Moulton Library 

Ba;iii@r Th##l#gl#al Seminary J 
Presented by 



The Rev* Robert Howard 








School 
of 

Theology 
Library 




TEMPLE OF KUMBHAKONAM, 



SCENES 



IN 



Southern India. 



BY 



MRS. MURRAY MITCHELL. 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



My wife asks me to write a preface to her book, and 
I have agreed to do it ; but I find very Httle to say that 
is not better said in the book itself. 

We have many works on India, but not many writ- 
ten by women. This one, it is hoped, may accordingly 
help to fill up a blank. On several subjects, especially 
those connected with family life in the East, women are 
much better qualified to speak than men. 

The book refers to Southern India, the Presidency 
of Madras. It is always well to remember that there is 
as much diversity between two parts of India as between 
two parts of Europe; that, for example, a native of 
Travancore is as different from a Bengali, as a Spaniard 
from a Swede. Missionary work, too, has a peculiar 
aspect in the south of India, inasmuch as it began nearly 
a century earlier than in Bengal, and more than a cen- 
tury before its commencement in Bombay. Hence, in 
some respects, it has a different character in the Madras 
Presidency. 

It will not detract from the value of these pages that 
the writer was able to compare one part of India with 
another. Missionary work, however, is by no means 
the only fcopic referred to in this little book. Mrs. 
Mitchell took a lively interest in nearly everything she 



4 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

saw ; and she has endeavored to give a faithful descrip- 
tion of what has most occupied her attention. 

We had for many years been famiHar Vv-ith mission- 
ary efforts both in the west and north of India, and it 
was the fulfillment of a long-cherished hope when we 
were at length able to visit the chief missions of the 
South. What we saw awakened the deepest possible 
interest. We were also able to take part, to a con- 
siderable extent, in the work ; so that the visit might 
be called an evangelistic tour. The welcome we every- 
where received, both from the missionaries and the 
native Christians, will ever remain with us as a delight- 
ful memory. Nor can we forget the kindly greetings 
of many others who were not professedly Christians, 
but who seemed fully convinced that they had no truer 
friends than the missionaries. 

India is at present in a state of transition, and not of 
slow transition. No change recorded in history was ot 
greater magnitude than that which is now going on ; 
and the issues, social, religious, political, will be in 
every way momentous. This litde work will not have 
been written in vain if it may serve to extend a knowl- 
edge of Indian life and character, increase the interest 
felt in missionary work — especially as carried on among 
women — and deepen in the mind of Britain a sense of 
national responsibility to God in connection with her 
great Eastern dependency. 

J. MURRAY MITCHELL. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



TEMPLE OF KUMBHAKONAM, SOUTHERN IN- 
DIA Frontispiece. 

MADRAS SURF 5..; 

A WATER-CARRIER 52 

PLOUGHING 52 

SCHWARTZ 7J' 

TEMPLE OF SUBRAHMANYA, TANJORE . . . g6 

TANK AND TEMPLE AT MADURA . . . . /?<5 

BELL-MUSIC USED AT DEVIL-WORSHIP . . . ij6 

POUNDING RICE 1^2 

BULLOCK CART 164 

NAG ER COIL CHURCH 174 

MAHARAJAH OF TRAVANCORE {From a photograph) iSo 

SISTER OF THE MAHARAJAH {From a photograph) . iSo 

A HINDOO BEGGAR 202 

A HINDOO BRAHMIN 230 

BOATS ON THE BACKWATER , , , , . 232 

SCENES IN TRAVANCORE 290 

A SCENE ON THE BACKWATER 320 

TODAS js; 



" S"^^:^5> 






--n.^ 



CHAPTER I. 

We Begin our Missionary Journey 9 

CHAPTER 11. 

Poona. Sholapore 17 

CHAPTER HI. 
Madras . . . 31 

CHAPTER IV. 

Madras. Female Work 42 

CHAPTER V. 

Chingleput 61 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Early Missions to India 72 

CHAPTER VII. 

Tanjore .80 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Dindigal. Its Medical Mission 104 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER IX. 

Madura and its Missions 119 

CHAPTER X. 

Madura and its Temples . 130 

CHAPTER XI. 

Tinnevelly. Palamcotta . . 143 

CHAPTER XII. 

Travancore. Nagercoil , 166 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Woman's Work. Sunday at Nagercoil 185 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Cape Comorin ig6 

CHAPTER XV. 

Neyoor. Pareychaley .211 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Trevandrum 228 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Backwater 247 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Cottayam : its Missions. The Syrian Christians of Malabar 258 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Cottayam : Sunday Service among the Syrian Christians . 278 



8 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 



The Hill Arrians of Travancore 



290 



CHAPTER XXL 

Cochin: The White and Black Jews 303 

CHAPTER XXn. 

Trichoor 317 

CHAPTER XXni. 

Coimbatore 33^ 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Neilgherries 338 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The Todas and a Toda-Mund 353 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Homeward 367 



SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA, 



CHAPTER I. 

WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 

January 15, 1882. 

The dawn was spreading softly over earth and 
sky yesterday morning when, after a more sub- 
stantial chota hajri or preliminary breakfast than 
usual, we stood in the veranda equipped for the 
start. 

Our starting-point was Bombay, where we had 
been staying some weeks with our kind friends, 
Mr. and Mrs. Miller. . . . 

We had to leave early to catch the morning 
train for Poona and the Deccan. The morninof 
is always the best part of our Indian day, and I 
am almost sure that it is also the most beautiful. 
As I stood watching the sweet silver dawn steal 
gently up and dispel the darkness and mystery of 
night, I thought it was not so wonderful that the 
impressionable, dreamy old poets of ancient India 



lO SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

should have made her one of their divinities. The 
Dawn is one of the earliest Hindoo goddesses. 
She is called UsJias^ and is described with poetic 
grace as *'a mother come to awake her sleeping 
children." The contemplation of nature in her 
sublime and exquisite aspects no doubt led to her 
adoration among those old Rishis, for they were 
ignorant of him who is the God and Framer of 
nature and did not hear her voice aright. Surely 
nothing ever declared his glory with more elo- 
quent speech than this pure, blue, beauteous, cold- 
weather dawn ! It is so peaceful, yet so gladsome, 
so fresh, and so suggestive of hope. 

As I gazed on the lovely scene from the ver- 
anda I thought our dear old Bombay had never 
looked more beautiful. The chief feature in the 
scene was the great, calm, peaceful sea, of the 
deepest indigo blue, beginning now to sparkle in 
the rays of the rising sun, stretching to the far 
horizon and rippling up on the rocks at our feet 
with musical murmur. An immense fleet of fish- 
ing craft with white sails gleamed in the dis- 
tance; there w^ere also one or two large ships with 
sails set to catch the morning breeze; while nearer 
the shore, here and there, a tall-masted pattimar 
or cargo-boat glided past, helped on by the oar. 
Flocks of silver-winged gulls rode on the blue 
wavelets hunting for their breakfast, and down 



WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY. II 

among the rocks one or two tall-necked cranes 
stalked majestically, similarly engaged. 

Along the margin white-robed Parsis, in their 
high, picturesque head-gear of dark calico, stood 
facing the sea, muttering prayers, gentlemen and 
ladies galloped along the good wide road, while 
babies and ayahs and dogs and servants and po- 
nies passed in grand retinue, all bound for the 
early walk. Every one who is w4se tries to ex- 
tract what vigor is to be had from the fresh air of 
morning in India. As we drove away from the 
hospitable door I am not sure that I was so elated 
as I ought to have been to think that a long- cher- 
ished dream was about to be realized and we w^ere 
indeed off to see the mission fields of South India. 

We were tired, for we had had an exciting 
week. This was due to the visit of the famous 
Boston lecturer, Mr. Joseph Cook, and his charm- 
ing wife. . . . The wonderfully able lectures, the 
crowds, the growing interest of Mr. Cook's utter- 
ances, the dinners, the meetings, and the univer- 
sal entertaining, were all so thoroughly enjoyed 
that our energies were naturally used up. 

This most stirring visit was indeed an im- 
mense success. I never saw our native friends 
gather in more enthusiastic crowds than they did 
to every lecture, whatever the hour. Is it not a 
fact worth notinof and something to be thankful 



12 SCENES IN SUOTHERN INDIA. 

for that a man like Mr. Cook can come out to 
India and find at once, over the length and breadth 
of it, audiences of English-speaking, educated na- 
tive gentlemen ready to hear and understand and 
appreciate all he has to say to them? I hope 
such visits from men of mark, both European and 
American, may henceforth be of more frequent 
occurrence. 

One of the social gatherings held in honor of 
our distinguished guests was to myself the most 
interesting by far. This was an entertainment 
given by the Native Christian Union of Bombay. 
It took place in the large upper hall of the Free 
Church Institution, which, when all had assem- 
bled, presented quite a striking spectacle. The 
place was prettily decorated. Round the room 
sat rows of native Christians of all degrees — 
fathers, mothers, and children, while numerous 
groups occupied the centre. Many nationalities 
were represented, Hindoos, Parsis, Europeans, 
Americans, East Indians, etc. ; and every mission, 
I think, in Bombay contributed its quota of guests, 
both European and native. Many friends too had 
come from Poona and other out-stations to be 
present, and altogether the assemblage was large 
and most interesting. The costumes were of 
course very varied, and the whole scene was full 
of color and animation and picturesqueness. It 



WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY. I3 

was also full of suggest! veness. One's heart could 
not but thrill with thankfulness and joy at such a 
sight. These men and women are the fruit of 
missionary effort, part of the great ingathering 
from the Gentile world, the vision of which filled 
our lyord himself with holy joy when he said, "I, 
if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
men unto me. ' ' 

I had the good fortune to sit beside an Ameri- 
can stranger, a lady whose face was beaming with 
benevolence. "What a sight!" she exclaimed. 
' ' Can all these indeed be Christians ? I would 
have come all the way from America if only to 
witness this scene and to meet these people. How 
is it," she added, "that people say missions have 
had no success ?' ' 

How indeed ? All one can say is that it is as 
if a man went forth at noonday, bandaged his 
eyes, and then declared that there was no sun shi- 
ning in the heavens. I brought some of our nice 
native Christian girls to introduce to her, some of 
the workers in the schools and zenanas, and also 
some of the daughters of the bright Christian 
homes which now happily are multiplying in the 
land. They looked very neat and dainty in their 
pretty native dress, the sari^ in different hues. I 
was much pleased afterwards when the lady re- 
marked not only on their intelligence, but the 



14 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

modesty and general propriety of demeanor they 
evinced, which indeed is characteristic of Hindoo 
ladies. 

Among women of the higher castes in India 
there is a wonderful amount of natural refine- 
ment, with a certain attractive gentleness and 
quiet self-restraint of manner. You feel this in 
visiting among them. I have gone into the most 
squalid and unpromising zenana and yet found at 
once that I was among ladies. The poor things 
may be only half clad, very sad and crushed look- 
ing, all their surroundings (which often are little 
more than bare dirty walls) may be utterly sordid 
and mean, and yet they will receive you with all 
the quiet courtesy of gentlefolks. Of course I 
know how easily all this can be marred and how 
spoiled one of these women is if she becomes bold 
or too suddenly adopts the free manners of the 
West. The peril lies in a too rapid transition 
from the restraints which Eastern customs enjoin 
and a premature introduction into general society, 
which is public life to one who has lived her life 
previously in the seclusion of a Hindoo home. 
Freedom must come, but let it come gradually- 
let it come last ! First let the soul be set free ! 
"The soul must be educated," as one of them- 
selves truly says. When this takes place, when 
our Eastern sisters have received the truth, and 



WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 15 

the truth has made them free, then they will be 
free indeed; and to their own pleasant heritage of 
womanly decorum will be added the ornament of 
"a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of 
God is of great price. ' ' 

After tea Mr. Cook gave us an address, which 
as usual was most stirring. In speaking of the 
difficulties with which missionaries have to con- 
tend he made use of a happy illustration. He 
compared the work to the building of a light- 
house. He said there is so much important and 
preliminary labor to be done first below the sur- 
face of the water — blasting of rocks, building of 
foundations, much buffeting with the waves — and 
all to be bravely endured and overcome. But 
when all this is accomplished the majestic tower 
begins to rise. The worst is over, the difficulties 
are mastered, the grand purpose is achieved — the 
light appears ! And, thank God, it will go on 
and shine for evermore. 

All the strangers remarked on the beautiful 
exhibition of Christian union which the native 
churches of India generally present. This is true. 
In these days of division the brotherly love and 
mutual trust and common purpose often found 
existing among the Christians all over India cheer 
one's heart unspeakably. Long may this condi- 
tion of things last ! 



l6 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Our beautiful Western Ghats were as beauti- 
ful as ever as we ascended yesterday and the rail- 
way line as striking as usual. Our train zig- 
zagged its seemingly perilous path, first up the 
gentle green slopes, then, as it got higher, round 
precipitous crags, skirting deep gorges and stu- 
pendous precipices, pursuing its way slowly and 
steadily from ridge to ridge through the sinuosi- 
ties of the chain, until at length we got to the top 
of the great mountain wall and the huge panting 
engine drew up in the pretty station of Khandala. 
We had left the Konkan, with its wavy palm- 
trees and rich tropical vegetation and cultivated 
lands and moist, warm air, lying far below on the 
margin by the sea, and had mounted to the brown 
plains and fresher air of the Deccan plateau. 

Late in the evening we reached our goal for 
this day, the dear old mission-house at Poona, 
where the warmest of welcomes always awaits us. 



POONA. SHOI.APORE. 1 7 



CHAPTER II. 

POONA. SHOI.APORE. 

January 24. 

We had another exciting day, for the Cooks 
joined us in Poona and were also the guests of 
Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont in the mission-house. . . 

In the evening we all went in company to 
the Hira-bag to hear Mr. Cook's lecture. This 
is a large hall standing by itself in some pretty 
grounds on the outskirts of the native city, beside 
a beautiful tank filled with water, on which some 
water-lilies float, and just under the temple-crown- 
ed, picturesque little sacred hill of Parbutty. 
The hall was densely packed with all manner of 
people come to hear the celebrated lecturer, and 
crowds stood about every door and window. 

Now, as always in Poona, the striking part of 
the audience was the number of fine-looking, 
fine-featured Hindoo gentlemen, the Uite of native 
society, who filled the benches — remarkable-look- 
ing men in white garb, strictly national, with 
huge red or white turbans, wonderfully fair in 
complexion, w4th the keen, intellectual counte- 
nance of the Maratha Brahman. 

S cenes in Southern India. 2 



l8 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

These are Hindoos of the Hindoos — not half- 
Europeanized, like the Bengali Baboos — though 
they are as thoroughly educated, and many of 
them first-rate speakers themselves. They are in- 
tensely national, and naturally so. Poona was the 
capital of the Maratha empire, and the Peshwas — 
the rulers — being themselves Brahmans, they 
were great patrons of their caste. The present 
inhabitants naturally look back with a wistful 
eye to the glories — real or imaginary — of the old 
days of Maratha supremacy; and whatever old 
national beliefs and customs they can possibly re- 
tain they do retain. Politics seem to occupy 
their attention more than religion, and sometimes 
they no doubt practise the rites of Hindooism 
without believing in their efficacy. They are 
sometimes extremely severe in their criticism on 
the measures of Government, though most of them 
are far too high-minded and honorable to be con- 
sciously unjust. 

Such an intelligent people are sure to advance. 
Education, missionary influence, and other forces 
have done their work. Destruction of the old 
faith has come, but the reconstruction has yet to 
come. What is needed is a touch from the life- 
giving Spirit of the living God, that the train 
which has been so diligently laid by all the influ- 
ences, at work may be fired by divine power. Then 



POONA. SHOI.APORE. I9 

Xve should see this fine, interesting people, with 
so many noble qualities, flocking to the feet of 
Christ. The pity is that Christianity comes to 
them as the religion of the conqueror. This cir- 
cumstance, of course, increases the difficulty of 
the missionaries' task. But more faith and prayer 
and earnest work, more pleading with Him whose 
cause it is, would bring down that quickening 
power without which nothing that man can do 
will avail. 

As I sat watching the thoughtful faces, and 
the effect of Mr. Cook's stirring words upon them, 
I could not help praying that some of those sharp 
arrows from above, so effectual in the Spirit's 
hand, would come direct to some of these men^- 
such as was shot into the mind of I^uther when 
he exclaimed, "The just shall live by faith!" 
Thus would they become the best apostles and 
teachers of their countrymen, and the salvation 
of God would come to this people. 

We had to leave before the meeting closed; 
we rushed to our train, secured a good second- 
class carriage to ourselves, spread our quilts on 
the hard benches, slept as well as we could un- 
der the circumstances, and before daybreak, shiv- 
ering in the cold of the Deccan morning, we 
arrived at Sholapore. A special pleasure has 
awaited us here in being the guests of our dear 



20 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

old friends the Jolinstones, Mr. Johnstone being 
now assistant judge of this station.^ 

There is a flourishing branch mission of the 
American Board in Sholapore, and Rev. Mr. 
Gates and his wife are at the head of it. She has 
come of a missionary family, her father being 
our old friend the Rev. Mr. Hazen of Ahmedna- 
gar. I have had her on my knee when a baby. 
There are several of these missionary families 
who have done noble service in the foreign field; 
and many dark places of the earth would be still 
darker but for the energy and practical wisdom 
which the Americans bring to bear on all that 
they do. British people, to whom India has been 
especially entrusted, ought to be grateful to their 
American friends for their zealous and successful 
work among the heathen. 

One of the most interesting parts of Mr. Gates' 
mission is the medical department. It is con- 
ducted by a native practitioner, who seems to 
manage it admirably. We visited him and his 
wife this morning, and saw their own neat little 
dwelling as well as the dispensary, both under 
one roof, and literally smothered by a lovely mass 
of creeping convolvulus. The patients pay for 
their medicines; and it is remarkable that though 
there are three dispensaries in the city where 
medicines are free, yet the numbers who come to 



POONA. SHOLAPORK. 21 

the mission increase day by day. Let ns hope 
that the medicine for their souls which they also 
receive may be part of the attraction ! Mr. Gates 
thinks it is so, for many of the patients in their 
sorrow and suffering seem to hear the divine Word 
gladly. 

Among those who came to-day was a native 
Christian from a village called Watwad, a place 
about seventy-five miles northeast of Sholapore, 
in the Nizam's dominions. It seems that this 
village is the centre of an indigenous and most 
hopeful little mission; and the story of the en- 
trance of light into that dark region is so interest- 
ing that I think I must relate it. 

Nearly seventeen years ago a gosavi^ or reli- 
gious mendicant, named Mhasoba, was sent to 
prison by the well-known Meadows Taylor for 
cattle-stealing. While in prison he happily 
learned to read. He had a friend, another gosavi^ 
who, after Mhasoba's release, came to him, tell- 
ing him he had heard of some new, strange doc- 
trines taught by white missionaries and he wanted 
to find out what these doctrines were. ^'You 
now can read, ' ' he said ; ^ * you can help me to 
find out what it all means.*' 

The two men consulted together, and de- 
cided they would go and seek for the missiona- 
ries, who, they heard, were to be found at Shola- 



2,% SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

pore. After a weary trudge of many days, to 
Sholapore they came. 

The missionary who was laboring then at this 
station was Mr. Hazen, Mrs. Gates' father, who 
has now returned to America. He received the 
wayfarers most kindly, hearing their request, so 
similar to that of the Greeks to Philip, "We 
would see Jesus." He instructed them, gave 
them tracts and books, one of which was called 
"The True Way," and pointed them to Him 
who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." 
They carried the books back to their village, 
where Mhasoba read them aloud to his fellow- 
inquirers and the rest of the people. After much 
thought and study and earnest prayer, seeking 
the Lord with sincere hearts, if "haply they 
might feel after him and find him," they did 
find him, as every real seeker does, and made up 
their minds that they would enter on this new 
way and become Christians. But they did not 
quite know how, and it was years before they 
had an opportunity of being baptized. 

At length, in the cold season of 1874, the Rev. 
Mr. Park, lately of the American Mission, Bom- 
bay, was itinerating in the district. Mhasoba 
heard of his arrival and came twenty miles to see 
the missionary and ask to be baptized. He had 
had no human instructor, only the little books, 



POONA. SHOLAPORE. 23 

blessed by the teaching of the Holy Ghost; but 
Mr. Park found him prepared. I^ike the Ethio- 
pian of old, he believed with all his heart. He 
had manifestly received the baptism of the Spirit, 
so Mr. Park administered the ordinance to him 
and his wife, and to two other men whom he had 
instructed. 

After this the missionaries visited the village 
occasionally, about once a year or so; but Mhaso- 
ba and the other converts have carried on the 
work themselves. He taught his daughter to 
read, and she now regularly teaches the other wo- 
men to read and sew and sing. The work has 
spread to other villages, and now there are sixty 
adults baptized. These people receive no regular 
pecuniary help from the parent mission in Shola- 
pore. They work at their calling, whatever that 
may be, and give regularly — of their great pover- 
ty often — that Christ's cause may spread among 
their people. At the same time every convert 
seems to be an evangelist. Even the women, Mr. 
Gates says, go many miles to other villages, often 
carrying their infants in their arms, to tell other 
women the joyful news; and gladly are they wel- 
comed everywhere. The people beg these Chris- 
tians to come and teach them and lead them also 
into the ''true way." They have a schoolroom 
and a little church, which, strange to say, the 



24 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

heathen people in the village helped them to 
build. They got but very small contributions to- 
wards the buildings from the mission funds. 

These Christians are chiefly Mangs, a low 
caste; but physically they are fine men, and are 
often of manly, independent character. 

After we had seen what our friends had to 
show us in the mission we went on to visit the 
fine old temple of Sideshwar, which occupies one 
side of a handsome large tank. We also saw the 
fort, which covers an immense area. The walls 
and ramparts are in excellent preservation, and 
there is a wide moat all round with some water in 
it and some lovely water-lilies. A legend says 
that when this fort was being built the walls re- 
peatedly tumbled down. This misfortune was, of 
course, attributed, not to any fault in the work, 
but to the malignity of a certain deity. So, in 
order to propitiate the angry god and to cure this 
unsatisfactory state of matters, it was resolved to 
offer a human sacrifice. Accordingly a woman 
and a boy were buried alive in the foundations, 
after which the walls fell down no more. We 
were told that the Brahman family, who had the 
honor of contributing the victims for the sacrifice 
actually now receive a pension in consideration of 
this act of devotion and patriotism ! 

Dr. Mitchell preached twice on Sunday, the 



POONA. SHOLAPORE. 25 

morning service being chiefly for the officials con- 
nected with the railway and their families, on 
each of whom he afterwards called, meeting with 
the most cordial reception. Our country-people 
here are often thankful for the visit of a minister. 
In the railway community alone in Sholapore 
there are 58 men and women who are Protestants, 
a few being East-Indian, but most are English. 
In the evening the whole station gathered into 
the pretty little station church, and again we had 
a most refreshing service. 

Dr. Mitchell has now proceeded along the line 
to hold services for other people who occupy iso- 
lated positions in out-of-the-way stations and are 
often too much neglected as far as the ordinances 
of religion are concerned. It has been arranged 
that I shall rejoin him at Raichore, en route to 
Madras. 

After a visit of unceasing enjoyment, having 
seen everything there is to see and met everybody 
there is to meet in this most social abode, I pre- 
pared, with our excellent factotum Joseph, to de- 
part. 

At two in the morning of the 26th I turned 
our friends' dwelling upside down by having to 
start, there being no train suitable at a less incon- 
venient hour; and my kindest of hosts insisted on 
escorting me. His influence with the powers of 



26 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the railway procured me a carriage free, at least 
of human company. I took possession, and knew 
little more until the dawn looked in at the win- 
dows and woke me up to the noise and monotony 
and dust and fatigue and all the general discom- 
fort of a long Indian railway journey. But pres- 
ently, at our next halt, my prince of domestics 
appeared in his noiseless way at the door with a 
cup of tea in his hand, whence procured I cannot 
tell, for Joseph is not a man of speech; "deeds, 
not words," being his motto. After this I could 
look more at the bright side of things, especially 
as by this time dawn had turned to day; the sun 
shone joyously over the wide -spread plain and 
was not yet too fiery for comfort. 

The country in this part of the Deccan is not 
pretty. Now and then we passed towns with 
great gateways and the remains of fortifications, 
which in the old troublous times of incessant tur- 
moil and war were needful for their protection. 
There were occasional villages also surrounded by 
old mud-walls to protect them from dacoits and 
marauders and other unwelcome visitors, now 
peacefully crumbling to ruin. On the outskirts 
of the towns there were generally a few trees to 
be seen ; but, beyond these, our route was mostly 
over vast plains, brown, bare, burned up, and per- 
fect solitudes, as far as human habitation went, 



POONA. SHOI.APORK. 2'] 

having little and very imperfect cultivation. The 
stations, however, always prettily decorated with 
shrubs and flowers, were full of life and most 
amusing, and we had plenty of time to enjoy the 
sights they presented. Though this was the mail- 
train we stopped very often and halted very long; 
manifestly time did not count for much. 

At the station for Hyderabad I noticed some 
unusually fine men, with grand, flowing beards, 
much latent fire in their handsome faces, and 
swords at their sides. They accompanied a Mus- 
sulman grandee, who was seated on a remarkably 
beautiful black horse, with scarlet saddle-cloth 
and trappings of gold and silver, whose gorgeous 
appearance altogether suggested Akbar or Hyder 
AH. One or two elephants, with glittering how- 
dahs, stood in the background tossing their fine 
trunks about, and these helped the illusion. 

The poor women squat about the platforms, 
very helpless-looking, but in wonderfully pictu- 
resque groups, clothed in their Turkey-red cloths 
and surrounded by their little naked, brown chil- 
dren and quantities of gutries^ the inevitable bun- 
dle without which no Hindoo can travel. One 
young creature, with dark, Madrassee face and 
her jet-black hair drawn to one side of her head 
in a huge knot, stalked past with a bottle poised 
on her head, at the same time carrying an infant 



28 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

in her arms and showing the utmost freedom and 
grace of movement. How gracefully these wo- 
men contrive to wear the sari^ the long, scarf-like 
garment which is the usual dress of Hindoo wo- 
men. It is wound round the person, with the 
end carried over the head, after the modest fash- 
ion of most Eastern women. This garment may 
be colored or white. Generally the higher class- 
es wear it of some color, while servants and ayahs 
wear it white; but all with gay bordering round 
and very elaborate ends. The prevailing color 
in this region, I observe, is red in a variety of 
shades. 

One certainly has excellent opportunities at 
the stations, as you pass along, of observing the 
marvellous variety there is in this extraordinary 
country of race, form, feature, color, costume, 
head-gear, and everything. People congregate, 
from the most respectable of native gentry down 
to the wretched fakir smeared with paint and 
ashes and the grinning little gypsy boys and 
girls, who turn somersaults and hold up their 
dirty little palms to the carriage windows for a 
pice. The interest is never-ending. 

Early in the afternoon we crossed the broad 
bed of the Krishna River. In the rains this is a 
magnificent, sea -like stream, but now it was 
simply a wide expanse of sand, with a few 



POONA. SHOLAPORE. 29 

small, shallow streamlets flowing dully here and 
there. 

Soon after this we got to Raichore, where I 
spied my husband waiting on the platform. He 
had had one or two hearty meetings, and altogeth- 
er enjoyed the little ministry in these *' regions 
beyond. ' ' 

The heat is much greater here than in the re- 
gions from which we have come and has not tend- 
ed to cure my husband's fever, so it is with some 
anxiety we face the long night-journey before us. 
We changed into the carriages of the Madras 
Railway and got into a tiny box of a second-class 
compartment, with very narrow and very hard 
benches; but we had it to ourselves. There was 
water in it and every convenience, and it gave me 
occupation to battle with the thick, white, stifling 
dust and keep ourselves tolerably clean. 

I had noticed early in my journey that in a 
compartment for women next to mine a native 
lady was travelling alone, and often when we 
stopped I got out and spoke to her, sometimes go- 
ing in to keep her company between two stations. 
She was extremely nice and intelligent and talked 
Hindostani. Her husband, she told me, was in 
another compartment, hers being the zenana of 
the train. At Raichore he introduced himself to 
Dr. Mitchell and politely asked him to thank me 



30 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

for my attention to his wife. We found she was 
the daughter of Sir T. Madhavarao, of Baroda, and 
he a Brahman occupying a high official position 
in the native court of Travancore. We became 
great friends, and he proved to be a very clever, 
highly-educated man, speaking English with a 
purity of accent I have rarely heard from any but 
an Englishman. They had been at Baroda for 
the grand doings when the new Gaekwar was in- 
stalled, and were now returning to Trevandrum. 
They begged us to come and see them when we 
ourselves should reach that place. In spite of the 
dreadful heat and fatigue and dust we managed to 
get a little sleep, and about six next morning we 
swept into the station at Madras. 



MADRAS. 31 



CHAPTER III. 

/ 

MADRAS. 

February i. 

Any one who has undergone a hot, dusty 
journey of twenty-six hours on hard benches in 
India will comprehend how pleasant it was to 
feel that we had arrived, and I shall not easily 
forget our feeling of gratitude to Him who had so 
graciously '* preserved our going out and our com- 
ing in,^' now, as in so many wanderings by sea 
and land. It was indeed a welcome sight as we 
got out of our dusty little den to spy our friend 
Mr. Rae, of the Free Church Mission, waiting 
for us, he and his wife having most hospitably 
claimed us as their guests. We were soon driven 
to the Mission Boarding-school, which is their 
home at present, Mrs. Rae having lately under- 
taken the superintendence of it. 

It is quite in accordance with the tradition of 
this good old school that a missionary lady should 
be at its head. Many of our best missionaries 
have occupied the post, whose names deserve to 
be held in grateful and lasting remembrance as 
having borne the heat and' burden of the troublous 
day which saw female education started in Madras ; 



32 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and now it is delightful to find Mrs. Rae taking 
up the work heart and soul. She and hers have 
just removed from their pleasant, roomy house, 
with its grounds and garden, to the circumscribed 
quarters which the upper floor of this school offers. 
I need not add 'that our hostess is the author of 
*'Morag" and some other delightful books. 

She stood on the steps as we drove up to the 
door, ready to welcome us, with her children at 
her side — fair little creatures, with curly hair and 
dainty, airy attire, which looked cool in the heat 
of the too brilliant morning. They looked won- 
deringly at the strangers, but had none of the 
shyness most English children have. We were 
soon installed in our comfortable quarters, and, 
after a good bath and some tea, were ready for 
anything. The two bairnies, who soon made up 
their minds to be friendly, brought us out, each 
with a hand, to receive our first visitors. These 
were the two native clergymen, Mr. Rajahgopal 
and Mr. Bauboo, well-known names. Principal 
Miller and Mr. Cooper, of the Christian College, 
speedily followed. We all breakfasted together, 
and erelong we had been welcomed by all the 
missionaries of our own church and many others 
besides. 

I soon found my way down stairs among Mrs. 
Rae's large flock of schoolgirls and normal pupils, 



MADRAS. 33 

with their teacher, Mrs. Harris, and was glad to 
find some old acquaintances among them whom I 
had seen on a former visit. One of the most im- 
portant and interesting parts of Mrs. Rae's work 
is a Bible-class for advanced students, which she 
conducts every day, Sundays and week-days, from 
seven to eight in the morning. I delight in this 
hour, with its admirable instruction for the train- 
ing of teachers and workers who are to go out by- 
and-by among the zenanas and day-schools. 

Since the first hour of our arrival we have 
been as busy as possible, and it is hard to find 
leisure for one's pen. Our sight-seeing has been 
almost entirely confined to schools and other op- 
erations of the kind, the single regret being that, 
as our time is so short, we cannot see all the work 
of all the missions in this great centre as we 
should desire. 

Madras differs in a good many points from the 
other cities of India we have seen. The European 
part is of immense extent and has far more beauty 
to show than I remembered. The houses are 
large, two-storied, and exceedingly handsome. 
They are surrounded by extensive gardens and 
grounds, wonderfully green, and ornamented by 
clumps of fine trees and shrubs and evergreens 
in all the luxuriance of beautiful tropical foliage. 
These residences, standing in their park-like in- 

Scenes in Southern India. ■? 



34 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

closures, extend for miles chiefly along the shore, 
and there is a sense of delightful expansiveness 
everywhere as if space counted for nothing, which 
is extremely pleasant in so very hot a climate. 
This is altogether different from crowded Bombay, 
where every foot of ground is of value. If Wash- 
ington is called *'the city of magnificent dis- 
tances," much more, I am sure, may Madras be 
so. 

It is certainly strange for situation. It was an 
odd idea to plant a great city down on a long sea- 
shore without reference to bays or harbors, or 
even a reasonably safe approach by the natural 
way to it, the sea. On this coast the surf-wave 
is very dangerous; even in fine weather it rises 
several feet; and every one knows what it means 
to land at Madras when the weather is at all 
tempestuous. I have found it quite exciting to 
watch the catamarans cut through the boiling 
surf on a stormy evening. They disappear en- 
tirely for a few moments, and you think it is all 
over with the poor fishermen crew. But no; they 
hold on somehow to their frail-looking barks and 
emerge presently none the worse, shaking them- 
selves free from the white foam like so many 
water-dogs. The dark skins, happily, do not 
seem to attract the numerous sharks so readily as 
white ones would do in similar circumstances. 




mmm mm '^mMtm 



MADRAS. 35 

An unusually wide and beautifully-kept road 
stretches along the beach for miles. This is the 
Drive, where every one comes of an evening for 
a breath of cool air from the sea to bring some 
fresh life into the poor frame, weary and limp 
from the pitiless heat of the tropical day. 

I am bound to admit that there are two draw- 
backs to the full enjoyment of a visit to Madras — 
the wearing heat, which is terribly trying even 
in the so-called *'cold weather," and the un- 
speakable plague of mosquitoes, which seem to 
be of the most malignant, wicked type. They 
attack one with a fierce pertinacity I have seldom 
seen equalled; they buzz, sting, stab, until you 
are fairly driven frantic with the irritation to both 
nerves and skin. 

One of the first objects which would attract 
your notice if you should happen to cast anchor 
in the roadstead of Madras would be the line of 
handsome buildings which form the headquarters 
of the old-established and well-known Free Church 
Mission. First in the line comes the Boarding- 
school, corresponding in decoration and appear- 
ance with its next neighbor, the Christian Col- 
lege, which is a very handsome and extensive 
building. Next comes the Free church, and, 
last, the Evangelistic Memorial Hall. These pre- 
sent an imposing front to the sea and certainly 



36 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

give the mission a striking and desirable visibility 
in the eyes of the natives. There is a new and 
handsome veranda added to this school, which is 
our favorite haunt. It is shady and cool and 
bowery with numbers of pretty plants, and offers 
a glorious view of the sea. 

Why Madras has been called the ''benighted 
Presidency" is always a puzzle to me. At all 
events, it no longer deserves the epithet, for I 
believe there is no city in India where education 
and missionary enterprise have had more success. 
Female education especially has made most en- 
couraging progress, and this is always a test of 
enlightenment and advance. We have spent one 
of the most interesting and delightful mornings I 
remember in seeing the Christian College, under 
the auspices of its able and excellent principal, 
Dr. Miller, He took us all over it, from the low- 
est class-room for beginners to the highest section 
for the advanced students of the college. 

This noble catholic institution has grown out 
of the Free Church Institute, which was founded 
by the Rev. J. Anderson in 1837. It is still 
maintained chiefly by the Free Church, but the 
Church Missionary and Wesleyan Societies also 
contribute to its support, and the professors are 
drawn from various evangelical churches. The 
story is still told how, at its commencement, the 



MADRAS. 37 

death-blow was given to all caste distinctions 
within its walls. The year after it was opened 
the admirable John Anderson admitted two very 
low-caste boys, with the immediate result that 
the whole of the two hundred and fifty good-caste 
pupils took their departure. Great commotion 
followed. Pressure was brought to bear on the 
bold innovator to get him to eject the oflfending 
Pariahs, but he was firm as a rock. He went on 
with his two low-caste pupils until the rest should 
come to their senses, which they gradually did. 
They thought better of it and returned, and from 
that day to this the claims of caste have had no 
recognition in this college, though planted in the 
very heart of this caste-ridden Presidency. 

Again, this uncompromising missionary told 
his pupils openly that his grand object and aim 
was to teach them Christ and His religion and 
win their countrymen for Him; consequently the 
chief feature of his teaching would be the Chris- 
tian's book— the Bible, the Word of God. That 
was the chief feature in Mr. Anderson's time, and 
I am glad to say it is the chief feature still. The 
most interesting and stirring classes we saw were 
those for Bible knowledge, and, judging from the 
eager, earnest look with which the pupils received 
the lesson, I should say that the Bible-class is one 
of the most popular in the work of the day. 



38 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Unfortunately the college is not yet in full 
working order, as the pupils are only gathering 
after the recess. But the class-rooms are full and 
the benches crowded, and still candidates for ad- 
mission are flocking to the doors. Every boy 
puts himself into as small a space as possible, 
trying to make room for a friend; but, after all, 
many have to be refused. It was sad to see num- 
bers of disappointed lads hanging about the cor- 
ridors disconsolate when not another one could 
possibly be admitted. The school, already so 
large, could be increased to any extent if there 
was only more room. Indeed, the pursuit of 
knowledge presented itself in some of its droll 
aspects, especially in the rooms for beginners, 
where you find the very rawest material. I no- 
ticed one tall, lanky youth towering beside a very 
small boy, with a high white cap on his head like 
that of a French cook, who stood next above him 
in the class. The wee fellow hardly came to the 
other's knee, but he was as keen as a needle and 
preternaturally quick. He kept surreptitiously 
prompting his tall friend, who had evidently be- 
gun learning too late in life, though he was in- 
tensely earnest about it. It was touching to see 
the two, the little one trying to hide the deficien- 
cies of the older and looking all the time out of 
the corner of his quick eye to see whether Dr. 



MADRAS. 39 

Miller noticed, which, of course, he did, but said 
nothing; he only smiled at the small Ramasamy 
and gave a playful pinch to his ear as we were 
going out. 

The large classes filled with such motley 
material were most interesting and rather pictu- 
resque. The head-gear was especially remarkable 
and varied, the huge white bunchy turban pre- 
dominating. There were no bare heads with 
short-cropped hair, as in Bengal ; every head had 
something on it in the shape of turban. The 
Madrassees are dark-complexioned — more so a 
good deal than the Marathas — with open, good- 
humored expression, and more thoughtful in look 
than sharp. Poor fellows! I was very sorry for 
some of them, waiting to know the result of the 
university examinations. There was a look of 
expectancy on some of the faces and of sore anx- 
iety on others; some seemed full of despair and 
others defiant. What was their fate to be? Who 
would "pass"? Who would be "plucked"? 
These were the momentous questions which were 
pressing on every heart. One could not but sym- 
pathize — so much depended upon it in their fu- 
ture — and yet it was difficult to suppress a smile 
at some of the countenances, so full of woe. 

Their kind master understood them all. He 
addressed many by name (and the Madras names 



40 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

are very puzzling to a new ear), individualizing 
each among the hundreds present, spoke words of 
cheer to some, of playful reproach to others, and 
of sympathy and kindness to all. I was amazed 
to see how he could keep all their different cases 
in his memory — like a doctor among his patients; 
but many a nice, good, honest face looked brighter 
after Dr. Miller had passed through and dropped 
a kind and stimulating word here and there. He 
has manifestly gained the entire confidence and 
affection of the lads. He is the moving spirit of 
the whole, but he is most ably seconded by an 
admirable staff of missionary professors and na- 
tive teachers. We saw Mr. Paterson amid his 
philosophical and chemical apparatus, Mr. Rae 
at his delightful Bible-class, and, indeed, all of 
them — each at his own particular and important 
work. 

It is indeed a noble institution, numbering 
over 1,300, taking school and college together. 
It is acknowledged to be the most influential of 
all the educational institutions in South India 
and in advance of all similar establishments in 
this city in attendance, popularity, and in the 
number of men it now passes. In university 
honors it stands first. But, what is of infinitely 
more importance, the whole influence, the genius 
of the place, is Christianity. The flower of the 



MADRAS. 41 

youth of South India are here presented with 
Bible truth by men who are themselves deeply 
imbued with the spirit of truth; and thus this 
college is a centre whence Christian enlighten- 
ment is spreading, surely and steadily, not only 
in the city of Madras, but in all the Presidency. 



4a SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

CHAPTKR IV. 

MADRAS. FEMAI.E WORK. 

We have had two or three good mornings* 
work in seeing the girls' schools connected with 
our own mission. I am sorry we have had time 
for hardly any others. One day our friend Mr. 
Rajahgopal called for us and took us over those 
in which he has special interest, and another day 
Mr. and Mrs. Bauboo conducted us in like man- 
ner over a number which they have ably superin- 
tended for many years. These were all day- 
schools, admirably conducted, and both attractive 
and interesting. 

Female education has made very considerable 
progress in Madras. It has had a checkered his- 
tory, like similar efforts in the other Presidencies. 
There was a fight, of course, at the commence- 
ment — a hard struggle with seemingly insupera- 
ble difficulties, ups and downs, hopes and fears; 
but with determination, energy, perseverance, and 
unfailing faith the cause has been fought by every 
missionary who successively settled in the coun- 
try. The early Danish missionaries tried to es- 
tablish schools for girls, and every society which 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 43 

came after them followed their example and did 
its best. Some brave and devoted women, whose 
names are still remembered with veneration, suc- 
ceeded, after many self-denying efforts, in estab- 
lishing orphanages and a few small day-schools. 
But their experience was the same as that of all 
the early workers in the same cause: they could 
only manage to reach the very lowest of the peo- 
ple. A few orphans were gathered in and some 
poor children of the lowest castes; and this was so 
far a happy commencement and answered its own 
important end; but the great Hindoo community 
remained utterly untouched. It was reserved for 
three Scottish missionaries — a singular triumvi- 
rate of much -honored men, Messrs. Anderson, 
Johnstone, and Braidwood — to succeed and estab- 
lish what we may really call female education in 
this part of India. They had successfully intro- 
duced high-class English education for the men, 
and now, with immense difficulty, by very slow 
degrees, and by God's blessing and help, they ac- 
complished the same for the women. 

It was in 1843 ^^^^ Mrs. Braidwood managed 
to get in the thin end of the wedge by gathering 
a few good-caste girls into what is still called the 
*' Madras Girls' Day-school." Graphic pictures 
are often given on the spot of the way she toiled 
and struggled, and how the gentlemen aided by 



44 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

bringing their influence to bear on the young hus- 
bands and brothers who were being taught in the 
Institution or English School. Indeed, without 
the cooperation of these educated young men the 
work could never have been done. She added 
the inducement of liberal presents, both in money 
and dress, and so the end was achieved, and she 
had the joy of seeing a few gathered in to receive 
the merest elements of education, of course in 
their mother-tongue. Mrs. Anderson joined the 
mission soon after and threw herself heart and 
soul into the grand work. It is delightful to 
think that this excellent lady is still in the field, 
and with plenty of freshness and vigor. She is 
now watching over her spiritual children and 
children's children in the native church, and she 
is a mother in Israel to the whole community. It 
was a great pleasure indeed to meet her again. 

So the great question was practically settled. 
Female education, once fairly started, went stead- 
ily on. The prejudice of ages began to give way; 
and no one can doubt that the movement thus 
commenced will eventually work a great social 
and religious revolution in the condition of the 
people. 

But in 1847 ^ check was experienced from the 
very success of the work. Five of the pupils be- 
came Christians and were baptized. This created 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 45 

a panic, and the school was emptied for a time. 
The five girls took refuge in the mission-house; 
but a home was needed for them, and for others 
who, through God's blessing on the Scriptural 
teaching, might happily follow their example. 
This resulted in the formation of the boarding- 
school, which was thus begun as an asylum and 
school for Christian girls, and has ever since been 
as a nursery for Christ in the mission. The day- 
school, the first, as I said, for caste girls ever 
opened in the city, soon recovered from the shock 
it had received by reason of the baptisms. It was 
soon as full as ever. Other schools were opened 
in other parts, and now there are twelve such 
day-schools in connection with the Free Church, 
having an aggregate attendance of over 1,400. 
Altogether, counting also the pupils in the zena- 
nas, those in poor and ragged schools, those in the 
Boarding-school for Christian Girls, and the stu- 
dents in the Normal School, we have the large 
number of 1,800 females under Christian instruc- 
tion. 

Other agencies also are at work, such as zena- 
na-teaching, Sunday-schools, and Bible-women's 
work. The people generally are eager for educa- 
tion; the women want it for themselves, and the 
men want it for their wives and daughters. Thus 
the little seed planted with so many tears, but 



46 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

witli patience and faith and prayer, forty years 
ago has grown into a goodly tree, which — who 
can doubt? — will one day fill the land. One 
thing which has struck us in visiting the schools 
is that the buildings and class-rooms are so suita- 
ble and good. I confess I covet similar ones for 
other places not so highly favored. 

Mr. Rajahgopal's new building for his Chetty 
school is specially handsome — a cool, convenient, 
spacious house, with verandas, stone floors, green 
blinds, benches, and plenty of bright pictures on 
the walls, including one of Her Majesty the 
Queen. I only wish the friends of the cause at 
home could see the winsome little creatures who 
fill the rooms, so dainty and bedizened, so intelli- 
gent too and bright, answering the questions put 
to them with eager readiness, their wonderful 
dark eyes fixed on your face all the time in a 
way, to me, quite bewitching. Their knowledge 
of Bible history would have done credit to any 
Sunday-school in Scotland. They questioned 
each other too in an amusing way; and to hear 
them sing such hymns as "Jesus loves me," and 
their own sweet Tamil lyrics, was a delight not to 
be forgotten. 

The Chetties are a very good caste, though 
lower than Brahmans, and are the merchants of 
Madras. Like other good castes they keep en- 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 47 

tirely to themselves and do not intermarry with 
any other. 

They still manifest much opposition to the 
gospel and do not quite like the Christian teach- 
ing for their girls. So they have set up some op- 
position schools in which the education is gratis, 
while we charge fees. Still, mission work among 
them goes steadily on, making progress both 
among the children and the women in their 
homes. Some most encouraging incidents show- 
ing this were related to me by Mr. Rajahgopal. 
The Chetties are a very rich community, and the 
amount of beautiful jewels they heap on their 
children is wonderful to see. 

Mr. Rajahgopal has a capital ragged-school, 
which was one of the most interesting we saw. 
He has some 250 poor little boys and girls, all of 
them waifs or orphans, many of whom are fed and 
clothed, and all have more or less education given 
them. It is very nice to see them occupying de- 
lightful premises lent to Mr. Rajahgopal by Gov- 
ernment, with excellent schoolrooms, a large com- 
pound, in which there is plenty of room to play 
and fine fresh air. An industrial department add- 
ed would be a great boon, with trades for the boys 
and some simple, paying industry for the girls. 

But what, I think, delighted me most in all 
that we saw was Mr. Bauboo's Normal School, 



48 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

which is one most important part of his work. I 
cannot tell the interest with which I looked at the 
forty pupils and talked to them, all well-educated, 
intelligent, Christian young women, pleasant and 
bright in manner and cultivated in appearance. 
It was most delightful to think of the possibilities 
for the future they presented in increase of schools 
and other work for women ; for these students are 
pledged to become teachers, and as soon as they 
are ready they are drafted into work of some sort. 
From the boarding-school also, and Dr. Elder's 
schools and Mr. Rajahgopal's, pupils have passed 
the Government teachers' examinations, and it is 
one of the most hopeful features of the work that 
most of the teachers in the day-schools are well- 
trained native Christian women. 

A great quantity of pretty needlework was dis- 
played in every school, and the children and their 
mothers like it and are proud of their achieve- 
ments in the way of rugs, cushions, slippers, and 
smoking-caps. They are also fond of their little 
hymns and sing them with might and main, both 
in school and in their homes. 

Of course, Bible-teaching is the chief feature 
in every kind of school, but all the instruction is 
first-rate. There is a Government inspectress to 
see that the work is thorough and up to the pre- 
scribed standards, and grants in aid are provided 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 49 

by Government. In one point, I am sorry to say, 
Madras is just as much behind as other places. 
Girls are not allowed to remain in school after 
they are married, and early marriage is, unhappi- 
ly, as much the rule now as it has been for ages. 
You hardly see a pupil in the classes over thir- 
teen, and most of the children are under ten. 
Zenana-visiting, then, is as important here as 
elsewhere, in order that the girls after they are 
betrothed may be followed to their homes, and 
their education, only commenced in school, may 
be carried on and completed. There is this hap- 
py difference between the women of Madras and 
their sisters in Bengal: they are not so much shut 
up, their houses are not so like prisons. I fancy 
that the Mohammedan conquest did not influence 
the South so much as other parts of India, and 
consequently did not revolutionize society by in- 
troducing Mohammedan customs, preeminently 
those affecting the treatment of women. But in 
character the women are all much alike. They 
ask the same foolish questions here about your 
children and husband, and your motives for com- 
ing to India, and especially why you visit them. 
It seems hard for them to believe that the only 
reason is to try and do them good. 

It ought to be confessed that zenana-visiting 
is often trying and disappointing. Thus, on a lit- 



Scenes in Southern India. 



50 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

tie tour to-day, accompanying Miss Oxley, of the 
Church of England Zenana Society, we visited in 
the house of a Persian gentleman whose ladies 
kept us waiting and then appeared in fine English 
clothes, put on, I suppose, in honor of our visit. 
The dresses were made in the very height of Paris 
fashion, of rose-colored and pale blue silk ! But 
with their rich olive complexion and generally 
Oriental style they did not look quite so ridicu- 
lous as you would suppose. They would talk of 
nothing but clothes and wanted to examine every 
article we had on. This is the sort of thing which 
tries the zenana visitor. However, there was a 
strong redeeming point in two bright, intelligent 
young girls, very fair and pretty, who are Miss 
Oxley's pupils, and full of interest in what 
they read and desire to learn. They seemed 
rather ashamed of their gay, talkative elder rela- 
tives. 

Let us, then, sympathize with our dear zenana 
missionaries and help them with our prayers, 
thanking God always because these sad homes 
have been penetrated, and because we know that 
there are not a few within their walls who have 
learned to know and love Christ through the loving 
labors of the missionaries. These are of Christ's 
** hidden ones,'' and, though not known to the 
world, they are known to Him. Ah ! they some- 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 51 

times ask questions very different from those I 
have alluded to. They gaze at you with those 
large, liquid eyes, which look as if the fountain 
of their tears was very close, and ask, "Why are 
we so different from you? Could we not enjoy 
the world and be free like you?" They are in- 
deed more to be pitied now than ever. Why? 
Because a glimmering of light has penetrated 
the darkness of these homes; they see their 
bonds. Formerly they did not know they were 
bound. Now they do; and they have a suspi- 
cion that a better fate might be theirs. The 
fair world outside they too might enjoy; there is 
a position they might attain to — a Father above 
who miofht be theirs as well as ours. "You are 
like that dove," said one young woman to me, 
pointing to a bird on the wing. " You are like 
the bird soaring to heaven: we are like that same 
bird caught, its wings clipped, and shut up in a 
cage too narrow to hold it. ' ' 

Mrs. Rae and I had nearly experienced one of 
those little misadventures this morning to which 
one is prone in a "city of magnificent distances," 
as I said Madras is. We set out at eleven in a 
"bandy." Let me explain that a bandy is the 
cab of Madras, a narrow, oblong box set on four 
little wheels with high, hard seats, a well to con- 
tain your feet, and Venetian windows, which will 



52 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

neither let down nor go up. It rattles loudly, 
and is drawn by a lean and hungry-looking horse, 
which is made to go spasmodically by the long 
handle of the whip continually applied to his 
flanks. The half-clad, keen-witted driver is 
perched aloft on the roof. 

We drove for many miles through fiery heat 
and blinding glare and dust to call on a lady I 
particularly wanted to see. When we drew up 
at length below the porch of a splendid mansion, 
a small box was handed to us by "the boy'^ at 
the door, a scarlet-robed, white-bearded official 
with a belt across his breast. The box had a slit 
in the top, like a child's missionary box, and the 
words "Not at home" faced us in big, porten- 
tous letters. 

In answer to our remonstrances the civil 
"boy" assured us that madame was- out. We 
deposited our cards in the slit, but were hardly at 
the gate when the man came shouting after us. 
Madame, after all, was at home, and would like 
to see us. Most pleasant it was to exchange the 
hot, dusty bandy for the cool, shady, pretty draw- 
ing-room and have the talk we wanted with the 
agreeable, lady-like woman who welcomed us 
with great cordiality and warmth. 

On our return my husband joined us, and we 
looked in at the Government Normal School, 







PLOUGHING. 




A WATBfi-CABBIEB. 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 53 

superintended by Miss Rajahgopal, where Euro- 
peans and Bast Indians are trained. We were 
specially pleased with the preparatory school in 
connection with it, in which there is a charming 
infant department, conducted on the Kindergar- 
ten system. Here we saw groups of happy little 
bright creatures busy playing at learning. This 
is all carried on by the Normal pupils, who are 
thus taught to teach after the best and brightest 
and most sensible plan. 

It is curious how much more English is talked 
in Madras than either in Bombay or Calcutta. 
You hear it everywhere. Not only do the ser- 
vants address you in tolerably good English, but 
the poor bandy men, and even the coolies on the 
street, seem to know a smattering. It is often an 
odd jumble as to idiom, but not the monstrosity 
that *^ pigeon English " is in China. This preva- 
lence of our own language is a great comfort to 
strangers like ourselves, to whom the unknown 
tongues of the South are a perplexity and a draw- 
back. For once we have the sorrow of being 
unable to speak to the people of India in their 
own tongue. Hindostani is a sort of li7igna 
franca^ which carries one almost anywhere else; 
but it is of little use in Madras. 

Tamil is the chief language of the people 
here; but there are four or five Southern tongues 



54 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

which are as closely allied to each other as the 
languages of Southern Europe. These belong to 
the Dravidian dialects, which of course diflfer en- 
tirely from Marathi or Hindi or any which come 
mainly from the Sanscrit, though my husband 
says Sanscrit words are freely introduced into 
them. Of these languages Tamil seems to be the 
most cultivated, though it sounds to the ear harsh 
and unpleasant, the words running into each other 
in a sort of rippling stream, instead of distinct 
utterance. Tamil has a literature of no small 
antiquity. There is, for example, a great ethical 
poem in it called ''Kural,'* the work of Tiruvalla- 
var, who is as great a man among the Tamil peo- 
ple, as much revered, as the poet Tukaram is 
among the Marathas. In regard to race, the 
Hindoo element is comparatively small in the 
populations of the South. The Hindoo religion, 
on the contrary, has penetrated to a large extent, 
though, on the other hand, it has itself been pow- 
erfully affected by the demonology of the Dravi- 
dian races. 

Soon after the sun rose this morning we drove 
over to the Free Church mission-house, where 
Mr. 'and Mrs. Stevenson reside, and spent the 
cool early hours in wandering over the beautiful 
garden and compound with Mr. Stevenson, who 
is the secretary of the mission. We afterwards 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 55 

breakfasted with the family and met some pleas- 
ant friends. Here we had the pleasure of making 
Miss Cross' acquaintance, a lady who came out to 
see mission work in the schools and among the 
women, and has had her heart so stirred by its 
needs and its absorbing interest that she has 
stayed to take part in it. Would that many more 
of our good Christian ladies at home, who are 
without any great object to fill their lives, would 
come and do likewise ! She goes daily to the 
girls' schools with Mr. or Mrs. Bauboo, and is 
already attracting the children to her and doing 
good service among them. 

In the afternoon Mrs. Rae drove me to the 
European Orphan Asylum — a large, commodious 
building standing in extensive, park-like grounds, 
with lovely greensward and a wealth of splendid 
trees. It was the day of the annual fete and 
prize-giving, and it was a great pleasure to see 
the little white boys and girls, children of our 
own country-people, so well cared for and so hap- 
py. A band was playing in the centre of the 
garden, and plenty of flags floated gayly every- 
where; merry-go-rounds and games were in full 
swing; Christmas-trees stood on open green spots 
loaded with pretty presents; the relatives of the 
children and many visitors were roaming about, 
or regaling themselves with tea or ices under the 



56 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

trees, while the rich soft lights of the tropical even- 
ing streamed through the high-arching boughs, 
glinted across the sward, and sent a golden gleam 
over the whole scene. We also roamed about, 
talked to many friends, had some tea, and greatly 
enjoyed the cool evening air and pretty, gay, 
cheery scene. 

February 2. 

Another of these little school fetes has taken 
place, and I had a very special and delightful in- 
terest in it. It was the annual exhibition of the 
high-caste girls' day-schools connected with our 
own mission; and through the kindness of Mr. 
Stevenson, the secretary, and Mr. Bauboo, the 
superintendent, I had the honor of being invited 
to give away the prizes. I need not say what a 
pleasure this was to me. The pretty/e/^ was held 
in the school in Black Town, which was originally 
founded by Mrs. Braidwood ; and when the event- 
ful day came Mr. and Mrs. Rae drove us to the 
place. It is a large good house, standing in a 
garden which is full of green loveliness from the 
kind gifts of a native gentleman, who is a lover 
of flowers, and happily also a lover of children. 
I think it was the same friend who presented a 
little fountain to the school, which was now play- 
ing, throwing sparkling jets of water over a mass 
of lovely ferns in pots prettily grouped about the 



MADRAS. FEMAI.E WORK. 57 

base. Flags were flying, picturesque crowds 
were standing about as the carriage drove up, 
and the whole place looked festal. 

As we entered the large upper hall where the 
distribution was to take place the scene was sin- 
gularly striking and pretty. The upper end of 
the room was filled with visitors; and I observed 
many native gentlemen present with the dark, 
strong, good Madrassee face, surmounted by a 
huge turban. Facing the door there was a love- 
ly erection, a sort of canopy supported by tiny 
columns, which were all wreathed over with ex- 
quisite fronds of delicate and rare ferns. Below 
the canopy was a table loaded with the beautiful 
prizes, and chairs for those who were to have the 
honor of being the principal actors in the day's 
proceedings. 

But the grand attraction was at the lower end 
of the hall, which was filled with a glittering 
and most fascinating crowd of small creatures, 
bespangled and bejewelled to an extraordinary 
degree. The young women of the Normal class, 
the Christian teachers, and the bigger girls, all 
in their pretty, simple costumes, were ranged 
behind and made a most effective background, 
while the throng of little ones, packed closely in 
front, looked one gorgeous mass of jewels and 
flowers and fine clothes. You could hardly see 



58 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the sweet little brown faces for the fringes of gold 
and silver which hung across the foreheads and 
the flowers which decked almost every head ; 
while the armlets and anklets and bracelets and 
necklaces and nose-rings and toe-rings and ear- 
rings, and all the amazing things they wore, 
would make a list far too long to number. Some 
could hardly walk, for the weight of their finery, 
when they came up to get their prizes. 

These were very handsome indeed, and the 
curious thing was that they were all gifts from 
non-Christian Hindoo gentlemen, friends of the 
Bauboos, and, I may well add, friends of the 
schools. The prizes included three lovely gold 
medals and one or two of silver. The medals 
had been struck in Scotland, one side bearing an 
inscription and the name of the successful com- 
petitor, and on the reverse a representation of the 
Burning Bush, with the usual legend round it: 
nee tamejt eonsumebatur I 

The proceedings were what are customary on 
such occasions. The singing was frequent and 
specially beautiful. An encouraging and very 
interesting report was read by the superintendent, 
Mr. Bauboo; addresses were given by Dr. Mitch- 
ell and Mr. Stevenson, while I confess to have 
been very much in my element bestowing the 
beautiful boxes and books and toys on the happy 



MADRAS. FEMALE WORK. 59 

children and fastening the medals round their 
necks with ribbon as true blue as the decorations 
themselves. 

When all was over a dear little mite of a 
child came toddling up to me for a doll. She 
was a most quaint little figure, arrayed in a stiff 
white muslin skirt, bordered with gold, which 
reached to her pretty little feet. But it was gath- 
ered in so full beneath her broad waistband of 
silver that when I took her on my lap the whole 
thing stood out like a frill. So we placed her 
standing on a chair, and, with her little hands 
clasped together, she said a hymn in the prettiest 
way. It was quite touching to hear her; and 
then she repeated, ''Suffer little children to come 
unto Me,'* in Tamil. This was the child of 
heathen parents ! If we could only have pulled 
the finery off she would have looked like a little 
bronze cherub. 

In his report Mr. Bauboo had told us of the 
examinations which had been conducted previ- 
ously and quoted some very laudatory remarks 
from the reports of the different examiners. Al- 
together the condition of the schools, as to num- 
bers and attendance, the amount of fees paid, and 
the attainments of the scholars, seemed to be 
highly satisfactory to their excellent superinten- 
dents, to the parents — that is, the fathers, for of 



60 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

course the mothers were not present — to the mis- 
sionaries, and to us all. 

There are two flourishing Sabbath-schools in 
connection with these caste-girls' schools, and 
though the attendance is not compulsory, yet 
many of the pupils do attend. Of course the in- 
struction is entirely religious, and more than 
this, these little Hindoo children bring voluntary 
offerings to put into the missionary box. Mrs. 
Bauboo told me that from these offerings they 
had last year given contributions to the Tract 
Society, to Dr. Elder's Medical Mission, and a 
good sum (I forget how much) to support a Bible- 
woman, who was to work in connection with the 
mission in the Pettah where the schools are. Is 
not this a most cheering and uncommon fact in 
connection with a school composed entirely of 
heathen children? There are also two hundred 
and fifty of these volunteer Sunday scholars who 
would not lose the lesson on any account. On 
one occasion, when their teacher could not ven- 
ture to go at the hour because of a tremendous 
thunder-storm, on arriving somewhat late she 
found several little creatures assembled notwith- 
standing the nature of the weather. The eldest 
had given out a hymn and they were singing it 
when she came in. 



CHINGLEPUT. 6l 

CHAPTER V. 

CIIINGI.EPUT. 

February 4. 

Wk are sitting in a large, cool, airy chamber, 
opening off a shady veranda, in the midst of pro- 
found and most restful quiet; truly a great con- 
trast to the racket and roar and heat and bustle 
of the great city. 

Chingleput is one of the branch stations of 
our mission in Madras; there are others also quite 
as interesting, but, alas! our time only allows of 
a visit to this one. -The missionaries are Mr. and 
Mrs. Andrew, who were sent forth from Glasgow 
some two or three years ago, and we have come 
to-day that we may have the joy of spending to- 
morrow with them and seeing their Sabbath 
work. On the previous Sabbath Dr. Mitchell 
had preached in Madras — in the Free church, in 
the Tamil church, and also in the church con- 
nected with Dr. Elder's important medical work, 
giving sundry lectures besides during the week. 

We started about seven. It was one of those 
"warm, cloudy mornings so frequent here when 
it is hard even to breathe, there being nothing 
bright or elastic in the heavy air. 



62 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Near Madras the country is generally flat, 
though green, with some fine wood. There is a 
distant background of mountains, however, with 
one or two low, isolated hills in the neighborhood 
of the city. One of these is St. Thomas' Mount, 
so called from the tradition, preserved especially 
among the Syrian Christians, of St. Thomas' 
visit to this place. There is an old church, I be- 
lieve, on the summit, which is held in reverence 
still among the Syrians and Portuguese. As you 
approach Chingleput the character of the scenery 
changes, though it is only two hours by train 
from Madras ; there are some low, undulating 
hills, green and picturesque, and it seems to be a 
beautiful little place. 

Mr. Andrew met us and we drove hither in a 
bandy clothed in a thick white quilted cover, 
which was most kindly sent to fetch us by the 
station judge. These white draperies give the 
carriages rather a droll look, but they are a fa- 
mous protection to the occupants from the fierce 
rays of the tyrant sun. The horses also are often 
decorated, in this case with sola topees^ or sun 
hats, a most benevolent arrangement, though hav- 
ing a particularly odd effect. We drove through 
a long, clean bazar, called the Brahman street, 
for in this caste -ridden Presidency no one of 
lower caste may live in the quarter sacred to these 



CHINGLEPUT. 6^ 

**gods on earth," as the Brahmans call them- 
selves. Brahmanical influence is exceedingly- 
strong here, and caste rules with a rod of iron. 
The Brahmans try to keep every post in their 
own hands, and the Sudras and lower castes do 
not get a chance if they can help it. It is still 
true in many places that a Pariah must not only 
not touch the sacred person of a Brahman, but he 
must not come within such range that there can 
be the possibility of his shadow falling on the 
holy man or on the path he treads! I have often 
seen a low-caste man get out of the way, go up a 
bank, and even get behind a hedge, until a Brah- 
man has gone on his way. vSuch is the fearful 
tyranny which this extraordinary law of caste 
still exercises over this fair land, with all its an- 
cient boasted civilization and its modern educa- 
tion and enlightenment! Nowhere, I believe, is 
caste feeling stronger than in the South; nowhere 
does it bind the people more inexorably in its 
cruel fetters, which nothing can break but the 
God-sent religion of Jesus Christ, which makes 
all men brethren. 

Christianity is making way, but least among 
these proud Brahmans, to whom the preaching 
of its doctrines is as yet "foolishness." I do 
not think we have seen in other parts of India 
that the Brahmans live entirely in streets by 



64 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

themselves, aloof from all the rest of the popula- 
tion. 

Passing from the native town we turned into 
this pretty compound, where there are some fine 
trees, underneath which the grass is almost as 
green as on an English lawn. We stopped at the 
long, low bungalow with its deep veranda, which 
is prettily embellished with creepers and plants 
and flowers in pots. 

Now there is not a sound but the song of birds 
or the chirrup of the merry little squirrels as they 
gambol beneath the eaves, or the caw of the ever- 
present son of the soil, the crow, or an occasional 
cry from poor little Jacko, a tiny monkey who sits 
on a perch outside, whom I at once propitiated by 
an offering of plantains. It is all very rural and 
sweet and much cooler than Madras. The single 
note of a small, scarlet-breasted bird, called by the 
natives in the Maratha country sahmki^ now fills 
the still air and is delicious in its plaintive sweet- 
ness. My husband tells me this dear little bird is 
mentioned by the great Marathi poet Tukaram 
in lines something like this: 

When the sweet salunki 
Her clear note outpoureth 
God gives, as she soareth, 
All the rapture. 

After breakfast the servants and some other 



CHINGLEPUT. 65 

people came trooping in to prayers, which Mr. 
Andrew conducted in Tamil. They sat cross- 
legged on the floor, having first reverently re- 
moved their turbans. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew just 
now are having some hours' hard work at the lan- 
guage, which they are studying with great dili- 
gence and success. 

In the afternoon Mrs. Andrew took me out in 
her little pony-carriage to show me the place 
where their lot is cast as ambassadors for Christ 
among the heathen. The native town is excep- 
tionally clean and tidy and tolerably prosperous- 
looking. The different castes seem to inhabit 
different streets. We saw only the outside of the 
mission buildings now, and then went the ' ^ Five- 
mile Round," which is a beautiful drive over un- 
dulating downs, by a succession of low hills, at 
once rocky and green. There is plenty of water 
visible, the country is well cultivated and ir- 
rigated, and the tiny rice -fields looked very 
pretty, filled with the tender green of the young 
plant. 

We got back to the Institution or English 
school just in time for a lecture which Dr. Mitch- 
ell gave on Japan and China. There was an ex- 
cellent audience, composed entirely of men, ex- 
cepting two or three English ladies who were 
present. Mr. Hope, the judge, was in the chair, 

Scenes in Southern Inrlia. C 



66 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

who afterwards, with his pleasant wife, drove us 
all home to their house to dinner, and we spent a 
most agreeable evening. 

Next day, being the Sabbath, was filled with 
services, beginning in the early morning with a 
large Sunday-school of over 120 pupils, all heath- 
en, and many of them grown lads. Dr. Mitchell 
gave them an address on the story of Nicodemus, 
and afterwards put questions which were readily 
answered, showing considerable Scripture knowl- 
edge. Tamil services followed, both in the fore- 
noon and afternoon, the congregations being com- 
posed of Tamil Christians. Dr. Mitchell preached 
through an interpreter, and a busy and delightful 
day was finished by his conducting the usual 
English service in the evening, which Mr. An- 
drew holds for the benefit of the English residents, 
there being no chaplain in the place. 

What busy lives our missionaries lead ! This 
Sunday at Chingleput, so filled with work, is a 
type of many Sundays we have spent in the mis- 
sion stations which it has been our great privilege 
in our wanderings to visit. Both on Sundays and 
week-days an amount of hard, anxious, harassing 
work has to be got through which would astonish 
those who neither know nor care, and which 
ought to call forth deep consideration and sympa- 
thy towards the missionaries personally, as well as 



CHINGLEPUT. 67 

earnest prayer that they may be strengthened in 
body and mind and upheld in this work, which 
seems to me so exceptionally arduous. 

Next morning we were again early astir. Life 
begins betimes in India, at least with those who 
care to utilize the cool, fresh, delicious morning 
hours. The gentlemen, accompanied by two 
evangelists, *Svent forth to sow." They went 
boldly to the Brahmans' quarters first and were at 
least civilly received. My husband found a priest 
who knew Marathi, with whom he had much 
deeply interesting conversation, and left some lit- 
tle books with him. The evangelists everywhere 
always begin with singing, which at once attracts 
a gathering. The people are very fond of hymns 
and lyrics and gather in crowds to listen. The 
preaching follows, and, happily, here there does 
not seem to be much active opposition. Many 
seem now to hear gladly. But the difficulty 
everywhere is the same: the people lack the ear- 
nestness or moral courage which would lead them 
to profess what in their hearts they believe to be 
true. 

After breakfast we visited the schools, both for 
girls and boys. In the Institution we had a most 
lively time with crowds of fine, intelligent, eager 
lads. The building, which is spacious and airy 
and all on one floor, was erected to commemorate 



68 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

an excellent man who once was judge in the sta- 
tion, Mr. Morehead, and who had always taken 
the most cordial interest in missions. 

As usual, I was greatly interested with the 
groups of dainty little creatures that filled the 
long, low, cool class-rooms in the girls' school. 
There were over lOO pupils present, all children 
of good-caste parents, and under the charge of one 
of the nicest native Christian ladies I have met. 
This was Mrs. Zynul-abidene. Mrs. Anderson, 
of Madras, called her *'My dear Barbara," and I 
like best to remember her thus. She is the head 
mistress, and it is easy to see that she does her 
work among the little ones quite con amove. She 
is the daughter of one of Mr. Anderson's converts 
and the wife of another. It is touching to meet 
the traces and fruits of the labors of the first 
Scotch missionaries, Messrs. Anderson, Johnstone, 
and Braidwood, everywhere here. If you find an 
exceptionally interesting, mellowed old Christian 
he is sure to say, " I was baptized by Mr. Ander- 
son." 

In the afternoon we took leave of our kind 
friends and returned to Madras, arriving just in 
time for a meeting of the Missionary Conference, 
which was held in the Raes' drawing-room. 
There was an immense gathering of missionaries, 
with many other friends. Among them was a 



CHINGLEPUT. 69 

young German lady we had met before, who is 
now engaged in zenana work. She cheered us 
much by saying that words we had spoken to her 
in Nice years ago had led her, by God's blessing, 
to devote her life to the women of India. . 

The meeting proved intensely interesting. 
After Mr. Rae had introduced my husband and 
he had spoken a little, he was well questioned 
regarding the mission fields he had visited, es- 
pecially China and Japan. Then his turn came 
to question, and in reply many most important 
facts and opinions were brought out regarding 
Southern India and the condition of the work in 
this region. These were very valuable, from such 
men as Dr. Scudder and Mr. Noyes, two of the 
oldest and most experienced of the American mis- 
sionaries, Mr. Sell of the C. M. S., Dr. Chamber- 
lain, Dr. Elder, Mr. Rajahgopal, Mr. Satyanad- 
han, and many others. 

Particularly cheering was the testimony which 
every speaker bore to the decided rise there is in 
the condition of the converts, in position, stand- 
ing, intelligence, and also in the still more im- 
portant matter of moral and religious character. 
Unfortunately, caste is not yet wholly rooted 
out from some of the native Christian communi- 
ties. There still seems to be a tendency to keep 
up caste distinctions socially; and the converts 



70 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

belonging to different castes, though at the same 
mission, sometimes will not intermarry, though I 
believe there is something to be said in excuse of 
this reluctance. The Roman-catholic missions 
also proved an interesting subject of discussion. 
All seemed to agree that, though making way 
somewhat among the heathen, they are decidedly 
not gaining from the Protestant missions. The 
reverse, indeed, seems to be the case. But about 
this we shall learn more as we proceed southward. 
Our friend Mr. Fordyce, of Simla, journeying 
in fulfilment of his mission to carry gospel ordi- 
nances to our countrymen scattered through India 
who are destitute of such, made a rapid march to 
meet us; and my husband and he conferred all 
day concerning the interests of the important soci- 
ety at home which Mr. Fordyce represents. Then 
the outcoming mail steamer arrived — always an 
exciting event — bringing one or two visitors for 
the hours it remained. I paid some final visits 
among the zenanas, saying many good-bys; the 
girls of the boarding-school clustered round me for 
a parting word; some of the native Christian ladies 
came for the same purpose; a good many of the 
most advanced pupils from the college came over, 
some from Mr. Rae's Bible-class — interesting, 
earnest young men, who seem near the kingdom; 
all our missionaries and professors came; and our 



CHINGLEPUT. 71 

hearts were deeply stirred, sorrowing most that 
many of these kind faces we cannot hope to see 
any more on earth. 

So our memorable visit came to a close. As 
we had talked all day, we had to work all night — 
to pack, to write letters, and be ready; for by six 
o'clock next morning we had bidden farewell to 
our kind host and hostess and their sweet children 
and were en route for the further south. 



72 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE EARI.Y MISSIONS TO INDIA. 

Although my object in writing this little 
account of our missionary journey through part 
of South India is to tell simply what we saw with 
our own eyes, yet a few words on the past history 
of these most interesting mission fields may not 
be unwelcome to make what follows more cont- 
prehensible. A heart which beats at all in sympa- 
thy with the great cause of the spread of Christ's 
kingdom in the world will surely beat a little 
faster at the very mention of such centres as Tan- 
jore, Palamcotta, Madura, Nagercoil, and many 
others which have stood out so conspicuously in 
the history of missions. 

It is now nearly two centuries since the eyes 
of Protestant Christendom began to turn with 
interest to the work which was even then making 
a sure commencement in the southern part of the 
great Indian continent. The wide world of heath- 
endom still lay in profound darkness. But, happi- 
ly, there was a Danish settlement on this coast 
at the south, where missionaries were welcomed 



the: early missions to india. 73 

and allowed to settle; and so, while the rest oi 
India was still unvisited by the messengers of 
peace, the Madras Presidency had begun to hear 
the glad tidings of salvation. It is well to re- 
member that missions began in the south of India 
much sooner than in the north. In Western In- 
dia their commencement was in 181 3 — a full cen- 
tury later than in Madras. 

The first Protestant mission in India was planted 
in Tranquebar, and to Denmark belongs the honor 
of having equipped and sent it forth. Not only 
so; the enterprise owed its origin to King Fred- 
erick IV., who commissioned the devoted Prof. 
Franke, of Halle, at the suggestion of his court 
preacher. Dr. Liitkens, to find missionaries to go 
to the heathen field in India. The result was the 
sending forth of the very noble ^iegenbalg and 
his associate Plutschau, and the founding of the 
Tranquebar Mission. This was as far back as 
1706 — a memorable year in the history of Protes- 
tant missions in dark, heathen India. 

Is it not both touching and suggestive to go 
back to that small beginning and think of all it 
meant? The little water spring, the tiny rill, 
was to swell into a goodly river of the water of 
life. It is surely a grand spectacle, these two 
men setting sail from the distant West with their 
marvellous message for India, the message of 



74 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

divine love — the hope of her future, the charter 
of her salvation ! 

When these humble missionaries set foot upon 
the strand the day-star rose on this Eastern 
world and the angels began to sing over it 
their joyous song. I wonder what the scoffing 
Brahmans would have thought or the proud 
Mussulmans! They little knew that, with these 
two simple, unknown men, there had landed on 
their shores forces, moral and spiritual, which 
would yet rouse and conquer even this land, so 
slow to change, which had slept so profound a 
sleep during the ages, content with its dreams 
and philosophies and old-world systems of faith. 

Tranquebar in 1706 was a Danish settlement; 
and as the missionaries had come out under the 
protection of the king, the local Government of 
course had to receive and assist them. They ob- 
tained permission to build their first church, which 
was erected by the seashore near the native town. 
Schools soon followed, and Government ordered 
that all the Protestant inhabitants should send 
their slaves to be instructed, as well as that the 
children should be sent to school. Meanwhile 
the two men studied the Tamil language diligent- 
ly, and were soon able to preach in it. Thus the 
work began. The next missionary who arrived 
to join the first two was an able man named Grun- 



THK EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA. 75 

dler. Then afterwards came Dr. Schultze; and 
from time to time many other excellent coadju- 
tors joined the mission band until, after a few 
years, there were eight men laboring at once in 
the field. 

On the 5th of September, 1707, though the 
work was still so new, hardly more than a year 
old, God had so blessed the labors of the first 
two men that they began to gather in their 
sheaves. There were nine adults baptized to- 
gether, and these formed the nucleus of the now 
large and flourishing Tamil church of Southern 
India. 

But we must not forget that though this ven- 
erable mission was established by Denmark, it 
may be said to have been connected from the be- 
ginning with both Germany and England. The 
first missionaries were Germans, and funds were 
occasionally sent them from Germany. Then, 
from 1709, Great Britain took the liveliest inter- 
est in the enterprise, the Society for Promoting 
Christian Knowledge beginning from this time to 
contribute steadily to its support. It also sent the 
mission a printing-press and a printer. Early in 
his career Ziegenbalg visited his own country and 
also England in behalf of his mission. He re- 
ceived generous donations, which were a great 
help in the work. The funds from Denmark did 



76 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

not always arrive with punctuality, and, in times 
of need, the Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge still further increased its grants. 
Thus the struggling, hard -worked people at 
Tranquebar were effectually helped and remem- 
bered. 

Another English society, which worked hand 
in hand with the Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge, sent them gifts, both of books and 
money. This was the Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel ; and by-and-by, when the for- 
mer wished to confine its operations more to its 
own proper sphere, the more directly missionary 
part of its work was handed over to the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel. This transfer- 
ence was accomplished in 1828, and from that 
time this society became still more closely con- 
nected with the Tranquebar mission. 

The first 50 years saw much hard and earnest 
work accomplished. Ziegenbalg returned from 
his visit to Europe in behalf of his mission to his 
loved field, but did not live many years after. 
Much indeed had been done; the tiny grain of 
mustard-seed had already begun to shoot out great 
branches. Schools had been established, church- 
es built, native pastors ordained, a printing-press 
set up, tracts had been written and widely circu- 
lated, and the Bible, both the Old and New Tes- 



THE EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA. 77 

taments, had been translated into Tamil and also 
into Telugu. The blessing of God had manifest- 
ly rested on the mission, and when these 50 years 
were accomplished and its jubilee had come the 
converts numbered 11,000. 

Thus it was that the pure gospel of Christ first 
visited poor India, and the lamp of truth then lit 
in Tranquebar has never since become darkness. 
In estimating the good these early missions ac- 
complished ought we quite to forget the effect 
their success must have had in stimulating the 
mission cause over the world generally? The 
stirring tidings which now and then found their 
way across the sea of men being turned from 
devil-worship and dark idolatries to serve the liv- 
ing and true God must have carried reproach to 
many a faint as well as careless heart, though en- 
couragement and hope to others w^ho had begun 
to feel they had a responsibility in this matter. 
Not very long after this time the Spirit of God 
moved on the face of society at home and there 
was aroused in the Christian world a new interest 
and concern regarding the condition of the heath- 
en world. Carey went to India in 1793, and the 
missionary ranks have never lacked able recruits 
since then, nor money to support them and their 
work nor the prayers of Christ's people for their 
success. 



78 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

This awakening, though it came gradually at 
first, was contemporaneous with others relating to 
matters in England, when humanity and philan- 
thropy began to do their work. At this time the 
condition of our prisons and asylums and slaves 
began to be thought about and the poor to be con- 
sidered. Grand institutions like the Religious 
Tract Society, the Bible Society, and others were 
formed. In a word, the highest interests of men 
began to be considered by their fellows, both as 
regards this world and the next. Surely that lit- 
tle light kindled so wonderfully in South India 
was as a beacon-light of hope to the world ! 

The way in which the truth spread from Tran- 
quebar into the neighboring province of Tanjore is 
very interesting. Tanjore was then under a native 
raj, and the missionaries were not at first allowed 
to preach the new doctrines within its borders. 
In God's wonderful providence, however, a native 
officer named Rajnaiken, who had been brought 
up a Roman-catholic, had the loan given him of 
a copy of the Gospels in Tamil. He was so moved 
and interested with what he found in the wonder- 
ful Book that he began to copy the whole on pal- 
myra leaves. Soon after, hearing that there were 
missionaries only 50 miles away, he sought them, 
received instruction, and eventually joined their 
church. Much opposition was made by the Jesu- 




SCHWARTZ, 



THE EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA. 79 

its and also by his family. The latter, however, 
influenced and instructed by him, were in time 
one and all converted and admitted into the 
church. But sore persecution followed. At one 
time Rajnaiken was so savagely beaten that he 
was left for dead on the ground. Then his father 
was cruelly murdered and his brother half killed 
from the barbarous treatment he received. But 
the devoted converts firmly and bravely held on 
their way. God marvellously preserved Rajnai- 
ken, and he worked faithfully and efficiently as 
a missionary among his own people for full 40 
years. 

With the entrance of the truth into Tanjore 
the name of another missionary hero is insepara- 
bly connected. This was the celebrated and de- 
voted Schwartz. He founded a mission in Tri- 
chinopoly, but afterwards removed to Tanjore, 
where he settled finally. I never shall forget the 
thrill with which I entered the first chapel built 
by him in the city of Tanjore — alas ! silent now 
and unused — and looked at the primitive pulpit 
where he had preached and the flag-stone on the 
floor under which he was buried and the simple 
inscription, in Ivatin, which the venerable build- 
ing bears, ^* This house of prayer was built A. D. 
1 779-" 



8o SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER VII. • 

TANJORE. 

It was another still, stifling morning when we 
started to join the early mail-train for Tanjore. 
The atmosphere felt like a Turkish bath, and our 
weary selves were more fit to go to bed than to 
sit for the next 20 hours in the unlovely compart- 
ment which opened for our reception. 

After careful consultation with our friends we 
had arranged to proceed down the east coast as 
far as the railway would take us, then enter the 
beautiful little kingdom of Travancore, traversing 
it to the Cape and seeing its famed mission work, 
chiefly among the Shanars or devil-worshippers, 
then return northward by the famous Backwater 
of the Malabar coast, visiting Cottyam, Cochin, 
etc., ett roicte^ and so on to the Blue Hills, the 
famed Nielgherries. 

One of the odd things about this primitive rail- 
way is that the first-class fare costs three times as 
much as that of second class; so there is an object 
in systematically choosing these boxed-up, cush- 
ionless carriages, with their hard, narrow bench- 
es. It is certainly pleasanter to travel on a shady 



TANJORE. 8l 

day like this than when the fierce sun is stream- 
ing mercilessly in at curtainless windows, and a 
bright little touch of beauty and sweetness was 
added to our dingy surroundings by the kind 
hands of some native friends who came to see us 
off. Along with some pomegranates and other 
fruit, which we found most cooling and delicious, 
they brought us two magnificent bouquets, and 
great was the pleasure the lovely, fragrant flowers 
afforded us all the weary day. 

One of the many fallacies current at home 
concerning things Indian is that roses have here 
no perfume. On the contrary, some vases full of 
beautiful roses, which stand beside me as I write, 
are sending forth the most delicate and delicious 
odor. It is true, however, that some Indian flow- 
ers have no scent at all, while others, especially 
those of flowering shrubs, are too heavily scented 
to be pleasant. 

One of the kind friends who stood beside us 
until the train moved off was a youth of whom 
we had seen a good deal in Madras and with 
whom Dr. Mitchell has had much cheering inter- 
course. He has come under that w^onderful per- 
sonal influence which Dr. Miller and his col- 
leagues exercise so largely over young men. He 
has also enjoyed the training which Mr. Rae gives 
in his admirable Bible-class, and he certainly is. 

Scenes iu Southern India. 6 



82 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

in one sense, a believer. But to many such young 
men one might put Paul's question, **Have ye 
received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" One 
cannot help hoping that he has, there is some- 
thing so peculiarly attractive about him. He 
stood there, in his snow-white starched coat and 
bunchy, loose turban, his open, honest face beam- 
ing with a light which we trust came from true 
light and peace within. We said some earnest 
words to him and the tears stood in his eyes, and 
we cannot but hope for him. 

It is curious how popular the Bible-class is 
among the heathen pupils; that is, if it is well 
and brightly taught. This young man said that 
in the Christian College it is the favorite class; 
and, indeed, it is easy for visitors to see that this 
is the case from the intense and thoughtful in- 
terest depicted on every face as the teacher goes 
on opening up and questioning the students on 
the sacred theme. This precious seed which is 
being so largely sown in the rich soil of these 
young hearts will surely fulfil its end and bring 
forth fruit in the saving of souls and to the glory 
of God. 

Until we leave Madras a good way behind the 
country is flat and monotonous, but wonderfully 
green, and near the stations, especially where 
there are English cantonments, the clumps and 



TANJORE. 83 

plantations of fine shady trees are most refreshing 
to the eye. Huge hedges of spiky cactus abound, 
instead of the prickly pear of the Deccan, and 
some palm-trees here and there soon begin to dot 
the plains; but they look stunted and scraggy, es- 
pecially to eyes accustomed to the stately growth 
which these picturesque children of the tropics 
attain in the low-lying, humid Konkan. A good 
deal of water lay in the rice or paddy fields, 
which accounted for the general aspect of green 
freshness and fertility, though the large river-beds 
were generally dry or had only a tiny stream 
trickling through the broad, sandy bottom. 

The country, as a rule, is well peopled and 
well cultivated, and there were many quiet pas- 
toral scenes I noticed as we passed which were 
full of interest and had their own beauty. The 
rice-crops were in every stage of progress — some 
being cut and harvested, some about attaining to 
the golden tint of ripeness, while other tiny fields, 
in which the young plants had just been bedded 
out, looked full of a lovely, delicate green, stand- 
ing out of the water with which they had been 
flooded. Every rice -field is surrounded by a 
small, low embankment, which is also a tiny 
water-course, as the plant loves plenty of moisture 
and does not flourish without it. Does not this 
remind one of the Spirit- taught heart? It too 



84 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

can only flourish and be green when abundantly 
watered with heavenly dews by Him who is him- 
self "as the dew unto Israel." As I watched the 
cultivator open a little sluice in the water-course 
and let in a gentle stream, which wandered over 
the rice-bed until every tiny leaf held up its head, 
revived and full of fresh beauty, giving promise 
of the ripe, yellow grain to come, the expression, 
**They shall revive as the corn," Hos. 14:7, 
seemed to gain new significance and beauty. 
And then the thought naturally followed and 
turned to a prayer that the Good Husbandman 
would yet turn this parched land of heathenism 
into water-springs of truth and fill it with the 
beauties of holiness and fruits of righteousness. 
Oh, there is need ! Nothing strikes you more as 
you pass along than the indications of idolatry 
which everywhere abound. At every village, 
under every green tree, at the roadside, every- 
where, are idol shrines, or ''Swami houses," or 
grotesque, ugly images, smeared over with fla- 
ming red paint, while in every town of any size 
the tall gopuram^ or pyramidal top of some pa- 
goda, rears itself, often most picturesquely, over 
the beautiful trees which generally surround it. 

Early in the day we stopped for a little at 
Punrooty, a pretty, green, well-wooded station, 
and also, thanks be to God, an oasis in this wil- 



TANJORE. • 85 

derness of heathenism. The mission at this place 
is conducted by Miss Reade, the daughter of a 
Madras civilian who was long in this district. It 
was a great disappointment not to see it, but time 
pressed and Miss Reade was absent in Europe, 
her health having completely failed under her 
manifold labors. Her large orphanage for girls, 
gathered during the famine, is, however, in full 
operation, and the mission is carried on by effi- 
cient workers. A friend who knows her well 
writes to me thus: ''Miss Reade itinerates much 
in all the district, giving addresses both in Tamil 
and Hindostani. She feels more called to this 
work than any other; just sowing the seed is her 
one great aim and desire. She is often asked to 
go again and again to the villages where she has 
already been and made the gospel known; and 
just at the time of her illness, last November, 
many were coming to her desiring to know how 
they were to give up their idols and become 
Christians." 

Thus, through this excellent lady's instrumen- 
tality, many in this region who sat in darkness 
are coming to see a great light. Will not some 
at home, who have the means and the time and 
could be spared, come out and follow Miss Readers 
example? 

We have long and frequent halts, though this 



86 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

is the mail-train. My husband gets out and talks 
to the people who throng the stations, for we de- 
sire to make this a missionary tour in every sense. 
All are glad too to accept tracts and books, but it 
is a new and not very agreeable experience to us 
to have to pass through any part of India and not 
be able to speak to the people in their own 
tongue. A French lady, of Pondicherry, who is 
our only fellow-traveller, comes to our aid when 
we have any wants to make known, though she 
knows only French and Tamil; but it is wonder- 
ful how widespread some knowledge of English 
is, even in these regions beyond; and, of course, 
the station-masters and officials are educated men 
and talk English perfectly. We found one or 
two intelligent young Madrassees employed by 
Government or on the railway who had been 
students at our college in Madras. 

We had intended, on reaching Tanjore, to put 
up at the Travellers' Bungalow — that refuge for 
the pilgrim and stranger which a paternal Gov- 
ernment provides, but as we passed through one 
of the stations en route a telegram was put into 
my husband's hand from some kind benefactor 
there, inviting us to be his guests during our 
stay. This was totally unexpected, as we had no 
acquaintance in the place that we knew of. We 
could not even decipher the name the message 



TANJORE. 87 

bore, only we knew that our Heavenly Father 
was '* mindful of us'' and goodness and mercy 
were following us continually. During the day 
we found out that our unknown friend was Mr. 
Buick, the Collector of Tanjore; so when our 
train drew slowly into the station, some time 
after midnight, there, sure enough, were a couple 
of belted, scarlet-coated peons, with the Collector- 
Sahib's badge across their breasts, ready to take 
charge of us and our belongings. We soon found 
ourselves in charming quarters. There was a 
blaze of cheery, welcoming light; servants with 
hot chocolate and other good things were ready; 
and erelong our aching heads and weary bones 
were reposing deliciously in this large, airy, quiet 
chamber. We knew nothing more until the early 
sunlight shining in through the jihnils^ or Vene- 
tian blinds, showed us our fresh surroundings. 
My husband was soon without, and over the high 
screen which divided us from the drawing-room 
I heard a lady's cheery voice bidding him heartily 
welcome and telling him he was an old friend. 

Some years ago, during the revival in Ireland, 
we were the guests of the well-known Rev. J. H. 
Moore, of Connor, where, if I mistake not, the 
revival movement began. Mr. Moore showed us 
much of that great work, and he and his wife 
were most hospitable and kind. Our hostess is 



88 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

their daughter, and she remembers us and our 
visit, though then little more than a child. How 
grateful I felt as I listened to her pleasant greet- 
ing, to which her husband's was soon added! We 
could now, indeed, see Tanjore under the best pos- 
sible auspices. Their kindness was simply un- 
wearied and unbounded. 

The first thing we did after breakfast was to 
go to the flat roof-top of Mr. Buick's house, as the 
highest point at command, to get a general view 
of the main features of the place. This always 
helps one afterwards in taking in details more 
correctly. The great plain of Tanjore lay spread 
out at our feet, bounded on all sides by the hori- 
zon, except where a range of far-off hills, faintly 
discernible in the distance, seemed to mingle with 
the clouds. The plain is beautifully wooded in 
some parts and well cultivated; that is, it seems 
one vast paddy or rice field, except where thick 
jungle prevails. The roads seem well lined with 
trees, while the houses stand in the midst of 
clumps and topes; but the foliage is dusty and 
brown. The native town lies a good deal within 
the walls of the fort, where the fine old palace is 
the chief feature, with its towers and gateway and 
lofty, grim old walls. But the most conspicuous 
and striking object in the scene, which one cannot 
help looking down upon with wondering admira- 



TANJORE. 89 

tion, is the Grand Pagoda, one of the sights of 
Tanjore. It is a huge, pyramidal structure, 
standing in a great court, with a lofty gateway 
and surrounded by a high wall. It is considered 
one of the finest temples of the kind in all India, 
and our friends promised us a nearer inspection 
by-and-by. 

We denizens of the Maratha country ought to 
have felt here we were breathing familiar air, for 
this great province was long under the sovereign- 
ty of the Marathas. The last rajah, who died in 
1855, unfortunately had no male issue, so, accord- 
ing to the policy which then ruled in English 
councils, the sovereignty lapsed to the Honorable 
East India Company. 

But what we wanted to see first was something 
of the missions in this famous old mission field, 
where the light began to shine when so much of 
the rest of the land was still dark. Dr. Claudius 
Buchanan had called Tanjore the garden of the 
gospel; we wondered if it still deserved the high 
designation. A carriage from the palace was 
most kindly put at our disposal to go where we 
liked; so we soon found our way to the German 
mission-house, where we made the acquaintance 
of Mr. and Mrs. Pamperien, the missionary and 
his wife in charge of the Leipzig Mission. 

We were delighted with the tall, pleasant Ger- 



90 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

man pastor and his young wife, who gave us a 
most cordial welcome and took us all over their 
full, busy mission compound. There are day- 
schools and orphanages both for boys and girls, 
all located round the centre mission bungalow 
and thus directly under the missionary's eye. 
The church also stands conspicuous at one side of 
the spacious inclosure. It is a fine, large white 
building, airy and roomy inside, with some pretty 
colored-glass windows, and memorial slabs on the 
walls. The floor is comfortably matted, but has 
no pews or seats of any kind; the people sit on 
the floor, the men on one side and the women on 
the other, as in China; and thus it holds a larger 
congregation. Some of the native Christians, 
hearing of our arrival, gathered about the church 
door and gave us a most kindly greeting. We 
had some very nice talk with them, especially 
with two elder men, who are catechists or, rather, 
pastors, and assist Mr. Pamperien chiefly in the 
village and district work. The farthest station 
occupied by the mission is 36 miles ofl*. Mr. 
Pamperien told us that 10,000 converts have been 
added to the missions of their society in India 
during the last four or five years. This indeed 
was cheering news. 

We spent a long, pleasant morning in the 
midst of this active mission circle, and then drove 



TANJORE. 91 

to the fort to see the English school and college 
connected with the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel. There are only two missionaries of 
this society at present in Tanjore, Messrs. Kay 
and Blake. Having sent in our cards, the latter, 
whose work seems chiefly to be in the college, 
came down and received us very courteously. 

He was extremely kind and took us all through 
the quaint, queer, whitewashed native building, 
where every room and corner seemed turned into 
a class-room. These were filled with some 300 to 
400 lads, who looked bright and intelligent. The 
Madrassees have, as a rule, honest, good-humored 
countenances, broader of feature and darker in 
complexion than the Marathas; more open, per- 
haps, in expression, but not, I think, so intellec- 
tual. They wear large, soft turbans, which suit 
an Oriental face, instead of the bare heads of the 
young Bengalis, who only wear turbans in full 
dress and have their thick black hair cropped and 
dressed like English lads. 

I asked some of Mr. Blake's pupils why they 
were so anxious to acquire an English education. 
*'0h," said they very honestly, ** because we want 
to get Government employment.'^ A knowledge 
of English is the ladder by which they hope to 
mount to this grand prize which lies at the top. 
Poor fellows ! it is quite natural; and though edu- 



92 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

cation for its own sake is not yet always the at- 
traction it ought to be, may we not hope that 
many taught in Christian schools, who have the 
additional advantage of a thorough training in 
Bible knowledge, may find a better prize even 
than they dream of at the top, namely, the sal- 
vation of their im^mortal souls ? 

Mr. Blake is very enthusiastic about his school 
and works hard, generally spending the whole day 
in it. In the terrible heat of these crowded rooms 
this is no small self-denial and toil. My husband 
found a good many Marathas among the pupils and 
many Brahmans, and had much interesting talk. 

This was all we saw of the S. P. G. Missions 
or missionaries, except, indeed, a very nice girls' 
school, taught by Mrs. Gahan and her daughter, 
also accommodated in the fort. There were 63 
bright-looking girls present, bigger and older too 
than are usually to be found in day-schools of this 
sort. Mrs. Gahan also visits in the zenanas and 
teaches in the palace. The princess is one of her 
pupils, and a very intelligent pupil she is. I 
have just seen a grateful letter from her to my 
friend Mrs. Buick, written in rather a schoolgirl 
hand, but well expressed in good EngMsh, thank- 
ing her for some kindness done to her, and saying 
how grateful she is to " the good collector, ' ' as she 
calls Mr. Buick. 



TANJORE. 93 

Early yesterday afternoon our friends took us- 
a round of sight-seeing. We drove to the fort in 
state, the collector being the embodiment of au- 
thority as the representative of the English Gov- 
ernment, and we were received at the entrance by 
the guard, who beat a salute in honor of the visit- 
ors. The sirkele of the palace, or Prime Minister, 
was waiting with a grand retinue of smaller offi- 
cials, red-coated peons, and all manner of attend- 
ants, and conducted us over the palace. It is a 
dreary old pile, full of the indications and remains 
of fallen greatness. It was altogether very pa- 
thetic, there is such an extraordinary mingling of 
ruin and decay, with relics of old court pageantry 
and pomp and tawdry finery and barbaric splen- 
dor. In the same way some of the rooms are ex- 
ceedingly handsome, while the labyrinthine pas- 
sages which lead to them are narrow and squalid, 
and some of the walls and courts, though fine in 
design, are tumble-down or unfinished. We first 
visited the museum, an omnium gathenim of old 
State property, weapons, saddles, and rich saddle- 
cloths of gold, splendid shawls, quaint turbans 
which had graced the heads of the old rajahs, old 
chairs of state, and many other relics too numer- 
ous to name, while whole centuries of story seemed 
to fill the place. We next saw the old Durbar- 
room or Hall of Audience, where the gilt canopy 



94 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

stands, under which is the gadi or throne. The 
walls are decorated with some portraits, and on 
the same side of the quadrangle is the library, full 
of dusty old tomes, where my husband was much 
in his element over some curious old Sanscrit and 
Marathi manuscripts. We then crossed a spacious 
court, in which multitudes of tame pigeons were 
being fed, to another and more modern Durbar- 
hall, used by the later Maratha rajahs, which is 
an exceedingly handsome room of stately propor- 
tions, with a highly-polished floor and some fine 
pillars. In this hall is the beaytiful statue, in 
white marble, of the father of the last rajah, 
which stands on a magnificent slab of black mar- 
ble or porphyry. Here also is a curious old 
swinging cot suspended from the roof, at which I 
looked with much interest, as I found it was the 
same described by Schwartz in an account of his 
interview with the rajah on the occasion of his 
first visit to Tanjore, long before he finally settled 
here. 

It was a disappointment to us that the prin- 
cess was not at home. She and her consort were 
away at Baroda, at the grand doings on the Gaek- 
war's accession. We saw her State reception- 
rooms, however, which are very handsome and 
full of modern adornments, such as carpets, mir- 
rors, chandeliers. At the upper end there is a 



TANJORE. 95 

raised dais, with great chairs beneath a canopy, 
where her Royal Highness receives her lady 
guests, a transparent curtain being drawn across, 
which propriety requires should divide her from 
the party of the other sex gathered in the apart- 
ment below. Here her consort presides for her. 

We finished our interesting investigations in 
the palace by a visit to the old ranis, the widows 
of the last rajah. Having threaded some more 
dark passages and courts, we ascended a steep, 
short stairway leading to their apartments, where 
we were received with great courtesy by a weak- 
looking young man, the adopted son of one of 
the ranis. There was little of the grandeur of a 
palace visible. We were ushered into an apart- 
ment, handsome as to proportions, but faded and 
forlorn, with a tattered curtain of yellow satin 
drawn along the whole length of the room. As 
we entered we saw many little stirrings at the foot 
of this curtain and curious eyes peeping forth to 
catch a sight of the strangers. Mrs. Buick and I 
went within the curtain, and were at once sur- 
rounded by a number of women of different ages. 
The principal wife is a gray-haired, withered old 
woman; but many of those we saw must have 
been mere children when the old man died. He 
left seventeen widows, twelve of whom are still 
alive. I cannot say they looked interesting, but 



96 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

one could not help one's heart going out to them 
in pity, with a longing desire to give them some- 
thing which might brighten their cheerless, empty 
lives. How I longed to tell them of the Friend 
of the friendless, the Judge of the widow ! But 
they did not seem to care much to be taught, and 
I came away from the visit feeling rather de- 
pressed. 

The temple, or pagoda, at Tanjore is a mag- 
nificent structure, and we saw as much of it and 
its wonderful surroundings as any European is 
allowed to see, for no unclean foreign foot may 
tread the sacred interior. The appearance of a 
colossal Nandi^ or sacred bull, in black basalt, 
erected in the court in front of the principal shrine, 
showed at once that the temple is dedicated to 
the god Shiva — Nandi being the bull on which 
Shiva rides. The basalt was well oiled all over, 
and so looked like bronze. 

There are inscriptions all round the base, 
which have been translated by the learned civil- 
ian Dr. Burnell. The court is handsome and very 
spacious, with cloisters all round, in which are 
small symbols of Shiva. There is a second tem- 
ple in the inclosure dedicated to Subrahmanya, 
the son of Shiva, which is also of the usual elabo- 
rate construction, and has a beautiful goparam^ 
or tower. In a chamber connected with the pago- 



TANJORE. 97 

da there is a series of portraits, life size, of the 
royal family of Tanjore, from the great Shivaji 
and his father Shahji, down to the last rajah. 
The chief pagoda is surmounted by a very fine 
monolith of granite, which is said to weigh 80 
tons. All these temples belong to the senior 
rani at the palace, who pays the ptijaris^ or 
priests, feeds the Brahmans, and keeps up the 
place. 

I observe that the people here generally wear 
very conspicuous idolatrous marks. These are 
either on the forehead or breast or neck, and are 
usually made with daubs of white paint put on in 
long lines. They are very pronounced in their 
religiousness, greatly caste-ridden, and under the 
sway of the Brahmans to a very great extent. 

But certainly the interest of our stay in Tan- 
jore culminated in our visit to the venerable 
church of the illustrious Schwartz. Altogether 
one seemed to live more in the past as to missions 
than the present in a place so full of memories as 
this, except, indeed, when one longed that the 
present might more fully realize the expectations 
awakened by the past. 

It is not that there is so much to see or tell 
about in the touching old chapel, though \ve felt 
it to be so infinitely more interesting than any 
simply classic ground could ever be. 

Scenes in Southern India. '7 



98 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

It is an unpretending, plain, barnlike build- 
ing, with no ecclesiastical pretensions at all — a 
bare stone floor, whitewashed walls, no seats of 
any sort, a small, primitive pulpit at one end, in 
which we stood with a thrill in our hearts, for it 
is the same in which Schwartz so often preached. 
The church is not now used; it is empty, deserted, 
silent! Why? I often asked; for it seems in 
tolerable preservation, or might be if ordinary 
care were taken to preserve it. One would like 
to see an edifice like this, which has received the 
consecration it has enjoyed, cared for and filled 
daily for God's worship. 

But another interest attaches to the church 
besides its hallowed memories. The celebrated 
monument by Flaxman, erected to the memory 
of Schwartz by the Rajah Sarfoji, is placed in the 
wall inside at the end of the building. It is a 
very beautiful bas-relief in white marble, repre- 
senting the dying missionary, his countenance 
full of hope and holy peace, taking leave of the 
king, who stands beside the couch weeping and 
grasping the hand of his ' ' father and friend, ' ' as 
he always called him. A few of Schwartz's 
pupils stand about and some of the king's minis- 
ters behind. It is a most lovely work of art and 
tells its touching and strange story exquisitely. 
The inscription is in English. 



TANJORE. 99 

The king himself wrote to the society at home 
with which Schwartz was connected to order the 
monument, using these remarkable words : "I 
have asked your missionaries .... to procure a 
marble monument, which may be erected in their 
church in my principal city and residence, to 
keep up the remembrance of the departed revered 
Father Schwartz and to testify to the extreme re- 
spect with which I regard the character of that 
great and good man and the gratitude I owe him 
as my father and friend and the protector and 
guardian of my youth." He adds, at the close of 
his letter, '*0h, gentlemen, that you were but 
able to send missionaries here who should resem- 
ble the departed Schwartz!" Shall we not echo 
this sentiment and turn it into a prayer to Him 
who is able now as then to send forth such labor- 
ers into His vineyard ? 

Another monument was erected to Schwartz 
by the Honorable Bast India Company. It stands 
in the fort church in Madras. 

In 1749 Schwartz was ordained at Copen- 
hagen, sailed from Lrondon, and arrived at Cud- 
dalore the following year, and at once joined the 
mission circle at Tranquebar, ' ' By the end of 
the same year," says Fenger, "he preached his 
first sermon in Tamil." He himself tells that 
the text of his first sermon was, *' Nevertheless at 



lOO SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

thy word I will let down the net; and when they 
had done this they inclosed a great multitude of 
fishes." He adds, ''God has wrought in me hu- 
mility and a childlike confidence in his word by 
this text. ' ' It became the key-note of his whole 
simple and devoted missionary life. He worked 
for ten years in Tranquebar, then went to Trichi- 
nopoly, where he founded a branch of the mis- 
sion, and finally, in 1778, he settled in Tanjore. 
By the following year this church was built, as 
the simple inscription tells. He also erected 
other buildings, such as schools and a mission- 
house, and gathered a large congregation together, 
training some of the more able from among his 
converts to be pastors, evangelists, and teachers. 
He labored for twenty years in Tanjore and is 
said to have baptized over two thousand persons, 
many of whom were of high caste. He died on 
the 13th of February, 1798, in the seventy-second 
year of his age, after forty-seven years of actual 
service in the mission field. His brother mission- 
ary, Mr. Gericke, who was present when he died, 
tells that "he died in the arms of his faithful and 
grateful native assistants," and speaks of the gen- 
eral and profound grief his death awakened: "The 
weeping and sobbing of the people in the two 
Christian villages was most touching. We could 
hear it all the night through. It is not we only," 



TANJORE. 1 01 

he adds, ' ' who have lost a father, but the whole 
country." Gericke also tells that the Tanjore 
Mission and the institutions belonging to it had 
been left his heirs. This was consistent with the 
practice of his life; his liberality was extraordi- 
nary, and whatever means he received he spent 
not on himself, but on his beloved mission. 

In his character there was a wonderful com- 
bination of simplicity and power, and every one 
who writes of him agrees as to the great influence 
he possessed with the natives. He had also great 
weight with the English Government. It is mat- 
ter of history how useful he was in the embassy 
to Hyder Ali with which the Madras Government 
intrusted him. **Let them send the Christian,'' 
said the great warrior; ''he will not deceive me." 
And we have already seen how successful he was 
in the educating and training of the young king. 
Of his appearance and habits his friend Sir Wil- 
liam Chambers gives the following interesting 
description: ''Picture to yourself a well-grown 
man above middle height, holding himself nat- 
urally, yet erect, of rather dark yet healthy com- 
plexion, with black curly hair and a powerful, 
manly glance, expressing unaffected modesty, up- 
rightness, and benevolence, and then you have an 
idea of the impression the first sight of Schwartz 
makes on a stranger. A plateful of rice, with 



102 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

some vegetable curry, formed the daily meal to 
which he sat down with a cheerful countenance, 
and a piece of native cloth dyed black formed the 
material for his dress for a year. Thus raised 
above all earthly cares, his whole attention is 
turned towards spreading the gospel. ' ' 

But I must not go on, though the theme is a 
tempting one; but one thing seems clear — it was 
not so much his intellect or his undoubted saga- 
city and prudence which gave him the command 
he possessed over men, especially over the na- 
tives, as it was the singular simplicity of aim 
which characterized his life, his unselfishness 
also, and the evident absence of all covetousness 
in regard to money, spending as he did all he had 
on God's work. Then, above all, there was the 
manifest reality of his religion and the sincerity 
of his personal godliness. These things showed 
the power of God in him, and these told on the 
natives and formed the secret of his influence and 
success as a missionary. 

A few glimmering rays of light had broken on 
the midnight darkness of the Tanjore province in 
the early days of the Danish Mission through the 
labors of Rajnaiken, whose story I have told, but 
the daybreak came with Schwartz. Darkness 
was on the face of the deep, but the Spirit of God 
moved upon the face of the waters. After a time, 



TANJORE. 103 

when lie and his immediate successors had passed 
away, the light perhaps grew dim, but now, in 
these days of modern effort and fresh awakening 
to the great interests of the heathen world, let us 
hope and pray that it may soon grow bright again, 
and wax brighter and brighter until the perfect 
day of truth and righteousness shall have come 
over the whole province. 



104 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DINDIGAL. ITS MEDICAI. MISSION. 

Our next halt is to be Dindigal, where there 
is a flourishing branch of the American Mission, 
which has worked in the province of Madura for 
the last fifty years. 

We had a most comfortable start, after a sub- 
stantial breakfast, when a whole company of kird 
people assembled on the platform to see us off.- 
Our carriage was stuffed with good things by our 
very kindest of hostesses; even dark blinds for 
the glaring windows were not forgotten. 

It was a curious thing, as we sped over this 
vast Tanjore plain, smiling now in green tran- 
quillity, to think of the times, not so very far 
past, when it was scoured by troops of fierce Ma- 
ratha horse; ^'hordes of imperial robbers," Sir 
Thomas Munro called them, doubtless with too 
much justice, in those troublous times. Many are 
the legends which still survive of the doughty 
deeds done by these w41d warriors. It is certainly 
a pleasant change now, when nothing is to be 
seen but peaceful, waving crops and the staid 
population and quiet, rural scenes. I have been 



DINDIGAL. ITS MEDICAL MISSION. 105 

wondering whether they would rather go back to 
the stirring days of native rule, when might was 
right — fancying, .perhaps, as distance lends en- 
chantment to the view in various senses, that in 
these old times they were better off. There is 
one thing the people do heartily appreciate — that 
now they can live in security, without dread of 
dacoity or robbery, which used to be so rife, 
or perhaps torture and death. They can even 
travel now with their families from one end of 
the land to the other, carrying their money-bags 
and jewels with them, no one daring to make 
them afraid. 

We had hoped to pay a visit to Trichinopoly, 
or Trichy, as it is popularly called, but we find 
that cholera is raging in all the district, and our 
kind friends at Tanjore would not hear of our 
venturing into the infected city; we therefore re- 
luctantly passed it by, prudently contenting our- 
selves with what could be seen during the hour 
our train halted at the station. 

Trichinopoly is famed for more than its lovely 
silver filigree -work or its cigars and tobacco. 
Here the good Bishop Heber lies buried, and we 
should have liked much to visit his tomb; and 
here Schwartz labored most successfully. There 
are missions of the present day also full of inter- 
est. This is the headquarters of the Roman- 



Io6 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

catholic missions of the South, and I am told 
that here they are particularly flourishing. 

We managed to get an excellent though dis- 
tant view of the famous ^'Rock," but it was a 
great disappointment not to be able to explore its 
wonderful chambers, which are said to be so 
curious and intricate, and its extensive fortifica- 
tions. Fine flights of steps ascend to its summit, 
from which there must be a beautiful prospect of 
mountain and plain, cities and temples. The 
country immediately round, though generally flat, 
is dotted here and there with curious isolated 
rocks and is cultivated and well wooded. The 
castiarma^ or babiil-\x^^^ abounds, and the crops, 
besides the staple rice, include sugar-cane, to- 
bacco, and cotton. 

Some time after we had passed Trichinopoly 
we got into a region of hills, some of picturesque 
formation and pretty with grass, broken jungle, 
and rock. This was a most pleasant change from 
the flat monotony of the scantily-peopled plains. 
Some quaint beehive huts, with thatched roofs 
shaped like extinguishers, lay nestling in brown 
groups about the base of the hills, and the simple 
people seemed busy in their little fields. There 
are great plantations of the castor-oil plant, and 
the ditches are filled with quantities of gigantic 
feathery grasses, which are exceedingly beautiful. 



DINDIGAI.. ITS MEDICAL MISSION. I07 

As it grew cool in the evening and the shadows 
were deepening beneath the trees we drew near 
our journey's end. 

As soon as we entered the station a vigorous 
man, of middle age, with a ringing voice and 
hearty manner, came straight to our carriage and 
welcomed us to Dindigal. This was Dr. Chester, 
the well-known and much-respected head of the 
medical branch of the Madura Mission. He has 
labored in Dindigal, which is his headquarters, 
and in all the district round about for full twenty 
years and has done a noble work, which grows 
more important every day. We were soon in his 
*'trap,'* driven by the energetic doctor, with 
whom we were at home in a moment; I thought 
we had not seen so pretty a station on this side of 
India. 

We were received in the bowery porch of the 
comfortable mission bungalow by Mrs. Chester, 
who gave us as kindly a welcome as her husband 
had done. The venerable missionary, Mr. Chand- 
ler, was beside her; he had driven in his bullock- 
coach from his distant station on purpose to meet 
us and carry us back with him if he could. But 
this great pleasure cannot be ours at present. 

The Chandlers are a missionary race. Like 
the Gulicks of Japan and other American fam- 
ilies, fathers and children have all cast in their 



I08 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

lot with the same grand cause and are missiona- 
ries in dififerent parts of the heathen field. This 
fine old man, who stood in the doorway as we 
arrived and greeted lis with so much feeling, has 
grown gray in the service of his mission. He 
was one of the first who came to Madura. Soon 
after we arrived his son came in from his station, 
which lies quite in a different direction from his 
father's, and we spent a delightful evening, chief- 
ly in hearing of the progress of the IvOrd's work 
in this successful and long-established mission. 
It was commenced by the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1834, and 
the progress in all departments, with the results 
in churches and schools and Christian families, 
naturally fills the hearts of the missionaries, as 
w^ell as those of the Board at home, with encour- 
ao^ement and thankfulness. 

There are ten stations in all, with at least one 
American missionary to each, the parish attached 
to every station being somewhere about eight 
hundred square miles! The population of the 
w^hole Madura province is nearly two millions, 
and all these people, more or less, have been 
brought under the sound and influence of the 
gospel. Each missionary is expected to work 
his eight hundred square miles, which of course 
would be an impossibility but for the admirable 



DINDIGAL. ITS MEDICAI. MISSION. IO9 

staff of native assistants attached to each station, 
who have been carefully trained as pastors, evan- 
gelists, catechists, Bible-women, and teachers. 

This whole district is rich agriculturally and 
possesses a great deal of material prosperity. The 
people as a rule are well off and well dressed, and 
among the coffee-planters of the Lower Pulney 
Hills not a few are natives. Money too seems 
wonderfully abundant, and the people do not 
seem to mind how much they spend on their fes- 
tivals and weddings or in building themselves 
better houses, and especially in erecting and en- 
dowing new temples and Swami shrines. But 
they also take a pride in having their children 
educated and are quite willing to pay substantial 
school-fees. 

This flourishing district, of such immense ex- 
tent, then, has been taken possession of for Christ 
by these energetic Americans, and the banner of 
the gospel floats over it from end to end. The 
people generally do not offer much opposition 
w^hen preaching is going on, and they are not 
altogether unfavorable to the spread of Chris- 
tianity in their country. Still the complaint is 
the same as you hear expressed everywhere — that 
the indifference displayed is often most disap- 
pointing; they care for none of these things; they 
acquiesce, agree that it is all true, and go away 



no SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and forget all about it. And yet much has been 
accomplished. In connection with the ten sta- 
tions there are thirty-four native Christian con- 
gregations, most of them ministered to by native 
pastors, with a membership, besides adherents, of 
2,827. These converts are drawn from all castes, 
•but chiefly from the Vellalas, or cultivators. Sev- 
eral of the churches are self-sustaining, paying 
their own pastor, and the district is covered with 
a network of schools taught by Christian teach 
ers, both male and female. All that is needed is 
a rich effusion of the Holy Spirit of God, the 
watering with the dew from heaven ; then would 
all this good seed, so diligently sowed, spring up 
and *'the glory of Lebanon" be given to this 
whole province. 

Dindigal is the headquarters of the medical 
part of the mission, as Madura city is of other 
departments; and Dr. Chester, a thoroughly edu- 
cated medical man, and also an ordained clergy- 
man, is the missionary who superintends it. 

This morning we were astir betimes, and after 
the early cup of tea, which only dwellers in the 
tropics know how to appreciate, we joined our 
host outside, and off we started to make the round 
of the station and the mission premises. What a 
joyous morning it was — fresh, cheery, and exhil- 
arating ! The birds were in full chorus and the 



DINDIGAI.. ITS MEDICAL MISSION. Ill 

sun came mounting up from behind the hills into 
the pearly sky with a gladsomeness that was quite 
infectious. It was deliciously cool; this plateau 
stands high, and the temperature was down to 58°. 

In situation Dindigal is exceedingly pretty. 
The plain, which is green and well wooded, is a 
wide amphitheatre, almost entirely surrounded by 
fine ranges of mountains, the chief being the 
Sira-malis and Lower Pulneys. But the most 
striking object and one which at once attracts 
attention is the curious Dindigal Rock, which 
stands quite by itself near the native city. It is a 
great solid mass of granite, I think, bare and 
brown and isolated, and you wonder if this curi- 
ous natural fortress is really nature's own work- 
manship. Man has certainly taken advantage of 
it and utilized it for his own purposes. The face 
of the rock is strongly fortified and its firm old 
walls and ramparts look as if they could still re- 
sist many a martial shock. 

In ancient days this fort was an important 
strategical position and was often the scene of 
tough encounters between the Marathas and the 
people of Mysore. In 1755 Hyder Ali garrisoned 
it, and afterwards it was greatly strengthened 
by Tippoo-Sultan, from whom finally, in 1792, 
the British took it. The summit is crowned by 
some temples with their tall pagoda-towers, and 



112 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

altogether it is a most picturesque and striking 
feature in the scene. At the base a bit of green 
esplanade stretches, very like a village common 
at home. 

We drove through the native town, which has 
wide streets wonderfully clean, where the differ- 
ent castes live in separate quarters. The Brah- 
man street looked particularly tidy, with neat 
little houses and a stone bench built in in front, 
where the men were sitting, wrapped in their 
^'cloths," sunning themselves. 

Dr. Chester's work is very interesting and 
varied. He is obliged to exercise the functions 
of an ordinary missionary, preaching, itinerating, 
etc. , and dispensing the sacraments in places con- 
nected with his district where there is no ordained 
native helper. But the chief interest lies in his 
medical work, the organization of which seems 
perfect. He took us over his dispensary, which 
stands in a large compound with its well-stocked 
drugstore, its waiting-rooms and surgery, to which 
are attached an apothecary, a good staff of dressers, 
and other assistants. We then saw his rest-house, 
where there is accommodation for people of four 
different castes while waiting for treatment, and 
then his Cottage Hospitals with native Christian 
nurses in attendance. He favors the plan of 
cottage hospitals, and has several small bunga- 



DINDIGAI.. ITS MEDICAL MISSION. II3 

lows as wards, affording accommodation also for 
a few convalescent patients. In the department 
specially set apart for women Dr. Chester intro- 
duced us to a very intelligent, pleasing woman, 
a native Christian, the head matron of the Lying- 
in Hospital. She is thoroughly trained and 
holds a diploma from the Government Medical 
School in Madras, and is quite capable of herself 
conducting difficult and dangerous eases. There 
are two other such native Christian nurses, who 
are employed in district hospitals. Finally the 
doctor introduced us to his medical school, in 
which there are thirty students occupying three 
class-rooms; and bright, intelligent, young fellows 
they looked. Most are Christians; there are few 
Hindoos; but I noticed only one who had an 
idolatrous mark on his forehead. The students 
are admitted after a competitive examination. 
The course of study is for three years; and the 
young men who pass out, after thorough exami- 
nations, are appointed as hospital assistants to 
stations generally connected with the mission. 
Who can tell the good which may result when 
these fully-trained young men go forth among 
the people and new branch dispensaries are set 
up and additional hospitals established? Their 
medical skill will op(^n every heathen door to 
them; and more than this, many a heathen heart 

Scenes in Southern India. 8 



114 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

will be opened, and people will be led to the 
Physician of souls. I hope the time will come 
when a medical department will be connected 
with every mission. Surely none should be con- 
sidered complete until a dispensary stands side by 
side'^with the schoolroom and the church. 

Dr. Chester has already ten branch dispensa- 
ries in different parts of the district, all of which 
he personally superintends, and their number is 
increased as students are prepared to take charge 
of them. The number of cases treated in the 
whole mission in the past year was over 46,000. 

We next paid a visit to the church, and were 
introduced to the native pastor, Mr. Colton, a 
superior, earnest man, with whom we had much 
cheering intercourse. He told us of his schools, 
especially of his large Sunday-school, which is 
attended by heathen and Mohammedan as well 
as Christian children, all of whom alike are 
taught a great deal of Scripture by heart. Some 
of these heathen children intelligently refuse to 
worship the idol when there is any festival in 
their village. This pastor is supported entirely 
by his congregation. 

I noticed that all the buildings were substan- 
tial, clean, airy, and well ventilated, but exceed- 
ingly plain and suited to the occupants. There 
is no needless expenditure anywhere; and Dr. 



DINDIGAL. ITS MEDICAI. MISSION. II5 

Chester, "though he does not refuse his services 
when called in as a medical man, never accepts a 
fee. 

Before leaving Dindigal we paid a visit to 
the Training-school of the Christian Vernacular 
Education Society, of which Mr. Evans is Prin- 
cipal. There seems to be rather a deficiency of 
accommodation, which this important and useful 
Society ought to increase. My husband had been 
requested by the society at home to see their semi- 
naries in India as far as possible, and he was 
greatly pleased with this one at Dindigal. Mr. 
Evans evidently labors for and with his pupils, a 
good many of whom are native Christians. Some 
of the missions send their young men here to be 
trained, after which they return to their stations 
as teachers. The students gave us specimens of 
their power of teaching, which were very amu- 
sing, as they tried to puzzle each other and then 
criticised the questioner. This system must make 
them very sharp. They also sang some hymns 
and lyrics both in Tamil and English. 

This Christian Vernacular Education Society 
does indeed a most important work in India — its 
master-spirit being our friend Dr. Murdoch, whose 
indefatigable labors as secretary have mainly 
helped to make the society the valuable institu- 
tion it is. It dates back to 1857 when it was es- 



Il6 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIi^. 

tablished directly after the Mutiny. 'It trains 
teachers, supports primary schools, sends forth 
colporters who sell many thousand copies of the 
Scriptures and other publications during the year; 
while Dr. Murdoch scatters his admirable series 
of schoolbooks broadcast over the land, and is 
always producing something new and fresh in 
other, useful books. The society has three great 
training institutions, one at Ahmednagar, one in 
the Punjaub, and this one in Dindigal. 

Altogether we had a busy day in the hands of 
our energetic host, including a visit to Mrs. Ches- 
ter's boarding-school, full of bright Christian girls. 
We felt to the full how stimulating it is to come 
in contact with men of large views and undaunted 
spirit, full of practical wisdom too, like these mis- 
sionaries, who seem to know no difficulty. This 
is one of the things Dr. Chester says: "Be sure 
you are right, then go ahead. This will make 
any mission plan a success, w^hile croakers and 
drones go to their graves still fearing to put their 
fingers to it. It is the ^ go-ahead ' as well as the 
' be sure you are right ' which is needed in India 
in every part of the mission work. ' ' 

I commend these words to the careful consid- 
eration of all who have to do with mission work 
at home as well as on the foreign field. 

After an early dinner we were again en roiUe^ 



DINDIGAL. ITS MEDICAL MISSION. II 7 

accompanied by the younger Mr. Chandler, who 
was returning to his home; and by the time the 
sun was sinking towards the western hills we had 
taken our places in the train corresponding to 
that which we had quitted 24 hours before. We 
had a sunset of singular beauty, and the mountain 
ranges looked inexpressibly grand in their dark 
blue outline beneath a sky full of the most exqui- 
site and gorgeous color. A broad line of deep 
blood red lay along the horizon, shading off up- 
wards into glowing amber and then to the most 
delicate lemon tints and aqua-marine, until all 
color was lost in the darkening upper sky, where 
by-and-by the cheery stars came twinkling out 
one by one. 

Mr. Chandler pointed out the Higher Pulneys 
as we came in sight of them in the darkening dis- 
tance, where the coffee and cinchona are largely 
cultivated. There is a delightful sanitarium 
somewhere on the summits, which the American 
Board, with its usual consideration, has provided 
for its missionaries. In the height of the hot 
season each mission family can escape to these 
charming hills and have two months of coolness 
and rest. This sanitarium was established when 
wild elephants and tigers were still the chief in- 
habitants. But now many other residents are at- 
tracted from the plains by the pleasanter climate 



Il8 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

of the mountains during the hottest portion of the 
year. When we came to his station Mr. Chand- 
ler left us, driving away into the darkness to his 
dwelling, lying twelve miles off in some valley 
behind the giant wall of hills. How I wished we 
could have gone with him to see his wife and 
work and mission home ! But it could not be. 

A long sweep round the base of the Sira-malis 
concluded our two and a half hours' journey, and 
we glided into the station at Madura. Late as it 
w^as, the Rev. Mr. Rendall, head of this branch 
of the mission, awaited us. After a good two 
miles' drive, chiefly through an extensive native 
city with very wide and very dark streets, we 
passed a handsome white church, which Mr. Ren- 
dall pointed out as his own, then turned into a 
large compound and stopped under the well-light- 
ed, hospitable-looking porch of the mission-house. 
Here Miss Rendall was waiting to receive us, and 
the welcome tea was ready spread in the room 
within. 

Mr. Rendall is a widower, and he and his 
daughter live and work together. He has la- 
bored in this mission since 1834. These short so- 
journs in the homes of the missionaries make one 
of the most delightful and enjoyable parts of our 
tour and certainly will furnish some of its pleas- 
antest memories. 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. II9 



CHAPTER IX. 

MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 

The day after our arrival in Madura was Sun- 
day. My husband had happily arranged that we 
should have a Sabbath in this important centre, 
that we might see the Sabbath work; for this is 
the headquarters of the great American Madura 
Mission, generally called by its own Board, the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions, ** the model mission.^' 

I was too tired, after our grand field day at 
Dindigal, to be quite in time to accompany the 
rest of the party to the early morning service in 
the native church ; but by-and-by, hearing a 
lady's voice outside inquiring for me, I hurried 
out and found Mrs. Capron, a lady I was glad in- 
deed to meet. Her name is a familiar one in con- 
nection with woman's work in India. Her hus- 
band was one of the early Madura missionaries; 
but he died; and instead of abandoning the field 
she only saw a new call in her less occupied life 
to devote herself more entirely to God's work 
among her poor heathen sisters. She sent her 
children home to America to be educated, and has 



I20 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ever since labored in Madura, and with wonderful 
success. Her work is very varied; she teaches in 
the zenanas, conducts a dispensary in connection 
with Dr. Chester, has several day-schools, and re- 
ceives many women in her own house. 

She and I soon became friends, and we sallied 
forth together. She led me through the spacious 
compound, which has within its wide inclosure 
the complete paraphernalia of a mission. Beside 
the mission-house stands the bungalow occupied 
by Mrs. Capron and her assistant lady missionary; 
then come the dispensary, the dressers' premises, 
and other houses. On the opposite side are Miss 
RejidalPs day and boarding schools, including a 
handsome and commodious building just erected 
to provide class-rooms for her higher school. It 
makes a capital public hall also for all manner of 
purposes, and is called the Otis Hall because it 
was built by a grant from a munificent legacy of 
a million dollars left by a Mr. Otis to the Ameri- 
can Board at Boston to aid them in their great 
missionary undertakings. 

Mrs. Capron and I hurried to the Tamil ser- 
vice and entered the large church we had passed 
the evening before when driving in. It was 
closely packed throughout by a congregation of 
well-dressed men and w^omen seated separately. 
Miss Kendall's sixty-six Christian schoolgirls oc- 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 121 

cupied one section, seated closely packed on the 
floor; she herself had been presiding at the organ 
and my husband was preaching with great anima- 
tion in English, being interpreted by a fine-look- 
ing, oldish man, whom we found afterwards to be 
Pastor Cornelius. Responses were used and the 
service was a good deal liturgical, though the 
prayers were not read. The music was excellent, 
the hymns being partly English and partly Tamil 
lyrics with native tunes. 

After all was over the pleasant-looking people 
crowded round us, and we had much talk and 
shaking of hands. Some of the fine young men 
whom we saw conduct the weekly prayer-meeting 
by turns and spend the Sunday afternoons in going 
out among the villages and districts, preaching 
the Word and holding prayer-meetings. Some of 
the young women meet in the girls' school every 
week and have prayer together, and there seems 
to be generally a vitality of faith and love among 
these Christians and a good deal of spiritual life, 
which is refreshing to see. 

A strange prophecy had gone forth somehow 
that the Lord's second advent was to take place 
in the end of 1881, and there was a widespread 
expectancy and excitement all over South India. 
Some people left off work and said and did other 
foolish things; but the movement had this effect, 



122 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

that the heathen were roused as well as the Chris- 
tians, and many began to inquire and to read and 
study the Christians' Bible to find out what it had 
to say on the point. The missionaries hope that, 
though the excitement has passed away, the inter- 
est in the Bible continues and will yet lead some 
to Christ. 

After breakfast Dr. Mitchell went to the Sun- 
day-school in connection with Mr. Kendall's Eng- 
lish city school and again gave an address. He 
says there were a good many Brahman lads pres- 
ent, who were as sharp as needles, but did not cavil 
nearly as much as a similar class in Maharashtra 
would have done. I spent most of the morning 
with Mrs. Capron, hearing about her work, in the 
special sanctum where she receives private visits 
from her ''dear women," as she calls them. I 
sat at her feet and learned much from her. She 
is a grave, earnest, middle-aged woman, her whole 
face and manner being expressive of calm, sub- 
dued power and purpose. Her work is systemat- 
ically and beautifully arranged, not only her own, 
but that of the six Bible-women she employs. 
She could not do half she does but for her great 
power of organization and perfect system. Five 
hundred women in her zenanas are now learning 
to read the Bible, and the extraordinary number 
of over fifteen thousand have had the Bible read 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 123 

to them by herself and her Bible-women during 
the past year. Surely this sowing of the seed 
broadcast must soon produce its fruit in souls 
saved and brought to the feet of Christ. 

Besides this zenana visitation she has four day- 
schools, some of which I had the pleasure of vis- 
iting, and in one helped to give away some little 
gifts as prizes, which greatly delighted the bonny 
little brown bairnies, who gathered in great num- 
bers in the upper schoolroom where they were dis- 
tributed. Her pupils, old and young, all seem to 
be very fond of her and to trust her perfectly. 
She has an additional hold of them through her 
medical knowledge and the dispensing of medi- 
cine, which takes place every morning. How 
she manages it all I cannot tell. 

One of the most interesting parts of her work 
consists in the visits the women pay to her, for 
here happily the women are not so secluded as in 
some other parts and may venture forth from their 
zenanas. She told me many anecdotes of these 
visits, which show most encouraging progress and 
inquiry among the people. One dying woman in 
a heathen home said to her the other day, ' ' I am 
thinking so much of the thief on the cross beside 
Jesus. He said to him, ^To-day you will be with 
me in heaven.' Oh, do you think he will say 
this to me on this my last dying day ?'* Another 



124 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

woman, when reproached by her priest for giving 
up idolatry, retorted, "Which of our gods have 
suffered anything for us? See what the Chris- 
tians' Christ has suffered for them?" She had 
read Luke's Gospel with Mrs. Capron. Another 
intelligent woman, not a Christian, but one whom 
she had instructed for some time, having no chil- 
dren and plenty of leisure, interested herself in 
the daughters of a neighbor's family. She got 
them to come to her house, bought books for 
them, and taught them to read. When they were 
sufficiently advanced to read the Bible she per- 
suaded them to become pupils of the Mem-Sahib 
and handed them over to Mrs. Capron. 

Another of her pupils, who had been obliged 
to go to a neighboring city, returned after a time 
and said to her, ' There I found the water good 
and the air good, but here I receive the living 
water, and it is good to come back." The morn- 
ing I was sitting: with her she received a most 
touching letter from one of her pupils, a heathen 
woman, telling her of the death of the husband of 
a friend. She expresses great grief, for now her 
friend is a widow (and we all know what that 
means); "but," she adds, "she knows Christ as 
her refuge; he will comfort her." Is not this re- 
markable language for one not a professed Chris- 
tian to use? But she must be a Christian in 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 1 25 

heart; probably one of His hidden ones, of whom 
there are many, I believe, to be found in the 
homes of India. Another woman won her unbe- 
lieving husband to Christ by inducing him when 
very ill to listen to Mrs. Capron as she knelt 
down and offered up earnest prayer for him by 
what seemed to be his dying bed. 

In her schools and houses Mrs. Capron has 200 
subscribers for a Sunday-school magazine. Her 
chief work, and that of her Bible- women, always 
is teaching, expounding, and reading to the wo- 
men the Word of God. Every other kind of in- 
struction has a secondary place. She gives them 
text-cards also, from which they learn verses by 
heart; and this bears its own fruit. She is by no 
means alone in this work for women. It is dili- 
gently prosecuted by all the missionaries' wives in 
the various districts and a large staff of Bible- wo- 
men and zenana teachers. The converting power 
of God's own simple Word, carried home by the 
Holy Spirit, is often seen in a striking and unex- 
pected way among the people even in remote vil- 
lages. This is partly from her work and that of 
other ladies in other places and partly from the 
constant labors of the preachers and evangelists. 
Cases are discovered by the missionaries in which 
idolatry has been abandoned and the almost ' ' un- 
known God ' ' worshipped instead, simply from 



126 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

having been listeners to Bible-reading at some 
time or other. Some are so afraid of the influ- 
ence of this wonderful Book that they frankly say 
they cannot continue to listen. They say too that 
since the famine the gods themselves are afraid 
their power is departing and have gone off to the 
jungles and mountains. 

There is constant itineracy going on through- 
out the province, and there is much encourage- 
ment in preaching the Word. Mr. Kendall says 
over 300,000 people are having the gospel preached 
to them. Much use is made of singing and the 
people are greatly attracted by it, especially when 
lyrics are used. Dr. Sutton, of Orissa, says, *'The 
people here are fast singing away their prejudi- 
ces." So may it be said of the Madura district. 
The lyrics are sung to native tunes, or, rather, are 
chanted, with a monotonous refrain which is high- 
ly pleasing to native taste. 

One could not help being struck with the 
completeness and thorough nature of the work in 
every department of this mission. The schools 
for both boys and girls are admirable, and the 
buildings and arrangements the same. I have 
already referred to Miss Rendall's institution. 
Her boarding-school is altogether for the daugh- 
ters of native Christians and the agents of the 
mission, and every missionary lady has her own 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 1 27 

boarding-school at her own station. Thus the 
children of the native Christians are all well 
trained and educated, a most important matter; 
and good Christian workers are also trained and 
sent out to villages and districts as teachers, Bible- 
women, etc., according to their ability or fitness. 
Miss Rendall teaches up to the middle standard 
and receives a large grant from Government. 
Fourteen different castes are represented in her 
day-schools, but caste is not observed in any way 
in the mission. All church members sit promis- 
cuously at the lyord's table; but the different 
castes do not care to intermarry. Some mission- 
aries think it is as well for social reasons that 
they should not do so at present. 

And yet, prosperous as this mission is, here as 
elsewhere the cry is. How much more might be 
done if funds were forthcoming ! Alas, every- 
where devoted missionaries seem crushed by the 
word '* retrench." *' We cannot send means w^e 
have not got," say the Boards. It is true, they 
cannot. Then let me say to Christian friends who 
love the work and who can give the means that 
now missionaries are heart-stricken in presence of 
a work they might do, but cannot even touch, 
having resolutely to shut their ears to the cry, 
'* Come over and help us," because they have not 
the means. They are like generals in front of an 



128 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

enemy's position, which they feel they could carry 
if only men and means, the sinews of war, were 
sufficiently placed at their disposal. Oh, that 
Christian and philanthropic people in Britain and 
America would but lay this to heart ! 

Madura w^as and is the seat of one of the chief 
Roman-catholic missions in India. The fame of 
Xavier has naturally eclipsed that of all other 
Romish missionaries, but it would be wrong to 
forget the labors of such men as Roberto de No- 
bili and Beschi. The former, a nephew of the 
celebrated Cardinal Bellarmine, labored from 
1606. The natives called him TatwabodJiak-Swa- 
ini^ or the '* philosophical teacher." The moral 
character of some of the proceedings of the Jesuit 
missionaries has been vehemently assailed by Ro- 
manists as well as Protestants; but it is unneces- 
sary to enter on this painful subject here. There 
is a handsome modern Roman -catholic church 
close by, w^hich my husband has seen. It contains 
a good many pictures, including two or three por- 
traits of Xavier. The priests do not preach in 
public or in the streets; their services are all con- 
ducted in their churches ; but processions are nu- 
merous, when images are carried about through 
the city. 

Since this delightful visit to Madura was paid, 
our dear friend who then so kindly entertained us 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 1 29 

has been called to his rest. The Rev. Mr. Ken- 
dall died towards the end of 1883. When we saw 
him he seemed in vigorous health, and one could 
not but hope that many days of faithful work for 
his beloved mission were still before him. But 
the Master has seen fit to order it otherwise and 
to summon his servant home. His loss is deeply 
and increasingly felt by his associates, and he is 
most truly mourned by the whole native Chris- 
tian community. 

In a memorial address by Dr. Chester, of Din- 
digal, he says of this admirable missionar>^ : 
*%ove was the secret of Mr. Kendall's power as 
a Christian and as a missionary. A more unself- 
ish man never lived His whole wish was 

to see the kingdom of the heavenly Master come, 
and come speedily, in India and in the Madura 
district. Every meeting he attended, the work 
of every committee of which he was a member, 
every letter he wrote, every sermon he preached, 
and every address he made proved this." 



Scenes In Sontliern India. 



130 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER X. 

MADURA AND ITS TEMPI^ES. 

Besides the missions there is much to interest 
in this curious old place. Madura was once the 
capital of a great and powerful kingdom, having 
a stirring history, like most of its neighbors; and 
it is still a remarkable and extensive city. It 
abounds in temples, palaces, fine old tanks, tow- 
ers and cupolas, and other striking architectural 
monuments. These amply testify to the great- 
ness of its past, as well as add much to the pic- 
turesqueness of its present. It has also a good 
deal of natural beauty. The modern city covers 
an immense area, and has unusually wide streets, 
with low, whitewashed houses generally orna- 
mented with stripes and patches of color, espe- 
cially in the Brahmans' streets, and stone benches 
built on to the houses, where you can often catch 
a quaint and pleasing picture from the life of the 
people. The streets are wonderfully clean and 
tidy and tolerably free from those peculiar odors — 
certainly not those of " Araby the blest" — which 
usually assail one in Indian cities. There are 
open spaces here and there full of greenness and 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES. I31 

sunshine; long wide avenues fringed with beauti- 
ful trees; great groves of the palmyra palm ; large, 
park-like compounds, where the Europeans re- 
side; and, in the midst of all, paddy-fields curious- 
ly intermingling with the streets and buildings, so 
that the whole place looks framed in richest green; 
while the lofty goparmns^ or pagoda-towers of the 
temples, rise majestically and with most pictu- 
resque effect over the whole. 

It must have been a splendid city in the days 
of the famous Tirumalai Naik, who reigned in the 
seventeenth century, and who did much for the 
strengthening and beautifying of his capital. 
Even now it is the finest city of South India. 
The oldest parts date from the time of the Pan- 
dyan kings, before the Christian era. 

A flourishing period in the history of this king- 
dom seems to have been about the first or second 
century after Christ, when the famous rishi, or 
sage, Agastya, lived. He is said to have been the 
introducer of Brahmanical civilization into South 
India. His exploit in leading a colony of Brah- 
mans southward is mentioned in the Sanscrit 
poem, the "Ramayan;" but the date — indeed, 
everything about this enlightened personage, said 
to have been the offspring of two gods — is most 
uncertain, if not mythical. A learned author calls 
him "the fabled civilizer of the South.'' 



132 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Very early this morning, while it was still 
cool, our kind host, accompanied by one or two 
of his native assistants, took us out to see the far- 
famed pagoda, the finest temple, I suppose, in all 
India. Certainly none of those we have seen, 
even in the holiest cities of the Hindoos in other 
parts of India, at all approach this one in gran- 
deur and extent and also in the value of its en- 
dowments and its jewels. But how shall I de- 
scribe this extraordinary place in all its curious 
and endless ramifications? What seems to re- 
main in the mind of the wonderful things which 
go to make up this gorgeous temple is a confused 
and bewildering recollection of halls and corridors 
and labyrinthine passages, cloisters and crypts 
and shrines, with all their puzzling native names, 
grotesque deities, griffins, and quaint hybrid crea- 
tures carved in stone and wood, gilding and paint- 
ing and carving and pictures, and strange archi- 
tecture such as one had never seen before, while 
the notes, hurriedly taken on the spot, only seem 
at the first look to make ''confusion worse con- 
founded. ' ' 

This great fabric covers 20 acres of ground 
and is surrounded by a lofty brick wall, forming 
a perfect square and ornamented by red and white 
stripes, the holy color of the Hindoos. It is dedi- 
cated to the god Shiva and his wife Minakshi, or 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPI.ES. 133 

**the fish-eyed goddess;'* probably, my husband 
says, an aboriginal deity, who has been identified 
with Durga of Bengal and Parvati of Western In- 
dia, the wives of Shiva. As you approach the 
mighty fane what you are first struck with are 
the grand goparams^ or towers, which are pyra- 
midal in structure and are peculiar to this Dravi- 
dian style of architecture. These are very lofty 
and massive, in shape a truncated cone, gorgeous- 
ly carved and colored and ornamented, the sum- 
mit being crowned with a fan-shaped erection like 
the hood of a snake. The entire cone is covered, 
row on row and tier on tier, with elaborately 
carved Hindoo deities. Many thousands of the 
gods of the Hindoo Pantheon are thus sculptured 
on the exteriors of these pagoda-towers. I forget 
how many towers there are connected with this 
temple, but they rise over the gateways, ornament 
the four corners of the walls, crown the inferior 
shrines, and from one point near the sacred tank I 
counted thirteen visible at once, two or more of 
which were covered with gold and gleamed with 
dazzling brightness in the sunlight. 

We entered the main edifice by a huge, mas- 
sive, carved gateway of teakwood, guarded on 
each side by the most fantastic mythological fig- 
ures sculptured in stone. Opposite the gateway 
are four lofty pillars or shafts, 45 feet high and 



134 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

sunk 15 feet below the surface of the ground, 
most beautifully carved, and each composed of a 
single stone. Entering we found ourselves in a 
handsome court called the Mandapam^ a sort of 
arcade, with a stone roof supported by rows of 
fine pillars, ending in a raised dais or throne, the 
canopy of which is supported by lovely spiral col- 
umns of highly-polished black basalt. This outer 
court is used as a place of merchandise, putting 
one in mind of the gospel narrative of those who 
bought and sold in the temple who were cast out 
by Christ. Many people were seated cross-legged 
on their mats beneath the arches, with all manner 
of wares spread out around them, and evidently 
doing an active business. 

From this we entered another hall of grand 
proportions, within which is the chief sanctuary, 
the shrine which contains the sokalinga^ or sacred 
symbol of the god Shiva. Into this shrine no one 
is allowed to penetrate but the Brahman priest. 
It stands beneath a golden cupola, two huge, fu- 
rious-looking creatures keeping fantastic watch 
on either side of the entrance. Within lights 
glimmer in the darkness, and opposite stands a 
gigantic Nandi^ or sacred bull, on which Shiva 
usually rides, also in black basalt, under a cano- 
py supported by four slender columns most exqui- 
sitely carved. This figure is surrounded by tall, 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES. 1 35 

graceful candelabra in gold, and in front is a gold- 
en altar. The elaborateness of the workmanship 
everywhere is extraordinary, and the lavish ex- 
penditure which must be practised in order to 
keep it all in preservation and repair is equally 
surprising. 

From this we wandered over corridors and 
cloisters of immense extent, all filled with curi- 
ous things in pictures and carvings, absurd figures 
in every fantastic attitude, with elephants and 
bulls, peacocks with expanded tails, and other 
creatures, all made of pure gold, ready for carry- 
ing forth in grand procession at festival times. A 
fellow-tourist, who joined our party, exclaimed, 
**What grand loot for the Russians when they 
come!'* **Yes, when they come^'''* we replied. 
The jewels belonging to this temple, with which 
the gods and goddesses are decked on great occa- 
sions, are of extraordinary beauty and value. 

In passing through one long aisle we disturbed 
a numerous colony of bats, the rush of their flap- 
ping wings making the most dismal sounds in the 
arched roof. The whole place too was filled with 
the horrid din of tomtoms and the shrill noise of 
pipes, reverberating through the weird gloom of 
the passages and giving one quite an uncanny 
feeling. At one place we came on a reservoir 
filled with abominable thinofs unutterable. All 



136 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the libations poured out and on to the gods, of 
holy water, oil, ghee, curd, milk, paint, etc., flow 
in one loathsome stream into this reservoir, where 
it remains, stagnant and poisonous. Horrible to 
tell, this disgusting mixture is actually drunk, 
partaken of by devotees and their dupes, because 
it is said to cleanse away all sin. There is no 
crime, however dreadful or unnatural, that this 
potion cannot cleanse, no sin so unpardonable but 
that, if this is imbibed, the ofiender shall be for- 
given ! 

Is there any depth of error or degradation too 
low for the human mind to descend to ? Would 
that these miserable people could have their eyes 
opened to see the true fountain which has been 
opened for sin and uncleanness and learn to avail 
themselves of its real pardoning and purifying 
power ! 

Before we passed from the temple a great man 
arrived in grand procession to worship. He had 
brought some holy water from Mother Gunga to 
offer to the god, and, being a rich merchant of the 
Chetty caste, he rode on an elephant gaudily ca- 
parisoned in gold and silver trappings. The huge 
beast strode right through the cloisters, making 
the people fly to right and left, flapped his great 
ears and tossed his trunk, grunting and snorting 
as if he did not half like his mission. The great 




BELL MUSIC USED AT DEVIL WOKSHIP. 




TANK AND TEMPLE AT MADURA. 



MADURA AND ITS TKMPLKS. I37 

man was accompanied by a numerous and pictu- 
resque following, carrying red umbrellas, little 
brown and red flags, tails of the yak cow, etc. 
As we walked through the Hall of the Thou- 
sand Pillars we were accosted by some holy men 
smeared all over with ashes, having hardly any 
other covering, who did not at all seem to relish 
our intrusion. But Mr. Rendall everywhere was 
received and treated with perfect respect. 

There was once a famous school of poets in 
connection with the temple, and we saw the clois- 
ter where they used to have their sittings. Final- 
ly we visited the famous sacred Tank of the Gold- 
en Lotus. It is a sheet of dirty green water with 
stone steps descending to it, the banks being also 
faced with stone. A broad, terraced, paved walk 
goes completely round, beneath a handsome colon- 
nade of beautiful pillars carved in relief, while the 
whole is encircled by a high wall. Men were busi- 
ly employed all along this wall, standing on scaf- 
foldings, restoring old frescos and pictures in the 
gayest coloring. These chiefly represented fights 
between the Brahmans and Jains, a quasi-Buddhist 
sect, wherein the latter always seemed to come 
worst off and to be cruelly maltreated, as, no 
doubt, they were in fact, when the Hindoos suc- 
ceeded in almost banishing them and their faith 
from Madura, where they were once paramount. 



138 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

It is not easy to find out the exact date when 
this temple was founded, but the building seems 
to have been begun before the Christian era, and 
is, indeed, of all ages, having been added to at 
different dates. Whatever its origin and age, 
however, its fame is chiefly bound up with that 
of Tirumalai Naik, who added to the original 
structure some of its finest halls and shrines. 

The palace also, which we next visited, is as- 
sociated with this great ruler. He built it and 
lived in it when it was in all its glory. Now, 
even in comparative ruin, it is a magnificent 
building; its style of architecture, which is quite 
different from that of the pagoda, being a mixture 
of Hindoo and Saracenic. Government is now 
having it extensively and carefully restored, and 
its spacious halls are to be utilized for public 
offices. As you enter there is a splendid quad- 
rangular court, with side aisles which have roofs 
elaborately carved in relief with mythological 
subjects and supported by double rows of mas- 
sive granite pillars, coated with finely-polished 
chunam. From one end of this handsome court a 
broad flight of steps leads to the main hall, which 
is quite as grand in its proportions as the court. 
It is surmounted by a beautiful domed roof, very 
lofty, and skirted by open galleries, and has the 
same sort of pillars as ornament the outer court 



MADURA AND ITS THMPI.ES. 1 39 

and other chambers. In one of the chambers 
there are some graceful columns in black basalt. 
Altogether, within and without, it is a most im- 
posing structure. 

In the afternoon we had tea with Mrs. Hutch- 
ins, the wife of the judge, and saw in the com- 
pound the finest and biggest banyan tree, I fancy, 
that exists. They say it is larger even than the 
wonderful old tree in the Botanic Gardens in Cal- 
cutta. Quite an army of graceful slender stems 
descend from the great canopy of upper branches 
and are most beautifully trained and cared for by 
Mr. Hutchins. A real army might encamp be- 
neath the shadow of this magnificent specimen of 
the monarch of Indian woods, so wide an area 
does it cover. Of course, one could not look at 
the majestic tree without recalling Milton's de- 
scription : 

" The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renowned, 
But such as at this day, to Indians known, 
In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms." 

Miss Rendall then drove us round and round 
a magnificent tank, a great sheet of water in- 
closed by walls of solid masonry, also a monument 
of the enlightened ruler I have already often re- 
ferred to, Tirumalai Naik. At festival times 
this whole immense square, in the centre of which 
a temple stands, is lit up with thousands upon 



140 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

thousands of tiny oil lamps, which must have the 
loveliest effect, like the glimmering and gleaming 
of myriad fireflies. On such occasions all the 
grand golden things of the temple are brought 
forth by the priests and borne aloft in gorgeous 
procession, amid the plaudits and acclamations 
of the enthusiastic populace. 

On the last morning of our stay we had a 
most inspiriting little expedition to Pasumalai, 
where there is a branch mission, and an excellent 
institution for the training and education of na- 
tive Christian lads and boys. It is under the 
charge of Mr. and Mrs. Washburn and Mr. and 
Mrs. Burnell. Mr. Washburn sent his "rocka- 
way'* for us, a pleasant sort of conveyance, 
drawn by a tiny Pegu pony, the briskest lit- 
tle creature you can imagine. The drive in 
the fresh, cool morning air was most enjoya- 
ble. It was a shady road, fringed with beau- 
tiful trees, the neem, tamarind, banyan, pee- 
pul, and plenty of palms; the paddy-fields, filled 
with richest green, mingled with brown knolls, 
isolated rocks, tanks, and clumps of wood, while 
blue, mist-veiled hills bounded the distant view. 
Presently a church tower rose above some trees 
lying in the shelter of a bare, brown hill, and we 
turned into a large compound filled with buildings 
of every size and shape. We breakfasted with 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPLKS. 141 

our friends in one of the pretty mission bunga- 
lows, the very picture of New England neat- 
ness. 

After breakfast and prayers we went out to 
see the institution. The number of buildings 
shows its extensive character. It includes a High 
School, an industrial department where trades are 
taught, a college, and also a theological depart- 
ment for the training of aspirants to the ministry 
as well as catechists and evangelists. One hun- 
dred and eight students were enrolled last year. 
An interesting feature is that the pupils gather to 
it from such distances. They come from towns 
and villages and mission stations extending over 
an area of six thousand miles, and half of these 
are the sons of pastors and catechists ; others 
are converts from their own conviction, who 
have been cast adrift by their friends, and who 
here find a home and sympathy and good train- 
ing for future work. All pay fees except poor 
boys, who. get scholarships. We spent an hour 
or two most happily among these nice lads. 
My husband questioned and addressed all the 
different departments, and found in the theologi- 
cal classes many earnest, thoughtful young men. 
This department exercises a most salutary influ- 
ence on the schoolboys; they have meetings for 
prayer, and go out on itinerating work when op- 



142 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

portunity offers. Seeing a row of small, cell-like 
chambers, I asked their use. I found they were 
prayer-rooms, where the pupils may retire for 
private reading and prayer — a most needful ar- 
rangement in India, where the houses are so open 
that it is a hard matter to find a closet to which 
you can retire and shut your door and *'pray to 
your Father who is in secret. ' ' 

Thus the mission provides for the proper train- 
ing and upbringing of the children of its con- 
verts, the next generation of Christians; surely a 
matter of the very greatest importance, to which 
every mission should wisely attend. 




POUNDING RICE, 



TINNEVELLY. PALAMCOTTA. 143 

CHAPTER XI. 

TINNEVELI.Y. PALAMCOTTA. 

WK have now come to our last day of railway 
travelling. We waved our adieux to our kind 
entertainers and to beautiful Madura and are now 
journeying in a southeasterly direction towards 
the great district of Tinnevelly. The country is 
flat except for some dim, blue, hazy hill-ranges 
in the far distance; and though the soil is rather 
sandy it is generally well cultivated and covered 
with crops; not in little patches like a patch-work 
quilt, which is the aspect cultivation too often 
presents in India,, but in big fields worthy of the 
name. The paddy-fields, where rice is grown, 
abound the most, but bajri, jowari, millet, and 
cotton in great quantities are also largely culti- 
vated, coffee too wherever there are hills or high- 
er ground. 

The province is rich agriculturally and the 
scenery rural in its character. It might remind 
one of our own midland counties but for the great 
groves of the palmyra palm, which now became 
the chief feature in the landscape, and are cer- 
tainly not English. This marvellous tree, which 
ever^^where in South India is the real staff of life 



144 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

to the people, covers many hundred square miles; 
and though its lofty top is not so beautiful as the 
cocoa palm, with its crown of long, graceful 
fronds, yet it is most picturesque and stately and 
gives a thoroughly Oriental and varied aspect to 
the scene. 

The district is interesting too to the lover of 
antiquarian research from the curious remains 
which are to be found of prehistoric races in 
weapons, implements, pottery, etc. It is also the 
scene of the early Dravidian civilization. But I 
confess that, to me, the chief interest lies in its 
being the scene of some of the most successful 
missionary enterprises the world has ever seen. 

When it began to grow dark, though hardly 
yet cool, after what had seemed an interminable 
day, we changed into a short branch line for Tin- 
nevelly. At the station we found a young native 
Christian waiting with a servant and note from 
Bishop Sargent, who was expecting us. There 
was also the bishop's large, comfortable bandy, 
something like a small omnibus, drawn by a pair 
of huge white bullocks, into which we thank- 
fully got. We left the native city behind, called 
Tinnevelly, like the province of which it is the 
capital, and turned towards the English canton- 
ment Palamcotta, and were soon welcomed by the 
venerable bishop and his most gentle wife. A 



TINNEVEI.I.Y. PALAMCOTTA. 145 

long-cherished dream was realized: we were at 
Palamcotta. 

Bishop Sargent looks a much younger man 
than I expected; his manner is youthful and vi- 
vacious; his silvery white hair is brushed back 
off his fine, lofty forehead; his face is clean shaved 
and fresh, with a bright, pleasant expression; his 
movements are rapid, and he looks still full of 
vigor and force. One may well hope that God 
will yet for a good many years spare this excel- 
lent missionary bishop to carry on the glorious 
work for Christ he has been conducting for now 
nearly half a century. Mrs. Sargent is in ex- 
tremely feeble health, but is literally from morn 
till night engaged in mission work. It is her 
meat and drink, her very life. I do not think I 
ever saw a more touching picture than this in- 
firm, venerable lady, sitting on her low chair in 
her veranda, surrounded by a group of school- 
girls or a company of poor, desolate-looking wid- 
ows, in whom she always takes special interest, 
while with feeble but earnest voice she instructs 
them or reads to them and tells them of the Sa- 
viour, always finishing off with prayer. I never 
go to her rooms any time of the day but I find 
her thus engaged, and she always brightens up 
with such a look of love and interest when her 
** dear girls " come about her. 

Scenes iu Southern India. IQ 



146 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

The house is a comfortable large bungalow, 
having no up stairs; the rooms are lofty and open- 
ing off each other, with a wide pillared veranda 
stretching along the front and a pretty bowery 
porch. The furnishings and fittings, with all the 
surroundings, are simplicity itself; there is every 
needful comfort, but nothing more. It is a true 
missionary home: the work is all in all; it is the 
one idea of the place and people. This was the 
house in which the excellent missionary Rhenius 
lived, a well-known name among the many asso- 
ciated with the history of Tinnevelly missions. 

Soon after we arrived dinner was announced, 
during which the bishop talked in the most en- 
tertaining way, giving information and relating 
incidents and anecdotes with immense animation. 
We quite forgot our fatigue and weary journey. 
Then, before we left the table, a troop of native 
servants filed in, sat down cross-legged on the 
floor, removed their turbans, and the bishop con- 
ducted worship in Tamil. 

The Tinneyelly district as a mission field is 
divided between the Church Missionary Society 
and the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel, the greater portion belonging to the former. 
Dr. Sargent is Suffragan Bishop for the Church 
Missionary Society missions and Bishop Caldwell 
the same in connection with the other society. 



TINNEVELLY. PAI.AMCOTTA. 1 47 

The venerable Schwartz — '4he most memo- 
rable name in the history of Protestant missions 
in South India," as Bishop Caldwell says — was 
connected with these missions as well as with those 
of Tranquebar, Trichinopoly, and Tanjore. He 
visited Tinnevelly in 177 1, also in 1782, and again 
in 1785. He baptized the first convert, a Brah- 
man woman, named Clarinda. On the occasion 
of this baptism Schwartz wrote: ** Oh, let us pray 
for more faithful laborers. May God send such, 
for Christ's sake. May he send such in troops i^'^ 
Surely this prayer has since been signally an- 
swered. After a few years Clarinda and two 
other Christians went the long journey to Tan- 
jore to see Schwartz and to beg that a missionary 
might be settled in their district. The conse- 
quence was that successive catechists were sent. 
Sathianaden especially — a native missionary, ed- 
ucated by himself — did admirable work and la- 
bored long in the district; and under him the 
native church made steady progress. Chiefly 
from the efforts made by Clarinda the first Chris- 
tian church was built; and so began the Protes- 
tant mission churches of Tinnevelly, now so flour- 
ishing. 

The Christian community in connection with 
Bishop Sargent at present numbers fifty-five thou- 
sand. Under Bishop Caldwell, of the Society for 



148 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the Propagation of the Gospel, there are forty-five 
thousand more; so that the wonderful and delight- 
ful fact remains to cheer the hearts of the friends 
of missions that, out of a population of about two 
millions, one hundred thousand are Protestant 
Christians. The number has quadrupled itself 
in twenty years. Let all who talk of missions as 
a failure be told this weighty fact. 

I can hardly attempt to speak of Roman-cath- 
olic missions. It was on the Tinnevelly coast 
that Francis Xavier, in 1542, after staying a short 
time in Goa, commenced his labors. The Jesuits, 
after being repressed as a society for some time, 
again received charge of the Tinnevelly missions 
in 1837. Their converts still increase in number, 
although, as far as I can learn, not so rapidly as 
those of the Protestants; and they are very dil- 
igent with schools, orphanages, and such kinds 
of mission work. 

Most of the bishop's converts — quite two- 
thirds, I think — are drawn from the Shanars, 
who, as I said, are worshippers of devils. They 
are a low caste, but claim to be the original in- 
habitants of this part of the country, and have 
never been much influenced by Hindoos or Hin- 
dooism. The Shanars live chiefly by the palmyra 
palm and are the palmyra climbers; that is, it is 
they who mount these branchless trees, sometimes 



TINNEVELLY. PALAMCOTTA. 1 49 

to the height of eighty or ninety feet, to remove 
the sap or juice, which has been drawn off in a 
small earthen pot at the top. This beverage is 
much used by the people and is very refreshing, 
though it becomes intoxicating if left to ferment. 
It is also made into sugar and is used in other 
ways. From many villages in the heart of these 
palmyra groves, where formerly only the horrible 
and degrading rites of devil-worship were prac- 
tised, you now hear the voice of prayer ascending 
to the God and Father of all. 

The people usually have good faces, with 
marked features, very dark skin, and bright, 
good-tempered expressions. The men and wo- 
men both wear the hair long and generally tied 
in a knot behind. Among the women the bar- 
baric and, I must say, very ugly decoration of 
the torn ear is universal, which we saw, I think, 
for the first time in Madura. The lobe is per- 
forated, or rather torn, and the aperture hung 
with rings of brass, lead, iron, or anything heavy, 
so that it is weighed down and elongated until it 
sometimes reaches half way to the shoulder. The 
longer it is the more elegant and the more ad- 
mired. The operation begins in childhood and 
is really a cruel one and as unreasonable as the 
bound foot among the women of China; but the 
fashion is inexorable for all well-to-do women. 



150 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

It is considered quite a disgrace if the ear is torn 
open in the process so that it cannot hold the 
ornaments. The women are so proud of this dec- 
oration that you see it constantly in the schools, 
and often even among the Christian women ; and 
the missionaries find it difficult to induce the 
mothers to leave it off in the upbringing of their 
children. Mrs. Lewis, of the Zenana Mission 
here, told me of a little blind girl in one of her 
houses out of whose ear she had taken metal rings 
which weighed two and a half ounces. 

Life begins early in India and we were up 
betimes, soon waiting in the veranda to go out 
with the bishop. The heat is stifling, though it 
is hardly yet six o'clock, and of the exhausting, 
soaking, steamy sort. Not a breath stirs; every- 
thing is still; but by-and-by the welcome breeze 
will come and it will be cooler. The whole scene 
is full of peace and beauty. The trees stand 
about the house in leafy grandeur, throwing long 
shadows on the grass. The branches are stirred 
only by the brisk, funny little squirrels, who 
bound about at their merry gambols, and the 
long-tailed, white bidbul^ which I thought at first 
must be a bird of paradise as the sun gleamed on 
the long, beautiful feathers while it flitted among 
the leaves. The ubiquitous crow too, of course, 
is here, with his usual swagger and trim black 



TINNEVKLLY. PALAMCOTTA. 151 

coat, and breaks the sweet silence with his im- 
pertinent caw. The sward is wonderfully green, 
but will not remain long so now, as the fierce sun 
grows daily more fierce and will scorch it up. 
There are many substantial buildings about, 
which I suppose are schools and boarding-houses; 
and above all, a little to the right, also within the 
compound, stands the handsome mission church, 
gleaming white among the trees, with a graceful 
spire towering over everything. As I write the 
church-bell begins to chime forth its invitation to 
morning prayer, and a troop of schoolgirls in 
bright garments march past to attend the service. 
A scene full of encouragement and holy joy to 
the Christian heart, for it tells of work earnest 
and fruitful, of hopes fulfilled and promises made 
good ; and one cannot but look onward to the 
glorious future — perhaps not so very far off — 
when the nations shall be gathered in and the 
whole earth filled with the glory of God. 

The bishop came for us and we soon followed 
to church. Mr. Jesudas (the name means Servant 
of Jesus), the native pastor, was just beginning 
the service. The bishop and Dr. Mitchell sat 
within the communion rails, while the pews were 
filled with the pupils from the Boys' Seminary, 
the boarding-school girls, the teachers, and all 
the people of the compound. It is a very large 



153 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

church, holding more than a thousand people, 
and at the Sabbath services it is always crowded* 
The bishop has had the joy of seeing "the little 
one" literally "become a thousand" in his time, 
for when he came to Palamcotta there were only 
about forty members in connection with this 
church. The service was very simple and the 
music excellent, though there was no instrument 
of any kind used. The music was rendered en- 
tirely by the young people of the schools. 

But it is not only in the numbers of the con- 
verts that the progress is remarkable. The na- 
tive Christians are rapidly rising in many re- 
spects. At the last examination of the Madras 
University the Christians, in proportion to their 
numbers, obtained a higher place even than the 
Brahmans, who are confessedly an intellectual 
race. The missions educate their people thor- 
oughly, and so, though of the low Shanar caste 
originally, they are fast outstripping the Hindoos 
in position and standing. It is true of the whole 
native Christian community that it is steadily 
growing in influence and importance; and I am 
told that this is specially the case among the 
Protestants. ' ' The very look of the people is 
changed," as Bishop Sargent truly remarked. 

He spoke also rejoicingly of their increased 
liberality. A few years ago they gave very little 



TINNEVKlvLY. PALAMCOTTA. 153 

in support even of their own churches and schools. 
They expected the mission to maintain the pas- 
tors and schoolmasters, to build their churches, 
and do everything for them. But now all this 
has entirely changed. Last year the native Chris- 
tians here connected wdth the Church Missionary 
Society contributed 32,000 rupees towards the 
work of the mission ; and school-fees are now 
universally paid, even in the boarding-schools. 

The bishop also spoke most hopefully regard- 
ing the experiment which is being made in this 
district by the Church Missionary Society of with- 
drawing European missionaries as much as pos- 
sible and replacing them by native agents. The 
European missionaries now in the field are em- 
ployed as educationists, while the charge of con- 
gregations, evangelistic work, and itineracy are 
all carried on by ordained pastors and catechists. 
Consequently the native ministry has been largely 
increased. There are now sixty -four ordained 
native clergymen, though when Dr. Sargent came 
to Tinnevelly there was only one. There are 
also a good many honorary catechists, men who 
support themselves and do a great and good work, 
preaching to the heathen as well as among the 
churches. It was delightful to hear the bishop 
talk. He told us also of the native councils 
which have been successfully introduced. There 



154 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

is a Congregational Council, consisting of the 
pastor and three or four persons chosen by the 
congregation, a Financial Council, and, lastly, a 
General Council, which meets once a year and 
reviews the proceedings of the inferior courts. 

Thus the native churches are moving steadily 
onward and are being trained to self-government 
and self-support, while the good bishop — always 
the father of his people, the shepherd of the flock 
— superintends and presides and watches over the 
whole. 

After service Mr. Jesudas, the pastor, and Mrs. 
Lewis, from the Zenana Home, breakfasted with 
us, and then the fifty pupils from Mrs. Sargent's 
Girls' Boarding-school filed in to prayers and 
stood in a ring round the drawing-room. The 
bishop and my husband asked many questions of 
the girls, especially in Scripture, which were an- 
swered with readiness and understanding; and 
some questions were pretty hard. I never saw 
brighter or more intelligent scholars anywhere. 
They were of all sizes and ages, neatly dressed 
alike in a pretty costume of buff and scarlet, with 
pleasant, intelligent, and, in some cases, refined 
faces. They are all the Christian daughters of 
Christian parents. There are no orphanages here. 
The system is to board the orphans in respectable 
Christian households, where they are cared for 



TINNKVELLY. PALAMCOTTA. 155 

and trained at a comparatively small outlay. But 
all look on boarding-schools, where the children 
can remain apart from heathen influences, as most 
important. On this point Bishop Caldwell says 
that "day-schools will not suffice; for one or two 
generations at least we must rely on boarding- 
schools. ' ' 

What delighted me very much was the sing- 
ing, so softly sweet, so beautifully harmonized. 
The voices were so much sweeter and better mod- 
ulated than is usually the case in India that I 
was surprised. Besides several of Sankey's best 
hymns and some plaintive Tamil lyrics, they sang 
some beautiful pieces from the "Messiah" with 
feeling and taste. The truth is, the bishop him- 
self takes much pains with the musical depart- 
ment in all the schools, and this is the reason 
there are so few harsh tones or jarring notes. 

In the afternoon the lads came in from the 
boys' school at the other side of the compound 
and stood round the drawing-room as the girls 
had done, and answered and sang just as well. 
Some of them accompanied themselves with the 
violin. The bishop has lately had fourteen vio- 
lins sent out as gifts to the best musicians, which 
are much appreciated and at play -hours are in 
constant use. These lads are also the children of 
Christian parents or Christians on their own pro- 



156 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

fession of faith. Many of them are supported by 
friends in Australia. And so the important mat- 
ter of the right upbringing of the youth — the 
next generation of Christians, on whom so much 
will depend — is thus carefully attended to in this 
thoroughly equipped and excellent mission. 

In the cool of the evening there was a pretty 
little demonstration on the lawn. The bishop 
had all the schools, girls and boys, marshalled 
forth, bearing the flags and banners, with pretty 
devices, which had assisted at the grand reception 
this mission had given to the Prince of Wales on 
his visit to India. The young folks marched 
about, played games, sang songs, when the pre- 
cious fiddles did ample duty, and altogether en- 
joyed the fun and frolic. And I think we enjoyed 
it quite as much as they did, for it was pleasant 
to see that these school-children could play well 
as well as work well, and that '*Jack was not a 
dull boy.'' It was delightful too to see how thor- 
oughly the good bishop enters into their sports 
and how much at home with him the young folks 
are. He is full of mechanical ingenuity. We 
found him superintending the construction of a 
water-wheel in the compound to-day, on some 
new principle of his own; and there is a gigantic 
globe in the hall fashioned by his own hands. 
He pointed out a fine spreading banyan-tree to us 



TINNEVKLLY. PALAMCOTTA. 1 57 

standing over the wall in what is now a paddy- 
field but formerly was part of the compound. 
The curious and beautiful tree, truly the king of 
the Indian forest, had dropped some roots from 
the upper branches, as its manner is, and flung 
them over the wall, so that "daughters grew 
about the moth er- tree, " and the daughter was 
now bigger than the mother. The tree seemed 
determined to take possession anew of the mission 
grounds. *'See," said the bishop, "it wont be 
separated from us." "True," added my hus- 
band. "And look, is not that increasing army 
of strong young stems, all separately springing 
from the glorious roof- tree, like the youthful 
church of India, of which we have been speak- 
ing? Above, in Christ our Head, they are one; 
but they multiply and spread, each a new, strong 
tree, taking possession of the land." The good 
bishop's face quite kindled at the thought. 

We have spent a day with our friends Mr. 
and Mrs. Kember, of the Theological Training 
College of the mission, and another with Mr. and 
Mrs. Harcourt, who, since the departure of the 
Rev. Mr. Lush, have had the charge and man- 
agement of the well-known Sarah Tucker Insti- 
tution. This is for the training of schoolmistress- 
es and the higher classes of native Christian girls. 
Nothing strikes one more in some of these delight- 



158 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ful missions we have now the privilege of visiting 
than the perfect organization there is: every de- 
partment is made perfect in its way; nothing is 
spared which can make the work more real and 
thorough and successful. 

The compounds belonging to both the training 
institutions are not far from the bishop's and are 
very spacious. They are beautified too with 
clumps and lines of banyan, mango, tamarind, 
neem, and other fine trees; ample playgrounds 
there are, and tennis-courts, hedgerows and good 
sward, which is still wonderfully green. In Mr. 
Kember's, besides the mission -house, there are 
groups of low bungalows used as class-rooms, 
mess-rooms, dormitories, and small rooms for 
*' studies,'* all of the same type — plain, substan- 
tial, whitev/ashed buildings, airy and clean. This 
institution is entirely for the training of workers: 
pastors, evangelists, catechists, and schoolmasters. 
All who enter understand that they are thencefor- 
ward to be agents of the mission, to go where they 
may be sent. There were eight men whom we 
saw and had much talk with in Mr. Kember's 
own theological class who are soon to be ordained 
to the office of the ministry. 

This solemn service took place about a month 
after our visit. It was held in the large mission 
church, which was filled to overflowing. ^^It was 



TINNEVKLLY. PALAMCOTTA. 1 59 

a most striking scene,'' a friend writes, '^when 
the eight candidates, the native clergy, forty- 
seven in number, the European missionaries, and 
the venerable bishop passed in procession up the 
central aisle. After the sermon, and before the 
imposition of hands, there was an impressive sea- 
son of silent prayer; and when the candidates had 
been set apart, the holy communion followed and 
concluded the deeply interesting and impressive 
service. ' ' 

Another interesting half-hour we spent with 
Mr. David Solomon, the head master, in his class 
of catechists, who told us a good deal about the 
progress of the work among the heathen and their 
attitude towards Christianity. They say the Sha- 
nars are much stirred up at present in behalf of 
their own system and frightened because of the 
triumphs the gospel is making. *'The gospel is 
strong," they say, *'and will conquer us if we do 
not conquer it." So they are furbishing up every 
old heathenish rite and are much on their guard. 
They acknowledge, however, that they are not so 
much in terror of the devils since Christianity 
came. ' ' The missionaries have frightened them, ' ' 
they say, ''and they have retreated to the forests 
and jungles." Surely this Shanar worship is the 
most degrading of all heathen systems, for the ob- 
jects of their worship are devils simply and liter- 



l6o SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ally. It is a system of terrorism; they worship 
these malevolent beings from dread; and it is 
surely a great matter if this dread is lessened and 
this sad and degrading bondage begins to be bro- 
ken. 

Fifteen catechists have gone forth from Mr. 
Solomon's class this year and three more are 
ready to go, and most of them are converted Sha- 
nars. While we were at Mr. Kember's 50 new 
pupils from a distant district arrived, who were 
at once drafted into the departments suited to 
them. 

The Sarah Tucker Institution was built by 
Bishop Sargent and the Rev. Mr. Spratt in 1862. 
Miss Tucker never was in India herself, but her 
brother was one of the secretaries of the Church 
Missionary Society, I think, in Madras; and she 
took so deep and active an interest in the women 
of India that she worked constantly for them and, 
though a great invalid, accomplished much in 
raising funds and otherwise helping on the cause. 
At her death this most useful and much-needed 
institution was erected as a memorial of her. It 
is rather an imposing structure, standing in the 
same compound with Mr. Harcourt's house, with 
massive pillars supporting the portico and a wide 
veranda running along the entire front. It ac- 
commodates 120 girls, who board and live in the 



TINNKVELLY. PALAMCOTTA. l6l 

premises and are trained to teach in normal class- 
es. They are then sent out to take charge of 
branch affiliated schools, of which there are now 
42, all taught by Christian teachers and attended 
by many children of the highest caste. We were 
greatly pleased with the way in which some of the 
young women communicated instruction to their 
pupils, in a bright, quick, animated way which at 
once secured the attention of the little girls. We 
were delighted here too with the singing, which 
was led by Mrs. Harcourt, who manages this de- 
partment entirely herself and with quite as pleas- 
ing results as we had noticed among Mrs. Sar- 
gent's flock. Indeed, Palamcotta quite carries the 
palm in the matter of music over all the missions 
we have seen. The girls do a great deal of lovely 
embroidery, w^hich Mrs. Harcourt is very glad to 
take orders for, disposing of it for the benefit of 
the institution. 

A lady has lately been sent out by the Church 
Missionary Zenana Society to assist Mrs. Har- 
court. This is Miss Askwith, who is already a 
favorite with the missionaries and pupils and 
takes her own good share of the work, including 
the acquisition of that hard Tamil tongue. 

I must also refer to another part of the work 
which had especial attraction for me, the Zenana 
mission, conducted by Mrs. Lewis and Miss Mac- 

Scenca iu SoutUeru luUia. J I 



l62 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Donald. We lunched in the pleasant, bright Ze- 
nana Home with these ladies and Miss Ling, who 
has lately joined them. Mrs. Thomas is a name 
well known in connection with woman's work in 
South India. I was glad to find that she is still 
working in a station about 30 miles off, which re- 
joices in the name of Mengnanapuram. Almost 
every Christian woman one meets with here 
seems to have been under her tuition or influence 
in some way or other, and she still has a boarding- 
school in which there are 86 girls. 

After lunch Mrs. Lewis and I started for the 
native city — a hot, dusty, disagreeable drive of 
three miles, in a peculiarly slow, shaky, bullock- 
coach. The wilful beasts absolutely declined to 
go out of a walk. Palamcotta is the place where 
the English reside and the headquarters of the ad- 
ministration, while Tinnevelly, situated on the 
banks of the Tambrapani, is the chief native town 
of the district. Bishop Caldwell says that until 
the English rule began in 1802 Tinnevelly had 
probably never had two successive years of peace. 
But the days of misrule have happily passed away. 
There are some handsome temples, with the usual 
goparams; but there is nothing striking in the 
town. 

Zenana work has had the same happy effect 
among the people of the Madras Presidency as iu 



TINNEVELLY. PALAMCOTTA. 1 63 

other parts of India. Bishop Sargent thinks that 
the visits of European ladies to their wives have 
done more to secure a friendly feeling towards the 
English among the men than anything else has 
done. He says in a paper read before the Banga- 
lore Missionary Conference of 1879: "No proc- 
lamation from the highest in power could so im- 
press the minds of high-caste native women in 
regard to the kind feeling which English people 
bear towards them as does the frequent contact 
of these zenana ladies with them for the gospel's 
sake. I am convinced that since this work has 
commenced a more favorable opinion, within a 
limited sphere, must now be entertained of us 
than ever was before.'' 

Mrs. lycwis took me to some of the houses in 
which she teaches, and I noticed that the zenana 
apartments were better furnished and the women 
better off and brighter-looking than the women 
of the same class are in Bengal and the North- 
west. They are, of course, as ignorant and super- 
stitious and as much in need of being taught ; 
but those I saw have not an imprisoned look; 
they can look out and go out, and their apart- 
ments are not shut off from the rest of the house 
and the rest of the world as those where the poor 
women of Calcutta live their joyless, hopeless, 
objectless lives. 



164 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

The most interesting visit we paid was to a 
gentle-looking, very poor woman who had once 
sent urgently for Mrs. lye wis when her son was 
dying. When her friend arrived she exclaimed, 
* ' Do send me that Jesus. I want to see him. He 
will cure my boy." When told she must pray to 
him she said, ' ' How shall I speak to him ? I 
don't know what words to use." Mrs. Ivcwis 
taught her a short, simple prayer, which she re- 
peated. Her boy recovered. Now, though un- 
baptized, she seems a sincere believer in that 
Jesus she so earnestly asked to see. 

During our drive, both going and coming, I 
was amused with the number of men and boys 
who pursued us, keeping alongside the bandy, en- 
treating Mrs. Lewis for books. They all seemed 
to know her and her large bag, in which the 
precious books were carried. They were quite 
willing to pay for them, and when the supply 
was exhausted the disappointment was great, 
while some of the lads stipulated that they should 
be remembered first next time. 

On our return, in the cool of the evening, I 
found two huge, curious machines standing in 
the compound, with some meek-looking bullocks 
tied under the trees. These were the vehicles in 
which we were to proceed on our travels — for we 
had done with railways for the present — one for 



TINNEVKLLY. PALAMCOTTA. 1 65 

ourselves and one for our servant and baggage. 
I surveyed them with considerable foreboding, 
seeing we were to spend the night in them. They 
were the common carts of the country, very nar- 
row, very long, and very high, with arched roof 
covered with matting, giving the interior a vault- 
like look. There was a hard wooden bottom 
and tremendously high wheels, rough and strong. 
My husband had taken the precaution of having 
a good bed of clean straw laid in the bottom. 
Joseph was deftly and silently stowing away bun- 
dles and packages and portmanteaus in one of the 
cave-like dens, while in the other were heaped 
quilts and cushions and rugs and shawls, the bul- 
locks looking on, evidently in a very dejected 
frame of mind, knowing the work that was before 
them, while their drivers were calmly asleep on 
the sward beside them. Soon all was ready for 
the start. We had already taken leave of the 
bishop. A little later we dined with Mrs. Sargent, 
then had prayer together and took leave of the 
gentle lady, hoping to meet again shortly on the 
Nielgherry Hills. When everybody else went to 
bed we climbed into our lair, made ourselves as 
snug as we could on the straw, and set out into 
the darkness. 



l66 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTKR XII. 

TRAVANCORE. NAGERCOIL. 

Looking onward in a southwesterly direction 
as you journey from Tinnevelly towards Cape 
Comorin you see a range of purple mountains 
stretching across the plain in broken and pictu- 
resque and most striking masses. Beyond this 
grand natural rampart lies the beautiful little 
kingdom of Travancore — an independent state, 
having a maharajah, or king, of its own — towards 
wdiich our faces were now turned. This country 
is often called the garden of South India, which 
it undoubtedly is, being full of loveliness in smi- 
ling valleys and verdant rice- fields, w^aters, rocks, 
trees, hills^-often green to their summits — exten- 
sive palmyra forests, and a marvellous wealth of 
tropical vegetation, while its shores are washed 
by the great blue Southern Sea. 

It has other attractions, however, which tran- 
scend even these, for Travancore is becoming also 
a garden of the Lord. Once, with all its natural 
beauty, it was a wilderness of moral and spiritual 
darkness too deep to be told: Brahmanism, de- 
mon-worship, caste, slavery, and every sort of 



TRAVANCORE. NAGERCOIL. 1 67 

Oppression held undisputed sway. But now these 
things are changing and the wilderness begins to 
'' blossom like the rose." There are green spots 
now. There are the homes of the missionaries 
and the Christian churches, which, through their 
labors, blessed by God's Spirit, are filled with 
men and women gathered out of this heathenism. 
There are places where for long ages devil-wor- 
shippers practised their abominable and degra- 
ding rites that are now Christian hamlets, whence 
praise and prayer ascend from loving hearts to 
the loving Father in heaven and where the tem- 
ples and altar-stones for this wretched worship 
have been changed for churches and schools and 
Christian homes. Superstition, of course, still 
reigns over much of the region, but a great deal 
has been done. The gospel has taken root mar- 
vellously, bringing forth golden fruit for Christ's 
kingdom; and the story of its introduction among 
the Shanars of Tinnevelly and Travancore can- 
not be told too often if only it stimulates the faith 
and ^eal of God's people to go on to renewed 
thanksgiving and fresh effort. 

We had a toiling night of it after we got clear 
of the station roads and cantonment civilization. 
We lay on our straw bed beneath the low-arched 
roof of our novel conveyance — I coiled up at the 
head and my husband, a sort of guard, across the 



l68 SCE:nES in southern INDIA. 

foot. It was fortunate he had got us so well 
padded in, for the roads — so called by courtesy — 
were only tracks in the deep sand and full of for- 
midable ruts and holes. One moment a wheel 
would dash down into a deep rut, while the other 
had mounted over a piece of rock; and many a 
time we thought it was all over with us; but we 
struggled and scrambled on, the meek, patient 
bullocks, quite accustomed to the yoke and to the 
road, creeping cautiously along, while the drivers 
sat on their benches placidly asleep. I believe 
they slept all night, except when, after a worse 
lurch than usual, the Sahib would pour forth a 
volley of shouts upon them. To talk was of no 
use, as they did not understand a word we said. 
They would then wake up, use the stick zeal- 
ously on the unoffending beasts, jerk the tails, ad- 
monish them in Tamil, and then go off to sleep 
again. 

At dawn we found ourselves in a picturesque 
region of rocks and hills, intermingled with the 
rich green of the rice -fields and always great 
clumps of the stately palmyra palm. The moun- 
tains lay near us now in long, undulating lines 
and ridges or lofty summits, with fantastic, jagged 
peaks, unspeakably grand. Soon the valley nar- 
rowed and our route lay between ridges of rock 
and low hills with an occasional small temple of 



TRAVANCORK. NAGERCOII.. 169 

the rudest description, also rest-houses and the 
curious white altar-stones used in demon-worship 
standing here and there along the road beneath 
the trees. We encountered many wayfarers, who 
stood and stared at us in wonderment as we pass- 
ed. They were most strange, wild-looking peo- 
ple, with shaggy, unkempt, turbanless heads, 
lines and patches of white paint all over their 
breasts, and no clothing to speak of — only a dirty 
rag across their loins. 

A group gathered round us, eying all we did 
with stupid but good-humored astonishment when 
we scrambled down from the cart and bivouacked 
under the thick shade of a grand banyan-tree 
while Joseph made us a cup of tea. It was de- 
licious to rest a while and breathe the sweet, cool 
air and let our poor bones get into their usual 
places after the process of dislocation they had 
been subjected to all night. Meanwhile a few 
sticks were gathered, a bottle of water was emp- 
tied into a tiny kettle, which was set on to boil, 
and '*the cup which cheers'' seemed more fra- 
grant and refreshing than ever it had done before. 
The poor gaping people looked on awestruck. 
Their speech was utterly incomprehensible, and 
we were very sorry we could only smile our good- 
will, with accompanying signs, for a talk with 
them, as we should have had in Western or 



170 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Northern India, was, alas ! impossible in this the 
extreme South. 

The scenery became more and more beautiful 
as we neared the goal — Nagercoil. The giant 
ghats rose before us like a wall as if to bar further 
progress; but at length, rounding a spur, we came 
to a gap or pass, a small opening in the great ram- 
part so remarkable that it might have led to a lair 
of Rob Roy's, and by this natural portal we en- 
tered the kingdom of Travancore. After we had 
passed through this we soon came on the signs of 
a denser population. There were a few scattered 
houses. Then came more houses and streets; we 
found we had entered the town, and soon the glad 
moment arrived when our queer cavalcade drew 
up before the door of our friend the Rev. Mr. Du- 
thie's mission-house. He and his wife and daugh- 
ter and son all ran out to bid us welcome and help 
us to alight, "a heap of dust and broken bones,'' 
as my husband said. 

We were meeting now for the first time in our 
lives; but Mr. Duthie had frequently written to 
us during our progress hither, and no one has 
been more cordial or helpful to us in forming our 
plans. Indeed, the Nagercoil mission-house has 
been a sort of goal all through. And here we are, 
by the good hand of our God upon us. 

We quite appreciated the cool, big, shady rooms 



TRAVANCORE. NAGERCOIL. 17I 

into which they took us and all the comforts so 
amply and carefully provided. The big baths 
seemed specially welcome; and now after the bath 
and change of clothes and a good rest and good 
breakfast we feel ready for what may come. 

Breakfast in the Mofussil and country places 
in India means a midday meal, as on the Conti- 
nent. After this was over, the Rev. Mr. Lee, 
from the mission-house in a compound across the 
road opposite, came and joined our party. We 
all gathered in the wide, shady veranda a few 
steps higher than the garden and filled with low 
chairs, when a remarkable and most intelligent 
man called — not a Christian — whose story and 
conversation seem to have introduced us at once 
into the' condition of things among the people 
here. 

Travancore has been noted for its intense 
Brahmanism, and although it is awakening, like 
the rest of the land, to progress and reform, yet 
the enlightening comes slowly. This man is a 
Brahman, and was the first individual who was 
so enlightened and so brave as to propose or ven- 
ture to introduce the dreadful innovation of wid- 
ow re-marriage. He had a little daughter who 
had been married as a child. The boy husband 
died, and the father knew well what the little 
8:irPs fate would be as a life-long widow — a wid- 



172 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ow, though she had never been a wife. And 
widows are as hardly treated here as elsewhere in 
India. So he took the daring resolve to have her 
re-married. A tremendous commotion was the 
result; his house was pulled down about his ears, 
he was expelled from the Brahman quarter, put 
out of caste, and persecuted in every possible way. 
In short, there was a great uproar. But he has 
braved and outlived it all. He has built a new 
house and also a new well, for he could not be 
suffered even to draw water and so pollute the 
wells sacred to the outraged Brahmans. This 
was a few years ago, and he has held steadily and 
manfully on his way, doing much to promote en- 
lightenment, encouraging others to go and do 
likewise, and now seems a most contented and 
cheerful martyr to reform. The storm has done 
much good, and now innovations do not startle so 
much. Only a few years ago the missionaries 
would have been mobbed and insulted had they 
ventured to pass down the Brahman street; now 
any European may do so without fear; and the 
feeling of the people to the missionaries has not 
only become less hostile, but is generally full of 
friendliness. One or two other cases of widow re- 
marriage have occurred, and the spirit of progress 
is gaining sway even in caste-ridden Travan- 
core. 



TRAVANCORE. NAGERCOIL. 1 73 

As soon as it became cool enough Mr. Duthie 
took us out to see something of the place. It was 
a most lovely evening, cool and invigorating, and 
we had some exquisite mountain views as the 
sun went down behind the glorious masses in an 
ocean of brilliant yet delicate carmine. 

Nagercoil is now a large town, nestling cosily 
at the foot of the grand mountain ranges which 
encompass it on three sides. The country opens 
out on the fourth and stretches down in beautiful 
undulations, crowned with rich tropical vegetation 
and ten thousands of palmyra palms, away to the 
Southern Sea. * Beautiful for situation indeed is 
this famed mission station, hidden away in its 
green valley and closed in from the outer world 
by its own glorious natural defences. Some of 
the loftier peaks are 5,000 or 6,000 feet high, and 
the mission has a sanitarium not far away, up 
somewhere among these cloud-capped summits, 
where the coflfee estates abound. 

* Of this flourishing Christian settlement Mr. Mateer says, 
" Nagercoil was not long since the merest hamlet, connected 
with the Snake Temple which gives its name to the place ; 
but having been adopted as the headquarters of the London 
Mission in these parts, it is now a clean, well-built, and in- 
creasing native town. By their intelligence and industry in 
various ways, and especially of late years in the coffee-plant- 
ing enterprise, the native Christians are becoming wealthy 
and a wonderful change has taken place." " Native Life in 
Travancore," p. 18. 



174 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

As we came home Mr. Duthie took us througli 
the Christian portion of the native town, where we 
were amused to find the streets named after the 
missionaries. Thus we drove down Duthie Street, 
Mault Street, Mead Street, and so on. We passed 
one or two particularly tidy little houses standing 
in compounds, one of which had two stories. The 
owner of this is a well-to-do coflfee-planter, who 
gives most liberally to the mission. That a man 
originally low caste, and not increased in favor by 
becoming a Christian, should have the audacity 
to build an imposing two-storied dwelling, filled 
the Brahmans with indignation. They threat- 
ened to pull it down or burn it. But they have 
not yet executed their threat. Happily it still 
stands there; and its owner has returned good for 
evil by constructing a tank for public use. 

As we got nearer home we passed the fine 
large mission-church, the largest in South India; 
also the girls' village school, a pretty building 
erected only two years ago by the Christian peo- 
ple all by themselves. The printing-press, the 
seminary or English school, and other mission 
buildings we also passed. 

This mission, having its chief stations at Na- 
gercoil, Neyoor, Pareychaley, and Trevandrum, 
besides many smaller branches, belongs to the 
London Missionary Society. This noble society, 



TRAVANCORE. NAGERCOIL. 1 75 

since its formation in 1795, has planted missions 
in many parts of the world, but I fancy none of 
them have had their efforts more acknowledged of 
God and more crowned with success than this one 
in Travancore. It has worked for nearly the 
whole of this century. 

It is generally believed that the eccentric but 
able Ringeltaube, a German, began Christian work 
in this province; but Mr. Duthie tells us of a na- 
tive convert named Vethananikam who was really 
the first to preach the gospel here. This man's 
story is very interesting. He was an earnest, 
thoughtful man, his soul seeking something he 
could not find in any heathen system. He went 
on a long pilgrimage to some peculiarly sacred 
shrine he had heard of, hoping to find the rest 
and peace his spirit craved. But the unrest only 
grew and the questionings became more urgent. 
He was being led of the Spirit of God by a way 
he knew not. Passing through Tanjore he heard 
of the white men, the missionaries, and of the 
new doctrines they were setting forth. Curios- 
ity and a certain hope led him to the church, 
Schwartz's church, where Mr. John Kohlhoff was 
preaching. Now, for the first time, he heard the 
name of Christ, and Kohlhoff, having noticed 
him, invited him to come and see him. From 
this time he had constant intercourse with the 



176 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

missionaries, was instructed in the way of salva- 
tion, found all he needed in this heaven-sent faith, 
and eventually become a true and earnest believ- 
er. 

Ivike Paul, he straightway began to preach. 
He could not keep these glad tidings to himself; 
he longed to make them known to his people, and 
begged leave to return to his home amid the palm- 
groves of the far South. After a weary journey 
he got back to his village, called Myladi — a place 
ever to be had in remembrance in the history 
of this mission. Here he began his work and 
preached the truth faithfully and steadily. A 
small Christian community gathered round him 
in time; but persecution followed, and soon be- 
came so fierce and determined that he feared the 
feeble light he had been honored to kindle might 
be utterly quenched. So once more he set out for 
distant Tanjore to beg his old friends there to 
send one of their number — a European mission- 
ary — to minister to his little flock in the wilder- 
ness. His request was granted; and then it was 
that Ringeltaube, w^ho had just arrived from 
Prussia to join the mission band, was set apart for 
this service. In due time he came. Some of the 
Christians, including Vethananikam, went to meet 
him as far as the pass I have spoken of, and wel- 
comed him to their country. He settled in My- 



TRAVANCORH. NAGERCOIL. 1 77 

ladi, where the first Christian church was built 
in 1806; and thus the gospel found entrance into 
this beautiful but darkly idolatrous land. Rin- 
geltaube was eccentric, as I have said, but he was 
peculiarly devoted; and, judging from some quaint 
letters from him to his sister, he must have been 
a sensitive, interesting, and most original person. 
I cannot resist quoting one or two passages. The 
first is an answer to one which took thirteen 
months to reach him. 

''My Dear Hanna: The letter you wrote on 
the 13th May, 1809, was not at all expected by 
me. In the very night you wrote it I lay down 
sick in a traveller's bungalow, exposed to the 
wind and rain. I had just bought the land for 
the first chapel in Travancore. When I really 
got possession of the letter, 19th June, 1810 (thir- 
teen months after its date), I sat in the door of the 
chapel now finished, and six other chapels were 
almost built. The news of the life and health of 
our parents was unexpected by me: I thought 
that, after much suffering, they would have fallen 
asleep. As to your little Frederick, I offered him 
up immediately to the Giver of every good and 
perfect gift on the altar of the new chapel in My- 
ladi. Your news of our brothers and their fami- 
lies was of a most gladdening kind. And surely, 
in the troubles which I have through bad Chris- 

SceneB in Southern India. I 2 



178 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

tians, I wanted a little comfort for my soul. Now 
the Lord be praised !" 

The following gives a most touching picture 
of the e very-day life of the solitary man : 

*' My Dear: Come, we will talk a little with 
one another. Do you see the house thatched with 
straw and provided with ten pillars at the foot of 
the rock near the three large tamarind - trees ? 
This is your poor William's dwelling-place. Come 
in. Though it rains heavily we shall find per- 
haps a dry place. Lo ! three little dogs greet 
you, wagging their tails ! But no ! their tails 
have been cut off. The black one with the white 
throat is Mr. Port, the other one with the yellow 
feet is Mrs. Fidelis, and the small yellow one with 
white feet is Miss Flora. Flora is a very jolly 
dog; we bark often for a quarter of an hour one 
towards the other, and each of us knows what the 
other intends to say. 

*^ Well, what is to be seen here? Four broken 
chairs, two old couches made of wood and reed, a 
rope tied from one wall to the other, on which a 
coat, a gown, and some boots are hanging. Well, 
and what more ? Shelves with books, two tables, 
one lamp. 

* ' Behold, there is my old huge Maratha horse, 
red, with a white spot, and four white feet. He 
is better off than his master, for he is sleek and 



TRAVANCORE. NAGERCOII.. 1 79 

fat. *What have you in your box?' you ask. 
Clothes, books, paper. ' Why do all things look 
so dirty and in such disorder ?' Because I am a 
distressed, poor bachelor. * Why do you not mar- 
ry, my dear brother?' Point d^ argent^ my dear 
sister. . . . 

** Well, good night, my beloved one ! my lamp 
burns dimly. It is eleven o'clock; with you it is 
about eight. You are sitting at the table with 

little Fritz, Mr. R , or with our parents. How 

happy you are ! You are their joy and comfort in 
their old age. Kiss and embrace them and my 
brothers heartily. ... I am now over forty years 
old and they call me the old Ringeltaube. Pray 
for your poor WILLIAM." 

**My life is almost without any joy, for the 
soul finds nothing new, and therefore nothing 
that gladdens it. The artificial help of books, 
society, etc. , is lacking here entirely. However, 
I am not cast down. We must go through this 
life full of tribulations in one way or another. It 
is easy for few only, and I am persuaded I get 
through it easier than many. I often think of 
what was written over the door by that shoemaker 
in Oels, ' May things not become worse !' In the 
world all is now in confusion, and also here many 
a change may come. How happy we are if we 
feel that we are in God's eood hand ! That I feel 



l8o SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

even now. The peace of God which passeth all 
understanding, may it be ours! However, that 
is not always so, but if it is often so, it is enough 
to keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus till 
the life eternal !" 

No wonder that Ringeltaube^s health gave 
way. * * It is not good that man should be alone. ' * 
So pronounced He who made man. But this 
poor missionary was utterly alone, as far as his 
own people went. He seldom saw a European 
and his means were not sufficient to let him 
marry. 

Ringeltaube was obliged at last to leave the 
country. This was in 1816. But before then he 
had baptized 1,100 persons. Many are the stories 
told about him by the native Christians, with 
whom his work and life and eccentric ways are 
still a cherished memory. There is a church still 
at Myladi — but not the original one, though built 
on the site of the old — and a good congregation, 
under the ministry of a native pastor. The mis- 
sion now numbers its converts at about 50,000, 
with 250 places of worship. 

Before he quitted his field Ringeltaube writes, 
**I have brought the mission to a good standing 
by the assistance of our merciful God, and have 
given it over into the hands of an honest English- 



TRAVANCORE. NAGKRCOIL. l8l 

This *' honest Englishman '' was the late well- 
known Gen. Munro, of Ross-shire, then Col. 
Munro, resident at the court of his highness the 
Maharajah of Travancore. He was and is still 
known as "the good resident," and his name 
will long be remembered all over the south of 
India. He accepted entire charge of the infant 
mission, enlarged and strengthened it, founded 
schools, and endowed them with grants of land. 
Mr. Duthie and Mr. Lee have shown us the rice- 
fields which are still the property of the mission — 
the same that were given by the good resident. 
This very house was given by him, one in which 
he and Mrs. Munro once lived. During all his 
long administration he did everything to foster 
the mission; and not only so, but promoted what- 
ever was for the moral and physical well-being of 
the people over the whole kingdom. Happily 
this is by no means a solitary instance of mission- 
ary and philanthropic undertakings being sup- 
ported and personally assisted by the servants of 
Government— just such noble, disinterested Chris- 
tian men as Col. Munro. 

One morning, while breakfasting with Mr. 
Lee, he showed us a box of curious old parch- 
ments left by the resident, the title-deeds of the 
land and other property, written in Tamil on long 
slips of the palmyra leaf, all tied into little bun- 



iSz SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

dies. This wonderful palm-leaf still provides the 
stationery chiefly used in the country. 

We also saw the veritable cot or couch used 
by Ringeltaube, a most primitive article, suggest- 
ive rather of penance than rest. I should like to 
see it in some missionary museum. Mr. Lee kind- 
ly took us all over his premises the same morn- 
ing, including the printing-press and his charm- 
ing girls' boarding-school. His wife is an invalid 
and at home, but he bravely manages the fifty-six 
children himself, with the aid of his good Chris- 
tian matron and Christian teachers. The copy- 
books are all made of the palmyra leaf, neatly cut 
into narrow long slips. The children presented 
me with some manuscripts of this sort, along with 
the neat little case of implements used in cutting 
up the leaf and performing the penmanship. One 
of the teachers had printed a text on a large card 
in English and hung it on the wall of the large 
schoolroom as a welcome to us. It was the first 
thing we saw as we entered, and the words were, 
' ' The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy 
coming in, from this time forth and even for ever- 
more." Later on, as we were taking leave, after 
we had heard the classes read and sing, etc. , one 
of the elder girls, with a very sweet face, came up 
to me and said in pretty English, *' Ma'am, we 
have learned a text for you ;' ' whereupon the first 



TRAVANCORE. NAGERCOII.. 1 83 

class repeated the beautiful words, ^'The Lord 
bless thee and keep thee ; the Lord make his face 
shine upon thee and be gracious to thee ; the Lord 
lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee 
peace!" I think even the men had their eyes wet 
before the children had finished repeating it, and 
it was entirely their own thought. Mr. Lee was 
as much surprised as we were. The schools are 
very similar to others already described, and are 
all admirable after their kind — day and boarding 
schools — Tamil and English schools. Of course 
the most important are the large seminary and 
preparatory school, for the education and training 
of young men who are afterwards to be employed 
in the work of the mission, such as teachers, evan- 
gelists, pastors, catechists, and so on. These im- 
portant institutions are entirely conducted by Mr. 
Duthie and his son, and represent a great deal of 
hard, thorough work. The buildings stand close 
to the mission-house, and it is pleasant to see the 
lads about through the compound at all hours. 
They seem specially pleased to help Mrs. and 
Miss Duthie in their gardening, and water the 
plants of an evening. There are 207 students 
altogether, 83 of whom are boarders who live on 
the premises. They are pleasant, intelligent lads. 
Whenever an agent is wanted at any of the sta- 
tions, the lack is supplied from the seminary, 



184 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

which is thus the Christian training college for 
the whole mission. 

There is a first-rate Government college at 
Trevandrum, presided over by Prof. Ross, and 
called the Maharajah's College, which provides 
both English and vernacular education for all 
classes and castes, Christian and non-Christian ; 
but this one in Nagercoil is distinctively Chris- 
tian and is supported by the mission. One thing 
most creditable to it is that last year the first prize 
in the Cator examination in Madras for Scripture 
knowledge was carried off by one of its students. 
The seminary and the Maharajah's College in 
Trevandrum stand together in the forefront of all 
educational work in Travancore. Is not the tol- 
erance extended to Christian missions by this en- 
lightened native State remarkable? 

One feature in the day-schools here is quite 
new: they cost the mission nothing! The teach- 
ers are all paid by the native Christian commu- 
nity, being simply salaried, as the pastors are sal- 
aried ; but Mr. Duthie superintends the boys' 
schools, while Mrs. Duthie and her. daughter do 
the same for the girls'. No part of the mission 
work is telling more on the people as a whole. 



woman's work. SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL. 185 

CHAPTER XIII. 

woman's WORK. SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIIv. 

One of the specialties in Nagercoil is the lace 
industry, which is carried on by the Christian 
women, superintended by the missionaries' wives. 
It was introduced some fifty years ago by the late 
Mrs. Mault, and has done wonders for the people. 
Hundreds of poor Christians gain a living by it. 
The ladies take the orders and also all the trouble 
of the sale. After the women are paid for their 
work the profits go to the support of Bible-wo- 
men's work. The success of this industry is most 
cheering; and now it has two offshoots, one under 
Mrs. Caldwell, who is the daughter of Mrs. Mault, 
and one at Benares. But it originated in Nager- 
coil, and the lace here manufactured has gained 
medals at three national exhibitions. 

Mrs. Duthie very kindly had an assemblage of 
lace-makers in the veranda, that I might see them 
at work. About forty women came — tidy, re- 
spectable, intelligent matrons — who sat in a row 
round the veranda on the floor, with their lace- 
pillows on their laps ; and the clever, handy way 
in which they manipulated the fine thread and 



l86 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

pins and produced the delicate fabric was most 
curious and interesting to see, and the workers 
seemed equally pleased to show their work. 

I saw some of the women being paid to-day, 
and the money in which this was done amused 
me much. The coin is the smallest, I suppose, 
in circulation anywhere. It is called c/mcknim^ 
and is a wee, fat, round bit of silver the size of a 
split pea and covered with characters. The way 
in which it is counted is also droll. There are 
neat little boards of different sizes filled with holes, 
into which a handful of the coins is thrown, each 
coin fitting its hole. One size holds one rupee's 
worth, another five rupees, another ten, another 
twenty, and so on. There are larger coins in cir- 
culation, but the chuckriim is most in use. I have 
had a pretty necklace and bracelet given me 
made of these little coins, which are quite curi- 
osities. 

Yesterday afternoon Miss Duthie drove me in 
the little pony-carriage to see some of the zenana 
and Bible-women's work, which has happily made 
a good beginning here and is specially interest- 
ing in a caste-ridden place like this. I have said 
how thoroughly Travancore has hitherto been 
under the thrall of the Brahmans — given over to 
superstition and slavery and all cruelty and bond- 
age untold. A very few years ago these Bible- 



woman's work. SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL. 187 

women would not have dared to attempt the work 
they now are able to do. They would not only 
have been driven from the doors into which they 
now find entrance, but they could not have ven- 
tured to tread the street, far less enter the house 
of a good-caste family. They work chiefly among 
the Sudra and Vellala castes. As yet there is not 
a single Brahman woman under instruction of any 
sort in Nagercoil. One seems to go back to old 
experiences and times now happily gone by in 
other parts of India. One thing ought to be borne 
in mind, however: namely, the success of the gos- 
pel among the low castes; and this very success is 
quite enough to account for the smaller progress 
among the higher. One may smile or be indig- 
nant at the absurdities of caste, but it is the 
strength of this old-world religion, which is so 
interwoven with the history and affections and 
the very life of the people. It is the cement 
which binds it all together and makes it like a 
rock of adamant, which, alas, it still is, though 
in some places the foundations begin to shake. I 
believe the Brahmans are becoming afraid as well 
as jealous of the standing and influence the Chris- 
tian Shanars are attaining, and are bestirring 
themselves in the matter of English education. 
God has chosen the weak and despised things of 
the world to confound those that call themselves 



l88 SCKNKS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

mighty in this stronghold of Brahmanism and su- 
perstition. 

The missionaries have had some curious bat- 
tles to fight. One was to secure to the women 
the privilege of clothing themselves with decency. 
The female portion of the Shanar community were 
most immodest in their attire, wearing nothing 
on their persons above the waist. The mission 
ladies were naturally determined to alter this 
practice — at least among the Christians — and in- 
troduced a completer style of dress, including a 
jacket, in addition to the cloth which encircles 
the loins. The higher castes were furious at 
the presumption of '' the low-born." There was 
the usual disturbance; and whenever the poor 
women appeared outside their doors they were 
attacked and the offending garments literally torn 
off their backs ! But the magistrates interposed, 
and now the poor things may go forth unmolested 
though decently attired. Miss Duthie took me 
to one house where we were received by a bright, 
brisk little woman in a sort of inclosed court, 
open to the sky. She would not admit us quite 
into the house; and I was amused to notice that 
she took care to sit to windward of us, so that all 
the pollution we brought might be blown straight 
away without touching her. Nothing must come 
"betwixt the wind and her nobility," as Harry 



woman's work. SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL. 1 89 

Hotspur puts it. Yet she was by no means a 
Brahman, This puts me in mind of a visit I 
once paid in Calcutta at a time when the visits 
of European ladies were not so universally wel- 
come in Bengali homes as they are happily now: 
I was allowed to stand for a few minutes in the 
veranda, but was evidently unwelcome; and as 
I moved away a metrani^ or sweeper — a menial 
of the very lowest description — was ordered to 
cleanse the place where I had stood. 

Our small hostess was gorgeously attired, and 
was very much in the fashion as to the torn ear. 
The lobe was weighted with rows of thick, mas- 
sive gold and silver rings, which dragged it down 
in a hideous manner, almost to the shoulder. 
She had plenty of gold and silver on her person 
otherwise, which surprised me, as I knew that 
she was a widow, and Hindoo law forbids widows 
to wear ornaments. A remark I made on the 
subject afterwards brought out some curious facts 
as to the customs and laws in this strange country, 
especially in the laws of succession to property. 
It seems she was the sister of a very rich man, 
who has lately died, and all his wealth has come 
to her son, as heir of the inheritance, not to his 
own ! This is perplexing and hardly to be be- 
lieved; but it is true. You may be as rich a man 
as you please and as great; but when you die, 



190 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

your sister's children, not your own, will inherit 
your property, your money, your titles, your posi- 
tion, your very name; all must descend in the 
female line ! In this sense one has to fight here, 
not for woman's rights, but for man's. I am 
afraid this state of things points to a very loose 
morality as existing somewhere. However, I am 
not going to enter into the mysteries of caste and 
custom and the strange code they necessitate; it 
is much too intricate a subject. But I am thank- 
ful to say the missionaries utterly discountenance 
the observance of caste in any form. 

We have had an intensely interesting day. 
Some time ago Mr. Duthie wrote, ' ' Be sure you 
keep a Sunday for us," which we were careful 
to do. At seven o'clock the great bell gave forth 
its invitation to service, and we all went through 
the cool morning air to the church, which stands 
close by in a compound of its own. When we en- 
tered I was struck with astonishment. Here was 
an immense building, certainly the biggest mission- 
church we have ever seen, filled throughout with 
as decent and respectable a congregation as you 
could see at home. The pulpit stood a good way 
down from the end of the church with pews ar- 
ranged in front of it on each side of a wide 
passage to the door. These were crowded — the 
women on the right and the men on the left. 



woman's work. SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL. 191 

while on the floor, round the pulpit, up to the 
end, and round every pillar the little ones of the 
flock were set as thickly as they could be put. 
The girls from the boarding-school sat together, 
and the lads from the seminary in another group; 
but most of the children had come with their pa- 
rents from their own village houses, and were 
grouped in this" fashion on the floor that they might 
take up less of the precious space. It was a won- 
derfully interesting sight, they were so tidy and 
neat in their Sunday best; and the little creatures 
behaved with a quietness and propriety which 
would have been impossible to English children 
of the same age. The church is a plain, white- 
washed building, with an arched roof supported 
by double rows of fine large pillars, and having a 
great number of doors and windows, all thrown 
wide open to admit the fresh air of the morning, 
while the beautiful trees which fill the compound 
and surround the church gave delicious shade 
from the fast-mounting sun. Some marble tablets 
are set in the wall at the upper end, in memory 
of some of the good missionaries who have passed 
away. These are the only decoration. Mr. Du- 
thie conducted the preliminary services, and then 
my husband preached the sermon, which was 
interpreted by the native pastor sentence by sen- 
tence. All the service was in Tamil, except the 



193 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

first liymn, which was English, and sung by all 
the congregation. Miss Duthie played the har- 
monium, and the people stood during the singing 
and reverently knelt at prayer, joining audibly in 
the Lord's Prayer and reading every alternate 
verse of the Psalms for the day. Apparently all 
the people can read. 

It was one of the most thrillingly interesting 
and impressive services I have ever been present 
at, and stirred our hearts more than I can tell. I 
would have come all this way, though for nothing 
else than to see that large congregation of devout, 
worshipping, intelligent, well-to-do, self-respect- 
ing people, who support their own pastor and 
schoolmasters. Besides this, they contributed last 
year 3,000 rupees to the general work of the mis- 
sion in operating on the outside heathen. The 
service lasted for two hours, and then came the 
slow retiring of the people — *'the skailing of the 
kirk," as we should say in Scotland; and this was 
as fine a sight as any. Many gathered round to 
shake hands and talk to us strangers; and then 
we watched the picturesque groups wending their 
way homeward, the fathers with the little ones in 
their hands and the women in twos and threes 
behind. It put me in mind of similar scenes I 
have watched a hundred times on the hillsides 
at home, generally on a *' Sabbath eve in sum- 



woman's work. SUNDAY AT NAGKRCXDIL. 1 93 

mertide/' when a solemn communion-time had 
gathered many grave worshippers from far and 
near, who, now that the services were over and 
the day far spent, were reverently retiring from 
the moor or glen where the congregation had 
sat and worshipped, where they had had their 
** feast of fat things'* during the long summer 
day. 

But this was only the first of many services. 
The church bell seemed to ring out all day for 
something or other. First came the various Sun- 
day-schools, one or two in the church, one in the 
veranda of the mission-house, and I think also in 
the girls' and boys' day-schools. 

These Sunday-schools are now quite a feature 
— and a most important one — in every mission. 
A meeting I enjoyed very much was one with the 
Bible- women in the forenoon in our wide veranda. 
Another, after an hour's rest, and I think the 
most interesting of all, was a monster Bible-class 
for grown-up women in the church. The mis- 
sionaries rightly regard the training of the wives 
and mothers as of the first importance; hence this 
regular catechising which is held every Sunday 
afternoon. And truly it was a striking sight to see 
the big church quite filled with women — all Chris- 
tians, of course — from the aged, gray-haired great- 
grandmother downwards. Many of the younger 
13 



194 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

women had babies in their arms and all had 
open Bibles in their hands. They were being 
questioned by the pastor when we went in, and 
every one in turn gave out her answer in a free, 
frank, natural way, occasionally putting a ques- 
tion in return. The pastor at once handed over 
the exercise to my husband, who catechised all 
round quite con amove ; and we were delighted 
with the intelligence and knowledge of many of 
the women, especially those who had been Chris- 
tians from their youth up. 

A short evening service closed the busy day. 
Mr. Lee the while had been away in different 
parts of his extensive parish. He has sixty sta- 
tions under his supervision in a radius of about 
twenty miles. These he visits alternately, and 
each has its pastor or catechist and place of wor- 
ship. 

We drove one afternoon into the native town 
of Kottar to see the church in which Francis 
Xavier preached so long. It is rather a large, 
good building, with a stone porch and a stone 
floor, on which several poor-looking worshippers 
were kneeling, and a priest was at the high altar 
engaged in some service. The house where the 
great missionary lived stands somewhere near. 
He was a great missionary. Whatever his errors, 
they were those of his church. His zeal, his en- 



woman's work. SUNDAY AT NAGKRCOII.. 195 

tliusiasm, his self-consecration and devotion to 
the mission cause, were truly heroic. It is told 
of him that the whole of the first night he was on 
Indian soil he spent in solitary prayer to God, for 
whose service he had given up much, or all^ in 
his native land. 



196 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CAPE COMORIN. 

Our kind friends had promised us a sight of 
their Ultima Thule, the renowned cape, the 
I^and's End of India. So yesterday this famous 
expedition came off. All had been most kindly 
prepared the night before, and at two in the morn- 
ing my husband and I stole noiselessly out of Mr. 
Duthie's veranda. Silently we took our seats in 
two light cane chairs slung between long stout 
bamboos. There were eight bearers to each chair, 
dressed, as usual, in their own tidy black skins, 
stalwart, civil men, half their number doing duty 
at a time. Thus, each ''borne of four,^* we set 
out on our night-march of twelve miles. It was 
certainly a dreary, sleepy start, for the young 
moon had set and it was pitch dark. I could not 
help casting a few longing looks back to the deep 
repose from which we had been aroused, for one's 
natural rest does count for a good deal after such 
hot and busy days. We had no cheerful, flaming 
torches either which generally accompany the 
night traveller in India; they do not seem to be 
the fashion here. However, the night air was 



CAPK COMORIN. 197 

very refreshing; the murky canopy overhead soon 
began to reveal a silver lining, the clouds gath- 
ered themselves away to the mountain-tops, and 
the beautiful stars gleamed out of the darkness, 
filling one's mind with sweet and happy thoughts. 
How often, in like manner, do the gracious prom- 
ises of our God shine out through the deepest sor- 
row-clouds, making us lift up our eyes towards 
the heavens, from whence comes our help ! 

As soon as we had quite cleared the mission 
compound and were out of hearing our bearers 
set up a plaintive sort of chant in a high mono- 
tone, which, on the whole, was rather pleasing. 
They trudged cheerily along the broad, tolerably 
good road, amply fringed with fine large banyan- 
trees and now and then narrowing into what 
looked merely a bridge over the numerous bits of 
water gathered in tanks and in the little rice- 
fields. We passed a number of hamlets, which 
lay silent as the dead except for the howls of the 
wretched pariah dogs of evil nature who infest 
every village in the Bast, and the crowing of the 
village cocks, a cheering intimation that dawn 
was not far off. Accordingly after a steady march 
of full three hours a few delicate lines of pearly 
gray tinged faintly the eastern sky. Gradually 
the color deepened ; a pinky shade stole softly 
into the gray, which again deepened at the hori- 



198 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

zon to a brilliant rose, and then the sun showed 
himself and the light of day triumphed gloriously 
over the darkness and dreariness of the night. 
Very soon we heard the murmur of the sea and 
we found we were near our journey's end. We 
had left the mountains behind and the land had 
gradually narrowed. The cultivation now was 
more rude; the soil and the roads had alike be- 
come sand and the trees looked knotted and 
gnarled with bared roots and storm -driven 
branches, like veteran tars who had withstood 
many a tempest in the shrouds. Then came the 
palmyra-fringed coast and finally the great wide 
sea, looking shivery and slate-colored, with the 
strangest fishing craft about and boats and canoes 
close to the shore. 

Mr. lyce had come out .the day before to one 
of his stations, arranging to meet us here, and 
now he rode up and took possession of us in a 
very restful way. He conducted us to a large 
empty bungalow, standing high over the sea, a 
sort of sanitarium belonging to the resident at 
the maharajah's court in Trevandrum. Here the 
happy possessor has a glorious sea- view with per- 
fect solitude and leisure and good hearty whiffs 
of the invigorating salt-sea breeze. Mr. Lee's 
servant awaited us here with a tin of hot coffee, 
after which welcome refreshment we were able to 



CAPE COMORIN. 199 

go fortli and explore. The bearers threw them- 
selves down on the sand and were asleep in a 
minnte. 

Although Travancore as a whole is so full of 
natural loveliness, yet just at the cape there is 
nothing very striking in the scenery. The grand 
mountain ranges of the Western Ghats, though 
sometimes taken by navigators for the cape, are 
some distance from it. 

There are no bold headlands or precipitous 
crags lighthouse-crowned just at the land's end, 
only a few island-rocks with the white surf dash- 
ing over them, and always the beautiful, glitter- 
ing sea stretching away to the far horizon. But 
there are other things interesting and new. It 
was curious to watch the long, narrow canoes, the 
catamarans of the coast, each with its picturesque 
occupant, a stalwart, broad-chested, bronze fisher- 
man, entirely innocent of clothing but for a bit of 
rag round his loins, standing erect in his boat, 
with an oar or fishing-tackle in his hand, suspend- 
ing operations while he stared at the intruders. 
These canoes are built from the stem of a single 
tree and are generally of the rudest construction. 

Another feature was the endless forests of the 
palmyra and cocoa palm. Along the shore on 
every hand there stretches a broad margin of 
deep, sandy waste, which is filled with ten thou- 



200 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

sands of these stately, remarkable trees. This 
tree, indeed, is the only thing in vegetation 
which could find sustenance in this unkindly soil, 
and it does so because it strikes its roots down 
deep enough until it finds what is needful to its 
life. The palmyra is not exactly a pretty tree, 
but it is exceedingly majestic and the staff of life 
to the poor population of the coast. 

From the palm forests we scrambled down 
among the rocks, until the green waves rippled to 
our feet, and here we found new ' * treasures of the 
deep, ' ' more strange and beautiful than anything 
we had ever seen before, in the marvellously-col- 
ored sands which embellish this curious shore. 
It was chiefly to see these we came to the cape, 
and they are quite as wonderful and beautiful as 
we had been told. Picture a great bed of fine, 
soft sea-sand entirely black, then close to it, but 
quite distinct, another of brilliant ruby red, spark- 
ling and shimmering in the sun-rays like crushed 
diamonds and rubies; then another bed, much the 
same in size, of a yellowish white hue, large and 
rough-grained: this is the famous rice-sand, and 
it exactly resembles unboiled rice. After the rice 
comes another bed of the brilliant red, and an- 
other and another, of black, garnet, and white, 
alternating like beds in a ^o^^r parterre and quite 
as distinct, the colors always keeping apart. 



CAPK COMORIN. 201 

By-and-by we strolled up towards a village 
which crowned a little eminence over the sea. 
Some men had come down to look at us, and alto- 
gether our appearance seemed to create much 
wonderment; but the people were always pleased 
when Mr. Lee spoke to them in their own tongue. 
They are certainly the strangest looking savages 
we have yet seen in this region. The women 
look specially wild. Their hair stands on end in 
a brush on the top of their heads, and they have 
no clothing beyond the bit of dirty rag, called a 
cloth, hung round from the waist. We passed 
unmolested through the Brahman street — a great 
concession, for there is a large temple here dedi- 
cated to the god Shiva, and it is esteemed a spe- 
cially holy spot. Indeed, the whole place is con- 
sidered sacred, and great numbers of pilgrims visit 
the temple at certain periods of the year. There 
were many dark-visaged men, much besmeared 
with white ashes and paint, loafing idly about, 
who did not seem to relish our presence and who 
point blank refused to let the gentlemen enter 
even the outer inclosure of the temple. The pa- 
tron goddess of this great shrine is Durga, one of 
the wives of Shiva, and the building is said to be 
of very ancient date. It is completely surrounded 
by high walls, ornamented with stripes of color, 
and there are four fine monoliths in front. 



202 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

It was now getting hot, as the sun was rapidly 
mounting in the heavens, and, being tired, I sat 
down in the shade, while the gentlemen went in 
search of some of the villages where the Roman- 
catholic fishermen were to be found. There are 
many Roman - catholics on this coast, Xavier 
having commenced a mission here in 1542, and 
most are fishermen. The gentlemen entered one 
or two villages, which were unspeakably filthy, 
with swarms of children and dogs and flies, and 
hideous with smells. They found in one of them 
two cars like those of the god Juggernaut, which 
are drawn about during festival times. One is 
dedicated to St. Joseph and the other to the Vir- 
gin Mary, so low have these poor so-called Chris- 
tians sunk. 

Meanwhile I was soon surrounded by a crowd 
of women and children, with a ring of men out- 
side, all staring at the white-faced stranger most 
unmercifully and keeping up a chorus of begging. 
It was a strange place. Within a stone's throw 
of where I sat there was the large Hindoo temple, 
also a mandapan^ or temple-court, with handsome 
carved pillars and sculptures and innumerable 
grotesque little carved deities stuck over every 
place. A little way off there were several white 
pyramidal stones used by the Shanars for their 
devil-worship, and, in the midst of all, a Roman- 







-^^^^rgz'-g? 



A HINDU BEGGAR. 



CAPE COMORIN. 203 

catholic church, surmounted by a cross. Behind 
me a noisy school of both boys and girls occupied 
the veranda of the mandapan^ shouting their les- 
sons at the top of their voices or scratching their 
^^ copies" with a dagger-like stylus on slips of 
palm leaf. These slips were very neatly cut, and 
the little urchins were proud to show me their ac- 
complishment in writing on these novel copy- 
books. I was not sorry when the gentlemen re- 
appeared. 

We got into our chairs and, preceded by Mr. 
Lee on his good little steed as a guide, set out for 
the village where we were to spend the day. Mr. 
Lee once interrupted a devil-dance in this place. 
A crowd surrounded a man who was gesticulating 
frantically and spinning round in a kind of dance, 
pretending to be "possessed." He tried to fright- 
en the pony and so get rid of the rider, but Mr. 
Lee made the frisky little creature caper about a 
little, when the man bolted, terror-stricken. The 
fickle crowd shouted in derision and finally heard 
the missionary with quiet attention for an hour 
while he preached to them from his saddle. Af- 
terwards some of them came regularly to seek 
him and hear him at his nearest preaching sta- 
tion. 

Our route lay over the sand through the thick 
palmyra forest. Here this prince of trees, as it is 



204 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

rightly called, exists in all its majesty and useful- 
ness. A proverb says of it, '^If you plant it, it 
will grow for a thousand years; if you cut it, it 
will last a thousand years. ' ' They also say that 
it can supply every real need of a man's life. 
With its wood he can build his house or his ca- 
noe; the branches provide the thatch and the in- 
closures, also his punka, umbrella, rope, station- 
ery, and a thousand things, while the sap is so 
nutritious he can almost live upon it. 

.We stopped for a little while to watch the 
climbers go up the tree and get some of the juice 
for our men to drink. It was most amusing to 
see them clamber up the straight, bare, branch- 
less stems like monkeys, making skilful use of 
hands and toes alike, sometimes to the height of 
80 or 90 feet. This they do to remove the sap or 
juice, which has been drawn off in a little earthen 
pot at the top. They have the little pot hooked 
on to the waistcloth behind; they ascend with 
great rapidity, remove the full pot, make a fresh 
incision in the bark, fasten on the empty one, and 
descend as rapidly as they went up. There are 
frequent accidents, however, we were sorry to 
hear, and our medical missionaries have often 
cases in their wards of men who have fallen from 
their lofty perches in these tree-tops, who are often 
thus led to the Physician of souls. The juice is 



CAPE COMORIN. 205 

excellent when fresh, a luscious sort of drink. 
After it ferments it becomes intoxicating, and, I 
am afraid, is most popular in this condition, and 
it is largely consumed by the Shanars, especially 
in their orgies at festival times. But its chief use 
is for the manufacture of sugar — a coarse, dark 
sort of soft stuff called jagry^ much used by the 
people. These climbers ascend as many as 40 or 
50 trees in a day, often, indeed, twice a day. 
This is only one of the hundred ways in which 
this wonderful tree ministers to the wants of the 
inhabitants, who but for it would be badly off in- 
deed in these sandy wastes. We saw a great 
many specimens of the umbrella-tree, as it is 
called, a sort of acacia, with a short, bare stem 
and a mass of thick, thorny bush spread out flat 
at the top like a Japanese umbrella. It is very 
curious and gives a dense and perfect shade. 

By-and-by we came to a clearing, where we 
found a considerable native village. Groups of 
neat, tidy cottages, with deep, overhanging eaves, 
thatched and inclosed with branches of palm leaf, 
stood under some large trees, and in the midst of 
them a little Christian church. This was a na- 
tive Christian village, one of Mr. I^ee's stations, 
and here we were to spend the day. It may be 
imagined with what interest we entered it, once 
the dwelling-place of demon-worshippers, where 



2o6 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the horrible rites of this degrading superstition 
were practised, and now filled with the habita- 
tions of those who had been rescued from the 
miry clay of this lowest heathenism and taught to 
worship the true and living God. The kind peo- 
ple gathered out of their homes to welcome us, 
headed by their pastor and the dresser, a young 
medical student trained by Dr. Thomson, of Ne- 
yoor; for, beside the church, there is a small dis- 
pensary and also a school. They took us at once 
to the church, and we found in a little room be- 
hind — a prophet's chamber, used by the mission- 
ary on his visits — a comfortable breakfast pre- 
pared for us. 

The village is called Agusteespuram, after the 
Tamil sage, Agustees, who once lived here. It is 
one of the oldest stations of the Nagercoil Mis- 
sion and has a congregation of six hundred, who 
support their own pastor and pay their own school- 
master. One interesting point to us was that the 
church was built by Ringeltaube. It is a plain, 
substantial, barn-like structure, with whitewashed 
walls, bare floor, and a simple rail across the upper 
end, where a small reading-desk stands. The win- 
dows gave the place a quaint, old-fashioned look, 
there being no blinds or glass, but the frames were 
filled with waved bars of wood, very ingenious 
and pretty, and the work of Ringeltaube, admit- 



CAPE COMORIN. 207 

ting light and keeping out intruders, while the 
glare is completely softened by the shady trees 
without. 

After breakfast the church bells rang out, and 
presently the whole place was filled to overflow- 
ing, while groups stood at every window. The 
people sat on the floor closely packed, the men on 
one side and the women on the other, while within 
the rail the pastors, catechists, and elders of the 
church sat on chairs on each side of the pulpit. 
The great majority of all present were converted 
Shanars. There were six pastors who had come 
to meet us from distant stations, one of whom, a 
venerable, gentle-faced man, was the grandson of 
the first convert in this region, the one who was 
the means of bringing Ringeltaube to Travancore. 
It was most interesting to meet the good old grand- 
son. 

After the men had been introduced to us and 
we had some talk, the service began, and a de- 
lightful, impressive time followed; the vSpirit was 
felt to be in the midst of us. The patriarchal 
pastor prayed in the most fervent way. Shutting 
my eyes, I could have fancied it was the earnest, 
reverential tones of one of our own men of the 
Highlands pouring out his soul at a Gaelic com- 
munion-time, a feeling which only strengthened 
when, at the singing which followed, the precen- 



208 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

tor read out the line before it was sung. I con- 
fess, however, that afterwards the spell was com- 
pletely broken when "instrumental music" was 
added. And the instrument was a fiddle, a * ' gen- 
uine fiddle," as my husband said, and not merely 
the vhia^ which in Western India the people love 
as an accompaniment when chanting their plaint- 
ive lyrics; still, it was not quite so incongruous as 
might have been supposed. My husband preached 
a good long sermon and next gave an address ; 
and, again like the Highlanders, the people never 
stirred or seemed to tire. Several of the pastors 
knew English well and interpreted for him. Mr. 
Lee spoke and some of the pastors did the same ; 
many earnest prayers were offered and there was 
deep impression. So it went on all day. 

I had a most interesting hour with the women, 
who during a pause in the services gathered round 
me, bringing their lace pillows with them and 
working neatly and deftly while we talked. I also 
visited some of the homes, which were clean and 
neat, and afterwards we had a great deal of talk 
with the men, who gave us many interesting facts 
regarding the condition of the people formerly, 
contrasting it with the improvement of the pres- 
ent. They spoke especially of the rise there is 
among the Christians in social position and stand- 
ing, also in their character morally and spiritually; 



CAPK COMORIN. 209 

and we were glad to be assured that caste feeling 
is decidedly declining among them. They spoke 
also hopefully of the change there is for the better 
in the heathen community generally, and gave 
many striking proofs that enlightenment and 
progress are entering even dark Brahmanical Tra- 
vancore. 

In former times the oppression and cruelties 
practised by the high castes towards the low were 
fearful. If a water-bund broke, or any other ca- 
lamity happened, a pariah, or low-caste man, was 
at once sacrificed to appease the gods. Slavery 
existed until quite lately, and the slaves were 
often most cruelly used. One of the pastors told 
us that he had seen with his own eyes a woman 
and a buffalo yoked together in a plough ! He 
also saw two women tied together by the hair of 
their heads and then thrashed with thorns. It 
was an infinite relief to find that such things 
would not be tolerated now, though no doubt 
there is oppression enough as it is. 

Altogether this was one of the most interest- 
ing "mission-days'^ we have ever had; but too 
soon it came to a close. At five o'clock Mr. Lee 
announced that it was time to depart ; so, after 
many leave-takings and kind words from the peo- 
ple, we got into our chairs and started. The even- 
ing was so lovely that all the fatigues of the long, 

Scenes in Southern India. J A 



2IO SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

exciting day were forgotten. The scenery of this 
garden of South India, so famed for its beauty, is 
specially lovely in the softened light of evening. 
After the blaze of the glaring day has gone, the 
harmony, the serenity, the blended colors, the 
tender, sweet beauty all come out with the lights 
of evening. As we left the palm forests behind 
and turned our faces towards the mountain-ranges 
which tower over Nagercoil, the views became 
more glorious at every turn. Some of these sum- 
mits, five or six thousand feet high, are superb in 
their rough and rugged grandeur. Some have 
rounded tops, and others pointed, fantastic peaks, 
while others lie in long, serrated ridges or low, 
wavy, rolling undulations, but all are striking 
and beautiful. The scene grew more and more 
peaceful as the color faded and darkness closed 
in, and I was glad when the bearers hushed their 
intoning of their own accord. Altogether the 
evening was a fitting close to the memorable day. 



NEYOOR. PAREYCHALEY. 211 

CHAPTER XV. 

NEYOOR. PAREYCHALEY. 

We are busy packing up for a fresh start. A 
machine stands out there beyond the veranda in 
the shade all ready for us. It is an odd little 
green box of a bandy, with rather a dispropor- 
tionate pair of stately white bullocks standing 
beside. This is to carry us to our next halting- 
place, Neyoor, and has been provided for our use 
by the native Christians, who hospitably insist on 
*' speeding the parting guesf by sending us on 
our way free of expense to ourselves. 

Here we are at this important station of the 
London Missionary Society, which is also the 
centre of the medical part of the mission, now 
under the care of Dr. Thomson, When we started 
yesterday Mr. Duthie drove me out a little way, 
while Mr. Crosbie, the judge, took my husband 
in his '' trap,^' to a point whence we had a glori- 
ous view of the mountains which lie about thig 
lovely sequestered spot of earth. The scene might 
have been that round our own Loch Lomond or 
Loch Maree if, instead of the wide, smiling val- 
ley, waving with green rice crops and intersected 



212 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

with magnificent trees, there had slept a stately- 
loch. A tiny lake did sparkle at our feet, but 
the beauty lay in the superb mountain ranges, 
with their jagged ridges and purple, serrated 
sides, now veiled in a dreamy blue mist. A 
happy valley this expanse of green loveliness 
looks, and well might be in reality but for the old 
story that ''only man is vile.-'' Another of the 
pastors with whom we had much talk told us of 
some dreadful iniquities he saw practised in this 
very valley on the poor low-caste slaves, which I 
cannot bring myself to write. Oh, what a relief 
to think that now more humane counsels prevail 
under the influence of our own beneficent Gov- 
ernment; also that missionaries are at work and 
that the Spirit of truth and love and light is now 
moving over the great darkness ! 

About five o'clock we got into our bandy and 
set off by the Trevandrum road straight for Ne- 
yoor, only some twelve miles off. It was rather 
rough and rutty, bumping us up and down in 
our primitive little machine, but we enjoyed our 
drive in the evening loveliness through the pic- 
turesque scenery of this fairy-like land. A great 
deal of water is stored in tanks and little canals 
in order to irrigate the rice-fields, so that all 
along the road you come on what look like lakes 
and serpentines and pretty rivulets, which give a 



NEYOOR. PAREYCHALEY. 21 3 

charming variety to the scenery, fringed as the 
banks often are with a wealth of beautiful wood. 
We passed a great many demon -temples, generally 
well smeared with whitewash, though not with 
the red paint you see on idol-shrines in the Ma- 
ratha country. At a little village half way a 
catechist and two or three deacons were waiting 
for us, sitting by their little roadside church. 
They escorted us the rest of the way, talking all 
the time and giving much information, keeping 
pace with the bullocks, who thought it quite be- 
neath their dignity to go out of a stately walk. 
Some of these Christians are pleasant, superior, 
thinking men. 

We are the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Hacker, 
whose acquaintance we made in Nagercoil. They 
received us most warmly, had tea ready, and then 
w^e all went into the large church, which stands 
in the compound, where we found an immense 
assemblage of people gathered to hear the stran- 
ger-missionary gentleman. 

The next morning we were out almost before 
the sun to explore, and found a fine large com- 
pound in which stood two good mission-houses, 
the church, hospital, dispensary, and other build- 
ings for schools, with some very beautiful trees 
intermingling and giving beauty to the whole. 
There are one or two tombstones also in one 



214 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

place which commemorate some of the mission- 
aries who have died there. We breakfasted with 
Dr. and Mrs. Thomson, who live in one of the 
bungalows, but before then Dr. Thomson had 
shown us all his work. We first went to the dis- 
pensary, where about thirty of the patients were 
assembled and all the students, and there was a 
short service. Dr. Mitchell gave a brief address, 
which was translated by one of the dressers, after 
which a pastor prayed, when all the patients 
knelt and repeated the simple words clause by 
clause after him. This over we saw the prem- 
ises, including the class-rooms, where we made 
friends with the students and dressers. The lat- 
ter are those whose studies are completed and 
who will be sent forth to work at branch stations. 
Of these there are only six at present, and there is 
a great demand for dressers; but several of the 
students we saw will soon be ready to undertake 
the charge of a dispensary as full-fledged doctors. 
I was particularly pleased with the appearance of 
these young fellows ; they have bright, frank, 
good faces and honest expressions. Most of them 
support themselves, with no help from the mis- 
sion. 

The enormous amount of work which is ac- 
complished by this medical mission and the ben- 
efit it is to the people are shown by the fact that 



NEYOOR. PARHYCHAI.EY. 215 

during the past year the number of patients who 
have been treated in the Neyoor Mission and its 
six branches — including those attended in their 
own homes — amounted to upwards of 24,600. 
These include Christians, heathen, and Moham- 
medans, and the diseases of course are of all 
kinds. 

It is very pleasing to hear that the Govern- 
ment helps the mission considerably; a wonder- 
fully enlightened Government it seems to be, 
though a heathen one. The maharajah gave the 
money, I believe, which built some of the best 
wards in the hospital. After breakfast we saw 
some of Mrs. Thomson's admirable day-schools, 
of which there are four. The pupils are mostly 
drawn from the better castes and there are a good 
many Brahman girls among them. These chil- 
dren attend the Sunday-school and make no ob- 
jection to the Bible as a class-book; they also sing 
Christian hymns and lyrics delightfully. One of 
the latter we heard begins with words like these: 
" Sweeter than honey the name of Jesus sounds;" 
and such hymns they sing in their homes and 
even in the streets. Thus the truth must spread, 
the good seed being sown here, as happily else- 
where over the land. But, unfortunately, as in 
other parts, these girls leave school at the age of 
ten or twelve to be married, and they never re- 



2l6 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

turn after the marriage or betrothal has taken 
place. Several Bible-women, however, are em- 
ployed in house-to-house visitation and follow the 
girls to their new homes, so keeping up the in- 
fluence and often carrying on a simple education 
for years after they have left school. 

One of the Bible- women I saw had gone about 
the country teaching and preaching and speaking 
to the women in the villages long before Bible- 
women were appointed by the mission. She had 
had her bodily ailments cured, she said, but more, 
^'she had been cured of her sins," and *'the 
blessed medicine" which had effected this she 
had gone to make known to her poor sisters, who 
needed it as much as she did. How intensely in- 
teresting it is to sit down with a group of these 
humble w^omen gathered round you, their soft- 
ened, speaking countenances turned up to yours, 
all aglow as they hear and speak of the love of 
Christ which has done so much for them ! A 
light sometimes shines on these faces, rugged and 
illiterate as they often are, which only the en- 
trance of God's Spirit into the human soul could 
produce. 

One thing I notice is that everywhere among 
the women, high and low, there is a dawning 
knowledge of a higher sphere which has been 
opened for them — a something better which they 



NEYOOR. PAREYCHALEY. 21 7 

might possess and which they long for, which 
has been "brought to light" by the Christians' 
God. And I think this wins many — along with 
their love for the Bible; the latter has a special 
attraction for them, because, as they express it, 
'*It says kind things about us women." Their 
own books "say cruel things," but our Book "is 
kind," and He who fed the five thousand "is 
kind;" and "did He not suffer and die for us?" 
So they talk, poor things ! I have been much 
interested in the women both in Nagercoil and 
here, though perhaps they correspond more to the 
humbler orders of those I have come in contact 
with in Bengal and Bombay. 

In the middle of the day we had another won- 
derfully interesting service in the church, when 
all the male agents and workers of the mission 
assembled to hear an address from my husband. 
On one side sat the teachers and schoolmasters in 
compact lines, of whom there were seventy-two; 
on the other side were fifty-three catechists and 
forty pastors — intelligent, well-dressed, respect- 
able men, grave and thoughtful, truly a most 
striking sight! How I wished all the skeptics 
about missions and their fruits could have seen 
it. Then there were the dressers and medical 
students and students preparing for the ministry 
and other work (some of these were from Mr. 



2l8 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. . 

Duthie's seminary), also a few colporters, and, 
beyond, a goodly fringe of listeners and on-look- 
ers and the general public about the doors. 

Dr. Mitchell spoke to them for upwards of an 
hour with intense earnestness. The impression 
was very deep ; some wxre weeping, and every 
one felt that the Spirit of the living God was in 
the midst of us. I never saw more intent listen- 
ers and never felt my own heart more touched. 
Many of these had been devil-worshippers, and 
now how amazing the contrast, showing how the 
gospel is taking, or I might say /las taken, hold 
in this dark land ! 

After the service I left my husband in earnest 
talk with the men and went to meet the women 
in Mr. Hacker's veranda. Crowds of nice-looking 
women came, dressed generally in red cloths, and 
all, I noticed, wore the upper jackets. The three 
Bible- women are particularly intelligent ; they 
work under Mrs. Thomson, who meets with them 
often for consultation and prayer. Among the 
rest were Mrs. Hacker's embroidery workers. In- 
stead of the lace which they make at Nagercoil 
the women here are employed in making em- 
broidery and trimmings similar to the Irish and 
Swiss work; and they do it beautifully and on 
good, fine calico. This industry is most helpful 
to the mission and Mrs. Hacker is very glad to 



NEYOOR. PAREJYCHAI^EY. ^IQ 

receive orders. Many ladies help mucli in taking 
quantities of the embroidery for sale at other sta- 
tions and on the hills, and it is of so good a qual- 
ity that, like the lace, it finds ready purchasers. 

Meetings with the boys and girls of the board- 
ing-schools followed and filled up the afternoon ; 
troops of them came filing into the veranda, all 
from the Christian schools, and we had a busy 
and interesting time. The boys brought us some 
texts, written beautifully in Tamil on slips of the 
palmyra leaf. Brighter and nicer children I never 
saw, and they were not too shy to give out their 
answers distinctly and fearlessly. Many were the 
inquiries which were made that day about Mr. 
and Mrs. lyowe, and many the loving messages 
sent to them. They are anything but forgotten 
in their old sphere of labor. 

The heat was intense all day, but we managed 
to forget it and our fatigue also in the absorbing 
interest of this true mission-day. When it grew 
cooler we had a visit from a pleasing, intelligent 
native gentleman, the retired dewan, or prime 
minister, of His Highness the Maharajah, who 
lives in Neyoor. After some talk he courteously 
offered us a drive, and took us out in his open 
carriage to see something of the place. The 
fresher air of the evening was most reviving and 
restful after the stifling day as we sped along 



220 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

beneath the arching trees by the cool little ser- 
pentines and rice-fields. We passed the dewan's 
handsome English-looking house standing in a 
garden beautifully kept, and then we came on an 
idol or demon temple, which we stopped to ex- 
amine. 

It was a most rough and rude erection, a kind 
of shed more than a building, about six feet 
square, covered over for a roof with dried branch- 
es of the palmyra-tree. Inside there was the most 
grotesque and hideous image it is possible to con- 
ceive, a female, with glaring, staring eyes, a dag- 
ger uplifted in her hand, two tusks for teeth, be- 
tween which an infant was represented as being 
crushed to death, and a bigger child on her arm 
ready to be devoured next — truly a most fiendish 
deity. And the poor deluded people propitiate 
her ! There were some now making offerings of 
chickens and bowing in obeisance to this hideous 
object, who is called Isaki. 

The legend is that this is the evil spirit of a 
woman who died unmarried, and therefore, hating 
and spiteful and revengeful, she returned to trou- 
ble the people evermore. Small-pox is also be- 
lieved to be a demoness, and now that this terrible 
disease is scourging the country, the price of chick- 
ens has risen alarmingly, so many are offered to 
appease the infuriated demoness ! 



NEYOOR. PAREYCHALEY. 221 

PAREYCHALEY. 

When the kind family at Neyoor retired to rest 
last night we meant to start for Pareychaley in a 
country cart which my husband had engaged for 
the trip. Unluckily the driver had insisted on 
*'an advance," and as soon as he got the rupees 
he disappeared into the bazar to enjoy himself 
and was no more seen. Of course the gentlemen 
had taken the precaution to secure the cart and 
bullocks in the compound, but when the time 
came to start no driver could be found. Messen- 
gers were despatched in all directions and grave 
consultations followed. I blush to think of the 
commotion and disturbance we created and the 
lively night it was for our friends Mr. and Mrs. 
Hacker. Presently, by one of those little provi- 
dences we love to recall and mark, we were res- 
cued from all our difficulties. The kind dewan, 
Mr. Nana Pillay, sent to offer his carriage to take 
us part of the way, so as to save us fatigue ; and 
hearing of the deadlock our plans had got into, 
he also arranged most kindly to send on his bul- 
lock-bandy ahead, to wait until we should come 
up, and carry us to the end of the night journey ; 
so our perplexities were delightfully solved. By 
four o'clock we had left the disturbed dwelling 
once more to peace and were bowling along in 
comfort, enjoying greatly the fine daybreak. 



223 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

The young moon had retired to rest, the fire^ 
flies had extinguished their bright little lamps, 
the shrill chorus of the grasshoppers and crickets 
from the sJiola had ceased, and the many-toned 
voices of night were hushed. But the cool wind 
sang a glad morning hymn in the palmyra plumes, 
the birds were beginning to shake out their feath- 
ers in the branches and twitter to arouse their 
mates, the * ' fell chanticleer ' ' was doing the same 
thing noisily for the villages, and the tender twin- 
kling stars were rapidly growing pale and retiring 
before the pink flush from the advancing dawn. 
It was a lovely, dewy morning, and the sun had 
risen by the time we came up to the bandy with 
a pair of splendid bullocks, which took us quickly 
to the end. 

As we turned into the road which leads up to 
this mission-house we were met by a tall, fine- 
looking man, who accosted us so heartily and 
shook hands with us so warmly that we felt our 
welcome was more than sure. This was Mr. Em- 
lyn, the only European missionary at Pareychaley. 
He soon conducted us up the slope ; we turned in 
to the front of a large bungalow and stood before 
a wide, handsome veranda commanding magnifi- 
cent views of the country below. Now we were 
met by Mrs. Emlyn and her little girl. There is 
no village to be seen and only the houses and 



NEYOOR. PAI.EYCHALEY. 223 

buildings belonging to the mission. Here this 
couple live, charming people, who would enjoy 
and adorn any society; and Mrs. Kmlyn tells me 
she has been sometimes two years without seeing 
the face of an English lady, there being no other 
European family nearer than Neyoor. But they 
are as happy as they can be, thoroughly occupied 
and busy with their schools and Christians and 
embroidery-workers and all their manifold work. 
They have their dear little girl, ' ' enough society 
in herself," her mother says, though she sorely 
misses her three bright boys who are in England 
at school. 

The bungalow is large and handsome and the 
situation exceedingly beautiful. It stands high, 
and at our feet lies a garden full of loveliness ; 
beyond there are extensive wavy undulations, 
wonderfully green, beautifully wooded with shola^ 
or jungle, and fine trees, and the whole bounded 
by grand ranges of dark purple mountains in the 
dim, dreamy distance. This place was chosen for 
a station by the Rev. Mr. Abbs, a late missionary, 
Mr. Emlyn thinks partly for the beauty of the 
situation, but also because the site was easily and 
cheaply secured. This was because it had so evil 
a reputation, as the abode of a demon who haunt- 
ed the woods, that no one would live here. At 
first the people thought as the white men cut down 



224 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the jungle the demon would destroy them ; but 
no, they went on unmolested. So now they have 
changed their opinion, and think the missionaries 
have conquered the demon and he has beaten a 
retreat to the hills. 

We sat a long time over breakfast, when Mr. 
Emlyn gave us many interesting and amusing, 
though deplorable, details of what existed among 
this rude, almost savage, people when missiona- 
ries first settled among them. The place was both 
a natural and a moral wilderness. Demons ruled 
supreme. Devil-dances and horrible orgies were 
of constant occurrence, accompanied by all the 
wild absurdities of this degrading worship, while 
ignorance and superstition and utter lawlessness 
ruled among the people. But education and the 
gospel have wrought great changes. The people 
now admit that "the man with the Book" is 
stronger than the devils. Still devil-dances fre- 
quently take place, and there are a great many 
demon shrines about all this neighborhood. Mr. 
Emlyn told us an amusing story of the first ap- 
pearance of a bicycle here. When the owner was 
seen riding on the novel conveyance, which ran 
along without a horse, the people set up a line 
and cry, declaring that this was a new kind of 
demon, who had at length conquered the English- 
man and had run off with him! 



NKYOOR. PAREYCHAIvEY. 225 

They believe also that the demoness of small- 
pox goes about, especially frequenting the mar- 
kets, because the people congregate there. With 
her usual vindictiveness she smites every one she 
comes near, scattering the seeds of the disease 
from her finger-points, and thus infection spreads 
and the people die. 

After hearing all these stories of the ignorant 
people, it was most cheering to go to the church 
which stands near and find it crammed, as at 
Neyoor and Nagercoil, with people rescued from 
this dreadful superstition. Now, like him who 
was possessed, they sat at the feet of Jesus, clothed 
and in their right mind, ready to go and ''tell 
how great things the Lord had done for them'^ 
and to seek to deliver others from this tyranny. 
A great proportion of those present were Mr. Em- 
lyn's workers and assistants, such as pastors, evan- 
gelists, teachers, and catechists. There were a 
good many women present, who sat on one side 
by themselves. The whole congregation looked 
most respectable and intelligent, and one could 
hardly believe they had ever been so sunken and 
degraded as the common heathen are now. The 
transformative power of the gospel is indeed mar- • 
vellous, and education and training have done 
wonders. 

I ought to say that all the converts are not 

ScouoB lu Southern ludia. I ^ 



226 SCKNES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

drawn from the Shanars. There were ten castes 
represented in the congregation, but few are from 
the higher castes, and only two Brahmans have 
as yet joined the mission. The bulk of the Chris- 
tians belong originally to the three divisions 
among the Shanars; next, to the Pariahs, who 
are lower; and next, to the Pulayas, who, I think, 
are the lowest of all. 

One division of the Pariahs had come over to 
Christianity in a body ; not a man is left in Hin- 
dooism. One-fifth of the whole population of this 
district is now Christian. My husband, as usual, 
gave them a long, earnest address, which was lis- 
tened to with profound attention. 

After lunch the girls from the boarding-school 
and some pleasing, nice-looking women gathered 
in the veranda, with a few also from the day- 
schools, and we had, as usual, a most interesting 
time. Two or three of the pastors and catechists 
also came and sat and talked with us. The chil- 
dren look picturesque in their bright garments, the 
prevailing hue of which is red — all but the torn 
ear, which is a terrible deformity. It is wonder- 
ful to see the weights they carry in the poor, ill- 
.used member. But the missionaries are success- 
fully battling with it among the converts. 

Mr. Emlyn has thirty-nine schools in his dis- 
trict, boys^ and girls', in which, he rightly says, 



NEYOOR. PAREYCHALEY. 2^^ 

* • there lies the hope for the future.'* In the even- 
inof he and Dr. Mitchell walked down to the vil- 
lage, which is nearly a mile off. But the people 
did not receive them gladly. In the Brahman 
quarter they were treated with much rudeness, 
pelted with mud, and some stones were thrown. 
One hit my husband on the back. They returned 
through a heavy thunder - shower, which came 
down with tropical vigor. But it had quite cleared 
up again, with the air cooled and refreshed, when 
at ten o'clock we had once more to set out on our 
way. 



228 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

TREVANDRUM. 

It was a pitch-dark night, with heavy masses 
of thunder-cloud blackening the sky, when Mr. 
Emlyn, lantern in hand, lighted us off the mis- 
sion premises and launched us on the public road. 
It felt a little eerie coming out of the brightness 
of the pleasant house into the murk, escorted only 
by the strange, unkempt charioteer, his long 
naked legs dangling from his perch, and a lanky 
lad who sat on the step behind as a sort of guide 
and defence. But they knew the road, and it is 
wonderful how safe night travelling is. And 
now here is Trevandrum, another goal ; and here 
is rest, at least for some days. We are now the 
guests of Mr. and Mrs. Ross. He is principal of 
the Maharajah's College here. When we came 
in early this morning, travel-soiled and very 
weary, Mr. Ross himself fished us out of our 
dusty little den and gave us the welcome of an 
old friend, though we had never actually met be- 
fore. 

Our excellent Joseph was here before us. He 
had somehow caught the recalcitrant driver, took 



TREVANDRUM. 229 

possession of the cart and bullocks for himself 
and the '^kit;'* and here he was, in crisp, clean, 
starched coat and newly-folded turban, ready ta 
unpack and do everything for us. 

As soon as it was cool in the afternoon Mrs. 
Ross drove us out. Trevaridrum is a most beau- 
tiful place, full of picturesqueness and all the 
loveliness which knolls and hills and verdant 
undulations, with some good buildings and the 
richest tropical foliage, can give. 

It is the capital of Tra van core and the resi- 
dence of His Highness the Maharajah and his 
court. The prince had succeeded to the sove- 
reignty not long before our visit, and was, unfor- 
tunately for us, absent, making his grand tour 
through the great cities of India. The mahara- 
jah seemed to be liked, had travelled a good deal, 
knew English well, and was considered an en- 
lightened man. But I am told that his first act 
after his accession was to make additional grants 
for the repair of all the heathen temples in the 
State. He rejoiced in the grand-sounding title, 
His Highness, Sri, Patmanabhi, Dasa, Vanji Ba- 
larama Varmah Kulasahara Kridapadi Mannay 
Sultan Maharajah Rama Rajah, Bahadur Sham- 
shir Jang, Fellow of the Madras University, the 
Maharajah of Travancore! 

This city lies only two miles from the sea. It 



230 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

is rather scattered, occupying a wide area, and is 
intersected with broad, clean, well-kept roads 
richly fringed with remarkably fine trees. There 
is an observatory, a handsome building, which 
stands in a commanding position ; a museum, 
called the Napier Museum, in the pretty park or 
public gardens ; the college, and several other 
good buildings. There is also the fort, which is 
surrounded by lofty walls and guarded by senti- 
nels, in which stand the palaces where all the 
royal family reside, the Government offices also, 
and a temple, which is peculiarly sacred and of 
great antiquity. 

The whole of this little strip of a kingdom, 
fifty miles wide and only one hundred and seventy 
miles long from the north point to the south, is 
full of varied interest. It is also full of natural 
loveliness. Every new bit we see seems more 
beautiful than the last. It may well be called 
the garden of India. But, oh, what a moral wil- 
derness it seems to be! Nowhere else in India is 
caste so strong or the lofty and tyrannical preten- 
sions of the higher castes so insisted on and en- 
forced as here. 

Then to me, I confess, it is quite as despicable 
and nearly as painful to contemplate the abject 
servility, the slavishness of the lower castes to 
the higher. One would not wonder so much at 




HINDOO BRAHMAN. 



TREVANDRUM. 23 1 

the calm assumption of superiority by the Brah- 
man; but that the lower castes should have so 
long submitted to the oppression and all the gall- 
ing indignities so unsparingly heaped upon them 
is certainly a perplexity. The ' ' once born, ' ' the 
*^low born," the "polluted;" by these distin- 
guishing epithets are the low castes designated. 
And the curious thing is that in this caste system 
there is "even in the lower depth a lower still." 
Every low man has some one yet lower whom he 
in turn can look down on and tyrannize over. 
And apathy is not the word to describe the utter 
carelessness and indifference there is among low 
and high alike as to the condition of others who 
may not be "of their caste." This accursed caste 
seems to convert the mild Hindoo into a very de- 
mon of cruelty, if all the tales one hears be true, 
especially of the times when slavery was allowed 
by law. The ignorance, the superstition, the suf- 
fering, the misery, the utter degradation, are in- 
deed pitiable to behold. 

I hear so much about it all and the marvellous 
complexities of the laws and customs, especially 
in connection with the law of inheritance, in this 
strangest of communities, that my brain will 
hardly take it all in. A Pulaya may not come 
within ninety feet of the sacred person of a Brah- 
man. From a Nair or Sudra, also, he must keep 



232 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

at a respectful distance. He must cover his 
mouth, lest his breath should taint the air; he 
must speak of himself as *'your slave," never 
daring to use the personal pronoun. He is not 
allowed to clothe himself above the waist. 

It is pleasant to turn one's gaze on the Chris- 
tianized part of the population. The truth of the 
gospel must come on these poor low-caste men 
with a joyful surprise. That any of the rights of 
men should ever by possibility belong to them 
must seem too wonderful to be true. That God 
should be **no respecter of persons," that he 
should think of them as his children ; or that 
Christ, having died for *'all," should therefore 
have died for them ! — this wondrous story of re- 
demption may well be ^'glad tidings of great 
joy" to the down-trodden and despised of this 
once so dark little kingdom. 

Christianity always raises the low castes in 
civilization, in character, in intelligence, in social 
standing and position, and in every way. Of 
course people cannot be freed all at once from the 
consequences of long oppression, and the chains 
and bonds of superstition cannot be knocked off 
very easily. Apostasies have occurred ; sometimes, 
when trouble has overtaken him, the poor igno- 
rant convert has sought to propitiate the demon 
once more. The Pulaya, and even the Pariah 



TRKVANDRUM. 233 

and the Shanar, have sometimes made unsatisfac- 
tory Christians, no doubt ; and who would won- 
der, after the ages of oppression they have under- 
gone ? It may take a generation or two to make 
strong, reliable men of these poor Pulayas, who 
were formerly slaves and treated with incredible 
cruelty and indignity; but when one looks at the 
large, noble congregations of men and women, of 
whom you "can take knowledge that they have 
been with Jesus," one's heart is filled with thanks- 
giving and joy ; and who can doubt but that the 
gospel will everywhere triumph ? Well may the 
missionaries take courage and feel that the hand 
of God has been with them in their work and will 
be so increasingly, according to his precious 
promise. 

The Nairs whom I have mentioned, though 
not Brahmans, are a good caste. They form the 
military class and are the aristocracy of the coun- 
try. The reigning family are Nairs, although it 
seeks often to raise itself by matrimonial alliances 
with the Brahmans. This is still more systemat- 
ically sought by the royal family at Cochin. Suc- 
cession among the Nairs goes in the female line, 
the nephew of the maharajah being the heir-ap- 
parent; that is, the son of his sister, not his own 
or his brother's. I believe this arises out of the 
dreadful system of polyandry which was once 



234 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

largely practised here, thougli happily this is now 
no longer the case. 

It was a special pleasure to me to renew here 
an acquaintance with Miss Blandford, of the Ze- 
nana Mission, begun years ago in the house of our 
dear friends the Robertsons in Bombay. Miss 
Blandford is one of the ablest and most successful 
of the zenana missionaries. She has labored for 
many years with patience and faith and has done 
a great and noble work in Trevandrum. She has 
been especially associated with the ladies of the 
court, and speaks of some of the princesses with 
the greatest affection and respect. She herself 
occupies a position of much and deserved influ- 
ence among them, and indeed in the whole place, 
both among the natives and Europeans. It is 
wonderful what the influence of this one devoted 
Christian woman has done for Travancore, this 
stronghold of superstition and caste. 

Monday, 27. 

Early yesterday morning we attended service 
in the mission church of the London Missionary 
Society. As usual, there was a good, intelligent 
congregation. Of course my husband preached. 
This now is the Malayalim Mission, as this is the 
Malayalim country, and the language therefore 
has changed. In the farther South the language 
was Tamil, which doubtless came in from beyond 



TREVANDRUM. 235 

the ghats with Tamil immigrants; but Malayalim 
and Tamil are closely allied and spring from the 
same root as Canarese, Telugu, and Tulu, all the 
five being Dravidian tongues. 

The Rev. S. Mateer, well known as a mission- 
ary and an author, has long been stationed here. 
He has charge of Trevandrum and Quilon, but 
was seeking health at home at the time of our 
visit. Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Knowles — who 
has lately joined the mission — minister in the 
gospel in his place. There are 39 congregations 
in the district and about 5,000 Christians, with a 
respectable army of teachers, village preachers, 
pastors, and other agents. The w^ork seems to be 
making steady progress through God^s blessing 
here, as at the other stations, while among the 
churches there is a great deal of spiritual life. 
The meetings for prayer, Bible-classes, and Sun- 
day-schools are full of heartiness, and the women 
seem specially earnest. There is a prayer-meet- 
ing among them entirely conducted by them- 
selves. Then the women who can read go to the 
houses of those who cannot and read to them and 
have prayer, while others collect poor children to- 
gether, give them food, and then teach them Bible 
lessons. The people are liberal according to their 
means and bring the first-fruits of their harvests 
and other offerings to their chapels. Of course, 



236 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

there are disappointments and discourao^ements, 
as I have said (where are these not to be found?), 
and the missionaries have a hard battle to fight, 
chiefly because of this abominable caste, which 
stands in the way of all progress. 

To-day our friend Miss Blandford came for us 
early, and we started in her carriage to see some- 
thing of her work. We first went by appointment 
to the palace, entered the fort by a huge gateway, 
and stood before the door of a handsome pile, 
where we were received by a gentleman of the 
court and straightway ushered into the presence 
of the senior rani. She shook hands with us all, 
my husband not excepted, and received us as any 
English lady would receive her guests. Her 
rooms are very pretty, nicely furnished, with 
mirrors and a few pictures, one or two couches, 
and a table with books, not at all crowded, nor 
like an upholsterer's shop, which is the usual na- 
tive taste. The floor is of cool, highly-polished 
chunam, as smooth as marble and nearly as white, 
and no carpet. My first thought was. What a con- 
trast to the usual zenana, at least of Bengal, and 
how striking the difference which this lady pre- 
sents with all her surroundings to the poor faded 
ranis in their dreary apartments at Tanjore ! 
Here you see at once what education, refinement, 
and intercourse with a cultivated Christian lady 



TREVANDRUM. 237 

have accomplished. Miss Blandford has reason 
to thank God for her successful work. All the 
ladies are much attached to her personally, and 
let us hope and pray that erelong the crowning 
joy may be hers of seeing them heartily Christ's. 
The rani is a most pleasing person, not very 
young, with soft, retiring manners, perfect self- 
possession, wonderfully fair for a Southern woman, 
and having a gentle though intelligent expression 
of countenance. Her hair was all gathered in a 
great knot at one side, a Madras fashion and not a 
becoming one, and she was simply though richly 
attired, her chief ornament being the decoration 
sent her by the queen. Of this she is immensely 
proud, and displayed it with the utmost satisfac- 
tion. She talks English wonderfully well, reads, 
writes, draws, and employs herself as educated 
women do. She has no children, and thus her 
time is all her own. She does needlework beau- 
tifully and showed us a group of flowers she was 
embroidering on velvet; she also showed us the 
rooms where she studies with Miss Blandford, in- 
cluding a room for painting, an art in which she 
delights. I noticed that in every apartment al- 
most there hung a portrait of Her Majesty the 
Queen, of whom Her Highness speaks with the 
greatest reverence and affection. She is not a 
baptized Christian, but a Bible lay in more than 



238 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

one of the rooms and Miss Blandford reads it with 
her constantly, and she seems to be at least intel- 
lectually a believer. May her heart be opened to 
the Lord as was Lydia's ! 

We were surprised to find that the man who 
had received us at the door in the most unpre- 
tending way and conducted us in was the rani's 
husband, a small man about 40, Avithout shoes or 
stockings, and with a turban on his head. In this 
strange country husbands seem to be only append- 
ages. From what I have already said of the queer 
laws of succession, you will see that the mahara- 
jah's own son cannot succeed him. If he has a 
brother, and he is in his right mind, he can and 
does succeed. But the late maharajah had no 
brother; he therefore adopted two nieces, his sis- 
ter's children, who, by virtue of this adoption, be- 
came ranis and are the two ladies we have been 
visiting. They were married to two men chosen 
for them; but, unfortunately, the senior rani has 
no children, which must be a great grief to her. 
This proved the wisdom of having adopted two 
ladies instead of only one. The junior rani has 
three sons now alive, and they are the heirs to 
the throne; so she is a person of great conse- 
quence. There was also a little princess born, at 
which event there were great rejoicings. How 
strange it is: here the joy is when a girl is born; 



TREVANDRUM. 239 

in Bengal and other parts such an event is con- 
sidered a calamity and the attendants are afraid to 
go and break the sad tidings to the expectant fa- 
ther. But this poor little princess died, and a 
terrible grief it was. In consequence there must 
be another case of adopting, for none of the chil- 
dren who may be born to any of the three lads, 
who are themselves heirs, will be eligible for the 
throne. Their father is dead, but their mother is 
married again, and it does not matter how many 
different fathers the various children have so long 
as the mother is the same; and if she has a little 
girl, her children will be heirs. 

The senior rani and her husband are a most 
happy and devoted couple. He incurred the dis- 
pleasure somehow of the late maharajah and was 
for years banished from the court. But his wife 
was faithful to him, although they often tried to 
induce her to marry some one else. On his death- 
bed the old king relented, and the banished man 
was permitted to return and join his wufe; and 
now they are living happily together, he sympa- 
thizing with her in all her higher tastes. He 
charged himself with Dr. Mitchell's entertain- 
ment, who found him not only intelligent, but 
really learned in Sanscrit and other lore. 

We were not so interested in our visit to the 
junior rani; and yet she has a strong, good face 



240 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and was most courteous to us. Her eldest son, 
who is the heir-apparent and is called the EHiah- 
Rajah, has an establishment to himself; but her 
two younger boys were with her — nice little lads, 
with dark, olive faces and rather heavy locks be- 
neath small, richly-embroidered turbans. They 
wore green satin coats, embroidered with gold, 
red silk trousers, and no shoes or stockings. Their 
little royal highnesses did everything for our en- 
tertainment: they read an English book and reci- 
ted a little; one then played on the vina^ a small 
instrument like the guitar, while the other sang 
a monotonous strain in Malayalim. As we took 
leave their mother graciously presented me with 
photographs of herself and her three sons. 

In the afternoon we paid another royal visit, 
this time to His Highness the heir-apparent or 
Klliah-Rajah. A carriage was sent for us from 
the palace, in which we drove a good way to a 
kind of garden-house, where His Highness resides 
just now. He is a mild, gentleman-like young 
fellow, with pleasing, quiet manners, rather short, 
and dressed in the simplest gray suit, English in 
pattern, with a small white turban twisted round 
his shapely head and very becoming to his dark 
face. He talked English perfectly, with an ex- 
cellent accent, and asked the most intelligent 
questions on many subjects. He seemed greatly 



TREVANDRUM. 241 

pleased to have my husband to talk to and begged 
us to prolong our visit; but when the conversa- 
tion turned on religion it was manifest that he is 
a very orthodox Hindoo. All the reigning family 
seem to be the same, the maharajah, perhaps, the 
most so of alL He is bringing some holy water 
from the Ganges, I see in a paper, to present as 
an oblation to the idol in one of the most sacred 
shrines in his dominions. It makes one's heart 
heavy to think that so much boasted enlighten- 
ment produces so little real light; but this only 
comes with the gift of the Holy Ghost. The 
young man was earnest, however, and thoughtful 
in his talk, and said with feeling as well as polite- 
ness, as we took leave of him, that he would never 
forget this visit nor the food for thought the con- 
versation had provided him. My husband next 
visited the dewan, or prime minister; so I think 
we have done our duty by the powers that be. 

In the evening he gave an English lecture 
under the auspices of the Young Men's Debating 
Society, and the large hall at the college was 
crowded in every part with both Europeans and 
natives. He contrasted the condition of India 
in 1838, when he first landed on its shores, 
with what it is at the present time. He showed 
the marvellous progress there has been, and the 
change for the better in a hundred ways, giving 

Scenes in Southern India. I O 



242 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

as the causes for these the efibrts of a humane 
Government, education, missionary influence, the 
spread of the precepts of Christianity, and so forth. 
The subject was so interesting that he was lis- 
tened to breathlessly; but as soon as he had fin- 
ished, up started an irate Maratha Brahman, who 
poured forth a deluge of talk in reply. He glori- 
fied the Marathas and the Maratha dynasty, con- 
tending that the good old times of the great Shi- 
vaji were really the palmy days of India. Mrs. 
Ross and I had to come away in the middle of 
this tirade, as she was expecting friends to dinner; 
but the gentlemen told me afterwards that my 
husband had quietly answered, and in the judg- 
ment of all the audience had fairly extinguished 
him, at which there had been a good deal of 
amusement. 

Tuesday Evening. 

The belligerent Maratha, to his honor be it 
said, does not bear malice. He called early this 
morning on Dr. Mitchell, coming in state in his 
carriage, with scarlet-coated attendants, paid his 
antagonist some high-flown compliments, had a 
long, pleasant talk, and finally they parted the 
best of friends. 

The dewan has also called and is exceeding- 
ly kind and gracious. It seems that he also is a 
Maratha Brahman, able and enlightened, occupy- 



TREVANDRUM. 243 

ing the most influential position after the mahara- 
jah in the State. 

We spent the whole of the next morning 
after breakfast with Mr. Ross, in his college and 
high school; a noble institution in every respect 
it is. Mr. Ross has an able associate in Dr. Har- 
vey and a good staff of native professors and 
teachers. There is also a preparatory school for 
which some additional premises are now being 
built. The college buildings are very handsome, 
and the rooms large, airy, and numerous. There 
are about a thousand pupils, taking all the de- 
partments, with one hundred and twenty in the 
college. We went from class to class intensely 
interested. The education is thorough and ex- 
cellent, and the lads bright and evidently in 
earnest over their studies; frank, too, and an- 
swering with a pleasant readiness you do not 
always find, which makes the examination ani- 
mated and interesting. But what certainly had 
for us the chief interest and seemed very remarka- 
ble was to hear the Bible taught in this institu- 
tion; for you must remember it belongs to Gov- 
ernment, and more than this, to a heathen Gov- 
ernment. The Bible-classes were taught by a 
Syrian named Luke, an intelligent man, who is a 
master in the high school. Each class in the 
school (not college) has Bible instruction for one 



244 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

hour every week ; and this has been the practice 
since it was opened, I think in 1835. The first 
master, Mr. Roberts, insisted on being allowed to 
teach the Scriptures, and the point then yielded 
has never since been interfered with. This man 
Luke is a relative of the late Patriarch of the 
Syrian Church, the Mar Athanasius whom we 
knew in Bombay a great many years ago. 

Our final school visit was, perhaps, the most 
pleasing of all; it was to Miss Blandford's caste- 
girls' school. As we drove into the compound 
within the fort walls we saw quite close to the 
school building the charred, blackened ruins of 
a house, evidently the scene of a late fire. *^ How 
did you possibly escape ?' ' we exclaimed. * ' How, 
indeed," said Miss Blandford, "but by the mer- 
ciful interposition of God in direct answer to 
prayer!'' 

It seems that some new Government official 
had set his affections on this house, which Miss 
Blandford had used for her school for years. She 
was accordingly turned out and put to immense 
inconvenience. The pupils were in sore grief on 
account of their school, and especially for their 
dear lady, who had difficulty in getting other 
premises which were suitable. So they agreed 
together — teacher and taught — to pray that the 
old house might be given back. Then the fire 



TREVANDRUM. 245 

occurred; the one house was consumed, while its 
close neighbor was spared. "Ah," said the chil- 
dren and the people also, ' ' God has taken care of 
the schoolroom because it is yours. God intends 
you to have it; you will get it back !" And sure 
enough, it was given back; and here they are in- 
stalled, and the school is more successful, more 
crowded, and more a favorite than ever. 

Miss Blandford's own class is composed of 
quite grown-up girls, pleasing and intelligent, 
giving very thoughtful answers to the questions 
put. One question was, "What is better than 
gold?" " Knowledge," at once answered a pleas- 
ant-looking girl. ' ' Is there anything better than 
knowledge ?" " Yes, ' ' answered another. ' ' What 
is it?" "A pure heart!" she said. 

I am always in my element in a school like 
this, and we stayed long, seeing all the depart- 
ments thoroughly. Most of the children are dis- 
figured by the elongated ear filled with massive 
rings and weights, and also by the unbecoming 
way in which they dress their hair. Some have 
it gathered into an untidy bunch at the left side, 
and others have the bunch on the forehead. They 
all seem fond of Miss Blandford, and also of the 
Miss Gahans, and to be on the most easy, familiar 
footing with them; "much happier in school," 
they say, " than anywhere else." One dear, wee 



246 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

child in the infant department I longed to take 
away to exhibit. She is remarkably small, like 
a doll, with innocent, big, grave eyes, which fix 
on yours with the most questioning gaze. She 
is wonderfully fair, being the child of a rich Nair 
family, and richly dressed in a little crimson pet- 
ticoat, starred with yellow, reaching to the pretty 
little feet, a bright green velvet bodice edged with 
gold lace, and a beautiful jewel of pearls and 
rubies on her forehead, the hair gathered to the 
side. She sat quite happily on my lap, not in the 
least afraid or shy. 

There were about eighty pupils in all and 
among them a few Syrian Christian girls. Many 
seemed to be a good deal more than half Chris- 
tian. They said they believed Christianity to be 
true, but dared not profess it, as their parents 
would be very angry and they would be taken 
from school. This would be the saddest thing 
that could happen to them. And is it not won- 
derful that these proud, bigoted people should 
permit their daughters to be so completely under 
the influence of a Christian woman? Surely it is 
the lyord's doing and shows a purpose of mercy 
to the next generation in Travancore. 



THE BACKWATER. 247 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE BACKWATER. 



MARCH I. 



We are again afloat, this time literally so. It 
is early morning, hardly more than dawn, and 
we are sitting on a sort of sofa-chair, like a gar- 
den-seat somewhat, on the roof of our boat — for 
we are now shooting along through the lagoons 
and lakes, filled from the numerous rivers and 
streams of this well-watered land, which form the 
famous Backwater of the Malabar coast. 

These lagoons are connected by canals and 
make a grand line of water communication, which 
is of great commercial importance to all this re- 
gion. This Backwater is always smooth and nav- 
igable and is untouched by the storms of the 
ocean, from which it is divided by high embank- 
ments of sand and by a margin of cultivated and 
well-wooded flat country, which is generally also 
well populated. 

The fresh morning air on the water is quite 
enlivening. I could not remain any longer be- 
low in the close little cabin, and so here we are 
perched, enjoying the cool air, while we speed 



248 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

along as fast as our sixteen oarsmen can take us. 
The channel just now is narrow and the banks 
full of beauty. We are going through a region 
of picturesque loveliness too beautiful to describe. 
There are woods and waters, lakes and fens, rip- 
pling streams and sullen canals, stately palms and 
mighty monarchs of the forest, with a tangled 
undergrowth of dazzling, varied, gleaming shola^ 
or natural bush. There are tall, wavy grasses 
and lowly mosses, gnarled old stems silvered with 
lichen or clambered over and clothed with beauty 
from, a hundred different delicate fern -fronds ; 
there are climbers and trailers and parasites with- 
out end, which throw their gigantic arms round 
strong trees and then fling themselves about with 
wanton frolic in loops and festoons and garlands 
of endless beauty. In short, all along the banks 
there is the luxuriant wealth of ves^etation which 
belongs to the tropics, bathed in the night-dews 
and gleaming and glowing in the glorious sun- 
shine of morning. 

After dinner last night we took leave of our 
most hospitable entertainers, who have simply 
loaded us with kindness. Mr. Ross drove us 
down about two miles in the sircar carriage — 
which had been placed at our disposal from the 
palace all the time of our stay — to the little pier 
at the head of the canal where our boat was 



TIIK BACKWATER 249 

moored. The dewan has most considerately sent 
a peon (or messenger), who is to accompany us 
and look after the supplies of boatmen — a needful 
precaution. Mr. Ross sends another, so we are 
well off. It is indeed remarkable how carefully 
and wisely our whole journey has been planned 
for us all through, and our hearts continually 
swell with gratitude to our gracious God, from 
whose loving hands come all these benefits and 
who makes our way so easy. 

Joseph had our quilts and pillows spread on 
the narrow benches in the tiny cabin, our stal- 
wart, dusky boatmen were ready at their oars, 
flags were flying gayly from stem and bow; so, 
waving an adieu to our friends on the bank, we 
struck out into the stream and were soon gliding 
swiftly along in the gloom of the overarching 
boughs and the thick, dark foliage which clothed 
the banks on either side. The moon was shining, 
but in a sky of very milky hue. Not a star was 
there to be seen to cheer us on our way. The air 
was damp and heavy and laden with the luscious 
scent of a hundred jungle flowers. Mosquitoes 
buzzed and cicadas chirruped, the men were very 
noisy, and, tired though we were, to sleep was 
out of the question. The kindly visitant strove 
hard to come at our bidding, but the strife with 
the harsh voices, especially of the noisy boatmen, 



250 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

was quite an unequal one. When not chatting 
and laughing they were singing and kept up a 
monotonous chant often during the night. Coax- 
ing and threatening were alike unavailing to keep 
them quiet. 

We changed the men every ten miles, when 
we halted at some jetty, and then the hullabaloo 
was inconceivable. They shouted and yelled and 
woke the echoes, so as to rouse the village which 
had to supply the next relay; and when the un- 
willing, sleepy creatures came at the sircar's 
summons the strife of tongues which ensued was 
truly awful. So it was rather an unhappy night, 
but the joy of the glorious morning far more than 
compensated for the sorrows and weariness of the 
troubled night. The rejoicing, masterful sun has 
cleared the heavens of the cream-like veiling, or 
* ' scuffed the clouds, ' ' as our skipper in the China 
seas used to say; and how the beams dance and 
sparkle in the tangle of green loveliness which 
the banks present ! It is more beautiful every 
moment. Some of the trees are laden with strange 
fruit and others are gorgeous with bright blos- 
soms. Looking upward you see towering, soaring 
cocoa palms. There are forests of them, their 
straight gray stems rising to the height of a hun- 
dred feet and more, crowned a-top with their 
beautiful plume of waving fronds, in the midst 



THE BACKWATER. 25I 

of which bright bits of blue sky peep out here 
and there. Then, if you keep your gaze to the 
level of the water, there is the shola I spoke of — 
an undergrowth of riches inexhaustible: ferns and 
grasses and shrubbery, full of greens and browns 
and brighter colors, and an infinite variety of leaf. 
And now we come on some real English-looking 
greensward. But here is Quilon, where we are 
to land until the heat of the day has moderated. 

We landed at eight and were strolling up the 
bank with our white umbrellas and sun-hats, hav- 
ino- sent off our attendants in search of the Trav- 
ellers' Bungalow, when we met a tall, gentle- 
manly man in a suit of white flannel, who politely 
accosted us and with true Indian hospitality invi- 
ted us to his house. This was Mr. Cameron, a 
countryman, of course, and originally from Bade- 
noch ; so we have much in common and were fast 
friends at once. We discovered afterwards that 
our kind friend Mr. Ross had quietly given him 
a hint to waylay us, if at home. He led us up 
by a splendid avenue of feathery casuarina-trees 
away towards the sea, where high over the shore 
his bungalow stands. It commands a magnificent 
ocean view. On entering the house we found a 
real bachelor abode. The veranda-room present- 
ed a delightful medley, the most prominent arti- 
cles being newspapers, books, and magazines, 



252 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

with guns and sticks and fishing-tackle and other 
gear of the sort in every corner. Beyond, in the 
inner precincts, there shone a dazzling vision of 
a daintily - spread breakfast -table, and beyond 
again, in some cool, dark, remote recesses, were 
to be found the crowning delight — the good old 
Indian bath-tub. To know the full luxury of a 
bath you must come to India. Your ' ' tub ' ' here 
ineans a reservoir full to the brim, standing over- 
night on cool, wet slabs, into which you plunge 
bodily and emerge a new being. After an expe- 
rience like this we brought very appreciative 
appetites to the fresh fish and rice and new-laid 
eggs, with the various relishes, and then the 
heaps of delicious fruit which always accompany 
an Indian meal. 

After this the gentlemen decreed that I was 
to repose on one of the roomy couches, which. I 
did with a file of the *' Inverness Courier" beside 
me. A good hour's sleep followed to us all and 
left us entirely refreshed. Mr. Carruthers, of 
Inverness, a grandson of the famous old editor, 
had joined us, and we had a charming day. 

At three o'clock, after lunch, we again set 
sail, our kind entertainer and Mr. Carruthers ac- 
companying us to the boat. It was still very hot, 
but we had a good distance with unknown perils 
before us, and the supplies of boatmen, to say the 



THE BACKWATER. 253 

least, uncertain. Our sircar peon is very zealous, 
but awakens my husband's wrath by the ready 
knocks and cuffs he administers to the poor men 
when they fail in their duty. This official, with 
his belt and badge and coat of scarlet and gold 
and very important ways, is quite a person of 
authority among the poor people, who treat him 
with a homage hardly less than they accord to 
the sahib himself. Our own man generally de- 
parts to the stern in a sort of dignified retirement, 
feeling rather superseded. He has just produced, 
however, a most excellent curry for our dinner, 
how cooked in the hole in the bottom of the boat, 
which is all there is for kitchen, I cannot make 
out; but Indian servants have an amount of re- 
source in this sort of thing which is peculiar to 
themselves. 

The boatmen under the darkening sky are as 
like savages as if we were on Lake Tanganyika. 
They are wonderfully black, with shock heads, or 
the hair gathered into a fantastic knot over their 
foreheads. They have no turbans and no clothes, 
except the bit of rag round the loins. They chat- 
ter immensely, though now they are singing a 
dirge-like song. One man leads off, singing a 
line, then the whole crew catch up the refrain, 
repeating over and over the same words to the 
same monotonous strain. Occasionally a clever 



254 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

one among them improvises, and he must say 
something droll, for there is a general laugh. 
Poor fellows ! they are very enduring and work 
like machines at the oars hour after hour. Dr. 
Mitchell often tried to talk to them ; but, alas ! 
their language was so strange that there was little 
mutual comprehension, and none of them could 
read. 

The evening is exquisite, much finer than last 
night when we started. There is something in- 
effably pensive and sweet in the scene and full of 
restful peace as the golden radiance from the set- 
ting sun subdues and melts into the silvery light 
of the moon, not yet quite full, which gleams 
softly on the still water. The lagoon has greatly 
widened and the palm-trees look solemn and spec- 
tral on the distant banks. We have just been 
saying that such an evening, succeeding the busy, 
bustling, garish day, reminds one of the finished 
life of a chastened, happy, useful Christian wait- 
ing calmly in the light at eventide to be taken 
home. 

In the Boat, 3d March. 

Here again is the morning, full of brightness 
and coolness and exuberance of life. Our men 
are much quieter, so we have had some sleep. 
Poor fellows ! they are too tired to be noisy. No 
wonder, for the relays have failed utterly, not- 



THE BACKWATER. 255 

withstanding the sircar's official ijeal and author- 
ity. One set has brought us some forty miles. 
They go wearily as we wind through the great 
waste of waters, and we have just told them to go 
to the bank and halt a little. Numbers of palm- 
climbers are at work, scrambling up the branch- 
less stems like monkeys and bringing down little 
pots full of the sweet, fresh juice of the wonder- 
ful tree. We have treated our men to as much 
of this refreshing beverage as they can drink, 
with which they are greatly charmed, and they 
will resume their oars with more spirit. This 
juice is called tadi^ * and by evening it will have 
fermented and become intoxicating; now it is a 
most pleasant draught and very invigorating. 

I never saw the phosphorescence on the water 
so glorious as last night. I could hardly lie still 
for gazing at its changeful beauty. The whole 
surface of the water sometimes looked like a lake 
of fire, and as the oars struck it broke into tiny 
ripples and whirls of dancing light most curious 
and beautiful. Sometimes we seemed to go over 
waves and crests of light, and then again it broke 
into curls and twists, as if snakes of fire were pur- 
suing us. The sounds, too, were often peculiar. 
Close to our stern or side there would be a sudden 
splash and swirl, showing unmistakably the pres- 
* Hence, apparently, the word " toddy." 



256 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ence of big creatures in the water, probably some 
monster of the deep. One time, very incautious- 
ly, I confess, I had my arm out of the window, 
catching the cool water in my hand, when some- 
thing slimy and cold struck it. I did not need a 
second warning; and when we saw a dead alliga- 
tor float past on his back this morning I thought 
I would not be so venturesome again. 

The scenery has changed a little from yester- 
day. The lagoons are of wider expanse, though 
the channels wind and alter constantly. Now 
the water is a mile or two wide; a little while ago 
it was only a few yards. Away on the horizon are 
to be descried hills and dreamy, purple mountain 
ranges; and on the other hand, though not always 
visible, there is the blue expanse of ocean, but 
entirely separated from us by the wall of sand I 
have spoken of. 

There is plenty of life about, which is gener- 
ally the case in the morning. A good many bag- 
gage and cargo boats are being towed or pushed 
along by a pole, wielded generally by a solitary 
man. Other boats of quaint construction there 
are, though not many canoes or fishing- boats. 
Often we came on tiny islands beautifully w^ood- 
ed ; and hamlets are frequent now as we get nearer 
Cottayam, pretty little homesteads surrounded by 
fences of palm branches. Pretty white churches 



THE BACKWATER. 257 

too gleam amid the woods, always surmounted by 
a cross. Most of these are Roman-catholic, but 
some belong to the Syrian Christians who are 
scattered over this coast. Often there is only a 
cross, whitewashed and raised on a pedestal, and 
occasionally ornamented with a wreath of flowers, 
the offering of some devout and simple worship- 
per. How sweet and pleasant a contrast to the 
shrine for the worship of demons and how cheer- 
ing! This looks almost like a Christian land. 
And how fairy like is the scenery: it puts us in 
mind, with its many waters and tortuous chan- 
nels winding among woods and islands and low 
promontories and green flats, of the lovely St. 
Lawrence and its thousand islands. We have 
iust passed a tall stork standing on one leg in a 
contemplative mood on a stem among some reeds ; 
and now, a little farther on, a huge crocodile lies 
on a bit of greensward lazily sunning himself It 
is now becoming too hot to sit on deck, and we 
are glad to be approaching Cottayam, where we 
shall stay for a few days with Mr. and Mrs. Neve, 
of the Church Missionary Society. 



Scenes iu Southern India. 



17 



258 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

COTTAYAM: its MISSIONS. THE SYRIAN CHRIS- 
TIANS OF MAI.ABAR. 

We did not arrive here until long past noon 
yesterday. Our weary mariners went very deject- 
edly for the last few hours, and we had not the 
heart to urge them on, although the little cabin 
was like an oven, in which we were being baked 
and browned. Our clever chuprassie^ however, 
knocked up a kind of awning outside the door, 
beneath which we sat on our quilts cross-legged, 
like Oriental potentates, and endured the heat as 
philosophically as we could. The servants had 
all gone to sleep, as indeed had all nature. The 
dear little birds, who had been carolling to us 
from early dawn, found it too hot to sing any 
more and hid away among the cool leaves, the 
giant frogs forgot to croak, the shrill voices of the 
untiring cicadas were happily silenced for a while, 
and even the screeching, vivacious, tiresome green 
paroquets ceased their restless flight and chatter 
and left us for a while in peace. Only the beau- 
tiful little silver fish, which darted about us in 
shoals, looked cool and happy in the clear green 



cottayam: its missions. 259 

depths of the still water. Voices which at mid- 
night fill the jungle with their noisy chorus are 
hushed at midday, and there was not a sound but 
the splash of the lazy oar and the snores of the 
sleeping men. The tyrant sun reigned supreme. 

The water by-and-by broadened into a sea-like 
expanse. They say the distant banks are splen- 
did shikar grounds, where the tiger, elephant, and 
leopard are to be found in the primeval forest, 
and also plenty of smaller game. The head boat- 
man pointed westward, where the large and im- 
portant town of AUepy lay with its shipping and 
lighthouse and large population, and soon there- 
after we drew near to the palm-fringed shore at 
Cottayam. 

How glad we were to step on to the jetty and 
take refuge from the intolerable blaze beneath the 
dense, delicious shade of the glorious palm forests, 
for here the tree abounds in every sort and si^e 
and species. We sat, with a cool carpet of sward 
beneath our feet and the grand canopy of plumes 
over our heads, until the servant from the mis- 
sion-house, who had watched for our arrival since 
morning, went for the carriage to bring us up. 
Mr. and Mrs. Neve had sent us a most kind invi- 
tation, and we were entertained by them, as we 
have been by missionaries of all societies, in the 
heartiest and warmest way. 



26o SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

We have now left the mission fields of the 
London Missionary Society behind us in the 
South, and have reached the borders of those oc- 
cupied by the Church Missionary Society. It 
began its labors in the Malayalim country in 
i8i6j at the invitation of "the good resident," 
Col., afterwards Gen., Munro, and certainly there 
is no region more interesting, from a mission- 
ary point of view, than this in all India. The 
circumstances which give special interest to this 
mission are, first, the existence here still of the 
ancient Syrian Church of Malabar, the history of 
which has been so remarkable and has so largely 
stirred the hearts of Christian people everywhere; 
and next, the existence of a colony of Jews, who 
are said to have made their way to India in the 
first century after the destruction of the second 
temple. These Jews, however, are now to be 
found chiefly, or almost solely, in Cochin. The 
Syrian Christians are all about us here and around 
Cottayam. 

Very little was known about the Syrian Church 
of Malabar until after 1498, when the Portuguese 
landed on this coast. Vasco de Gama and his 
people were astonished to find a colony of fellow- 
Christians before them in heathen India, who in 
their turn were glad to welcome the new-comers, 
so much more like themselves than the poor 



cottayam: its missions. 261 

heathen round them. Three centuries later the 
English occupied Malabar; and it was soon after 
this that Dr. C. Buchanan, then a chaplain in 
Bengal, visited this ancient church and reported 
on its condition. He carried out his inquiry in 
1806; and Col. Macaulay, who was then British 
resident in Travancore, took the liveliest interest 
in the matter and aided him in every possible 
way. The result was the establishment in 18 16 
of a mission under the auspices of the Church 
Missionary Society, which has worked in the dis- 
trict ever since, chiefly among the Syrian Chris- 
tians, but also among the heathen. 

Is it not a most curious and striking fact that 
these two communities, one of God's ancient peo- 
ple and this wonderful old Christian church, 
should have existed here side by side during all 
these ages — that a lamp of Bible truth, a double 
light, one might say, though a poor and feeble 
one enough, should have burned, however faintly, 
and have been kept alive amid every change and 
trouble until now, when, eighteen centuries later, 
it is glimmering still in the midst of the deep 
darkness of the surrounding heathenism ?* 

* I find the following in a sketch of the Syrian Christian 
Church by the Rev. R. H. Maddox, of the Church Missionary 
Society: "The presence of these two large and influential 
communities (the Jews and Christians) in the country, linked 
by no common tie, yet witnesses together through strange 



262 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Happily now there are other lamps alight in 
the mission stations which have been planted by 
the different societies like lighthouses along the 
coast. Let us hope and pray and work until this 
old church is thoroughly revived and God's 
ancient people also are brought in and led to 
acknowledge him who with such infinite gra- 
ciousness has said, "I am the Lord thy Saviour 
and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." 

As to the origin of the Syrian Christians in 
Malabar the missionaries generally seem to accept 
the usual explanation given, namely, that they 
are the descendants of those converted under the 
preaching of the apostle Thomas in India. This 
is the oldest tradition and seems to be the most 
accredited. At all events they themselves love 
to speak of St. Thomas as the founder of their 
church. 

From where I sit I can see an old gray Syrian 
church peeping out from amid the woods. It is 
indeed a new feature in an Indian landscape, 
these weather-beaten moss-marked, often dilapi- 
dated places for Christian worship one comes 
upon here. There is the modest gray cross rising 
above the trees and pointing, like a finger of 

vicissitudes for eighteen centuries to the truth of God's reve- 
lation in the midst of heathenism, is a startling as well as 
deeply interesting phenomenon in the history of the church 
of God." 



cottayam: its missions. 263 

hope, towards heaven, surely suggestive of some- 
thing bright and blissful in the future. These 
poor Christians are, no doubt, dark and ignorant 
enough. They were in a very sunken and de- 
graded condition when the missionaries landed in 
the midst of them some seventy years ago, and 
still, I am afraid, they are low spiritually and the 
things of God among them ofttimes ready to die. 
But God has not removed their candlestick out of 
its place; the one living and true God has been 
worshipped in their simple churches and he has 
preserved this singular people as witnesses for 
himself in a region where it may be said '^Satan's 
seat is" — where heathenism in some of its foulest 
and most revolting aspects abounds. Our faith, 
then, should be equal to the certain hope and 
belief that a good and glorious day of grace is yet 
in store for them, and that the little oasis in this 
great moral wilderness will spread until it covers 
this part of India as with a garden of the Lord. 

We have had quite a touching leave-taking 
from our boatmen, poor fellows ! who accompa- 
nied us to the mission-house, each carrying some- 
thing of our efifects. We retain our boat and also 
the magnificent embodiment of authority, our 
scarlet-belted cJmprassie^ but we have dismissed 
the men meanwhile. They have been made 
happy by liberal backsheesh^ including a kid for 



264 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

their supper with which to make merry and re- 
cruit their exhausted energies. The salams, down 
to our very feet, have been gone through and they 
are off in high glee, chattering at the top of their 
voices. They look very much like savages. Not 
one of them can read, and, indeed, many of the 
people look wonderfully wild and barbaric for a 
province which boasts of schools and colleges and 
English-speaking officials and an enlightened 
Government. 

This is a charming mission-house, and our 
kind host and hostess are just as charming as 
their dwelling. Mr. Neve is principal of the 
well-known Church Missionary College of Cotta- 
yam, and along with pressing and varied work 
into which both he and his wife were at once 
thrown on their arrival they have to study the 
hard Malayalim tongue. 

Near the house and in the same compound 
stands the college, a large building in which 
there is accommodation for the boarding of many 
of the pupils. It is a very important institution, 
there being no other of the kind nearer than 
Trevandrum on the one hand and Cochin on the 
other. Mr. Neve's sphere is a most influential 
and important one, as it bears so much on the na- 
tive Christian community, the pastors and other 
aeents all beingf educated and trained within its 



cottayam: its missions. 265 

walls. It also exercises a very elevating influ- 
ence on the Syrian church. At right angles to 
the house there is the college chapel, a beautiful 
little building, the most church-like, I think, I 
have seen in India. It is in the Old English 
style, with real Gothic windows — not the usual 
venetian-blind pattern which the necessities of 
climate have made nearly imiversal. Inside it is 
very pretty, with stalls and pews parallel to the 
walls made of dark wood, the proper hue which 
generally comes from age. It was very pleasant 
to hear the bell sounding out for evening service, 
and now the voices of the lads came to me, led by 
a harmonium, in the familiar strains of the Even- 
ing Hymn. 

The other missionary now at this station is 
Mr. Painter, who occupies a mission-house stand- 
ing on a richly- wooded undulation across a valley 
just opposite. This valley is turned into a lake, 
or lagoon, in the monsoon, when the country is 
more or less flooded, and the members of the mis- 
sion go to each other's houses in boats. 

We walked over in the cool of the evening 
yesterday to another compound, where a remark- 
able old lady resides, who received us literally 
with open arms. This is the venerable Mrs. 
Baker, widow of the Rev. H. Baker, who was 
one of the first missionaries to Cottayam. His 



266 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

noble wife worked by his side till his death, in 
1866, and happily she is spared to work still. 
She opened a boarding-school for girls in 1818, 
the year after their arrival, and, wonderful to say, 
it not only exists still, but she conducts it. We 
saw it to-day. There are eighty pupils, and the 
dear old lady looked busy and happy among her 
children. She is quite deaf, but she manages her 
large family marvellously, and the girls are de- 
voted to her and quite under her control. Many 
of the matrons in the native Christian homes and 
the nicer women among the Syrian Christians 
were trained by Mrs. Baker. Indeed, her steady, 
loving work of more than sixty years has had a 
most beneficial influence in elevating the women 
of the district generally. When I suggested that 
she ought now to rest, she said, with her brave 
missionary spirit, "When I cannot have my dear 
girls about me I '11 lie down and die." 

There is another admirable girls' boarding- 
school taught and superintended by Mrs. Henry 
Baker and her daughters. It has about a hun- 
dred and fifty pupils, who all live on the prem- 
ises, and is one of the best conducted and most 
successful institutions of the kind we have seen. 
This lady is also a widow. Her husband, the 
Rev. Henry Baker, son of the old lady, whose 
death a few years ago was a great loss to the mis- 



cottayam: its missions. 267 

sion, was an able and influential man arid is 
known chiefly as having originated mission work 
among an interesting aboriginal people, the Hill 
Arrians. There were some two thousand con- 
verts gathered in from among them before his 
death, in 1878. 

Mrs. Neve has thrown herself into work for 
the female children of heathen families as the 
other ladies work among the Christians, and al- 
ready she has organized four day-schools for them. 
She had the little things gathered into the veran- 
da that we might see them and be saved a walk 
in the sun, and it was a very pretty sight. . They 
looked very different in feature and dress from 
the Christians, both Syrians and others; but they 
have bonnie little intensely black faces, with 
bright eyes and torn ears and large chignons, and 
looked on the strangers with awed curiosity. 
They read the Bible and answered remarkably 
well, and I could not but rejoice heartily that 
Mrs. Neve has been led to take up this branch of 
female work, it is of so much importance to get 
at the girls, the children of the heathen around. 
May the Master aid and bless her efforts ! 

Our visit would be delightful but for this con- 
suming heat. It daily becomes more trying, and, 
along with the sight-seeing, taxes the energies a 
good deal. There is a delicious sea-breeze during 



268 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the afternoon, but it dies down in the evening 
and you begin to pant again. Yesterday Mr. 
Neve took us to the library and over the college, 
where my husband spent most of the morning. 
There are 270 lads, most of whom are Christians 
and are educated up to the matriculation stand- 
ard. I was much attracted by the fine, intelli- 
gent teachers, who were themselves trained in 
the college and are, some of them, Syrian Chris- 
tians. As usual. Dr. Mitchell questioned the 
classes and gave an address. 

The farther we penetrate into this wonderful 
little kingdom of the South the more are we 
struck with the exuberance and beauty of the 
vegetation. Nature indeed has been prodigal of 
her favors. On this coast the palm family is 
specially numerous and varied. The graceful 
areca and betel-nut abound, also the talipot, and 
the cocoa palm soars over one's head endlessly. 
Then there are the beautiful pepper-trees and 
other spices; also the bamboo, mimosa, casuarina, 
and many others, magnificent banyans, often or- 
namented with lovely orchids, tamarinds and 
mangoes and plantains, with plenty of the more 
useful woods, such as jack and blackwood and 
sandalwood and teak. Different fruits you see 
hanging from a hundred trees. The flowering 
shrubs are gorgeous, and so are the endless trailers 



cottayam: its missions. 269 

and creepers, while always there is the marvellous 
variety of foliage and the luxuriant wealth of 
green. The fine old Portuguese commanders 
knew what they were about when they chose 
beautiful and prosperous Malabar for their land- 
ing-place! If it had only the beauties of holiness 
in equal measure with its natural beauties it 
would indeed be a delightsome land. 

The people seem well-to-do and comfortable, 
though certainly they do not need much. You 
see a little clearing near the water-edge; a peas- 
ant, with only his cloth for clothing, builds his 
hut of wood and clay there, roofs it and fences it 
round with dried palm branches; he owns proba- 
bly a few of these useful trees, which are his rev- 
enue and which, with his little rice-fields and, 
perhaps, a few sheep or cattle, provide him and 
his family with everything needful for their life. 
He eats and drinks and sleeps and marries his 
sons and daughters, and he wants nothing more. 
It looks a peaceful picture. But there is another 
side to it. 

My friend and I placed ourselves on the bridge 
by the jetty to wait, and I think we sat there for 
two hours, for the interest of their visit and the 
tortuosities of the stream had alike detained the 
gentlemen. But we kept a most entertaining 
vigil. It was a splendid chance for me to watch 



270 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the people and their doings. As it grew dusk 
numbers came down to bathe and others to wash 
their cloths (not clothes). They stood up to their 
waists in the water and chatted with their neigh- 
bors or muttered their evening prayers. They 
had no clothing to speak of, neither men nor wo- 
men, except the universal cloth I have spoken of, 
which is a stripe of dirty yellow cotton wound 
about the loins, either hanging down or caught 
up between the legs, according to the caste. 

There were many passers-by on the bridge. I 
wished that I could sketch or photograph some of 
the groups. All were foot-passengers, no carts 
and bullocks, such as are usually seen on Indian 
roads. There were coolies carrying the most pic- 
turesque loads on their heads, such as bunches of 
cocoanuts tied together by the fibre, or rough, red 
pottery in the loveliest shapes, or a pot full of the 
frothy juice of the cocoa palm fresh drawn from 
the tree. 

One or two young women passed to or from 
the well with water-pots poised on their heads. 
These they carried with wonderful grace, though 
the heads were sorely disfigured by a huge sort of 
chignon, into which the wealth of black hair was 
gathered at the front or side. The better-class 
women are erect, lithe, and often slim, the skin 
of a darker hue than in the West and North, the 



cottayam: its missions. 271 

deformities being this unbecoming mode in hair- 
dressing, the torn lobe of the ear, and a very in- 
adequate amount of clothing. 

Soon there came a group of travellers by: an 
old, tottering woman, wrapped and enveloped in 
a red cloth, and carefully led by a bonnie little 
girl; a younger woman, much ornamented, carry- 
ing a screaming infant on her hip; a man with a 
few brass drinking-vessels hanging from his cloth 
over his back, and a betel box, a roll of matting — 
probably their bedding — on his head, and a small 
naked boy hanging on to his disengaged hand. 
They looked wayworn and tired and went wearily 
in single file. What was my surprise to see them 
hastily step aside, draw up in a line against the 
parapet, and bow in lowly obeisance as a fat, oily 
man, with a brick-dust hue of skin, a topknot on 
his otherwise shaven head instead of turban, and 
a palm leaf umbrella in his hand, sauntered slow- 
ly by. This was a lordly Brahman; but he con- 
descended to bestow his benediction on the hum- 
ble group as he passed on his way. 

A young man in a tidy white starched coat, 
whom Mrs. Neve knew, had joined us and was 
very good in answering my questions. He said 
the wayfarers were a Sudra or Nair family, prob- 
ably respectable, well-to-do people, going to their 
home. The Nairs are always profoundly respect- 



272 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ful to the Brahmans, though often a good deal 
jealous of them. 

Presently a number of people gathered at one 
end of the bridge and stuck there for some reason 
or other. There was much shouting and halloa- 
ing, and we found that another Brahman, one of 
the Namburi caste, and therefore doubly sacred, 
was about to cross the road. The Namburis are 
the special priests of the Malayalim country and 
specially holy, pretentious, and domineering to 
all other castes. Their laws are inconceivably 
absurd and strange, especially regarding marriage 
and inheritance, and their customs generally the 
same, though they have the redeeming point of 
being charitable and hospitable to strangers, if 
only these strangers are Brahmans. 

Well, this sacred personage had to cross the 
bridge, and the unfortunates at the other side were 
poor Pulayas, the lowest of the low, hardly a caste 
at all, from among whom the slaves usually w^ere 
drawn. Rigid law in this province forbids such 
inferior creatures to come within 90 feet of the 
high-born, holy Namburi. In former days any 
infringement of this rule was punishable by death. 
Even a Nair would cut a low-caste man down if 
he approached nearer than the limits allowed by 
law. Until within late years, indeed, the low 
Pulayas were not allowed to use the public roads 



cottayam: its missions. 273 

at all. They had to go through the jungles to 
their work, and when they labored in the rice- 
fields their masters and owners had to shout their 
orders from a safe distance, to which pollution 
could not travel. 

Watching with intense eagerness what would 
happen as the halloaing continued, we saw the 
waiting group break and scatter and scamper off, 
it did not matter where, as if a mad dog had got 
into the midst of them. Some scrambled down 
the bank, some flew off in the direction whence 
they had come, some vanished out of sight into 
the water, but all disappeared in a twinkling. 
And then the miserable man who caused it all 
went loftily on his way. It would have been un- 
speakably ludicrous if it had not been so prepos- 
terous and provoking. Fancy all these people 
detained and put out of their way to serve no end 
at all, though, of course, the man was not so much 
tlie transgressor as his system. 

I must allow that the Pulayas do look low 
enough. Their physique is not grand. They 
are short and slight, with low foreheads, a mean 
cast of feature, exceptionally dark in complexion, 
and often with a depressed, vacant expression on 
their very plain faces. But who can wonder at 
this after the long ages of oppression they have 
worn through? The women decorate themselves 

Scenes in Southern India. !§ 



274 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

with quantities of beads and strings of cowries. 
They also have bangles and other ornaments 
made of brass and lead, for they are not allowed 
to wear gold or silver. They live in the most 
miserable huts, too bad for cattle, made of sticks 
and cocoa branches, and generally built near the 
paddy-fields where they work. Slavery is abol- 
ished by law and proclamation ; but, all the same, 
slavery exists still. These poor creatures are 
slaves now, so we are assured, and are often 
bought and sold with the land. These low castes 
are not allowed to enter a shop. They supply 
their wants by putting their money down outside; 
they then retire the prescribed distance — for hap- 
pily the money does not carry pollution — and 
shout their needs to the shopman. He takes up 
the money, lays the articles in its place, and de- 
parts out of harm's way, while the poor, deluded 
creatures take their goods and go contentedly off. 
Mr. Emlyn, of Pareychaley, told us so great was 
the ignorance formerly among the slave tribes 
that they believed the missionaries were sent by 
Government to capture them in order that they 
might be given as food to gold-producing rats ! 
Nothing is too absurd or monstrous for these poor 
people to believe. 

And yet they can be raised by the power of 
the gospel. Moreover, the gospel is the only 



cottayam: its missions. 275 

power which has ever been able to raise them in 
the least from the depth of their ignorance and 
degradation. A great deal of work has been done 
among them and numbers have become Chris- 
tians. Indeed, we are assured that the whole 
Pulaya caste would come over to Christianity if 
there were only people enough to teach them. It 
is natural that they should easily become con- 
verts, for they have nothing to lose and much to 
gain. They see the advantage the new faith 
brings in every way to those who embrace it. 
They rise at once in the social scale, have more 
privileges, better houses, more comforts, and be- 
come quite respectable people. Their children 
are received in all the mission-schools, education 
advances, and it has been proved beyond dispute 
that these outcasts are quite capable of being 
turned into able, intelligent, and useful citizens. 
Many of them are sincere and earnest and work as 
catechists among their people. What a wonder- 
ful and glorious change this mighty gospel effects! 
To see these poor oppressed tribes being brought 
in, worshipping God in the simple little churches 
which are springing up among the jungles, in- 
stead of practising the frightful rites of their ter- 
rible superstitions, and then to see them consid- 
ered and treated as men, may well quicken faith 
and set one's heart on fire with the loneine that 



276 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the work should be done thoroughly and adequate- 
ly and at once. And there is hope in every effort 
put forth. The missionaries declare that the peo- 
ple among whom the greatest progress has been 
made in late years are just these poor outcast 
slaves. 

It is a striking fact too that their masters often 
approve of their becoming Christians. Why? 
Because they thus become better servants. They 
do not steal and cheat and lie as they used to do. 
This is a grand testimony to the moral character 
of these simple Christians. When shall we see 
both master and slave brought in together? the 
former saying with the prophet, * ' Have we not 
all one Father? Hath not one God created us? 
Why should we deal treacherously every man 
against his brother?'^ 

But I have wandered far from the bridge, as I 
did that night in my thoughts. lyong after the 
sun went down we sat there, gazing over the 
waters and woods into the fading light and the 
silence which soon fell. Now and then a broad- 
winged bird, probably a kingfisher, would rise 
from some thicket, whirl round and round over- 
head, vSoar higher towards the heavens, until for a 
moment there seemed only a speck against the 
sky, and then suddenly dart down among the 
sedges, find there, I suppose, what he had come 



cottayam: its missions. 277 

for, spread wing again, and disappear among the 
branches. It did not grow quite dark. The 
evening star rode high, not like a point, but a 
great orb, sending a broad gleam of light across 
the calm lagoon. Sirius with his changeful spar- 
kle hung in marvellous brilliance over us; and 
soon the moon, now near its full, rose like a ball 
of gold and sent a flood of lovely softened radi- 
ance over the exquisite scene. By-and-by we 
heard in the stillness the plash, plash of the oar; 
our two gentlemen stepped ashore and we saun- 
tered home, carrying many a picture and mem- 
ory in our heart which will not easily be efifaced. 



278 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

COTTAYAM : SUNDAY SERVICES AMONG THE 
SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 

My husband is certainly much in his element 
here, having many opportunities of declaring his 
message. He "said a few words," as he express- 
es it, last night to the pastors; this morning 
''spoke a little" to the theological students; at 
one o* clock he gave a lecture to the Young Men's 
Christian Association; and in the afternoon he 
had the honor of presiding at the Annual Exhi- 
bition of the college. He gave away the prizes 
and then delivered an address to the lads. An 
exceedingly pretty and successful display it was. 
The company included the whole station, and the 
place was gayly and prettily decorated by the 
boys. But the heat ! Who shall tell it? To say 
that we are in a perpetual vapor-bath is a mild 
description of what it is now. 

Notwithstanding our vigils last night, we 
were up betimes this morning. Dr. Mitchell 
went off with Mr. Painter to visit some of the 
Syrian churches; he also saw the Syrian College, 
empty now and silent, and then the printing- 



cottayam: the Syrian christians. 279 

press, a useful handmaid to the mission, whence 
a missionary magazine issues monthly and many 
useful publications. Finally he accompanied 
Mr. Painter to his Divinity Hall, as we should 
style it, where he teaches systematic theology to 
the aspirants for the ministry and trains school- 
masters and evangelists. Afterwards my hus- 
band spent a most interesting hour talking to the 
students and getting an insight into their minds 
and feelings in view of their future solemn work, 
and then gave them an address. There were 
some vSyrians and a few outsiders present. 

I had joined him and we breakfasted with the 
Painters in their pretty mission -house. I was 
charmed with it and the views of the wooded, 
undulating country below, where one or two 
quaint old Syrian churches rose picturesquely 
among the trees. There was also the native 
Christian church, with its handsome tower, which 
put me in mind of a pretty village church at 
home. 

I recall this morning now with peculiarly sad 
and tender recollection. Very soon after our visit 
a mournfully dark shadow fell across the sunshine 
of this happy home. A little child was welcomed 
to it to increase its joy, and then the beautiful 
young wife and mother was suddenly taken away 
to the yet better home in the mansions in the 



28o SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

skies. It was one of those inexpressibly sorrowful 

events which are so mysterious also, that, not 

being able to comprehend, we must just meekly 

bow before and accept as simply our Father* s 

will. 

" Thy way, not mine, O Lord, 
However dark it be ; 
Lead me by thine own hand, 
Choose out the path for me. 

•X- -x- it * * * 

" Take thou my cup, and it 
With joy or sorrow fill, 
As best to thee may seem ; 
Choose thou my good and ill." 

Mr. Painter had brought his young wife — a 
sister of his fellow-missionary Mr. Neve — from 
England a few months before. There was some- 
thing peculiarly attractive about her, and she 
seemed to us most admirably fitted both by na- 
ture and grace for the position she was chosen to 
fill. How vividly I can recall her appearance 
that morning as she showed me her house and 
school and spoke so brightly of all the work she 
longed and hoped to do, and also of the sweet hope 
which had come into her own life! No thought 
of early death or a home desolated or work un- 
done or a vacant place could ever have come into 
one's mind in connection with one so full of life 
and joy and hope as she was. Alas, how true it 



cottayam: the Syrian christians. 281 

proved in her case that at the brightest ' ' our life 

is but a breath!" She only tasted the sweet joys 

of motherhood, and then, 

" Not in darkness, but in sunshine, 
Like a star she passed away." 

Sunday, as usual, was full of interest and full 
of work. We started early to attend some of the 
services in the Syrian churches, to which we had 
been looking forward with great expectation. In- 
deed, it had been a dream of mine to visit these 
Christians of St. Thomas, as they call themselves, 
ever since Mar Athanasius, the late Patriarch, 
used to sit in our drawing-room in Bombay, many 
years ago, and tell us about his people. I well 
remember him, a man of rather low stature, with 
a clever, keen face, over which sat a round, low, 
black, turban-sort of hat, his whole person being 
enveloped in a long, loose, black gown. He was 
an able, well-educated man who talked intelli- 
gently and well. I believe he was also earnest 
and desirous of leading his church in the direction 
of evangelical truth. He was consecrated Patri- 
arch at Antioch. 

Under him the church flourished. The peo- 
ple became better educated, and progress and en- 
lightenment would have been secured but for the 
strong conservative party who opposed him. I 
need not follow all the disputes which arose. 



282 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Notwithstanding them all, however, the spirit of 
reform grew until his death, which took place 
four years ago. Since then the rival party — that 
opposed to reform — has become much stronger, 
and now party-spirit and division are more rife 
than ever. 

While the Portuguese were in power in this 
part of India the ecclesiastics of the Romish 
Chuich tried hard to detach the Syrians from 
their own Eastern Church and bring them into 
subjection to Rome. They did not scruple to 
bring all the terrors of the Inquisition, then es- 
tablished at Goa, to aid them in their purpose ; 
and, of course, they were so far successful. But 
as soon as the Dutch took possession of Malabar 
they ordered the Jesuits and priests out of the 
country. Then the English came, and they soon 
gave full liberty to the Syrian Christians, who all 
through had continued loyally and devotedly at- 
tached to their own church, and they hailed their 
emancipation from the tyranny of Rome with 
great joy. 

After the Church Missionary Society had com- 
menced its work on this coast its policy was to 
foster internal reform in the Syrian Church. It 
did not seek to draw converts from it, but to re- 
form the whole body. However, the result was 
not satisfactory ; and now the missionaries have 



COTTAYAM: the SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 283 

altered their plan, and they receive into the An- 
glican Church any who may wish to enter it. So 
we may say there are now three parties: the re- 
formers, the non-reformers, and the converts who 
have come out of both parties and have joined 
the mission of the Church of England. I ought 
to have said that the Syrians in Travancore and 
Cochin who have not submitted to Rome number 
fully 300,000.* The whole country is dotted 
over with schools and visited by evangelists and 
preachers; and may we not hope, if God's people 
pray for it with sufficient earnestness, that ere- 
long this ancient church may be really reformed 
by a revival time of blessing from the presence of 
the Lord ? 

The Sunday services we found to be deeply 
interesting. We first went to the church where 
the reform party conduct their worship, one of 
the oldest in the country. It certainly has a look 
of antiquity ; a quaint, rather poor, touching old 
tabernacle, in which it required no great stretch 
of imagination to picture the apostle Thomas him- 
self preaching to the assembled Eastern-looking 
groups. Outside the grave, gray old building 
looks picturesque with its surrounding of wood. 

* The Travancore almanac gives the number of the Syri- 
ans who have jomed Rome as 136,230; about half as many 
are Jacobite Syrians. 



284 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

A stone cross of rather novel construction stands 
not far from it, with a second cross-bar at the top 
and about twenty feet in height. Buttresses sup- 
port the old walls, the windows are pointed and 
high-set, and the roof slopes considerably. Alto- 
gether it is not unlike one of those very old 
churches you sometimes come on in a pictu- 
resque, out-of-the-way village in England. In- 
side the building is long, narrow, perfectly simple, 
and lofty. The walls are sombre with decayed 
whitewash, and the ceiling open and arched, 
showing the cross-beams. At the upper end a 
rail crosses the entire floor, within which, four 
steps up, is the altar, gaudy with yellow and 
green, a few unlit candles upon it, and a curtain, 
which is drawn across as the service requires. A 
large baptismal font stands at one end, the floor 
is carpeted, and a reading-desk, covered with red, 
faces you at the top of the steps. Over the altar 
is hung a large crucifix, and above is a domed 
ceiling painted with rude frescos. A good many 
pictures ornament the lower part of the dome, all 
of course representing sacred scenes, and some 
beautiful old bronze lamps are suspended from 
the beams. 

We were received very kindly by some of the 
deacons and conducted up a rickety stairway to 
an old gallery made of wood, now very much 



COTTAYAM: the SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 285 

worm-eaten, where I had the narrowest escape 
from tumbling through a great hole in the floor 
to the slabs below. Within the rail at the altar 
several clergy were seated, and the congregation, 
composed of a good many men, a few women, and 
a crowd of children, sat on the stone floor below, 
there being no seats of any sort, not even matting. 
Before the service began a woman wrapped in a 
white cloth prostrated herself before the priest, to 
make confession, they said, in connection with 
her partaking of the holy communion for the first 
time. 

I was very glad to have this opportunity of 
seeing the Syrian women, and was exceedingly 
struck with their superiority in countenance and 
appearance and dress to the heathen women I 
have seen in this place. They look intelligent 
and even sweet in expression and are wonderfully 
fair in complexion. The mission-schools so long 
conducted by the ladies here have had a most 
beneficial influence on these women, many of 
whom, indeed, have been educated in these ex- 
cellent schools. The service was now begun by 
one of the priests, a venerable man in a white 
robe and red scarf, with a very long beard, who 
read a prayer in Malayalim, with his back to the 
congregation. This was succeeded by some chant- 
ing, in which two priests and eight deacons, all 



286 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

seated within the rail, took part. Lessons then 
were read from both the Old and New Testa- 
ments, with lyrics between, which were snng by 
some boys, the people hardly joining. There 
were responses, however, tolerably hearty. The 
people stood at prayer, and at the close repeated 
**Amen." Bnt the service as a whole was not 
impressive. The men generally were not rever- 
ent ; the women, who sat separate at one side, 
were much more so : their heads were covered 
with white cloths, and they prostrated themselves 
occasionally, clasping their hands with much 
seeming devoutness. The services continued 
long, but there was no sermon while we stayed. 

After a time we left and went to another ser- 
vice held not far off by the original or non-reform- 
ing party. We found this going on in a veranda- 
like room, narrow, unventilated, and densely 
packed with half-clothed people, mostly men. 
We managed to get in ; but the crush, the noise, 
and the terrific heat of the place soon drove us 
out. I hope I shall never feel anything like that 
awful heat again, mingled as it was with the 
steam and the breaths and the incense which the 
gorgeous priest was engaged in swinging all the 
time we were able to remain. After this it was 
easy to imagine the Black Hole of Calcutta. I 
could only gasp and beg to be taken to the outer 



COTTAYAM: the SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 287 

air before I succumbed altogether. So we did 
not see mucli of this service, which, I believe, is 
full of ritual. We returned to the first place and 
found worship still proceeding. The curtain was 
now drawn across the altar and the congregation 
much increased. Presently the curtain was with- 
drawn and the priest reappeared in a splendid 
robe of scarlet with 3^ellow hood, swinging a cen- 
ser of incense, when there rose a great shout of 
prayer, I might call it, the people joining in and 
making the sign of the cross repeatedly on fore- 
head and shoulder and breast. The candles were 
now lit, the fervor of the congregation was deeper, 
and the responses loud and hearty. Some lyrics 
were nicely sung in Malayalim and one or two in 
Syriac, and then all was concluded by repeating 
the Lord's Prayer. The communion was to be 
celebrated afterwards, when the people would sit 
in rows, having the bread and wine given to each, 
much in the same form as in the Church of Eng- 
land. But we could not wait for this, having to 
go to the mission church and there join our breth- 
ren and sisters in the holy ordinance. 

We found the service had already begun when 
we entered the cool, handsome, well-filled modern 
church. My first thought was, What would many 
a loving missionary heart at home feel, seeing 
what we had seen in this place ? And now here 



288 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

was another wonderful and impressive spectacle: 
a large, orderly, intelligent congregation of young 
and old, as respectaj3le as any you could see at 
home, with one from among themselves reverently 
conducting their devotions. These would all of 
them, pastor and people, still be as the heathen 
outside, or at best like these poor ignorant Chris- 
tians who have so much to learn, but for the glo- 
rious work of this mission. We have lately seen 
many such native Christian congregations and 
been inexpressibly interested ; but our hearts 
seemed more than usually touched to-day, I sup- 
pose after all we had just witnessed. The large 
group of women and schoolgirls especially struck 
me, neat and tidy in tlieir pretty, simple, white 
costume — such a contrast to the half-clothed, un- 
kempt, wild-looking women of the heathen castes 
without. There were some Syrian women also 
present who looked capable of any amount of 
training and work. 

It need not be told how earnestly we pray and 
hope that the existence of this youthful, but flour- 
ishing and living native Christian church, which 
through God's goodness has been planted here, 
may have the effect of stirring up the elder sister 
church to new life and vigor; and may the Spirit 
of the living God be richly poured out on both, 
until old things have passed away and all things 



COTTAYAM: the SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 289 

have become new, not only among the Christians, 
but among the heathen also ! 

After my husband had p;:eached, his sermon 
being interpreted by the pastor, we had the inex- 
pressibly solemn joy of receiving the holy com- 
munion in company with the native Christians 
and our missionary friends from the hands of the 
native ministers. In the evening Dr. Mitchell 
again preached, this time in the college chapel, 
to an English audience; and then the memorable 
Sabbath and our happy visit together came to aa 
end. 



SccBCB in Southern India, 



19 



290 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE HILIv ARRIANS OF TRAVANCORE. 

In all the hill districts of India there are to be 
found wilder races of people, who differ in many- 
respects from the population of the plains. These 
are mostly aboriginal tribes. The hill country of 
Travancore is no exception to the rule. In this 
region, in the more mountainous parts, several of 
these interesting races are to be found, the most 
notable being the Hill Arrians, who inhabit the 
higher slopes of the Western Ghats. 

Some of the same curious remains which have 
excited so much interest in other parts of India 
are to be found hereabout — such as cromlechs, 
strange circles, burial mounds, etc. The people 
are not idolaters; they worship demons and the 
spirits of their ancestors; and the rites they prac- 
tise in their worship and in the ceremonies con- 
nected with births, funerals, and marriages are 
very similar to those of other wild races, such as 
the Karens of Burmah, the Gonds, the Santals, 
and others. 

I must say these wild people show most excel- 
lent taste in the selection of sites for their villages 



THE HILI. ARRIANS OF TRAVANCORE. 29I 

and settlements; they always choose the loveliest 
spots. But I had better quote what the late Rev. 
Henry Baker says of them in a very interesting 
paper he wrote on the subject of the wilder peo- 
ple here and the progress of mission work among 
them, which he prosecuted with much vigor until 
his lamented death. He says: 

''There are several tribes inhabiting the West- 
ern Ghats in the Cochin and Travancore coun- 
tries, of whom the majority are divided into small 
wandering bodies, living for a few months in a par- 
ticular spot, and then deserting it for another as 
soon as their scanty crop of grain is reaped. The 
Arrians, however, have their fixed villages, and 
reside generally on the western slopes of the higher 
range of mountains. They number from 14,000 
to 18,000 souls, and by the Government officials 
are called Mulla Vellens, and are considered to 
rank in caste above all the mechanics and equal 
to Mohammedans and Jews. Their villages are 
often lovely spots, generally in a ravine not acces- 
sible to elephants, near to some gushing rivulet 
falling over rocks, and surrounded by gigantic 
trees and palms, rarely at a less elevation than 
2,000 or 3,000 feet above the sea. Many of their 
houses are good substantial erections of wood and 
stone, built by workmen from the plains and after 
the fashion common to the western coast; but in 



292 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

many cases they prefer temporary huts of mud, 
bamboo, and grass thatch, as the survivors often 
dislike living in a dwelling in which the head of 
the family has died. The whole of the hill coun- 
try is owned by Brahmans or Zemindars, who re- 
ceive trifling rents from the Arrians for their fruit- 
trees and cultivated land; and besides this, each 
head man has to furnish a certain quantity of 
honey for the rajah's birthday, dig a few elephant 
pits, and help with bark ropes to conduct the ani- 
mals when entrapped into the taming cages. 
These people extend from Cape Comorin to the 
borders of Travancore in the north. . , . The 
Arrians are, many of them, rich, being large cul- 
tivators of the slopes, which they clear of jungle 
in the dry season, sowing during the rains. Every 
man, however, has to watch with guns during 
seed-time and harvest, to protect the crops from 
elephants, deer, and other animals, as well as 
from swarms of birds. ' ' 

In character the Arrians seem to be truthful 
and generally moral, except that, like too many 
of their brethren of the hills, they are very fond 
of arrack. Thus drunken brawls are not un- 
frequent. They are manly, frank, genial, and 
free in manner, and are well made and athletic, 
the women often being fair and even beautiful. 
Like many of these more manly races they are 



the: HII.I. ARRIANS OF TRAVANCORE. 293 

jfond of the chase, and make fearless hunters, aim- 
ing generally at high game, such as the tiger, 
wild elephant, and wild ox. 

There is one remarkable dijBference between 
them and the Malayalim inhabitants of the plain : 
the children in a natural way inherit their father's 
property. It does not go away, as in the case of 
Hindoo succession, to the children of their father's 
sister. The wife is not required to stand behind, 
like the Hindoo, while her lord and master eats 
what she has prepared for him, and then make 
her meal of what he chooses to leave when his 
appetite is appeased: the Arrian wife partakes 
along with her husband, eating off the same dish, 
namely, a shiny plantain leaf, as a loving couple 
ought to do. Indeed, this is a sign of their relation- 
ship, and eating together is part of the wedding 
ceremonial. The marriage tie among them is 
indissoluble and considered sacred, and the hus- 
band has only one wife. The Arrians bury their 
dead — not burn them — and at their funerals have 
some curious ceremonies, which are repeated, and 
offerings made, on the anniversary of the death. 
All their religious rites are connected with the wor- 
ship of the spirits of their dead. Missions were 
begun among this interesting people a good many 
years ago. The excellent missionary from whose 
paper I have quoted, the Rev. H. Baker, was 



294 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

honored to commence the work, and his account 
of the remarkable way in which he was led in 
God's providence to take it up, as well as the 
success given to his efforts, is so striking that I 
think I cannot do better than give it in his words 
rather than my own. Mr. Baker was then a mis- 
sionary at Cottayam. He says: 

' ' I had often heard of a people living in the 
hills who were acknowledged to be very truth- 
ful and chaste, and were said to be the Mulla 
Nairs and as ancient as the hills themselves. 
I had put all this down to the usual style of In- 
dian conversation; but during a missionary tour 
I met three or four fine-looking men, different 
from the races in the plains both in the contour 
of their faces and method of wearing their clothes. 
We had some very interesting conversation and 
they stayed the night at the tent. They left ear- 
ly, and I did not expect again to see them, as we 
were so far from their hills, but some months 
after my little daughter ran into my study at 
Pullum to say that some very curious-looking 
men were come to see me. This was in 1848. 
There were five men from as many different hills 
begging me to go and open schools among them. 
They had a Romo-Syrian with them named Kup- 
peer Curien as guide, a man who then, though 
well acquainted with the truth, did not know its 



THE HILL ARRIANS OF TRAVANCORK. 295 

power. This was my introduction to the Arrians. 
Again and again did they come on this errand; 
but I hesitated to go so far, as I had several new 
but increasing congregations, some hundred chil- 
dren in the day-schools, and a Preparandi class of 
young men of whom I hoped to make teachers. 
There was no road through the forty-five miles of 
jungle, fever was prevalent, and coolies difficult 
to procure. The friends I consulted said, * Possi- 
bly you may begin the work and may compass 
something, but you will have no successor. ' Many 
thought with me that the hill men were seeking 
for a protector, and not for Christianity; others, 
that no centre of operations could be made in 
the hills, the population being scattered, and 
that, even if the work of conversion did begin, 
the results produced by working in the plains 
would be more important and extensive if a 
movement took place. But the heads of several 
villages at last came down and remonstrated on 
account of my delay. *Five times,' said they, 
* have we been to call you. You must know we 
know nothing right; will you teach us or not? 
We die like beasts and are buried like dogs; 
ought you to neglect us?' * Cholera and fever,' 
said another, * carried ofif such and such members 
of my family; where are they now?' They 
stated that they wanted no pecuniary help, as 



296 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

they had plenty of rice. They wished to serve 
God and not to be oppressed by any one. They 
offered to make over their lands as a proof of 
sincerity, and waited about, determined to have 
me in their hills; so I promised to meet them the 
next week on the banks of a river about thirty 
miles distant, whence they proposed to guide me 
to a principal village and have an assemblage of 
their people. I sent some men a day or two be- 
fore I started, in order to have a hut erected on 
the banks of the river, as it would be necessa- 
ry to halt there for the night. On arriving there 
with my brother, trusting to our messengers, we 
found neither Arrians, hut, nor people of any 
kind, but a dense jungle overhanging the stream, 
with only a narrow track leading down to the 
water by which we had come. Walking in the 
close jungles, with a hot sun overhead, had com- 
pletely knocked us up. With aching heads and 
perhaps disappointed, angry feelings, we lay down 
to spend the night on boughs strewed on the 
ground, with a blanket overhead to keep off the 
heavy dews; but before dark some Tamil mer- 
chants who had crossed the mountains came to 
the river, and seeing us, crossed over on a raft 
and lent us a little blanket tent six feet square. 
We were thankful for this; for heavy rain soon 
came on. The next morning, having returned 



THE HILL ARRIANS OF TRAVANCORK. 297 

the tent to the owners, who would take no com- 
pensation, we crossed the stream, now much 
swollen from the rain, and proceeding along an 
elephant track for an hour, found some Arrians 
waiting for us : they had not gone farther, as they 
still doubted whether we would come. On enter- 
ing the village of Combukuthie, so called from 
the hilltop beneath which it is built having the 
appearance of a fallen elephant, I observed some 
piles of wood at the angles of a small level piece 
of ground. I inquired what they were for. ^ Oh, ' 
said they, ^ this is where we meet for games, set- 
tling marriages, disputes, etc. We are to have a 
meeting directly it is known you are come, and 
the piles of wood are to give the assembly light* 
Soon I heard men shouting from one place to an- 
other, far away up along the hillsides, ' He is ar- 
rived. Come all !' Messages are thus conveyed 
from one mountain settlement to another with 
great rapidity. By nightfall some two hundred 
men and lads, the representatives of eight hun- 
dred or nine hundred, had assembled, the piles of 
wood were lighted, and with the moon also to 
aid we held our conference. I told them I had at 
last come at their request, and it was to tell them 
a message I was intrusted with; that some cen- 
turies back the people of England had the same 
rites and hero-worship as they had; that the 



293 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Druids taught the Britons just such ideas as their 
Pusaries did; but that at last a Book was brought 
them which told of God — what he was, how pow- 
erful, yet the Father of his trusting children, and 
that he had sent this Book. . . Further, that the 
God-fearing people of England had sent me with 
this Book to teach the same glad tidings. They 
wished to see the Book; I showed them the Ma- 
layalim Testament and read John 3, Romans i, 
and other passages; I said it was faith and love to 
God which made men happy here and in heaven. 
Numberless simple but very practical questions 
were asked by them, not in a cavilling spirit, like 
the Brahmans and Vedantists of the plains, on 
the atonement, fall of man, sin, misery, future 
punishment, etc. They occasionally talked among 
themselves, some making objections, others pro- 
posing a trial of the regulations I proposed, and a 
few thought the rules for the Sabbath and daily 
learning too severe. . . Long after midnight the 
head man of the village said, *We have talked 
enough ; where are the teachers we are to have ?' 
I said, * I will send them; but we must ask God's 
blessing first; he must help or our counsels will 
come to grief ' All knelt by the blazing piles, 
and after a few words of prayer for help we dis- 
persed. The strangers slept by the fires wrapped 
up in their blankets, while I retired to the hut 



THE HILL ARRIANS OF TRAVANCORK. 299 

usually prepared in the village for guests. I re- 
turned after a day or two to Pullum, my station 
in the low country, after promising to send them 
three teachers and to spend a fortnight of each 
alternate month with them. ' ' 

Thus mission work began among these inter- 
esting, simple people. Difficulties naturally arose. 
Enemies were busy and the arch-enemy busiest 
of all ; but God was working and his hand could 
not be stayed. When Mr. Baker returned to his 
station in the low country he summoned a meet- 
ing of his catechists and Scripture-readers. He 
told them of the opening for Christian work 
among the hill people and asked for volunteers 
for the service. He reminded them that men 
from Europe had come ten thousand miles to 
teach them ; would they not go some forty to 
teach the people of their own land ? The result 
was that thirty -seven out of the forty present 
offered to go, and finally it was settled that three 
should go together, exchanging every month or 
two. 

This arrangement continued in force, with 
more or less satisfactory results, for about two 
years. Trials and difficulties, however, were 
manifold and much discouragement had to be 
fought against. Some of the men were faithful 
and hard working, but others were less so, and 



300 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

evils crept in unawares. False brethren there 
were who tried to fill the minds of the people 
with prejudice against the missionaries, telling 
them also that they would lose their high stand- 
ing in their tribe by becoming Christians. Then 
dismal accounts were carried to the plains regard- 
ing the hill country, where fever was rife and 
tigers and elephants and other wild beasts filled 
the jungles. Several times Mr. Baker and his 
party had to climb into trees to avoid the attacks 
of wild elephants. Accidents were of frequent 
occurrence, both from the wild creatures which 
abounded and from the sudden rush of mountain 
torrents, swollen after every rain. Once a Euro- 
pean gentleman fell into one of the pits, eighteen 
feet deep, dug for the capture of wild elephants, 
and though not killed he was much hurt. Fever 
and cholera carried off their victims, for these 
dread diseases always lingered about the jungles. 
Thus they were in ** deaths oft." *' Why go on 
attempting this work?" exclaimed some who 
were fearful and unbelieving; and a Syrian priest 
assured Mr. Baker's coadjutors that the bishop 
had ordered this work as a penance. 

But the power of. Christ rested on the faithful 
missionary and his little band. The good work 
could not be hindered. They all held bravely 
on, and so did the people themselves. They had 



THE HII.Iv ARRIANS OF TRAVANCORE. 30I 

been truthful and earnest in their request for 
Christian teaching, and soon they showed their 
sincerity by giving up many superstitious prac- 
tices, such as burning lamps beside the graves of 
their ancestors, propitiating demons, and so on. 
They even became less addicted to arrack. The 
children were sent to the schools which had been 
opened, and some of the more intelligent young 
men were sent down to the plains to be trained as 
teachers and evangelists. There was much frank 
intercourse between them and the missionaries, 
and when they did not comprehend any part of 
the instruction they said so and got it explained. 

In a little over two years upwards of three 
hundred Arrians had been instructed, a hundred 
and twenty of whom asked for baptism and, after 
sufficient trial, were received into the church. A 
mission church and bungalow were built and a 
small Christian settlement planted, strange to 
say, on the very spot on the river bank where 
Mr. Baker had first met the Tamil merchants. 
The forest was cleared, huts were built — some in 
trees, to avoid the risk of tigers and elephants — 
and schools were opened and filled with pupils, 
male and female. A Christian officer from Ma- 
dras came to give help, chiefly in the way of 
shooting the wild animals. An unknown lady 
in England gave twenty pounds to aid the funds, 



302 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and Sir Henry Lawrence, hearing of the work, 
sent a hundred and fifty rupees from lyucknow, 
with the message, *'By all means go on; never 
mind obstacles nor whence they come. ' ' And so 
the Master, whose the work was, blessed and 
prospered it. It has been carried on vigorously 
ever since, and last year the converts among the 
Hill Arrians amounted to 3,000 souls. 



cochin: the white and black jews. 303 



CHAPTER XXI. 

cochin: the white and black jews. 

We left Cottayam at midnight and are now 
scudding along, in the light of the glorious full 
moon, through the shadows which lie soft and 
silent on the still waters of the lagoon. The 
moon shines so bright and clear, riding up yonder 
in her sweet, pure majesty, that I am writing by 
her light. I have been trying to read too, sitting 
on our old perch on the roof of our tidy little 
boat. 

Good-by, beautiful Cottayam ! I suppose we 
shall never see it again, with all its engrossing 
pleasures and interests, physical and spiritual and 
moral; but we do hope to meet our kind friends 
again by-and-by, when we reach the Hills. 

The tall cocoa palms look spectral and weird 
along the banks, like sentinels calling each to the 
other, "Watchman, what of the night?'' The 
phosphorescent light is exquisite. It breaks into 
little wavelets of fire as the oars strike the water, 
and it seems to vie with the moonbeams as to 
which will make the most brilliance. The men 
are so noisy, so obstreperous in their mirth, that 



304 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

I am afraid there is little use in our attempting to 
go to sleep ; and yet, after the day's work and 
tension and strain, sleep is desirable and the 
nieht air comes sweet and cool from the water 
through the open windows of our nice little cabin. 

CocmN. 

The night did not seem long, after all, and 
welcome sleep at length did visit our aching eyes. 
Soon after dawn we got to the jetty at Cochin 
and found a fine old Mussulman peon, with Mr. 
Seely's badge on his scarlet belt, waiting to con- 
duct us here. And lo ! he speaks Hindostani ! 
I poured out a stream volubly as of pent-up 
waters ; we had felt so tongue - tied with these 
Malayalim people. But the man either liked to 
air his English or his Hindostani was not an 
unlimited quantity, for he soon relapsed into the 
gibberish his English amounted to. 

Mr. Seely is the director of public instruction 
and principal of the Government College, and he 
and his wife are the embodiment of all hospitality 
in Cochin and their house the centre of social 
amenities generally. We found a novel sort of 
conveyance awaiting us, something like a Japan- 
ese jinriksha, but seated for two and pushed in- 
stead of pulled, while the rider steers as you go 
along. There are no horse-garis in Cochin, and 
this machine, I believe, was an importation from 



cochin: the white and black jews. 305 

Pondicherry. We soon reached the house and 
were cordially welcomed by Mrs. Seely, her hus- 
band having already started for his college. This 
is a most picturesque old house. We have leaped 
from the Indian bungalow-kind of abode to a 
Continental dwelling. I immediately peopled it 
with Albuquerques and Almeidas and Vasco de 
Gamas, and I believe it is older than the Dutch 
occupation of Cochin. It is upper-storied, with 
large rooms and small side ones going off at every 
corner and quaint little narrow stone courts and 
balconies, filled by the tasteful hand of its mis- 
tress with lovely flowers and crotons and ever- 
greens and clambered over with creepers. The 
drawing-rooms are filled with curious and inter- 
esting things, and the whole house is a kind of 
museum, not the least curious and engrossing 
being the memories which you feel are piled up 
everywhere. The house opposite looks like a 
little fort, with flying buttresses and ever so many 
queer little Dutch roofs and a dead blue wall all 
round. The only drawback is the heat, which is 
worse than ever. The climate here is always 
moist and warm, somewhat like that of Bombay, 
but more trying, and it differs little all the year 
round. 

Cochin is a semi-independent State, like Trav- 
ancore. It has gone through many vicissitudes 
20 



3o6 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

in its stormy history and has had many masters, 
the Portuguese, Dutch, Hyder Ali, Tippoo-Sul- 
tan, and the British — all having conquered it in 
turn. The present rajah is of higher caste, I be- 
lieve, than the Travancore royal family, but he 
is by no means so enlightened as his brother of 
Travancore. He is a thorough native in every 
sense and knows not a word of English. We 
have seen his palace, but not himself. The El- 
liah-Rajah, or heir-apparent, however, seems a 
more enlightened character. Cochin is a large 
place, with some good buildings, chiefly Dutch, 
that people having done much for it. It is full 
of quaintness, very un-English, and also very un- 
Indian, except for that one thing, the heat. It is 
notable as having been one of the first places in 
the country ever visited by Europeans. Indeed, 
there are many things in its past which make it 
an extremely interesting place to visit. Tradi- 
tion says that the apostle Thomas arrived here 
about A. D. 50 and began his labors from this 
place. Then there are the Jews, of whom I shall 
speak presently, round whose history so great an 
interest always gathers. This remarkable colony 
settled here, it is generally said, in the first cen- 
tury, but some of the people themselves claim a 
much earlier date. 

The English built their first factory here in 



cochin: the white and black jews. 307 

1660, though the State was not finally ceded to 
them till 1814. I think this was the date. The 
place now seems prosperous and to possess a lively 
trade, chiefly in the products of the wonderful 
cocoa palm, which forms the riches of this coast. 
There are other articles of export, such as rice, 
betel-leaf, and the nut of the areca palm, spices, 
also coflfee and timber; but most of the trade and 
industry are connected with the cocoanut, for 
there seems to be no end to the economic uses to 
which it can be put. There is a large trade in 
cocoanut oil, and the coir matting one hears about 
so much is made from the fibre. Indeed the fibre 
of the nut is most valuable, and the preparation 
of it to send to England and to the places where 
it is manufactured into matting and other articles 
forms one of the most important industries of the 
coast. There is a very fine, large harbor, in 
which we saw several European vessels lying and 
an immense crowd of curious native craft of every 
si^e and sort. Then there is water communica- 
tion by means of the Backwater almost to any 
extent, though as yet there is no railway. 

Soon after our arrival the Rev. Mr. Wright 
called and took my husband to see some schools 
and mission work. Mrs. Seely authoritatively 
sent me to bed instead of accompanying the gen- 
tlemen ; but this was made up for afterwards by a 



3o8 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. ' 

visit to the grand old Catliedral, the oldest Chris- 
tian church in India. It was built by the Portu- 
guese, then turned into a Protestant place of wor- 
ship by the Dutch, and it is now used by the Brit- 
ish, having been renovated and modernized. But 
the original old walls remain, strong, massive, 
and buttressed, and there are still several old 
tombstones on the flags inside. On one of these 
the words *'de Gama'^ are quite legible, but 
whether this is the veritable tomb of the great 
Vasco de Gama I cannot tell. He is said to have 
been buried here, though the remains were after- 
wards removed to Goa. It is wonderful that the 
inscriptions are not more defaced than they are. 
My husband made out several. There are a good 
many Roman -catholic churches in and about 
Cochin. The East Indians are mostly of this 
faith, probably because the Indo-Portuguese ele- 
ment is strong in the population, and also because 
Francis Xavier visited this part and made many 
converts. Mrs. Seely told me that the first book 
ever printed in India was published in Cochin by 
the Roman-catholics. 

We also visited the fort, which we were curi- 
ous to see, it being the very first fortress erected 
by Europeans in this country. This was, of 
course, by the Portuguese. It was commenced 
by the renowned Albuquerque, and completed by 



cochin: thk white; and black jews. 309 

others of those able commanders who sought to 
bring India under the sway of Portugal. The 
numerous and magnificent ruins of forts, churches, 
and monasteries which are to be found on the 
western coast, at Bassein and other places, testify 
to the valor and enterprise of these old warriors. 
But the Cochin fortress as it is now is of differ- 
ent dates. Not much of the original structure 
remains, as it has been renovated or rebuilt by 
the victorious powers who succeeded the Portu- 
guese. 

The interest of our visit, however, culminated 
one evening when we went among the Jews and 
visited both the colonies of this interesting peo- 
ple. After lunch, when it became cool enough, 
we started in the funny little jinrikshas, descrip- 
tively called ** push-push.*' Mr. Wright took me 
in his, while Mrs. Seely accommodated my hus- 
band. We went through the long streets of the 
native town, which I cannot say were either clean 
or pleasantly odorous, but they were full of the 
usual picturesqueness of Eastern bazars. The 
shops were quaint and curious and the population 
varied. A good many Mussulmans were to be 
seen chiefly in the shops squatted among their 
wares, many of which we recognized as old friends, 
having evidently come from Bombay. By-and-by 
the character of the population began to change. 



3IO SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

The features, costumes, complexion, everything 
announced that we had got to the quarter inhab- 
ited by the Jews. We alighted before the syna- 
gogue and were received in a most friendly way 
by several men who gathered round, while a small 
crowd collected to gaze at the strangers. 

This Jewish settlement, consisting of white 
Jews and black Jews, has existed, as I have said, 
for long ages in Cochin, and has always kept aloof 
from the heathen around. The black Jews some- 
what resemble the Beni-Israel of Bombay. The 
two colonies live in quite separate quarters, though 
these are near each other. They have different 
synagogues and do not worship together, but they 
do occasionally intermarry. If a white Jew mar- 
ries a black Jewess the children are reckoned as 
belonging to the black community. It has some- 
times been imagined that the climate has wrought 
the change of complexion; but the truth is that 
the black Jews have by no means unmixed Jew- 
ish blood. They are descended chiefly from native 
proselytes. Still, the Jewish features are suffi- 
ciently marked to prove that they are of God's 
ancient people. The little Josephs and Rachels 
and Reubens who came crowding round, gazing 
at us with their glorious black eyes very wide 
open, could certainly trace their lineage up to 
their father Abraham. And some of the so-called 



cochin: thk whitk and black JEWS. 311 

black Jews had wonderfully fair countenances and 
fair complexions. The black colony are much 
more numerous than the white. They told us 
that the latter only numbered fifty families, while 
there are two hundred and fifty of the former. 
There do not seem to be many wealthy men among 
either people. For once the Jew is poor. But 
they do a fair amount of trade, and they may be 
richer than they seem. Some of the women I 
saw were much ornamented with jewelry; they 
had some fine precious stones glittering on their 
breasts and foreheads. 

We spent some time in the synagogue, a build- 
ing quite disappointingly modern — not at all old — 
with tiled floor and a good deal of color, blue pre- 
dominating. Crowds of men entered and were 
very friendly, talking frankly with the gentlemen 
about themselves and their history. They afiirmed 
that their ancestors had settled in Cochin after 
the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadne2:- 
zar. Of this, however, I do not know that there 
is any proof. Some of them speak Hebrew fairly 
well, and my husband talked with them in this 
old tongue. He was very anxious to see any an- 
cient manuscripts they might have, but they 
declared they had none. If they had they did 
not care, for some reason, to show them. They 
said those they possessed were buried, and actu- 



312 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ally showed the place where the manuscripts were 
entombed ! They brought out some rolls of the 
Ivaw in Hebrew, which they now read in the 
synagogue; but Dr. Mitchell said they were not 
old. They showed us also some most interesting 
copper-plates, which they permitted us to handle 
and examine freely. Two are engraven on both 
sides with a kind of record of their past history, 
the language being an old form of Malayalim. 
The third plate seemed a cover for the other two. 
There is no resident rabbi, and I am afraid there 
is little education among either of the bodies, the 
black or the white Jews. 

Very little mission work has been undertaken 
in their behalf. The Established Church of Scot- 
land sent out a missionary to labor among them 
in 1844; but the work was soon discontinued and 
has not been resumed. 

While we were in the synagogue a poor old 
Jew, all the way from Jerusalem, came in and 
asked an alms. We find that Jews do still come 
here from other places and settle among their peo- 
ple. Is it not curious that this remnant should 
be found in this far corner of the earth and so 
strangely preserved through the centuries ? When 
the day of the great ingathering comes when many 
nations shall say, ** Come and let us go up to the 
mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God 



cochin: thk white and black jews. 313 

of Jacob,'* let us hope and pray that these poor 
people may not be left out ! I told them I hoped 
they would be of the tribes who would yet go up 
to Jerusalem to the new ** testimony of Israel,'* 
when the law shall again go forth out of Zion and 
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The poor 
old pilgrim who came begging touched me much. 
He made a most pathetic picture, his bent figure 
leaning, like Jacob, on the top of his staff. He 
wore a long Eastern robe, in stripes of bright col- 
ors, but much tattered and torn, a stiff black cap 
sat on the top of his white locks, and his long 
white beard flowed down to his girdle. His pale, 
refined, and wasted features spoke of the utter- 
most dejection. He looked as if he had stepped 
forth from a group of those who sat by the rivers 
of Babylon and wept when they remembered 
Zion — as if he had ** hanged his harp on the wil- 
lows " for evermore. Poor old man ! he seemed 
touched by our sympathy and much pleased when 
my husband spoke to him in Hebrew. 

Some of the men had very courteously invited 
me to go to their houses and see their wives ; so 
when the gentlemen went on with a company to 
carry their investigations into the quarter inhab- 
ited by the black Jews, Mrs. Seely and I entered 
some of the houses and had some interesting visits 
among the women. They seemed quite delighted 



314 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

to see us and crowded eagerly round. The better 
classes are pleasant in manner, have good features, 
rich olive complexions, and some of them are 
nicely dressed, after their own Eastern fashion, in 
gay colors, with plenty of ornaments. One or two 
spoke Hindostanie, so that I could converse with 
them, and these interpreted for the others. Their 
language is Malayalim; the women know no He- 
brew. They took me to a large, good house, 
where a marriage had been celebrated, and pre- 
sented me to the bride, a fair, bright, very young 
girl, much bedizened with gold and apparel, and 
looking modest, as was fitting. A great deal of 
noisy music was going on and evidently much 
feasting. 

Mr. Seely now joined us, and as it was begin- 
ning to get dark and we had a good way to go, 
we were obliged to take leave of the interesting 
people. 

Mr. Wright and I shot ahead of the others, 
and, at the risk of being benighted, he yielded to 
my entreaties to be taken home through the great 
palm forest, which is thickly populated. There 
were quantities of huts and little homesteads, out- 
side which the people sat in groups. At one part 
of the grove we passed through a broad street or 
road where only Namburi Brahmans live. How 
they permitted us, the impure, to pass through I 



cochin: the white And black jews. 315 

do not know; but perhaps they did not detect us 
in the gathering gloom, heightened by the dense 
masses of foliage overhead. There are many of 
these sacred personages, the Namburis, in Cochin ; 
indeed, this seems to be their headquarters, and 
caste is as strong and overbearing as it is in Trav- 
ancore. We passed a small temple brilliantly 
lighted up, but we were not allowed to enter or 
even look into the outer inclosure, far less into the 
temple itself. 

I enjoyed my homeward drive in the cool 
night air exceedingly, and though our friends 
thought we were lost, we were quite in time for 
dinner, at which we met some pleasant people, 
pleasantest of all being our intellectual, cultured 
host and hostess. 

Next morning some of the gentlemen who had 
dined with us escorted my husband to some of the 
factories and ^ * godo wns, ' ' or cellars, where he saw 
the cocoanut fibre process and also the drying and 
cleaning of the coflfee. I have to own that the 
heat has at length fairly conquered me, as now it 
begins to make life a burden. After breakfast, 
while I packed and arranged for starting. Dr. 
Mitchell accompanied Mr. Seely across the bay 
to a place with a most classic-sounding name, 
Brnaculum, where the college is. Here he spent 
a most delightful morning among the lads in airy 



3l6 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

upper class-rooms, talked and examined, and 
finally addressed tlie pupils. He then was rowed 
back, and by five o'clock we bad started once 
more. I forgot to say that we have seen a talipot 
palm in full blossom, which is a rare sight. It 
blossoms and then, alas, dies. 



TRICHOOR. 317 



CHAPTER XXII. 

TRICHOOR. 

MARCH 8. 

Wk are now embarked for the last time on the 
beautiful Backwater. To-morrow morning we 
hope to reach Trichoor, thence a night's travel 
in our old acquaintance, a bullock -ghari, will 
bring us once more to the railway at Shoranoor. 
From this point the country is intersected by the 
iron road on to Madras. 

We have about fifty miles of water to traverse 
before the sun becomes fierce in the heavens to- 
morrow, but we have twelve fresh, hearty, stal- 
wart men, besides their steersman, or skipper, a 
broad-shouldered, intensely black, cheery man, 
who keeps the oarsmen to their work, and they 
do pull with a will. 

The scenery on the banks is much as before, 
only just at Cochin the water widens into a grand 
lake-like expanse, as there the Backwater unites 
with the sea. The harbor is a fine sight, with its 
ships and curious craft, also its environment of 
buildings, some of them handsome, including one 
of the rajah's palaces and his public offices. The 



3l8 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

college and town at Ernaculum also lie over the 
water, with picturesque native villages nestling 
amid the palm groves and by the mangrove 
swamps. It is curious to see the gnarled roots 
arching themselves in the shallows, which are 
crowded with tall-necked cranes sitting in con- 
templation on the stems or stalking about with 
philosophic deliberation, picking up the poor lit- 
tle frogs and fishes and depositing them in their 
pouches as a reserve larder for their supper. 

The country is a great flat, now and then 
transformed into a series of islets green and palm- 
crowned, or long strips of margin with small 
homesteads, and occasionally a little Christian 
church, generally Roman-catholic, or it may be 
Syrian. They look pretty among the trees; and 
what a cheering sight it is to look upon that cross 
pointing heavenward ! You cannot see it here at 
least without feeling that your soul rises with it on 
the wings of hope and faith. And one needs to rise 
above the present, for there are temples and de- 
mon shrines among the trees as well as churches, 
and Namburi Brahmans by the hundred occupy 
these little settlements. 

The Namburis are often rich and considerable 
land-owners, and of course are all-powerful. A 
gentleman told me, but I do not vouch for the 
truth of it, that the land-owners of Malabar often 



TRICHOOR. 319 

are known by the names of their properties, as in 
the North of Scotland. 

The princesses of the Cochin royal family may 
marry only persons of this high caste; and it is a 
curious fact that the Brahman who is chosen to 
be the husband of a princess either by herself or 
her family must have his funeral ceremony per- 
formed before his marriage ceremony is proceeded 
with! The meaning of it is that henceforward he 
is counted as dead to his caste. The Namburis are 
so much higher and more sacred than any other 
people on earth that this is the law and custom, 
and he submits. The honor of alliance with roy- 
alty thus involves in Cochin descent in rank and 
social degradation. 

Christians are numerous in the Cochin State. 
Counting Roman-catholics and those of all church- 
es, they are said to be somewhere over twenty per 
cent, of the whole population. 

It is by no means a peaceful afternoon. Black 
clouds gather in heavy masses overhead, sheet 
lightning plays incessantly all over the heavens, 
the wind soughs and wails in the palm-tops; the 
water is rough as we meet some white-crested 
waves coming over the barrier from the troubled 
sea without. I dare say a storm is coming up 
which will cool the air. Meanwhile it is bleak 
and almost chill as the darkness falls. 



320 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

We have now had dinner and the moon be- 
gins to show her silvery, lightsome self above the 
dense woods, scattering the inky clouds, and all 
things look more cheery. Our energetic crew 
took us to the bank with a few strokes of their 
oars; they landed, moored the boat, produced 
their well-burnished brass vessels, soon made a 
bla^e with some of the dry sticks about and 
cooked their evening meal, for which they had 
worked bravely and well. Happily all were of 
one caste, so they fed together, and we were so 
amused watching their proceedings as they sat 
round their fire that we let poor Joseph's delicious 
Curry get cold, to his great discomfiture. 

The evening is now serene and sweet, and the 
scene is beautiful on the banks, where everything 
that loves moisture and warmth seems to flourish 
wantonly. We lay long on the boat-roof watch- 
ing the silent, peaceful scene, and then I retired 
** behind \}cl<^ purdah^ ^ to the tiny cabin. Unfor- 
tunately the little lantern had been forgotten at 
Cochin, and the moon was not enough to scare 
nocturnal visitors. I soon saw by her light that 
I shared the cabin with at least one rat, a numer- 
ous family of cockroaches, and plenty of mosqui- 
toes. I did not sleep much, therefore, and was 
beginning to think of a cup of tea from the spirit 
lamp as the dawn grew pink in the sky, when we 



TRICHOOR. 321 

Stopped. Why ? I inquired. For the simple rea- 
son that we had arrived. Our good men had done 
the fifty miles in thirteen hours. On the landing 
we perceived a bullock-bandy waiting, and soon 
after found ourselves in another pleasant mission- 
house heartily welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Bishop, 
of the Church Missionary Society in Trichoor. 

This is a large place, very old, and of historic 
interest. Moreover, it is important as the head of 
the Backwater, and thus the key of communica- 
tion between the outer world and Cochin and 
Travancore. I am afraid it has also another sort 
of preeminence in being one of the most bigoted 
and evil of cities. All these cities seem to be big- 
oted enough, but in Trichoor you find the crhne de 
la crhne of Brahmanism. So we are told on every 
hand. 

Caste is intensely and exceptionally strong, 
and, as elsewhere, stands in the way of all prog- 
ress. The degradation of the lower castes, conse- 
quent on the absurd and oppressive laws of caste, 
is terrible here and hardly to be believed. For 
example, no native Christian, however educated 
and intelligent, nor any person of low caste, can 
obtain employment in a public office, for fear of 
polluting those officials who may be of higher 
caste ! Then the school difficulties are endless. 
The children of some of the inferior castes dare 

Scenes in Southern Inrtia. 2 1 



322 SCKNKS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

not even approach a school where higher lads are 
taught. The disabilities are inconceivable, and 
so are the injustice and inequality of the laws. 
Women too are degraded to a degree you hardly 
find equalled in these days of reform in any other 
part of India. It is terrible to look at some of the 
poor miserable-looking creatures, with hardly any 
clothing and no sense even of decency. 

The whole of this State is one of the great 
strongholds of idolatry and Brahmanism, where 
Satan still holds his seat. But, happily, missions 
and mission-schools are beginning to tell. The 
work is going on, accompanied by fervent, believ- 
ing prayer; and we may hope to see here, as else- 
where, that prayer will prevail, that the prison- 
doors will be opened and the captives of this ter- 
rible system go free. If the women could only be 
got at and elevated there would be more hope of 
speedy emancipation; but ancestral superstitions 
and customs still have a strong hold on the peo- 
ple. 

Namburi women are very much secluded and 
guarded with the most jealous care. Even sisters 
and brothers are separated early. I suppose there 
is not a single Brahman woman of this particular 
caste as yet under instruction of any sort. 

Two zenana missionaries, the Misses Coleman, 
are working here side by side with Mrs. Bishop, 



TRICHOOR 323 

whose name has long been known as a successful 
promoter of female education. In speaking of 
day-schools for Hindoo girls in this region the 
Rev. Mr. Richards says, ' ' To Mrs. Bishop is due 
the credit of having established the first of these. " 
She has a boarding-school also, and altogether 
there seems much life in this mission. Every one 
was stirring when we arrived, for morning is a 
busy time in a mission - house. School work 
among boys and girls was going on. At eight a 
service was held in the church, a handsome build- 
ing, which stands within the walls of the exten- 
sive compound. An hour with pundits followed, 
for the ladies are busy with the native language. 
Afterwards I was amused to see the elder Miss 
Coleman, who is a homoeopathic doctor, enter 
with a great trayful of tiny bottles of globules and 
tinctures. She had been busy with her patients, 
who this week have already numbered 600. Some 
of them come great distances to be treated, and 
her art is already gaining for her an entrance and 
influence among the people. She and her sister 
have been here only for a few months. Mr. Bish- 
op has procured a site whereon they are building 
a school, which we visited later; and a bungalow 
for themselves they hope also to accomplish in 
time. 

But it is always the same story. Here, as 



3^4 SCI-NES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

everywhere, the mission is cramped for want of 
funds. Much might be done if there were only 
money wherewith to do it. This is the cry every- 
where, which is very sad to hear when there is so 
much money in our Christian country, abundance 
to spend on everything under the sun except on 
the rescue of these perishing ones ! What is an 
isolated mission like this to do, for example, where 
there are so few Europeans to help, unless it is 
helped largely and liberally from home ? Surely 
the spirit of philanthropy, not to speak of anything 
higher, might come in to stir men's minds in re- 
gard to what might be done to raise and civilize 
and Christianize these poor people. 

What, for example, can one missionary family 
accomplish in a place like Trichoor to stem this 
torrent of idolatry and superstition which has 
gathered such fearful force during the ages? I 
am persuaded that my countrymen are only ignor- 
ant of facts when they speak of missions as they 
do and are so careless regarding them. 

I am reminded of a conversation I had not 
long ago, in a large city in India, with a gentle- 
man of high position who was pleased to call 
upon us. My husband was out, and the gentle- 
man told me he had heard him preach the night 
before and wanted to thank him, *'for he had 
opened his eyes a little.'* 



TRICHOOR. 325 

*'I have always understood, '^ he said, *'that 
missions are an acknowledged failure. From Dr. 
Mitchell's facts, however, I think I must be 
wrong. I wanted to ask him about it. ' ' 

I did my best to give him the information I 
saw he lacked, and then I asked him if he had 
seen none of the mission work going on so exten- 
sively in this very city. No, he had not heard of 
it. I named several well-known, able mission- 
aries having schools and colleges and native 
Christian congregations. Had he seen none of 
them ? We had seen them, though only staying 
a few days in the place. Did he know none of 
these men? He thought he had heard of them, 
but the truth was he had accepted the conclu- 
sion that missions had failed and so gave himself 
no further trouble on the subject. He had seen 
nothing, knew nothing, had not cared to inquire, 
anji yet he quietly pronounced the judgment, 
*' Missions are a failure.'' Did he know that but 
for these despised missions multitudes of men who 
are now good Christian citizens would be heathen 
still ? He took leave of me with the utmost kind- 
ness, and is now one of the best friends and most 
liberal supporters missions have. 

A lady in Ireland said to a friend of mine the 
other day, ' ' Do not believe a word of all this about 
zenanas. It is all humbus:." And I found that 



326 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

this person, although for years in India, had never 
once set foot within the walls of the zenanas, nor 
had seen anything of the dreary lives which are 
lived in them nor the work our Jjenana mission- 
aries seek to do; and yet she dared so to pronounce 
upon it! The piteous cry of India's down- trodden 
women had clearly reached neither the ear nor 
the heart of this daughter of favored Christian 
Britain. 

If my countrymen and countrywomen while in 
India would only look with more interest and sym- 
pathy into the condition of the poor people among 
whom their lot is cast for the time; if they would 
seek out the missionaries, who may be too busy 
to seek them out, and enter somewhat into their 
work, taking an intelligent. Christian, or even 
philanthropic interest in it, I venture to promise 
that the benefit and pleasure would tell in two 
ways. In blessing they themselves would be 
blessed. India would no longer look like a place 
of exile to them, and they would cease to long for 
the moment when they might quit its shores. If 
they shared in the sowing, they would also share 
in the joy of reaping. 

I once knew a gentleman who hated the na- 
tives, spoke of them as '^niggers,'' and judged the 
whole nation by a rascally *'boy " he had had in 
his service. He was induced by his wife one day 



TRICHOOR. 327 

to come to a school-gathering we had in the com- 
pound, simply because it was presented to him in 
the light of a garden-party; and he was greatly 
struck with what he saw, especially with the 
sweet singing of the girls, and with a dear little 
child who repeated her verse standing on a chair: 

"Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me, 
Bless thy little lamb to-night; 
Through the darkness be thou near me, 
Watch my sleep till morning light." 

He was so struck and affected by this that he be- 
came one of the staunchest friends of the people 
and of the mission and seemed to get a large 
blessing to his own soul. 

There is a considerable body of Syrian Chris- 
tians in Trichoor, and my husband has been out 
with Mr. Bishop interviewing some of them. 
They belong chiefly to the body of Romo-Syrians; 
that is, those who still adhere to the Church of 
Rome. But there is a division among them. 
Many began to groan under the tyranny, real or 
supposed, of the Vicar Apostolic, who is a Euro- 
pean. Discontent was rife, and disputes and di- 
vision followed. So a split occurred, and a strong 
party seceded under the guidance and leadership 
of Bishop Melius. He is, unhappily, absent, hav- 
ing left two days ago for the Persian Gulf. 

Some say that this movement is political. I 
would call it national. It is Asia against Europe, 



328 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

SO some declare. But the bishop seems to be an 
enlightened man and a reformer. He rejects the 
dogma of the infallibility of the pope, wishes that 
the Bible should be read by the people, and is 
friendly with Protestants. There is no doubt too 
that he and his party long after the spiritual inde- 
pendence which the Syrians proper enjoy. The 
party is strong numerically, from 5,000 to 6,000, 
but does not seem to be strong otherwise. The 
people lack moral force ; they are weak and waver- 
ing; and the future of this movement does not 
seem to be very assured. 

The gentlemen called on the dignitary who is 
doing duty for the bishop in his absence and 
found him pleasant and friendly. They had a 
long talk, and then he took them to the church 
and showed them all they wished to see. There 
are some good pictures, one or two images of the 
Virgin and the Virgin and Child, also crucifixes, 
many candles, and much gilding and decoration — 
not at all like the simple old church and worship 
we saw at Cottayam. 

Thus there seem to be five parties in the Syri- 
an Church: the original Syrians, the Reforming 
party, the Anglican, the Romo-Syrians, and this 
seceding party under Bishop Melius. 

After this visit, as my husband wanted to see 
the Sanscrit College, which is rather a famous 



TRICHOOR. 329 

one, they walked on towards it. But across the 
entrance to the street where it stands behold a 
barrier! ''What is this?" asked Dr. Mitchell, 
who has had to do with Sanscrit colleges all his 
days. The Brahmans gathered round in great 
numbers and warned the intruders ofif. No Euro- 
pean had ever been allowed to set foot in these 
sacred courts. 

It was the same in Poona, in the great Sanscrit 
College there, before the spirit of progress and 
enlightenment had entered that city, once the 
hot-bed of Brahmanism. But this was fifty years 
ago. Since then a missionary has been asked to 
act as principal of it. But now it is sad to go 
back all these fifty years. Trichoor, indeed, is 
behind its age. My husband spoke kindly to the 
Brahmans, though with a little sarcasm, got them 
to laugh, and quoted the Shastras, but all to no 
purpose. He then requested to be shown where 
the principal lived, and was escorted by crowds 
to a place where he was received outside by a fine 
old Brahman, who was naked to the waist and 
shining all over with oil. He had been freshly 
anointed, and on his bald, unctuous head he had 
a sacred cord curiously arranged. He was a mild, 
courteous old man, and received the two gentle- 
men with the greatest politeness — though, all the 
same, he would not let them enter the college. 



330 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

He was learned and showed an extensive ac- 
quaintance with Sanscrit lore, and was rich with- 
al, teaching only for the love of it. 

There is a peculiarly sacred pagoda here, 
which we saw standing apart on its hilltop as 
we drove* about in the evening. I^ike the college, 
no European, and no one of low caste either, may 
set foot even on the hill, far less within the tem- 
ple. One day an unlucky Englishman, not being 
aware of his disability, walked up to the gateway, 
which, of course, barred his further progress. 
Immediately there was a tremendous commotion. 
The man had to take to his heels, a complaint 
was sent in to Government, and much money had 
to be expended in order that the desecrated tem- 
ple might undergo purification. 

One thing is pretty plain from all this — that 
no one has yet got quite behind the scenes, so to 
speak, in these curious, benighted little States. 
Things are still as they have been for ages. Brah- 
manism and Brahmans are untouched, everything 
connected with them being still hermetically 
sealed to all closer inquiry and investigation. 
Who would believe that, numerically, they are 
much the smallest portion of the population, while 
the Christians, who have as yet so little influence 
in comparison, are about a fifth of the whole peo- 
ple? A large field presents itself here to anti- 



TRICHOOR. 331 

quarian research as well as to the missionary. 
What curious questions there are for solution ! 
Who can solve the problem how the barred por- 
tals are to be unlocked and truth in all its many- 
colored lights and its many-sided blessings may 
be let in on this reat darkness? 

After a day of untiring interest and great en- 
joyment in this busy missionary abode we pre- 
pared to resume our travels, now approaching a 
termination. Late in the evening, as soon as the 
moon rose, we took our places in three little bul- 
lock-bandies of the rough, common country sort 
and made a very droll cavalcade. It did seem 
odd that three gharis should be needed for three 
people; but when the queer little machines drew 
up in front of the veranda it was quite manifest 
that Mr. Bishop was right in insisting that we 
must have one apiece. They are very long, but 
very narrow and canoe-shaped, with high wheels 
and arched roof, thatched as usual with dried 
palm leaf In the well-like bottom one individ- 
ual could repose with tolerable comfort, but cer- 
tainly not two. Joseph and his baskets were put 
into the first, I burrowed in a heap of straw in 
the second, and my husband, as guardian of the 
party, brought up the rear. Amid the kindli- 
est adieus from the whole assembled mission cir- 
cle — master, mistress, ladies, servants, native 



333 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Christians, all — we plunged from the brightness 
of many candles in many hands into the darkness 
and silence of the night. The bullocks were 
meek as usual, and after one or two feeble at- 
tempts to turn their heads to their stables, at length 
accepted their fate and took to the road. 

Happily it was a glorious night. The rising 
moon gleamed through the trees in a shimmer of 
silver light, throwing shadows across the road. 
It seemed one long avenue fringed and canopied 
by magnificent trees, which stood outlined against 
the illuminated sky with lovely eflfect. We some- 
times passed through what seemed to be dense 
forests as well as low-lying jungles; while along 
our route the giant forest pillars supported a grand 
cathedral roof of interlacing, over-arching boughs. 
I do not know if it would look so fine in daylight, 
but now it seemed as if we were passing through 
one of Jehovah's most majestic temples. I am 
afraid I lost some of the beauty, for *' tired na- 
ture" demanded her *' sweet restorer," and even 
the bumping and rattle and general perversity of 
bullocks and drivers were all alike unavailing to 
keep me awake. The rear-guard, my poor hus- 
band, was much worse off. He dared not sleep 
or the whole cavalcade would go to sleep together, 
and we wanted to catch the morning train at Sho- 
ranoor. So he walked a good deal, with a for- 



TRICHOOR. 333 

midable-looking stick in his hand, keeping the 
sleepy men to their duty. This seemed to con- 
sist in jerking the poor beasts' tails, for the tail to 
the bullock is like the rudder to the ship. On 
the whole, we were not sorry when at daybreak 
we reached Shoranoor. We joined the hot, dusty 
train when it came up, and notwithstanding our 
misadventures, I confess I almost regretfully bade 
a last adieu to a bullock-bandy. We halted at 
Pothanoor for an hour, where there is a fine sta- 
tion, and before the day grew very hot we had 
arrived at Coimbatore. 



334 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

COIMBATORE. 

I AM sitting in a low chair in a huge room, 
shady from a deep, bowery veranda, a cool air 
stealing gently in and a delicious sense of soli- 
tude and repose stealing as gently over the spirit. 
It is delightfully cool; such a contrast to the 
steamy, soaking heat of the low-lying lands and 
waters from whence we have come. This is a 
vast plain, one thousand four hundred feet higher 
than the sea-level ; so we can breathe again, 
though it would be impossible to tell how tired 
we are. One's energies all seem to have oozed 
out in the great steam-bath below. Indeed we 
are both so used up in every sense that we are 
making up our minds to leave part of the tour 
we had mapped out for ourselves — to be overtaken 
when, please God, we return to the plains as soon 
as the hot season is over — and to proceed now to 
the hills. 

We were met at the station this morning by 
Mr. Hooker, a young missionary of the London 
Missionary Society, who has quite lately joined 
the band of workers here, and is by no means yet, 



COIMBATORE. 335 

as I tell him, out of his griffinhood. The older 
missionary, Mr. Hutchison, is now, with his 
wife and family, on the Neilgherry Hills. Mr. 
Hooker and a friend live in this bungalow in most 
pleasant bachelor fashion. I confess to a strong 
liking for bachelor's quarters; there is the perfect 
freedom and unconventionality which suits people 
of busy habits and nomadic propensities. Mr. 
Hooker is full of enthusiasm about his work, and 
he and Dr. Mitchell are now deep in missionary 
economics in the library adjoining, the murmur 
of their voices, in chorus with the birds, breaking 
on the noontide silence. 

There is a flourishing zenana mission here 
conducted by two ladies from home. They spent 
last evening with us, and early this morning they 
took me to see some of their work. The schools 
unfortunately are in recess, the hot season holi- 
days having commenced; so we hope to see more 
as we return. The gentlemen, who went early 
into the city to talk to the people and preach 
through a native Christian interpreter, arranged 
to meet us at the native church, a fine, substan- 
tial, large building with some interesting monu- 
ments and tablets on the walls telling of departed 
missionaries. I had plenty of time to see every- 
thing and talk to the matron of the boarding- 
school, for the gentlemen were long in appear- 



336 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ing. At length they came up walking and very 
much dust-begrimed. The pony, who is as ener- 
getic as his master, had set oflf at a gallop round 
a sharp corner, upset the phaeton, and sent the 
poor gentlemen sprawling on the road. Happi- 
ly it was not far to fall as the machine is low, 
and they are none the worse; but Mr. Hooker 
cannot get over his discomfiture at the impropri- 
ety of his pet pony treating his reverend guest 
with such terrible irreverence ! 

Coimbatore is an important and beautiful sta- 
tion lying on this elevated plateau with all its 
grand expansiveness. In the dim distance there 
are great ranges of dark purple mountains and 
Ootacamund is only fifty miles off. Towards the 
mountains are dense forests of valuable woods. 
The fragrant sandalwood is there, also the ma- 
hogany, blackwood, teak. Jack, and many others. 
In these glades the wild beasts of the forests 
naturally delight to disport themselves. There are 
great herds of wild elephants, besides the tiger, 
leopard, wolf, bear, and others; and so there are 
famous hunting grounds within reach. The plain 
waves with fine crops of varied sorts, not now the 
paddy-field of the low country, and there is little 
rice, but abundance or pea, cotton, hemp, sugar- 
cane, and tobacco, while the coffee, cinchona, and 
tea occupy the higher grounds. 



COIMBATORE. 337 

Altogether, I fancy there is no place more at- 
tractive, or better suited for European settlers, in 
all India than this breezy healthful plateau, with 
its grand neighborhood of mountains towering 
yonder to the skies. 

I most deeply grieve to have to add, regarding 
the promising young missionary of whom I have 
been speaking, that very soon after we had seen 
him Mr. Hooker caught fever among the swamps 
of the Backwater after the monsoon had set in; 
the disease soon ran its course, and he went away 
to his Saviour before had completed his first year 
in India. 



Scenes In Soutliein India. 22 



338 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE NEILGHERRIES. 

CooNooR, March 17. 

I HAVE neglected my journal in rather a shame- 
ful way since our arrival in this little earthly 
paradise. I can do nothing but feast on the 
beauty which surrounds us and drink in the fresh 
scented air and the quiet and the perfect sense 
of rest, mingling with it all a deep thankfulness 
to our gracious God who has so lovingly watched 
over us and brought us in safety hither. 

It is quite impossible to resist the fascination 
of this place, which enslaves you from the mo- 
ment you set foot above the Ghat, and only grows 
and grows as you explore and wander through 
the bewildering by-paths and find out new charms 
at every turn. I confess that since we came we 
have both simply 

"... wandered away and away 
With Nature, the dear old nurse ;" 

and no one would wonder, for we are on the love- 
liest of hilltops, the famed Neilgherries, the Blue 
Mountains, as the name means. 

It seemed so curious at first, and almost too 



THK NEII.GHERRIES. 339 

good to be believed, that we had not to pack up 
and set out on a new tramp; that we had actually 
three whole months before us wherein to be quiet 
here ' ' apart ' ' and rest. Yet it is wonderful how 
perfectly we have settled down to sedate life after 
the long period we have just passed through of 
such delightful vagrancy. 

But I must not forget that I bade you adieu 
at Coimbatore. After a few days' stay with our 
kind bachelor friends we started one morning by 
an early train, and were soon speeding across the 
plain towards a giant wall of purple battlements 
which stretched before us and towered grandly to 
the sky. These soon stopped our further progress, 
for as yet there is not a railway line scaling the 
wall, as on the Western Ghats from the Konkan 
to the Deccan. As we drew towards the terminus 
we spied a long line of queer-looking machines 
drawn up evidently for the accommodation of pos- 
sible travellers. These were tongas^ a vehicle 
somewhat like a high- wheeled rough dogcart, 
very strong, with a capacious well situated be- 
tween the front and back seats. We soon en- 
gaged one of these, and while we had our break- 
fast Joseph stowed our possessions in the well, 
mounting rugs and quilts on the splash-boards. 
A droll turn-out it looked. A pair of lean, small, 
dun-colored tattoos (country ponies), with high cur- 



340 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ricle-harness, were brought out, and after much 
persuasion in the shape of kicks and blows they 
were induced to let themselves be attached to the 
vehicle. We took our seats behind, while Joseph 
mounted beside the driver, and after a splutter and 
dash and sundry eccentric movements from the 
hind legs of the cantankerous little beasts, which 
hurt their heels, poor things, far more than the 
strong machine, we were off up to the Ghat like the 
wind. How we flew ! But the driver was much 
too experienced in the ways of his kittle-cattle to 
listen to our expostulations and let them slacken 
speed for an instant, even at the steepest parts. 
Had he done so, we should all, probably, have 
gone over the precipice. So he dexterously 
guided them round the sharp corners of the ter- 
raced ascent, and after a very short run the pant- 
ing, steaming beasts were reined in at a siding 
and their places taken by another pair, their ex- 
act counterpart. The little pantomime with the 
heels was repeated and we were off again. This 
occurred every two or three miles. Thus we 
made the grand ascent of some 6,000 feet, and a 
good while before darkness came we had got to 
the goal — the top of the delectable Neilgherries. 

At first the glare was blinding and the hot, 
white dust intolerable. The fiery rays of the 
noonday sun seemed to scorch us as they radiated 



THE NKILGHERRIES. 341 

from tlie rocky walls wliicli rose sheer from the 
side of the white road. The trees and jungle 
looked parched arid drooping, every leaf being 
powdered with the fine penetrating dust. We 
were soon as white as the bushes and our eyes 
ached from the scintillating rays. But erelong 
we rose above all these little troubles in every 
sense and got into regions where all things be- 
came new. The air grew cool and pure ; the 
white-heat look died out of the sky, now a deep 
fathomless blue, absolutely without a cloud. The 
upland slopes were clothed with shola of the fresh- 
est green. And, ' ' What is that low, scrubby bush 
which now covers the hillsides ? That is surely 
tea?'' we inquired of our intelligent driver. We 
were right; it was our old acquaintance, the low- 
ly tea shrub. Next came coffee, a larger shrub, 
with larger, darker leaf, but trained to grow 
rather low for the better development of the 
berry. There was also the cinchona, with its 
large beautiful leaf All these seemed to be ex- 
tensively cultivated and covered vast reaches on 
the hillsides. Occasionally we passed the white 
bungalow of a planter and his little settlement, 
including the long line of huts for the coolies 
who work the estate, and then a few quaint little 
hamlets of curiously shaped huts, probably the 
villages of the wilder races who inhabit the hills. 



342 SCENKS IN SOUTIIKRN INDIA. 

How lovely it grew as we ascended ! Noon 
was long passed and the shadows from rock and 
hill lay peaceful and soft across the road and be- 
neath the trees. Every spur we skirted and every 
ascent we made the scenery became more beauti- 
ful. Giant forms near and far lay massed against 
the sky, glowing with the amber light of even- 
ing, while valleys and ravines, filled with dark, 
rich foliage, reposed in deepest shadow. Beauti- 
ful woods in every variety of tint, from the light- 
est green to the dark dress of the cypress and cas- 
uarina, now crowned many an eminence, while 
rounded hilltops and lofty summits or precipitous 
brown crags, whose rugged sides shone like bur- 
nished copper in the rays of the setting sun, reared 
themselves grandly over the woods. Pretty, pic- 
turesque houses surrounded by gardens were now 
more common, many of them beautifully situated. 
We were evidently nearing the summit. We 
made a long descent into a valley, crossed a 
pretty bridge over a brawling torrent, sped up 
the ascent on the other side, turned into an ave- 
nue bounded by pink and white roses, which sent 
waves of sweet fragrance down to us and long 
sprays loaded with the exquisite clusters, and 
stopped before a long, low bungalow. A tidy 
*■ ' boy " in a clean white turban and speaking 
English perfectly rushed out to welcome us. 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 343 

We were now in Davidson's excellent and 
comfortable hotel, but, to our delight, we found 
we had as yet a whole bungalow to ourselves. It 
is well named Belmont, for it stands beautifully. 
The house is on the top of a small plateau in the 
midst of an amphitheatre of distant hills. We 
have a terraced garden which goes to the edge of 
a deep ravine, across which we look at some grand 
summits crowned with the prettiest Swiss-looking 
houses and fine trees. On the left there is an un- 
dulating ridge with one or two higher points and 
a lovely bit of brown-green slope quite bare of 
trees. Then to the front there is a cleft, an open- 
ing through which you see a bit of the far-away 
plains set in a lovely framework of many-tinted 
green, and then to the right we have the Droog, 
a magnificent headland, which I must speak about 
again. The shola and woods which fill the valley 
in front are not too high to obstruct our view, 
but make the loveliest foreground. No words 
can say how exquisite it is in the morning as we 
stand on the steps to gaze before setting out on 
our explorations; the sunbeams dance and sparkle 
in the foliage and veils of blue vapor break and 
curl in airy wreaths; and the birds sing and the 
butterflies flit about, and there is the sound of rip- 
pling water, which is my husband's supreme de- 
light. Altogether *' the lines have fallen to us in 



344 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

pleasant places," and our hearts overflow with 
thankfulness. 

We have found many friends here and much 
Christian work going on, into which it is a delight 
to throw ourselves heart and soul. The bishop 
and Mrs. Speechly are here, Mr. Harcourt and 
Mr. Kember, of Palamcotta, also the Neves and 
many other dear friends. We have been specially 
glad to meet Dr. Jared Scudder, of the Arcot 
Mission, in connection with the Dutch Reformed 
Church in America, with his wife and family. 
There is a small branch of the mission in Coonoor 
and a chapel, and though there is no missionary 
resident all the year through there is a young 
native pastor in charge, and Dr. Scudder takes 
the supervision and works here himself during 
the hot months. Every one knows the Scudders; 
they are a missionary family and a remarkable 
one. The first missionary of the name. Dr. John 
Scudder, had seven sons and a daughter, all of 
whom became missionaries, and most have work- 
ed in the Arcot district. Several of them became 
doctors and there is at least one grandson who is 
also a doctor and a missionary. What an hon- 
ored race! Dr. Jared Scudder is a vigorous, able, 
hearty man with great force of character and in- 
tensely earnest. In Arcot and Vellore the native 
Christians number over three thousand souls. 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 345 

Mission work has also been carried on for a 
number of years among the aboriginal races on 
the hills, chiefly by the German mission in the 
Kaity Valley, which lies between Coonoor and 
Ootacamund, but I shall be able to tell more 
about these interesting wild people by-and-by. 
The Messrs. Staines, who are owners of extensive 
tea and coffee estates here, are at the head of 
much Christian effort for the European residents, 
and there is a nice little chapel built by them, 
where we have regular service, conducted by our 
friend the Rev. Mr. Rowe. There is a handsome 
English church, also a chaplain. 

MARCH 29. 

It is early morning, the pure, fresh, dewy, 
glorious Indian morning, and, as usual, we have 
risen with the sun and come out to enjoy it. In- 
deed, the sun is hardly up yet, though the eastern 
horizon is flushed a rosy pink in glad anticipation 
of his coming. The air is crisp and invigorating, 
so cool that woollen clothes are comfortable, and 
yet so sweet and genial that you are reminded of 
a balmy May-day in the Riviera. We have each 
an armful of books, some papers and pencils, and 
a good glass, with broad hats and white umbrellas, 
for we do not breakfast till ten and it is cool under 
the trees until that hour. I am also provided 
with a basket to be filled by-and-by from the 



346 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

treasures of the woods and hedgerows as well as 
from the bright flower-beds which surround our 
hotel doors. 

What should we in India do without these 
delicious morning hours, when mind and soul as 
well as body seem awake and able to rise a little 
above the earthly and material, the heat and las- 
situde — when one's spirit at least tries to "mount 
up with wings as eagles ' ' and see something of 
the glory of the great Artificer in His glorious 
works ! It is true in a very literal sense here 
that *'joy Cometh with the morning." And this 
*' sweet hour of prime" is especially sweet on 
these lovely blue hills. 

Our favorite perch, where I am now writing, 
is a rustic seat beneath a dark spreading old 
cedar on the edge of another slope to the right of 
the bungalow, from which we look across a deep 
wide valley, through the usual feathery screen of 
many-tinted foliage, to the grand summits which 
rise on the other side. At our feet, far down in 
the valley, a dancing stream with merry voice 
rattles over its rough boulder-bed, while on its 
banks, rising from it all over the slopes, lies the 
picturesque little Ba^ar, or native town of Coo- 
noor. The houses and shops and sheds, in all the 
brilliance of fresh whitewash — for the season is 
just beginning — are scattered about as if dropped 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 347 

at random, perched at different elevations wher- 
ever they can find standing-room. The pretty 
little white mission church stands half way up 
opposite to us; on another elevation there is the 
low structure with pointed roof which answers 
for both schoolroom and chapel, where we have 
our delightful services on Sundays and week- 
days. A few more pretentious buildings there 
are, including the Postoffice, the Station Library, 
and a few "stores" of the most comprehensive 
character. Down at the bottom of the valley tw^o 
pretty bridges span the torrent, which has a hand- 
breadth of green common on either side, where 
some droll little brown tailless sheep nibble the 
scanty grass, ducks and geese cackle, and people 
begin to congregate in little groups ready for the 
shandy^ or morning market. 

Turning round a little we have the tower of 
the beautiful station church rising over the dark 
foliage of the cypress-trees which surround it — a 
lovely spot, which attracts one most in the pen- 
sive, quiet hours of evening when the sun is set- 
ting behind the western ranges. Then, far up on 
the crests as w^ell as low in the valleys, the white 
bungalows of European residents gleam out from 
amid the rich greenery of the shola^ or beautiful 
natural woods — one of the chief beauties of the 
hills. The blue gum or eucalyptus has been ex- 



348 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

tensively planted and is to be seen everywhere in 
clumps and belts or in the midst of other wood. 
It is here in every tint and at every age, from the 
baby shrub in its broad, bright, blue, shining leaves 
to the tall, gaunt, sombre, rather tattered-looking 
veteran of the tribe. Fruit-trees also abound, 
especially the peach, and we have plenty of straw- 
berries and also home vegetables. The hotel gar- 
den is almost a peach orchard, the branches 
weighed down with the wealth of ripening fruit. 

The Australian 'Svattle," a kind of mimosa, 
very like the beautiful tree on the Riviera, spreads 
like a weed, resisting every effort to restrain it, 
and with its feathery leaves of a blue-green tint 
forms delicate screens, through which you see the 
dark browns and russets and deep crimson of the 
rocks and ridges which tower behind. Farther 
away the hillsides are now white with the coffee 
blossom, which has burst into sudden though 
evanescent beauty, every plant seeming as if pow- 
dered with purest snow. In a few days this will 
disappear and give place again to the unrelieved 
dark green of the glossy leaves. Coffee estates 
are now numerous over the hills; also tea-gardens 
and plantations of the precious and beautiful cin- 
chona shrub. 

Then again, beyond the nearer spurs, you look 
away to a never-ending succession of billowy, un- 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 349 

dulating hilltops, absolutely irregular in shape, 
and now and then rising to abrupt headlands and 
sharp, lofty ridges. Among the former the grand, 
massive form of the giant Droog towers conspicu- 
ous. It is crowned with the ruins of a fort and 
watch-towers, which were occupied by Hyder Ali 
and Tippoo-Sultan during the troublous times at 
the close of the last century; and many are the 
tales still told of the wild doings of these fierce 
Mussulman warriors. Sheer down from the Droog 
we again catch a glimpse of the plains, broken 
into countless patches of bright color — for this is 
all the fields look like six thousand feet below. 
They gleam in the sunlight like a vast flooring of 
brilliant mosaic. But the chief charm, I think, 
in this part of the hills is the way in which the 
summits are broken and intersected by clefts and 
ravines and the loveliest valleys, all filled with 
a wealth of luxuriant vegetation of the richest 
beauty. The variety of tint among the trees and 
in the sJiola is wonderful, and the delicate blue of 
the young gum-trees gives a softness to the mass 
of darker foliage. The effects are indescribably 
beautiful, especially when as now in the early 
morning bright arrows of light from the rising 
sun pierce the green depths and sparkle like myr- 
iad gems among the interlacing boughs. Every 
leaf seems to have **its ain drap o' dew.'* A 



350 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

tender haze floats dreamily about and cloud- 
shadows still linger on the slopes. The sound of 
rippling water from the numerous little streams 
and burnies which come down from the higher 
points makes sweet music, mingling with the 
choruses of happy birds, the joyous hum of bees, 
and the noisy gambols of the brisk little squirrels. 
An active little green lizard, with beadlike eyes, 
has just darted round the tree, wondering to find 
his domain invaded. 

But a devoted friend of mine, a magnificent 
collie, has just laid his nose in my lap and fixed 
his beseeching, soft eyes on mine, saying it is 
time to go for a stroll. The air is full of aromatic 
scent of the gum-trees, mingled with the perfume 
of roses and heliotrope and "flowers of all hue'^ 
which abound in lavish profusion. Every house 
has its garden, and the verandas are bowery with 
trailers and creepers and beautiful orchids, while 
the avenues and drives are adorned with rare trees 
and evergreens and flowering shrubs in endless 
variety. The tall tree-fern and tree-rhododendron 
are especially beautiful; the latter is still covered 
with its gorgeous blossom, at once so delicate in 
hue and so rich in effect. Even the public roads 
contribute to the beauty, being skirted by high 
hedgerows of China and cluster roses — pink, red, 
and white. Heliotrope hedges also abound, from 



THE NEII^GHERRIES. 35 1 

which you can gather a sheaf of the fragrant 
flowers without its being missed; and many a 
winding little by-path, leading to some bonnie 
bit in the woods carpeted with mosses and ferns, 
is edged with the scarlet and sweet-scented gera- 
nium. The whole place is intersected with cap- 
ital roads— carriage roads, private roads, bridle 
paths, and labyrinthine tracks and trails. At 
every turn some fresh view presents itself, each 
one finer than the last, of these wondrous, ever- 
lasting hills. You feel you can hardly resist the 
impulse to kneel down and worship God in his 
own grand temple among the glorious things 
which are his own handiwork. 

One *' thing of beauty" I have never seen 
exactly the same anywhere else is the fascina- 
ting, ethereal, indescribable haze or vapor I have 
already spoken of; I hardly know what to call it. 
It is as if the air were tinted a deep blue, so deli- 
cate and gossamer are its shadowy veils, which 
linger on the slopes or lie in the hollows or float 
low in the valleys among the foliage, and the 
effect amid the sunlit green is beyond description 
lovely. 

Such is our beautiful Coonoor, though in truth 
half has not been told. Ootacamund lies some 
twelve miles away, on the western slopes of the 
Dodabetta range — the highest in South India. 



352 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

This well-known capital occupies a higlier pla- 
teau than Coonoor, though the difference of some 
two thousand feet hardly accounts for the great 
change in climate, Ooty, as it is popularly called, 
being much colder. Here the vegetation is semi- 
tropical and the scenery rich and varied, as I have 
described. About Ootacamund there is a succes- 
sion of open, breezy downs, and the air is fresh 
and bracing, reminding one of the fine ^'caller 
air ' ' of our own dear heather hills at home. 

There is indeed a wonderful charm about these 
Blue Mountains. It is not that they transcend all 
others in grandeur and sublimity; the Himalayas 
have loftier peaks and more stupendous precipices; 
they have also their, everlasting snows. The 
Ghats of Western India are more picturesque, with 
their jagged, pointed peaks, rocky ridges, and 
varied and fantastic forms, while these hills have 
nearly always the same blue ranges, with their 
rounded, undulating tops. And yet for loveliness 
and general fascination, for softness and all attrac- 
tiveness, the Neilgherries seem to me to surpass 
all other hill resorts I have seen. I yield the 
palm to them, and must be allowed to say in the 
words of the quaint old Scottish ballad, 

" Of all the hills the sun kens, 
Beautifullest these!" 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 353 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 

But the Blue Mountains have other and even 
higher interests than all this natural beauty I 
have been speaking about. 

Long ages before Mr. Sullivan, then Commis- 
sioner of Coimbatore, and later, Lord Blphin- 
stone, had conceived the happy idea of making 
the Neilgherries a sanitarium and a resort for 
Europeans from the heat of the southern plains, 
these had known other and very different inhab- 
itants, some of whom remain to this day, putting 
forth the lofty claim to be still considered ^ ' lords 
of the soil." 

Among most of the mountain ranges and more 
sequestered places in India there are to be found 
wild primitive people, often the aborigines of the 
country. Among the Western Ghats we have the 
Thakurs, Katkaries, etc. ; in the Himalayas and 
other ranges, the Lepchas, Khasis, Garos, and 
others; in the jungly regions of Western Bengal 
there are the Santals and Khols ; but of all the 
wilder races, perhaps the Todas of the Neilgher- 
ries are the most interesting and remarkable. 

Scenes in Southern India. 2 'X 



354 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Altogether there are five diflferent races on 
these hills : the Todas, Badagas, Irulas, Kotas, 
and Kiirumbers. The Badagas are a fine, manly 
race, and the most numerous, but they are hardly 
hill-men; they were originally Hindoos, worship- 
pers of the god Shiva, and migrated to the hills 
from the Mysore country some three or four hun- 
dred years ago. They are chiefly agricultural, 
and acknowledge a kind of fealty to the Todas as 
their feudal landlords, paying them tribute in 
grain, which is called goodu. The Irulas are 
scarcely hill-men either; they are a Tamil-speak- 
ing people who live low down on the slopes, 
though they differ in many characteristics from 
the people of the plains. 

The Todas are the least numerous of all the 
five tribes I have named, but they are much the 
most independent as well as the most curious in 
their habits and ways, in their personal appear- 
ance also, and their religious observances. The 
question of their origin has occupied the attention 
of antiquarians and men interested in such mat- 
ters, and much speculation has been the result ; 
but these learned investigators are by no means of 
one mind on the knotty point. Some hold them 
to be of Scythian descent; others that they are 
the descendants of some old Roman colony ; oth- 
ers say they are Jews, and many that they are the 




TODAS. 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 355 

aborigines of the Neilgherries. On this point M. 
Met^, of the Basle Evangelical Missionary Soci- 
ety, says, in his interesting little book on these 
tribes, **If you ask me who are the Todas, I am 
oblio^ed to answer I cannot tell. I am satisfied 
they are not the aborigines of the Neilgherries. ' ' 
Their own account of themselves, when my hus- 
band questioned them, is the most striking: ''We 
have come from nowhere, our ancestors were cre- 
ated on these hills, and these hills belong to us!'* 
They undoubtedly are an ancient race, and, as 
people of ancient race are apt to do, hold their 
heads very high. They look down on all the 
other tribes and even on the Hindoos. Indeed, I 
am not sure that the present lords of the soil, the 
masterful white people, do not come in for a share 
of their lofty scorn. 

The hospitable kindness of some very charm- 
ing peopie we met in Madras has just given us the 
pleasure of a visit to Ootacamund and an oppor- 
tunity of making the acquaintance of the Todas. 
The native town of Ootacamund occupies a kind 
of basin formed by several spurs, one of which, 
and the prettiest, is Elk Hill, on which are the 
beautiful house and grounds of our friends. On 
the first evening of our stay our kind hostess took 
us out to see something of the place. Crossing 
the beautiful little artificial lake by the willow- 



356 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

bund — a causeway skirted by a thick fringe of 
feathery willow-trees — we drove up the slopes to 
the top of the opposite ridge. This pretty serpen- 
tine is quite two miles in length and adds greatly 
to the beauty of the station. On the hillside 
above are scattered many of the handsome resi- 
dences of the elite of Madras society, among which 
Government House is conspicuous, surrounded by 
beautiful grounds and garden. On the margin of 
the lake stands the graceful Gothic church of St. 
Thomas, where the late lamented and beloved 
governor, Mr. Adam, lies buried. Soon, leaving 
the settlement behind, we drove along some up- 
land stretches of brown moorland, then rounded 
spur after spur, looking down on valleys and ra- 
vines, some cultivated and some filled with the 
rich dark shola. Here tea meets you everywhere; 
coffee does not come quite so high. Cinchona is 
also hardy and grows at the height of nine thou- 
sand feet. At length, descending to a valley 
round a wooded shoulder, we came on one of the 
loveliest spots one could picture, a sort of wide ■ 
hollow sheltered by some hilltops, clothed with 
the richest sward and having some fine trees and 
shola about, in which the evening sunlight was 
glinting exquisitely. But what at once arrested 
our attention was that on the sward, surrounded 
by all this beauty, stood three or four erections, 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 357 

the queerest and quaintest you could conceive. 
It was hard to believe that they were human hab- 
itations, though some human figures sat in front, 
quite as strange-looking as the dwellings. They 
sat on the grass, basking in the sun, completely 
wrapped in their blankets, nothing being visible 
above but the heads, covered with a bush of thick, 
coarse black hair. One or two of the heads dif- 
fered in having a profusion of elf- like ringlets 
round the face and neck; these we found belonged 
to the women. 

*' You have wished to see a Toda-mund,'' ex- 
claimed our friend; "there is one!'' 

Of course we stopped, got out of the carriage, 
and scrambled down among the bushes for a near- 
er view. The figures stood up at our approach, 
one or two even coming to meet us and making 
salams, after their own odd fashion, by raising the 
right hand to their forehead and placing the thumb 
on the ridge of the nose. 

But it was getting late and cold, and as there 
was not time to make any satisfactory investiga- 
tions, our friend promised that we should see an- 
other of these strange settlements very soon, called 
the Marli-mund. 

Accordingly, one lovely, clear, sunshiny day, 
a carriageful of big folk and little set out to make 
the expedition. We drove away several miles 



358 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

beyond Ootacamund, ascending higher and high- 
er and having glorious views of the two ranges, 
the Neilgherries and the Koondahs, and glimpses 
afar of the Mysore plateau. We passed some plant- 
ers' houses — nice, cosey, pretty bungalows. Com- 
ing to the end of the carriage road, we got out and 
walked on by a shady path through the sJiola and 
speedily came to the mund, or village. As usual, 
the Todas had chosen one of the loveliest and most 
romantic spots for their residence. The settle- 
ment consisted of two or three huts erected on a 
small green eminence and surrounded by a low 
wall of loose rough stones. We scrambled up and 
entered the inclosure. One hut stood at the top, 
another at the bottom, and a clean-swept open 
court lay between, with a fireplace of two or three 
stones at the side, on which a pot, set gypsy-like, 
was boiling merrily. A quantity of fine, dark- 
colored grain lay in a heap beside a hole in the 
floor, wherein a damsel was pounding it vigor- 
ously with a monster pestle into a sort of meal. 
A third hut, standing a little apart, we found was 
used as a cattle-pen, and a fourth, the most preten- 
tious and the best built, was consecrated to the 
Swamie, or god, and the dairy together, for with 
the Todas the dairy is the temple. They are alto- 
gether a pastoral people, and, like the patriarchs 
of old, wealth with them means the possession of 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 359 

herds, these herds consisting entirely of buffaloes. 
In this mund, then, there were only four huts; in 
the first one we had seen there were five, and there 
are seldom more in one village. The construc- 
tion of these huts is most curious. They are built 
of bamboos set closely together, tied with rattan, 
plastered with mud, and then covered with a 
thick thatch. Those we saw were about thirteen 
feet long and scarcely so much in height. 

In shape they are an arched oval, the roof 
reaching to the ground, like the top of a monster 
wagon, while the ends are built up with huge 
logs of wood and resemble a filled-in archway. 
They are substantial and are said to be water- 
tight. I should think they must be air-tight too, 
for the only opening they possess is a tiny aper- 
ture at one end about a couple of feet square, if so 
much, which serves for door, window, chimney, 
ventilator — everything. It seemed hard to be- 
lieve that a grown man or woman could squeeze 
through this lyiliputian door. I got down on all- 
fours to try and get a glimpse of the interior ; to 
crawl in would have been too daring an exploit, 
even if it had been possible. But I made one of 
the women show me the mode of ingress, and it 
was very droll to see her go flat down and wriggle 
herself in as if she had been an eel. I confess to 
having discovered nothing ; the place was pitch- 



360 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

dark, especially when I filled the aperture. But 
my husband, who was more fortunate in his in- 
vestigations, says that there is a fixed, low plat- 
form at one side covered with buffalo-skins. This 
is the common sleeping-place, and is all the fur- 
niture this novel habitation possesses, except a 
few utensils for use in cooking and eating. 

In such dens the whole people of a village 
dwell. Two or three women were in the court 
when we arrived and welcomed us with great 
frankness and evident pleasure. Their freedom 
of manner is certainly remarkable in Eastern 
women; they are not in the least shy or put out, 
even at the approach of gentlemen. The men 
are bold and independent and never seem to 
know what fear means. They are the finest- 
looking wild people we have seen. The men are 
tall, well-formed, and athletic; and the women 
are undoubtedly handsome, erect, lithe, and would 
be attractive if, like their Hindoo sisters, they 
were gentle and modest and reserved in demeanor. 
Both men and women have strongly marked fea- 
tures, with good, aquiline noses. One fine old 
patriarch, the head man of the village, who came 
forward to meet us leaning on a staff as tall as 
himself, might have sat for a portrait of Abra- 
ham; and I often fancied from the cast of counte- 
nance that there might be something in the theory 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 361 

which makes their origin Jewish — only the ex- 
pression is open, honest, and good-humored. They 
laugh loud and merrily on the slightest provoca- 
tion. Men and women dress exactly alike, if dress 
it can be called which consists of one garment, a 
long blanket which envelopes them from head to 
foot. The women are much tattooed, chiefly 
about the neck, shoulders, and arms. Their 
blue-black hair is curled carefully round their 
well-shaped heads in long spiral ringlets — a re- 
sult produced by the skilful use of small sticks 
instead of curling-tongs — and has an irresistibly 
ludicrous effect on the top of the blanket costume. 
Their ornaments are very primitive: some bangles 
made of brass or lead, dreadfully heavy, and a 
quantity of cowrie shells curiously strung into 
tassels, which dangle at the end of necklaces 
made of thread, hair, or silver, according to the 
wealth and position of the wearer. They are in- 
veterate beggars, and do not look with favor on 
anything but white money. A display of the 
latter induced the women to sing us one of their 
songs. It was a most singular, dirge-like strain, 
executed with the teeth firmly set and closed — a 
wild, weird, mystic kind of chant, with no music 
in it, hardly any words, and the voices harsh and 
monotonous. 

They are a dirty people; they never wash 



363 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

either themselves or their blankets; and are ex- 
cessively lazy. The Toda loves to sit in his blan- 
ket in the sun, * ' monarch of all he surveys, ' ' and 
eat of the produce of the soil wrought by the 
sweat of other brows than his own. He manages 
this by exacting goodie^ or tribute, from the inferior 
tribes, which, by working on their superstitions 
in various ways, he has hitherto induced them to 
pay. His other and chief source of revenue is 
from his buffaloes. Every village has its own 
special herd and its own pasture ground; and the 
sole occupation of the men is to drive the beasts 
to their pasture in the morning, tend them during 
the day, and bring them home to the Mund at 
night. But the operation of milking is very 
sacred, and can only be performed by the pujari, 
or village priest. He receives the herd, joins the 
people in making obeisance to it, then proceeds 
with the milking, and finally must himself place 
the milk in the dairy. As I said before, the dairy is 
the temple, and into its sacred precincts no woman 
is allowed to enter. The milk is made into ghee 
and curd, and on it chiefly the people live. The 
buffaloes are often very fierce and dangerous. 
They attack strangers with great ferocity, espe- 
cially white people; but happily they at once 
obey the call or whistle of their owners, and thus 
frequent accidents are prevented. 



th:e: todas and a toda-mund. 363 

Although there is no caste, rightly speaking, 
among the Todas, they are divided into families 
or classes — I think five — who, though they eat 
together, and otherwise fraternize, never inter- 
marry. Polyandry still exists among them, in 
the sense that when a woman marries, she be- 
comes the wife of all the brothers in the family 
she allies herself to, and her children belong to 
the husbands by seniority. I am glad to say this 
dreadful custom seems to be passing away, and 
the Todas now think it more respectable that 
each man should have his own wife, though 
morals, I am afraid, cannot yet be said to be of 
a high order among them. Female infanticide 
once prevailed, but now is said to have entirely 
ceased. 

And what can one say of their worship and 
religious observances except this, that very little 
is known about them ? Their ideas on the sub- 
ject of religion seem extremely vague. They 
can scarcely be called idolaters, as they have no 
idols, or rather images; and yet the buffalo-bell 
of the village is held sacred and has libations of 
milk poured out and prayers made to it. It is 
called the Hiradeva, or Bell-god. There is also 
a hunting-god, whom they propitiate. He helps 
them to kill the tigers which otherwise would 
kill their calves. The sun is also sometimes 



364 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

worshipped. But in truth, their milk and their 
buffaloes are their gods, and their single compre- 
hensive prayer seems to be, "May all be well; 
may the buffaloes be well!" There is a high 
priest among them, called a Palal, or head milk- 
man. He is a most sacred personage, and lives 
in a holy Mund, with only one attendant, called 
a Kavilol, herdsman. A few sacred buffaloes are 
kept for the exclusive use of this recluse, whom 
deity is supposed to inhabit, and who exercises 
unbounded influence over every Toda. No wo- 
man may approach the sacred Mund, and no man 
is permitted to do so without express permission, 
and then he must address the holy man from a 
very respectful distance. None of the tribes 
would dare refuse him anything he might choose 
to ask for, however unreasonable the demand, or 
some dire calamity would certainly overtake them- 
selves or their herds. 

Their ceremonies are few, the principal ones 
being connected with their dead. There are two 
funeral ceremonies, one called the "green fune- 
ral," which takes place immediately after death, 
when the body is burned; while the other, called 
the ^' dry funeral," is intended to commemorate 
all who have died in a tribe within the year. 
These festivals are full of absurdity and would 
take too long to describe. 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 365 

Such, then, is the deep darkness of this singu- 
lar people. The German missionaries have tried 
to work among them and from their influence 
and that of other Europeans there seems to be a 
gradual dawning of civilisation ; but I have never 
yet heard that a Toda has become a Christian. 
A good many Badagas have accepted the truth 
and there is a flourishing little congregation of 
Christian Badagas in connection with the Basle 
Mission in the Kaity valley. My husband visited 
this mission and was greatly interested in what 
he saw. 

Our day at the Marli-mund was one not to be 
forgotten. After a long interview with the peo- 
ple we chose a lovely spot to encamp and rest. 
We crept under the shade of a thick mass of 
thorny jungle-bush with greensward below car- 
peted with brown dry leaves. Here we ate our 
lunch, after which the children lay down on rugs 
to sleep, and we read aloud about the Todas. 
The birds were frightened into silence at first, 
but presently began their merry little carols again 
and filled the air with melody. The wild people 
soon discovered our retreat, and stalked up to us 
in their long blankets, making a ring around us, 
for by this time some of the men had returned 
from the pasture grounds. They begged hard for 
more white money as goodu. 



366 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

We stayed until the sun was beginning to get 
low in the west, and then turned our faces home- 
wards. As we drove away, a gleam shone out 
over the picturesque little Mund as it lay on its 
green knoll under the shelter of the shola ; a deli- 
cate gathering ha^e just then caught the ray and 
was immediately alight with all the hues of the 
rainbow. 

*' Surely a bow of promise !^^ w^e all exclaimed, 
hope and promise, from the *' rainbow-circled 
throne,'' even for the poor Todas. 

'* The people that walked in darkness have seen 
a great light: they that dwell in the land of the 
shadow of death, upon them hath the light 
shined." So may it be speedily with all the 
dark, degraded races of this interesting land ! 



HOMEWARD. 367 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

HOMEWARD. 

I MUST now take leave of my readers who 
have kindly accompanied us in our wanderings 
over some of the mission fields of Southern India. 

Very soon after our delightful visit to Ootaca- 
mund a severe attack of illness put an end to 
many cherished hopes and plans. But as soon as 
the journey to the plains was possible my hus- 
band brought me down to Bangalore. I had long 
looked forward to a visit to this beautiful city of 
the south ; but now I was here I was not able to 
explore it. It is one of the pleasantest and 
healthiest and prettiest stations in all India. It 
has a large native city full of historic interest, 
and an expansive European quarter/ where, the 
military cantonment is, and where the English 
residents live in handsome houses standing in 
lovely wooded grounds. The whole place is full 
of natural loveliness. There are the ruins of an 
old fort, every stone of which could tell its story 
of fierce struggles and warlike deeds, and, I am 
afraid, also of much cruelty and oppression. 
Many will remember the story of Sir David Baird 



368 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and his captivity, regarding which his mother 
made the memorable remark, *'Pity the man who 
is chained to oor Davie!" Well, it was here poor 
** Davie" was chained; and I think it must have 
been even harder for the brave man to be made a 
show and spectacle of daily for the amusement of 
the ladies of the zenana, and to draw water for 
them from a well which is still shown as one of 
the curiosities of the place, than to endure even 
the chains and the dungeon. 

A far greater disappointment, however, was 
that I could so seldom accompany my husband in 
his visits to the missionaries and saw so little of 
their work. Missions in Bangalore have been 
most successful, and the schools, congregations, 
and different operations carried on so extensively 
in the place are full of interest. We received 
much kindness from Mr. and Mrs. Rice, of the 
London Missionary Society, and from many 
others whose names I need not mention, including 
Mr. Morrison, chaplain of the Scotch church. 

But Dr. Mitchell paid a visit to our friend 
Miss Anstey's deeply interesting Faith Mission at 
Colar, some distance from Bangalore, and has 
given me the following account of it: 

*' Colar is a town of eleven thousand inhabi- 
tants, about forty miles from Bangalore. Mrs. 
Mitchell was not able to visit this station, and it 



HOMEWARD, " 369 

falls to me to say a few words regarding the very 
remarkable work there carried on by Miss An- 
stey. 

**Miss Anstey returned to India in the end of 
1876, after being restored from what had seemed 
hopeless illness. Her prayer was that she might 
have work in training young people. Famine 
broke out, and it was evident that multitudes of 
children would be left destitute. She accordingly 
settled at Colar, in the heart of the district where 
famine was raging, and prepared to receive as 
many orphans as might come to her. She was 
in connection with no missionary society, had 
not much money of her own, and had received no 
promise of contributions. She felt, however, that 
her call was clear. She at once ordered a house 
to be built for the reception of seven hundred 
orphans. Children came to her in large numbers; 
from first to last she has received fully eleven 
hundred. Many died, famine having terribly 
weakened the powers of life before they arrived. 
Some were enticed away by relatives or friends 
when the famine ceased. Many, however, have 
been settled — generally as married couples — on 
little farms belonging to the mission. At present 
(August, 1885) the number in the Orphanage is 
about three hundred and fifty. The mission has 
all along been conducted — to use Miss Anstey^s 

Scenes in Southern India. 24 



370 SCENES IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

words — *on the principle of looking to the Lord 
alone for all supplies.' And the supplies have 
been sent. The heathen have been deeply im- 
pressed by this, and a high Government servant, 
a Brahman, has always addressed his official let- 
ters to * God's Orphanage, Colar.' When I saw 
this brave woman in the midst of her labors I 
feared that the burden would crush her. Not the 
financial burden; my question as to that received 
the prompt reply: *The Lord has provided and 
will provide.' But there was a multitude of busi- 
ness matters connected with the large establish- 
ment which I felt no woman should be troubled 
with. Still, her health has been preserved so far 
that a short visit to Britain seems likely to restore 
all her energies. He who has upheld and guided 
her till now will, I doubt not, uphold and guide 
her still.'' 

It had been one of my dreams — though one 
not to be realized — to see Miss Anstey and her 
large family of poor famine orphans and their 
home, and all her important and most arduous 
work which is carried on by simple faith in God's 
providing. She and her children ask in prayer 
for what they need. Her motto is, *'The Lord 
will provide;" and he does provide, by putting it 
into the hearts of his people to send her the 
means — and she needs large means — to feed and 



HOMEWARD. 371 

clothe and educate and set out in life her large 
company of poor friendless children of both sexes. 
Can we not help her a little more ? Can we not 
help all missions a little more? We can surely 
do so by contributing more, working harder, 
seeking to interest others, and above all, by more 
believing prayer. Then can we not, many more 
of us, give ourselves to the work ? For we want 
multitudes of workers, both men and women. 
May the Spirit of God so fill our hearts with love 
to Christ and compassion for poor India that we 
shall go forth in far greater numbers and with 
far more perfect consecration until we have won 
the whole land for Him ! 

It might be done easily! The whole of India 
could be evangelized in a generation if Christian 
people would only bestir themselves and bring 
great and adequate means to bear on the great 
and glorious work. And let us hope that the first 
work of all the churches, as it would certainly be 
the grandest, will more and more be the evangeli- 
zation of the whole heathen world, until the idols 
are utterly abolished and the name of Christ 
known and honored from the rising to the setting 
of the sun. 

Our journey from Bangalore to the Deccan 
was a trying one, there were so many changes; 
but at length, on the i6th of June, after six 



2fJ2, SCKNKS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

months' wanderings, we found ourselves once 
more under the hospitable roof of the mission 
house at Poona. A few weeks later and I was 
tossing on the wild monsoon billows of the Indian 
Ocean, homeward bound. I have bidden adieu to 
India, sorrowing most of all because in all human 
probability I shall see her loved face no more! 



Date Due 

1 


































































































































BRODART, INC Cat, No. 23 233 Printed in U S A 



M692s 
Mitchell. Mrs. Murrav 


AUTHOR 

9,Cf^Y\f>^c:^ "in .^nnthf»rn India 




DATE DUE 


BORROWER'S NAME 














271 
M6' 


32s 



