C. M. S. REPORT

As our last report closed with Lord Cromer's now historic letter to the C.M.S. (may it be as historic as Stanley's about Uganda in 1875) informing them of a sphere in the Equatorial province of the Soudan that had been marked out for Church of England effort, and desiring to know whether the C.M.S. was going to occupy it, so this report must open with some record of the hearty reception accorded to the letter, and of the fact that within ten months a band of six pioneers (three clergymen, a doctor, agriculturalist, and a technical instructor) had left England, and, after an interesting interview with Lord Cromer, bad left Cairo on their way to the Southern Sudan. We expressed a wish in our last report that "the response may be "as hearty, and the result as remarkable as in the case of | Uganda," against which sentence we may surely write that the response has been as hearty. As for the results, they will certainly be as remarkable though, perhaps, in a different way- if we have faith enough, and persevere in prayer.

1,100 Miles up the River.

On arriving at Khartoum the party purchased at two-masted boat, a 60-tonner, and then turned to and built a cabin on the deck, stored all their goods below, and after about a month's work were ready for their next stage of their journey. At sunset one day a small company, including the Sirdar and other friends, assembled on the boat, and, after a short service of prayer, wished the travellers "God speed." In this boat they travelled for four weeks, sailing nearly 1,100 miles up the Nile to Bor. Widely different were their experiences, both in respect of difficulties of travel, and exasperating hitches and delays, from those of Baker and Gordon, the first Christian civilizers who frent up that same journey to Gondokoro. The railway to Khartoum, instead of the camel ride trompo Suakin or Korosko! Sir Reginald Wingate, as Governor-General of the Soudan, instead of Zobehr Pasha, the slave-dealer, who had practically assumed the position of Dictator! A vanquished sudd, and a monthly post, instead of the twenty-months' journey to the Uganda frontier: Truly the times are changed!

But the people remain the same, and it is worthwhile to recall what Gordon said of them thirty years ago, on his way up the river:

"Now, there is little doubt in my mind that "if a man would sacrifice himself to a parti"cular tribe he would find that tribe wonld "not molest him, and would treat him kindly. There is also no doubt but that he would " find the life dull to a degree that death " would be preferable to it, but I believe he "would have his reward. The people are " quiet and inoffensive, and a man of some "intellect would soon gain an immense in

fluence over them. Who will do this "inglorious work, and live and die unknown!" Thus wrote General Gordon in 1875. He would have rejoiced to see the desire of his heart fulfilled, and the advent of this well-equipped mission, manned by men full of enthusiasm, yet not ignorant of the dangers, and willing to sacrifice themselves in their endeavour to raise these poor savages to higher and nobler levels.

The First Camp.

They often moored by the side of the river, and went ashore with their gums in search of birds and big game to replenish the larder. Fresh meat was a welcome change froin tinned food, and, as one of the party remarked, "they passed no butchers' shops !" One day, after shooting some fresh meat, a missionary was on his way back to the boat, when a lion was heard munching a water-buck in a thicket close by, and on his advancing to get a nearer view, the lion growled and slowly moved away. When the enthusiastic sportsman expressed his regret that he had not seen the King of the Forest, the shikari answered, "Allah had mercy and knew best." Mercy on the animal !

or on the man was a fertile subject for discussion for some days afterwards.

At the end of the boat journey they were met by Dr. Cook, who had travelled from Uganda to give them the benefit of his medical experience in Africa. After surveying the country a little, they chose a temporary site, and the boat was eventually moored to the East bank, nine miles South of the Government post at Bor.

At once the missionaries, with the help of the sailors and porters, began to make a clear. ing in the bush for space to pitch their tents and to erect sheds. They made a zariba, or fence of thorns (some of the thorns are two inches long 1), to keep off wild beasts. Gradually the cariba was pushed back, until a considerable-sized camp was formed, with a farmyard enclosure and a garden. The camp boasts of a flagstaff, and when the monthly post-boat arrives with welcome letters from the homeland, a flag (two red ensigns were presented by a friend in Khartoum) is hoisted.

Learning the Lingo.

The first work of the missionaries is to learn the Dinka language, but, of course, there are no grammars or vocabularies to help them. Progress has been made, and a "first reading sheet" containing the Dinka alphabet, syllables, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and a few texts, has been prepared. But writes, one of the missionaries, we ought to have our four bottom teeth extracted, as the Dinkas do, in order to speak the language properly!

Nevertheless, during the year they have now been settled near Bor, they have had splendid opportunities of getting to know the people, and these have proved to be more effective as aids to language study than even the extraction of a whole row of bottom teeth. This intimate personal knowledge of the native inhabitants, which they are now gradually acquiring, will be of great value to them later on.

Mosquitoes and Elephants.

The neighbourhood of the river is very unhealthy, being infested with swarms of malaria-breeding mosquitoes, but a mission-station has now been established at a place called Sheikh Bior, or Gwalla, which is on higher ground inland. Those who wish to visit this village may have to encounter animals with a somewhat longer proboscis than that of the mosquito, for, round any corner, an elephant may be met, and then, if you can, it is best to quit. I remember hearing of a man who, talking about various superstitions, said he was not troubled by them in a general sort of a way, but that he firmly believed in one, viz., that it was very unlucky to be run over by a bus. We might equally maintain that is extremely unlucky to be knelt on by an elephant. At any rate, we can sympathise with Dr. Lloyd when he says, "I have seen some elephants) strolling majestically along, their tusks gleaming in the sun. Very small I felt, and very thankful they were looking the opposite way. The Dinkas say that the thing to do on a march at this time of year is to be sure to have one or two of your women walking in front of you. Then, if they happen to meet an elephant unexpectedly, well, you have time to get out of the way while he is busy. They say, but they are wonderful liars, that sometimes an elephant deliberately waits in the thick grass till someone comes along, when he catches him in his trunk and kneels on him."

"But it is all very well to scoff when you are safe in camp. When you are in the middle of the wood, and see the timbers with which the elephants have strewn the path, you begin to look furtively about for a tree to climb, and when you hear their nasty snarling trumpet, with its horribly vicious suggestion, you resolve that when it comes to your turn you will choose a very big tree indeed, and get to the top of it.

In Open Country at last.

"Having escaped the perils of the wilds, you suddenly come to the edge of the wood. Here, at last, are the Dinkas for whom you have been looking."

"A vast stretch of open plain replaces the wood. The belt of trees bounding it on the farther side can just be seen. North and South the plain stretches to the horizon, freely dotted with groups of three or four huts, each group the homestead of one family. In the dry weather the ground is bare and brown. When the rains begin, the glorious dark-green dhura springs up. At harvest-time, about the end of July, the huts can scarcely be seen for the ocean of mature dhura twelve feet high in the richest spots."

"Here, in the middle of the western edge of the clearing, is our station."

"But our clearing, Bior's, is only the most southern of a long train of such clearings, each called after the name of its chief, Agort's Kur's, Aiyol's, etc. The train of clearings stretches | far away to the north--that is, roughly parallel with the river, but separated from it by some ten miles or more of wood and the morass which forms the river bank."

A Heavy Rainfall.

'In these clearings live the Dinkas. The rich clay soil grows them a sufficiency of dhura with a minimum of effort. The woods supply them with an inexhaustible grazing ground for their cattle and goats. The ground being dead flat, without streams or natural pools, the Dinkas are dependent for water during the six dry months on large artificial pools which collect the rain during the six wet months. So immensely heavy is the rainfall during the latter, and so impervious the soil, that a good rainy season is described by a Dinka idiom, which would exactly render the description of the flood, The water was upon the face of the whole : earth'."

Some of the party - now live chiefly at Gwalla, Mr. Shaw is at Meluk, about 5 miles further up the river, and the original riverstation is also still in use.

CRICKET