tion of a silver sword paved the way. This I declined, as altogether inconsistent with my missionary calling. My retinue consisted of ten armed servants, partly to wait on me, and partly for protection. On the 16th we reached the hill of Dair, on which is the hill fort of the governor of the province of Geshe. My road lay through the country of the Wollo chief, Adara Bille, to whom the governor of Geshe was to send a soldier with me recommending me to his protection. On the 19th of March I arrived at Gatira, the residence of Adara Bille, who received me hospitably, and at our interview asked several questions, which, believing in the friendliness he expressed, I answered fearlessly. He appeared pleased with my presents, and provided a guide. Very different was his treatment on my second visit!

On the 20th of March I left Gatira. The road to Gondar was made very unsafe by numerous predatory bands, who were hovering about and plundering travellers; and on the 23rd fugitives met us with the alarming tidings that the governor had that morning been killed and his son taken

prisoner. The population of the whole plain was in the greatest consternation, every one removing his property to a place of safety. In the morning came the news that the enemy was approaching, so I decided on returning to the friendly Adara Bille.

On the 28th of March, we reached Gatira again, and I was received by Adara Bille not only with friendliness, but with emphatic expressions of sympathy with my disappointment, and congratulations upon my escape and safe return; yet when two days afterwards I wished to leave, he desired me to remain until he received permission from the governor in Dair to send me back to Shoa, as the King of Shoa had only ordered him to send me forward to Gondar, but not back. Vain were protests. Meanwhile, however, I was plentifully supplied with meat and drink, and sent a messenger and a letter to Dair; but, as I afterwards heard, neither reached their destination, as my messenger was thrown into prison at the frontier. I made several presents to Adara Bille, thinking that perhaps this was what he wanted, which were accepted; but when on the 31st of March I again sought permission to leave Gatira, he replied that I was not to

10

10

30

say another word upon the subject until the return of his messenger. Having removed my mules and horses into his own stables, he now set a watch upon me; and wherever I went a soldier dogged me, and when I was going to buy anything would ask, "Why this extravagance ?" A beggar asked for a dollar, and when I refused it, rejoined, "You do not know whether you will leave this place a happy man, or a beggar like myself." I began to have my suspicions, thought of flying by night, and consulted with some of my Abyssinian servants, who treated my fears as groundless.

On the following day the threatened blow was struck. The messenger returned from Dair, but without definite instructions respecting my

Jeddah

Massowah

TIGRE

о

ABYGSIN

Gondar

BERRI

ALBERT

DINKA

Shambi

NYANZA

MANYEMA

R. Livingstone or L

or Lualaba

ARABIA,

Adowa

UJIJI

Kilimanjaro Σ JAGGA Rabbai, USAMBARAmbasa

oMambois Mpwapwa

Fuge

ZANZIBAR

SOMALI

OCEAN

INDIAN

10

Stanford's Geogr. Establ. London.

10

20

30

return. I was surprised to learn that my messenger had been imprisoned, and to hear one of Adara Bille's counsellors say: "You have no friend or kinsman here, save God." I packed up all my valuables, and resolved to steal quietly out of the house at midnight, and if possible to reach the frontier of Shoa by daybreak. During the day I explored the roads in the environs of Gatira. Through my faithless servant, probably, Adara Bille received information of our intended flight, and sent for me, telling me that the governor of Dair bad nothing to object to my return to Shoa, and that I might depart next morning early. I was led away by this apparent friendliness.

I went soon to bed that I might rise very early in the morning, and was already asleep, when I was suddenly awakened by a servant, with the command to repair immediately to Adara Bille, who wished to bid me farewell. This late invitation rather startled me; but I complied without delay, hoping to have done, once for all, with the annoyance. At the same time, all my servants, including the treacherous one, who was to take care of the baggage, summoned to the chief's. When Adara Bille saw me enter his chamber he bowed, and said that he was very glad that I had complied with the invitation. He had summoned me so late, he said, only because on the morrow he should have a great deal of business on hand, and thus could not personally bid farewell to his departing friend, whose conversation, too, he desired once more to

were

enjoy. He then wanted to try on my spectacles; but could not see with them, as his sight was good. The cunning rascal, too, wished to know what was in my boots, and asked me to draw off one, which I did, not to offend him by a refusal. The conversation was then prolonged, and meat and bread set before us. At last I grew tired of the farce, and was rising to say "Good night,' ," when Adara Bille rejoined: "Go not yet, my father, I have not yet sufficiently enjoyed your conversation; nor have you eaten and drank enough." After a brief interval I stood up, determined to go home. The chief, too, now rose, went into a little closet behind his bedstead upon which he had been sitting, and that very moment the soldiers fell upon me and my people. One seized me by the arm and said: "You are a prisoner; give security that you will not escape!" At first I thought that it was a practical joke of Adara Bille to test my courage; but I soon saw that the Wollo chief was in earnest. I was taken into a little room, and the contents of my pockets were demanded. As I hesitated, the guards declared that they had orders to kill me forthwith, and my Abyssinian cloak was torn from off my back. Upon appealing to Adara Bille's justice and friendship, I was answered derisively with the exclamation: "Out with your treasures! Death if you conceal the smallest of your goods! The female slaves, who were grinding corn in a corner of the room, began to shriek, thinking that the foreign man was about to be murdered. Wearied out and full of the saddest thoughts, I lay down on the ground to sleep, but sleep fled my eyelids until after midnight. Out of the depths of my soul I called on the Good Shepherd, the God of all help, who knows the cares and sorrows of His servants, and who had ever been my trust and support!

I awoke with the consciousness of being a prisoner, yet still one whose life had been preserved by the mercy of Providence. I requested an interview with Adara Bille, as also leave to depart, and necessaries for the journey; but he would neither see me nor grant anything, sending me word that he did not care if I had to beg my daily bread. At length, however, he sent me three dollars and my worst mule, which I had to dispose of on the road to purchase food and shelter. So, too, my manuscripts -an Amharic dictionary and my diary-as well as my English Testament, were restored. The paper which was not written upon was retained by him, along with 140 dollars, five mules, my watch, the compass, and many other valuables.

On the morning of the 5th of April I was told that I and my servants were to be conducted beyond the frontier by six soldiers of the chief; but the route and the direction were not mentioned. In silence and unarmed we followed the men, who had spears, shields, and swords. Whatever the way, it was a matter of indifference to me, as I had nothing more to lose, and in any case, had to journey by a route never before traversed by European. I consoled myself with the thought of Abraham, to whom God had promised to show the way that he should go, and to be his shield.

We met by providential guidance a merchant coming from Totola, who was surprised to see a white man on foot and without baggage. I told him what I had suffered at the hands of Adara Bille, adding that I had heard the orders of the soldiers were to take me to Ali Gongul, the governor under Amade, chief of the Wollo tribe, whose teritory now began. It struck the merchant as singular that Adara Bille should send us to the governor and not to the chief, Amade, himself. He therefore advised us to set up a loud cry, on which the people in the fields would come to our aid, and conduct us themselves to their prince, who lived in Mofa on a high hill. We followed this excellent advice; and when we were about half a league from Mofa, observing from the way some country people in a field, we sat down and told the soldiers that we wished to be taken to Amade, and not to Ali Gongul. The soldiers were furious and brandished their swords; but we called the peasants, and told them the story of our robbery by Adara Bille, and after some resistance the soldiers were obliged to give in, and, with the peasants, we all repaired to Amade. After listening to our story, he was angry that Adara Bille should send soldiers through his territory, and ordered them to turn back immediately, or he would throw them into prison. Amade gave us permission to go whithersoever we chose, and we were immediately set free.

Journeying on first in a north-easterly direction, and then in a northwesterly direction, seventeen days elapsed before we reached Tekunda,

the frontier village of Tigre. The way lay through every description of country; fruitful valleys and plains, mountain heights, past desert wildernesses; sometimes amid dense populations, sometimes where no human soul was to be found; and for the most part, we had to beg for food and shelter. Occasionally a Mohammedan would receive us hospitably, occa sionally a Christian; in the latter case the motive frequently was to receive an amulet against illness, or some magical cure from the white man; for it is a common belief in Abyssinia that all white men come from Jerusalem, where they think there is no sickness, and all is plenty and splendour. When I contradicted these superstitious notions, we would sometimes be hustled out of the Christian's house, as Mussulmans in disguise, sent to sleep in the open air and the cold, and ordered to depart before break of day. A few horse-beans grudgingly given were often all that we had to subsist on, and once, even to procure them, I had to sell the girdle of my chief servant. We longed, day after day, for our arrival at the coast.

At last, on the 29th of April, after unspeakable perils, sufferings, and fatigues, we reached Tekunda, where my miserable and beggarly condition made no very favourable impression on the Governor. On hearing, however, that I was an English subject, and acquainted with Bishop Gobat, he became a little more friendly, bringing me and my people some bread and horse-beans. He listened with great apparent sympathy to the recital of our robbery by Adara Bille, and when it was concluded, he showed me some Mohammedan pilgrims, who had come from Mecca, and who were subjects of Adara Bille: "Take these," he said; "revenge yourself on them, and spoil them of their clothes." But I declared that, as a Christian and a messenger of the Gospel, I could not repay evil with evil, espe cially on that day, Good Friday,* which reminds the Christian that Christ, the Son of God, died for all-the unjust no less than the just, in order to reconcile them to God, and to bestow on them the spirit of love and peace. The Governor assigned to me a spacious dwelling and provisions, so that after long suffering, privation, and severe exertion, I enjoyed a little repose, and could solemnise the holy day in tranquillity.

At last, after intense fatigue and several menaces from the surrounding savages, we arrived at Harkiko, on the Red Sea coast, on the 2nd of May. On the 4th I set out for Massowa along the coast, till I approached near the island upon which it stands. My feet were swollen, so I adopted the Abyssinian fashion of going barefooted. Our subsequent voyage from Massowa to Aden lasted fifteen days; and from Aden I proceeded to Suez. I remained in Egypt up to the time of my marriage with my wife, Rosine Dietrich, in the autumn of 1812.

I then returned with my colleagues, Isenberg and Mühleisen-Arnold, to Aden, with the intention of proceeding to Shoa; but we were informed by the Sultan of Tajurra that he had received written orders from the King of Shoa to grant no European an entrance into the interior. All our protests were in vain, and I now wished to betake myself to the south, having heard that the Gallas, whose conversion I had had at heart since the commencement of my residence in Shoa, extended as far as the Equator. Yet I could not bring myself to take a final farewell of Abyssinia before a last experiment had been tried. At Aden I resolved, therefore, to proceed to Massowa. From Massowa I proceeded with my wife through the Shoho land to the frontier of Tigre, with a large supply of Amharic and Ethiopic Bibles and Testaments. On the way we had to submit to the probation of a severe trial; for in the Shoho wilderness my beloved wife was prematurely delivered of a little daughter, whom I christened "Eneba," a tear. I had to bury the dear child, for she lived only a few hours, under a tree by the wayside, and her mourning mother was obliged to prosecute her journey on the third day after her confinement, as the Shohos would not wait any longer, and there was no village in the neighbourhood where she could have enjoyed repose. We arrived safely at the frontier of Tigre, and busied ourselves distributing the Bibles.

But this last attempt to work in Abyssinia also failed through the hostility of the priesthood of Adowa, though we had the consolation of knowing that we had distributed nearly 2,000 copies of the Scriptures, and from first to last, nearly 8,000. My wife and I now returned to Aden, and thence undertook the voyage to the south-east of Africa.

* "Old Style" prevails in Abyssinia, which accounts for Good Friday falling so late as April 29th.

WANDERED far off on the mountains so cold,
Away from my Shepherd, away from His fold;
But His heart yearning o'er me with tenderest love,
To seek and to save me He came from above.

He sought me, He found me, and brought to His fold;
The half of His tenderness cannot be told;

He feeds me, and guides me, and lest I should stray,
Has promised to keep me by night and by day.
His sheep hear His voice, and they follow Him too,
And ask Him what things He would have them to do.
He answers-oh! let us attend and obey !-
"I have yet other sheep' who in darkness still stray;
"They are dear to My heart, for them also I died,
But still they are wandering far from My side.
They know not of Me, or they gladly would come
And find Me their Shepherd, My safe fold their home.
"O sheep of My pasture, and do ye not care

To bring in these wanderers, your blessings to share?
I have laid down My life, because I must bring,'
Will not ye go and tell of your Shepherd and King?
'Oh, wherefore spend money for what is not bread,
When thousands are starving, whom ye might have fed?
Oh, wherefore spend labour for that which is nought,
When' other sheep' wander, whom ye might have brought ?"
Lord! we too have "strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep,"
But help us henceforth Thy commandments to keep;
Give us "largeness of heart," give us love, Blessed Lord,
To seek Thy lost sheep, both at home and abroad.
Give wisdom, give patience, give all that we need;
To Thy guiding voice may we ever take heed;
Then, crown Thou our labours as Thou seest best,
Till with Thee for ever Thy "one flock" shall rest!

TEN WEEKS IN INDIA.

A. J. M.

Extracts from Letters to my Children during a Winter Tour.
BY THE REV. E. H. BICKERSTETH, M.A.,
-Vicar of Christ Church, Hampstead.

come

IV.

BISHOPSTOW, LAHORE, January 4, 1881. T Amritsar the Rev. R. Bateman's servant met us, and we got into one of their Native carriages in the dark, and the horse again and again refused to go. However, at last we drove through the gates of the old wall and reached the City Mission-house. As I gave the driver a rupee (four annas too much) he was furiously clamorous for more-their way! We found a bright fire and hot tea, and got to bed for two or three hours, and I came down at 8 o'clock to their Native Church Council, which met under the Revs. R. Clark and R. Bateman. Some twenty-seven Native converts were present, men of high intelligence, and many of them of high position, for at Amritsar the Gospel has conquered men of rank. It was the most striking result of Christian Missions I have yet seen. The Rev. R. Clark would have me address them twice through interpreters. Afterwards we drove down to the Golden Temple of the Sikhs. Their worship is a mixture of Hinduism and Islamism—no idol in the temple, but a great book (Grunth) covered with a cloth, before which they make offerings of flowers, fruit, and money. Some rude music was kept up all the time. We had to take off our shoes and wear slippers before we crossed the marble bridge leading to the temple, which is built in the midst of a great tank. We also

saw the large Mission schoolroom for boys (200), two orphanages for boys and girls, the Alexandra School-a noble institutionfor Christian girls of high caste; most of them were away for their Christmas holidays, but some eight or nine were theresuch bright, intelligent girls. I spoke to them of the inscription in the Lollard Tower, Lambeth-Jesus Amor meus. The whole Mission station is full of life.

At 4 o'clock we left for Lahore, Mr. Clark and Mr. Weitbrecht with us in the train. Bishop French met us at the station, and drove us and Archdeacon Matthew to Bishopstow in his carriage. The next morning, Dec. 29, the Synod began with early serviceHoly Communion and part of the Bishop's charge in the ProCathedral. At 11 o'clock we met, some fifty of us, in a large tent opposite the palace door. The Bishop's opening address was quite apostolic. I then read my paper on the Christian ambassador. My second paper was delayed till the evening, in the Lawrence Hall; it was on the love of Christ and the love of His appearing. Edward read a very thoughtful paper on the spirit of Jesus Christ. The next day began with Holy Communion in St. Andrew's. The subjects of the Synod were very varied, such as, (1) Study of the Lessons other than in Church services; (2) Hill schools; (3) Lay ministrations; (4) The Cathedral; (5) Medical Missions; (6) Mohammedan controversy; (7) Sustained theological reading. All was full of interest. On Friday we began with the Communion (in Urdu) in the Divinity School Chapel; it was so striking to see some twenty clergy mingling with some thirty Native communicants. The Synod was closed at night by a meeting in the Lawrence Hall, at which I spoke on "Woman's special and most useful work in India," a subject the Bishop assigned me; though I felt great scruple in taking it, still I hope a word was given me. It was solemn speaking to Mission labourers in the closing hours of the year. Oh that the verse we have chosen as our watchword may be graven on our heart and life, "For me to live is Christ"! On Saturday afternoon we went to the Shalamar Durbar in the old royal gardens, four miles from Lahore-a garden of fountains of waters, which looked so pretty with the throng of Native gentlemen in gorgeous costumes. At night Mr. Shireff and Mr. Weitbrecht invited some sixty of the Native converts. The Bishop sat amongst them as if they were his children, and would have me speak to them while they ate sweetmeats, &c.

On Sunday morning I preached in the magnificent church at Mian Mir, the military station (they say the finest church in India), to nearly 1,000 soldiers of the 8th Regiment, the King's Own, and a battery of artillery corps, and in the evening at the Pro-Cathedral on "Go speak to the people all the words of this life." The Pro-Cathedral is an old Mohammedan tomb, built in memory of a dancing girl. Is it not time there should be a Christian edifice? On Monday I attended the Missionary Conference for two hours, and then the Bishop drove us to the Fort, the tomb of Runjeet Singh, and the Great Mosque, where the Moslem Commissioner told us two thousand had been praying that afternoon for Lord Ripon, as they felt so deep a regard for him, seeing the Government had helped them to rebuild their mosque.

CALCUTTA, January 12, 1881.

Since I wrote last from Lahore we have travelled in peace and safety, embraced with mercy on every side, more than 1,300 miles. On Tuesday afternoon, January 4, at Lahore, Bishop French had a large party of Eurasian children whom he would have me address after their games and feast, so I made an acrostic on the name of his palace, Bishopstow, and said a few sentences to them on each letter, which seemed greatly to delight them. B-beloved; I-industrious; S-sunny; Hhopeful; O-obedient; P-peaceable; S-saintly; T-trustful; O-onward; and W-watchful. I told them it was the secret of a happy life dug up at Bishopstow. In the evening we

started for Benares. We had a smooth night, and awoke the next morning near Umballa to find all the lower ranges of the Himalayas in clear view, with their glorious snows glowing in the sunlight. We kept them in view for two hours, and I confess it satisfied many longings of my heart at last to have seen "the ancient Himalays." We journeyed on all the second night in the same comfortable carriage, and kind Mr. Hackett, Edward's friend, the C.M.S. missionary, met us at Benares at one o'clock on Thursday midday, and took us to his pleasant home at Sigra, one of the suburbs of Benares. His wife is the granddaughter of a delightful old lady who has a beautiful estate there, and who will be 94 in March, but who is as active as if she were 24. She was married at 15, had 18 children, of whom 8 are still alive, the oldest being her dear "boy" of 75 years. She has scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren, having had 169 direct descendants born to her, of whom 118 are still alive. She has lived all her life in India, and lost eight of her family in the Mutiny.

Well, now about Benares. You know it is the stronghold of Hinduism; poor humanity seems enslaved in the bitterest slavery there. The day we arrived we drove to the monkey temple, where there were at least 100 monkeys overrunning every part of it-doorways and roofs, and sculptures and images. It was piteous to see the devotees as they entered the shrine and seemed to pray to the hideous idol, and struck a suspended bell ere they went out, their "worship" done.

Mr.

Thence we went to a lecture by Mr. Hooper in the large divinity school, on "The image of God being the dignity of man," in English, but to the learned natives of Benares. There were some sixty men present, more than half young men. Hooper invited discussion afterwards, and I spoke and others. Next day we drove down to the Ganges, hired a boat, for which merry Mr. Hackett told the boatmen he would give one anna hire and fifteen annas backsheesh, and rowed down the river. We pulled up close to one of the burning ghâts where they burn the dead. [See picture on page 68.] There were two or three