The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 132

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132

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

; Christian Missions.

In the middle of the last century a number of
missionary societies began work in this country;
but when China was opened, these agencies grad-
ually withdrew, among them the London Missionary
Society, the American Baptists, and the American
Board, leaving the field entirely to the American
Presbyterians, who at present have 91 foreign and
397 native workers in the field. The, Presbyterians
are conducting their work from 10 resident stations,

_ with which are connected 200 outstations. Prac-
tically all the Christians of Siam are communi-
cants of these Presbyterian missions, since the four
workers of the Seventh-day Adventists who recently
began their missions have only 122 communicants
of the Christian community comprising almost
15,000 persons in their care. The educational work
of the Presbyterians is quite extensive, its 52 elemen-
tary and high schools having an enrolment of almost

Bas FRENCH INDO-CHINA.

French Indo-China lies east of Siam and south
of China. It has an area of almost 257,000 square
miles and is thus about the size of Texas. In its
population of practically 20,000,000 there is ‘a
sprinkling of 25,000 Europeans. Hanoi, the capital
and the residence of the French Governor-General,
is a city of about 100,000. Saigon is an important
seaport.

French Indo-China consists of the native king-
doms of Annam and Cambodia, the protectorates of
Tonkin and Laos, and the French colony Cochin-
China. ;

The surface of the greater part of French Indo-
China is flat and greatly cut up by canals and rivers.
It is said to resemble our own Florida in surface
and climate, plant and animal life. Cocoanut groves
and immense rice-fields flank the rivers and canals.

The natives greatly favor the Chinese in features
and dress. The men and women are very fond of
jewels and often carry all their wealth on their
persons in the shape of jewelry. The people of
Indo-China are addicted to the habit of chewing the
betel nut, which is about the size of a walnut and
has a green skin and a soft, dark-red, bitter, spongy
interior. ~ It is said to be stimulating in its effects.
The natives cut off a piece of the nut and add a
pinch of lime and a little tobacco. This they put

- into their mouths and chew and chew, just as do
our chewing-gum addicts. ‘The result is that
tongues and teeth get as black as shoe polish!

_ The prevailing religions are Buddhism and

» Animism, and almost the whole population is pass-

ing its days in densest spiritual darkness. While
Romanism has been at work here for years and
boasts not a few converts, it has only very super-
ficially touched the beliefs and lives of its adherents.
Up to 1903, with the exception of a Bible colporteur
and two “Christian Mission” workers, all Protestant
mission-work was forbidden. Of late years the |
Christian and Missionary Alliance has begun opera-
tions and to-day has 28 foreign laborers working
from 10 centers with the assistance of 22 native
workers. The total Christian community numbers
432 baptized persons, and in the five mission-schools
675 pupils are enrolled. These small numbers show
that French Indo-China is an almost entirely
neglected field for missionary action, since it aver-
ages scarcely more than one Protestant foreign
worker for each million of its people.

MALAY PENINSULA.

This British possession forms the extreme south-
eastern tip of Asia. The various parts comprising
the peninsula have an area about equal to that of
Florida and a population of almost 3,500,000.
Many of the people are Mohammedans, and this,
together with the great diversity of races and lan-
guages, greatly increases the difficulties of Chris-
tianizing this territory.

Aside from the so-called Straits Settlements at
the extreme southern end of the peninsula, prac-
tically no mission-work has so far been done, and
thus a population of almost two and a half million
people has been left untouched by the blessed in-
fluences of the Gospel.. And when we realize that
these millions are under the control of a so-called
Christian nation, the fact becomes only the more
humiliating and shameful. While the Christian
Church is leaving these millions live and die with-
out any display of desire to bring them the life-
giving message of Jesus, the Savior, the zealous
followers of Mohammed are straining every effort
to make the soul-blighting religion of Islam a more
and more pronounced influence throughout the
whole Malay Peninsula.

Three American and six British societies have
a foreign staff of 199 working at 35 resident sta-
tions. The American Methodists and the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel are two most
prosperous missionary agencies. They are assisted
by a force of 213 native laborers. The total native
Christian community, largely comprised of Chinese
and Tamil immigrants, numbers only 18,000 (these ~
figures include also the mission-stations in British
Borneo). F. J.L.