| Description | Has been appointed by Colonel Munro as superintendent of the college and of the general government of the Syrian church; there are 10 catanars, 8 students and 86 boys at the college, others having left because of a smallpox outbreak; the metropolitan has had smallpox and has gone to Conengalam, his native town to convalesce; Munro has asked for an estimate of the cost of completion of the college, erection of a small church next to it and the maintenance and education of 50 or 60 students; 3 catanars are employed in translating with amanuenses and some boys who write on ollas; nearly all the pentateuch and the psalms, and besides the four gospels already in print, the Acts and some of the epistles are translated in Malayalim.
16 Jul 1817: Cottayam College
Welcomes the Syrian New Testament; together with the gospels, which have been distributed to many of the churches, they will dispel the feeling, long entertained, that Buchanan took away a great many of their books; the Syrians have declined into a mere formality of religion; the translators have begun Joshua and Proverbs
8 Sep 1817: Cotym College
Estimate for completing college and building chapel was 900 rupees; Munro has procured donation of 1000 rupees; M. also hopes to endow the college by purchasing land and enquires at what rate land can be bought to the amount of 20,000 rupees; this should be sufficient to maintain fifty students; Joshua, Proverbs, first book of Samuel, Judges and part of Isaiah are translated, and the New Testament up to Philippians; the metran, before he left for Conengalam wished to appoint a successor, naming George the archdeacon; the Resident wishes the archdeacon appointed without delay, but as yet the metran is not well enough to return to Cotym; if necessary Bailey and the archdeacon will have to go to him [copy extract]
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