ROYAL MISSION CHAPEL. 379 
ing upwards of seven hundred feet, partially illu¬ 
minated by the bright glow of strong noon-day 
light entering through the windows, which were 
opened at distant intervals, along the lengthened 
line of pillars that support the rafters—the clean 
rustic appearance of the grass-spread floor—the 
uniformity of the simple and rude forms extending 
throughout the whole building—the pulpits raised 
above them—heightened the effect of their perspec¬ 
tive. Beside these, the singular, novel, light, wav¬ 
ing, and not inelegant adornments of the roof, all 
combined to increase the effect. The reflections 
also associated with the purpose for which it had 
been erected, and the recent events in the history 
of the people, whose first national Christian temple 
we were visiting, awakened a train of solemn and 
grateful emotions. How it might be when the 
house was filled, I do not know ; but when empty, 
the human voice could be distinctly heard from 
one end to the other, without any great effort on 
the part of those who at this distance called or 
answered. 
A long aisle or passage, between the forms, 
extends from one end to the other. In walking 
along this aisle on my first visit, I was surprised 
to see a watercourse five or six feet wide, crossing, 
in an oblique direction, the floor of the chapel. 
On inquiry of the people who accompanied our 
party, they said it was a natural watercourse from 
the mountains to the sea; and that, as they could 
not divert its channel so as to avoid the building 
without great additional labour, and constant ap¬ 
prehension of its returning, they had judged it best 
to make a grating at each side under the wall, and 
allow it to pass in its accustomed course. As it 
was not during the rainy season that we were 
