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6

ABOUT THE AFGHANS.

(Continued from page 3.) mountain passes of Cabul and Turkistan. The Society's missionaries do all they can to avail themselves of this opportunity of sending copies of the Scriptures and Christian books to places where the foot of the missionary cannot tread.

The River Indus at Attock. (See Illustration.)

The Fort at Attock is situated on the east bank, and the village and ruined Fort of Khyrabad on the west bank of the River Indus at the entrance to the Peshawar Valley. The river in the winter months is crossed by a bridge of boats, but in the summer, when the melting of the snows in the lofty mountains to the north raises the stream, the bridge becomes endangered, and is withdrawn, when communication between the Peshawar Valley and the rest of India is kept up by a ferry. The boatmen of this ferry are a distinct class of natives who have resided at Attock since the

days of Akbar. The stream

at Attock is about 500 feet wide, and its depth when at its lowest some 30 feet, and when at its highest about 70 feet.

In 1856 the Indian Government commenced the construction of a tunnel under the river, which has never yet been completed. For the construction of this work a Muzabee Sikh Regiment (now the 32nd P. N. I.) was stationed at Khyrabad. During the time the regiment was quartered there a remarkable movement took place amongst the Sepoys in the direction of Christianity, and about thirty were baptized; but for various causes, chiefly through the adverse

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KHYBER PASS.

THE PESHAWAR VALLEY AND THE KHYBER PIS

THE PESHAWAR VALLEY (LOOKING SOUTH).

influences of the military government at that time, the awakening seemed to die out.

At Khyrabad there is an old ruined fort erected in the days of Nadir Shah, which was occupied by the regiment of Muzabees during the construction of the tunnel. It was at this time that the Rev. Imam Shah, now of Peshawar, was converted from Mohammedanism and was baptized at Khyrabad. The Peshawar Valley and the Khyber Pass. [(See Illustration.) From the Gurkhuttree, which is the most elevated part of the city of Peshawar, the traveller obtains a very grand and picturesque view both of the Native city and of the surrounding valley, and also of hills in the distance. The entrance to the dark uninviting Khyber Pass is distinctly seen, and the visitor is shown the hills inhabited by those warlike tribes who, during the British occupation of Peshawar, have so frequently been the causes of frontier wars. These tribes number at the very least 80,000 fighting men, and are very fairly armed. They are all Afghans, and of the Mohammedan faith, being very bigoted specimens of the Moslem religion. Syud Shah, one of the Afghan Christians in the Peshawar Mission, is a native of Kunar, which is a district in the hilly regions beyond. He came to India in search of employment and became a policeman. After his conversion he studied theology in the Lahore Divinity College, and is now a teacher at Peshawar.

The Bible for the
Afghans.

In 1818 Dr.
Carey, of Seram-
pore, translated the

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Scriptures into Pushto, the language of the Afghans. He doubtless intended to translate the whole Bible into Pushto, for the translation of the New Testament has "Vol. V." on its title-page, but the only portions of his work which I have seen are the Pentateuch, dated 1822, and the New Testament, dated 1818. These translations, whilst they reflect great credit upon that zealous missionary, are not such as would give the Afghans a very clear and lucid rendering of God's Word, for the type was the old Hindustani-Arabic type, which is not suited to express the peculiarities of Pushto, and the translation itself is not such as would be understood by the majority of Afghan readers.

The New Testament was again translated by the Rev. Isidore Lowenthal, of the American Mission, in 1863, and printed in clear and elegant type by Messrs. Austin, of Hertford. I am now engaged myself in the translation of the Pentateuch into Pushto, in which work I have now secured the valuable aid of my brother missionary, Mr. Jukes. We hope to get it printed in the course of a year. But as the Afghans of Cabul and Herat speak Persian, and as most of the learned are acquainted with that language, the Persian Bible is available and is circulated amongst them.

The Prayer-Book for the Afghans.

The complete Book of Common Prayer was translated into Pushto by the Rev. Robert Clark and is still in manuscript. Some time ago I printed selections from this translation for the use of our Afghan Christians. Our Church services, however, are in the Urdu or Hindustani language, as it is understood by all the members of our congregation. The greater part of the Prayer-Book has been translated into Persian by Dr. Trumpp, formerly one of our missionaries, and has been printed by our Society. Converts at Peshawar are always baptized in the language they speak-either Pushto, Persian, or Urdu, as we possess the Prayer-Book in these three languages.

The Lord's Prayer in the Language of the Afghans. (St. Luke xi. 2, 3) Ai Plāra zamung chi pa āsmān ke ye. Sta num de pa pāki sara wuwāya shi. Bādshāhat stă de rāshi. Irāda stā laka chi pa asman ke da pa zmaka de hum jāri wī. Rozi zamung ww mung ta wraz pa wraz rākawa. Ao gunahgāruna zamung wu mung ta wubakha zaka chi mung har yo porawurai khpul ta bakhu. Ao Azmaikh ta mu ma biyāyā. Magar la myandz da badi mung wubāsa. Amin.

The Ameer of Cabul and the Peshawar Mission, It will be of interest to our readers to know that when Ameer Shere Ali Khan visited India in March, 1869, he stayed in the Church Missionary Society's Mission House both at Peshawar and at Umritsar, and expressed himself much indebted to the Missionaries of the Society for the accommodation afforded him. He was in the Peshawar Mission House for about three weeks.

Light for the Blind amongst the Afghans,

Dr. Moon, of Brighton, has recently arranged the Pushto alphabet for the Blind according to his improved system, and the Lord's Prayer under Mr. Hughes' direction is being compiled in embossed reading for the blind Afghan.

Christian Poetry for the Afghans. A few years ago the Parables of our Lord and several Christian Hymns were rendered into Pushto verse by an Afghan poet acting under Mr. Hughes' direction.

A HINT TO COLLECTORS.

HILE opening the boxes at our last quarterly Missionary 1950 a "Bible Study." On asking in what way she did so, she said she was in the habit of searching the Scriptures for all the texts she could find containing promises or reference in some way to gifts or works for God. These texts she wrote out on slips of paper, and whenever a friend gave her a contribution, she asked them to draw one of these slips and to accept it as "a receipt from the Lord."

The idea seemed too good to lose, and I feel no apology is needed in asking you to make it still more widely known through the pages of the GLEANER. V.

A DEAF AND DUMB MISSIONARY MEETING. [This very interesting communication, though describing a meeting in England, comes to us from India. It is written by the daughter of the Principal of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Brighton, now the wife of our Missionary at Gorakhpur, the Rev. B. H. Skelton.]

HE missionary meeting I am going to try and describe is an annual meeting held in the large cheerful schoolroom of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Brighton.

The audience is composed chiefly of the pupils, and the "speakers" are also mostly deaf and dumb, being old students or assistant teachers of the school. It is an impressive sight to look upon. Earnest faces and bright eyes are directed towards the one on the platform who is addressing them, and even if any one present should be unable to follow the lightning rapidity of the finger-speech, the expressive gestures accompanying it would explain a great deal of what was being said. The girls sit on one side of the room and the boys on the other.

Missionary pictures are hung on the walls, which greatly interest them, and some who are initiated attempt explanations of them to the new-comers, glad to show their superior knowledge. Others conjecture if such and such a missionary may not be Mr. So-and-so, mentioning the names of any they may happen to have seen or known; fixing upon one in Esquimaux dress, among the snow and ice of North America, with his sledge drawn by dogs, as Mr. Kirkby, who once gave them a very interesting address, which was interpreted to them, and which many of them well remember. Or another, in cool-looking white clothes, but with a dark face, holding a Bible in his hand and preaching to his fellow-countrymen, as Bishop Crowther or Mr. Johnson. This last picture is an especial favourite. I can imagine them pointing to one with great amusement, the picture of a lady in a large hat, with a big umbrella held over her, being landed from a boat on black men's shoulders, as representing myself; for they, like most children, and some adults, cannot reconcile civilised modes of travelling with missionary work. Directly the Principal, my father, appears and takes his seat on the platform, they become all attention, and the meeting is opened with prayer. All stand up with eyes fixed on the Principal, while in perfect stillness, through the medium of the sign-language, he asks for God's blessing on their meeting, on the work, and on the labourers in all parts of the world. When all are seated again, the report is in the same way communicated to them of the collections during the first Sunday of every month for the past year (when they usually have smaller gatherings of the boys and girls separately), and the faces brighten or fall according as the amount is more or less than the previous year.

The speakers are then called upon in turn to mount the platform. They, with varied motions and expressive gestures, tell some fact or anecdote, or describe some tour connected with missionary work, that they have read or heard about; and when some pathetic incident or thrilling adventure is narrated the children are almost breathless with attention.

After the meeting, a plate is held at the doors, and the children as they pass out to their respective class-rooms deposit their gifts with such alacrity it is quite pleasant to see them. Two collections have been received from these dear children towards the completion of the Azimgurh Native Mission Church, amounting to the sum of £4 10s. Od. And besides this, several of the elder pupils have made nice little private collections entirely of their own goodwill.

I must not omit to mention one case of peculiar interest. Just before I left home one of the girls was very ill. She had been ailing for some time, but she became worse, and was rapidly fading away in consumption; but she, though knowing her state, was perfectly content and peaceful, for she knew she was going where her ears would be unstopped and her tongue loosened. A few months after my arrival in this country, my home letters brought me a touching account, by a schoolfellow, of her Coral Mission Fund, which was put on the plate at the next monthly happy and peaceful death. She left 5s. 3d. wrapped in paper for the meeting, and 17s. 6d. to be sent for "Miss Maria's Church," so disposing of her pocket money. Certainly, among all the kind gifts we have received for this work, "Susan's Legacy" will always seem one of the most interesting and cheering.

Another incident may be mentioned. One of the most attentive "listeners" at these little meetings is a young woman not only deaf and dumb but also blind. Her seat is generally at one side near the front, and it can be seen by her face how intently she enters into it all, seeming indeed to be listening with her fingers, for her hand is held out, while a companion by her side repeats the addresses to her by spelling them on her fingers. She often addresses the girls too at their monthly meetings, and greatly helps to encourage their interest. She also made a private collection among her friends, and brought me £2, saying, as she put it in my hands, "May God's blessing go with it." M. M. SKELTON.

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AM going to write some chapters about our home in the wilderness for the readers of the CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER; but before entering into details I should like, first of all, to tell them where it was, why we went, and how we got there.

The

It was in Tinnevelly; and I can imagine my readers asking, with some surprise, "Is Tinnevelly then a wilderness?" Tinnevelly which you have known and studied and loved for so many years is not a wilderness-that is, South Tinnevelly is not. But we were going to North Tinnevelly, that part of the province which had had very little done in it. It was too far from any of the stations for the station missionaries to do more than make occasional tours there, leaving their own wide districts for the time. Such missionary journeys had been made by Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Schaffter, and a few congregations, scattered abroad as sheep without a shepherd, had been gathered. But these were necessarily much neglected, and their character was not such as to attract the heathen to them.

Practically, North Tinnevelly, comprising one-fifth part of the province, was an unknown and untrodden land, and the inhabitants, numbering above a quarter of a million, knew no more of the coming of their Saviour than if Tinnevelly had never had the Gospel preached there at all. This was felt so strongly by Mr. Ragland, who was at that time Secretary of the C.M.S. at Madras, that he undertook to begin an itinerating mission there himself. This was the "why," first of our wanderings, and then of our "home," in the wilderness.

It was settled that Mr. David Fenn and myself should assist Mr. Ragland in this new undertaking. Accordingly, we all started from Madras in January, 1854. It took some time to get equipped. We had three tents-one for each of us, and a fourth for a native catechist, who is now the Rev. J. Cornelius of Madras. Our tents were what are known as "subaltern" tents, twelve feet square the inner tent; the outer one, covering this, being about twenty feet square. The spaces between the two tents formed little long rooms four feet wide, which were partitioned off, one for our boxes, another for our bath, a third for a servant to lie down in. The tents were so constructed to keep off the intense heat, and were the usual style in India for Government officers. Ours were single poled tents; many have two poles, like English marquees.

The

We undertook to march down to Tinnevelly on horseback. We were a somewhat large party. There were our three selves and Mr. J. Cornelius; each of us had a "boy," a married man with a wife, and a horse-keeper and grass-cutter with their families. Mr. J. Cornelius had his cook and horse-keeper. Then we had at least six carts, or bandies, to carry the tents and their furniture, each having its own man and a pair of bullocks. tents we sent on early every afternoon to be pitched ready for us when we arrived at seven or eight o'clock at night. Our first difficulty was in connection with these afternoon starts. The bandy men would come for their orders-" Where is the next encamping place to be? How far is it? Where are the tents to be pitched? What these men said we could not make out, for it is a very different thing understanding a Munshi, and attempting to understand what uneducated countrymen say. Again, they had great difficulty in understanding us. They They would first try one and then another of us, till from hints

As grass is so scarce and difficult to be got, each horse requires the services of a grass-cutter, to go out in the morning to distances of two or three miles, to pick up grass wherever it can be found,

gathered from each they came clearly to comprehend. But not always"clearly." One morning we started on a ride of ten miles or so, having sent the carts on during the night. When we got to our journey's end no bandies and no servants were to be seen. They had gone another road, with our breakfast and clothes too. Fortunately there was a Travellers' Bungalow in the place, but it was on an unfrequented road, and the keeper of it had no plates, knives, or forks. He did muster up a rusty knife and fork, which the other two insisted that I should use. They preferred their fingers, and plantain leaves were used instead of plates.

A pleasant incident occurred on that unfortunate morning. Mr. J. Cornelius, after reaching the place, went to the river to bathe. A poor woman accosted him, saying, "Is it true that three English gentlemen have come to the bungalow, having lost their way, and have nothing to eat?" He said "Yes." Then she took out of her cloth three duttus-three half-penceand said, "Give this to them; they can buy milk and beaten rice with it." He said that we had money; but she insisted upon his keeping it. We bought the milk and rice, and asked God to bless the woman and reveal Himself to her.

This long journey of about 300 miles had various incidents more or less exciting. Once robbers came in the night and carried away a box. They hoped that it might prove to be the money-box, for silver money, 500 rupees say, weighs a good deal, although it represents only £50. However, it turned out only to be a box of books. The robbers were never discovered, but the books were. Disappointed, and finding English books were of no use, the thieves had left them scattered about in a field. They were seen next morning and handed over to us.

This journey was a good practising time for our Tamil; for we used to go to the villages adjoining our camp and try our best at talking, giving away Scripture portions at the same time to the people. Ragland was very indefatigable in this way. Fenn and I were often too tired, or too lacking in zeal after a long ride, to set out to visit a village. But Ragland, while our tea was being prepared, would start forth with books, go and sit in the bazaar, and give away any that he could, "for," he would say, "they may never have another opportunity of hearing the Gospel." There was some excuse for us younger ones. We were new to the country, and had both of us suffered severely from the acclimatising. Ragland had had several years' experience, and though not robust, felt fatigue less than we did. In about a month's time we reached our destination, and commenced our wandering in the wilderness.

A CHINESE EVANGELIST'S PARABLE.

HE Rev. T. McClatchie, of Shanghai, reports a very striking example of the way in which Native catechists illustrate Divine truth. "Our Lord and Saviour," said one of them, when preaching not long ago, "gave His life for us, and died willingly for our sakes; but which of us would be willing to die in His cause? We all have those whom we call friends; but which of our friends would lay down his life for us if required to do so?" And then he told the following story:—

Not long ago there lived two brothers in a small town in the interior of China. One of these brothers was a medical practitioner, and a steady man, who regulated his life according to correct principles. The other squandered his money, spent his days in sinful amusements, and associated with wicked companions. Amongst his associates were three persons whom he had often relieved when in straitened circumstances, and whom he believed, relying on their professions of friendship, to be sincerely attached to him. The doctor had frequently besought his younger brother to give up his evil practices, and to renounce the company of his evil companions; but this the latter could not be persuaded to do, and protested earnestly against the statement of his elder brother, that even his three favourites would not undergo any inconvenience for his sake.

The doctor now proposed to test the matter, and for that purpose requested his younger brother to feign sickness, and to remain in bed for a day. The three favourites, hearing of the precarious state in which their dear friend was supposed to lie, hurried to his bedside, and vehemently protested that there was no suffering they would not willingly undergo to restore their beloved friend to health. The doctor came in during these professions of friendship, and, turning to the three friends, one of whom was from Soo-chow, a second from Canton, and the third from Fuhchow, said

"I find that your beloved companion is dangerously ill; and, judging from your benevolent feelings towards him, I am sure that you are all three ready to undergo any suffering necessary to restore him to health. His illness is of such a nature that nothing can restore him to health except eating the brain of an affectionate friend. I can easily borrow a hatchet from a neighbour, and I have to request that one of you will allow me to open his skull, and to give his brain to your sick friend."

Upon hearing this, the three friends of the supposed invalid ceased from making any more protestations, and each in turn replied to the doctor.

"Sir," said the Soo-chow man, "we Soo-chow people have no brains whatever in our skulls. I should willingly allow you to open mine, but I should only be giving you useless trouble, as you could not find anything in it."

The Canton man replied, Truly, sir, I should gladly allow you to open my skull, but I am a poor man, and always in want of food, in consequence of which

my brain is completely shrivelled up for want of proper nourishment; how could it, then, nourish our beloved friend?"

The third replied, "As to me, sir, I would gladly do anything to restore our dear companion to health; but the fact is, that the skulls of us Fuh-kien men are so thick and hard, no hatchet whatever is sharp enough to open them; I could not, therefore, think of asking you to undergo so much unnecessary fatigue."

The doctor now turned to his younger brother, and asked him what he thought of the companions on whose friendship he had relied so much; whereupon the young man, jumping up, drove the three false friends from his

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off visited Metlakahtla, and addressed the Christians there, saying that a rope had been thrown out from Metlakahtla, which was encircling and drawing together all the Indian tribes into one common brotherhood." Where did this chief come from? He came from Fort Rupert, a trading settlement at the northern end of Vancouver's Island; and he begged that a teacher might be sent to his people too. The Rev. A. J. Hall (the same whose interesting narrative of his journey from London to Metlakahtla appeared in the GLEANER of January last year) has lately settled amongst them, and he writes :—

June 11th, 1878.-I have now been at this camp three months, and you will be glad to hear that I am very happy in my work. I found these Indians in a very wretched condition. The progressive colonisation up the coast, instead of advancing the Natives in the place, gives them more facilities to sin, and early death follows in many cases.

The Fort Ruperts are looked up to by the neighbouring tribes, and this seems to have made them more proud, independent, and lazy. Other tribes hunt, fish, and make grease from the seal and hoolikan, but these Indians do no work. They cannot make canoes, they have very little garden ground, few of them make grease, and, consequently, they are very poor, and live by scheming and stealing. Truly, if any part of the world requires the light of Gospel truth, it is the spot to which, in God's providence, I have been sent. It is a perfect contrast to the thriving town of Metlakahtla, and it is comforting to know that the same weapons

house, asked his brother's forgiveness, and led a different life from that day forth.

"Alas!" added the preacher, "how many such false friends has the Lord the Saviour got amongst the men of this world!"

NEW WORK IN THE FAR WEST.

WENTY-TWO years ago the Church Missionary Society began to work in the Far West of the British Empire, on the coast of British Columbia, looking over the great Pacific Ocean. It was Admiral (then Captain) Prevost who pleaded the cause of the Indians of that coast. It was he who took out the first missionary, Mr. Duncan, in his own ship; it is he who, after visiting the country once again last year, has brought home so bright and encouraging an account of the immense change the Mission has effected. Not only did he find the Trimshean Christians at Metlakahtla showing forth a simple and truthful Christianity which surpassed what he had seen in any other part of the world; but the peace and security that now reign all over the coast, even amongst the still heathen Indians, are due, he says, to the influence of the Mission. Three years ago the head chief of a tribe living three hundred miles

I wield have been mighty, through God, in subduing the same evils there that meet me at this place.

I commenced school on April 1st, and have been very much encouraged with this part of my work. The attendance has averaged twenty-five, but I have had fifty, many of them adults. I have taught them one English hymn-"Jesus loves me, this I know"-and three simple chants in their own language; also three prayers-one the Lord's Prayer, four texts which they read from the blackboard, and a catechism arranged and taught by Mr. Duncan at Fort Simpson.

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I have been able to hold two services every Sunday, and sometimes I have had eighty attend. They are all clothed in blankets, some of them highly ornamented with needlework and pearl buttons. When they enter the building, the men take off the bandannah handkerchiefs which are tied round their heads, and squat all around me. The men sit on one side and the women on the other. At first my congregation came with painted faces, and were little inclined to stand when we sang. They are now, however, more clean in their appearance, and, with few exceptions, rise when I play the tune on my English concertina.

I have almost exclusively spoken to them from the Book of Genesis, and have brought in the work of our Lord from these lessons, e.g., when speaking on sacrifices, the offering of Isaac, and the life of Joseph. These narratives in Genesis have attracted them very much.

Sept. 30th.-Last Sunday three officers of the Guards were present: they arrived the day before from England to hunt the elk, bears, &c., which abound in the north of this island. The large house in which I hold my school and services was filled with Indians, and they all listened attentively to my addresses about the woman who washed our Saviour's feet with her tears. The wives of the chiefs came in their state dresses, viz., scarlet cloth blankets, on which were devices (e.g., an eagle) worked with pearl buttons. This was in honour of the three "white chiefs."

These people cannot be hurried, and I expect to be here two years without doing much. It will take me all this time to learn their language, I canand, what is also very important, to know the people themselves not describe how bad they are, but I can feel it. I heard this expression in England: "the burden of souls." I know what this is now.

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