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IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

A Visit to some of the chief Mission Stations 
in the Madras Presidency. 



/ 

MRS. MUEEAY MITCHELL, 

AUTHOR OP ' IN INDIA,' ' A MISSIONARY'S WIFE AMONG THE WILD 
TRIBES OF SOUTH BENGAL,' ETC. 



'Large, England, is the debt 
Thou ow'st to Heathendom, 
To India most of all.' 

SOUTHEY. 



WITH A MAP AND MANY ILLUSTRATIONS. 



THE KELIGIOUS TEACT SOCI 

56, PATERNOSTER Eow ; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD ; 
AND 164., PICCADILLY. 

1885. 



10V 2 2M3 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



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

We have many works on India, but not many written 
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 Tra- 
vancore 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 century 
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 topic referred to in this little book. Mrs. 
Mitchell took a lively interest in nearly everything 
she saw ; and she has endeavoured to give a faithful 
description of what has most occupied her attention. 

We had for many years been familiar with Missionary 



6 INTROD UCTOR Y NO TE. 

efforts both in the West and North of India, and it was 
the fulfilment 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 considerable ex 
tent, in the work ; so that the visit might be called an 
evangelistic tour. The welcome we everywhere received, 
both from the Missionaries and the native Christians, 
will ever remain with us as a delightful 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 of 
greater magnitude than that which is now going on ; and 
the issues social, religious, political will be in every 
way momentous. This little work will not have been 
written in vain if it may serve to extend a knowledge 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. MUEBAY MITCHELL. 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 



PAGE 

NAGERCOIL CHURCH Frontispiece 

A PRIEST OP SIVA 32 

MADRAS SURF 37 

A WATER-CARRIER 41 

A YOGI ENGAGED IN MEDITATION 45 

SCHWARTZ 80 

COURT IN THE RAJAH'S PALACE, TANJORE .... 91 

TEMPLE OF SUBRAHMANYA, TANJORE 103 

TANK AND TEMPLE AT MADURA . 137 

ENTRANCE TO GREAT HALL, MADURA 144 

AUDIENCE CHAMBER IN THE PALACE, MADURA . . . 147 

A PALMYRA CLIMBER 156 

BULLOCK CARTS 171 

MAHARAJAH OF TRAVANCORE (from a Photograph) . . 178 

SISTER OF MAHARAJAH (from a Photograph) .... 179 

A BRAHMAN AT PRAYER 181 

A NATIVE CHRISTIAN WOMAN 203 

CAPE COMORIN 207 

AGUSTEESPURAM CHAPEL 216 

BELL Music USED AT DEVIL WORSHIP .... 232 

BOATS ON THE BACKWATER, TRAVANCORE ... . . 257 

SCENE ON THE BACKWATER, TRAVANCORK .... 265 

CHRIST CHURCH, COTTAYAM 273 

SOUTH INDIAN VEGETATION 277 

SCENE IN TRAVANCORE 300 

A SCENE ON THE BACKWATER 325 

TODAS . . . .358 



TO ILLUSTRATE 

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CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

i. WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY ... 11 

ii. POONA SHOLAPORE 20 

in. MADRAS .33 

iv. MADRAS FEMALE WORK 4G 

v. CHINGLEPUT G2 

vi. THE EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA 72 

vn. TANJORE 82 

vni. DINDIGAL ITS MEDICAL MISSION .... 112 

ix. MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS 126 

x. MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES 135 

XI. TlNNEVELLY PALAMCOTTA 151 

xii. TRAVANCORE NAGERCOIL 174 

xin. WOMAN'S WORK SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL . . . 194 

xiv. CAPE COMORIN 204 

xv. NEYOOR PAREYCHALEY ...... 220 

xvi. TREVANDRUM 235 

xvn. THE BACKWATER ........ 254 

XVIII. COTTAYAM : ITS MISSIONS THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS OP 

MALABAR , 2G7 



io CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE 
XIX. COTTAYAM : SUNDAY SERVICES AMONG THE SYEIAN 

CHEISTIANS 288 

xx. THE HILL ARRIANS OP TRAVANCORE .... 301 

xxi. COCHIN : THE WHITE AND BLACK JEWS . . . 310 

xxn. TRICHOOR 321 

XXIII. COIMBATORE 338 

xxiv. THE NEILGHERRIES 343 

xxv. THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND 359 

xxvi. CONCLUSION . 371 



CHAPTEE I. 

WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 

January 15th, 1882. 

THE dawn was spreading softly over earth and sky 
yesterday morning, when, after a more substantial 
chota hajri, or preliminary breakfast, than usual, 
we stood in the verandah, equipped ready 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 morning 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 should have made 
her one of their divinities. The Dawn is one of 
the earliest Hindu goddesses. She is called Ushas, 
and is described with poetic grace as ' a mother 
come to awake her sleeping children.' The con 
templation of Nature in her sublime and exquisite 
aspects no doubt led to her adoration among those 
old Kishis, for they were ignorant of Him who is 



12 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the God and Framer of Nature, and did not hear 
her voice aright. Surely nothing ever declared His 
glory with more eloquent speech than this pure, 
hlue, beauteous, cold-weather dawn ! It is so 
peaceful, yet so gladsome, so fresh, and so suggestive 
of hope. But she would certainly have said to the 
sages of old in their adoration of herself what the 
angel said to John in the Apocalypse : ' See thou do 
it not ; for I am thy fellow-servant ! ' 

As I gazed on the lovely scene from the verandah, 
I thought our dear old Bombay had never looked 
more beautiful. This suburb the Breach is one 
of the prettiest. Arthur Seat, as our friend's 
bungalow is called, stands pretty high, on a long, 
wavy undulation over the rocky shore, and com 
mands some striking and charming views of the 
scenery for which our Western capital is so justly 
famed. The gentlemen were below under the 
porch, having our belongings packed on to the 
palki-ghari which was to convey us to the station, 
and so I could take ' a last fond look ' of the dear, 
familiar scene familiar for many long, happy years, 
now gone by. The little cottage in the palm-wood, 
where we spent the earliest years of our missionary 
life, stands half a mile away, along the same shore, 
nearer the native town. 

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 fishing craft, with white sails, 
gleamed in the distance ; there were also one or two 

O * 



WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 13 

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 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 
ponies, passed in grand retinue, all bound for the 
early walk. Every one who is wise tries to extract 
what vigour is to be had from the fresh air of 
morning in India. 

Turning to the left, our view is bounded by the 
lovely little Malabar Hill, of which every one has 
heard, though the long, low promontory running 
into Back Bay, with a bungalow belonging to the 
Government nestling amid the green at the point, 
is hid by the higher ground at this side. Nearer us, 
and divided from Malabar Hill by a valley and good 
road, there is another high wooded undulation, called 
Camballa Hill, beyond which lies our magnificent 
harbour, with its forest of shipping, its picturesque 
island-rocks, and the grand outline of the Western 
Ghats not very far off. These hills and heights are 
one of the chief beauties of Bombay. They are 
wonderfully green and richly wooded, the tall palm- 
trees, with their glorious crowns of wavy fronds, 
being conspicuous everywhere, while pretty bunga- 



14 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

lows and handsome residences, belonging chiefly 
to the English and Parsi communities, gleam white 
among the trees at every elevation. Away to the 
right, there is the long, undulating island of Salsette, 
stretching as far as the eye can reach, indented 
with quiet bays, and covered with forests of the 
stately cocoa-palms, which are here in countless 
numbers, making the wealth of the people as well 
as the richness of the scene. And, finally, below 
at our feet, a picturesque little promontory runs out 
to the sea, crowned with the quaint old temple of 
Mahalukshmee. Here a mla, or festival, was going 
on ; queer little booths lined the road, people were 
beginning to congregate, and strange, grotesque 
figures many of them religious mendicants deco 
rated with tiger-skins grouped themselves in the 
enclosure. 

Some lines of delicate grey cloudlets lay pencilled 
at the horizon, now flushed with rose as the sun 
mounted higher, and a sweet, cool, faint breeze came 
gently up from the sea. 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-cherished 
dream was about to be realised, and we were 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 charming wife. 
. . . The wonderfully able lectures, the crowds, 
the growing interest of Mr. Cook's utterances, the 
dinners, the meetings, and the universal enter 
taining, were all so thoroughly enjoyed, that our 
energies were naturally used up. 



WE BEGIN O UR MISSIONAR Y JO URNE Y. 1 5 

This most stirring visit was indeed an immense 
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 
noting, and something to be thankful 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 native 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 honour of our 
distinguished guests was, to myself, the most inte 
resting 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 assembled, 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, Hindus, 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 colour, 
and animation, and picturesqueness. It was also 
full of suggestiveness. One's heart could not but 
thrill with thankfulness and joy at such a sight. 



1 6 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 Lord 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 American 
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 shining in the 
heavens. I brought some of our nice native Chris 
tian 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 after 
wards when the lady remarked not only on their 
intelligence, but the modesty and general propriety 
of demeanour they evinced; which, indeed, is 
characteristic of Hindu ladies. 

Among women of the higher castes in India, there 
is a wonderful amount of natural refinement, 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 



WE BEGIN OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY. 17 

ladies. The poor things may be only half-clad, very 
sad and crushed - looking ; 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 spoilt 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 Hindu 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 themselves truly says. When this 
takes place, when our Eastern sisters have received 
the truth, and 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.' My new friend and 
I had much converse over such matters, which must 
be my excuse for the digression. 

After tea, Mr. Cook gave us an address, which, 
as usual, was most stirring. In speaking of the 
difficulties with which missionaries have to contend, 
he made use of a happy illustration. He compared the 
work to the building of a lighthouse. He said there 
is so much important and preliminary labour to be 
done first, below the surface of the water blasting of 
rocks, building of foundations, much buffeting with 
the waves and all to be bravely endured and over- 

B 



1 8 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

come. But when all this is accomplished, the ma 
jestic 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 condition 
of things last ! 

Our beautiful Western Ghats were as beautiful as 
ever as we ascended yesterday, and the railway 
line as striking as usual. Our train zigzagged its 
seemingly perilous path, first up the gentle green 
slopes, then, as it got higher, round precipitous crags, 
skirting deep gorges and stupendous precipices, 
pursuing its way slowly and steadily from ridge to 
ridge through the sinuosities 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. 

I shall never forget how grand the scenery looked 
as we went down to Bombay a few weeks ago, soon 
after the rains had ceased. The face of the Ghats 
was one blaze of beauty. There were waterfalls 



WE BEGIN O UR MISSION A RY JO URNE Y. \ 9 

almost at every few yards : some like silver threads 
suspended over the cliffs, others great foaming 
torrents dashing down from the heights, while 
others were simply airy clouds of delicate spray, 
which, when the sun's rays caught them, gleamed 
exquisitely with all the hues of the prism. The 
whole mountain-sides were a mass of gorgeous living 
green. Woods and jungles, and ferns and wild flowers 
in endless variety and wanton profusion, clothed 
every slope and filled every valley, and ravine, and 
cleft ; while the majestic mountains towered over 
head in all their varied and fantastic formations a 
glorious panorama. The scenery on this famous 
railway, the Bhore Ghat Incline, is always grand ; 
but in the monsoon all this beauty is added, and 
forms a picture which becomes engraven on the 
memory, and can never be effaced. 

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. 



CHAPTEE II. 

POON A SHOLAPORE . 

January 1tli, 

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-lag, 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-crowned, picturesque 
little sacred hill of Parbutty. It was from his palace 
on this hill that Bajirao, the last of the Peshwas, 
watched the famous battle of Kirkee, which decided 
the fate of the Maratha dynasty. 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 Hindu gentlemen, the elite of native society, 
who filled the benches remarkable-looking men, 
in white garb, strictly national, with huge red or 
white turbans, wonderfully fair in complexion, with 
the keen, intellectual countenance of the Maratha 
Brahman. 



POONA-SHOLAPORE. 21 

These are Hmdus of the Hindus not half-Euro- 
peanised, like the Bengali Baboos, though they are 
as thoroughly educated, and many of them first-rate 
speakers themselves. They are intensely 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 retain, they do retain. Politics seem 
to occupy their attention more than religion ; and 
sometimes they, no doubt, practise the rites of 
Hinduism 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 honourable to 
be consciously 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 influences at work may be 
fired by Divine power. Then we 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 circumstance, of course, increases 
the difficulty of the missionaries' task. But more 
faith and prayer and earnest work, more pleading 



2? 7/V SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 Luther, when, with grand 
inspiration, 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 under 
the circumstances, and before daybreak, shivering 
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 old friends the 
Johnstones, Mr. Johnstone being now Assistant- 
Judge of this station. . . . 

I need not describe Sholapore ; it is well-trodden 
ground. I am not sure that it can be called a 
pretty station, though it is extensive and occupies 
a large, flat area. However, I can hardly judge ; 
for what we ladies like best is to do nothing but sit 
together on long chairs, in the cool, shady, pillared 
verandah, chatting of old times, and of our homes 
and dear ones far away. The splendid baby-boy is 
in his swinging hammock beside us, while flocks 



POONASHOLAPORE. 23 

of bright- winged, screeching, forward paroquets flit 
about the porch, making daring inroads on the 
ceiling. Sweet, silken doves are quietly building 
under the eaves, greeting each other and us with 
their plaintive coo-coo ; and a gentle breeze begins 
to temper the mid-day heat, and make music in the 
trees which surround the house. .... 

There is a flourishing branch Mission of the 
American Board in Sholapore, and the 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 
Ahmednagar. 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. We British people, to whom India 
has been especially entrusted, ought to be grateful 
to our American friends for their zealous and 
successful work among the heathen. 

One of the most interesting parts of Mr. Gates's 
Mission is the medical department. It is conducted 
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 charitable dispensaries in the city, where 



24 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

medicines are free, yet the numbers who come to 
the Mission increased day by day. Let us 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 
Borrow and suffering seem to hear the Word 
gladly. 

Among those who came to-day was a native 
Christian from a village called Wat wad, a place 
about seventy-five miles north-east 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 
entrance of light into that dark region is so 
interesting that I think I must relate it. 

Nearly seventeen years ago a gosavi, or religious 
mendicant, named Mhasoba, was sent to prison by 
the well-known Meadows Taylor for cattle-stealing. 
While in prison he happily learnt to read. He had 
a friend, another gosavi, who, after Mhasoba' s 
release, came- to him, telling him he had heard 
of some new, strange doctrines 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 decided that 
they would go and seek for the missionaries, who, 
they heard, were to be found at Sholapore. After 
a weary trudge of many days, to Sholapore they 
came. 

The missionary who was labouring then at this 
station was Mr. Hazen, Mrs. Gates' father, who has 
now returned to America. He received the wayfarers 



POONASHOLAPORE. 25 

most kindly, bearing 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 baptised. 

At length, in the cold season of 1874, the Eev. Mr. 
Park, lately of the American Mission, Bombay, was 
itinerating in the district. Mhasoba heard of his 
arrival, and came twenty miles to see the missionary, 
and ask to be baptised. He had had no human in 
structor, only the little books, blessed by the teaching 
of the Holy Ghost ; but Mr. Park found him prepared. 
Like the Ethiopian 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 children, and to two other 
men whom he had instructed. 

After this, the missionaries visited the village occa 
sionally about once a year or so ; but Mhasoba and 
the other converts have carried on the work them 
selves. He taught his daughter to read, and she 
now regularly teaches the other women to read, and 



26 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

sew, and sing. The work has spread to other villages, 
and now there are sixty adults and twenty-eight 
children baptised. These people receive no regular 
pecuniary help from the parent Mission in Sholapore. 
They work at their calling, whatever that may be, 
and give regularly of their great poverty 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 welcomed everywhere. 
The people beg these Christians 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 heathen people in the village helped them 
to build. They got but very small contributions 
towards 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 
rnoat all round, with some water in it, and some 
lovely water-lilies. A legend says that when this 
Fort was being built, the walls repeatedly 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 



POONASHOLAPORE. 27 

god, and to cure this unsatisfactory state of matters, 
it was resolved to offer a human sacrifice. Accord 
ingly a woman and a boy were buried alive in the 
foundations, after which the building proceeded 
without further accident, and the walls fell down 
no more. We were told that the Brahman family 
who had the honour of contributing the victims for 
the sacrifice, actually now receive a pension in con 
sideration of this act of devotion and patriotism ! 

Dr. Mitchell preached twice on Sunday, the 
morning service being chiefly for the officials 
connected with the railway and their families, on 
each one 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 fifty-eight 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 isolated 
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 Eaichore, 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 prepared, 
with our excellent factotum, Joseph, to depart. 

At two in the morning of the 26th, I turned our 



28 IN SOUTHERN INDIA 

friends' dwelling upside down by having to start, 
there being no train suitable at a less inconvenient 
hour ; and my kindest of hosts insisted on escorting 
me. His influence with the powers of the raihvay 
procured me a carriage free, at least, of human 
company ; for the rest, I spied a mighty cockroach 
on the cushion, glowering at me with malignant eyes 
at having his monopoly disturbed. He was soon 
dislodged, however, and I took possession, and knew 
little more until the dawn looked in at the windows, 
and woke me up to the noise and monotony, and 
dust and fatigue, and all the general discomfort of 
a long Indian railway journey. But presently, 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 turmoil 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, burnt-up, and perfect solitudes, as far 



POONASHOLAPORE. 29 

as human habitation went, 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; and, 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 Musulman 
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 Ali. One or 
two elephants, with glittering howdahs, 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 picturesque 
groups, clothed in their Turkey-red ' cloths,' and 
surrounded by their little naked, brown children, 
and quantities of gutries, the inevitable bundle 
without which no Hindu 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 in her arms, 
and showing the utmost freedom and grace of move 
ment. A water-chatty or basket is nothing after a 
bottle ! How gracefully these women contrive to 
wear the sari, the long, scarf-like garment which is 



30 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the usual dress of Hindu women. It is wound round 
the person, with the end carried over the head, after 
the modest fashion of most Eastern women. This 
garment may be coloured or white. Generally, 
the higher classes wear it of some colour, while 
servants and ayahs wear it white ; but all with gay 
bordering round, and very elaborate ends. The 
prevailing colour 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, colour, 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 gipsy 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 magni 
ficent, sea-like stream, but now it was simply a 
wide expanse of sand, with a few small shallow 
streamlets flowing dully here and there. 

Soon after this, we got to Eaichore, where I 
spied my husband waiting on the platform. He 
had had one or two hearty meetings, and altogether 
enjoyed the little ministry in these 'regions beyond.' 
There are always sorrowing people, and sick, whose 
hearts are soft, where the furrows have gone deep, 
who are ready and thankful to receive the good and 
comforting seed of the Word into the prepared soil. 



POONASHOLAPORE. 31 

It is always a joy to minister to such ; and he 
had been most hospitably entertained by the kindly 
people. 

The heat is much greater here than in the regions 
from which we have come, and has not tended 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 
w T as travelling alone, and often, when we stopped, I 
got out and spoke to her, sometimes going in to 
keep her company between two stations. She was 
extremely nice and intelligent,, and talked Hindu 
stani. 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 for my attention 
to his wife. We found she was the daughter of 
Sir T. Madhavarao of Baroda, and he a Brahmin 
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 installed, and were now returning 



32 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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. 




A PRIEST OF SIVA. 



CHAPTEK III. 

MADRAS. 



February 1st. 



ANYONE 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 coming 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. Eae, 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. Eae having lately 
undertaken 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 ; and now it is 
delightful to find Mrs. Eae taking up the work heart 
and soul. She and hers have just removed from 
their pleasant, roomy house, with its grounds and 

c 



34 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 wonderingly 
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. Banboo, 
names well known to all who care for Missions. 
Principal Miller and Mr. Cooper, of the Christian 
College, speedily followed. We all breakfasted 
together, and ere long we had been welcomed 
by all the missionaries of our own Church, and 
many others besides. 

I soon found my way downstairs among Mrs. 
Eae's large flock of schoolgirls and normal pupils, 
with their teacher, Mrs. Harris ; and I was glad 
to find some old acquaintances among them whom 
I had seen on a former visit. One of the most 
important and interesting parts of Mrs. Eae's work 
is a Bible class for advanced students, which she 
conducts every day, Sundays and weekdays, from 
jjeven to eight in the morning. I delight in this 
hour, with its admirable instruction for the training 



MADRAS. 35 

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 sightseeing has been almost 
entirely confined to schools and other operations 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 enclosures, 
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 Washington is called the 
city of ' magnificent distances,' 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 harbours, or 
even a reasonably safe approach by the natural way 
to it, the sea. On this coast the surf-wave is 



36 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

very dangerous : even in fine weather it rises several 
feet ; and everyone 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 entirely 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 themselves 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. 

An unusually wide and beautifully-kept road 
stretches along the beach for miles. This is The 
Drive, where everyone 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 drawbacks 
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 unspeakable 
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 



MADRAS. 39 

buildings which form the head-quarters of the old- 
established and well-known Free Church Mission. 
First in the line comes the Boarding School, corre 
sponding in decoration and appearance with its next 
neighbour, the Christian College, which is a very 
handsome and extensive building. Next comes the 
Free Church, and, last, the Evangelistic Memorial 
Hall. These present an imposing front to the 
sea, and certainly give the Mission a striking and 
desirable visibility in the eyes of the natives. There 
is a new and handsome verandah added to this 
school, which is our favourite haunt. It is shady 
and cool, and bowery with numbers of pretty plants ; 
for here, as everywhere in and about the house, 
the aesthetic tastes of its mistress are apparent. 

From the verandah there is a glorious view of the 
sea. It stretches before us a vast expanse, bounded 
by the wide horizon, the waters of the darkest blue, 
generally restless and crested with white, and some 
times wildly tumultuous, rising, when there is 
anything of a storm, to grand sublimity, and looking 
the very type of power, as one magnificent billow 
after another comes rolling up with thundering din, 
and breaks on the rocky shore. But, usually, at this 
season ' old Ocean smiles '; and the dancing, sparkling 
blue below is responsive to the sunlit blue of the sky 
above. Then the scene is beautiful. Or when the 
golden light of evening floods both earth and sea, as 
now, while I write, and a tender peace steals over 
everything, even this restless, tossing tide. The 
heart then seems filled with corresponding peace, 
and all things within and without blend in harmony- 
Then it is as if one united ' sacrifice of praise ' rose 



40 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

to Him who gave the beauty and the peace, and who 
is Himself ' the first good, first perfect, and first 
fair.' 

'For the beauty of each hour 

Of the day and of the night, 
Hill, and vale, and tree, and flower, 

Sun and moon, and stars of light, 
Christ, our Lord, to Thee we raise 
This our sacrifice of praise.' 

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 lowest 
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 
Kev. 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 death-blow 
was given to all caste distinctions within its walls. 
The year after it was opened, the admirable John 



MADRAS. 41 

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 offending Pariahs ; but he was firm 
as a rock. No ; he went on with his two low-caste 




A WATEB-CABRIER. 



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. 



42 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 Christian'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 attention of the 
pupils, and the eager, earnest look with which they 
received the lesson, I should say that the Bible 
class is one of the most popular in the work of 
the day. 

Unfortunately, the college is not yet in full working 
order, as the pupils are only gathering after the 
recess. The results of the University examinations 
have not yet been made known ; consequently, it is 
not possible to reconstruct the classes. But the 
class-rooms are full, and the benches crowded ; and 
still candidates for admission 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 numbers of disappointed lads hanging about the 
corridors 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 noticed one tall, 
lanky youth towering beside a very small boy with 



MADRAS. 43 

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 begun learning too late in life* 
though he was intensely earnest about it. It was 
touching to see the two, the little one trying to hide 
the deficiencies of the older, and looking all the time 
out of the corner of his quick eye to see whether 
Dr. Miller noticed, which, of course, he did, but said 
nothing; he only smiled at the small Ramasarny, 
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 picturesque. The 
head-gear was especially remarkable and varied, the 
huge white bunchy turban predominating. 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-com 
plexioned more so a good deal than the Marathas 
with opn, good-humoured expression, and more 
thoughtful in look than sharp or intellectual. I 
think it was all more novel and interesting in this 
transition state than if everything had been in 
shape as usual, and the students at their ordinary 
work. 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 anxiety on others ; 
some seemed full of despair, and others defiant. 
What was their fate to be ? Who would ' pass ' ? 



44 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Who would be 'plucked'? These were the momentous 
questions which were pressing on every heart. One 
could not but sympathise, so much depended upon 
it in their future, 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 
are so puzzling to a new ear), individualising 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 stimu 
lating 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 native teachers. We saw 
Mr. Paterson amid his philosophical and chemical 
apparatus, Mr. Eae 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 honours it stands 
first. But, what is of infinitely more importance, 
the whole influence, the genius of the place, is 



MADRAS. 



45 



Christianity. The flower of the 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 enlightenment is spreading, surely and 
steadily, not only in the city of Madras, but in all 
the Presidency. 




A YOGI ENGAGED IN MEDITATION. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

MADRAS FEMALE 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 manner over a number 
which they have ably superintended 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 chequered history, 
like similar efforts in the other Presidencies. There 
was a fight, of course, at the commencement a hard 
struggle with seemingly insuperable difficulties ups 
and downs, hopes and fears ; but with determina 
tion, energy, perseverance, and unfailing faith, the 
cause has been fought by every missionary who 
successively settled in the country. The early 
Danish missionaries tried to establish schools for 
girls ; and every society which came after them 
followed their example, and did its best. Some 
brave and devoted women, whose names are still 
remembered with veneration, succeeded, after many 



MADRAS FEMALE WORK. 47 

self-denying efforts, in establishing 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 people. 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 
Hindu community remained utterly untouched. 
It was reserved for three Scottish missionaries a 
singular triumvirate of much-honoured men, Messrs. 
Anderson, Johnstone, and Braidwood to succeed, 
and establish what we may really call female educa 
tion in this part of India. They had successfully 
introduced high-class English education for the men; 
and now, with immense difficulty, by very slow 
degrees, and by God's blessing and help, they 
accomplished the same for the women. 

It was in 1843 that 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 bringing 
their influence to bear on the young husbands and 
brothers who were being taught in the Institution, 
or English School. Indeed, without the co-operation 
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. 



48 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 vigour. 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 steadily 
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 a check was experienced from the 
very success of the work. Five of the pupils became 
Christians, and were baptised. This created 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 




MADRAS FEMALE WORK. 49 

over 1,400. Altogether, counting also trie pupils in 
the zenanas, those in poor and ragged schools, 
those in the Boarding School for Christian Girls, 
and the students in the Normal School, we have 
the large number of 1,800 females under Christian 
instruction. 

Other agencies, also, are at work, such as zenana- 
teaching, Sunday-schools, and Bible-women's work. 
The people generally are eager for education ; 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 with 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 suitable and good, I confess I covet similar 
ones for other places not so highly favoured. 

Mr. RajahgopaTs new building for his Chetty 
school is specially handsome a cool, convenient, 
spacious house, with verandahs, 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 intelligent, 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/ 

D 



50 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 entirely 
to themselves, and do not intermarry with any 
other. 

They still manifest much opposition to the 
Gospel, and do not quite like the Christian teaching 
for their girls. So they have set up some opposition 
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 showing this were 
related to me by Mr. Rajahgopal ; but I am afraid 
it would not be prudent to tell them here. The 
Chetties are a very rich community, and the amount 
of beautiful jewels they heap on their children is 
wonderful to see. 

Mr. Eajahgopal has a capital Bagged-school, which 
was one of the most interesting we saw. He has 
some two hundred and fifty 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 delightful premises lent to Mr. Rajah 
gopal by Government, with excellent schoolrooms, 
a large compound, in which there is plenty of room 
to play, and fine fresh air. An industrial depart 
ment added would be a great boon, with trades for 
the boys, and some simple, paying industry for 
the girls. 



MADRAS-FEMALE WORK. 51 

But what, I think, delighted me most in all that 
we saw was Mr. Bauboo's Normal School, 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 Govern 
ment 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 
displayed in every school, and the children and 
their mothers like it, and are proud of their 
achievements 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 prescribed 
standards ; and grants in aid are provided by Govern 
ment. 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 ; 



52 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and early marriage is, unhappily, as much the rule 
now as it has been for ages. You hardly see a 
pupil in the classes over thirteen, 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 really 
in school may be carried 011 and completed. 
There is this happy 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 Mohammadan conquest 
did not influence the South so much as other parts 
of India, and consequently did not revolutionise 
society by introducing Mohammadan customs 
pre-eminently 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 coming 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 little 
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 honour of our visit. 
The dresses were made in the very height of Paris 
fashion, of rose-coloured and pale blue silk ! But 
with their rich olive complexion, and generally 
Oriental style, they did not look quite so ridiculous 



MADRAS FEMALE WORK. 53 

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 relatives. 

Let us, then, sympathise 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 labours of 
the missionaries. These are of Christ's ' hidden 
ones,' and, though not known to the world, they are 
known to Him. Ah ! they sometimes 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/ree like you ? ' They 
are, indeed, more to be pitied now than ever. 
Why ? Because a glimmering of light has pene 
trated the darkness of these homes ; they see their 
bonds. Formerly they did not know they were 
bound. Now they do ; and they have a suspicion 
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 might be 
theirs as well as ours. ' You are like that dove,' 
said one young woman to me, pointing to a bird on 



54 JN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the wing. ' You are like that 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.' A 
common-place illustration, but how touching and 
true ! 

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 contain your 
feet, and Venetian windows, which will 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, portentous letters. 

In answer to our remonstrances, the civil ' boy ' 
assured us that Madam was out. We deposited 
our cards in the slit, and, hot and grumbling, told 
the weary driver to turn his weary beast again to 
the road. We were hardly at the gate, however, 



MADRAS FEMALE WORK. 55 

when the man came shouting after us. Madam, 
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 drawing-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, 
superintended by Miss Rajahgopal, where Euro 
peans and East Indians chiefly 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 Kindergarten 
system. Here we saw groups of happy little bright 
creatures, busy playing at learning. They dance, 
and sing, and march, and learn their lessons under 
the guise of fun. 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 servants 
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 ' pidgin English ' is in China. This prevalence 
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 drawback. For once, 
we have the sorrow of being unable to speak to the 



56 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

people of India in their own tongue. Hindustani 
is a sort of lingua 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 which 
are as closely allied to each other as the languages 
of Southern Europe. These belong to the Dravidian 
dialects, which, of course, differ entirely 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 Tiruvallavar, who is as great a man 
among the Tamil people, as much revered one 
might almost say worshipped as the poet Tukaram 
is among the Marathas. In regard to race, the 
Hindu element is comparatively small in the 
populations of the South. The Hindu religion, on 
the contrary, has penetrated to a large extent; 
though, on the other hand, it has itself been 
powerfully affected by the demonology of the 
Dravidian 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 



MADRAS-FEMALE WORK. 57 

of the Mission. We afterwards breakfasted with 
the family, and met some pleasant friends. Here 
we had the pleasure of making Miss Cross's 
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. Eae drove me to the Euro 
pean 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 happy. A band was playing in 
the centre of the garden ; and plenty of flags floated 
gaily everywhere ; 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 
trees ; while the rich soft lights of the tropical 
evening 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 



58 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

enjoyed the cool evening air, and pretty, gay, cheery 
scene. 

February 2nd. 

Another of these little school fetes has taken 
place, and I had a very special and delightful 
interest 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 honour of being invited to give away the 
prizes. I need not say what a pleasure this was 
to me. The pretty fete was held in the school in 
Black Town, which was originally founded by Mrs. 
Braidwood ; and when the eventful 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 playing, throwing sparkling 
jets of water over a mass of lovely ferns in pots, 
prettily grouped about the 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 singu 
larly 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 lovely erection, a sort 
of canopy supported by tiny columns, which were 



MADRAS- FEMALE WORK. 59 

all wreathed over with exquisite fronds of delicate 
and rare ferns. It looked a fairy bower, entirely 
fashioned as it was of the long, graceful, feathery 
fronds of freshest green, and was really the prettiest 
decoration of the kind I have ever seen. Below the 
canopy was a table loaded with the beautiful prizes, 
and chairs for those who were to have the honour 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 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. Poor little things, 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 
Hindu 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 



60 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

bearing an inscription and the name of the success 
ful competitor, and on the reverse, a representation 
of the Burning Bush, with the usual legend round 
it : Nee tamen consumebatur ! 

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. Mitchell 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 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 gathered 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 previously; 
and quoted some very laudatory remarks from the 
reports of the different examiners. Altogether, the 



MADRAS FEMALE WORK. 61 

condition of the schools, as to numbers and atten 
dance, the amount of fees paid, and the attainments 
of the scholars, seemed to be highly satisfactory to 
their excellent superintendents, to the parents 
that is, the fathers, for of course the mothers were 
not present, to the missionaries, 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 instruction 
is entirely religious ; and more than this, these little 
Hindu 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 Pettali 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 venture to go at the 
hour, because of a tremendous thunderstorm, on 
arriving somewhat late, she found several little 
creatures assembled notwithstanding the nature of 
the weather. The eldest had given out a hymn, 
and they were singing it when she came in. The 
dear little creatures ! It would have been sweet to 
hear that hymn. 



CHAPTEK V. 

CHINGLEPUT. 

February ktli. 

WE are sitting in a large, cool, airy chamber, opening 
off a shady verandah, in the midst of profound and 
most restful quiet ; truly a great contrast 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 connected 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, seemingly, here, 
when it is hard even to breathe, there being nothing 
bright or elastic in the heavy air. 

Near Madras, the country is generally flat, though 
green, with some fine wood. There is a distant 



CH1NGLEPUT. 63 

background of mountains, however, with one or 
two low, isolated hills in the neighbourhood of the 
city. One of these is St. Thomas's Mount, so called 
from the tradition, preserved especially among the 
Syrian Christians, of St. Thomas's visit to this place. 
There is an old church, I believe, 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 famous protection 
to the occupants from the fierce rays of the tyrant 
sun. The horses also are often decorated ; in their 
case with sola topees, or sun hats, a most benevolent 
arrangement, though having a particularly odd effect. 
We drove through a long, clean bazaar, called the 
Brahman Street, for in this caste -ridden Presidency 
no one of lower caste may live in the quarter sacred 
to these ' 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 



64 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 Brahman has gone on his way. Such is the 
fearful tyranny which this extraordinary law of caste 
still exercises over this fair land, with all its ancient 
boasted civilisation and its modern education 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 themselves, aloof from all 
the rest of the population. 

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 verandah, which is prettily 
embellished with creepers, and plants and flowers in 
pots. It was indeed a restful moment when Mrs. 
Andrew showed me into this large, cool room, where 
the quiet is perfect. A sweet peace, as of the Sabbath, 
reigns, which is very delightful after the toiling and 
moiling, and all the interest and pleasure which 
have been crushed into the past busy week. For, 
besides our own special calling seeing schools and 
all manner of Mission work, we have enjoyed an 
extraordinary amount of the hospitality for which 



CHINGLEPUT. 65 

Madras is proverbial. We have been at some 
most pleasant entertainments, and have met many 
delightful people, including all the missionaries, 
I think, who were invited by Dr. Miller to meet 
us at different times. . . . . 

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 saluriki, now fills the still 
air, and is delicious in its plaintive sweetness. My 
husband tells me this dear little bird is mentioned 
by the great Marathi poet, Tukaram, in lines some 
thing 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 
people, came trooping in to prayers, which Mr. 
Andrew conducted in Tamil. They sat cross-legged 
on the floor, having first reverently removed their 
turbans. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew just now are having 
some hours' hard work at the language, which they 
are studying with great diligence and success. 

In the afternoon, Mrs. Andrew took me out in 
her little pony-carriage (the gift of her father), to 
show me the place where their lot is cast as 



66 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ambassadors for Christ among the heathen. The 
native town is exceptionally 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 
undulating downs, by a succession of low hills, at 
once rocky and green. Some rise in short ranges, 
while some are isolated, with little smiling valleys 
between. The scenery altogether, with its green 
undulations and picturesque knolls and valleys, and 
tiny round hill-tops, put me a good deal in mind of 
Japan. There is plenty of water visible ; the country 
is well cultivated and irrigated, and the tiny rice- 
fields looked very pretty, filled with the tender green 
of the young plant. The sun was near his setting, 
flooding the beautiful scene with a glow of amber 
light. 

We got back to the Institution, or English School, 
just in time for a lecture which Dr. Mitchell gave 
on Japan and China. There was an excellent 
audience, composed entirely of men, excepting two 
or three English ladies who were present. Mr. 
Hope, the judge, was in the chair ; 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 one hundred and twenty 
pupils, all heathen, and many of them grown lads. 
Dr. Mitchell gave them an address on the story 
of Nicodemus, and afterwards put questions which 



CHINGLEPUT. 67 

were readily answered, showing considerable Scrip 
ture knowledge. Tamil services followed, both 
in the forenoon and afternoon, the congregations 
being composed 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. 
Andrew 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 Mission 
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 sympathy toward 
the missionaries personally, as well as 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 utilise the cool, fresh, delicious morning 
hours. The gentlemen, accompanied by two 
evangelists, ' went forth to sow.' They went boldly 
to the Brahmans' quarter 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 little books 
with him. The evangelists everywhere always begin 
with singing, which at once attracts a gathering. 



68 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 earnestness, 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 as Dr. Mitchell put the classes filled 
with crowds of fine, intelligent, eager lads through 
their facings, a process they seemed greatly to 
enjoy. The building, which is spacious and airy, 
and all on one floor, was erected to commemorate 
an excellent man, who once was Judge in the station, 
Mr. Morehead, and who had always taken the most 
cordial interest in Missions. By his influence and 
personal efforts, he did much to promote the good 
cause in Chingleput; and, after his death, this 
excellent Institution was built as a lasting and 
useful monument to his memory. 

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 a hundred pupils present, all children of good- 
caste parents, and were under the charge of one of 
the nicest native Christian ladies I have met. This 
was Mrs. Zynul-abidene (I am always afraid to 
trust myself with Madras names). 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 



CHINGLEPUT. 69 

among the little ones quite con amore. 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 labours 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 baptised by Mr. Anderson.' 

In the afternoon, we took leave of our kind 
friends and returned to Madras, by the slowest 
train, I think, it has been my misfortune to travel 
by. I am sure we could have walked a little faster. 

But our day was not finished ; we arrived just in 
time for a meeting of the Missionary Conference, 
which was held in the Eaes' drawing-room. They 
had most kindly conceived the idea of accelerating 
the usual meeting by a week, that we might be 
present. There was an immense gathering of 
missionaries, with many other friends. Among 
them was a 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. How 
grateful I felt! 

The meeting proved intensely interesting. After 
Mr. Eae had introduced my husband, and he had 
spoken a little, he was well questioned regarding 
the Mission fields he had visited, especially 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 



70 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

were very valuable from such men as Dr. Scudder and 
Mr. Noyes, two of the oldest and most experienced 
of the American missionaries, Mr. Sell of the 
C.M.S., Dr. Chamberlain, Dr. Elder, Mr. Rajah- 
gopal, Mr. Satyanadhan, 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, standing, 
intelligence, and also in the still more important 
matter of moral and religious character. Unfortu 
nately, caste is not yet wholly rooted out from 
some of the native Christian communities. There 
still seems to be a tendency to keep up caste 
distinctions socially ; and the converts belonging 
to different castes, though to 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 ordinances 
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 Society 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. 



CHINGLEPUT. 71 

I paid some final visits among the zenanas, saying 
many good-byes ; 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. Kae's Bible class 
interesting, earnest young men, who seem near the 
Kingdom ; all our missionaries and professors came : 
and our 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. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE EAELT 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, not what I have merely read, or other people 
have seen and observed, yet a few words on the 
past history of these most interesting Mission fields 
may not be unwelcome, to make what follows more 
comprehensible. A heart which beats at all in 
sympathy 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 
Tanjore, Palamcotta, Madura, Nagercoil, and many 
others, which have stood out so conspicuously in the 
history of Missions. These are places where the 
everlasting Gospel has had some of its most striking 
truimphs, where a large harvest of souls has been 
gathered out of the darkest heathenism into the 
light and blessedness of Christianity. 

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 heathendom 
still lay in profound darkness. But, happily, there 
was a Danish settlement on this coast, at the South, 



THE EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA. 73 

where missionaries were welcomed and allowed to 
settle ; and so, while the rest of 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 remember that Missions 
began in the South of India much sooner than in 
the North. In Western India their commencement 
was in 1813 a full century later than in Madras. 

The first Protestant Mission in India was planted 
in Tranquebar, and to Denmark belongs the honour 
of having equipped and sent it forth. Not only so ; 
the enterprise owed its origin to King Frederick iv., 
who commissioned the devoted Professor 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 Ziegenbalg 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 Protestant 
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 Divine love the hope of her 
future, the charter of her salvation ! 

When these humble missionaries set foot upon 
the strand, the day-star had risen on this Eastern 
world, and the angels had begun to sing over it their 
joyous song. I wonder what the scoffing Brahmans 



74 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

would have thought, or the proud Musulman! 
They little knew that, with these two simple, un 
known 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. And it is changing, thank 
God ! Emancipation, freedom, enlightenment, and 
all the blessings which accompany that glorious 
religion which God gave to the world, and the 
world so much needs, are partly come, and certainly 
coming; not so quickly perhaps as they came in 
the West, or as our impatient hearts would desire ; 
but as surely as Ziegenbalg and Plutschau, and their 
noble successors from many lands and churches, 
came and preached the everlasting Gospel to this 
people, so surely will it go on to its victorious end, 
and win all India for Christ. These, and other 
missionary heroes, deserve to be held in honourable 
remembrance quite as much as Olive and the other 
heroes who won India for Britain. 

Tranquebar in 1706, as I said, 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 obtained permission to build their 
first church, which was erected on a site by the 
sea-shore, 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 



THE EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA. 75 

men studied the Tamil language diligently, 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 Griindler. 
Then afterwards came Dr. Schultze ; and from 
time to time many other excellent coadjutors 
joined the Mission band, until, after a few years, 
there were as many as eight men labouring 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 labours of the first two 
men that they began to gather in their sheaves, 
and the first converts were baptised. There were 
nine adults baptised together; and these formed 
the nucleus of the now large and flourishing 
Tamil Church of Southern India. 

But we must not forget, that though this venerable 
Mission was established by Denmark, it may be said 
to have been connected from the beginning with 
both Germany and England. The first missionaries 
were Germans; and funds were occasionally sent 
them from Germany. Then, from 1709, our own 
country took the liveliest interest 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 preached in the Savoy and 
Eoyal Chapels, and received generous donations, 
which were a great help in the work. The 
funds from Denmark did not always arrive with 
punctuality ; and, in times of need, the Society for 



76 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Promoting Christian Knowledge still further in 
creased its grants. Thus the struggling, hard- 
worked people at Tranquebar were effectually 
helped and remembered. 

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 Propagation 
of the Gospel ; and by-and-by, when the former 
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 transference was 
accomplished in 1828 ; and from that time this 
Society became still more closely connected with 
the Tranquebar Mission. 

The first fifty 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, churches 
built, native pastors ordained, a printing press set up, 
tracts had been written and widely circulated, and 
the Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments, 
had been translated into Tamil, and also into 
Telugu. The blessing of God had manifestly rested 
on the Mission ; and when these fifty years were 
accomplished and its jubilee had come, the converts 
numbered eleven thousand. Literally, ' the little 
one had become a thousand, and the small one a 
strong nation.' 



THE EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA. 77 

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 accom 
plished, 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 living and 
true God, must have carried reproach to many a 
faint as well as careless heart, though encourage 
ment and hope to others who had begun to feel they 
had a responsibility in this matter. I like to think 
what the effect on the Churches must have been 
so little awake as yet to the grand duty of making 
Christ known among the nations. Strange it was, 
when so many centuries had come and gone since 
the Lord Jesus had given the glorious command that 
' repentance and remission of sins should be preached 
to all nations ' in His name ! But the awakening 
was near. 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 
heathen 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. 

This awakening, though it came gradually at 
first, was contemporaneous with others relating to 
matters in our own land, when humanity and 



78 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

philanthropy 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 considered. Grand institutions like the Religious 
Tract Society, and the glorious 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 little light kindled so wonderfully in 
South India was as a beacon-light of hope to the 
world ! And now, thank God ! in the present 
happy days, not India only, but China, Africa, the 
Islands of the Sea, nearly ' all nations,' have that 
glorious message declared to them, which was left 
so graciously as a legacy to His Church by the 
Lord Himself. 

The way in which the truth spread from 
Tranquebar into the neighbouring 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 wonderful book, that he began to copy 
the whole on palmyra leaves. Soon after, hearing 
that there were missionaries only fifty miles away, 
he sought them, received instruction, and eventually 
joined their Church. Much opposition was made by 
the Jesuits, and also by his family. The latter, 
however, influenced and instructed by him, were in 




SCHWARTZ. 



THE EARLY MISSIONS TO INDIA. 81 

time one and all converted, and admitted into the 
Church. But sore persecution followed. At one 
time Kajnaiken 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 Eajnaiken ; and 
he worked faithfully and efficiently as a missionary 
among his own people for full forty years. 

With the" entrance of the truth into Tanjore, the 
name of another missionary hero is inseparably 
connected. This was the celebrated and devoted 
Schwartz. He founded a Mission in Trichinopoly, 
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 (though now, I believe, his tomb is else 
where), and the simple inscription, in Latin, which 
the venerable building bears : ' This house of prayer 
was built A.D. 1779.' * 

But I anticipate. Let me now proceed with the 
narrative of our journey, telling, as so strictly 
enjoined by many at home to do, what we have seen 
among these interesting Missions. It would indeed 
be selfish to keep all the pleasure and instruction 
we have so richly gathered to ourselves. 

1 I do not attempt any account of Eoman Catholic Missions. 
These began two centuries before the time of Ziegenbalg. 

F 



CHAPTER VII. 

TANJOBE. 

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 twenty hours in the unlovely com 
partment 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 Ca.pe, 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., en route; and so on to the Blue Hills, the 
famed Nielgkerries. 

One of the odd things about this primitive railway 
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, cushionless 
carriages, with their hard, narrow benches. It is 
certainly pleasanter to travel on a shady day like 
this, than when the fierce, furious sun is streaming 
mercilessly in at curtainless windows ; and a bright 



TANJORE. 83 

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. 
By a little occasional watering when we halted, 
they remained fresh to the end; and I wondered 
sometimes if these kind people knew, or ever 
imagined, that in this little act of graceful attention 
they had really given a ' cup of cold water,' which 
oft refreshed us during the long, dusty travel. 

One of the many fallacies current at home con 
cerning things Indian is, that roses have here no 
perfume. On the contrary, some vases full of 
beautiful roses, which stand beside me now, as I 
write, are sending forth the most delicate and 
delicious odour, and are quite as sweet-scented as 
if they had had the advantage of growing in our 
own favoured isle. It is true, however, that some 
Indian flowers have no scent at all ; while others, 
especially those of flowering shrubs, are often 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 intercourse. He 
has come under that wonderful personal influence 
which Dr. Miller and his colleagues exercise so 
largely over young men. He has also enjoyed the 
training which Mr. Bae gives in his admirable Bible 
class, and he certainly is, in one sense, a believer. 



84 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 something so peculiarly attractive about 
him. He stood there, in his snow-white starched 
coat, and bunchy, loose turban, his open, honest face 
beaming with a light which surely 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. God grant that he 
may not neglect or stifle his convictions, as so many 
have done ! His was the last face we saw as he 
followed our moving train down the platform and 
salaamed his adieus. 

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 favourite class ; and, indeed, it is 
easy for visitors to see that this is the case, from 
the intense and thoughtful interest depicted on 
every face as the teacher goes on opening up and 
questioning the students on the sacred theme. All 
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 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 



TANJORE. 85 

here and there soon -begin to dot the plains ; but 
they look stunted and scraggy, especially 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, pastoral 
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, standing 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 watercourse, 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, 
can only flourish and be green when abundantly 
watered with heavenly dews by Him who is Himself 
' as the dew unto Israel.' As I watched the 
cultivator open a little sluice in the watercourse, 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,' seemed to gain new significance 



86 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 road-side, everywhere, 
are idol shrines, or 'Swami houses,' or grotesque, ugly 
images, smeared over with flaming red paint ; while 
in every town, of any size, the tall Gopuram, or 
pyramidal top of some pagoda, 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 wilderness 
of heathenism. The Mission at this place is 
conducted by Miss Eeade. She is the daughter of 
a Madras civilian who was long in this district. To 
any who are unacquainted with this most interesting 
work, I would recommend a little book, entitled 
'Punrooty,' by Miss Lowe, which tells the story of 
Miss Eeade's Mission far better than I could, even 
if we had seen it. It was a great disappointment 
not to see it ; but time pressed, and Miss Eeade 
was absent in Europe, her health having completely 
failed under her manifold labours. Her large 
Orphanage for girls, gathered during the famine, is, 
however, in full operation, and the Mission is 
carried on by efficient workers. A friend, who 
knows her well, writes to me thus : ' Miss Reade 



TANJORE. 87 

itinerates much in all the district, giving addresses 
both in Tamil and Hindoostanee. 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 instrumentality, 
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 Keade's example ? 

We have long and frequent halts, though this is 
the mail-train. My husband gets out and talks to 
the people who throng the stations, for we desire 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 wonderful how wide-spread 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 Madrasees employed 
by Government, or on the railway, who had been 
students at our College in Madras. Our French 



88 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

friend, who was quite as dark-complexioned as any 
native, became very confidential on the subject 
of her own history, and that of Pondicherry, 
still a French settlement, where she had spent her 
life. She described it as bien triste ; she thought 
Paris might be a more cheerful place of abode, and 
certainly Madras was, but cordially invited us to 
come and see for ourselves. If we had only had 
the time, I should like to have seen the old place 
not certainly for its present attractions, but for 
its interesting past. 

We had intended, on reaching Tanjore, to put up 
at the Travellers' Bungalow that refuge for the 
pilgrim and stranger which a paternal Government 
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 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 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 



TANJORE. 89 

ere long 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 jilmils, or Venetian 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 Eev. J. H. Moore, 
now of Elmwood, Belfast, but then 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 also a former friend were most 
hospitable and kind. Our hostess is 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 greeting, to which her 
husband's was soon added ! 

We could now, indeed, see Tanjore under the best 
possible auspices. Their kindness was simply 
unwearied and unbounded, as well as the pains they 
took to let us see and understand everything in this 
old city, so wonderfully interesting in many aspects. 

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 horizon, except where a 
range of far-off, dreamy hills, faintly discernible in 



90 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 admiration, 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 sovereignty 
of the Marathas. It seems to have become subject 
to the Chieftain Shahji in the year 1661. This was 
the father of the great Shivaji, who founded the 
Maratha empire. The fine old Eajah Sarfoji, who 
was the devoted friend of the missionary Schwartz, 
was one of this line of Tanjore princes. The last 
Kajah, who died in 3855, unfortunately had no 
male issue ; so, according to the policy which then 
ruled in English councils, the sovereignty lapsed 
to the Honourable East India Company. I fancy 
this annexation policy has not quite so many 



TANJORE. 93 

supporters as it once had; but, meanwhile, it is 
not bad for Tanjore that it is under the benign 
rule of Britain. 

Though this last Rajah had no son, he left two 
daughters : one of these has since died, and the 
other, who is called the Princess, is now the 
recognised representative of royalty in all that 
remains of the native court. There are plenty of 
Ranis, or queens, in the palace, but they are of no 
account : they are only the widows of the late Rajah ; 
and there is not a son among them, alas ! Had even 
one of them been the happy mother of a son, what a 
change the circumstance would have caused ! The 
nobody would have become a person of consequence 
at once. As it is, the Princess is the Great Lady, 
and her husband, Sakharam Saheb quite a Maratha 
name is called the Prince Consort. 

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. 

There are two Missions in operation in the city 
now : this one in connection with the Leipzig 
Lutheran Society, and the other belonging to the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel the well- 



94 /A r SOUTHERN INDIA. 

known S. P. G. which, as I related in the last chapter, 
early began to work in South India. Both Missions, 
I believe, have their head-quarters at Tranquebar, 
and both claim to be the successors of the first old 
Danish Mission. Each Society seems to have had 
congregations, lands, and buildings handed over to 
it either by the missionaries or by the Eoyal Mission 
College at Copenhagen, and thus they divide the 
honour of the succession between them ; though we 
must not forget that the Germans were the first to 
start Protestant Missions in India. After all, the 
true successors of the grand old pioneers are surely 
those on whom their mantle has fallen, to whom has 
been transmitted most of the courageous, devoted 
spirit which animated them. I confess I wish very 
much that another Society or Church and that a 
purely Evangelical one would go in and share the 
work in this exceedingly important and still most 
needy centre. I am sure there is ample room. 

We were delighted with the tall, pleasant German 
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 are directly 
under the missionary's eye. The church also stands 
conspicuous at one side of the spacious enclosure. 
It is a fine, large, white building, airy and roomy 
inside, with some pretty coloured-glass windows, and 
memorial slabs on the walls. The floor is com 
fortably 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 



TANJORE. 95 

thus it holds a larger congregation. Some of the 
native Christians, hearing of our arrival, gathered 
about the church door, and gave us the most kindly, 
warm greeting. We had some very nice talk with 
them, especially with two elder men, who are 
catechists, or rather pastors, and assist Mr. Pam- 
perien chiefly in the village and district work. The 
furthest station occupied by the Mission is thirty-six 
miles off. Mr. Pamperien told us that ten thousand 
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 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. Being one of those gentlemen 
who now-a-days walk in long robes more 
numerous in India than once was the case he was 
habited from head to foot in a very long white coat, 
confined at the waist by a knotted cord of thick 
black silk twist, There are three knots those, I 
am told, of obedience, poverty, and celibacy. We 
found afterwards, however, that one of these 
missionary gentlemen was about to cut the knot of 
celibacy, and tie one of matrimony instead, which 
I thought was a most sensible exchange. 

Mr. Blake was extremely kind, and took us all 
through the quaint, queer, white-washed native 



96 IN SOUl^HERN INDIA. 

building, where every room and corner seemed turned 
into class-rooms. These were filled with some 
three to four hundred lads, who looked bright and 
intelligent. The Madrasees have, as a rule, honest, 
good-humoured countenances, broader of feature and 
darker in complexion than the Marathas ; more open, 
perhaps, 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. 
' Oh ! ' 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 education 
for its own sake is not yet always the attraction 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 salvation of their immortal 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 



TAN/ORE. 97 

taught by Mrs. Gahan and her daughter, also ac 
commodated in the Fort. There were sixty-three 
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 school-girl hand, but well expressed in good 
English, thanking her for some kindness done to 
her, and saying how grateful she is to ' the good 
Collector,' as she calls Mr. Buick. 

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 
authority as the representative of the English 
Government, and we were received at the entrance 
by the guard, who beat a salute in honour of the 
visitors. The Sirkele of the palace, or Prime 
Minister, was waiting with a grand retinue of 
smaller officials, red-coated peons, and all manner 
of attendants, 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 
pathetic there is such an extraordinary mingling of 
ruin and decay, with relics of old court pageantry 
and pomp, and tawdry finery, and barbaric splendour. 
In the same way, some of the rooms are exceedingly 
handsome, while the labyrinthine passages 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 gatherum of old State 

G 



98 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

property weapons, saddles, and rich saddle-cloths 
of gold, splendid shawls, quaint turbans which 
had graced the heads of the old Eajahs, old 
chairs of state, and many other relics, too numerous 
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 
stands, under which is the Gadi, or throne. The 
walls are decorated with some portraits, very well 
painted, of one of the Rajahs with a Dewan, or 
minister, on each side of him. On the same side 
of the quadrangle is the library, full of dusty old 
tomes, a very valuable collection, I believe, 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 proportions, with a highly-polished floor, 
and some fine pillars. In this hall is the beautiful 
statue, in white marble, of the father of the last 
Rajah, which stands on a magnificent slab of 
black marble or porphyry, I am not sure which. 
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. This was 
long before he finally settled here. I find this 
account in a letter to Professor Franke, given in 
an interesting old book by Pastor Fenger, and 
translated from the Danish. The letter is so quaint 



TANJORE. 99 

that I may quote one or two passages. It is dated 
3rd June, 1769. He says : ' After the English had 
concluded a peace with Hyder Ali, I went to Tanjore 
. . . . I preached three times every day, and 
had many conferences with the heathen. The king 
sent word that he wished to speak to me. On the 
30th of April, after I had preached to the Tamil 
congregation on Prayer, I was summoned to the 
Fort. From eleven o'clock in the morning till five 
I was at the Castle, talking to all sorts of people till 
I was quite tired. A Brahman asked me how we 
could overcome our fleshly lusts. I pointed out the 
Saviour of the world to him. ... To others I 
preached on the deep-seated corruption of man. . . . 
When I arrived at the palace, there were many 
hundred writers, accountants, and servants, who 
were very friendly, and wished that I might preach 
in such a way that injustice and godless manners 
might be annihilated. Till five o'clock I remained 
in a place where the king sometimes shows himself 
in public. Then I was led through many dark 
passages to the king, who sat in a four-cornered 
space, on a bed made fast at the roof, so that he 
could rock himself. His servants were ranged at 
his feet on both sides. Opposite to him, at a 
distance of ten or twelve feet, a chair was placed 
for me.' Then follows a long account of his 
conversation with the king, who asked many 
intelligent questions, such as, ' Why do some Euro 
peans refuse to worship images, while others, like 
the French and Portuguese, worship them ? ' He 
also asked, 'How man can attain to a knowledge 
of God?' Schwartz records his answers. He 



ioo IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

preached the Gospel freely to the king and the 
assembled Court, and thus concludes : ' Here I 
was interrupted, for pastry was brought in, of 
which I was required to partake. I ate a little, 
and said that we Christians, when we enjoy bodily 
comforts, or meat or drink, thank God for them. 
At the king's request, I then said a prayer. He 
wished also to hear a hymn, as he had heard it was 
our custom to sing. I had the hymn " Mein Gott, 
das Herze bring' ich dir," translated [into Tamil] 
by our brother Fabricius with me, of which I sang 
the three first verses. . . . The king expressed 
himself much pleased, and said he had never heard 
such things before. I answered that I wished him 
all good things and blessings from my heart, and 
then took my leave.' 

When Schwartz afterwards had to leave Tanjore, 
this heathen king sent him a message, saying, 
' Remember, you are my Padre.' 

It was a disappointment to us that the Princess 
was not at home. She and her Consort were away 
at Baroda, at the grand doings on the Gaekwar's 
accession. We saw her state reception rooms, 
however, which are very handsome, and full of 
modern adornments, such as carpets, mirrors, 
chandeliers, etc. There are some pictures also, 
of the Queen, Lord Lytton, and others, and 
some good French prints. At the upper end, 
there is a raised dais, with great chairs beneath 
a canopy, where Her Eoyal 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 



TANJORE. 101 

the apartment below. Here her Consort presides 
for her. 

We finished our interesting investigations in the 
palace by a visit to the old Banis, the widows of 
the last Eajah. Having threaded some more dark 
passages and courts, still led by the SirJcele a 
most intelligent, pleasant man, who speaks English 
perfectly we ascended a steep, short stair leading 
to their apartments, where we were received with 
great courtesy by a weak-looking young man, the 
adopted son of one of the Eanis. There was little 
of the grandeur of a palace visible. We were 
ushered into an apartment, handsome as to pro 
portions, 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 surrounded by a number of women of 
different ages. The principal wife is a grey-haired, 
withered old woman ; but many of those we saw 
must have been perfect children when the old man 
died. He left seventeen widows, twelve of whom 
are still alive. I cannot say they looked interesting, 
but one could not help one's heart going out to them 
in pity, with a longing desire to give them something 
which might brighten their cheerless, empty lives. 
They were greatly pleased when I spoke to them in 
Marathi; though I don't think they really knew 
much of the language. My husband, too, talked to 
them a good deal from outside the purdah. He 
says they spoke to him in a harsh form of Marathi ; 



102 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

but the language they talk among themselves is 
Tamil. They wore no jewels, being widows ; but 
a relative, a pretty, bright young girl just lately 
married, came in literally smothered in jewels and 
finery, and formed a great contrast to the faded 
women who filled the room. They spoke of their 
wrongs, and seemed discontented and unhappy; 
but we did not comprehend much of what they 
said. 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 
depressed. 

The Temple, or Pagoda, at Tanjore is a magnificent 
structure, and we saw as much of it and its wonder 
ful 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. 
This figure, the natives say, was first a calf size, 
then a cow's, and now it is as big as an elephant ; 
but the foreigners came, and the growth was stopped, 
or who knows but in time it might have grown 
up to heaven itself ! The Brahmans say also that 
the tower of this temple ' throws no shadow.' As it 
was evening when we saw it, and no sun shining 
at the time, we could not test the truth of this last 
assertion. 



TANJORE. 105 

There are inscriptions all round the base, which 
have been translated by the learned civilian, Dr. 
Burnell. The court is handsome and very spacious, 
with cloisters all round, in which are small symbols 
of Shiva. There is a second temple in the enclosure, 
dedicated to Subrahmanya, the son of Shiva, which 
is also of the usual elaborate construction, and 
has a beautiful goparam or tower. In a chamber 
connected with the pagoda, there is a series of 
portraits, life size, of the Koyal 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 eighty tons. All these temples belong to the 
senior Rani at the palace, who pays the pujdris, 
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 and dread 
of the Brahmans to a very great extent. 

But certainly the interest of our stay in Tanjore 
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 realise the expectations awakened 
by the past. 

It is not that there is so much to see or tell about 



106 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

in the touching old chapel, though we felt it to be 
so infinitely more interesting than any simply classic 
ground could ever be : 

' Above all Greek, above all Roman fame.' 

It is an unpretending, plain, barn-like building, with 
no ecclesiastical pretensions at all a bare stone 
floor, white-washed walls, no seats of any sort, only 
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 pre 
servation, or might be, if ordinary care were taken 
to preserve it. One would like to see an edifice like 
this cared for, which has received the consecration 
it has enjoyed, and filled daily for God's worship. 
Surely it is the truest and highest consecration 
which comes from the faithful teachings of men like 
those who here ' preached boldly in the Lord,' and 
gathered out a people for Him from the heathen 
round. 

But another interest attaches to the church 
besides its hallowed memories. The celebrated 
monument by Flaxman, erected to the memory 
of Schwartz by the Hajari Sarfoji, is placed in the 
wall inside at the end of the building. It is a very 
beautiful bas-relief in white marble, representing 
the dying missionary, his countenance full of a 
bright, beaming calm, and 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. 



TANJORE. 107 

A few of Schwartz's pupils stand about, and some 
of the king's ministers behind. It is a most lovely 
work of art, and tells its touching -and strange story 
exquisitely. The inscription is in English. 

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 respect 
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, 
' Oh ! gentlemen, that you were but able to send 
missionaries here who should resemble 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 labourers into His vineyard? 

Another monument was erected to Schwartz by 
the Honourable East India Company. It stands 
in the Fort Church, in Madras. 

This King Sarfoji, who so loved Schwartz, and 
was his beloved pupil, is not the same referred to 
by him in his letter to Franke, describing his first 
visit to Tanjore. It was not for some years after 
that interview, that he finally settled in the place. 

The brief history is this. In 1749, Schwartz was 
ordained at Copenhagen, sailed from London, and 
arrived at Cuddalore the following year, and at once 
joined the Mission circle at Tranquebar. ' By the 



io8 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 
Thy word I will let down the net ; and when they 
had done this they enclosed a great multitude of 
fishes.' He adds : ' God has wrought in me humility 
and a child- like 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 Trichinopoly where he 
founded a branch of the Mission ; 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 congre 
gation together, training some of the more able 
from among his converts to be pastors, evangelists, 
and teachers. He laboured for twenty years in 
Tanjore, and is said to have baptised over two 
thousand persons, many of whom were of high 
caste. He died on the 13th February, 1798, in 
the seventy-second year of his age, after forty-seven 
years of actual service in the Mission field. His 
brother missionary, Mr. Gericke, who was present 
when he died, with his beloved pupil and adopted 
son and successor, John C. Kohlhoff, tells, that 
'he died in the arms of his faithful and grateful 
native assistants,' and speaks of the general 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,' 
he adds, ' who have lost a father, but the whole 



TANJORE. 109 

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 extraordinary, 
and whatever means he received he spent not on 
himself, but on his beloved Mission. 

In his character there was a wonderful combina 
tion 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 matter of 
history how useful he was in the embassy to Hyder 
Ali, with which the Madras Government entrusted 
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 William Chambers gives 
the following interesting description : ' Picture to 
yourself a well- grown man, above middle height, 
holding himself naturally, yet erect, of rather dark 
yet healthy complexion, with black curly hair, and 
a powerful, manly glance, expressing unaffected 
modesty, uprightness, 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 some vegetable curry, formed the daily 
meal to which he sat down with a cheerful counte 
nance, 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 



1 1 o IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

tempting one, and it is not needful to dilate on the 
grandeur of his character or work : is not his 
praise in all the Churches ? But one thing seems 
clear it was not so much his intellect, or his 
undoubted sagacity and prudence, which gave him 
the command he possessed over men, especially over 
the natives, as it was the singular simplicity of aim 
which characterised 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. I may be allowed to quote a single 
sentence from Bishop Caldwell, showing the estima 
tion in which Schwartz is held by one so eminently 
fitted to judge as the Bishop. ' Schwartz un 
doubtedly deserves to be placed in the first rank 
of Indian missionaries. It is true that he cannot 
be described as a man of genius, like Francis 
Xavier .... but he was not inferior to tlte great 
Jesuit missionaries, or to any missionaries of any 
Church or Society that ever lived, in simplicity 
and godly sincerity, in piety and devotedness, in 
wisdom, philanthropy, and zeal.' 

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 
labours 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 



TANJORE. 



in 



moved upon the face of the waters. After a time, 
when he 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. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DINDIGAL ITS MEDICAL 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 kind 
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 tranquillity, 
to think of the times, not so very far past, when it 
was scoured by troops of fierce Maratha horse ; 
'hordes of imperial robbers,' Sir Thomas Munro 
called them, doubtless with too much justice, in 
those troublous times ; though I don't think we 
should forget their gallantry and patriotism. Many 
are the legends which still survive of the doughty 
deeds done by these wild 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 
wondering whether they would rather go back to 
the stirring days of native Raj, when might was 



D1NDIGALITS MEDICAL MISSION. 113 

right fancying, perhaps, as distance lends enchant 
ment to the view in various senses, that in these 
old times they were better off. Those who know 
seem to think that the people of the South are con 
tented and happy perhaps exceptionally so and 
acknowledge the benefit there is to their country in 
the beneficent rule of the Kaiser-i-Hind. Indeed, I 
am quite sure that our beloved Queen has just as 
good and loyal subjects in India as in any part of 
her dominions. 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, reluctantly 
passed it by, prudently contenting ourselves 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 laboured most successfully. There are 
Missions of the present day also, full of interest; 
but we had to bow to the inevitable, and turn away. 
This is the head-quarters of the Eoman Catholic 

H 



114 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

Missions of the South; and I am told that here 
they are particularly flourishing. 

We managed to get an excellent though distant 
view of the famous ' Rock ' ; hut it was a great 
disappointment not to be able to explore its won 
derful chambers, which are said to be so curious 
and intricate, and its extensive fortifications. 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 casuarina, or babul tree, 
abounds, and the crops, besides the staple rice, 
include sugar-cane, tobacco, 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 bee-hive 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. We had 
certainly plenty of time to examine everything, as 
our lazy train dragged its slow length along, at the 
rate of barely twenty miles an hour. As it grew 
cool in the evening, and the shadows were deepening 
beneath the trees, we drew near our journey's end. 
Suddenly a little detention occurred, and, to our 



DINDIGALITS MEDICAL MISSION. 115 

great distress, we found we had ruii over a poor cow, 
which had strayed on the line ; but, happily, through 
God's goodness, no further mischief resulted from 
the accident. 

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 laboured 
in Dindigal, which is his head-quarters, 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,' being driven 
by the energetic doctor, with whom we were at home 
in a moment, toward the cantonment, while the 
golden light of the setting sun came glinting across 
the green esplanade and through the leafy screen 
which the beautiful arching trees made along the 
road. The great orb was descending in stately gran 
deur to his royal chamber for the night, behind a 
glorious rampart of encircling hills ; and 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. Chandler, 
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, alas ! this 
great pleasure cannot be ours at present ; our limited 
time and the quickly advancing heat warn us to go 
on our way as quickly as possible, for there is much 



u 6 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

to do, and see, before we reach our resting-place for 
the hot months. But the disappointment is great ; 
for we have long known this excellent man by name. 

The Chandlers are a missionary race. Like the 
Gulicks of Japan, and other American families, 
fathers and children have all cast in their lot 
with the same grand cause, and are missionaries in 
different parts of the heathen field. This fine old 
man, who stood in the doorway as we arrived, and 
greeted us with so much feeling, has grown grey 
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, chiefly in hearing of 
the progress of the Lord'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 depart 
ments, with the results in churches and schools, 
and Christian families, naturally fills the hearts of 
the missionaries, as well as those of the Board at 
home, with encouragement 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 
whole 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 staff 



D1NDIGAL1TS MEDICAL MISSION. 117 

of native assistants attached to each station, who 
have been carefully trained as pastors, evangelists, 
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 festivals 
and weddings, or in building themselves better 
houses, and especially in erecting and endowing 
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 extent, 
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 when preaching is 
going on ; and they are not altogether unfavourable 
to the spread of Christianity in their country. Still, 
the complaint is the same as you hear expressed 
everywhere, that the indifference displayed is often 
most disappointing : they care for none of these 
things ; they acquiesce, agree that it is all true, and 
go away and forget all about it. And yet much has 
been accomplished. In connection with the ten 
stations, 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. Several 



1 1 8 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

of the churches are self-sustaining, paying their own 
pastor ; and the district is covered with a network 
of schools, taught by Christian teachers, 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. 

As I said, Dindigal is the head-quarters of the 
Medical part of the Mission, as Madura city is of 
other departments ; and Dr. Chester, a thoroughly 
educated 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 exhilarating. The birds 
were in full chorus, and the sun came striding up 
from behind the hills into the pearly sky with a 
gladsomeness that was quite infectious, the bright 
beams dancing down among the big dewdrops in 
the grass, making them sparkle like so many 
brilliants. 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 Bock, which stands quite by itself 



DIXDIGA L- ITS MED 1C A L MISSION. 1 1 9 

near the native city. It is a great solid mass of 
granite, I think bare, and brown, and isolated, and 
you wonder if this curious natural fortress is really 
Nature's own workmanship. Man has certainly 
taken advantage of it, and utilised 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 resist 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 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 different 
castes live in separate quarters. The Brahman 
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 dis 
pensing the Sacraments in places connected with 
his district where there is no ordained native helper. 
But the chief interest lies in his medical work, the 
organisation of which seems perfect. He took us 



120 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

over his dispensary, which stands in a large 
compound, with its well-stocked drug-store, its 
waiting-rooms and surgery, to which are attached 
an apothecary, a good staff of dressers, and other 
assistants. We then saw his Kest 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 favours the plan of Cottage Hospitals 
and has several small bungalows as wards, affording 
accommodation also for a few convalescent patients. 
In the department specially set apart for women, 
Dr. Chester introduced us to a very intelligent, 
pleasing woman a native Christian, who is 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 cases. 
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 a few Hindus ; 
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 testing examinations, 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 



DINDIGALITS MEDICAL MISSION. 121 

set up and additional hospitals established ? Their 
medical skill will open every heathen door to them ; 
and more than this, many a heathen heart 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 considered complete until a 
dispensary stands side by side with the schoolroom 
and the church. 

Dr. Chester has already ten branch dispensaries 
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 forty-six 
thousand ! 

We next paid a visit to the church, and were 
introduced to the native pastor, Mr. Coltan, a 
superior, earnest man, with whom we had much 
cheering intercourse. He told us of IT'S 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 substantial, 
clean, airy, and well-ventilated, but exceedingly 
plain and suited to the occupants. There is no 
needless expenditure anywhere ; and Dr. Chester, 
though he does not refuse his services when called 
in as a medical man, never accepts a fee. 



122 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

Before leaving Dindigal, we paid a visit to the 
Training School of the Christian Vernacular Educa 
tion Society, of which Mr. Evans is Principal. There 
seems to be rather a deficiency of accommodation, 
which this important and useful Society ought to 
increase. My husband put the lads thoroughly 
through their facings. He had been requested by 
the Society at home to see their seminaries in India 
as far as possible, and he was greatly pleased with 
this one at Dindigal. Mr. Evans evidently labours 
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 
was very amusing, as they tried to puzzle each other, 
and then criticised the questioner, and a famous 
heckling they gave the poor fellow, who stood like a 
man in a pillory. 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 labours as secretary have mainly 
helped to make the Society the valuable institution 
it is. It dates back to 1857, when it was established 
directly after the Mutiny. It trains teachers, 
supports primary schools, sends forth colporteurs, 
who sell many thousand copies of the Scriptures 
and other publications during the year ; while Dr. 
Murdoch scatters his admirable series of school- 
books broadcast over the land, and is always 



DINDIGAL-ITS MEDICAL MISSION. 123 

producing something new and fresh in other 
useful books. The Society has three great training 
institutions, one at Ahmednuggur, 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. Chester'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 
missionaries, 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, while 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 considera 
tion 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 route, 
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 twenty-four hours before. We had a 
sunset of singular beauty, and the mountain ranges 
looked inexpressibly grand in their dark blue out 
line beneath a sky full of the most exquisite and 
gorgeous colour. A broad line of deep blood-red 
lay along at the horizon, shading off upward into 
glowing amber and then to the most delicate lemon- 



I2 4 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

tints and aqua-marine, until all colour was lost in 
the darkening upper sky, where by-and-by the 
cheery stars came twinkling out one by one. Below, 
the dark walls of giant mountains with their 
picturesque, castellated tops looked most striking 
and beautiful ; one or two forest fires were blazing 
half-way down the mountain slopes, having a most 
weird effect ; nearer, there were the greens and 
browns of the jungle, growing sombre in the fading 
light, with a solitary, sentinel-like palm here and 
there rearing its majestic head to the heavens. 
The long grey shadows were fast deepening in the 
hollows ; and as the colour faded, and the darkness 
grew, a pensive desolateness seemed to settle on 
the scene, which soon brought the mind into 
sympathy with itself. 

Mr. Chandler pointed out the Higher Pulneys as 
we came in sight of them in the darkening distance, 
where the coffee and cinchona are largely cultivated. 
There is a delightful sanatorium 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 sanatorium was 
established when wild elephants and tigers were still 
the chief inhabitants. But now many other residents 
are attracted from the plains by the pleasanter 
climate of the mountains during the hottest 
portion of the year. When we came to his station 
Mr. Chandler 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 



DINDIGALITS MEDICAL MISSION. 125 

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 
was, the Eev. Mr. Kendall, head of this branch of 
the Mission, awaited us, and drove me off in his 
tiny pony-carriage with his frisky little steed. My 
husband followed more humbly in a bullock-bandy, 
with our belongings, including the useful- Joseph. 
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. Kendall pointed out as his own, then turned 
into a large compound, and stopped under the well- 
lighted, hospitable-looking porch of the Mission 
House. Here Miss Kendall was waiting to receive 
us, and the welcome tea was ready spread in the 
room within. 

Mr. Kendall is a widower, and he and his daughter 
live and work together. He has laboured in this 
Mission since 1834. These short sojourns 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 pleasantest 
memories. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

MADUKA AND ITS MISSIONS. 

THE day after our arrival in Madura was Sunday. 
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 head 
quarters 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 
indeed to meet. Her name is a familiar one in 
connection with women's work in India. Her 
husband 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 ever since 
laboured in Madura, and with wonderful success. 
Her work is very varied : she teaches in the 
zenanas, conducts a dispensary in connection with 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 127 

Dr. Chester, has several day-schools, and receives 
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 enclosure the 
complete paraphernalia of a Mission. Beside the 
Mission House stands the hungalow 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 
Kendall's 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 
American Board at Boston, to aid them in their 
great missionary undertakings. I saw more of 
these delightful schools afterwards. 

Meanwhile Mrs. Capron and I hurried to the 
Tamil service, and entered the large church we had 
passed the evening before when driving in. It was 
closely packed throughout by a good, respectable 
congregation of well-dressed men and women, 
seated separately. Miss Kendall's sixty - six 
Christian schoolgirls occupied one section, seated 
closely packed on the floor ; she herself had been 
presiding at the organ, and my husband was 
preaching with great animation in English, being 
interpreted by a fine-looking, oldish man, whom 
we found afterwards to be Pastor Cornelius. 
Kesponses were used, and the service was a good 



128 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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

After breakfast, Dr. Mitchell went to the Sunday 
school in connection with Mr. Kendall's English 
City School, and again gave an address. He says 
there were a good many Brahman lads present, who 
were as sharp as needles, but did not cavil nearly 
as much as a similar class in Maharashtra would 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 129 

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 learnt much from her. She is a grave, earnest, 
middle-aged woman, her whole face and manner 
being expressive of calm, subdued power and 
purpose. Her work is systematically and beauti 
fully 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 organisation 
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 to them, by herself and her 
Bible-women, during the past year. Surely this sow 
ing 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 visiting, 
and in one helped to give away some little gifts 
as prizes, which greatly delighted the bonny little 
brown bairnies, who gathered in great numbers in 
the upper schoolroom, where they were distributed. 
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 medicine, 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 

i 



1 30 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

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 
woman, when reproached by her priest for giving 
up idolatry, retorted : ' Which of our gods have 
suffered anything for us '? Look 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 
children and plenty of leisure, interested herself 
in the daughters of a neighbour'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 neighbouring city, returned after a time, 
and said to her : ' There I found the water good, 
and the air good, but h ere I receive the living 
water, and it is good to come back.' The morning 
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,' 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 131 

she adds, ' she knows Christ as her refuge ; He 
will comfort her.' Is not this remarkable language 
for one not a professed Christian to use? But 
she must be a Christian in 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 unbelieving 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 two 
hundred subscribers for a Sunday-school magazine. 
Her chief work, and that of her Bible-women, 
always is teaching, expounding, and reading to the 
women the Word of God. Every other kind of 
instruction 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 diligently 
prosecuted by all the missionaries' wives in the 
various districts, and a large staff of Bible-women 
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 unexpected 
way among the people, even in remote villages. 
This is partly from her work, and that of other 
ladies in other places, and partly from the constant 
labours of the preachers and evangelists. Cases are 
discovered by the missionaries in which idolatry has 
been abandoned, and the almost ' unknown God ' 
worshipped instead, simply from having been 
listeners to Bible-reading at some time or other. 
Some are so afraid of the influence of this wonderful 



132 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 throughout 
the Province, and there is much encouragement 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 prejudices.' 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 highly pleasing to 
native taste. 

One could not help being struck with the com 
pleteness 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 Kendall's institution. Her Boarding School is 
altogether for the daughters of native Christians and 
the agents of the Mission ; and every missionary lady 
has her own 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 
Kendall teaches up to the middle standard, and 
receives a large grant from Government. Fourteen 
different castes are represented in her day-schools, 



MADURA AND ITS MISSIONS. 133 

but caste is not observed in any way in the Mission. 
All Church members sit promiscuously at the Lord's 
table ; but the different castes do not care to inter 
marry. Some missionaries 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 ! everywhere 
devoted missionaries seem crushed by the word 
' retrench.' ' We cannot send means we 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 mis 
sionaries 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 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 was, and is, the seat of one of the chief 
Eoman Catholic Missions in India. The fame of 
Xavier has naturally eclipsed that of all other 
Kornish Missionaries ; but it would be wrong to 
forget the labours of such men as Roberto de Nobili 
and Beschi. The former, a nephew of the celebrated 
Cardinal Bellarmine, laboured from 1606. The 
natives called him Tatwabodhak-Swami, or the 
' philosophical teacher.' The moral character of 
some of the proceedings of the Jesuit missionaries 



1 34 7.V SO UTHERN L\DIA. 

has been vehemently assailed by Bomanists as well 
as Protestants ; but it is unnecessary to enter on 
this painful subject here. There is a handsome 
modern Eomari Catholic church close by, which 
my husband has seen. It contains a good many 
pictures, including two or three portraits of Xavier. 
The priests do not preach in public or in the 
streets; their services are all conducted in their 
churches ; but processions are numerous, 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 has 
been called to his rest. The Kev. Mr. Eendall died 
toward 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 Christian community. 

In a memorial address by Dr. Chester, of Dindigal, 
he says of this admirable missionary : ' Love was 
the secret of Mr. Kendall's power as a Christian 
and as a missionary. A more unselfish 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.' 



CHAPTER X. 

MADUEA AND ITS TEMPLES. 

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 neighbours ; and 
it is still a remarkable and extensive city. It abounds 
in temples, palaces, fine old tanks, towers and 
cupolas, and other striking architectural monuments. 
These amply testify to the greatness of its past, as 
well as add much to the picturesqueness 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, white- washed 
houses generally ornamented with stripes and patches 
of colour, especially in the Brahman s' 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 odours not certainly those 
of ' Araby the blest ' which usually assail one 
in Indian cities. There are open spaces here and 
there, full of greenness and sunshine; long wide 
avenues fringed with beautiful trees ; great groves 
of the palmyra palm ; large, park-like compounds, 
where the Europeans reside ; and, in the midst of 



136 AV SOUTHERN INDIA. 

all, paddy-fields curiously intermingling with the 
streets and buildings, so that the whole place looks 
framed in richest green ; while the lofty g5params, 
or pagoda towers of the temples, rise majestically, 
and with most picturesque 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 Pandyan kings, 
before the Christian era. Curious traditions are 
still told regarding its rise. One is, that a rich 
merchant once lost his way in the dense forests 
which then filled this .part of the country. In his 
wanderings, he came on an old temple, dedicated to 
the god Shiva. Here he was directed by the deity 
to intimate to the Pandyan king that it was his will 
and pleasure that a city should be built on this holy 
spot. The king obeyed, founded the city and temple, 
whereupon a shower of ' sweet dew ' (or rnanna) fell 
from heaven, and covered the ground : so the city 
was named Madura, or Sweet. 

A flourishing period in the history of this kingdom 
seems to have been about the first or second century 
after Christ, when the famous Eishi, or Sage, Agastya, 
lived. He is said to have been the introducer of 
Brahmanical civilisation into South India. His 
exploit in leading a colony of Brahmans southward, 
is mentioned in the Sanscrit poem, the Ramayan ; 
but the date indeed, everything about this holy 
and enlightened personage, said to have been the 
offspring of two gods is most uncertain, if not 






MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES. 



137 



mythical. 
A learned 
author 
calls him 
' the fabled 
civiliser of 
the South.' 

Very early 
this morn 
ing, while 
it was still 
cool, our 
kind host, 
a c c o m- 



panied by j 



one or two 
of his na 
tive assis 
tants, 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 




138 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the holiest cities of the Hindus in other parts of India, 
at all approach this one in grandeur and extent, and 
also in the value of its endowments and its jewels. 
But how shall I describe this extraordinary place 
in all its curious and endless ramifications? What 
seems to remain 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 
creatures, carved in stone and wood ; gilding, and 
painting, and carving, and pictures ; and new, strange 
architecture one had never seen before ; while the 
notes, hurriedly taken on the spot, only seem at 
the first look, to make ' confusion worse confounded.' 
This great fabric covers twenty acres of ground, 
and is surrounded by a lofty brick wall, forming a 
perfect square, and ornamented by red and white 
stripes, the holy colour of the Hindus. It is dedicated 
to the god Shiva, and his wife, Mindkshi, or ' the 
fish-eyed goddess ; ' probably, my husband says, an 
aboriginal deity, who has been identified with 
Durga of Bengal, and Parvati of Western India, 
the wives of Shiva. As you approach the mighty 
fane, what you are first struck with are the grand 
g5params, or towers, which are pyramidal in 
structure, and are peculiar to this Dravidian style 
of architecture. These are very lofty and massive ; 
in shape a truncated cone, gorgeously carved, and 
coloured, and ornamented, the summit being crowned 
with a fan-shaped erection like the hood of a snake. 
The entire cone is covered, row on row, and tier on 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES. 139 

tier, with elaborately carved Hindu deities. Many 
millions of the gods of the Hindu Pantheon are 
thus sculptured on the exteriors of these pagoda 
towers. I forget how many towers there are 
connected w r ith 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, massive, 
carved gateway of teakwood, guarded on either side 
by the most fantastic mythological figures, sculptured 
in stone. Opposite the gateway are four lofty pillars, 
or shafts, forty-five feet high, and sunk fifteen 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 columns 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, 
or Holy of Holies, the shrine which contains the 



1 40 IN SOUTHERN INDIA . 

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, furious-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 canopy 
supported by four slender columns most exquisitely 
carved. This figure is surrounded by tall, graceful 
candelabra in gold; and in front is a golden altar. 
The elaborateness of the workmanship everywhere 
is extraordinary, and the lavish expenditure which 
must be practised in order to keep it all in preserva 
tion and repair, is equally surprising. 

From this we wandered over corridors and 
cloisters of immense extent, all filled with curious 
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 carrying 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 occasions, are of extraordinary 
beauty and value. 

In passing through one long aisle we disturbed a 
numerous colony of bats, the rush of their flapping 
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, 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES. 141 

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 things unutterable. All the libations 
poured out and on to the gods of holy water, oil, 
ghee, curd, milk, paint, etc. flow in one loath 
some 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 offender shall be forgiven ! 

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 
caparisoned in gold and silver trappings. The 
huge beast strode right though 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 man was accompanied by a numerous and 
picturesque following, carrying red umbrellas, little 



142 JN SOUTHERN INDIA 

brown and red flags, tails of the Yak cow, etc. As 
we walked through the Hall of the Thousand 
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. Kendall 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 cloister 
where they used to have their sittings. Strange 
stories and legends of these Tamil litterateurs were 
told us ; but I have not space to relate them. 
Finally, we visited the famous sacred Tank of the 
Golden 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 
colonnade of beautiful pillars carved in relief, while 
the-whole is encircled by a high wall. Men were 
busily employed all along this wall, standing on 
scaffoldings, restoring old frescoes and pictures in 
the gayest colouring. 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 Hindus 
succeeded in almost banishing them and their faith 
from Madura, where once they were paramount. 

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 




ENTRANCE TO GREAT HALL, MADURA. 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES. 145 

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 
associated 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 Hindu 
and Saracenic. Government is now having it 
extensively and carefully restored, and its spacious 
halls are to be utilised for public offices. As you 
enter, there is a splendid quadrangular court, with 
side aisles, which have roofs elaborately carved in 
relief with mythological subjects, and supported by 
double rows of massive 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 and other chambers. In one of the 
chambers there are some graceful columns in black 
basalt. Altogether, within and without, it is a 
most imposing structure. 

In the afternoon we had tea with Mrs. Hutchins, 
the wife of the Judge, and saw, in the compound, 
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 
Calcutta. Quite an army of graceful slender stems 
descend from the great canopy of upper branches, 



146 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and are most beautifully trained and cared for by 
Mr. Hutchins. A real army might encamp beneath 
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 description : 

' 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 Eendall then drove us round and round a 
magnificent tank, a great sheet of water enclosed by 
walls of solid masonry, also a monument of the 
enlightened ruler I have already often referred to, 
Tirumalai Naik. At festival times, this whole 
immense square, in the centre of which a temple 
stands, is lit up with thousands upon thousands of 
tiny oil-lamps, which must have the loveliest effect, 
like the glimmering and gleaming of myriad fire 
flies. 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 native 
Christian lads and boys. It is under the charge of 
Mr. and Mrs. Washburn and Mr. and Mrs. Burnell. 
Mr. Washburn sent his ' rockaway ' for us, a 
pleasant sort of conveyance, like a noddy with the 
front away, with which we became acquainted first 
in Quebec. It was drawn by a tiny Pegu pony, the 
briskest little creature you can imagine. The drive 



MADURA AND ITS TEMPLES. 149 

in the fresh, cool, morning air was most enjoyable. 
It was a shady road, fringed with beautiful trees, 
the neem, tamarind, banyan, peepul, 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. The bright little pony 
danced along almost too quickly, with his 
picturesque driver astride in front of us, in red 
turban, and blue coat all edged and slashed with 
red. 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 our friends in one of the pretty Mission 
bungalows, the very picture of New England 
neatness, the parlours being laid with cool, 
clean matting, and having the American rocking- 
chair about everywhere. A dish we find at every 
breakfast-table in these regions is a kind of 
mulligatawny, which is eaten with rice, and 
comes in place of the cracked wheat and oatmeal 
which precede the substantial in America. 

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 Department for the 
training of aspirants to the ministry, as well as 
catechists and evangelists. One hundred 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 



ISO IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 training for future work. All 
pay fees, except poor boys, whp 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 many in 
the theological classes earnest, thoughtful young 
men. This department exercises a most salutary 
influence on the school-boys ; they have meetings 
for prayer, and go out on itinerating work when 
opportunity 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 
arrangement 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 about you, and 
'pray to your Father who is in secret.' 

Thus the Mission provides for the proper training 
and upbringing of the children of its converts, the 
next generation of Christians ; surely a matter of 
the very greatest importance, to which every Mission 
should wisely attend. 



CHAPTER XL 

TINNEVELLT PALAMCOTTA. 

WE have now come to our last day of railway 
travelling. We waved our adieux to our kind enter 
tainers and to beautiful Madura, and are now 
journeying in a south-easterly direction toward 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 the name. The 
paddy-fields, where rice is grown, abound the 
most, but bajri, jowari, millet, and cotton in great 
quantities are also largely cultivated; coffee, too, 
wherever there are hills or higher 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 certainly 
not English. This marvellous tree, which every 
where in South India is the real staff of life 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 



1 52 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

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 pre-historic races, in 
weapons, implements, pottery, etc. It is also the 
scene of the early Dravidian civilisation. 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. 

As we journey onward, we find it becomes hotter 
and hotter, and the train slower and slower. Our 
patience and endurance are indeed sorely taxed. 
Tuticorin is a considerable town further south, and 
the terminus of the railway. We earnestly wished 
and hoped to go there, to visit our old friends, the 
learned and revered Bishop Caldwell, of the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel, and his wife, who 
now have the head-quarters of their Mission in Tu 
ticorin. But this pleasure is not to be ours at present, 
and it is a very great disappointment to us both. 

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 Tinnevelly. 
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 thankfully got. We 
left the native city behind, called Tinnevelly, like 
the province of which it is the capital, and turned 
toward the English cantonment Palamcotta, and 



TINNE VELL YPALAMCO TTA. 1 5 3 

were soon welcomed by the venerable Bishop and 
his most gentle wife. A long-cherished dream was 
realised : we were at Palamcotta. 

Bishop Sargent looks a much yonnger man than 
I expected : his manner is youthful and vivacious ; 
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 vigour and force. 
One may well hope that God will yet, for a good 
many years, spare this excellent missionary-bishop 
to carry on the glorious work for Christ he has been 
conducting for now nearly half a century. Mrs. 
Sargent is in extremely feeble health ; but though 
she cannot walk without help, yet she 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 
infirm, venerable lady, sitting on her low chair in 
her verandah, surrounded by a group of school 
girls, or a company of poor, desolate-looking widows, 
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 Saviour, 
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. 

The house has nothing palatial about it. It is 
by no means a bishop's palace. It is simply a 
comfortable large bungalow, having no upstairs; 
the rooms are lofty, and opening off each other, 



154 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

with a wide pillared verandah 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 ; everything is subordinate to this ; it is 
the one idea of the place and people. This was 
the house in which the excellent missionary 
Ehenius lived, a well-known name among the 
many associated with the history of Tinnevelly 
Missions. Joseph Wolfe rightly called him ' the 
great Ehenius.' 

Soon after we arrived, dinner was announced, 
during which the Bishop talked in the most 
entertaining 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 conducted 
worship in Tamil. 

The Tinnevelly district as a Mission field is 
divided between the Church Missionary Society 
and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
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 Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel. 

The venerable Schwartz ' the most memorable 
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 Tran- 



TINNEVELLYPALAMCOTTA. 155 

quebar, Trichinopoly, and Tanjore. He visited 
Tinnevelly in 1771, also in 1782, and again in 1785. 
He baptised the first convert, a Brahman woman, 
named Clarinda. On the occasion of this baptism, 
Schwartz wrote : ' Oh, let us pray for more faithful 
labourers. May God send such, for Christ's sake. 
May He send such in troops ! ' Surely this prayer 
has since been signally answered. After a few 
years, Clarinda and two other Christians went the 
long journey to Tanjore to see Schwartz, and to 
beg that a missionary might be settled in their 
district. The consequence was that successive 
catechists were sent. Sathianaden especially a 
native missionary, educated by himself did admir 
able work, and laboured long in the district ; and 
under him the native Church made steady progress. 
Chiefly from the efforts made by Clarinda, the first 
Christian church was built ; and so began the 
Protestant Mission Churches of Tinnevelly, now so 
flourishing. 

The Christian community in connection with 
Bishop Sargent at present numbers fifty -five 
thousand. Under Bishop Caldwell of the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel, there are forty- 
five thousand more ; so that the wonderful and 
delightful 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 Catholic 
Missions. It was on the Tinnevelly coast that 



1 5 6 



IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



Francis Xavier, in 1542, after staying a short time in 
Goa, commenced his labours. 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 diligent 
with schools, 
orphanages, 
and such kinds 
of Mission 
work. 

Most of the 
Bishop's con 
verts quite 
two - thirds, I 
thin k are 
drawn from 
the Shanars, 
who, as I said, 
are worship 
pers 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 Hindus or Hinduism. 
The Shanars live chiefly by the palmyra palm, and 




A PALMYHA CLIWBEB. 



TINNE VELL YPALAMCOTTA. 157 

are the palmyra climbers; that is, it is they who 
mount these branchless trees, sometimes 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 degrad 
ing rites of devil-worship were practised, 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 women both wear the 
hair long, and generally tied in a knot behind. 
Among the women the barbaric, 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 perforated, 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 admired. The operation begins in child 
hood, 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. 
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 
decoration that you see it constantly in the schools, 



158 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

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, 
now waiting in the verandah 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, everything is still ; but by- 
and-by the welcome breeze will come, and it will 
be cooler. The whole scene is full of peace, and so 
pretty. It is a large, park-like compound. The 
sun begins to mount into the sky, but the bright 
beams are shaded with banks of white, vapoury 
clouds ; the lovely green of the paddy-fields which he 
away beyond the compound is sweet and tender, 
and looks refreshed by the dews of night. You 
are almost cheated into the belief that you are 
looking at an English park. The trees stand about 
the house in leafy grandeur, throwing long shadows 
on the grass. The branches are only stirred by the 
brisk, funny little squirrels, who bound about at 
their merry gambols, and the long-tailed, white 
bulbul, 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 coat, and breaks the 
sweet silence with his impertinent caw. The sward 
is wonderfully green, but will not remain long 



TINNE VELL YPALA MCO TTA. \ 59 

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 school 
girls in bright garments marches past to attend the 
service. An ideal 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 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. 



1 60 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

The music was rendered entirely by the young 
people of the schools. 

But it is not only in the numbers of the converts 
that the progress is remarkable. In his Lectures 
on the Tinnevelly Missions Bishop Caldwell speaks 
very strongly regarding the improvement in the 
character and standing of the native Christians. 
They are rapidly rising in many respects. At the 
last examination of the Madras University, the 
Christians, in proportion to their numbers, obtained 
a higher place even than the Brahmins, who are 
confessedly an intellectual race. The Missions 
educate their people thoroughly, and so, though of 
the low Shanar caste originally, they are fast out 
stripping the Hindus in position and standing. It 
is true of the whole native Christian community 
that it is steadily growing in influence and impor 
tance ; 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 in 
support even of their own churches and schools. 
They expected the Mission to maintain the pastors 
and schoolmasters, to build their churches, and do 
everything for them. But now all this has entirely 
changed. Last year the native Christians here, 
connected with 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 regarding 
the experiment which is being made in this district 



TLVNE VELL YPALAMCO TTA. 1 6 1 

by the Church Missionary Society of withdrawing 
European missionaries as much as possible, and 
replacing them by native agents. The European 
missionaries now in the field are employed as 
educationists, while the charge of congregations, 
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 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, 

L 



1 62 JN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

especially in Scripture, which were answered 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 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 singing, 
so softly sweet, so beautifully harmonised. The 
voices were so much sweeter and better modulated 
than is usually the case in India, that I was sur 
prised. 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 himself takes much pains 
with the musical department 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 



TINNEVELLYPALAMCOTTA. 163 

has lately had fourteen violins 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 profession of faith. Many of them are 
supported by friends in Australia. And so the 
important matter 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 precious fiddles did ample duty, and 
altogether enjoyed the fun and frolic. And I think 
that 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 
thoroughly the good Bishop enters into their sports, 
and how much at home with him the young folks 
are. He is full of mechanical ingenuity, too. 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, standing over 
the wall in what is now a paddy-field, but formerly 
was part of the compound. The curious and beautiful 



164 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 mother-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 won't be sepa 
rated from us.' ' True/ added my husband ; ' 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 speaking? Above, in Christ our head, 
they are one ; bat 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 Eev. Mr. 
Lush, have had the charge and management of the 
well-known Sarah Tucker Institution. This is for the 
training of schoolmistresses and the higher classes 
of native Christian girls. I cannot tell the inte 
rest with which we have gone over these first-rate 
institutions, nor how grateful we feel to our kind 
friends for the infinite trouble and pains they have 
taken to show us the classes, and all the arrange 
ments, outside and in. I must be allowed to say, 
over and over, that nothing strikes one more in 
some of these delightful Missions we have now the 
privilege of visiting, than the perfect organisation 
there is : every department is made perfect in its 



TINNE VELL YPALAMCO TTA. 165 

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, substantial, white-washed 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 thenceforward 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 
a most striking scene,' a friend writes, ' when the 
eight candidates, the native clergy, forty-seven in 
number, the European missionaries, and the vener 
able Bishop passed in procession up the central aisle. 
After the sermon, and before the imposition of 
hands, there was an impressive season of silent 
prayer ; and when the candidates had been set apart, 
the Holy Communion followed, and concluded the 
deeply interesting and impressive service.' 



166 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

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 Shanars 
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 objects of their worship are not 
devilish deities only, but devils simply and literally. 
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 broken. 

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 Shanars. 
While we were at Mr. Kember's, fifty 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 Eev. 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 



TINNEVELLYPALAMCOTTA. 167 

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 
verandah running along the entire front. It accom 
modates one hundred and twenty girls, who board 
and live in the premises, and are trained to teach 
in normal classes. They are then sent out to take 
charge of branch affiliated schools, of which there 
are now forty-two, 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 nice 
little girls. We were delighted here, too, with 
the singing, which was led by Mrs. Harcourt, who 
manages this department entirely herself, and with 
quite as pleasing results as we had noticed among 
Mrs. Sargent'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, which 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. Harcourt, 
of whom we have seen a good deal. This is Miss 



1 68 L\ r SO UTHERN INDIA . 

Askwith, who is already a favourite with the 
missionaries and pupils, and takes her own good 
share of the work, including the acquisition of that 
dreadfully hard Tamil tongue. 

I must also refer to another part of the work 
which had especial attraction for me, that was the 
Zenana Mission conducted by Mrs. Lewis and Miss 
McDonald. We lunched in the pleasant, bright 
Zenana Home with these ladies, and Miss Ling, who 
has just lately joined them. Mrs. Thomas is a 
name every one always remembers in connection with 
woman's work in South India. I was glad to find 
that she is still working in a station about thirty 
miles off, which rejoices in the name of Mengnana- 
puram. 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 eighty-six 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 head- quarters of the 
administration, while Tinnevelly, a biggish place, 
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. 



TINNE VELL YPALAMCOTTA. 169 

Zenana work has had the same happy effect 
among the people of the Madras Presidency as in 
other parts of India. Bishop Sargent thinks that 
the visits of European ladies to their wives have 
done more to secure a friendly feeling toward the 
English among the men than anything else has 
done. He says in a paper read before the Bangalore 
Missionary Conference of 1879 : ' No proclamation 
from the highest in power could so impress 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 favourable opinion, within a limited sphere, 
must now be entertained of us than ever was before.' 

Mrs. Lewis 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 superstitious, 
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 apartments 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. 

The most interesting visit we paid was to a 
gentle-looking, very poor woman who had once 
sent urgently for Mrs. Lewis, when her son was 
dying. When her friend arrived, she exclaimed : 
' Do send me that Jesus. I want to see Him. He 



1 70 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

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. Lewis taught 
her a short, simple prayer, which she repeated. Her 
boy recovered. Now, though unbaptised, she seems 
a sincere believer in that Jesus she so earnestly 
asked, like the Greeks, 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, entreating 
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 com 
pound, 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 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 narrow, 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 



TLV.VE VELL YPALAMCOTTA. 173 

stowing away bundles and packages and portman 
teaus in one of the cave- like dens, the cheeriest 
of the party, while in the other were heaped quilts, 
and cushions, and rugs, and shawls, the bullocks 
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, who had 
started on some pastoral work which awaited him 
in a distant part of his diocese. 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 every 
body 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. 



CHAPTER XII. 

TKAVANCORE NAGEECOIL. 

LOOKING onward, in a south-westerly direction, as 
you journey from Tinnevelly toward Cape Comorin, 
you see a range of purple mountains stretching 
across the plain in broken, and picturesque, and 
most striking masses. Beyond this grand natural 
rampart lies the beautiful little kingdom of Tra- 
vancore an independent State, having a Maharajah, 
or king, of its own toward which our faces were 
now turned. This country is often called the 
Garden of South India ; which it undoubtedly is, 
being fall of loveliness, in smiling valleys and verdant 
rice-fields, waters, rocks, trees, hills often green 
to their summits, extensive 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 transcend 
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, demon- 
worship, caste, slavery, and every sort of 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 



TRA VANCORENA GERCO1L. \ 75 

churches, which, through their labours, blest by 
God's Spirit, are filled with men and women 
gathered out of this heathenism. There are places 
where for long ages devil-worshippers practised 
their abominable and degrading rites, that are now 
Christian hamlets, whence praise and prayer ascend 
from loving hearts to the loving Father in heaven, 
and where the temples 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 marvellously, bringing forth golden fruit for 
Christ's kingdom ; and the story of its introduction 
among the Shanars of Tinnevelly and Travancore 
cannot be told too often, if only it stimulates the 
faith and zeal 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 civilisation. 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 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 formidable 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, 



ry6 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

while the drivers sat on their benches placidly asleep. 
I believe they slept all night, except when, after a 
worse lurch than usual, the Saheb 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 zealously 
on the unoffending beasts, jerk the tails, admonish 
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 mountains lay near 
us now, in long, undulating lines and ridges or lofty 
summits, with fantastic, jagged peaks, unspeakably 
grand. Soon the valley narrowed, and our route 
lay between ridges of rock and low hills, with an 
occasional small temple of 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 passed. They were most 
strange, wild-looking people, 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-humoured 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 delicious to 
rest a while, and breathe the sweet, cool air, and let 
our poor bones get into their usual places after the 



TRA VANCORENA GERCOIL. 177 

process of dislocation they had been subjected to all 
night. Meanwhile a few sticks were gathered, a 
bottle of water was emptied into a tiny kettle, 
which was sat on to boil, and ' the cup which 
cheers ' seemed more to cheer, more fragrant 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 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 rampart, so 
remarkable that it might have led to a lair of Eob 
Eoy's and by this natural portal we entered 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 Eev. Mr. Duthie's Mission House. 
He, and his wife, and daughter 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. 

M 



178 



IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



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 ; and there is 
a restful sense of being done with our journey for 
the present ; though, of course, we shall ere long 
have to start again. 

We quite appreciated the cool, big, shady rooms 

into which they 
took us, and all the 
comforts so amply 
and carefully provi 
ded. 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 mid 
day meal, as on the 
Continent. After 
this was over, the 
Eev. Mr. Lee, from the Mission House in a com 
pound across the road opposite, came and joined 
our party. We all gathered in the wide, shady 
verandah, a few steps higher than the garden, and 
filled with low chairs, when a remarkable and 
most intelligent man called not a Christian 




MAHARAJAH OF TBAVANCOBE. 
{from a Photograph). 



TRA VANCORENAGERCO1L. 



179 



whose story and conversation seems to have 
introduced us at once into the condition of things 
among the people here. 

Travancore has been noted for its intense Brah- 
manism ; and although it is awakening, like the rest 
of the land, to progress and reform, yet the enligh 
tening comes slowly. This man is a Brahman, and 
was the first in 
dividual who was 
so enlightened 
and so brave as 
to propose, or ven 
ture to intro 
duce, the dreadful 
innovation of 
widow remarriage. 
He had a little 
daughter who had 
been married as 
a child. The boy- 
husband died ; 
and the father 
knew well what 
the little girl's 
fate would be as 
a life-long widow 
a widow, 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 remarried. 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 




SISTER OF MAHABAJAH. 
{From a Photograph.) 



1 80 IN SO UTHERN INDIA, 

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 enlightenment, 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 friendli 
ness. One or two other cases of widow-remarriage 
have occurred ; and the spirit of progress is gaining 
sway even in caste-ridden Travancore. 

As soon as it became cool enough, Mr. Duthie 
took us out to see something gf 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 village or perhaps I 
should say town nestling cosily at the foot of the 
grand mountain ranges, which encompass it on three 
sides. It opens out on the fourth, and stretches 
down in beautiful undulations, crowned with rich 
tropical vegetation, and ten thousands of the palmyra 
palm, away to the Southern Sea. 1 Beautiful for 

1 Of this flourishing Christian settlement, Mr. Mateer says : 



TRA VANCORENA GERC01L. 1 83 

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 five or six thousand feet high ; 
and the Mission has a sanatorium not far away, up 
somewhere among these cloud-capped summits, 
where the coffee estates abound. 

As we came home, Mr. Duthie took us through 
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 coffee-planter, who 
gives most liberally to the Mission. That a man, 
originally low-caste, and not increased in favour by 
becoming a Christian, should have the audacity to 
build an imposing two-storied dwelling, filled the 
Brahmans with indignation. They threatened 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 con 
structing a tank for public use. 

As we got nearer home, we passed the fine large 
Mission church the largest in South India ; also 

1 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 head-quarters of the London Mission in these 
parts, it is now a clean, well-built, and increasing native town. 
By their intelligence and industry in various ways, and especially 
of late years in the coffee-planting enterprise, the native Christians 
are becoming wealthy, and a wonderful change has taken place.' 
Native Life in Travancore, p. 18. 



1 84 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the Girls' Village School, a pretty building erected 
only two years ago by the Christian people, 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 Nagercoil, 
Neyoor, Pareychaley, and Trevandrum, besides many 
smaller branches, belongs to the London Missionary 
Society. This noble Society, 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 native 
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. Curiosity, and 
a certain hope, led him to the church Schwartz's 
church where Mr. John Kohlhoff was preaching. 



TRA VANCORENA GERCOIL. 185 

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 missionaries, was instructed 
in the way of salvation, found all he needed in this 
Heaven-sent faith, and eventually became a true and 
earnest believer. 

Like 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 became so 
fierce and determined, that he feared the feeble light 
he had been honoured 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 missionary to minister 
to his little flock in the wilderness. His request 
was granted ; and then it was that Bingeltaube, who 
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 welcomed him to their 
country. He settled in Myladi, where the first 
Christian church was built in 1806; and thus the 
Gospel found entrance into this beautiful but darkly 



1 86 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

idolatrous land. Eingeltaube was eccentric, as I 
have said, but lie was peculiarly devoted ; and, 
judging from some deliciously 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. 

'Mr 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 travellers' bungalow, exposed to the wind and 
rain. I had just bought the land for the first chapel in Travan- 
core. When I really got possession of the letter, 19th June, 
1810 (thirteen 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 were 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 Myladi. Your news of our 
brothers and their families were of a most gladdening kind. 
And surely, in the troubles which I have through bad 
Christians, I wanted a little comfort for my soul. Now the 
Lord may be praised ! However, I cannot approve of your 
conduct in this, my dear that, in spite of the severe interdict, 
you dared to write to me 

' I have little hope, and almost no desire, to see once more in 
this world my beloved ones. I am now spoiled for a cold 
climate. I would always sit behind the stove, and would only 
be useful to terrify Frederick if he is naughty. " Beware ! old 
Uncle William will come from behind the stove ; " so you would 
tell him. 

' I am glad that your soul has not so high expectations as 
formerly. It is the same with me, with the only difference that 
this change was wrought in me by rough means. What we 



TRA VANCORENA GERCOIL. \ 87 

lost were only beautiful blossoms, which must wither away if 
the fruit comes. Now these three remain, Faith, Love, Hope ; 
but Love is the greatest among them. When we were prepared 
for the Lord's Supper in Warschau we learnt that together, 
and this is the reality.' 

The following gives a most touching picture of 
the every-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 ? That is your poor William's dwelling-place. Come in ! 
Though it rains heavily, we shall find perhaps a dry place. Lo ! 
Tobias, 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 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 marry, my dear brother ? " Point 
tfargent, my dear sister. . . . 

' My dear Hanna, there is always sorrow, fear, distress, and at 
last death. You ask, " Do you repent to have become a 
missionary ] " I cannot say that. I would like to be amongst 
other men. However, it is all right as it is. 

' Well, good-night, my beloved one ! my lamp burns dimly ; 
it is eleven o'clock : with you it is about eight. You are sitting 



1 88 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

at the table with little Fritz, Mr. E., or with our parents. How 
happy you are ! You are their joy and comfort in their old 
age. Ah ! might I be at once in Eternity ! Kiss and embrace 

them and my brothers heartily On the 16th 

December I shall remember you in the chapel of Myladi. My 
last birthday was very triste, as the whole year has been. I am 
now over forty years old, and they call me the old Eingeltaube. 
Pray for your poor 

' WILLIAM.' 

' I live for two years past quite solitary, for the poor people are 
not society. I am still a bachelor ; and as circumstances are, I 
must remain so. This life has its disagreeable side, but also 
its good side. As to spiritual things, I know more and more the 
deep corruption in myself and others, and admire more and 
more the Divine love, patience, and forbearance in Christ, our 
Saviour. That is often a very dissatisfying, bitter lesson. My 
poor, ragged, small congregations are still existing ; but I do 
not observe much of the work of grace. I have now about 600 
Christians who are not worse than the other Christians in 
India. .... 

' 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 good hand ! 
That I feel 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 Eingeltaube's health gave way. 
' It is not good that man should be alone.' So 



TRA VA NCORENA GERCOIL. \ 89 

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. ' Poor, 
poor bachelor that I am ! ' he says ; and how it 
touches one to think of that tender, affectionate 
nature sighing for the human companionship he so 
much needed, and the sympathy he craved for, and 
could not find ! Is it not a pathetic picture ? 

Eingeltaube was obliged at last to leave the 
country. This was in 1816. But before then he 
had baptised 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 Mission 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 assist 
ance of our merciful God, and have given it over into the hands 
of an honest Englishman.' 

This ' honest Englishman ' was no other than our 
dear friend ' the General,' as we called him, whom we 
have revered since we were children, the late well- 
known General Munro, of Teaninich, Ross-shire; 
then Colonel Munro, Kesident at the Court of His 
Highness the Maharajah of Travancore. He was, 
and is still, known as ' the good Resident ; ' and his 



190 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 whatever 
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 missionary and 
philanthropic undertakings being supported and 
personally assisted by the servants of Government, 
just such noble, disinterested Christian men as 
Colonel Munro. 1 

One morning, while breakfasting with Mr. Lee, 
he showed us a box of curious old parchments, left 
by the Resident, the title-deeds of the land and other 
property, written, . in Tamil, on long slips of the 

1 When speaking of the origin of modern Missions in Travancore, 
the Bev. Mr. Mateer says in his admirable book : ' It is well 
known, and even apparent from some portions of the history, that 
it was due, if to any local patrons, to the English officers, who 
procured for the missionaries permission to reside and to labour 
in the country. Such were Colonel Macaulay, who obtained a 
passport for Ringeltaube, and gave personal contributions to his 
work ; and also the distinguished Colonel Munro, who was at the 
same time a zealous friend of Missions and a lover of beautiful 

Travancore He was the real donor of the grants referred 

to, which were intended for, and are still devoted, to the education 

of the native Christian youth It was he who applied to 

the Church Missionary Society for missionaries, and helped them 
in manifold ways.' Native Life in Travancore, p, 392. 



TRAVANCORENAGERCOIL. 191 

palmyra leaf, all tied into little bundles, this 
wonderful palm leaf which still provides the 
stationery chiefly used in the country. 

We also saw the veritable cot, or couch, used by 
Kingeltaube ; a most primitive article, suggestive 
rather of penance than rest. I should like to see 
it under a glass case in some missionary museum. 
Mr. Lee kindly took us all over his premises the 
same morning, including the Printing Press and his 
charming 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 
Christian matron and Christian teachers. The copy 
books are all m ade 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 
learnt a text for you ; ' whereupon the first 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 ! ' 



1 92 IN SO U THERN INDIA. 

I think even the men had their eyes wet before the 
children were done 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, evangelists, pastors, 
catechists, and so on. These important 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, eighty-three of whom are 
boarders who live on the premises. They are 
pleasant, intelligent lads : my husband has examined 
them thoroughly; and we are often out and in 
the class-rooms. Whenever an agent is wanted at 
any of the stations, the lack is supplied from the 
Seminary ; which is thus the Christian training 
college for the whole Mission. 

There is a first-rate Government college at 
Trevandrum, presided over by Professor Boss, 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 Christian, and is supported 



TRA VANCORENA GERCOIL. 1 93 

by the Mission. One thing most creditable to it 
quite a feather in its cap 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 
tolerance extended to Christian Missions by this 
enlightened native State remarkable? 

One feature in the day-schools here is quite new : 
they cost the Mission nothing ! The teachers are 
all paid by the native Christian community, being 
simply salaried, as the pastors are salaried ; but 
Mr. Duthie superintends the boys' schools, while 
Mrs. Duthie and her daughter do the same for 
the girls'. 

Mrs. Duthie's work among the women, and her 
dear little daughter's, interest me profoundly ; and 
those on the spot who know the feeling and 
condition of the native community thoroughly, 
think that no part of the Mission work is producing 
such valuable fruit, or telling more on the people as 
a whole. 






CHAPTEK XIII. 

WOMAN'S WOBK SUNDAY AT NAGEKCOIL. 

ONE of the specialities 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, whatever these may amount to, 
go to the support of Bible-women's work. The 
success of this industry is most cheering ; and now 
it has two off-shoots : one under Mrs. Caldwell, 
who is a daughter of Mrs. Mault and one at 
Benares. But it originated in Nagercoil ; and the 
lace here manufactured has gained medals at 
three national exhibitions. 

Mrs. Duthie very kindly has had an assemblage 
of lace-makers in the verandah, that I might see 
them at work. About forty women came tidy, 
respectable, intelligent matrons who sat in a row 
round the verandah on the floor, with their lace- 
pillows on their laps ; and the clever, handy way 
they manipulated the fine thread and pins, and 
produced the delicate fabric, was most curious and 
interesting to see ; and the workers seemed equally 
pleased to show their work. 



WOMAN'S WORK SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL. 195 

I bought some lovely pieces off the pillows, and 
I would like my lady-friends to know that Mrs. 
Duthie has always stores of the different articles 
manufactured beside her, and lace in every width, 
and is very glad of orders for it. Any one writing 
to Mrs. Duthie, Mission House, Nagerooil, Tra- 
vancore, would receive what they wished for by 
parcel post. The lace is strong as well as beautiful, 
and the patterns varied and delicate. I can only 
say it is extremely pleasant to examine the tempting 
boxes, and to feel that, while gratifying your taste 
and supplying your needs, you are all the time 
helping these Christian women. I must not omit 
to add that some beautiful specimens were offered 
by the workers themselves to the Prince of 
Wales when he visited India, for the gracious 
acceptance of Her Royal Highness the Princess of 
Wales. 

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 chuckrum, and is a wee, fat, 
round bit of silver, the size of a split pea, and 
covered with characters. The way 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 circulation ; but the chuckrum 
is most in use. 

I have had a pretty necklace and bracelet given me 
made of this little coin, which are quite curiosities. 



1 96 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

Yesterday afternoon Miss Duthie drove me in the 
little pony-carriage to see some of the zenana and 
Bible-woman's work, which has happily made a 
good beginning here, and is specially interesting 
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 bondage untold. 
A very few years ago these Bible-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 ventured 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 Gospel 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 
indignant 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 Christian 
Shanars are attaining, and are bestirring themselves 



WOMAN'S WORK.-SUNDAY AT NAGERCO1L. 197 

in the matter of English education. God has 
chosen the weak and despised things of the world 
to confound those that call themselves mighty in 
this stronghold of Brahmanism and superstition. 

The missionaries have had some curious battles 
to fight. One was to secure to the women the 
privilege of clothing themselves with decency. The 
female portion of the Shanar community are 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 introduced 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 row; 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 enclosed 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 
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 welcome 



198 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

in Bengali homes as they are, happily, now. I was 
allowed to stand for a few minutes in the verandah, 
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, massive 
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 other 
wise, which surprised me, as I knew that she was 
a widow; and Hindu law forbids widows to wear 
ornaments. A remark I made on the subject after 
wards 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 believed ; but 
it is true. You may be as rich a man as you 
please, and as great ; but, when you die, your 
sister's children, not your own, will inherit your 
property, your money, your titles, your position, 
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 



WOMAN'S WORK-SUNDA Y AT NAGERCOIL. 199 

too intricate a subject. But I am thankful to say 
the missionaries utterly discountenance the observ 
ance of caste in any form. The Sudra and Shanar 
Christians do no often intermarry ; and it is, per 
haps, better they should not do so : but in theory, 
caste has no existence in Protestant Missions. 

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 invita 
tion 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 entered, I 
was struck with astonishment. Here was an 
immense building, certainly the biggest Mission 
church we have ever seen, filled throughout 
crowded, I may say with as decent and respect 
able a congregation as you could see at home. 
The pulpit stood a good way down from the top, 
with pews arranged in front of it, on either side of 
a wide passage to the door. These were crowded 
the women to the right, and the men to the left ; 
while on the floor, round the pulpit, up to the top, 
and round every pillar, the little ones of the flock 
were set as thickly as they could be put. The 
girls from the Boarding Schools sat together, and 
the lads from the Seminary in another group ; but 
most of the children had come with their parents 
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 wonderfully 
interesting sight ; they were so tidy and neat in 



200 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 glare of 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. Duthie conducted the preliminary 
services, and then my husband preached the 
sermon, being interpreted by the native pastor 
sentence by sentence. All the service was in 
Tamil, except the first hymn, which was English, 
and sung by all the congregation. Miss Duthie 
played the harmonium, 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-respecting 
people, who support their own pastor and school 
masters. Besides this, they contributed last year 



WOMAN'S WORK SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL. 201 

3,000 rupees to the general work of the Mission 
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 rue in mind of similar scenes I 
have watched a hundred times on the hillsides 
at home, generally on a ' Sabbath-eve, in summer 
tide,' 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 
Sunday - schools, one or two in the church, one 
in the verandah 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 verandah. 
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 missionaries 



202 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

rightly regard the training of the wives and mothers 
as of the first importance ; hence this regular cate 
chising which is held every Sunday afternoon. And 
truly it was a striking sight to see the big church 
quite filled with women all Christians, of course, 
from the aged, grey-haired great-grandmother 
downwards. Many of the younger women had 
habies 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 question in return. The 
pastor at once handed over the exercise to iny 
husband, who catechised all round quite con amore ; 
and we were delighted with the intelligence and 
knowledge of many of the women, especially those 
who had been Christians 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 stations 
under his supervision, in a radius of about twenty 
miles. These he visits alternately, and each has 
its pastor or catechist, and place of worship. 

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 



WOMAN'S WORK SUNDAY AT NAGERCOIL. 203 

were those of his Church. His zeal, his enthu 
siasm, 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. 




A NATIVE CHBISTIAN WOMAN. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

CAPE COMOEIN. 

OUE kind friends had promised us a sight of their 
Ultima Thule, the renowned Cape, the Land'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 morning my husband 
and I stole noiselessly out of Mr. Duthie's verandah. 
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 roused ; 
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 very 
refreshing ; the murky canopy overhead soon began 
to reveal a silver lining, the clouds gathered them 
selves away to the mountain-tops, and the beautiful 
stars gleamed out of the darkness, filling one's mind 



CAPE COMORIN. 205 

with sweet and happy thoughts. How often, in like 
manner, do the gracious promises of our God shine 
out through the deepest sorrow-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 monotone, 
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 
East, 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 grey tinged 
faintly the eastern sky. Gradually the colour 
deepened; a pinky shade stole softly into the 
grey, which again deepened, at the horizon, 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 become sand, and 
the trees looked knotted and gnarled, with bared 



206 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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- 
coloured, with the strangest fishing craft about, 
and boats and canoes close to the shore. 

Mr. Lee 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 perfect sort 
of sanatorium belonging to the Eesident at the 
Maharajah's Court in Trevandrum. Here the happy 
possessor has a glorious sea-view, with perfect 
solitude and leisure, and good hearty whiffs, or blows 
rather, 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 go forth and explore. The bearers, poor 
fellows, threw themselves down on the sand, and 
were asleep in a minute. 

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. The last hill we passed 
is a very famous one. It is said to be the same 
which the Monkey god, Hanuman, carried under 
his arm fifteen hundred miles ! The story is told 
in the great poem, the Ramayan, how Hanuman 
was commissioned to find medicinal herbs on this 
mountain wherewith to restore the slain of King 



CAPE COMORIN. 209 

Rama's army. Being afraid that the morning would 
dawn before he had gathered the herbs, he plucked 
the mountain up, bore it off, and threw it down in 
Rama's camp, which stood in this place. The region 
about the Cape was the scene of other exploits of the 
clever god, as wonderful and credible as this one. 
For instance, in order to construct a bridge between 
Rameshwar, a sacred place on the coast, and Ceylon, 
he brought mountains, millions at a time, and cast 
them into the sea ; but I can only say we did not 
discover the bridge. 

There are no bold headlands nor precipitous crags 
light-house crowned just at the Land's End, only 
a few island-rocks with the white surf dashing 
over them, and always the beautiful, glittering sea 
stretching away to the far horizon. But there are 
other things interesting and new. It was curious 
to watch the long-shaped, narrow canoes, the 
catamarans of the coast, each with its most 
picturesque occupant, a stalwart, broad-chested, 
bronze fisherman, 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, suspending 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. 

Then 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 thousands of these 
stately, remarkable trees. This tree, indeed, is the 
only thing in vegetation which could find sustenance 

o 



210 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ill 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-coloured 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, sparkling and shim 
mering in the sun-rays, like crushed diamonds and 
rubies ; then, marching with this, 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. A 
wild and most romantic legend is popularly told 
of this rice-sand, and how it originated. After the 
rice comes another bed of the brilliant red, and 
another, and another of black, garnet, and white, 
alternating like beds in a flower parterre, and quite 
as distinct, the colours always keeping apart. It 
was only by digging a little way down we found the 
colour often underlying the yellow white, and vice 
versd. We halted long surveying these ocean- 
wonders. I then filled some bottles with specimens 
of each colour and brought them away. 



CAPE COMORIN. 211 

By-and-by we strolled up toward a village which 
crowned a little eminence over the sea. Some men 
had come down to look at us, and altogether 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 dedicated to the god Shiva, and 
it is esteemed a specially holy spot. Indeed, the 
whole place is considered sacred, and great numbers 
of pilgrims visit the temple at certain periods of 
the year. There were many dark-visaged, naked 
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 enclosure of the 
temple. The patron 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 colour, and there are four fine monoliths in front 
about twenty feet in height. 

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 Boman 
Catholic fishermen were to be found. There are 



212 IN SOU THERN INDIA . 

many Konian 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 Juggernath, which are drawn about 
during festival times ; one is dedicated to St. Joseph, 
and the other to the Virgin Mary. So low have 
these poor so-called Christians sunk. 

Meanwhile I was soon surrounded by a crowd of 
women and children, with a ring of men outside, all 
staring at the white-faced stranger most unmerci 
fully, 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 Hindu 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 Catholic church, sur 
mounted by a cross ! Behind me a noisy school 
of both boys and girls occupied the verandah of 
the mandapan, shouting their lessons at the top of 
their voice, or scratching their ' copies ' in an 
irritating way, 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 accomplishment in writing on these novel 
copy-books. I was not sorry when the gentlemen 
reappeared. 

We got into our chairs, and, preceded by Mr. Lee 



CAPE COMORIN. 213 

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 frighten 
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. Afterwards 
some of them came regularly to seek him, and hear 
him at his nearest preaching station. 

Our route lay over the sand through the thick 
palmyra forest. Here this prince of trees, as it is 
rightly called, exists in all its majesty and usefulness. 
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 canoe ; the branches 
provide the thatch and the enclosures ; also his 
punka, umbrella, rope, stationery, 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 
eighty or ninety feet. This they do to remove the 



214 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

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 waist-cloth 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 excellent 
when fresh, a luscious sort of drink. After it 
ferments it becomes intoxicating, and, I am afraid, 
it 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 to manufacture 
sugar a coarse, dark sort of soft stuff, called jagry, 
much used by the people. These climbers ascend 
as many as forty or fifty 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 indeed 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 enclosed with branches of palm leaf, stood 



CAPE COMORIN. 215 

under some large trees, and in the midst of them a 
little Christian church. This was a native Christian 
village, one of Mr. Lee'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 the horrible rites of this 
degrading superstition were practised, and now 
filled with the habitations 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 people gathered out of their homes to 
welcome us, headed by their pastor, and the 
dresser, a young medical student trained by 
Dr. Thomson, of Neyoor; for, besides the church, 
there is a small dispensary, and also a school. They 
took us at once to the church, and we found in a 
little room behind a prophet's chamber, used by 
the missionary on his visits a comfortable break 
fast prepared 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 Mission, 
and has a congregation of six hundred, who support 
their own pastor and pay their own schoolmaster. 
One interesting point to us was, that the church 
was built by Eingeltaube. It is a plain, substantial, 
barn-like structure, with white-washed walls, bare 
floor, and a simple rail across the upper end, where 
a small reading-desk stands. The windows 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 Kingeltaube, admitting light, and keeping 



2 1 6 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

out intruders, while the glare is completely softened 
by the shady trees without. 

After breakfast, the church bell rang out, and 
presently the whole place was filled to overflowing, 
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 




AGUSTEESPCRAM CHAPEL, 



the rails 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 
grandson. 



CAPE COMORIN. 217 

After the men had been introduced to us, and we 
had some talk, the service began, and a delightful 
impressive time followed, the Spirit 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 Communion-time ; a feeling 
which only strengthened when, at the singing which 
followed, the precentor read out the line before it 
was sung. I confess, however, that afterwards the 
spell was completely broken when ' instrumental 
music' was added. And the instrument was a 
fiddle, a ' genuine fiddle,' as my husband said, and 
not merely the vina, which in Western India the 
people love as an accompaniment when chanting 
their plaintive lyrics ; still, it was not quite so in 
congruous 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, nor 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 



2 1 8 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

regarding the -condition of the people formerly, 
contrasting it with the improvement of the present. 
They spoke especially of the rise there is among 
the Christians in social position and standing, also 
in their character morally and spiritually ; 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 Travancore. 

In former tunes, the oppression and cruelties 
practised by the high castes toward the low were 
fearful. If a water-bund broke, or any other 
calamity happened, a Pariah 1 was at once sacrificed 
to appease the gods. Slavery existed until quite 
lately, and the slaves were often most cruelly used. 
It was appalling to hear of the sufferings inflicted 
on them. For instance, 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 interesting 
' 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 people, we got 
into our chairs and started. The evening was so 
1 A low caste-man. 



CAPE COMORIN. 219 

lovely that all the fatigues of the long, 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. This is 
true, indeed, of all scenery, but particularly true in 
India. After the blaze of the glaring day has 
gone, the harmony, the serenity, the blended colour, 
the tender, sweet beauty all come out with the lights 
of evening. As we left the palm forests behind, 
and turned our faces toward the mountain-ranges 
which tower over Nagercoil, the views became more 
glorious every turn. Some of these summits, 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 sun was going down in a gorgeous surrounding 
of massive clouds in every shade of brilliant orange 
and crimson, lighting up the ridges and dyeing the 
slopes, glinting down among the green valleys, and 
gleaming rosy light on the still faces of the little 
sheets of water, which abounded all along our route, 
and looked like tiny lakelets. The roads are skirted 
by magnificent spreading trees, chiefly banyans, 
which now threw long, deep shadows on the grass. 
The scene grew more and more peaceful as the 
colour 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. 



CRATER XV. 

NEYOOR PAREYCHALEY. 

WE are busy packing up for a fresh start. A 
machine stands out there, beyond the verandah, 
in the shade, all ready for us. It is an 
odd little green box of a bandy, with rather a 
disproportionate 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 nice native Christians, who hospitably 
insist on ' speeding the parting guest,' by sending 
us on our way free of expense to ourselves. It is 
very pleasant to accept their kindness so much 
of a piece with the rest. We have made life-long 
friends in this ideal Mission home. 



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. It is specially 
interesting to us, as our friend Dr. Lowe, of George 
Square, Edinburgh, the well-known and able 
Superintendent of the Medical Missionary Society 
of Edinburgh, was once stationed here. He began 
his career in Neyoor. 



NE YOORPARE YCHALE Y. 221 

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 glorious view of the mountains which lie about 
this 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 
valley, waving with green rice crops, and intersected 
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, rugged 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 Govern 
ment ; 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 Neyoor, 
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 picturesque scenery 
of this fairy-like land. A great deal of water is 
stored in tanks and little canals, in order to irrigate 



222 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the rice-fields, so that all along the road you come 
on what look like lakes and serpentines, and pretty 
rivulets, which give a 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 white 
wash, though not with the red paint you see on 
idol-shrines in the Maratha country. At a little 
village half-way, a catechist and two or three 
deacons were waiting for us, sitting by their little 
road- side church. They escorted us the rest of 
the way, talking all the time, and giving much in 
formation, keeping pace with the bullocks, who 
thought it quite beneath 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 
we all went into the large church, which stands 
in the compound, where we found an immense 
assemblage of people gathered to hear the stranger- 
missionary gentleman. I was too tired to stay out 
the whole service after our not very restful drive. 

The next morning we were out almost before the 
sun, to explore, and found a fine large compound, in 
which stood two good mission-houses, the church, 
hospital, dispensary, and other buildings for schools, 
with some very beautiful trees intermingling and 
giving beauty to the whole. There are one or two 
tombstones also in one place, which commemorate 
some of the missionaries who have died here. We 
breakfasted with Dr. and Mrs. Thomson, who live in 



NEYOORPAREYCHALEY. 223 

one of the bungalows ; but before then Dr. Thomson 
had shown us all his work. We first went to the 
Dispensary, where about thirty of the patients were 
assembled, and all the students, and there was a 
short service. Dr. Mitchell gave a short 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 premises, including 
the class-rooms, where we made friends with the 
students and dressers. The latter 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 dis 
pensary as full-fledged doctors. I was particu 
larly pleased with the appearance of these young 
fellows ; they have bright, frank, good faces, and 
honest expressions. Most of them support them 
selves, with no help from the Mission. 

There were among the patients in the hospital 
two or three poor fellows, palmyra climbers, who 
had fallen from the trees ; and Dr. Thomson says 
that accidents of this sort are unhappily of frequent 
occurrence. But these men often hear the Gospel 
in this way ; they become attached and grateful to 
the good doctor who heals their body, and they 
often go out having got also health and life to 
their souls. 

The enormous amount of work which is accom 
plished by this Medical Mission, and the benefit it is 
to the people, is shown by the fact that, during the 



224 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 persons. These 
include Christians, heathen, and Mohammedans ; 
and the diseases, of course, are of all kinds. 

It is very pleasing to hear that the Government 
helps the Mission considerably; a wonderfully en 
lightened 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 children attend the Sunday- 
school, and make no objection 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 elsewhere, 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 return after the marriage or betrothal 
has taken place. Several Bible- women, however, are 
employed in house-to-house visitation, and follow 
the girls to their new homes, so keeping up the 
influence, and often carrying on a simple education 
for years after they have left school. 

One of the Bible-women I saw had gone about 



NEYOORPAREYCHALEY. 225 

the country teaching, and preaching, and speaking 
to the women in the villages long hefore 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 interesting it is 
to sit down with a group of these humble women 
gathered round you, their softened, speaking coun 
tenances 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 entrance 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 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 ; 
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 
p 



226 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

wonderfully 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, respectable men, 
grave and thoughtful, truly a most striking sight ! 
How I wished all the sceptics about Missions and 
their fruits could have seen it. Then there were the 
dressers and medical students, and students prepar 
ing for the ministry and other work (some of these 
were from Mr. Duthie's Seminary), also a few 
colporteurs ; and, beyond, a goodly fringe of listeners 
and on-lookers, 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 were weeping, and every one felt 
that the Spirit of the Living God was in the midst 
of us. I never saw more intent listeners, 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, has 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 verandah. 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. 



NEYOORPAREYCHALEY. 227 

Hacker's embroidery workers. Instead of the lace 
which they make at Nagercoil, the women here are 
employed in making embroidery 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 receive orders. Many ladies help much 
in taking quantities of the embroidery for sale at 
other stations and on the hills ; and it is of so 
good a quality that, like the lace, it finds ready 
purchasers. 

Meetings with the boys and girls of the Boarding 
Schools followed, and filled up the afternoon ; troops 
of them came filing into the verandah, 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. 
Lowe, and many the loving messages sent to 
them. They are anything but forgotten in their 
old sphere of labour. 

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 



228 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

evening was most reviving and restful after the 
stifling day, as we sped along beneath the arching 
trees by the cool little serpentines 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 examine. 

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 branches of the 
palmyra tree. Inside there was the most grotesque 
and hideous image it is possible to conceive, a 
female, with glaring, staring eyes, a dagger uplifted 
in her hand, two tusks for teeth, between 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 fiend. 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 
the goddess, or demoness, Isdki. 

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 trouble 
the people evermore. Small-pox is also believed to 
be a demoness, and now that this terrible disease is 
scourging the country, the price of chickens has 
risen alarmingly, so many are offered to appease the 
infuriated demoness ! 

Pareychaley, 

When the kind family at Neyoor retired to rest 
last night we meant to have started for Pareychaley, 



NE YO OR PARE YCHALE Y. 229 

in a country cart which my husband had engaged 
for the trip. Unluckily, the driver had insisted on 
' an advance/ which, I believe, is the custom, and as 
soon as he got the rupees he disappeared into the 
bazaar 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. Messengers were despatched in all direc 
tions, 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 providences we love to recall and mark, we 
were rescued from all our difficulties. The kind 
Dewan, Mr. Nana Pillay, sent to offer his car 
riage to take us part of the way, so as to save us 
fatigue ; and hearing of the dead-lock our plans had 
got into, he also arranged most kindly to send on 
his bullock-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 beauteous awakening 
of the day. 

The young moon had retired to rest, the fireflies 
had extinguished their bright little lamps, the shrill 
chorus of the grasshoppers and crickets from the 
shola 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 feathers in the 



230 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

branches, and twitter to arouse their mates ; the 
' fell chanticleer ' was doing the same thing noisily 
for the villages ; and the tender, twinkling 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, just turning grey, arrayed in loose, white 
morning costume, who accosted us so heartily and 
shook hands with us so warmly that we felt our 
welcome was more than sure. This was Mr. Emlyn, 
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 verandah, commanding magnificent 
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 buildings 
belonging to the Mission. Here this couple live, 
charming people, who would enjoy and adorn any 
society ; and Mrs. Emlyn 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. 



NEYOORPAREYCHALEY. 231 

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, won 
derfully 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 Eev. 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 haunted the woods that no 
one would live here. At first the people thought as 
the white men cut down the jungle the demon 
would destroy them ; but no ! they went on un 
molested. 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 missionaries 
first settled among them. The place was both a 
natural and a mora^ wilderness. Demons ruled 
supreme. Devil dances and horrible orgies were of 
constant occurrence, accompanied by all the wild 
absurdities of this degrading worship, while igno 
rance, 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 frequently take place, and 



232 



IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 



there are a great many demon- shrines about all 
this neighbourhood. Mr. Emlyn told us an amus 
ing story of the first appearance 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 hue and cry, declaring that this was 
a new kind of demon, who had at length conquered 
the Englishman, and had run off with him ! 




BELL MUSIC USED AT DEVIL WORSHIP. 

They believe, also, that the demoness of small 
pox goes about, especially frequenting the markets, 
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, 



NEYOORPAREYCHALEY. 233 

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. Emlyn's workers and 
assistants, such as pastors, evangelists, teachers, 
and catechists. There were a good many women pre 
sent, 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 marvellous, and education and training have 
done wonders. 

I ought to say that all the converts are not drawn 
from the Shanars. There were ten castes represen 
ted in the congregation ; but few are from the higher 
castes, and only two Brahmans have as yet joined 
the Mission. The bulk of the Christians 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; only 
that, in caste, it always seems as if in the lowest 
depth there was still a lower. 

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



234 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

After lunch, the girls from the Boarding School, 
and some pleasing, nice-looking women, gathered in 
the verandah, 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 children look so 
picturesque in their bright garments, the prevailing 
hue of which is red ; all but the torn ear, which is a 
terrible deformity. It is wonderful to see the weights 
they carry in the poor, ill-used member. The lobe 
is elongated in many cases nearly to the shoulder. It 
is as ugly and incomprehensible a fashion as the 
contracted foot in China; but the missionaries are 
successfully battling with it among the converts. 

Mr. Emlyn has thirty-nine schools in his district, 
boys' and girls', in which, he rightly says, ' there lies 
the hope for the future.' In the evening, he and Dr. 
Mitchell walked down to the village, 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 vigour. 
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. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

TKEVANDKUM. 

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 Mission premises, 
and launched, us on the public road. It felt a little 
eerie coming out of the brightness of the pleasant 
house into the mirk, 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. Eoss. He is 
Principal of the Maharajah's College here. When 
we came in early this morning, travel-soiled and 
very weary, Mr. Eoss himself fished us out of our 
dusty little den, and gave us the welcome of an old 
friend, though we had never actually met before. 

Our excellent Joseph was here before us. He 
had somehow caught the recalcitrant driver, took 
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 to 
unpack and do everything for us. 



236 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

As soon as it was cool in the afternoon, Mrs. Ross 
drove us out. Trevandrum is a most beautiful 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. The mingled rocks and hills, green valleys 
and lofty mountains, with the rich vegetation, the 
palm groves and rice-fields, and water, altogether 
make as lovely a panorama as one's eyes could 
wish to look upon. 

It is the capital of Travancore, and the residence 
of His Highness the Maharajah and his Court. The 
Prince had succeeded to the sovereignty not long 
before our visit ; and was, unfortunately for us, 
absent, making his grand tour through the great 
cities of India. The Maharajah seemed to be liked ; 
had travelled a good deal, knew English well, and 
was considered an enlightened 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, Patman- 
abhi, Dasa, Vanji Balarama Varmah Kulasahara 
Kridapadi Mannay Sultan Maharajah Eama Eajah, 
Bahadur Shamshir Jang, Fellow of the Madras 
University ; the Maharajah of Travancore ! ' 

This city lies only two miles from the sea. It 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 






TREVANDRUM. 237 

gardens ; the College ; and several other good build 
ings. There is also the Fort, which is surrounded 
by lofty walls, and guarded by sentinels, 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 
wilderness it seems to be ! Nowhere else in India 
is caste so strong, nor the lofty and tyrannical 
pretensions of the higher castes so insisted on 
and enforced 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 the 
calm assumption of superiority by the Brahman ; 
but that the lower castes should have so long 
submitted to the oppression and all the galling 
indignities so unsparingly heaped upon them, is 
certainly a perplexity. The ' once born,' the ' low 
born,' the ' polluted : ' by these distinguishing 
epithets are the low-castes designated. And the 
curious thing is that in this caste system, as I said, 
there is ' even in the lower depth a lower still.' 
Every low man has some one yet lower, on whom 
he in turn can look down and tyrannise over. 
And apathy is not the word to describe the utter 



238 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

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 Hindu into a very 
demon 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 suffering, the misery, the utter degradation, 
are indeed 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 (a man of very low caste) 
dare not come within ninety feet of the sacred 
person of a Brahman. From a Nair or Sudra, 
also, he must keep at a respectful distance. If he 
sees a high caste man approach, he must creep 
behind a hedge, or scramble up a bank, or get off 
the road somehow, until the lordly ' twice born/ 
(the Brahman) has passed on his way. 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. But 
I need not go on with my enumeration. If you 
want to know more of these complexities and 
absurdities, read Mr. Mateer's books. 

It is pleasant to turn one's gaze on the Chris 
tianised 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 



TPE VANDR UM. 239 

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 redemption 
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 
civilisation, 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 ; some 
times, when trouble has overtaken him, the poor 
ignorant convert has sought to propitiate the demon 
once more. The Pulaya, and even the Pariah and 
the Shanar, have sometimes made unsatisfactory 
Christians, no doubt ; and who would wonder, after 
the ages of oppression they have undergone V It may 
take a generation or two to make strong, reliable 
men of those 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 thanksgiving and 
joy ; and who can doubt but that the Gospel will 
everywhere speedily 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. 



240 /A SOUTHERN INDIA. 

The Nairs whom I have mentioned, though not 
Brahmans, are a good caste. They form the military 
class, and are the aristocracy of the country. The 
reigning family are Nairs, although it seeks often 
to raise itself by matrimonial alliances with the 
Brahmans. This is still more systematically sought 
by the Eoyal family at Cochin. Succession among 
the Nairs goes in the female line; the nephew of 
the Maharajah being the heir-apparent, 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 largely practised here ; 
though, 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 
Zenana Mission, begun years ago in the house of 
our dear friends the Eobertsons in Bombay. Miss 
Blandford is one of the ablest and most successful 
of the Zenana missionaries who have ever corne 
to India. She has laboured 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 she 
speaks of some of the princesses with the greatest 
affection and respect. She herself occupies a 
position of much and deserved influence among 
them, and, indeed, in the whole place, both among 
the natives and Europeans. Miss Blandford is a 
power for good. It is wonderful what the influence 
of this one devoted Christian woman has done for 
Travancore a stronghold of superstition and caste. 



TREVANDRUM. 241 

Monday, 21th. 

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 
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 missionary 
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 thirty-nine congregations 
in the district, and about 5,000 Christians, with 
a respectable army of teachers, village-preachers, 
pastors, and other agents. The work 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 Sunday 
schools are full of heartiness ; and the women seem 
specially earnest. There is a prayer-meeting among 
them, entirely conducted by themselves. Then the 
women who can read go to the houses of those who 
cannot, and read to them, and have prayer; while 

Q 



242 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

others collect poor children together, give them 
food (like our own Sunday breakfasts), and then 
teach them Bible lessons. The people are liberal, 
according to their means, and bring the first-fruits 
of their harvest, and other offerings, to their chapels. 
Of course, there are disappointments and discourage 
ments, 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 
Kani. 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 native 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 contrast to the usual 
zenana at least, of Bengal and how striking 
the difference which this lady presents with all 
her surroundings to those poor faded Eanis 
in their dreary apartments at Tanjore ! Here, 
you see at once what education, refinement and 






TREVANDRUM. 243 

intercourse with a cultivated Christian lady 
have accomplished. These influences have had 
a magical effect. 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 ere long the crowning 
joy may be hers of seeing them profess to be 
Christ's. The Eani 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 satisfaction. She talks English 
wonderfully well ; reads, writes, draws, and employs 
herself as educated women do. She has no children, 
and thus her time is aU her own. She does needle 
work beautifully, and showed us a group of flowers 
she was embroidering on velvet ; she also took us 
downstairs, and showed us the rooms where she 
studies with Miss Blandford, including a room for 
painting, an art in which she delights. I noticed 
that in every apartment almost there hung a 
portrait of Her Majesty the Queen, of whom Her 
Highness speaks with the greatest reverence and 
affection. She is not a baptised Christian ; but 
a Bible lay in more than one of the rooms, and 
Miss Blandford reads it with her constantly, and 
she seems to be at least intellectually a believer. 



244 IN SOUTHERN. INDIA. 

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 unpretending 
way, and conducted us upstairs, was the Rani's 
husband a small man about forty, without shoes or 
stockings, and a turban on his head. In this strange 
country husbands seem to be only appendages. 
From what I have already said of the queer laws of 
succession, you will see that the Maharajah'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 there 
fore adopted two nieces, his sister's children, who, 
by virtue of this adoption, became Ranis, and 
are the two ladies we have been visiting. They 
were married to two men chosen for them; but 
unfortunately the senior Rani, as I said, 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 consequence. 
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 ! In Bengal and other 
parts such an event is considered a calamity, and 
the attendants are afraid to go and break the 
sad tidings to the expectant father. 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 children who may be born to any of 
the three lads, who are themselves heirs, will be 



TREVANDRUM. 245 

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. Let who can comprehend : I have made it 
plain as far as my own comprehension goes. 

The senior Bani 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 wife ; and now 
they are living happily together, he sympathising 
with her in all her higher tastes. He charged 
himself with Dr. Mitchell's entertainment, 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 Bani ; she is a much more common-place 
woman, and yet she has a strong, good face, and was 
most courteous to us. Her eldest son, who is the 
heir-apparent, and is called the Elliah-Bajah, has 
an establishment to himself; but her two younger 
boys were with her nice little lads, with dark olive 
faces, and rather heavy locks, beneath small, richly- 
embroidered turbans. They wore green satin coats, 
embroidered with gold, red silk trousers, and no 
shoes or stockings. Their little Boyal Highnesses 
did everything for our entertainment : they read 
an English book, and recited a little ; one then 



246 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

played on the vina a small instrument like a 
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 Elliah- 
Eajah. 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, short rather, and dressed in the 
simplest grey 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 excellent accent, and asked the 
most intelligent questions on many subjects. He 
seemed greatly pleased to have my husband to 
talk to, and begged us to prolong our visit; but 
when the conversation turned on religion, it was 
manifest that he is a very orthodox Hindu. 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 politeness, as 
we took leave of him, that he would never forget 
this visit, nor the food for thought the conversation 



TREVANDRUM. 247 

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 as the causes 
for these the efforts 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 listened 
to breathlessly ; but as soon as he had finished, 
up started an irate Maratha Brahman, who poured 
forth a deluge of talk in reply. He glorified the 
Marathas and the Maratha dynasty, contending 
that the good old times of the great Shivaji 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 judgment 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 honour be it 
said, does not bear malice. He called early this 



248 IN SOUTHERN INDIA, 

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 exceedingly 
kind and gracious. It seems that he also is a 
Maratha Brahman, able and enlightened, occupying 
the most influential position after the Maharajah 
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. Boss has an able associate in Dr. 
Harvey, 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 departments, with one hundred 
and twenty in the College. We went from 
class to class, intensely interested. The education 
is thorough and excellent, and the lads bright 
and evidently in earnest over their studies ; frank, 
too, and answering with a pleasant readiness 
you do not always find, which makes the 
examination animated and interesting. But what 
certainly had for us the chief interest, and 
seemed very remarkable, was to hear the Bible 
taught in this institution ; for you must remember 
it is not missionary it belongs to Government ; 
and more than this, to a heathen Government. 



TRK VANDR UM. 249 

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 hour every week ; and this 
has been the practice since it was opened, I think 
in 1835. The first master, Mr. Koberts, 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 merciful 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 accord 
ingly 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 occurred, the one house was 
consumed, while its close neighbour was spared. 
'Ah,' said the children and the people also, 



250 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

' God has taken care of the school-room, because it 
is yours. God intends you to have it ; you will get 
it hack ! ' And sure enough it was given back ; 
and here they are installed, and the school is 
more successful, more crowded, and more a favourite 
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 ques 
tion was, ' What is better than gold ? ' ' Knowledge,' 
at once answered a pleasant-looking girl. ' And is 
there anything better than knowledge ? ' ' Yes/ 
answered another. ' What is it ? ' 'A pure heart ! ' 
she said. 

There are three assistant teachers, but Miss 
Blandford is here herself all day long. She break 
fasts and has her lunch here, only returning to 
her home when all the duties of the day are 
over. Do our friends at home always realise 
how hard often is the life of our dear Zenana 
missionaries ? 

I am always in my element in a school like this, 
and we stayed long, seeing all the departments 
thoroughly. Most of the children are disfigured by 
the elongated ear filled with massive rings and 
weights, and also by the unbecoming way they dress 
their hair. Some have it gathered into an untidy 
bunch at the left side, and others have the bunch on 
the forehead ; a great pity, for the faces are bright 
and happy and pleasant, and show remarkable 
intelligence. 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 



TREVANDRUM. 251 

school,' they say, ' than anywhere else.' One dear, 
wee 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 petticoat, 
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 all that has yet grown 
gathered, like the others, 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 Christian. 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 wonderful that these proud, 
bigoted people should permit their daughters to be 
so completely under the influence of a Christian 
woman? Surely it is the Lord's doing, and shows 
a purpose of mercy to the next generation in 
Travancore. 

NOTE BY DR. MURRAY MITCHELL. 

His Highness the Maharajah of Travancore. We 
much regretted that the Maharajah of Travancore 
was absent when we were at Trevandrum. His 



252 IN SO UTHERN INDIA. 

Highness has often been praised as the most 
enlightened of Indian princes. He is a Fellow 
of the Madras University. He has read English 
literature extensively, quotes intelligently and 
approvingly such writers as Stuart Mill, Herbert 
Spencer, and Darwin, and expresses himself in 
English with more than correctness with some 
thing approaching to elegance. Yet, since his 
accession to the throne of Travancore, His 
Highness has conducted himself like a bigoted 
Hindu. He has been prodigal in his largesses 
to the Brahmans. One of his latest achievements 
has been to get himself weighed in one scale of 
a balance against gold in the other. He sat in 
one scale, decorated with sword, shield, jewels, 
etc., and gold coins were heaped in the other 
soale, till the prince was found wanting and the 
gold preponderated, and then the vast sum was 
distributed among the Brahmans. "When the last 
Maharajah was weighed, the sum expended amounted 
to 16,000. On this occasion the ceremony was 
still more splendid, and the gifts to the Brahmans 
more magnificent. Meanwhile roads, bridges, and 
public improvements of every kind are urgently 
required; but they must wait. One whole fifth 
of the revenues of the Travancore State is devoted 
to the support of Hinduism ; that is to say, almost 
exclusively to the support of the Brahmans 
especially the Namburi Brahmans. These men 
amount only to about 10,000 ; but they are 
omnipotent throughout Travancore. Does the 
Maharajah pamper these from policy, or from 
conviction ? I came to the conclusion that it 






TREVANDRUM. 253 

was from conviction ; but in that case the mind 
of His Highness must be a psychological curiosity, 
which it would have been interesting to study. 

As this sheet was passing through the press, 
tidings of the unexpected death of the Maharajah 
reached England. 



CHAPTEK XVII. 



THE BACKWATEB. 



March 1st. 



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 garden-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 Back 
water of the Malabar coast. 

These lagoons are connected by canals, and make 
a grand line of water communication known as the 
Backwater, which is of great commercial importance 
to all this region. This Backwater is always smooth 
and navigable, 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 
intoxicating. I could not remain any longer below 
in the close little cabin ; and so here we are perched, 
enjoying the cool air, while we speed 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 exquisite and 



THE BACKWATER. 255 

picturesque loveliness too beautiful to describe. 
There are woods and waters, lakes and fens, rippling 
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 without 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 
vegetation which belongs to the tropics, bathed in 
the night-dews, and gleaming and glowing in the 
glorious sunshine of morning. 

After dinner last night we took leave of our most 
hospitable entertainers, who have simply loaded us 
with kindness. Mr. Boss 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 moored. The Dewan has most con 
siderately sent a peon (or messenger), who is to 
accompany us and look after the supplies of boatmen 
a needful precaution. Mr. Eoss 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 con 
tinually swell with gratitude to our gracious God, 
from whose loving hands come all these benefits, 
and who makes our way so easy. 



256 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

Joseph had our quilts and pillows spread on the 
narrow benches in the tiny cabin ; our stalwart, 
dusky boatmen were ready at their oars ; flags were 
flying gaily from stern 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 over-arching 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, 
was quite an unequal one. When not chatting and 
laughing, they were singing, and kept up a monoto 
nous chant often during the night. Coaxing 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 unwilling, 
sleepy creatures came at the Sircar's hookum 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 as 
when does it not ? for the sorrows and weariness 
of the troubled night. The rejoicing, masterful 



THE BACKWATER. 259 

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 blossoms. 
Looking upward you see towering, soaring cocoa 
palms. There are forests of them; their straight 
grey stems rising to the height of a hundred feet 
and more, crowned a-top with their beautiful plume 
of waving fronds, in the midst 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 colours, and 
an infinite variety of leaf. We are just passing 
a thicket of bushy shrubs, with crowns of scarlet, 
long-shaped leaves, like the pointsetya somewhat, 
drooping gracefully amid the vivid green ; and now 
another, with bunches of golden flowers, cup-shaped, 
a little like the beautiful chumpa. Above these 
the pale yellow-green, shiny, satiny leaves of the 
wild plantain float like flags : yards in length they 
seem. 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, having 
sent off our attendants in search of the Travellers' 
Bungalow, when we met a tall, gentleman-like man, 



260 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

in a suit of white flannel, who politely accosted us, 
and, with true Indian hospitality, invited us to his 
house. This was Mr. Cameron, a countryman, of 
course, and originally from Badenoch ; so we have 
much in common, and were fast friends at once. 
We discovered afterwards that our kind friend Mr. 
Boss 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 toward the sea, 
where, high over the shore, his bungalow stands. 
It commands a magnificent ocean-view. How 
wonderful it is that the Backwater should be so 
quiet, so full of smiling peacefulness, and yet so 
near that tossing ocean ; but the separation seems 
complete. On entering the house, we found a real 
bachelor abode. The verandah-room presented a 
delightful medley, the most prominent articles being 
newspapers, books, and magazines, 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 means 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 experience like this, we brought very appreciative 
appetites to the fresh fish, and rice, and new-laid 
eggs, with the chillis, and chutnies, and relishes ; 
and then the heaps of delicious fruit which always 
accompany an Indian meal. 






THE BACKWATER. 261 

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 accom 
panying us to the boat. It was still very hot ; but 
we had a good distance, with unknown perils of 
waters, before us, and the supplies of boatmen, to 
say the 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 departs 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 resource 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 



262 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

foreheads. They have no turbans and no clothes, 
except the bit of rag round the loins. They chatter 
immensely, though now they are singing a dirge- 
like song. One man leads off, singing a line, and 
then the whole crew catch up the refrain, repeat 
ing over and over the same words to the same 
monotonous strain. Occasionally a clever one 
among them improvises, and he must say some 
thing 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 compre 
hension, 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 
setting sun subdues and melts into the silvery light 
of the moon, not yet quite at its full, which gleams 
softly on the still water. The lagoon has greatly 
widened, and the palm trees look solemn and 
spectral 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, waiting 
calmly in the light at eventide to be taken home. 

In the Boat, 3rd 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, 



THE BACKWATER. 263 

for the relays have failed utterly, notwithstanding 
the Sircar's official and his authority. 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 branchless stems like monkeys, 
and bringing down little pots brimful of the sweet, 
fresh juice of the wonderful 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 tddi, 1 and. by 
evening it will have fermented, and become in 
toxicating ; 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 pursuing 
us. The sounds, too, were often peculiar. Close to 
our stern or side there would be a sudden splash 
and swirl, showing unmistakably the presence of big 
creatures in the water, probably some monster of 
the deep. One time, very incautiously, I confess, 
I had my arm out of the window, catching the 
cool water in my hand, when something slimy 
1 Hence, apparently, the word toddy. 



264 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

and cold struck it. I did not need a second warning ; 
and when we saw a dead alligator float past on his 
back this morning, I thought I would not be so 
venturesome again. Some one, no doubt, had shot 
the beast. 

The scenery has changed a little from yesterday. 
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. We seem to have left the 
palmyra tree behind, but the cocoa and other palms 
abound. There is a good deal of cultivation visible. 
There are belts of wavy, tall sugar-cane ; but the 
crops-in-chief are always rice. The flat expanse by 
the water-edge is filled with the vivid green of 
the plant which loves the damp, warm air, and the 
wealth of water which a sluice opened in the 
embankment can pour into the fields at any 
moment. Away to the horizon now 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. Nearer there is always this abounding, rejoicing 
vegetation, and these noble trees, with the golden 
rays of the mounting sun glinting through the 
green branches, which throw their shadows deep 
into the mirror-like lagoon. 

There is plenty of life about, which is generally 
the case in the morning. A good many baggage 
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 



THE BA CK WA TER. 



265 



not many canoes or fishing boats. Often we came 
on tiny islands beautifully wooded ; and hamlets are 
frequent now, as we get nearer Cottayam, pretty little 
homesteads surrounded by fences of palm branches. 
Pretty white churches, 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, white-washed, and raised on a 




SCENE ON THE BACKWATER, TBAVANCORE. 

pedestal, and occasionally ornamented with a wreath 
of flowers, the offering of some devout and simple 
worshipper. How sweet and pleasant a contrast to 
the shrine for the worship of demons ! and how 
cheering ! This looks almost like a Christian land. 
And how fairylike is the scenery: it puts us in mind, 
with its many waters and tortuous channels, winding 
among woods and islands, and low promontories, 
and green flats, of the lovely St. Lawrence and its 



266 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

thousand islands. We have just passed a tall stork, 
standing on one leg in a contemplative mood on a 
stem among some reeds ; and now, a little further 
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. 



CHAPTEK XVIII. 

COTTAYAM : ITS MISSIONS THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS 
OF MALABAR. 

WE did not arrive here until long past noon 
yesterday. Our weary mariners went very de 
jectedly 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, how 
ever, 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 
awhile ; and even the screeching, vivacious, tire 
some green paroquets ceased their restless flight 
and chatter, and left us for awhile in peace. Only 
the beautiful little silver fish, which darted about 
us in shoals, looked cool and happy, in the clear, 
green depths of the still water. Voices which 
at midnight fill the jungle with their noisy chorus 
are hushed at midday, and there was not a 



268 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 expanded into a sea-like 
expanse. They say the distant banks are splendid 
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 
important town of Allepy lay, with its shipping, 
and lighthouse, and large population ; and soon 
thereafter 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 size, 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 Mission 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 invitation ; and we were entertained 
by them, as we have been by missionaries of all 
Societies, in the heartiest and warmest way. 

We have now left the Mission fields of the 
London Missionary Society behind us in the South, 
and have reached the borders of those occupied 
by the Church Missionary Society. It began 
its labours in the Malay alim country in 1816, at 
the invitation of ' the good Resident/ Colonel, 
afterwards General Munro, and certainly there is 



COTTAYAM: ITS MISSIONS. 269 

no region more interesting, from a missionary 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 
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 Colonel Macaulay, who was then British 
Resident in Travancore, took the liveliest interest 
in the matter, and aided him in every possible way. 
The result, every one knows, was the establishment, 
in 1816, of a Mission under the auspices of the 
Church Missionary Society, which has worked in 
the district ever since, chiefly among the Syrian 
Christians, but also among the heathen. 



270 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Is it not a most curious and striking fact, that 
these two communities, one of God's ancient 
people, 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 ? 1 

Happily, now there are other lamps alight in 
the Mission stations, which have been planted by 
the different Societies, like light-houses, 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 gracious- 
ness, 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 

1 1 find the following in a sketch of the Syrian Christian Church 
by the Eev. B. H. Maddox, of the Church Missionary Society : 
1 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 vicissitudes for eighteen 
centuries, to the truth of God's revelation in the midst of hea 
thenism, is a startling as well as deeply interesting phenomenon 
in the history of the Church of God. ' 



COTTAYAM: ITS MISSIONS. 271 

accredited. At all events, they themselves love 
to speak of St. Thomas as the founder of their 
Church. I do not see why we should not like to 
do so too. 

From where I sit, I can see an old, grey 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 grey cross rising above 
the trees, and pointing, like a finger of hope, toward 
heaven ; surely suggestive of something bright 
and blissful in the future. These poor Christians 
are, no doubt, dark and ignorant enough. They 
were in a very sunken and degraded 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 



272 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

our boatmen, poor fellows ! who accompanied us 
to the Mission House, each carrying something of 
our effects. We retain our boat, and also the 
magnificent embodiment of authority, our scarlet- 
belted chuprassie, but we have dismissed the men 
meanwhile. They have been made happy by 
liberal buJcsheesh, including a kid for their supper, 
with which to make merry and recruit 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 Cottayam ; 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 Malay alim tongue. 

Near the house, and in the same compound, 
stands the College, a large building, in which there 
is accommodation not only for the education but 
the boarding of many of the pupils. It is a very 
important institution, there being no other of the 
kind nearer than Trevandrum 011 the one hand, 
and Cochin on the other. Mr. Neve's sphere is a 
most influential and important one, as it bears so 



COTTAYAM: ITS MISSIONS. 



273 



much on the native Christian community, the 
pastors and other agents all being educated and 
trained within its walls. It also exercises a very 
elevating influence on the Syrian Church. At 
right angles to the house there is the College 
Chapel, a beautiful little building, the most church- 




CHBIST CHURCH, COTTAYAM. 

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 universal. 
Inside, it is very pretty, with stalls and pews 

s 



274 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 an harmonium, in the 
familiar strains of the Evening Hymn. 

The other missionary now at this station is Mr. 
Painter, who occupies a mission-house standing 
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 Mission go 
to each other's houses in boats. 

We walked over in the cool of the evening yester 
day to another compound, where a remarkable old 
lady resides, who received us literally with open 
arms. This is the venerable Mrs. Baker, widow of 
the Eev. H. Baker, who was one of the first mis 
sionaries to Cottayam. His 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 so busy and 
happy among her children. She is quite deaf ; but 
she manages her large family marvellously, and the 
girls are devoted 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 



COTTAYAM: ITS MISSIONS. 275 

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'll 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 hundred and 
fifty pupils, who all live on the premises, and is one 
of the best conducted and most successful institu 
tions of the kind we have seen. This lady is also a 
widow. Her husband, the Eev. Henry Baker, son 
of the old lady, whose death a few years ago was a 
great loss to the Mission, was an able and influen 
tial man, and is known chiefly as having originated 
Mission work among an interesting aboriginal 
people, the Hill Arrians. There were some two 
thousand converts 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 already she 
has organised four day-schools for them. She had 
the little things gathered into the verandah that we 
might see them, and be saved a walk in the sun ; 
and it was a very pretty sight. They look 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 



276 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 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 standard. I was 
much attracted by the fine, intelligent, teachers, who 
were themselves trained in the College, and are, 
some of them, Syrian Christians. As usual, Dr. 
Mitchell questioned the classes, and gave an address. 

The further 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 favours. 
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, casuariiia, and many others ; 
magnificent banyans, often ornamented 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 




SOUTH INDIAN VEGETATION. 



COTTAYAM : ITS MISSIONS. 279 

trees. The flowering shrubs are gorgeous, and so 
are the endless trailers 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 landing 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 peasant, 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 probably a few of 
these useful trees, which are his revenue, and which, 
with his little rice-fields, and, perhaps, a few sheep 
or cattle, provide him and his family with every 
thing really 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 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 
neighbours, or muttered their evening prayers. 



z8o IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

They had no clothing to speak of, neither men nor 
women, 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 I could have sketched or photographed 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 picturesque 
loads on their heads, such as bunches of cocoa-nuts 
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 grace of the Grecian bend 
would not do here ! The better-class women are 
erect, lithe, and often slim, the skin of a darker hue 
than in the West and North, the deformities being 
this unbecoming mode in hair-dressing, the torn lobe 
of the ear, and a very inadequate 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, carrying 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 



COTTAYAM: ITS MISSIONS. 281 

hanging on to his disengaged hand. They looked 
way-worn 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 naked, fat, oily man, 
with a brick-dust hue of skin, a top-knot on his 
otherwise shaven head instead of turban, and a 
palm-leaf umbrella in his hand, sauntered slowly 
by. This was a lordly Brahman ; but he conde 
scended to bestow his benediction on the humble 
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 Soudra, or Nair family, probably respectable, 
well-to-do people, going to their home. The Nairs 
are always profoundly respectful 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 hallooing, 
and we found that another Brahman, one of the 
Namburi caste, and therefore doubly sacred, was 
about to cross the road. The Narnburis 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 



282 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 
were drawn who are, indeed, a slave-race. Eigid 
law in this province forbids such inferior creatures 
to come within ninety 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 at all ! They 
had to go through the jungles to their work ; and 
when they laboured 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 hallooing 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 from 
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 
unspeakably ludicrous if it had not been so pre 
posterous 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 
the transgressor as his system. 

I must allow that the Pulayas do look low enough. 
Their physique is not grand. They are short and 



COTTAYAM: ITS MISSIONS. 283 

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 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 
abolished 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 happily 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 departs out of 
harm's way, while the poor, deluded creatures take 
their goods and go contentedly off. Mr. Emlyn, cf 
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 
power which has ever been able to raise them 



284 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 
Christians. 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 
converts, 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 
become 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 wonderful 
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, instead 
of practising the frightful rites of their terrible 
superstitions, and being considered and treated 
as men, is a sight which may well quicken faith, 
and set one's heart on fire with the longing that 
the work should be done thoroughly, and adequately, 
and at once. And there is hope in every effort put 
forth. The missionaries declare that the people 
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 



COTTAYAM-. ITS MISSIONS. 285 

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. Long 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 overhead, soar 
higher toward 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 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 lovely light across the calm lagoon. Sirius with 
his changeful sparkle 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 
radiance 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 sauntered 
home, carrying many a picture and memory in 
our heart, which will not easily be effaced. 



286 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

NOTE BY DK. MUBKAY MITCHELL. 

The Degraded Classes in Travancore. One of the 
worst things in the administration of Travancore is its 
merciless treatment of the lower classes. The three 
lowest had been from time immemorial in a state of 
slavery ; but, in consequence of the earnest representa 
tions of the British authorities, slavery has been 
nominally, at least abolished. Of the slave races, the 
Pulayas were the lowest. The price of a Pulaya used to 
be from six to nine rupees ; he was adscriptus gleba, and 
sold with the land which he cultivated. Women were 
not allowed to cover their breasts till the year 1865 ; and 
when Christian women first did so they were rudely 
assaulted, and had the coverings torn off. These people 
cannot rise to be domestic servants ; they would pollute 
every person and everything in the house ! 

Missionaries have all along done everything in their 
power to mitigate these sufferings. Recently, the Rev. 
A. F. Painter, of the Church Missionary Society at 
Cottayam, has pleaded their case with all earnestness, 
both in private and in public. Immediately after two 
letters from him had appeared in the Madras Mail, com 
municating painful facts that had come under his own 
notice, an official proclamation was issued by the 
Travancore Government, to the following effect : 

[CIRCULAR.] 

There being reason to believe that Pooliars, and other humble 
classes of the population, still find difficulty in getting free 
access to the public Courts and Cutcherries, and ;iro not 
unfrequently obstructed in the use of the public highways 
and markets, His Highness's Government deem it necessary to 
call the attention of all public officers to an order issued from the 
Huzur on this subject on the 26thPanguni, 1045, and to impress 
upon all concerned, that the Courts and Cutcherries of the State, 
and all public roads and market-places, are open alike to all classes 
of His Highness's subjects, without Distinction of creed or caste ; 
and that no man shall be allowed to hinder another from the 
free use of them OH any ground whatsoever, such hindrance being 



COTTAYAM: ITS MISSIONS. 287 

an unjustifiable interference with the liberty of the subject, and 
calculated to defeat the impartial administration of justice. 

' Any pxtblic officer who may be found to deny free access to 
himself, on business, to any section of the population, and who 
may not personally receive or hear petitions from any person, or 
conduct investigations into cases in the presence and within the 
hearing of the parties concerned, on the ground that such persons 
are of low caste, will be visited with the severest displeasure of 
Government. ' V. BAMIENGAB, 

' Huzur Cutcherry, Trevandrum ; ' (Dewan). 

<2lst July, 1884.' 

For this step in advance the Travancore Government 
was publicly thanked by the Governor of Madras in 
Council, and so far, then, the right appeared to triumph. 
But Brahmanisni was not to be tamed thus easily. True, 
for a few days the officials of the Native Government 
seemed to believe the proclamation was honestly meant ; 
but soon afterwards a second circular, which was not 
published in the Travancore Government Gazette, was 
issued to the chief officials ; and this practically nullified 
the first proclamation. In the first, all public offices, 
public roads, and public markets were declared 
open to all classes. The second proclamation strikes 
out of the list all those near temples, palaces, or 
Brahman quarters. But these are very numerous. 
Practically, indeed, the first proclamation is a dead 
letter. On the public road one still sees the wretched 
Pulayas driven off into the jungle or swamp. We believe 
there is only one market to which they are admitted 
that of Cottayam ; and the permission in this case has 
been extorted by the missionaries. 

If these things are true, they are disgracefully true. 
After the most earnest enquiry, we believe them to be 
true. The attention of the Maharajah should be called 
to this foul blot on his administration, and should his 
Highness be unwilling or unable to move in the matter, 
the question should be taken up by the Government of 
Madras ; or, if need be, by the Supreme Government. 
For these atrocities must cease. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

COTTATAM : 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 expresses 
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 
honour of presiding at the Annual Exhibition 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 
gaily and very prettily decorated by the boys. But 
the heat ! Who shall tell it ? To say that we are 
in a perpetual vapour-bath is a mild description 
of what it is now. 

Notwithstanding our vigils last night, we were 
up betimes this morning, and out. 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 
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 



COTTAYAM: THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 289 

it, where he teaches systematic theology to the 
aspirants for the ministry, and trains schoolmasters 
and evangelists. Afterwards my husband 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 Syrians 
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, un 
dulating 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 skies. It was one of 
those inexpressibly sorrowful events which are 
so mysterious also, that, not being able to com 
prehend, we must just meekly bow before, and 
accept, as simply our Father's will. 

'Thy way, not mine, Lord, 

However dark it be ; 
Lead me by Thine own hand, 
Choose out the path for me. 



290 IN SOUTHERN INDIA, 

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 
something peculiarly attractive about her, and 
she seemed to us most admirably fitted, both 
by nature 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 undone, 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 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. 
Indeed, 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 



COTTAYAM : THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS. 291 

Bombay, well-nigh forty 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 intelligently and well ; I believe 
he was also earnest, and desirous of leading his 
Church in the direction of evangelical truth. He 
was consecrated Patriarch at Antioch. 

Under him the Church flourished. The people 
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. 
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. 

His successor, who is also his nephew, is Mar 
Thomas ; not equal, I am afraid, to his able 
relative. He seems to have little influence or 
power. We have not seen him, as he has 
gone away somewhere sick. There are several 
bishops, however, here, who are called Metrans, 
and are, of course, under the sway of the 
Metropolitan. 

While the Portuguese were in power in this 
part of India, the ecclesiastics of the Eomish 
Church tried hard to detach the Syrians from 
their own Eastern Church, and bring them into 



292 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

subjection to Home. They did not scruple to 
bring all the terrors of the Inquisition, then 
established 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 
attached to their own Church ; and they hailed 
their emancipation from the tyranny of Rome 
with great joy. 

After the Church Missionary Society had 
commenced 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 reform the whole body. However, 
the result was not satisfactory ; and now the 
missionaries have altered their plan, and they 
receive into the Anglican Church any who may 
wish to enter it. So we may say there are 
now three parties : the reformers, 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 Eome 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 

1 The Travancore almanac gives the number of the Syrians who 
have joined Rome as 136,230 ; about half as many are Jacobite 
Syrians. 



CO TTA YAM: S UNDA Y SER VICES. 293 

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 St. Thomas 
himself preaching from the chancel-steps to the 
assembled Eastern-looking groups below. Outside, 
the grave, grey old building looks picturesque with 
its surrounding of wood. 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 support the old walls ; 
the windows are pointed and high-set, and the roof 
slopes considerably. Altogether it is not unlike 
one of those very old churches you sometimes 
come on in a picturesque, out-of-the-way village 
in England. Inside, the building is long, narrow, 
perfectly simple and lofty. 1 The walls are sombre 
with decayed white-wash, 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 



294 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

you at the top of the steps. Over the altar is 
hung a large crucifix, and above is a domed ceiling 
painted with rude frescoes. 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 old stair to a 
rickety old gallery made of wood, now very much 
worm-eaten, where I had the narrowest escape from 
tumbling through a great hole in the floor on 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 con 
fession, 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 excellent 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 



COTTAYAM : SUNDAY SERVICES. 295 

the congregation. This was succeeded by some 
chanting, in which two priests and eight deacons, 
all seated within the rail, took part. Lessons then 
were read from both the Old and New Testament, 
with lyrics between, which were sung by some 
boys, the people hardly joining. There were 
responses, however, tolerably hearty. The people 
stood at prayer, and at the close repeated ' Amen.' 
But the service, as a whole, was not impressive. 
The men generally were not reverent ; 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 service, 
held not far off by the original, or non-reforming 
party. We found this going on in a verandah kind 
of room, narrow, unvenfcilated 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 managed 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 air, before I succumbed 
altogether. So we did not see much of this service, 
which, I believe, is full of ritual. We returned to 
the first place, and found worship still proceeding. 



296 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

The curtain was now drawn across the altar, and 
the congregation much increased. Presently 
the curtain was withdrawn, and the priest re 
appeared in a splendid robe of scarlet, with yellow 
hood, swinging a censer of incense, when there 
rose a great slwut of prayer, I might call it, the 
people joining in, and making the sign of the cross 
repeatedly on forehead, and shoulder, and breast. 
The candles were now lit, the fervour 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 after, 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 England. But we could not wait 
for this, having to go to the Mission Church, and 
there join our brethren 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 was 
another wonderful and impressive spectacle : a large, 
orderly, intelligent congregation of young and old, 
as respectable as any you could see at home, with 
one from among themselves reverently conducting 
their devotions. These would, all of them, pastor 
and people, be still as the heathen outside, or at 
best like these poor ignorant Christians who have 
still so much to learn, but for the glorious work 



CO TTA YAM: S UNDA Y SER VICES. 297 

of this Mission. We have lately seen many such 
native Christian congregations, and been inexpres 
sibly interested ; but our hearts seemed more than 
usually touched to-day : I suppose after all we had 
just witnessed. The large group of women and 
schoolgirls especially struck me, neat and tidy in 
their pretty, simple, white costume such a contrast 
to the half-clothed, unkempt, 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 
flourishing and living native Christian Church, 
which, through God's goodness, has been planted 
in the midst of them, may have the effect of stirring 
up the elder sister Church to new life and vigour ; 
and may the Spirit of the Living God be richly 
poured out on both, until old things have passed 
away and all things have become new, not only 
among the Christians, but among the heathen 
also ! 

After my husband had preached, his sermon 
being interpreted by the pastor, we had the 
inexpressibly solemn joy of receiving the Holy 
Communion 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 an 
end. 



298 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

NOTE BY DR. MURRAY MITCHELL. 

Lawsuit among the Syrian Christians. A lawsuit 
which had long been going on between the reformed 
and unreformed Syrians, as to the possession of the 
College endowments, has recently been decided in 
the Zillah, or lower court, in favour of the un 
reformed. The decision has been appealed from. 
If, finally, the decision of the lower court should 
be confirmed, it will have disastrous effects. All 
the property of the Church will, very probably, 
come under the power of the Patriarch of Antioch; 
and the reformed Syrians will be subjected to 
no small hardship. Have the reformed strength 
enough to hold on when stripped of their endow 
ments? We wish we could feel assured of this. 
Happily, the Church Missionary Society's Mission 
will ' keep the even tenor of its way ; ' and souls 
in quest of light will not be left in darkness. Yet 
when I recall the conversations which I had some 
forty years ago with Mar Athanasius, it is sad to 
think how few of his hopes seem likely to be 
fulfilled. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

THE HILL AEEIANS OF TEAVANCOEE. 

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 practise in their 
worship, and in the ceremonies connected 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 excellent 
taste in the selection of sites for their villages 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 people here, and 



302 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

the progress of Mission work among them which 
he prosecuted with much vigour until his lamented 
death. He says : 

'There are several tribes inhabiting the Western Ghats in the 
Cochin and Travancore countries, of whom the majority are 
divided into small wandering bodies, living for a few months in 
a particular 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 or their spurs. 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 accessible 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 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 country is owned 
by Brahmans or Zemindars, who receive 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 animals when entrapped into the 
taming cages. These people extend from Cape Comorin to the 
borders of Travancore in the north. A few wretched beings, 
called Arriars or Arrisur, are found on the eastern side of the 
Ghats, near the great peak of Augiistier ; but they seem in a 
very degraded state. Their language is Tamil, and they are not 
allowed to be of the same race, nor have the same customs, as 

their richer neighbours on the western slopes The 

Arrians are, many of them, rich, being large cultivators of the 
slopes, which they clear of jungle in the dry season, sowing 
during the rains. Every man, however, has to watch with 



THE HILL ARRIANS OF TRA VANCORE. 303 

guns during seed-time and harvest, to protect the crops from 
elephants, deer, and other animals, as well as from swarms of 
birds.' 1 

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 unfrequent. 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 fond of the chase, and make 
fearless hunters, aiming generally at high game, 
such as the tiger, wild elephant, and ox. 

There is one remarkable difference 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 
Hindu succession, to the children of their father's 
sister. Then the wife is not required to stand 
behind, like the Hindu women, 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 relationship, and eating together is part of 
the wedding ceremonial. The marriage tie among 
them is indissoluble, and considered sacred, and 
the husband has only one wife. The Arrians bury 
their dead not burn them and at their funerals 

1 The Hill Arrians of Travancore. By the Eev. H. Baker, jun., 
late Missionary of the Church Missionary Society. 



304 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

have some curious ceremonies, which are repeated, 
and offerings made, on the anniversary of the 
death. All their religious rites are connected with 
the worship 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 Kev. H. Baker, 
was honoured 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 missionary at Cottayam. He says : 

' I had often heard of a people living in the hills, who were 
acknowledged to be very truthful 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 Indian conver 
sation ; 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 early, 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 Homo-Syrian with them, named Kuppeer Curien, as 
guide, a man, who then, though well acquainted with the truth, 
did not know its 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 children 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 



THE HILL ARRIANS OF TRA VANCORE^ 305 

jungle, fever was prevalent, and coolies difficult to procure. 
The friends I consulted said, " Possibly 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 knoio 
we know nothing right ; will you teach us or not ? We 
die like beasts, and are buried like dogs ; ought you to neglect 
us 1 " " Cholera and fever," said another, " carried off such and 
such members of my family; where are they now?' 1 ' 1 They 
stated that they wanted no pecuniary help, as 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 before I started, in order 
to have a hut erected on the banks of the river, as it would be 
necessary 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 completely 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 merchants 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 tent to the owners, who 
would take no compensation, we crossed the stream, now much 

U 



306 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

swollen from the rain, and, proceeding along an elephant track 
for an hour, found some Arrians waiting for us : they had not 
gone further, as they still doubted whether we would come. 
On entering the village of Combukuthie, so called from the hill 
top 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, settling 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 another, 
far away up along the hill-sides : " He is arrived. 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 hundred 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 entrusted with ; that some centuries back, the 
people of England had the same rites and hero-worship as they 
had ; that the 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 powerful, 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 them the same glad tidings. They 
wished to see the Book ; I showed them the Malayalim Testa 
ment, and read John iii., 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 proposing 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? 1 ' I 
said : " I will send them ; but we must ask God's blessing first : 



THE HILL ARRIANS OF TRA VANCORE. 307 

He must help, or our counsels will come to grief." All knelt by 
the light of the blazing piles, and after a few words of prayer 
for help we dispersed. The strangers slept by the fires, wrapped 
up in their blankets, while I retired to the hut usually prepared 
in the village for guests. I returned, 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 inte 
resting 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 meeting 
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 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 standing in their tribe by becoming 



3o8 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Christians. Then dismal accounts were carried to 
the plains regarding 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 European 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?' ex 
claimed 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 been 
truthful and earnest in their request for Christian 
teaching ; and soon they showed their sincerity by 
giving up many superstitious practices, 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 



THE HILL ARRIANS OF TRA VANCORE. 309 

between them and the missionaries, and when 
they did not comprehend any part of the instruc 
tion 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 Madras 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, and Sir Henry 
Lawrence, hearing of the work, sent a hundred 
and fifty rupees from Lucknow, 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 2,000 souls. 



CHAPTER XXL 

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-bye, 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 which will 
make the most brilliance. The men are so noisy, so 
obstreperous in their mirth, that 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 night-air comes sweet 



COCHIN: THE WHITE AND BLACK JEWS. 311 

and cool from the water through the open windows 
of our nice little cabin. 

Cochin. 

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 conduct us 
here. And lo ! he speaks Hindoostanee ! 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 Hindoostanee 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 Japanese 
jinriksha, only, seated for two, and pushed instead 
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 Pon- 
dicherry. We soon reached the house, and were 
cordially welcomed by Mrs. Seely, her husband 
having already started for his College. This is a 
most picturesque old house. We have leapt from 
the Indian bungalow-kind of abode to a Continental 
dwelling. I immediately peopled it with Albu- 
querques, and Almeidas, and Yasco de Gamas ; and, 



312 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 mistress with lovely flowers, 
and crotons, and evergreens, and clambered over 
with creepers. The drawing-rooms are filled with 
curious and interesting 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 Travan- 
core. It has gone through many vicissitudes in its 
stormy history, and has had many masters ; the 
Portuguese, Dutch, Hyder Ali, Tippoo-Sultan, and 
the British all having conquered it in turn. The 
present Eajah is of higher caste, I believe, 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 Elliah-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. 



COCHIN: THE WHITE AND BLACK JEWS. 313 

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. Tradition says 
that the Apostle Thomas arrived here fifty years 
after Christ, and began his labours from this place. 
Then there are the Jews, of whom I shall speak 
presentty, round whose history so great an interest 
always gathers. This remarkable colony settled 
here, it is generally said, in the first century ; but 
some of the people themselves claim to have been 
here much earlier. 

The English built their first factory here in 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 coffee and 
timber: but most of the trade and industry are 
connected with the cocoa-nut ; for there seems to 
be no end to the economic uses to which it can 
be put. There is a large trade in cocoa-nut oil, and 
the coir matting one hears about so much is made 
from the fibre. Indeed, the fibre of the nut is most 
valuable, not only as an export, but 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 harbour, in which 
we saw several European vessels lying, and an 
immense crowd of curious native craft of every size 



314 IN SO UTHERN INDIA, 

and sort. Then there is water communication by 
means of the Backwater, almost to any extent ; 
though, as yet, there is no railway. 

Soon after our arrival the Kev. 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 gentlemen ; 
but this was made up for afterwards by a visit to 
the grand old Cathedral, the oldest Christian church 
in India. It was built by the Portuguese ; then 
turned into a Protestant place of worship by the 
Dutch ; and it is now used by the British, having 
been renovated and modernised. But the original 
old walls remain, strong, massive and buttressed, 
and there are still several old tomb-stones 
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 afterwards 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 element 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 Koman Catholics. 

We also visited the Fort, which we were curious 
to see, it being the very first fortress erected by 
Europeans in this country. This was, of course, 



COCHIN: THE WHITE AND BLACK JEWS. 315 

by the Portuguese. It was commenced by the 
renowned Albuquerque, and completed by 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 
valour and enterprise of these grand old warriors. 
But the Cochin fortress, as it is now, is of different 
dates. Not much of the original structure re 
mains, as it has been renovated or rebuilt by the 
victorious Powers who succeeded the Portuguese. 
The interest of our visit, however, culminated 
one evening when we went among the Jews, and 
visited both the colonies of this interesting people. 
After lunch, when it became cool enough, we 
started in the funny little jinrikshas, descriptively 
called ' push-push.' Mr. Wright took me in his, 
while Mrs. Seely accommodated my husband. 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 pic- 
turesqueness of Eastern bazaars. 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 recognised as old friends, having evidently 
come from Bombay. By-and-by the character of 
the population began to change. The features, 
costumes, complexion, everything announced that 
we had got to the quarter inhabited by the Jews. 
We alighted before the synagogue, and were 
received in a most friendly way by several men 



3 1 6 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

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 
somewhat 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 marries a black Jewess, the children are 
reckoned as belonging to the black community. 
It has sometimes been imagined that the climate 
has wrought the change of complexion. But the 
truth is that the black Jews have by no means 
unmixed Jewish blood. They are descended chiefly 
from native proselytes. Still, the Jewish features 
are sufficiently marked to prove that they are of 
God's ancient people. The little Josephs and 
Kachels 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 black Jews had wonderfully fair counte 
nances 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 



COCHIN: THE WHITE AND BLACK JEWS. 317 

of the women I saw were much ornamented with 
jewellery ; they had some fine precious stones 
glittering on their breasts and foreheads. 

We spent some time in the synagogue, a building 
quite disappointingly modern not at all old 
with tiled floor and a good deal of colour, blue 
preponderating. Crowds of men entered and were 
very friendly, talking frankly with the gentlemen 
about themselves and their history. They affirmed 
that their ancestors had settled in Cochin after 
the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. 
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 ancient 
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 actually showed the 
place where the manuscripts were entombed ! They 
brought out some rolls of the Law 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 Babbi, 
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- 



3 1 8 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

land sent out a missionary to labour 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 people. 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 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 colour, 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 uttermost 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 willows ' for evermore. Poor old man ! he 
seemed touched by our sympathy, and much pleased 
when my husband spoke to him in Hebrew. 



COCHIN: THE WHITE AND BLACK JEWS. 319 

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 inhabited 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 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 colours, with 
plenty of ornaments. One or two spoke Hindoo- 
stanee; so that I could converse with them, and 
these interpreted for the others. Their language is 
Malay alim ; the women know no Hebrew. They 
took me to a large, good house, where a marriage 
had been celebrated, and presented 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 beginning 
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, 
outside 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 



320 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 head-quarters ; and 
caste is as strong and overbearing as it is in 
Travancore. We passed a small temple brilliantly 
lighted up ; but we were not allowed to enter, or 
even look into the outer enclosure, 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 ' godowns,' or cellars, where he saw 
some of the fibre trade, and also the drying and 
cleaning of the coffee. 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, Ernaculum, 
where his College is. Here he spent a most 
delightful morning among the lads in airy upper 
class-rooms ; talked and examined, and finally 
addressed the pupils. He then was rowed back ; 
and by five o'clock we had 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. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

TBICHOOE. 

March 8th. 

WE 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, stalwart 
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 harbour is a fine sight, with its ships 
and curious crafts, also its environment of buildings, 
some of them handsome, including one of the 
Rajah's palaces, and his public offices. The 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 

x 



3 22 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

curious to see the gnarled roots arching themselves 
in the shallows, which are crowded with tall-necked 
cranes, sitting in contemplation on the stems, or 
stalking about with philosophic deliberation, picking 
up the poor little 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 trans 
formed 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 heavenwards ! 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 
demon-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 
landowners, and, of course, are all powerful. A 
gentleman told me (but I do not vouch for the truth 
of it) that the landowners of Malabar often are 
known by the names of their properties, as in the 
North of Scotland. I said I hoped they would 
not turn out to be Highland cousins ; as I for one 
should utterly eschew all possible kinship with 
such proud oppressors as the Namburi Brahmans. 

The Princesses of the Cochin Royal Family may 
only marry one of this high caste ; and it is a 
curious fact that the Brahman who is chosen to 



TRICHOOR. 323 

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 honour of alliance with 
Royalty thus involves in Cochin descent in rank, 
and social degradation. 

Christians are numerous in the Cochin State. 
Counting Eoman Catholics and those of all 
Churches, 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, and makes wild sounds 
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 daresay a storm 
is coming up, which will cool the air. Mean 
while it is bleak and almost chill, as the darkness 
falls. 

We have now had dinner, and the moon begins 
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 blaze with 
some of the dry sticks about, and cooked their 



324 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 under the 
benign influence of the lady-moon, 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 watching 
the silent, peaceful scene, and then I retired ' behind 
the purdah ' to the tiny cabin. Unfortunately 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 numerous family of cock 
roaches, and plenty of mosquitoes. 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 stopped. Why? 
I inquired. For the simple reason 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 communication 
between the outer world and Cochin and Travancore. 
I am afraid it has also another sort of pre-eminence 



TRICHOOR. 327 

in being one of the most bigoted and evil of cities. 
All these cities seem to be bigoted enough, but in 
Trichoor you find the creme de la crSme of 
Brahmanism. So we are told on every hand. 

Caste is intensely and exceptionally strong, and 
as elsewhere stands in the way of all progress. The 
degradation of the lower castes, consequent on the 
absurd and oppressive laws of caste, of which I have 
already spoken, 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 not 
even approach a school where higher lads are taught. 
The disabilities are inconceivable, and so are the in 
justice 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, believing prayer ; 
and we may hope to see here as elsewhere, that prayer 
will prevail, that the prison-doors will be opened, 
and the captives of this terrible system go free. If 
the women could only be got at and elevated, there 
would be more hope of speedy emancipation ; but 



328 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

ancestral superstitions and customs still have a 
strong hold on the people. 

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 Miss Colemans) are 
working here side by side with Mrs. Bishop, whose 
name has long been known as a successful promoter 
of female education. In speaking of day-schools for 
Hindu girls in this region, the Kev. Mr. Eichards 
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 building, which stands within the 
walls of the extensive 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 honicepathic 
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 
six hundred. 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. Bishop has procured a site whereon they are 



TRICHOOR. 329 

building a school, which we visited later; and a 
bungalow for themselves they hope also to accom 
plish in time. 

But it is always the same story. Here, as every 
where, the Mission is cramped for want of funds. 
Much might be done if there was only money 
wherewith to do it. This is the cry everywhere, 
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 regard to what 
might be done to raise, and civilise, and Christianise 
these poor, ignorant, down-trodden 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 ignorant 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 gentleman of 
high position, who was pleased to call upon us. My 
husband was out, and the gentleman told me he had 
heard him preach the night before, and wanted to 
thank him, ' for he had opened his eyes a little.' I 
opened mine, for he had preached on Missions. 

' I have always understood,' he said, ' that Missions 



330 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

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 extensively 
in this very city. No, he had not heard of it. 
I named several well-known able missionaries 
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 long and 
short of it was, he had accepted the conclusion 
that Missions had failed, and so gave himself no 
further trouble on the subject. And then I am afraid 
I had the audacity to give him a bit of my mind. 
I told him he had seen nothing, knew nothing, 
had not cared to inquire, and yet he quietly 
pronounced the judgment, ' Missions are a failure.' 
Did he know that but for these despised Missions, 
nearly three millions of men who are now good 
Christian citizens would be heathen still ? ' Close 
your eyes fast,' I said, ' and then declare that 
there is no sun shining out there, and your 
position will be quite as intelligent.' 

'I deserve your reproach,' he answered; 'and 
when we meet again in E you will find, I hope, 
that I shall be more correctly informed than I 
am at present.' He took leave of me with the 
utmost kindness, 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 



TRICHOOR. 331 

other day : ' Do not believe a word of all this about 
zenanas; it is all humbug.' And I found that 
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 zenana 
missionaries 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 favoured, 
Christian Britain. 

If my countrymen and countrywomen, while 
in India, would only look with more interest and 
sympathy 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 natives, 
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 to come to a 
school-gathering we had in the compound, simply 
because it was presented to him in the light of a 
garden party ; and he was greatly struck with what 



332 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 
became one of the staunchest friends of the 
people and of the Mission, and seemed to get a 
large blessing to his own soul. 

This is a tremendous digression, and yet I have 
not the heart to strike it out. 

There is a considerable body of Syrian Christians 
in Trichoor, and my husband has been out with 
Mr. Bishop interviewing some of them. They 
belong chiefly to the body of Eomo-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 European. Dis 
content was rife, and disputes and division followed. 
So a split occurred, and a strong party seceded, 
under the guidance and leadership of Bishop Mellus. 
He is unhappily absent, having left two days ago 
for the Persian Gulf. My husband regrets this 
very much. 

Some say that this movement is political ; I 
would call it national. It is Asia against Europe; 
so some declare. But the Bishop seems to be an 
enlightened man, and a reformer. He rejects the 



TRICHOOR. 333 

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 
independence which the Syrians proper enjoy. 
The party is strong numerically, from five to 
six thousand, but they do not seem to be strong 
otherwise. The people lack moral force ; they 
are weak and wavering ; 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 Syrian 
Church : the original Syrians, the Reforming party, 
the Anglican, the Eomo-Syrians, and this seceding 
party under Bishop Mellus. 

After this visit, as my husband wanted to see the 
Sanscrit College, which is rather a famous one, they 
walked on toward 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 off. No European had ever been allowed 
to set foot in these sacred courts. 



334 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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. He spoke very kindly to the 
Brahmans, though with a little sarcasm, got them 
to laugh, 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 gentlemen with the greatest 
politeness though, all the same, he would not let 
them enter the college. He was learned, and showed 
an extensive acquaintance with Sanscrit lore, and 
rich withal, teaching only for the love of it. 

There is a peculiarly sacred pagoda here, which 
we saw standing apart on its hill-top as we drove 
about in the evening. Like the College, no European, 
and no one of low-caste either, may set foot even 
on the hill, far less within the temple. 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 



TRICHOOR. 335 

expended in order that the desecrated temple 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. Brahmanism 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 above a fifth of the whole people ? 
A large field presents itself here to antiquarian re 
search, as well as to the missionary. What curious 
questions there are for solution ! Let who can, 
then, solve the problem how the barred portals are 
to be unlocked, and truth, in all its many-coloured 
lights, and its many-sided blessings, may be let in 
on this great darkness. 

After a day of untiring interest and great enjoy 
ment in this busy missionary abode, we prepared 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 bullock-bandies, 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 verandah, 
it was quite manifest that Mr. Bishop was right in 
insisting that we must have one a-piece. They 
are very long, but very narrow and canoe-shaped, 



336 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

with high wheels and arched roof, thatched, as 
usual, with dried palm leaf. In the well -like 
bottom one individual could repose with tolerable 
comfort, but certainly not two. Joseph and his 
baskets were put into the first ; I burrowed in a 
heap of straw in the second, putting myself strongly 
in mind of our dear old doggie, who on a Sunday 
used to bury himself to his nose in his kennel 
till church should be over, and my husband, as 
guardian of the party, brought up the rear. Amid 
the kindliest adieux from the whole assembled 
Mission circle master, mistress, ladies, servants, 
native Christians, all we plunged from the bright 
ness 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 
attempts 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 fairy shadows across the road. 
It seemed one long avenue, fringed and canopied 
by magnificent trees, which stood outlined against 
the illuminated sky with lovely effect. 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 nature ' 
demanded her ' sweet restorer,' and even the 



TRICHOOR. 337 

bumping and rattle, and general perversity of 
bullocks and drivers, were all alike unavailing to 
keep me awake. The rear-guard, my poor husband, 
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 Shoranoor. 
So he walked a good deal, with a formidable-looking 
stick in his hand, keeping the sleepy men to their 
duty. This seemed to consist 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 
got a bad and very dear breakfast, then joined the 
hot, dusty train when it came up; and, notwithstand 
ing 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 
station ; and before the day grew very hot we 
had arrived at Coimbatore. 



CHAPTEK XXIII. 

COIMBATOEE. 

I AM sitting in a low chair in a huge room, shady 
from a deep, bowery verandah, a cool air stealing 
gently in, and a delicious sense of solitude and 
repose stealing as gently over the spirit. The sweet 
little birds only are astir, making music out there, 
talking tender things to each other and to me from 
among the creepers on the trellis. 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 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, as I tell 
him, out of his griffinhood. The older missionary, 
Mr. Hutchison, is now, with his wife and family, on 



COIMBA TORE. 339 

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 uncon- 
ventionality which suits people of busy habits and 
nomadic propensities. Mr. Hooker is full of enthu 
siasm 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, con 
ducted 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, un 
fortunately, are in recess, the hot season holidays 
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, substantial, large 
building, with some interesting monuments and 
tablets on the walls, telling of departed missionaries. 
I had plenty of time to see everything, and talk to 
the matron of the Boarding School, for the gentle 
men were long in appearing. At length they came up, 
walking, and very much dust-begrimed. The pony, 
who is as energetic as his master, had set off at a 
gallop round a sharp corner, upset the phaeton, and 
sent the poor gentlemen sprawling on to the road. 
Happily, 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 impropriety 



340 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

of his pet pony treating his reverend guest with 
such terrible irreverence ! 

Coimbatore is an important and beautiful station, 
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. Toward the mountains are 
dense forests of valuable woods. The fragrant 
sandalwood is there, also the mahogany, 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 altogether there are famous shikar 
grounds within reach. Nearer, the plain waves 
with fine crops of varied sorts, not now the paddy- 
field of the swampy, low country. There is little 
rice, but abundance of dal, or pea, cotton, hemp, 
sugar-cane, and tobacco ; while the coffee, cinchona, 
and tea occupy the higher grounds. 

Altogether, I fancy there is no place more attrac 
tive, or better suited for European settlers in all 
India than this breezy, healthful plateau, with its 
grand neighbourhood 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 

' His bright and brief career is o'er.' 

It was over very soon after we had seen him. It 
pleased God to take him away in the midst of his 



COIMBATORE. 341 

work and in the rnidst of his days. He doeth all 
things well ; but it is inexpressibly sad to have to 
tell of another early death, another unexpected and 
mysterious call ' to come up higher ' among the 
Mission circles in which we had so lately visited. 
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 he had completed his first year 
in India. 

The circumstances connected with his death were 
singularly pathetic ; but with these we will not 
intermeddle. 

I may quote a few simple lines my husband 
wrote, in memoriam ; 

So early called ! How different from our thoughts 
Are the deep thoughts of God ! 

We saw him stand 

In all the brightness of his early youth, 
With much of culture, rich in learning's spoils, 
Clothing each noble thought with eloquent speech ; 
Eager to serve the Master whom he loved ; 
His heart o'erflo\ving with all tender love 
And pitying ruth for India's hapless sons, 
Ardent, impassioned, and his soul a-flame 
With hope that soon the land would cast aside 
The deep delusions of innumerous years, 
And be the light of Asia and the world. 
Hound him how many hopes, rich- clustering, living, 
As he sped on, in buoyant energy, 
When, lo ! the youthful champion falls, and we 
Are stricken to the heart. 

We mourn ; our loss 
We mourn, of his companionship bereft 
And high example. 



342 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

But why mourn for him ? 

His work was finished, and his place prepared, 
And the high guerdon ready ; from the shocks 
Of earthly circumstance redeemed, he rests 
He resteth in the bosom of his God. 

He waits us yonder. When our summons comes, 
May we, like him, be ready, and rejoice ! 
There we shall speak of shattered hopes of earth 
Of joys foregone, to be enhanced in heaven ; 
There shall we see how from dark sorrow's root 
There springs a flower worthy of Paradise, 
Whose beauty never fades, nor fragrance wastes. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

THE NEILGHERKIES. 

Coonoor, March Yltli. 

I HAVE neglected my journal in rather a shameful 
way, I am afraid, 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 thank 
fulness 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 moment 
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 hill-tops, the famed Neilgherries, the Blue 
Mountains, as the name means. 

It seemed so curious at first, and almost too 
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 



344 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 toward 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 
possible travellers. These were tongas, a vehicle 
somewhat like a high - wheeled, rough dog -cart, 
very strong, with a capacious well situated between 
the front and back seats. We soon engaged one 
of these, and while we had our breakfast 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-coloured 
tattoos (country ponies), with high curricle-harness, 
were brought out, and after much rough 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 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 345 

we were off up 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 terraced ascent, and after 
a very short run the panting, streaming beasts 
were reined in at a siding, and their places taken 
by another pair, their exact 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 six thousand 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 from 
the rocky walls which rose sheer from the side 
of the white road. The trees and sJwla (or 
jungle) looked parched and drooping, every leaf 
was powdered with the fine, penetrating dust. We 
were soon as white as the bushes, and our eyes 
ached from the scintillating rays. But ere long 
we rose above all these little troubles in every 
sense, and got into regions where all things became 
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 freshest 
green. And, ' what is that low, scrubby bush which 



346 IN SO UTHERN INDIA . 

now covers the hill-sides ? That is surely tea ? ' 
we inquired of our intelligent driver. We were 
right ; it was our old acquaintance, the lowly 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 extensively cultivated, 
and covered vast reaches on the hill - sides. 
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. 

How lovely it grew as we ascended ! Noon 
was long past, and the shadows from rock and 
hill lay peaceful and soft across the road and 
beneath the trees. Every spur we skirted and 
every ascent we made the scenery became more 
beautiful. Giant forms near and far lay massed 
against the sky, glowing with the amber light of 
evening, while valleys and ravines, filled with dark, 
rich foliage, reposed in deepest shadow. Beautiful 
woods in every variety of tint, from the lightest 
green to the dark dress of the cypress and casuarina, 
now crowned many an eminence; while rounded 
hill-tops and lofty summits, or precipitous brown 
crags, whose rugged sides shone like burnished 
copper in the rays of the setting sun, reared them 
selves grandly over the woods. Pretty, picturesque 
houses, surrounded by gardens, were now more 
common, many of them beautifully situated. We 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 347 

were evidently nearing the summit. We made a 
long descent into a valley, crossed a pretty bridge 
over a brawling torrent, sped up the corresponding 
ascent on the other side, turned into an avenue 
bounded by a thick high edge of pink and white 
roses, which sent waves of sweet fragrance down to 
us, and long sprays loaded with the exquisite clus 
ters, and stopped before a long, low bungalow. A tidy 
' boy' in a clean, white, bunchy turban, and speak 
ing English perfectly, rushed out to welcome us. 

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 undulating 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 opening 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 sun- 



348 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

beams dance and sparkle in the foliage, and tender 
veils of blue vapour break and curl in airy wreaths ; 
and the birds sing, and the butterflies flit about ; 
and there is the sound of rippling water, which 
is my husband's supreme delight. Altogether ' the 
lines have fallen to us in 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. 
Kernber, 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 Eeformed 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 mis 
sionary 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 worked 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 honoured race ! Dr. 
Jared Scudder is a vigorous, able, hearty man with 
great force of character and intensely earnest. In 
Arcot and Vellore the native Christians number 
over three thousand souls. 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 349 

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 Ootaca- 
mund ; 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 Kev. 
Mr. Rowe. There is a handsome English church ; 
also a chaplain. 

March 29th. 

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. Indeed, 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 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 



350 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

above the earthly and material, the heat and 
lassitude when one's spirit at least tries to 
' mount up with wings as eagles,' and see some, 
thing 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 favourite 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 Bazar, or native town of Coonoor. The 
houses, and shops, and sheds, in all the brilliance 
of fresh white-wash for the season is just 
beginning are scattered about as if dropped at 
random, perched at different elevations wherever 
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 Post Office, the Station Library, and a few 
' stores ' of the most comprehensive character. 
Down at the bottom of the valley two pretty 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 351 

bridges span the torrent, which has a handbreadth 
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 con 
gregate in little groups ready for the shatidy, 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 sweet, 
most lovely spot, which attracts one most in the 
pensive, quiet hours of evening, when the sun is 
setting behind the western ranges. Then, far up 
on the crests, as well 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. These woods fill the hollows and 
clothe the slopes, mingling with fine forest trees, 
such as the teak, jack, sal, and many other forest 
giants. The blue gum, or eucalyptus, has been 
extensively 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 
garden is almost a peach orchard, the branches 
weighed down with the wealth of ripening fruit. 

The Australian 'wattle,' a kind of mimosa, very 
like the beautiful tree on the Eiviera, spreads like 
a weed, resisting every effort to restrain it, and 



352 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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. Further away 
the hill-sides are now white with the coffee blossom, 
which has burst into sudden though evanescent 
beauty, every plant seeming as if powdered 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 cinchona 
shrub. Close by me now, I cannot but grieve to 
see the graceful shola disappearing fast before the 
planter's axe, to make room for the more profitable 
tea and coffee. 

Then, again, beyond the nearer spurs, you look 
away to a never-ending succession of billowy, 
undulating hill-tops, 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 conspicuous. 
It is crowned with the ruins of a fort and watch- 
towers, which were occupied by Hyder AH 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 colour for this is all the fields 
look like 6,000 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 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 353 

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 shola is wonderful, 
and the delicate blue of the young gum trees gives 
a softness to the mass of darker foliage. It looks 
sometimes as if a bit of lapis-lazuli had been 
introduced in the rich framework of green. 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 myriad gems among the interlacing 
boughs. Every leaf seems to have 'its ain drap 
o' dew.' A tender haze floats dreamily about, 
enhancing the beauty, lustrous sometimes as silver 
sheen where it catches the dancing rays. 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. 
Small yellow butterflies flit among the dewy flowers. 
The irrepressible crow caw-caws, as if he was the 
ruler of the universe. An active little green lizard, 
with bead-like 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 

z 



354 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

heliotrope and ' flowers of all hue,' which abound in 
lavish profusion. Every house has its garden, and 
the verandahs are howery 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. As I walked to the 
library a little while ago with the collie, I counted 
thirty-four full-blown roses on one spray hanging 
over an old wall. Heliotrope hedges also abound, 
.from which you can gather a sheaf of the fragrant 
flowers without 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 geranium. The 
whole place is intersected with capital roads 
carriage roads, private roads, bridle paths, and 
labyrinthine tracks and trails. Oh ! the will o' the 
wisp dances these delicious little paths lead you ! 
Down a steep, up another, across a valley, round a 
spur, into a thick bit of shola, or the depth of a 
grand forest, and every moment revealing some 
new beauty or thing of interest. Now it is a lowly 
bit of moss, or a fern or wild flower, or a flower- 
laden shrub, or a strange bird singing a carol in the 
branches ; or perhaps it is a single giant of the 
forest, which tradition says was left standing by 
some of the wild-hill people, because it was the 



THE NEILGHERRIES. 355 

residence of the genii of the place, and superstition 
had said, ' Woodman, spare that tree ! ' Then at 
every turn some fresh view presents itself, each one 
finer than the last, of these wondrous, everlasting 
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 fascinating, ethereal, 
indescribable haze or vapour I have already 
spoken of ; I hardly know what to call it. It is as 
if the air was tinted a deep blue, so delicate 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. This 
well-known capital occupies a higher plateau than 
Coonoor, though the difference of some 2,000 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 Oota 
camund there is a succession 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 



356 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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-attractive 
ness, 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, 
Beautif ullest theae ! ' 



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 Elphinstone, 
had conceived the happy idea of making the 
Neilgherries a sanatorium and a resort for 
Europeans from the heat of the Southern plains, 
these 

'regions consecrate 
To oldest time ' 

had known other and very different inhabitants, 
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 as I think I have 
already said 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 



360 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

races, perhaps the Todas of the Neilgherries are 
the most interesting and remarkable. 

Altogether there are five different races on 
these hills : the Todas, Badagas, Irulas, Kotas, 
and Kurumbers. The Badagas are a fine, manly 
race, and the most numerous, but they are hardly 
hill men; they were originally Hindus, worship 
pers of the god Shiva, and migrated to the hills 
from the Mysore country some three or four 
hundred 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-speaking 
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 matters, 
and much speculation has been the result ; but 
these learned investigators are bj 7 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 ; others 
say they are Jews, and many that they are the 
aborigines of the Neilgherries. On this point 
M. Metz, of the Basle Evangelical Missionary 
Society, says, in his interesting little book on 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 361 

these tribes : ' If you ask me who are the Todas, 
I am obliged to answer I cannot tell. I am satis 
fied they are not the aborigines of the Neilgherries.' 
On the whole, then, I think their own account 
of themselves, when my husband questioned them, 
is the most lucid, as it certainly is the most 
striking : ' We have come from nowhere ; our 
ancestors were created 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 
Hindus. 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 charming 
people 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 stands 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-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 serpentine is 
quite two miles in length, and adds greatly to the 
beauty of the station. On the hill-side above 'are 
scattered many of the handsome residences of the 



362 7.V SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 upland 
stretches of brown moorland ; then rounded spur 
after spur, looking down on valleys and ravines, 
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 thousand 
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 hill-tops, 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 queerest and quaintest you could conceive. 
It was hard to believe that they were human 
habitations, though some human figures sat in 
front, quite as strange-looking as the dwellings. 
They sat on the grass, basking in the sun, com 
pletely 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 differed, in having a profusion of elf-like 
ringlets round the face and neck ; these we found 
belonged to the women. 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 363 

' 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 nearer 
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 
another 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 beyond Ootacamund, ascending higher and 
higher, and having glorious views of the two 
ranges, the Neilgherries and the Koondahs, and 
glimpses afar of the Mysore plateau. I hoped we 
should also see the Wynaad ; but I do not think 
we did. We passed some planters' houses nice, 
cosy, pretty bungalows ; but the life these poor 
fellows lead, especially in the remoter parts, must 
often be lonely enough. Coming to the end of the 
carriage road, we got out and walked on by a shady 
path through the shola, and speedily came to the 
Mund, or village. As usual, the Todas had chosen 
one of the loveliest and most romantic spots for 
their down-sitting. The settlement consisted of 
two or three huts, erected on a small green 
eminence, and surrounded by a low wall of loose 



364 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

rough stones. We scrambled up and entered the 
enclosure. One hut stood at the top, another at 
the bottom, and a clean-swept open court between, 
with a fire-place of two or three stones at the 
side, on which a pot, set gipsy-like, was boiling 
merrily. A quantity of fine, dark-coloured grain 
lay in a heap beside a hole in the floor, wherein a 
damsel was pounding it vigorously 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 pretentious 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 altogether a pastoral people, 
and, like the patriarchs of old, wealth with them 
means the possession of herds, these herds con 
sisting 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 construction 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 
waggon, whilst 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 aperture 
at one end about a couple of feet square, if so 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 365 

much, which serves for door, window, chimney, 
ventilator everything. It seemed hard to believe 
that a grown man or woman could squeeze through 
this Liliputian door. I got down on all fours to 
try and get a glimpse of the interior; to have 
crawled 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- 
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 platform 
at one side, covered with buffalo-skins. This is 
the common sleeping-place, and is all the furniture 
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 Hindu 
sisters, they were gentle and modest, and reserved 
in demeanour. Both men and women have strongly 
marked features, with good, aquiline noses. One 



366 IN SOU THERN INDIA . 

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 Abraham ; 
and I often fancied, from the cast of countenance, 
that there might be something in the theory which 
makes their origin Jewish only the expression is 
open, honest, and good-humoured. They laugh 
loud and merrily on the slightest provocation. 
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 result 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 inveterate beggars, and do not look with 
favour 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 either 
themselves or their blankets ; and are excessively 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 367 

lazy. The Toda loves to sit in his blanket in the 
sun, ' monarch,' he thinks, ' 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 goodu, 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 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 ever 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, especially 
white people ; but, happily, they at once obey the 
call or whistle of their owners, and thus frequent 
accidents are prevented. 

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 fraternise, never intermarry. 
Polyandry still exists among them, in the sense that, 
when a woman marries, she becomes the wife of all 
the brothers in the family she allies herself to ; and 



3 68 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 subject 
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, who otherwise would kill their calves. 
The sun is also sometimes worshipped. But, in 
truth, their milk and their buffaloes are their gods ; 
and their single comprehensive 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 
milkman. He is a most sacred personage, and lives 
in a holy Mund, with only one attendant, called a 
Kavilal, or herdsman. A few sacred buffaloes are 
kept for the exclusive use of this recluse, in 
whom Deity is supposed to dwell, and who exer 
cises unbounded influence over every Toda. No 
woman may approach the sacred Mund, and no 
man is permitted to do so without express per 
mission, and then he must address the holy man 



THE TODAS AND A TODA-MUND. 369 

from a very respectful distance. None of the tribes 
would dare to 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 funeral,' 
which takes place immediately after death, when 
the body is burnt ; while the other, called the ' dry 
funeral,' is intended to commemorate all who have 
died in the tribe within the year. These festivals 
are full of absurdity, and would take too long to 
describe. 

Such, then, is the deep, dense darkness of this 
singular 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 
heard that a Toda has yet 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 with all he saw. 

Our day at 'the Marli Mund was one not to be 
forgotten. After a long interview with the people, 
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, carpeted 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 

2 A 



370 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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 round us, for by this 
time some of the men had returned from the 
pasture grounds. They begged hard for more 
white money ; the goodu, I suppose, they thought 
it only right we should pay. 

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 
delicate, gathering haze just then caught the ray, 
and was immediately alight with all the hues of 
the rainbow. 

' Surely a bow of promise ! ' we 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 dwelt 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 ! 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

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 



The trials which we cannot comprehend 
Have each their own divinely-purposed end.' 

Besides 

' Is not His will the wisest ? is not His choice the best ? ' 

As soon as the journey to the plains was possible, 
my husband 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 



372 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

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. Every 
one remembers the story of Sir David Baird 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 draw water for 
them from a well which is still shown as one 
of the curiosities of the place, than even the chains 
and his dungeon. But I only heard of these 
things ; I did not see them. 

A far greater disappointment, however, and 
privation, 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, congre 
gations, and different operations carried on so 
extensively in the place are full of interest. We 
received much kindness from Mr. and Mrs. Bice, 
of the London Missionary Society, and from many 
others whose names I need not mention, including 
Mr. Morison, 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 away from Bangalore, and 
has given me the following account of it. 

' Colar is a town of eleven thousand inhabitants, 
about forty miles from Bangalore. Mrs. Mitchell 



CONCLUSION. 373 

was not able to visit this station ; and it falls to me 
to say a few words regarding the very remarkable 
work there carried on by Miss Anstey. 

' 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 contribu 
tions. 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 belong 
ing 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 words " on 
the principle of looking to the Lord alone for all 
supplies." And the supplies have been sent. The 
heathen have been deeply impressed by this, and 
a high Government servant, a Brahman, has always 
addressed his official letters to " God's Orphanage, 



374 IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 

Colar." When I saw this brave woman in the midst 
of her labours, 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 business matters connected with 
the large establishment 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 realised 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 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. ' What things 
soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them.' 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 



CONCLUSION. 375 

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 honoured 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 16th of June, after six 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 was alone, for we felt my husband must 
stay to complete the task he had undertaken, and 
also be present at the Decennial Missionary Confer 
ence in Calcutta. One thought filled my heart 
as our gallant P. & O. steamer, the Sutlej, swung 
round from her moorings and ploughed her stately 
way through the waves : I have bidden adieu to 
India ! sorrowing most of all because, in all human 
probability, I should see her loved face no more. 



INDEX. 



AGASTY.A, Exploits of, 136 
Agusteespuram, Missions at, 215 
Service at, 216 
Former Cruelties in, 218 
Leave-takings at, 219 
American Missions, Sholapore, 23 
Dindigal, 112 
Madura, 126 
Pasumalai, 146 
AmericanDutch Reformed Church 

Missions in Arcot, 348 
Anderson, Mrs., Madras, Work 

of, 48 
Anderson, Rev. J., Work of, in 

Madras, 40 
Andrew, Mr. and Mrs., Chingle- 

put, Work of, 62 

Anstey, Miss, Colar, Work of, 372 
Arcot Mission, The, 348 
Arrians, Hill, Account of, 301 
Introduction of Christianity 

among, 304 

Askwith, Miss, Palamcotta, Work 
of, 167 

Back Bay, 13 

Backwater, The, Description of, 
254 

Voyage on, 256 

Boatmen on, 261 

Phosphorescence of, 263 

Scenery of, 264, 321 



Badagas, The, 360 
Mission Work among, 369 
Bajirao, the Peshwa, at Par- 
butty, 20 
Baker, Rev. H., Work of, among 

Hill Arrians, 301 
Baker, Mrs., Cottayam, Work of, 

274 
Baker, Mrs. H., Cottayam, Work 

of, 275 

Bandy, Adventure in a, 54 
Bangalore, Description of, 371 

Missions in, 372 
Banyan, Magnificent, at Madura, 

145 

Bauboo, Mr. , Madras, Work of, 51 
Beaumont, Mr. and Mrs., Poona, 

Visit to, 20 

Benighted Presidency, The, 40 
Bible Class, Popularity of, in the 

Christian College, Madras, 84 
Bicycle, a New Kind of Demon, 

232 
Bishop, Mr. and Mrs., Trichoor, 

Work of, 324 

Blake, Mr., Tanjore, Work of, 95 
Blandford, Miss, Trevandrum, 

Work of, 240, 242, 249 
Boatmen, Backwater, Description 

of, 261 

Bombay, Description of, 12 
Brahman Tyranny, 63 






INDEX, 



377 



Braidwood, Mrs., Madras, Work 

of, 47 

Buick, Mr., Tanjore, Visit to, 88 
Bullock Carts, Description of, 170 
Burnell, Mr. and Mrs., Pasumalai, 

Work of, 146 

Camballa Hill, 13 
Cameron, Mr., Visit to, 260 
Capron, Mrs., Madura, Work of, 

126 
Carruthers, Mr., Meeting with, 

261 
Caste, Influence of Christianity 

on, 239 

Catamarans, 209 
Chandler, Mr., Madura, Work of, 

115 
Chester, Dr. and Miss, Dindigal, 

Work of, 115 
Chetty Caste, The, 50 
Chingleput, Arrival at, 63 
Brahman Street, 63 
Caste Tyranny in, 63 
Drive about, 65 
Sunday Services in, 66 
Institution, 68 
Girls' School, 68 
Missionary Conference at, 69 
Farewell to, 71 

Christian Vernacular Education 
Society Schools in Dindigal, 
122 

Chuckrum, the Coin, 193 
Church Missionary Society Mis 
sions, Tinnevelly, 152 
Cottayam, 267 
Trichoor, 324 

Church of England Zenana 
Society Mission, Madras, 52 
Palamcotta, 167 
Clarinda, Baptism of, 155 



Cochin, History of, 312 
Cathedral at, 314 
Fort at, 314 
Visit to Jews at, 315 
Royal Family of, 322 
Coimbatore, Missions in, 338 
Zenana Work in, 339 
Scenery of, 340 
Colar, Miss Anstey's Mission at, 

372 
Coleman, the Misses, Trichoor, 

Work of, 328 
Coltan, Mr., Dindigal, Work of, 

121 

Cornorin, Cape, Scenery of, 206 
Forests of, 209 
Coloured Sands at, 210 
Savages of, 211 
Missions at, 215 
Former Cruelties at, 218 
Farewell to, 219 
Cook, Rev. Joseph, Visit of to 

Bombay, 14 
to Poona, 20 
Coonoor, Mission at, 348 
Scenery of, 349 
Vegetation of, 351 
Cottayam, Description of, 268 
Syrian Church at, 269 
Jews in, 269 
College in, 272 
Female Schools in, 274 
Vegetation of, 276 
Sunday Services at, 293 
Cross, Miss, Madras, Work of, 57 



Danish Missions in Tranquebar, 73 
Dawn, the Goddess, 11 
Demon Temple, Visit to, 228 
Devil Worship, 166 
Dewan, Kindness of a, 227, 229 



378 



INDEX. 



Dindigal, American Missions in, 

115 

the Rock Fort, 118 
Medical Work in, 119 
Female Nurses in, 120 
Students in, 120 
Training School, 122 
Dravidian Dialects, The, 56 
Droog, The, 352 
Durga, the Goddess, Shrine of, 

211 

Duthie, Mr. and Mrs., Nager- 
coil, Work of, 177 

Ear, Perforated, Custom of, 157 
Elliah-Rajah, of Travancore, 

Visit to, 246 
Emlyn, Mr. and Mrs., Parey- 

chaley, Work of, 230 
Ernaculum, College at, Visit to, 

320 
Evans, Mr., Dindigal, Work of, 122 

Flaxman'sMonument to Schwartz, 

106 

Fordyce, Mr., Simla, Work of, 70 
Franke, Professor, and Missions, 

73 
Frederick IV., King, and Missions, 

73 
Free Church Institute, Madras, 

Story of, 40 
Free Church Missions, Madras, 33 

Chingleput, 62 
French Lady, Meeting with, 87 

Gahan, Mrs. and Miss, Tanjore, 

Work of, 97 
Gates, Mr. and Mrs., Work of, at 

Sholapore, 23 
German Mission in the Kaity 

Valley, The, 349 



Gharis, Description of, 335 

Ride in, 336 
Grand Pagoda, Tanjore, Visit to, 

90,102 
Griindler at Tranquebar, 75 

Hacker, Mr. and Mrs., Neyoor, 

Work of, 222 
Hanuman, the Monkey -god, Story 

of, 206 
Harcourt, Mr. and Mrs., Palam- 

cotta, Work of, 164 
Harris, Mrs., Madras, 34 
Harvey, Dr., Trevandrum, Work 

of, 248 
Hazen, Mr., of Ahmednagar, 23 

at Sholapore, 24 
Heber, Bishop, Grave of, 113 
Hira-bag, The, Poona, 20 
Hooker, Mr., Coimbatore, Work 

of, 338 
Death of, 341 

Idolatrous Marks, 105 
Irulas, The, 360 

Jews in Malabar, 269 
in Cochin, 315 

Johnstone, Mr. and Mrs., Shola 
pore, Visit to, 22 

Joseph, a Servant, Good Conduct 
of, 28 

Kaity Valley, The, Mission in, 349 
Kay, Mr., Tanjore, Work of, 95 
Kember, Mr. and Mrs., Palam- 

cotta, Work of, 164 
Kirkee, Battle of, 20 
Knowles, Mrs., Trevandrum, Work 

of, 241 



INDEX. 



379 



Kottar, Xavier's Church at, 202 
Krishna Eiver, The, 30 
Kural, The Poem, 56 

Lace-making at Nagercoil, 192 
Lee, Mr., Nagercoil, Work of,. 

178, 206 

Leipzig Mission, Tanjore, 93 
Lewis, Mra., Palamcotta, Work 

of, 168 
Ling, Miss, Palamcotta, Work of, 

168 

London Missionary Society Mis 
sions, Nagercoil, 184 

Neyoor, 220 

Trevandrum, 241 

Coimbatore, 338 

Bangalore, 372 
Lowe, Dr., Neyoor, Work of, 220 

Madhavarao, Sir T., Meeting with 

31 
Madras, Free Church Mission at, 

33 

Description of City of, 35 
Christian College of, 40 
Female Mission Work in, 46 
Chetty School in, 49 
Normal School in, 51 
Zenana Work in, 52 
Government Normal School, 55 
Use of English in, 55 
Tamil the Chief Language in, 

56 

European Orphan Asylum, 57 
Fte at Black Town Female 

School, 58 

Sabbath Schools in, 61 
Madura, the Model Mission, 126 
Otis Hall, 127 
Sunday Services at, 127 
Zenana Work in, 129 



Schools in, 129 

Romish Missions in, 133 

Description of, 135 

Eise of, 136 

Visit to Pagoda at, 137 

Visit to Tank of the Golden 

Lotus, 142 

Visit to Palace at, 145 
Magnificent Banyan at, 145 
Mahalukshmee, Temple of, 14 
Maharajah of Travancore, The, 236 

Character of, 251 
Mhasoba, Story of, 24 
Malabar Hill, 13 
Malayalim Mission, The, 241 
Mangs, Caste of, 26 
Mar Athanasius, Sketch of, 290 
Maratha Brahmans, The, 20 
Mateer, Eev. S., Trevandrum, 

Work of, 241 
Mault, Mrs., Nagercoil, Work of, 

192 
McDonald, Miss, Palamcotta, 

Work of, 168 

Meltus, Bishop, Party of, 332 
Miller, Dr., Madras, Work of, 40 
Miller, Mr. and Mrs., of Bombay, 

Farewell to, 11 
Minakshi, the Fish-eyed Goddess, 

138 

Missions a Failure, so-called, 329 
Morehead, Mr., Memorial of, at 

Chingleput, 68 
Morison, Mr., Bangalore, Work of, 

372 

Murdoch, Dr., Work of, 122 
Munro, General, Interest of, in 

Missions, 189 

Myliidi, First Christian Church at, 
185 

Nagercoil, Description of, 180 



INDEX. 



Missions in, 184 
Story of Vethananikam, 184 
Bingeltaube at, 185 
Schools at, 191 
Lacemakers at, 192 
Zenana Work in, 196 
Caste in, 196 
Sunday Services at, 199 
Sunday Schools at, 201 
Namburi Caste, The, 281 
Nandi, the Bull, 102 
Native Christian Union of Bom 
bay, Meeting of, 15 
Nairs, The, 240 
Neilgherries, Ascent of, 344 
Scenery of, 345 
Hotel at, 347 
Morning on, 349 
View from, 350 
Vegetation of, 351 
Aborigines of, 359 
Neve, Mr. and Mrs., Cottayam, 

Work of, 268 
Neyoor, Missions in, 222 
Hospital at, 223 
Schools at, 224 
Zenana Work at, 224 
Service at, 226 
Night Ride, A, 204 
Nobili, Roberto de, Madura, Work 
of, 133 

Ootacamund, Description of, 355 

Visit to, 361 
Otis Hall, Madura, 127 
Oxley, Miss, Madras, Work of, 52 

Painter, Mr. and Mrs., Cottayam, 

Work of, 274, 288 
Palamcotta, C.M.S. Missions in, 

152 



House of Rhenius at, 154 
Service at, 159 
Girls' Schools at, 161 
Singing at, 162 
Demonstration at, 163 
Theological College, 164 
Ordination at, 165 
Sarah Tucker Institution, 166 
Zenana Work in, 167 
Palmyra Palm, The, 150 
Juice of, 157 
Usefulness of, 213 
Climbers of, 214 
Pamperien, Mr. and Mrs., Tanjore, 

Work of, 93 

Pandyan Kings, Legends of, 136 
Parbutty, Sacred Hill of, 20 
Pareychaley, Missions at, 230 
Caste Distinctions at, 233 
Schools at, 234 
Missionaries Stoned at 234 
Park, Mr. , Mhasoba Baptised by, 25 
Pasumalai, Missions at, 146 
Paterson, Mr., Madras, Work of, 

44 

Phosphorescence of Water, 263 
Plutschau.Work of ,in Tranquebar, 

73 
Pondicherry, Meeting with French 

Lady of, 87 
Pulayas, The, Condition of, 238, 

282 
Progress of Christianity among , 

283 

Circulars about, 286 
Pulneys, Higher, Sanatorium at, 

124 
Punrooty, Mission at, 86 

Rae, Mr. and Mrs., Madras, Visit 

to, 33 
Raichore, Station at, 30 



INDEX. 



Rajahgopal, Mr., Madras, Work of, 
49 

Miss, Madras, Work of, 55 
Rajnaiken, Story of, 78 
Ranis of Rajah of Tan j ore, Visit 

to, 101 

Ranis atTrevandrurn, Visit to, 242 
Reade, Miss, Punrooty,Work of, 86 
Rendall, Miss, Madura, Work of, 

125 

Rendall, Mr., Madura, Work of, 
125 

Death of, 134 
Rhenius, House of, at Palam- 

cotta, 154 

Rice, Mr. and Mrs., Bangalore, 372 
Rice, Cultivation of, 85 
Ringeltaube at Myladi, 185 

Letter from, 186 

Departure of, 189 
RomanCatholicMissions.Decrease 
of, 70 

Madura, 133 

Tinnevelly, 155 

Cape Comorin, 212 

Cochin, 314 
Roses, Perfume, of, 83 
Ross, Mr. and Mrs., Trevandrum, 

Work of, 235 
Rowe, Mr., Neilgherries, Work of, 

349 



St. Thomas's Mount, Madras, 63 
Sakharam Saheb, Tanjore, 93 
Salsette, Island of, 14 
Sarah Tucker Institution, The, 166 
Sarfoji, Rajah, friend of Schwartz, 

90 

Letter of, 107 
Sargent, Bishop and Mrs., Tin- 

nevelly, Work of, 152 



Sari, the Mode of Wearing, 29 
Schultze, Dr. , at Tranqueb ar, 75 
Schwartz, Work of, in Tanjore, 81 
Letter of, 98 
Church of, 105 

Flaxman's Monument to, 106 
History of, 107 
Character of, 109 
Labours of, at Tinnevelly, 155 
Scudder Family ,The, Work of, 348 
Seely, Mr. and Mrs., Cochin, 

Work'of, 311 

Shahji, Conqueror of Tanjore, 90 
Shanars, Caste of, 156 

Worship of, 166 

Shivaji, Founder of Maratha Em 
pire, 90 
Sholapore, American Mission at, 

23 

Story of Mhasoba, 24 
Native Christians at, 26 
Railway Servants at, 27 
Departure from, 27 
Sideshwar, Temple and Fort at, 26 
Sircar Peon, Imperious Conduct 

of, 261 

Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge Missions, Tran- 
quebar, 75 

Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel Missions, Tran- 
quebar, 76 
Tanjore, 93 
Tuticorin, 152 
Sola Topees, Use of, 63 
Solomon, Mr. David, Palamcotta, 

Work of, 166 
Staines, Messrs., Chapel built by, 

349 

Stations, Railway, Women at, 29 
Stevenson, Mr. and Mrs., Madras, 
Work of, 56 



382 



INDEX. 



Subrahmanya, Temple of, 105 
Swami Houses, 86 
Syrian Christians of Malabar, 
Account of, 269 

Number of Members, 292 

Services of, 293 

Lawsuit among, 298 

in Trichoor, 332 

Talipot Palm in Blossom, A, 320 
Tamil, Use of, in Madras, 56 
Tanjore, Origin of Missions in, 78 

Story of Rajnaiken, 78 

Arrival of Schwartz in, 81 

Welcome to, 88 

Description of, 89 

Grand Pagoda, 90, 102 

Maratha Sovereignty of, 90 

Royalty of, 90 

Leipzig Missions in, 93 

S.P.G. Missions in, 93 

Visit to the Fort, 97 

Visit to Ranis, 101 

Visit to Schwartz's Church, 105 
Tank of the Golden Lotus, Visit 

to, 142 
Thomas, Mrs., Palamcotta, Work 

of, 168 
Thomson, Dr. and Mrs., Neyoor, 

Work of, 220 
Tinnevelly, Description of, 151 

C.M.S. Missions in, 152 

Numbers of Christians in, 155 

People of, 157 

Liberality of, 160 

Councils of, 161 
Tirumalai Naik, Reign of, in 

Madura, 136 

Tiruvallavar, the Poet, 56 
Todas, the, Account of, 360 
Visit to Village of, 363 
Huts of, 364 



Women of, 365 

Habits of, 366 

Worship of, 368 

Funeral Ceremonies of, 369 
Tongas, Description of, 344 
Tranquebar, Story of Missions in, 

73 
Travancore, Description of, 174 

Persecution in, 179 

Education in, 192 

Caste Tyranny in, 196, 237 

Syrian Church in, 269, 292 

Vegetation of, 276 

Peasants of, 279 

Castes in, 281 

Government Circulars, 286 

Arrians of, 301 

Trevandrum, Seminary and 
College at, 192 

Description of, 235 

Castes in, 237 

Zenana Work in, 240 

Missions in, 241 

Visit to Ranis, 242 

Visit to Elliah-Rajah, 246 

College at, 248 
Trichinopoly, Missions in, 113 

Distant View of the Rock, 114 
Trichoor, Social Condition of, 326 

Zenana Work in, 328 

Want of Funds in, 329 

Syrians in, 332 

Sanscrit College, 333 

Pagoda in, 334 

Tuticorin, S.P.G. Missions in, 
152 

Ushas, The Goddess, 11 

Vellore, Mission, The, 348 
Vethananikam, Story of, 184 



INDEX 



383 



Washburn, Mr. and Mrs., Pasu- 

malai, Work of, 146 
Wattle, Australian, The, 351 
Watwad, Mission at, 24 
Western Ghats, The, Scenery of, 

13,18 

Widows, Re-marriage of, 178 
Wilkinson, Mr., Trevandrum, 

Work of, 241 
Women, Hindu,Refinement of, 16 



Wright, Mr. and Mrs., Cochin, 
Work of, 314 

Xavier, Francis, Work of, 155 
Church of, at Kottar, 202 

Ziegenbalg, Work of, in Tran- 

quebar, 73 

Ziitkens, Dr., and Missions, 73 
Zynul-abidene, Mrs., Chingleput, 

Work of, 68 



WILLIAM RIDER AND SON, PRINTERS, LONDON. 




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