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 tioned one whole set of more than five hundred volumes rejected.

Under the influence of these reformers, so far back as 1844, the king of Siam despatched an embassy to Ceylon to make further religious researches in that primitive nursery of their faith. These liberal views continued to spread, following the introduction of printed and scientific works by our missionaries; the more intelligent nobles and priests discovered errors in the geography, geology, and especially astronomy, which necessitated the discarding of much formerly held sacred. Here was planted the germ of disintegration now busily at work undermining this gigantic system of atheism. The confidence of many is shaken in the ethical teachings of sacred books so full of intellectual and moral despair.

But examine this Buddhist collection: see how unlike our books. Here is a bundle of palm-leaf slips from a foot to eighteen inches long and two to three inches broad, filed by strings strung through each end. Notice the richly-gilded edges. Do not these strange characters recall the dots and dashes and curious hieroglyphics of our telegraph-operators? These sacred writings are engraved with an iron style, and black powder is rubbed in to make the impression distinct. After finishing your examination the priest wraps them with reverent care in