1 88 Japan and the Japanese, 
The last report of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, says of their work in this land ; " The trials of a 
missionary to the Japanese are enormous. Among others, 
may be mentioned the gross immorality of the people j 
their dislike to, and jealousy of, foreigners; the restrictions 
on free travelling and residence in the interior, and the 
peculiarities of the language. The translation of the Scrip- 
tures is progressing well." In the country districts matters 
are still more encouraging. A grant of the society goes to 
the building of a new chapel at Nakatsu, where two young 
men were baptized in May in the river, and a Buddhist priest 
became an inquirer, remaining from morning till night with 
the catechist, reasoning about Christianity. A Shinto priest 
recently came from a market town, where the missionary 
had preached, seemingly for a long time without fruit, 
begging to be admitted as a student of Scripture. 
Rev. Julius Soper, of Yamagata, reports that he has quite 
recently baptized twenty-nine adults, and six children, the 
largest and, in many respects, the most promising class he 
has had under his care since entering the country. Many of 
these newly baptized ones belong to the Samurai, or warrior 
class. All ranks of society are reached; and numerous 
villages in the neighbourhood are calling for missionaries. 
In the commencement of 1881, a week of special prayer 
was observed at Kobe, followed by a mass-meeting in a 
large new theatre at Kioto, attended by an audience of 
nearly 4,000. A similar meeting was held in Osaka, in June, 
and it is estimated that about 7,000 persons were there. 
At Kioto, one copy of St. John's Gospel, daily studied, led 
to the conversion of about sixty families. At Imbari, where 
a new church is being erected, one of the native workmen 
opens the proceedings every morning with prayer. 
In Shimonoseki, after not quite two years of missionary 
