12. Because to stop all this work for the world would bring upon the Church paralysis and death.

13. Because Christian love is essentially world-wide; it utterly refuses to be limited.

14. Because this world-wide love inIcludes and fosters love for our own country.

15. Because the plea that to save our own land is to save the world, has force only when the Church at home is active in saving the world.

16. Because home missions had made little progress when, by direction of the Holy Spirit, foreign missions were begun from Antioch, in Syria.

17. Because, if there is a good reason for one church or one member of a church neglecting it, there is the same for the whole Church.

The three non-ethnic religions of the world that in spirit and work are aggressive, diffusive and missionary, are Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. The first, from humanitarian motives only; the second, with a prevailing political object. But the Gospel of Christ is spread from supreme love to Him, as the chief and impelling force, and also from love for the world.

Let us, by all means, love our own country, even as Christ loved His native Palestine. In His spirit let us labor and suffer for it. Let the spirit which moved and inspired the great Apostle to the world, whose motto was, "To the Jew first, but also to the Gentile," be ours. For the love which reaches out to the Gentile cannot pass by the Jew.

A goodly company of missionaries are "up for repairs" at that great missionary centre, Clifton Springs. One day recently the Sanitarium arranged that these missionaries should dine together in the spacious dining-room of that noble institution, and a social was held in the parlors in the afternoon, at which thirty missionaries gathered to talk over their

work and exchange accounts of experiences. There were besides five foreignborn missionary children. The missionaries represented work in various parts of India, China, Japan, Bulgaria, Hawaiian Islands, Siam, Turkey, and West Africa. These are all receiving gratuitously the medical service of the faculty and the free use of all the remedial agencies of the institution, which Dr. Henry Foster has built up through forty years and presented to a board of trustees composed of the senior secretaries of the leading missionary societies, to be held in perpetuity for the rebuilding of the impaired health of missionaries. The outright gift is valued at $500,000, besides not less than $20,000 annually of what may be classed as eleemosynary expenditure. The superintending physician, the Rev. C. C. Thayer, M.D., and his wife were for a term of years missionaries in the Turkish Empire, and as the head of the institution are in full sympathy with the benevolent intent of the founder.

The twelfth annual meeting of the International Missionary Union will be held at Clifton Springs, N. Y., June 12th-19th. All foreign missionaries, whether in service or retired, are recognized as members and entitled to free entertainment. All missionaries purposing to attend are requested to notify Mrs. C. C. Thayer, Sanitarium, Clifton Springs, and to name topics they wish discussed. All information will be given by the Secretary. The prospect is of a large attendance, and eminent names are already enrolled, such as Dr. H. H. Jessup, of Syria; Dr. Blodgett, forty years in China; Dr. Jacob Chamberlain and Dr. Boggs, of India; Dr. Amerman, of Japan; and Secretaries Bald

win and Barton.

J. T. GRACEY, President,

Rochester, N. Y. REV. W. H. BELDEN, Secretary, Clifton Springs, N. Y.

*

BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.

Siam has been, in comparison with India and China, unknown to modern civilization. Commerce found little there to attract trade, and, until within the past quarter century, there has been but little literature which treated of that Malayan peninsula; and, as to the Laos country, it was even more a part of the great unknown.

Siam is about 1000 miles long, and at its widest less than one third of that measurement. In the north are great mountain districts, rich in fauna and flora, streams and waterfalls; and the lowlands produce ample rice crops, the main dependence of the people. Three principal rivers constitute its river system, the Menam, the "mother of waters," being the great highway of intercourse and the stream on whose banks Bangkok, the capital, the Asiatic Venice, stands—or, as we might say,floatsso large is the proportion of inhabitants living upon its water streets.

Most of the travel is by boats, but in cases where they are not available, by elephants, which carry a saddle shaped like a sawbuck.

Bangkok has a population verging on half a million; and the whole popu

See also pp. 8 (January), 219 (March), and 321 (present issue). Literature: "Historical Sketches of Presbyterian Missions;" "Siam and Laos as Seen by American Missionaries ;" "Siam," Mary L. Cort; "The Land of the White Elephant," F. Vincent.

+ "India and Malaysia," J. M. Thoburn, D.D.; "A Winter in India and Malaysia," M. V. B. Knox, D.D.

" "The Light of Asia and the Light of the World," S. H. Kellogg, D.D.; "Short Chapters on Buddhism," J. H. Titcomb; "Buddhism," Rhys Davids: "Buddhism," Sir Monier Will

ams.

8.See p. 358 (present issue). "The Lepers of Our Indian Empire," W. C. Bailey; "Work Among Lepers."

lation of the country is estimated at about 6,000,000, largely interspersed with Chinese. The people are not tall, are inclined to fatness, with faces broad and flat, with small noses and wide mouths, and they wear a stolid and sullen aspect. The type of race is modified Mongolian, mixed with Chinese and Burmese. In the extreme south the inhabitants are quite distinct and have migrated from Sumatra ; they are Moslem in religion, and politically independent of Siam, under rajahs or sultans.

Education is at its lowest level among the Siamese, and woman is wholly untaught, though her domestic estate is much above the average condition of women in the Orient, and notably in India; but, when education is brought to bear upon these people, they prove by no means lacking in native ability.

A curious custom is inseparable from the exercise of hospitality. The areca nut is mixed with lime and certain other

ingredients, a compound which not only blackens, but rapidly destroys the teeth, and yet this mixture is chewed by both men and women, and the richer class serve it in gold boxes.

The government is an absolute monarchy, and it is not long since the honors paid to the Siamese king were almost Divine. There is no hereditary nobility, and the king himself is elected by certain officers. Some sixty small provinces have each a ruler, all subject to the king. The late king and his successor, Chulalangkorn, have proved very able, educated, and enlightened monarchs, who abolished the custom of bowing like beasts "on all fours," and bade their courtiers stand before them like men. From the accession of Maha-Mong-Kut, in 1851, there has been more contact with the outside world and more real progress than for centuries before.

Missionary operations have never been vigorously carried forward, owing to the paucity of laborers. The country is open in a remarkable degree, but the whole missionary force in Siam and the Laos country does not exceed thirtyfour, including women and the medical force (excluding wives of missionaries).

The missionaries of the American Board sent out in 1831 and 1832 were afterward removed to China. Since 1847 the entire native population have been under care of the Presbyterians of North America. But the whole of the New Testament and part of the Old, with a beginning in Christian literature, were the fruit of one decade of years, and now the whole Bible is accessible to all who read Siamese. The "Pilgrim's Progress" was among the early products of a Christian press, which has proved a grand instrument of evangelization and education. Parts of the Bible have also now been translated into the Laos dialect. For seven successive years the accessions to the Church in the Laos country were constantly growing, from 110. in 1887 to 303 in 1893. The mother church at Chieng Mai, after sending out eight colonies, has an adult membership of over 700.

From 1847 to 1851 all mission effort was hampered by the hostility of the king; on his sudden death, and the election of Maha-Mong-Kut, who had studied with an American missionary, and proved a catholic-spirited sovereign, the work began to take root, though it was thirteen years before the first convert, Nai Chune, yielded to Christ; and the simple faith of the native Christians has given much hope to the missionaries.

The effort was early made to raise up a native ministry and to establish schools for girls, as well as boys, to whom native custom had confined these advantages.

A well-known traveller writes:

"Rev. Dr. Samuel R. House and his wife were at one time the oldest Presbyterian missionaries in Siam, and had under their care the first girls' school

ever opened in this country. Among the first fifteen scholars three were equal to the boys in the acquirement of daughters of the nobility, and all proved knowledge, so the school proved a success, and other natives were induced to send their children also. One of the Laos princes called to see the school. He had on a coat, pants, and hat, but was in his bare feet. The people are very much darker colored than the Chinese, but have the same straight black hair. They cut it short, and comb it à la mode parted in the middle -men and women all the same. priests shave their heads, and wear sandals. Their garments are all made of yellow cloth. It is the sacred as well as royal color. There are thousands of the lazy vagabonds supported by beg. ging. They make a very good living, however, as no one is allowed to refuse them what they ask, somewhat after the style of certain priests in America. They are all servants of the idol god Buddha, and at death expect to enter upon an eternal sleep. They live alone in monasteries upon the temple grounds.

The

"At a certain season the king celebrates worship and gives gifts to the priests. He visits the temples for nine days. At such time he may be seen in his royal barge upon the river. His boat, over 150 feet long, with 84 rowers, all dressed in uniform, and keeping perfect time with their paddles. The boat is beautiful, beginning with a bird's head and ending with a fish's tail, all covered with gilt and Siamese carving. There were banners of crimson and gold, and tassels of Yak hair. The king sat in state under a small canopy near the centre of the boat, and was almost hidden by curtains of cloth of gold. We saw him plainly when he passed from his barge to the temple under his glittering golden umbrella. He was dressed in shining raiment and sparkling with jewels, but had left his crown at home, as it is far too heavy to wear with any degree of comfort. I never saw a more imposing procession. There were perhaps a thousand boats upon the river; eighty of them, filled with princes, nobles, officers of rank, soldiers, priests, etc., with their servants, were counted as his special escort. The whole ceremony was for the perpetuation of Buddhism and the worship of idols. The people, however, worshipped the king as though he, too, were a god. There was music and shouting, and on either side of the river, in the floating houses, there were altars erected and tapers burning, while the people clasped their hands and bowed