216 AUSTRALIA AND HOMEWARD. 



shall be to join a company of earnest souls for such a 

 work as this. O! let us hasten to "preach the Gospel 

 to every creature." The time is short. 



We look for a little at those factors which are at 

 work in the direction of bringing Ceylon to Christ. 

 The opening of the Suez Canal has tended to place her 

 more in the centre of the ocean route through to the 

 greater East. The English have constructed, at much 

 expense, a breakwater which gives at Colombo a safe 

 and capacious harbor. 



Our ship added to her cargo at Colombo about three 

 thousand tons, consisting partly of tea and coffee of 

 Ceylon growth, and partly of raw silk brought down 

 from China. By means of this increased trade Ceylon 

 is brought more into contact with the Christian 

 world, and is becoming every year more familiar 

 with the British language and with Christian ideas. 



So great was the value attached to this island as 

 the " key of India," in addition to its natural wealth, 

 that Britain at the general peace gave up, for its 

 peaceable possession, the much larger island of Java 

 to the Dutch. For about one hundred and fifty 

 years the southern maritime districts of the island 

 were occupied and controlled by the Portuguese, 

 who were in 1656 driven out by the Dutch, who held 

 them until the beginning of the present century, 



