The long bridge over the Yellow River, the principal difficulty of construction, is not yet finished, tho it is open to trains. It is 10,827 feet long, with 102 spans, and is 19.68 feet above the water. The river in flood time, however, may rise 13 feet above its ordinary level, tho it is 2 miles wide at the place where the bridge is. Moreover, the 40-feet screw piles on which the bridge rests do not by any means penetrate to the rock through the river silt. Therefore, the solidity and permanence of the structure are matters of some doubt. Trains are to run from Peking to Hankow in 36 hours, and the novelty of night travel will be introduced, together with (once or twice a week) dining-cars and sleeping-cars. Telegraph and telephone are used in operating the road. The construction has proceeded with care. and thoroughness. French is the language of the time-tables, the metric is the system of weights, and the Mexican dollar the basis of fares. Two cents for 3-5ths of a mile is the first-class fare, I and 1-200th of a cent is the second and third-class rate for the same distance, so that to travel even over this unique road one does not need a very fat pocketbook. A most comendable feature is the total absence of advertising signs along the way. This new railroad is of the highest importance. It is the long entering wedge of Western civilization. An army of conquering new ideas will ride into China on the back of the iron horse. A Help to Sabbath-keeping Among Chinese Business in China is carried on without the Sabbath rest, and Chinese converts are often tempted to think too little of the privilege and too much of the loss involved in abstaining from business or work on Sundays. The Rev. Dr. Squibbs wrote from Mien-chuh on August 15, 1905: In order to stimulate a desire shown by 46 row no some of the Christians for the better observance of the Lord's Day, we have had some handsome tablets made, with gilded characters on black lacquer; those for cash" shops or banks with a double inscription, namely, on one side, "To-moris Sunday, business will be done"; and on the other, 'To-day is Sunday, no business will be done." Those for ordinary houses of business with the latter inscription only. These tablets are to be presented to all Christians and catechumens who will undertake to stop all business on Sunday, and announce the fact to the public. -C. M. S. Gleaner. Attempts at Federation in China A movement is well under way in the Celestial Empire, which also gives promise of success, to COoperate, especially in school work. In Peking a Congregational professor is found teaching in a Presbyterian seminary. In the same city a Presbyterian is teacher in the London Society's medical school. In Tung-chow a Presbyterian teaches. in a Congregational college. In one case, Presbyterians and Baptists share in teaching. A Great Opportunity in Japan Rev. J. H. Pettee has recently written to the Congregationalist that the Doshisha, under its new principal, Mr. Niwa, is forging ahead in numbers and influence. With over 600 students this fall, the largest number for more than ten years, and with a hard-working, united band of teachers, it deserves the help of those who revere the name of Neesima and who believe in the power of Christian education. What a splendid thing it would be if generous, large-hearted Americans would give at this juncture, as an expression of their satisfaction over Japan's heroic conduct in the peace negotiations, $100,000 to $100,000 to each of these representative and thoroughly worthy Christian institutions in Japan: The Doshisha, at Kyoto. Kobe College, at Kobe (for girls). The Y. M. C. A. (for buildings in various cities). The list might be extended without difficulty, but this will do for a beginning. AFRICA British Influence in Egypt Prof. H. M. Scott, of the Chicago Theological Seminary, after a sojourn in the land of the Nile, reports that "in 1882 the English found Egypt as Turkey is: they have made it in twenty years what we see. Sir Garnet Wolseley, General Gordon, Lord Kitchener and Lord Cramer were among the personalities producing this great change. With them came the great works for irrigation, postal savings banks, reduction of taxes, extinction of slavery, reformatories, asylums, hospitals, measures that freed the peasantry from the grip of money lenders, schools and all the agencies of Christian civilization. In 1887, there was spent for education $315,000; in 1904, this amount reached $1,020,000. The Cairo tramways carry 18,957,000 people a year; and Egypt exports 80,000,000 eggs annually. The English language is spreading fast with the English occupation. There are now 12,000 boys in the English schools of Cairo. Five years ago 4,000 were taking French as their foreign language and one thousand English in the lower schools; now that relation is more than reversed. The same change is going on in Syria and Palestine. A bookseller in Beirut five years ago sold some 300 primers for English; this fall he sold about 5,000. Nearly every one under twenty can understand English. The whole East is feeling this new life in Egypt. Mohammedan Converts in Algeria A missionary, Miss Cox, of the North Africa Mission, writes that five young men recently came in to say that they had determined to fol low Christ. They belong to those who are often said to be unconvertible-Moslems. They had been impressed first in the mission school, but had left and subsequently sank deep into sin. Now they have returned after many days, ready to confess Christ, and did so publicly amid the taunts of their fellows. The spirit of inquiry is spreading, but the opposition is fierce. One night the path to the mission house was strewn with thorns, and, as many of the inquirers go barefoot, the result was a number of wounded feet. The First Woman Graduate in Liberia The College of West Africa, at Monrovia, Liberia, held its first commencement a few months since, on which occasion Miss Clavender L. Sherman was graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Her oration on "Industrial Education the Hope of Liberia" is printed in the April number of Liberia and West Africa, and in form and subject-matter it is an admirable production. Miss Sherman entered the institution ten years ago, when it was known as Monrovia Seminary. She has passed through every grade, and has the honor of receiving the first college diploma ever granted to a woman in her country. A New Mission Steamer on the Kongo The steamer Lapsley, which was wrecked over a year ago, has now been replaced by another of the same name, built in Scotland and dedicated on December 16th. This is for the use of the American Presbyterian Mission (South), which was started fifteen years ago in the upper Kongo district and now has 4,000 church-members. The money for the Lapsley was raised by the Sunday-school children of the Southern Presbyterian Church. May the vessel live long to carry the missionaries and their message to the darkskinned and unenlightened Africans. Missionaries in the Kongo State For the whole of the Kongo Free State, with its 900,000 square miles, and an estimated population of 30,000,000, there are-working under eight different societies-only 190 Protestant missionaries, and this number includes ordained men, doctors, missionaries' wives, and unmarried women. Supposing that the 190 were distributed over the whole State, and each had his or her own district, each would have a parish of 4,736 square miles, with about 150,000 souls to care for! At the same rate, there would be 217 Christian workers for the whole of England, and 30 for Scotland. The Uganda Prime Minister Apolo Kagwa is Prime Minister of Uganda. He is a tall, powerful He is a tall, powerful man, thirty-five years old, and is one of three regents who have charge of the little king who some day will rule over this portion of Africa. When he was young he heard the Gospel from that dauntless missionary, "Mackay of Uganda," and since then he has been a faithful Christian. Every day he studies the Bible, has family prayer, and goes to the missionaries for help in teaching the people. Only twenty-five years ago he and his tribe-the Bagandawere veritable heathen. His life is in every way remarkable when viewed from that standpoint. "He built the first two-story house, he introduced sun-dried bricks, and afterward the telephone and electric bells. He himself owns and can run a sewing-machine, as well as a typewriter, and rides a bicycle. He is introducing among his people everything that will help in their advancement. He has written a fairly complete history of Uganda. What a marvel it is that such a man can be brought so to the front within the score and a half years since Stanley found the Baganda sunk in degraded heathenism!" once. A Call from Central Sudan Gradually the mission stations are penetrating the great unoccupied fields of Africa. Rev. F. H. Lacy, of the C. M. S., has recently returned from a tour among the Kadara and Gwari tribes, the latter one of the largest in northern Nigeria, and reports that it may be occupied at To delay is to invite Mohammedan aggression and consequent barriers to Christ. The Gwari are industrious and skilful. They seem to have no knowledge of God, but believe in spirits, good and bad, and worship their ancestors. Nothing has been done to give them the Gospel, except during Mr. Lacy's brief tour. Everywhere the people received the missionaries gladly, and seemed especially impressed by the news of a general resurrection day. None of them can read and their language has not yet been reduced to writing, but they wish to learn. There is no obstacle to the opening of a station in their midst, except the lack of men and money. Delay is dangerous. A Burning Question The British government has recently assumed the whole care of the Mission's Reserves in the Zulu Mission, and is taxing, at an exorbitant rate, the natives living in them. This greatly disturbs their friendly feeling for the government and hinders all movement toward selfsupport in the mission work. The government distrusts the Ethiopian movement, or anything which seems a step toward independence, and too often look jealously even upon native growth in intelligence and material prosperity, as these may lead to an increasing desire to throw off British control. The missionaries have the entire confidence of the government, for they try to inculcate a spirit of loyalty in their converts, but the old question of how soon a growing youth should think and act for him self is ever present in colonial as in family governments. Kamerun Mission of the Berlin Baptists The Missionary Society of the German Baptists, whose headquarters are in the immediate neighborhood of Berlin, has decided upon a forward movement into the interior of its field, Kamerun, West Africa. A number of missionaries, led by the experienced Kamerun missionary, Suvern, has left Berlin, and expected to start in December from Duala for Mushi, on the Mbam River, where the first station among the Bakwaks is to be opened. The distance between Duala and Mushi can be covered in about twelve days. The Rhenish Mission in Southwest Africa The reorganization of the missionary work of the Rhenish Society, in Southwest Africa, which suffered so severely on account of the outbreak among the Hereros, proceeds slowly. Missionary Dannert, of Omaruru, writes that natives continually return and submit to the German government, almost 3,000 having come back thus far. The native Christians who remained faithful are especially trusted by the government, and their services in bringing in the rebels are most valuable. Many of the Christian Hereros who had joined the rebels have also returned in deep repentance. The German government gives the missionaries much valuable help in bringing the Gospel to the returned rebels. ISLANDS OF THE SEA The Dutch Government and Missions * A remarkable testimony to the efficiency of Christian missions in Dutch East India has been given by the Dutch government in an official memorial. It is said: "Among the inhabitants of Nias, the Dyaks of Borneo, and other native races, * See brief reference to this in MISSIONARY REVIEW, 1905, p. 907. Christianity has caused the disappearance of slavery, bondage, headhunting, cannibalism, human sacrifices, barbaric punishments, feasts, immorality, sorcery, drunkenness, and gambling, even in places where the Dutch government has been un able to exterminate one or the other. ... In Nias, Sumatra, and Borneo, the chiefs even accept Christianity, so that it spreads more and more through all ranks of society. What change has been brought about in the state of society need not be explained in its particulars." Among the Battas, of Sumatra, the government has been able to withdraw its soldiers almost altogether from those districts where Christianity has gained the upper hand. Mormons in the South Seas The Tuamotu archipelago, in the South Seas, has become a possession of the Roman Catholics and the Mormons. Nominally these islands have been under the care of the Paris Society, but for three years they have been without any Protestant pastor, and the Protestants have practically disappeared. At Tubuai in the Austral group, about 500 miles south of Tahiti, Rev. Mr. Burnell, of the Paris Society, reports his astonishment at finding a preacher, a young man not yet ordained, engaged in a strenuous effort to build up a new parish in the midst of a considerable population of Mormons. He has already drawn about himself more than 20 Mormons, who declare their wish to obey the teachings of the Gospel of Christ. MISCELLANEOUS Can Christians Learn from Moslems? Mohammed's law of alms was a stringent and rigid one. He ordered one-fortieth of the substance annually to be given in charity (that is, half the annual income). Every one is entitled to one day's warm hospitality and to three days' food and lodging. This is actually practised in Cairo, with its 200,000 inhabitants. The Arab charities are like the rain upon the just and the unjust, and do not always suspect imposition. The Arab considers that it really is more blessed to give than to receive, and so the receiver confers the benefit. "Hear the words of Sadi, for words are all that are left as memorials of the wise man. To give peace to a single heart, by a single act, is more than a thousand head-bowings in prayer." NOT "Like a Mighty Army" The English Church Missionary Society, it is reported, has sent into the field since last summer no less than 200 missionaries, of whom 67 were new recruits, the rest being missionaries returning to their several fields of labor after furloughs. This would not seem a great number were the reinforcements to be sent to an army engaged in a war between nations. To prosecute their work the nations charter steamships and send out not merely regiments, but brigades and army corps. Though we sing about it, it is not true that "Like a mighty army moves the Church of God." Nevertheless, as things go, this increase in the force of the British Society is a notable fact, and it should be remembered that this addition is made in face of a deficit in the treasury of that society of over $200,000.-Missionary Herald. OBITUARY Dr. James Stewart, of Lovedale, S. Africa A noble leader in missionary work has been called from his sphere of service in the person of Dr. James Stewart, of Lovedale, South Africa. As a missionary institute, Lovedale -of which he was so long head-has been looked to by churches and mis sionary societies as a great object-lesson in all-round organization of effort for the uplifting of uncivilized races. It was with a view to the following up of Dr. Livingstone's explorations, and the claiming for Christ of the regions thus opened, that Dr. Stewart made his first offer to the Foreign Mission Committee of the Free Church of Scotland. The serious delays occurred, and the committee was unable to accept the additional responsibilities, he went forward, with the result that the Livingstonia Mission was ultimately founded on the interdenominational basis on which it remains. Rev. G. M. Bulloch, of Almora On Friday, December 1st, there passed away at Almora, North India, one of the best-known and most beloved of the British (L. M. S.) missionaries, George McCullum Bulloch. Born at Edinburgh on May 1, 1850, Mr. Bulloch was trained at Western College, and sailed for India in September, 1874. For fourteen years his station was Benares, but on the retirement of the Rev. J. H. Budden, in 1888, he was appointed to fill the vacancy at Almora, the place with which his name will always be associated. As a missionary, there was no department of the mission in which Mr. Bulloch did not make his influence felt; but probably the work that lay nearest to his own heart was the care of the lepers in the asylum which had been built up by the efforts of his predecessor.. DONATIONS ACKNOWLEDGED No. 339. Industrial Mission, India $1.00 No. 340. Industrial Mission, India 5.00 No. 341. Industrial Mission, India 15.00 No. 342. Industrial Mission, India 1.00 No. 343. Industrial Mission, India 15.00 |