The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 182

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182

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

-area of 312,000 square miles, ten times that of the
State of Indiana. If you were to place the map of
New Guinea on the map of the United States, it
would stretch from Maine to Florida, and from the
Atlantic westward far beyond the Alleghanies. The
population of the island is about one million.
After spending ten years on Rarotonga, James
‘Chalmers and his wife came to New Guinea in
1877. He was singularly fitted to be a missionary
pioneer, and the rapid growth of a chain of stations
extending along the coast of New Guinea bears
witness to his enterprise and missionary aggressive-
ness. Jis thirty-three years of unselfish service

Polynesia.

Polynesia, meaning Many Islands, includes a
number of well-known groups, such as the Hawai-
ian, Society, Cook, Friendly, and Samoan Islands.
Some of these have been spoken of in the above.
It would be interesting to speak in detail of the
missionary efforts put forth on-each of these groups,
for the heroic character of the Gospel-messengers
to these islands and their splendid achievements in
these former strongholds of Satan cannot but
change every prejudiced critic, if only he be sincere,
into an enthusiastic friend of missions. However,
lack of space will permit us to. speak of only one

The Home of Christian South Sea Islanders.

‘were marked by not a few thrilling adventures and
‘many miraculous escapes. He died a martyr in
1891 at the hands of natives of Goaribari Island,
‘who clubbed him to death and ate his body. Great
-sorrow filled the Christian world at the news of
‘his death. A church now stands near the spot
where his blood was shed in the service of his
Savior.

A number of English and Australian societies
have been working on Papua for a. number of years.
‘The Rhenish and Neuendettelsau societies. worked
“successfully on the island till the World War. For
‘the past few years the Lutheran Synod of Iowa is
laboring with good success on this great field, and
at is planning to extend its labors still more.

group in detail, and we select this group from
among the others, not because its missionary history
is more wonderful, but only because it is a part of
our country. We refer to

The Hawaiian Islands.

This group lies over 2,000 miles west of San
Francisco. It has an area of 6,640 square miles and

‘a present estimated population of 300,000. Of this

population only 40,000 are Hawaiian or partly
Hawaiian. The Japanese comprise more than one-
third of the population. Of Americans and Euro-
peans there are over 30,000 on the various islands
constituting the group. The Hawaiian Islands
abound in great natural beauty, the soil is extra-
ordinarily fertile, and the climate is most delightful.