WILD BEASTS.
Notwithstanding the extension of cultivation and the increase of population in Kumaon, we may travel for many miles over hill and forest and not see a trace ofman's presence. Cover for wild beasts has been somewhat abridged, but it is still sufficient to shelter them, and to make it unlikely they can be exterminated. Both in the hills and in the country beneath, hunters of wild beasts, European and native, still find abundant employment. Not a year passes without persons, sheep, and cattle being killed by tigers, leopards, and hyenas. They live so much in the gorges of the mountains, and in the depths of the forests, ready to pounce on their prey when opportunity presents itself, that the destruction caused by them is seen, while they themselves disappear. The first thing we saw on our first approach to Almora was a horse which had been killed by a leopard the preceding night. A woman, who had been cutting grass before the door of a house we occupied for a few days, was killed an hour afterwards by a tiger in the adjoining forest. One afternoon we heard the cry of a herd, and running out we saw a goat with its throat cut, but the leopard that had killed it had disappeared in the jungle beneath. On another occasion my pony, picketed near my tent, had a narrow escape from a leopard. I have often heard huntsmen relate the encounters they have had with these terrible brutes. On one occasion I saw four dead tigers brought in by a party that had killed them a few miles from the place where my tent was pitched. Tigers are very migratory. They live in the cold weather down in the Bhabhur and the Turai, and as the hot weather advances they follow the herd up the hills on to the verge of the snow. The bears of the hills feed on fruit and vegetables, and usually make away when human beings are seen, but they are very formidable to those who attack them, or come suddenly across their path. In some places wolves abound, and children and animalsrequire to be guarded against them; but they never hunt in packs as in Russia, and they are not feared by grown-up people. In the lower hills and the Bhabhur there are herds of wild elephants, which do much injury to the crops of the people, and cannot be safely approached. I have been again and again in their track. There are also serpents, but they are not so numerous or venomous as in the plains. The dangers to which the inhabitants are exposed is shown by the annual statistics of casualties, in which the first place is given to the ravages of wild beasts, the second to landslips, and the third to serpents.
INCONVENIENT STIPULATION.
I may end this account of Kumaon, its scenery, products, history, and people, by mentioning two stipulations in the treaty with the Ghoorkhas, when the British took possession of the land, which are strikingly illustrative at once of British policy and of Hindu feeling. One stipulation was that certain sums should be paid annually to the priests of certain temples. A second stipulation was that the slaughter of bullocks and cows should be strictly prohibited. Not a vestige of power over the country was left to the Ghoorkhas; the entire rule was transferred to the British. But our authorities, influenced at once by religious liberalism or indifference, and by deference to Hindu feeling, accepted these conditions. The first stipulation caused no trouble, but the force of circumstances has led to the violation of the second. When there were no European troops in the Province, and the only Englishmen were civil officials, officers of native regiments, and a few casual travellers, the prohibition of beef caused little inconvenience; but a large influx of English people, soldiers and others, made the observance of the stipulation impracticable. For a time it was violated, and the authorities professed to knownothing about it; but when Nynee Tal became a great summer resort, and English soldiers were located at it, beef became a well-nigh indispensable article of food, cows and bullocks were killed, and the breach in the treaty by which the country was ceded to us became manifest to all. It is said that when the high-caste officials protested against this outrage on the Hindu religion, an English official quietly said that such good Hindus were not in their proper place, that they should be transferred to their holy city, Benares. This speedily silenced the complaint, as hill people intensely dislike leaving their mountains for the plains.
The treaty with the Ghoorkhas is not the only one in which the stipulation against beef has been made when territory has been ceded. To a treaty-keeping people like the English the stipulation has been very embarrassing, so embarrassing that for a time resolute effort has been made to observe it, but it has at length broken down under what has been deemed the compulsion of circumstances. We have heard of a high-caste official consoling his brethren for the outrage by reminding them it is the nature of tigers to eat cows and bullocks, and by telling them that the English were tigers, had a similar love for such food, and as it was their nature it must be borne with. Though so shocked with the shedding of the blood of cows and bullocks, the ruling class in Nepal have shown no aversion to the shedding of human blood, as is well known by all acquainted with the history of the country. During the mutiny a friend of mine, travelling with a regiment of Ghoorkhas that had come down from Nepal to help us, saw them kill a party of mutineers who had surrendered under an oath of their lives being spared, with a savage ferocity which shocked him beyond measure.
(4) TRAVELLING IN KUMAON.
TRAVELLING.
The greater part of our time in the Province was spent in the capital, Almora, and in the newly-formed Sanatarium Ranee Khet, but we frequently travelled through many of its districts. I have mentioned the improved means of communication, but vastly better though the roads be than they were in the days of native rule, travelling continues to be very expensive, fatiguing, and in some modes not a little dangerous. Travellers must either walk, ride, or be carried on men's shoulders. The first mode can be adopted only by those who have abundant strength and leisure. It was my mode during our first visit, as I was not pressed for time, and notwithstanding our residence of eight years in the plains I retained a good deal of my youthful vigour. The mountain scenery and the mountain air gave us new life. I travelled on foot some three hundred miles. On the occasion of future visits I was happy to avail myself of a hill pony. Most gentlemen and many young ladies perform their hill journeys on horseback. Happily, hill ponies are, as a rule, quiet and sure-footed; and they require to be, as the roads are narrow, in some places very narrow, and overhang precipices, down which the rider would be dashed if the pony slipped or was scared. At first, riding appears very dangerous, but after a time there is a feeling of security. I remember riding with confidence over places where at first I deemed it prudent to dismount. Scarcely a year, however, passes without riders being killed, and all who have travelled much over the country have to tell of providential escapes. The third mode, the mode adopted by most ladies, and by gentlemen who have not nerve toride, is to be carried on men's shoulders. The palankeen and dolie of the plains are by far too heavy and cumbrous for the hills. The favourite vehicle is thedandee—a pole, with a piece of carpet attached, on which the traveller sits sideway, and which has belts for the back and feet. Two men, one at each end of the pole, are able to carry thedandeea short distance, but in journeys four are commonly employed. During the last few years a very light sedan-chair has come into favour, which is far more convenient for ladies, but thedandeeis lighter and will continue to be largely used.
We have seen a good deal of both the eastern and western portions of the Province. In 1847 we travelled to Lahoo Ghat and Petorah Gurh in the east. On this occasion I went on to Nepal, and was told by the Nepalese sentry on the frontier bridge that without special permission from Khatmandoo, the Capital, I could not proceed farther. In 1869, in company with my much-esteemed friend the late Dr. Mather, I travelled in the same direction, and saw much of the country, as we went by one route and returned by another. During the later years of our residence we saw a good deal of the western districts, to which I shall refer when giving an account of missionary operations.
Along some of the main roads, at the distance of twelve or fourteen miles, are small rough Rest-houses, with a table, two chairs, and a bedstead, often in very bad condition. These houses are in charge of a watchman, who is often long in making his appearance, and then brings wood and water, and sometimes a little milk. For everything else you are dependent on people with you carrying supplies. Where there is much traffic there is good accommodation.
TIMELY ESCAPE.
Our most memorable journey, perhaps, was one made in 1861 to the Pindaree glacier. The journey was a very fatiguing one, as the roads were so bad, and the ascents and descents so steep, that before we got half way I was obliged to leave my pony behind, and to make my way on foot, helped to ascend and descend in some places by strong hill-men, who drew me up or helped me down by a belt round my middle, while my wife and little boy were carried indandies. Many of the bridges were rough wooden structures, with no parapets. As we approached the snow we suffered much at night from cold in our little tent. The hill people of the higher region we found much stronger and more unsophisticated than those we had left behind. The women seemed never to have seen an English woman or child. They were first afraid to come near us, but my wife made her way to little groups, and they seemed delighted with her, and still more with her little boy. Fatiguing and trying though the journey was, health was improved by it, and we were well rewarded for any toil and inconvenience we endured by the magnificent scenery we saw. Down the Pindaree valley came a roaring torrent, showing by its yellow tinge it came from the melted snow. We were awed as we looked up at the tremendous cliffs on either side. Pursuing our way in silence, I heard a servant from the plains, who was walking behind me, muttering to himself, "Such a wicked place I never saw in my life." We breakfasted on the glacier, and after looking at some of the crevasses we were glad to make our way back to our tent a few miles below. Next morning we retraced our steps, and it was well we did so, for as we were rapidly descending we had heavy rain, and could see snow falling where we had been. The next day the whole regionbehind was covered with snow, and we were thankful for our timely escape.
The details of travelling I have now given, and the previous details about the country and people may perhaps enable the reader the better to understand and realize missionary work in the Province.
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Stated mission work was commenced in Kumaon in 1850. Previous to that time a few of its people had heard the Gospel from missionaries travelling through it, or residing for a few months in it. In that year the Rev. J. H. Budden, of the London Missionary Society, after labouring for a time in Benares and Mirzapore, was obliged by the failure of health to abandon all hope of continuing in the plains, and took up his abode at Almora, the capital of the Province. The society declined to enter on mission work in Kumaon; but Captain Ramsay, Senior Assistant to the Commissioner, with other friends, came forward with most liberal offers of support, and consent was given to Mr. Budden's entering into an engagement to carry on the Mission as the agent of its local supporters. For some time his entire salary and all expenses were met by these friends. Afterwards a part of the salary was paid by the Society, and for years the whole, but the friends who founded the Mission have on to the present time supported it with princely munificence. At the head of these is Sir Henry Ramsay, the Captain Ramsay of 1850, who has been for many years the Commissioner of the Province, and who continues the warm and liberal supporter of everything by which the spiritualas well as the temporal good of the people may be promoted.
WORK OF THE ALMORA MISSION.
As the Mission at Almora was the first, so it continues to be the most important in the Province. Organized and administered by Mr. Budden, and heartily supported by friends on the spot, it has done a work which has told powerfully and happily on the entire country. From the beginning much attention has been paid to the education of the young. For a long time the school of the Mission was the only one in the Province where a superior education, at once native and European, was imparted; and still, both in the number of its pupils and in the extent of its course of study, it stands highest. From it have gone out for many years bands of young men who now fill varied positions under Government, and it is believed they are discharging their duties with greater intelligence and a higher character than those they have succeeded. In remote parts of the Province I have met persons who have spoken in strong terms of gratitude of the benefit they had received from attending the Almora Mission School. A few years ago a large, handsome structure was erected for its accommodation at great expense, towards which the natives contributed very liberally. In addition to this school-house, the Mission has valuable property in mission-houses for native Christians, an orphanage, and a book-room.
MISSION SCHOOL, ALMORA.
MISSION SCHOOL, ALMORA.
THE LEPER ASYLUM.
In other departments excellent work has been done. Female education has been zealously prosecuted under the direction of Mr. Budden's daughters. For many years there has been an orphanage in which destitute children have been brought up and educated. The authorities made over to the Mission a Leper Asylum they had established, and for years it has been under itsexclusive charge. Much has been done for the inmates of this asylum at the cost of personal labour, great anxiety, and a heavy expenditure. Suitable buildings have been erected, the wants of the lepers have been supplied, everything has been done which could be done to mitigate their sufferings, and to secure order and cleanliness. The efforts put forth to draw them to the Great Physician to secure their spiritual cure have by the Divine blessing borne abundant fruit. When the Rev. John Hewlett was in charge in 1864-65 there was a movement towards Christianity, which resulted in the baptism of several. Since that time the work has gone on. Christian worship has been regularly maintained among them, and much labour has been bestowed on their instruction. Many have been baptized, after giving all the evidence of sincerity which could be expected, and at certain times the Lord's Supper has been dispensed. Among the lepers there have been persons of very debased character, but the conduct of most has been good, and, so far as we can judge, a number have become the true followers of the Saviour. If the Mission had done nothing more than sustain this Leper Asylum, it would have done a most Christ-like work, deserving the warm approbation and liberal support of Christ's people.
LEPER ASYLUM, ALMORA.
LEPER ASYLUM, ALMORA.
From the commencement of the Mission a service has been conducted every Sabbath in English for the benefit of our countrymen residing in Almora. Services have been held in the native language for the native Christians and natives generally.
In addition to the work of organizing and conducting the various departments of the Mission, Mr. Budden has made large and valuable contributions to native Christian literature.
I have seen much of the Almora Mission, and have had the privilege of taking part in conducting its operations. Among other duties which I endeavoured to discharge during two seasons was to go, along with my wife, every Sabbath morning to conduct worship with the lepers, and to instruct them. Mrs. Kennedy went besides once every week. There is no work on which I look back with deeper interest than I do on this. We first conducted a brief service of singing, prayer, and preaching. Mrs. Kennedy then took the women and I took the men to see how much of the sermon they understood, and to inculcate the great lessons of God's Word in the way of question and answer. The work was at first very trying, but gradually we became more than reconciled to it. Our heart was drawn forth in deep pity to these poor people, and we left them deeply thankful for the privilege we had of speaking to them of the Saviour, and of telling them of His compassion for the suffering and the lost.
In accordance with instructions from the Directors of the London Missionary Society, Mrs. Kennedy and myself went at the beginning of May, 1869, to Ranee Khet, a new station twenty miles north-west of Almora, to enter on mission work there. Some time previously it had been resolved to open a new mission in the Province, and I had been appointed to commence it. After much consideration Ranee Khet was deemed the most eligible place for the extension of our work. The name means "The Field of the Queen," and was probably given to it in honour of Kalee, as it has on its higher part a small temple sacred to her, round which the hill people hold a yearly mela. The place may be described as a rough table-land, with an elevation of from 6,200 to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea. With the exception of a little land cleared on one side, the country for miles around was covered with forests of pine, oak, and rhododendron, over which the people of the valleys pastured their cattle at some seasons of the year. The attention of the Government was drawn to the place as suitable for a military Sanitarium, and engineers were sent to open up roads and investigate its capabilities. The report made by them was so favourable that a considerableoutlay was sanctioned for turning it into a retreat for English soldiers from the heat of the plains.
The prospect of Ranee Khet as a European station, where soon a large population was sure to gather, was one reason for regarding it as a good sphere for a new mission. The chief reason, however, for the choice was the fact that within twelve miles around, on the sides of the hills and in the valleys beneath, there was a large accessible population, furnishing a much wider field than one missionary could well occupy.
VISITS TO RANEE KHET.
Previous to taking up our abode at Ranee Khet I paid several visits to it, with a view to making myself acquainted with the neighbourhood and to holding intercourse with the people, many of whom I met in their villages. They looked on me with fear, as if I had come to lay a new tax on them, and seemed utterly unable to comprehend me when I told them I was no Government official, but a servant of God, who came to them with good tidings from Him. The only school of which I heard was twelve miles distant, and I came to the conclusion that the establishment of primary schools would be very beneficial to the people, and highly favourable to my object. Though so illiterate that in well-sized villages I did not hear of a person who could read, a number expressed approval of my object. Some were forward with the promise to erect school-sheds, and to send their children, but the performance did not come up to the promise.
When we went to Ranee Khet there was not a single house at the place. The only Europeans were two Engineers and a sergeant, and they were living in their cook-houses, preparatory to building houses for themselves. I had arranged with a friend to have a wooden house erected, but when we went the work had only beencommenced, and the first six weeks we lived in a tent. It was midsummer, and the tent was in the daytime intolerably hot. The trees around gave little shelter, they were chiefly pine; but we soon succeeded in putting up booths, and in them, except when storms came on, we were very comfortable during the heat of the day.
We were thankful when we exchanged our tent and booths for our rough wooden house. In it we remained two years and a half in tolerable comfort. There were two serious drawbacks. In the heavy rains the house leaked in such a degree that there was scarcely a dry spot in it; and, what was worse, the rats got into the open roof, and by their active movements, especially at night, were a great annoyance. Latterly the leakage was stopped, but the rats were too strong for us, and could not be dislodged. Notwithstanding these inconveniences, when we remembered the heat of the plains, during six months of the year, which we had endured, and our brethren were continuing to endure, and contrasted the climate there with the climate we were enjoying, we were never tempted to murmur. We felt deeply thankful for the Providence which had given us an abode in a country where summer heat was only a little greater than in our own, where there were no hot winds, where with windows open we could be always comfortable in the hottest weather, and where all around us was magnificent scenery.
I have mentioned rats. In their division of common rat and musk-rat, they are troublesome enough in the plains, but they are a plague in the hills. They abound in the fields, and are very hurtful to the crops. Not a house is erected into which they do not manage to make their way; but where a house is well built, and due careis taken, they find little shelter. They go into a rough wooden house as if they were entitled to full possession. These unwelcome intruders may be kept in check, but there is no hope of entire deliverance from them.
MISSION BUILDINGS.
During our eight years in Ranee Khet we had to discharge the varied duties devolving on missionary pioneers. To one department, to which I knew much attention must be given, I looked forward with dismay—the erection of buildings. Remembering our experience in the plains we would gladly have shrunk from this work, but we knew it must be faced. Through the great kindness and efficient help of friends we succeeded in getting suitable buildings erected. The first building we put up was a place of worship. After considerable delay we succeeded in getting a suitable site for a mission-house on a knoll within a short distance of the native bazar. The servants' houses and the cook-house were first up, and leaving our hut we took up our abode in the cook-house, that we might be at hand to superintend the erection of the mission-house. Before its completion we got, close at hand, a site for a school-house, which, with its handsome hall and four side-rooms, furnishes more accommodation than has yet been required. To this building natives contributed liberally. As the stone and wood required had to be carried on men's heads and shoulders, every additional yard increased the expense, and we were obliged to use the wood and stone nearest, though at some distance better might have been procured. Our masons and carpenters were not of a superior order, and required to be constantly watched and directed. The buildings were not all we could wish, but they were suitable for the climate and for our purpose. Our house was commodious, was in the best position for missionwork, had a magnificent view of the snowy range, and we would not have exchanged it for the finest house we had seen in the plains.
THE SNOWY RANGE FROM RANEE KHET.
THE SNOWY RANGE FROM RANEE KHET.
From the commencement of our residence in Ranee Khet, village schools received much of my attention. For a time I had nine under my charge, at distances of from six to fifteen miles. For the accommodation of three schools stone houses were erected, and for other schools sheds of grass and wood were put up. The attendance at these schools varied greatly at different seasons of the year: many came too short a time to get any benefit, the attendance of others was too irregular to admit of much progress; but a considerable number remained till they received a good primary education. On my visits I taught the pupils, and conversed with their parents and friends who gathered round. When the weather permitted I had my tent pitched for days near the school, and visited the adjoining villages. On these occasions I tried to sit down where or how I could, with the people around me, and entered into familiar conversation with them. The language was a great difficulty, as the dialect of Kumaon differs widely from the Hindee of the plains; but by dint of repetition, and putting what I had to say in different forms in the simplest fashion, I was often happy to find myself getting into the understanding of my hearers. Every second Saturday the teachers, often accompanied by senior pupils, came to my house to report what they had done, and to receive instruction.
CONTRASTED VIEWS OF SIN.
I had reason to be thankful for having entered into this department of work. A large amount of Christian instruction was imparted; many of the boys showed remarkable aptitude in committing to memory portionsof Scripture, such as the ten commandments and the parables of our Lord. Much general knowledge was acquired, a number of the pupils became better fitted for their secular calling, and the goodwill of the people was secured. Once, when thirty miles away from Ranee Khet, I met a lad whom I recognized as an old pupil. I asked him if he remembered what he had been taught. He said he did. He went to a house close at hand, brought a copy of St. Luke's Gospel, read at my request the fifteenth chapter, and explained its meaning with an accuracy which surprised me. At the same place I met a man of a different order. He told me he was going to a mela, to which I was also proceeding. I asked him what he was to do there. He said he was to bathe, to wash away his sins. I asked him what was the sin which oppressed him. He said, "I am a husbandman. In ploughing my fields I destroy much life, which is a great sin. This is the worst thing with which I am chargeable." The lad taught in the school knew something of what sin was, as the poor man did not. I can say nothing about the spiritual results of these school efforts. I can only hope that by God's blessing good has been done. The Government has now entered largely on primary education in the Province, and with its resources and prestige will, I trust, secure a large school attendance.
All through my residence at Ranee Khet I endeavoured to embrace the opportunities given to me of promoting the spiritual good of our own countrymen. A service was at once commenced with the few residents and visitors at the station. Towards the end of 1869 two companies of English soldiers were sent, and as soon as tolerable accommodation was provided a regiment was stationed at Ranee Khet. As for nearly three years I was the only resident Christian minister, I held two services every Lord's Day—one for Presbyterians, including all non-Episcopalian adherents, and the other for the Episcopalians, the Prayer-book being used at this latter service. I also visited the sick in hospital, and when at home conducted a weekday meeting. We first met in the open air, or verandah of our hut; afterwards in the hut used as a temporary canteen; for some time in the recreation-room; and during our later years in our place of worship, which we called Union Church. An effort was made to get up a girls' school, but it was unsuccessful, as the attendance of the few native girls in the Bazar could not be secured. So far as native women were concerned, all Mrs. Kennedy could do was to instruct the few living in the Mission compound. She found, however, an interesting sphere among the wives and children of the soldiers. The Sabbath school, commenced and carried on by her, assisted by others, was attended by all the children, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant; but no sooner was a Roman Catholic chaplain appointed than the order went forth for the withdrawal of the children of his Church, which was obeyed with manifest reluctance. We had much pleasure in these services with our own people, and had every reason to believe lasting good was done. Some of the boys of the Ranee Khet school expressed a desire to be taught English, and these came every second day to our house to be taught by Mrs. Kennedy.
MISSION WORK AT RANEE KHET.
While thankfully availing myself of the opportunities presented of preaching the Gospel to our own countrymen, such opportunities as I never had at any previous period of my Indian career, my chief attention was givento the work for which I had been sent to Ranee Khet. I have already mentioned missionary work done on visits to the schools. At Ranee Khet opportunities were found for conversation with shopkeepers and their customers. Thousands of work-people were employed on the buildings which were being erected, and these, when the work of the day was over, flocked to the Bazar to buy food. After the toil of the day, when eagerly anticipating their only cooked meal in the twenty-four hours, they were not inclined to listen to a stranger telling them of his strange religion. Occasionally I did succeed in getting for a time the attention of some not so eager as others to get their evening meal. Most heard quietly, but sometimes individuals replied with bitter words. Many of the work-people had come from a great distance. The most prominent of these was a band of Cashmeeree Mussulmans, who spoke against Christianity with a fierceness which showed what they would do if they had the power. From one of them I got a retort, which it was difficult to repel. I tried to put the party into good humour by asking them about their country, and I smilingly said, "Is there no food in your country, that you have come all this way for it?" To which I got the reply: "You, sir, have come much farther than we have done. Had you no food to eat in your country?" I must acknowledge I felt myself shut up under this rebuff.
During my residence at Ranee Khet I had much intercourse with two classes widely separated from each other—educated young men, and Doms.
I have mentioned that from the Almora Mission School a number of young men had gone into all parts of the Province. Several got situations in the public offices ofRanee Khet, and to them in the course of time persons of the same class were added from Bengal. I visited these at their quarters, and did all in my power to maintain friendly intercourse with them. A room in the school-house, supplied, partly at their own expense and partly by the liberality of friends, with newspapers, periodicals, and books, was turned into a reading-room, which was always open in the evening. One evening in the week they met me in class, when we had as our text-book the Advanced Reader of the Christian Vernacular Education Society, which furnished full opportunity for conversation on the most useful and important subjects. The attendance was not so steady as could be desired. All were friendly in their bearing, and some seemed much interested in our study and talk. A few professed Brahmist views, but none were inclined to join the Brahmist community and break with their own people. There was no indication of the spiritual concern which compels the soul to earnest investigation, with a view to following truth wherever it may lead.
MISSION WORK AMONG THE DOMS.
The other class with whom I had much to do at Ranee Khet were the Doms, to whom reference has already been made as in all probability the descendants of the aborigines of the country previous to the Hindu invasion. They are a most useful part of the community. As the artisans of the country, the people of every caste have much to do with them. They are largely engaged in agriculture. They do things by which the caste people would be defiled, such as carrying away the carcases of animals. In a high-caste village it is not uncommon to see, a little aside from it—if the ground permits, below it—a number of houses occupied by Doms. The pigs and fowls around the meaner dwellings, and the poorer looks ofthe inhabitants, tell what they are. As artisan work is now in great demand the circumstances of the Doms are much improved, and there is every prospect of their rising into a higher position. They bear, and for many a year they may be expected to bear, indubitable marks of having been for ages a servile, despised, downtrodden class, having no respect from others, and entertaining little respect for themselves. Their improved circumstances will do something towards raising them in the social scale, but we cannot look for high moral excellence and real manhood till they come under the power of the Gospel.
On account of the abundance of work which the formation of an English station was sure to afford, a colony of these people erected a village for themselves on the side of the Ranee Khet hill below the Bazar. I had when in Almora conversed frequently with Doms. At Ranee Khet I saw much of them, and had more encouragement among them than among any other class. To some who expressed regret they could neither read nor write, I said it was not too late; that I would take care that they be taught if they were willing to learn. To test them I opened a night-school, and a number availed themselves of it. It was a gratifying sight to see them, at ages varying from fifteen to thirty-five, conning their spelling-books at the door of the school-house as evening was coming on, or trying to form letters on their slates. A few became soon discouraged, but a number held on, night after night for two or three hours, with the greatest eagerness, till they could read, write, and count very fairly. One result of the school was that they began to attend, with great regularity, a service held every Sabbath afternoon in the hall of the school-house.During the last year of our residence in Ranee Khet, the attendance at this service was larger than at any previous period, and it was mainly composed of Doms. Nothing could exceed the quietness and apparent interest with which they heard the simple addresses given. I cannot say I saw any evidence of spiritual awakening, but the torpor of their previous life was shaken in a way which inspired the hope of their being brought into the fold of Christ.
I have mentioned the fierceness of the Cashmeeree Mussulmans. This charge cannot be brought against them all. One of their number, a young lad, came to the school, and was in every respect one of the best pupils in it. With another, one so trusted by the rest that he was the go-between in the arrangements for work with the English engineer, I had much intercourse. Though the head of the party, and himself doing no manual work, he could neither read nor write, and was entirely dependent on accounts being kept by another. To my surprise he came to the night-school, and applied himself so diligently that he acquired a fair measure of elementary education, though his knowledge of the Hindee language was very imperfect. He regularly attended the Sabbath evening service, and seemed to listen most eagerly. One day he came to our house. I at once saw that he was greatly excited. He shut the door behind him, as if afraid of being seen, came close to me, got down on his knees, and said: "Sir, what am I to do? Last night Huzrut Isa" (the name given by Muhammadans to our Lord, which may be translated "His Honour," or "His Excellence Jesus") "appeared to me in a dream, and said, 'Follow me; follow me.' But how can I follow Him? My people will kill me, they will kill me!" Ihave seldom been more touched than when I looked on the anguish in the face of that poor man, and the tears coursing down his cheeks, as he uttered these words. I need not tell the Christian reader what I endeavoured to say. Shortly afterwards the Cashmeerees left Ranee Khet, and this man with them. I could not find out where they went, and I have lost all trace of my friend.
ITINERACY.
A considerable part, sometimes the greater part, of the cold weather was given to itineracy. Some winters we went down to the foot of the hills to prosecute mission work among the large population found there at that season. We moved from place to place, erecting our tent in central spots, from which within a radius of two or three miles we could visit populous villages, some built of rough stones, but most composed of grass sheds. I was generally accompanied by a catechist. We had many opportunities of speaking to the people on the highest subjects. Not infrequently we met persons whom we had met in the hills, and then we were sure of a special welcome. Once I came on a party of Doms, tailors, whom I had seen a short time previously, and I said to them: "As you have no cattle, and do not cultivate the ground, what has brought you down?" To which I got the reply: "We have come in search of the sun." This gave me an opportunity of speaking of that Sun in whose warmth and light their spirits might dwell at all times, in all places. I endeavoured to set up schools in the Bhabhur, but had not any encouraging measure of success.
There was much which was pleasant and exhilarating in this movement from place to place, and in camping under the trees: but it was at times very fatiguing, and in bad weather very unpleasant. More than once wewere overtaken by severe storms, but happily the worst of these storms came on us in favoured places, where we could find shelter on escaping from our tent.
Hill ponies feel themselves strange when in what a friend used to call the "roomy plains." The pony I had for years was quiet enough in the hills, but I had to watch it narrowly in the plains, as it seemed to have always the sense of danger, and was ready to start in a fashion which more than once almost dismounted me.
Some winters were spent in itinerating in hill districts from which the people did not go to the Bhabhur. In these winters I had the opportunity of going to a mela held at Bageswur, about thirty-five miles from Ranee Khet, at the confluence of the Surjoo and the Kalee. This mela is the greatest held in the Province. To many it is the grand event of the year. The people from all parts flock to it for religious, commercial, and social purposes. In the motley crowd may be seen hill-men from all the districts of the Himalaya, natives from the plains, Tibetans from the other side of the snowy range, and Englishmen.
This mela is held in a low valley not far from one of the passes into Tibet. It is attended by many Tibetans, who succeed in bringing their ponies through the tremendous defiles which separate their country from Kumaon. These ponies bring high prices. They also bring sheep laden with salt and borax. These Mongolians are great stalwart men, with broad faces, clad in homespun woollen cloth of many folds, which is seldom taken off till it is worn off. They are accompanied by a few women and children. They take their religion with them in their praying-wheels, which they keep going. They are an intensely religious people, as Mr. Gilmour tells us, but it is in the most mechanical fashion which can be conceived.If they were mere machines, wound up like their praying-wheels, they could not to all appearance be more devoid of thought, feeling, and conscience in the exercise of their religion. I marked their countenances, and could only wonder at their stolid look. Much that is absurd is found in man's religion, but the Tibetan form of it seemed to me the veryne plus ultraof irrationality. Some of these Mongolians are inveterate beggars, but it would not be fair to judge the people generally by these stragglers into India. There was more life in their dances than in their religion, though not much grace. It seemed to me that if elephants could dance, they would do it somewhat in that style.
GREAT FAIR AT BAGESWUR.
In the town of Bageswur there are substantial houses belonging to the merchants of the Province, and these are occupied by themselves or their agents during the greater part of the cold weather. During the rest of the year it is deserted, as the valley is very hot and feverish. During the colder weeks of the year it is a very stirring place, but it is on the occasion of the melas, two of which are held within three months, that there is a large gathering. At the principal mela many thousands must be present. As in all Hindu gatherings, religion, business, and pleasure are eagerly prosecuted. A town of booths rises suddenly in the valley and on the sides of the hills. Whenever I have gone, I have for miles before reaching the place seen many carrying or trailing branches of trees, with which they were to erect their temporary abode. These answer well in good weather, but when rain or snow falls they give no shelter. The morning is given to bathing. One morning is peculiarly propitious, and then from the earliest dawn the people are in the stream, many of them, I suppose, getting well-nigh theonly ablution they have in the course of the year. During the day selling and buying go on vigorously. As evening approaches the merry-go-rounds are patronized, and crowds gather round singing and dancing parties. The dancers are young men linked hand in hand, who move about in circles, shuffle their feet, and sing in a very monotonous fashion. Many set to the preparation of the evening meal, and the valley and the hill-sides are aglow with fires and lights. Amusement, however, has not come to an end. Singing is kept up till the small hours of the morning, to the no small disturbance of those who cannot sleep except when there is a measure of quiet. Between the singing of the people and the barking—rather the howling—of the Tibetan dogs, such barking as I have never heard in our own country, wearied though I have been by the work of the day I have for hours found sleep to be impossible.
Englishmen attending the mela find a temporary abode in tents, and in a staging bungalow erected for the accommodation of European travellers. They dine together in the hall of this house, and occupy their tents at night. Officials deputed by the Commissioner of the Province are present, for the double purpose of keeping order and of paying rewards to those who have killed wild beasts. The skins of the tigers, bears, and leopards, for the destruction of which rewards have been paid, are sold by auction under the direction of the officials. The heaps of skins exposed for sale give one a striking impression of the number of wild beasts in the country. There are many keen hunters, both native and European, and there is no likelihood of their occupation coming to an end for want of game. Tea-planters attend this mela to buy mats, which are made by the people in large quantities,and are required in the preparation of tea for the market. Military officers on leave and travellers from the plains are present from the double motive of seeing this strange gathering and of purchasing ponies.
For many years Mr. Budden, accompanied by native Christians, has been in the habit of going to this mela, and I have been happy to help him and his brethren when opportunity has been given to me. A colporteur has been present with his wares, and succeeds in selling at a small price portions of the Scriptures and tracts. An amusing instance of indecision occurred at the bookstall the last time I was present. A man had purchased a Gospel. He came back saying he was told by his people that he would certainly become a Christian if he took that book to his village, and he laid down the book on the stall and asked for his money. The colporteur refused to cancel the sale, and the man was sorely perplexed, reluctant to lose both his money and that for which the money was paid. At last he walked away with the book, the colporteur assuring him it would do him only good.