1854.]

IN THE MISSIONARY WORK.

17

the master of the house (sun). A third mistakes some playthings made of clay and stone (idols) for the master of the house. The last says, 'You are all illiterate fools,' walks into the centre of the room, lays his hand on his breast, and says, 'Ahan Bram! I am God! the master of the house! Do not all these clearly prove, that, though they have heard the name of the master of the house, they yet do not know him? Now, look at the Christian. He sees all these things, and admires them: he admires the noble Ganges, the pepul tree, the sun and moon, &c., but he passes them by, and walks up to the Lord. Instead of reverencing the things of the house, he pays his reverence to the master thereof, whom he loves and serves. In one word, instead of worshipping the creature he worships the Creator.

The following remarkable testimony from a heathen will suffice to show the estimation in which these men are held by the people

When preaching the other day with Mr. Fuchs at Kashipura, we had some rather noisy people, but they were civil. After arguing a good deal, and preaching still more, one man said, "What can we do? Our religion is like a stately tree, large, strong, and beautiful, and rooted in the ground for centuries. You now come with the axe in your hand. You look at the tree and the tree at you, and it is helpless. The axe is applied, and, after a few strokes, the handle breaks. What is now to be done?" I replied, "Go home and get a new handle, then come back and renew the work." "Alas!" he said, "if you did so, all would be well; the tree would then have respite; for to go home-to England-and get a new handle would take time; but you do not do so. You look at the tree, and say, 'Well, I cannot cut it down, the handle is broken; but here is a nice branch, and down goes the branch: a new handle is made from the very tree, and the axe is applied with redoubled force. And the worst feature in the thing is, that the tree is full of branches, and supplies plenty of handles, and so you will destroy it finally by its own branches." "You are right," I said; and, pointing to Mohan, I continued, "Here is one of the branches cut off from your tree and shaped into a handle: let him now ply the axe." So Mohan stepped forward and continued to preach, and the branch was listened to attentively. The crowd was large, all evidently in the best humour, and the impression was general that the gospel will finally prevail, and all India turn to Christ.

According to this man's parable the axe is the gospel; the actors, the Society; the European handles, Missionaries; and the branches shaped into handles, native catechists; but whether the parable be correct or not, its application was well understood by the people.

May it please God to multiply the handles, and to assist His people to cut down this enormous banyan tree with its thousands of new roots formed into new stems, and with all its various and intricate ramifications; and may He grant that that glorious and beautiful tree, whose leaves are for the healing of the Gentiles, may soon spread its blessed branches over all Hindustan; and soon may all the inhabitants of India sit under its shade, and adore Him who planted this tree, and who alone is worthy to receive honour, and glory, and power, and praise, for ever and ever!

In that prayer we doubt not our readers will heartily join.

( 18 )

THE PRIVATIONS OF THE RED INDIANS.

[FEB.

THE Indian of America, in his wild state, has no certain dwellingplace, and no certain means of subsistence. He lives in a tent, which is moved about from place to place, and subsists on the precarious support yielded to him by fishing and hunting. The industrial habits connected with tillage-the persevering effort pursued from day to day--the regular process of ploughing, sowing, and reaping are all distasteful to him. He dislikes settled labour, and loves the wild excitement of the chase. Over the immense prairies of the Saskatchewan river he hunts the buffalo, herds of which roam over them in the summer season, feeding on the luxuriant herbage. Singling out his prey, the Indian rides boldly up until his horse's head is on a line with the neck of his prey, when he fires into the animal's side as near the heart as he can aim. If not mortally wounded, the enraged animal turns upon and fiercely pursues him; but, as its rage exhausts itself, he is again found at its side, and, with another wound, brings it to the dust. When the buffalo is abundant is the time of wasteful feasting with the Indian.

But in the winter season, when the buffalo and the deer have withdrawn from the snow-covered plains, over which the cold winds sweep with terrific power, the Indian is obliged to have recourse to other means of obtaining food, and displays, in doing so, an astonishing power of enduring the extremes of fatigue, cold, and hunger. At such times the fisheries become important; and through these the Missionary stations and fur posts in Rupert's Land obtain, during the winter season, their principal supplies of food. A series of holes, about fifteen feet apart, is made. A pole introduced under the ice, from hole to hole, carries with it a line, which serves to haul in a string of nets, properly buoyed and loaded. Each end of the net is made fast to a piece of wood laid across its respective hole, or to a stake driven into the ice. On the next day the nets are visited, the extreme holes opened, and the fish which have been caught removed. It is necessary that the fishermen, every second or third day, should take the nets out of the water to dry and repair them, otherwise the threads swell and rot.

The Indian often labours under the disadvantage of not being able to obtain sufficient twine for nets, and, after sitting all day at the angling holes, exposed to all the severity of the weather, is unsuccessful in obtaining enough food for his family.

As spring opens, and the snow begins to melt, a new source of supply presents itself. The wild geese, who, on the approach of winter, had gone southwards to more genial climates, are now seen winging their way northwards in wedge-like bands, hastening back, so soon as the swamps are uncovered, to feed on the stalks of the cotton-grass before they have opened into flower. During their passage plenty reigns in every encampment, and the Indian children run about with laughing, greasy faces, bearing in each hand some

1854.]

THE PRIVATIONS OF THE RED INDIANS.

19

portion of a dismembered goose. At such times the Indian is to be found, not at the fishery, but in the goose-stand, of which our Missionary, the Rev. J. Horden, gives us the following description

April 22, 1853-This morning I paid a visit to "a goose-stand" on the ice, and about three parts across the river. At first I thought no one was in it; but, on nearer approach, I perceived the head of an Indian who was sitting there. The goose-stand, or sitting-place, as some Indians term it,

is constructed as follows-A large quantity of snow and ice is collected, and formed into a ring, about two feet in diameter in the interior, and eighteen inches thick at the base: this is built to the height of three feet, the thickness at the top being about a foot. A little pine brush is put into it to sit on; and, wrapped in his blanket, an Indian will sit here the whole day watching geese, and frequently without killing one. On one side of the stand his decoys, blocks of wood formed in the shape of geese, are placed, their position being altered on every change of wind, as they must always face it. As soon as a goose is seen, the Indian begins to imitate its voice, which he does admirably; and occasionally a single goose, or

20

THE PRIVATIONS OF THE RED INDIANS.

[FEB.

even a flock, will approach sufficiently near to have a shot at them. An Indian, when sitting in his stand, is not content unless he has two guns by his side, so that he may be able to make the most of a flock, sometimes being so fortunate as to kill six or eight. While sitting in their stands the Indians employ their time in making nets, smoking, and, if they are able, in reading their books.

With means of subsistence so uncertain, it is not surprising if the Indian be not unfrequently reduced to extreme want. His feasts are often followed by painful fasts, which reduce himself and his family to the brink of starvation and of death. When the supply of food fails in the district where his tent has been pitched, it becomes necessary to go elsewhere, and the toil of the removal falls principally on the females. On their backs are borne the lodge and fixtures, sustained by a strap round the forehead. On reaching the new site, they have to clear away the snow, spread cedar branches for the floor, set up the lodge, arrange the moveables, collect wood, kindle a fire, and then, and not before, they may sit down, warm their feet, and dry their mocassins. Now it sometimes happens, when all this has been done, that there is nothing for supper. Should this be so, all strive to appear unconcerned: the children are the only part of the family who complain, and even they are taught, at a very early age, to suffer in silence. It is the business of the father to find food, and early in the morning he goes forth in quest of it: should he succeed in killing any game, however. small, he immediately brings it to the lodge, to be cooked and divided amongst the different inmates. But sometimes he finds nothing. Days are spent by him on his snow shoes, with his gun in his hand, but no living thing comes within his reach, until at length, as has been known sometimes to have happened, he becomes so weak as to fall in his path, and freeze to death.

It is evident that their own improvidence is a source of much sorrow to the Indians, and for this and other evil habits there is but one corrective that gospel which has the "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," and which our Missionaries are labouring to make known to them.

How differently men are circumstanced! one amidst all the comforts and indulgences of an English home, another crouching for hours within a snow enclosure. "Who maketh thee to differ?" And shall not all to whom God has given sufficiency of food, and protection against the winter's severity, co-operate gladly in that most charitable of all works, the dispensing far and wide of that precious knowledge of a loving Saviour, which is able to cheer and sustain the heart of man under the most trying circumstances? The charity which ministers to temporal necessity is good, and the present inclement season affords to such as have the means a blessed opportunity of exercising it. But the charity which helps to make Christ known to ignorant, perishing sinners is better. "This ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

1854.]

( 21 )

PASSING EVENTS IN CHINA.

IN our last Number we gave our readers some account of the present state of the Chinese cities Shanghae and Ningpo, the former in possession of an insurgent party, and the latter in a very unsettled and disturbed condition. We now come to the city Fuh-chau, containing with its suburbs a population of 900,000. It has a large Tartar garrison, and is a stronghold of the Imperialists. Here we have one Missionary, the Rev. W. Welton, the only Missionary who has ever succeeded in becoming resident within its walls, other Missionaries being compelled to remain outside, at the suburb Nantae. Mr. Welton, living amongst the natives, has special opportunities of observation. We have received from him a journal, in which he has noted down, from day to day, events as they occurred, and it exhibits with much reality the unsettled state of the Chinese mind at the present crisis-a state well described in these words of Scripture Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." We therefore introduce some extracts from it just as they have reached us. They will enable our readers to understand the position of a Missionary in the midst of a Chinese city, and the strange sights and painful scenes by which he is surrounded.

66

April 11, 1853-I visited to-day an interesting child, of a very respectable family in the city, in the last stage of consumption. Having candidly and plainly stated the inutility of medical means to the affectionate and intelligent mother, on retiring from the sick chamber I suddenly heard a great burst of lamentations and bewailings of a deeply-affecting nature. On entering the sick room again, to ascertain the cause, I found the mother, friends, and neighbours assembled, and joining in giving full vent to their regrets at the anticipated loss of the child, aged about eleven years. This lamentation is common in all cases of death, and is continued for days and weeks by the survivors. In passing along the streets, and sitting in our houses, we frequently hear them lamenting in this way the loss of friends, as those who mourn without hope. It is often deeply affecting. Sometimes, my teacher tells me, persons are hired to make lamentation; but this I believe is more generally at funerals. This illustrates what took place at one of the miracles of the Saviour, when He restored a dead person to life.

A proclamation of a private nature is being handed about, originating evidently from the chiefs of the insurgent chief Tien-Teik, that they have taken Nanking; that they are in league with the great English nation; and that they intend to visit and take Fuh-chau-foo, and will give a safe escort to such Tartars as wish to return to their country. Exercise at fire-arms is every day largely practised here. Many of the inhabitants are preparing to leave the city, and seek refuge in the villages around, and on the mountains: the valuables they generally bury secretly in the earth, in times of trouble and commotion like this. The people seem desirous of a change of rulers, if it can be brought about peaceably. Patients have been very numerous, especially females.

The child had small feet, and we take that as a correct evidence of the respectability of the family.