr. Kerr, Senior Chaplain of Fort St. George, 



Reverend Sir, 

 X HE rioht honourable the siovernor in council bein^ de- 

 sirous of availing himself of your vicinity to the Malabar 

 coast, to obtain every possible information in regard to the 

 establishment, &c. of the Christian religion in that part of 

 the peninsula, I am directed by his lordship in council, to 

 desire, that so soon as the state of your health and the season 

 will permit, you will proceed to the provinces en that coast;. 

 and you will forward to me, for tlie information of govern- 

 ment, such accounts as you may be able to collect of the 

 first introduction of Christianity into India; of the arrival 

 of the different sects who have been or may be in existence; 

 of their general history, and of the persecutions to which 

 they may have been exposed; of their success in making 

 proselytes; of their church establishment, and of the source 



from 



