The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 27

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

27

In Queensland and South Australia as well as in
West Australia their decimation has not proceeded
so rapidly, but it is in progress. In West Australia
it is estimated that there are still some ten thou-
sand aborigines outsides the influence of civiliza-
tion. The whole number of aborigines in that state
is estimated at 26,727. Deprived of their hunting-
grounds and unable to find work in these times,
when not even white men can find employment, the
natives are largely cast on the care of the govern-
ment. Yet to ration the sixteen to seventeen thou-
sand that live under the influence of civilization,
the government of West Australia, according to its
official report, spent only some £11,000, less than
£1 per head, and distributed among them less than
two thousand blankets and some seven thousand
garments. The report refers to the special protec-
tion given to colored girls sent to employment to
safeguard them from unscrupulous white men. The
report also shows that the natives are law-abiding,
a total of only 102 crimes having been recorded
against them, of which forty-four were attributed
to illicitly supplied intoxicants. There had been
twenty-four convictions for offenses against ab-
origines. The report makes no reference to the
missionary efforts of the churches, although there
are many of these in operation. The northwestern
part of the state, according to the Australian Chris-
tian World, presents a splendid field for mission-
work as the native population is greater there than
in any other part of Australia.”

The Lutherans of the Ey. Luth. Synod of
Australia, a body affiliated with the Synodical Con-
ference, are conducting a very successful mission
among the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia at
Koonibba, Denial Bay, South Australia. The rela-
tion of these aboriginal Australians to the whites of
that continent is similar to that of the Indians to
the whites in our own country. There, like here,
the whites, almost in every case, deprived the
aboriginal inhabitants of their lands without giving
them any remuneration. The least they can do to
offset, at least in part, the injustice done them is
to help them towards self-support and to bring them
the Gospel of Jesus. F. J. 1.

Deyulsallstha.

This is the strange name of an old Indian scout
who helped to catch Geronimo, the bloody Apache
chief, many years ago. Missionary A. C. Krueger
of Cibecue, Arizona, to whose Indian congregation

Deyulsallstha belongs, tells the following concerning
this old warrior in the latest number of the Apache
Scout, the organ of the Wisconsin Synod’s mission
among the Apaches of Arizona : —

“‘Are you fit? asked the recruiting officer of
Deyulsallstha as the latter offered to enlist for the
fifth time as an Indian scout to trail Geronimo.
‘Oh, he will do, answered several of the scouts who
had already been accepted for duty. ‘Let him use
your gun.’ Thereupon one of the scouts placed a
tin can upon a post some distance away. Deyul-
sallstha took the old army musket, gave a quick
glance along the barrel, pulled the trigger, and the
can fell. Thinking it an accident, the officer said,
‘Try again” And the second time the aim was true.
‘Yes, you’ll do. Bring in the next man.’ And so
for the fifth time Deyulsallstha entered the services
of Uncle Sam to rid the country of the notorious
Geronimo and his band of renegades.

“Deyulsallstha had always had his camp near the
mission. And there’s a reason for that. Many
years ago, after the incident related above, he was
attracted by a group of children who were being
entertained, so it seemed to him, by a white man,
dressed in a great gray coat. His curiosity aroused,
he drew nearer to the group to see what it was all
about. The white man was talking. One word
was repeated more than the rest. That word was
Jesus. That was the first time he had heard the
name Jesus. He was determined to learn the mean-
ing of that word. Wherever, therefore, he saw that
white man addressing a group, he joined it. And so
he learned to know Jesus. .

“Deyulsallstha is now an old man. His seat in
the chapel is seldom vacant on Sunday. The Word
that he was curious to know has become a guiding
light to him on life’s highway. He has ever since
been a friend to the mission. His thanks for the
things he has received for his soul are never-ending.
He is now waiting for the call of His Lord and
Savior that will take him out of this world of sin
to the blessed abodes in heaven.” F.J.L.

Items of Missionary Interest.
By the Eprror.

China News.—In October last our mission-
aries baptized nine persons, among them a number
of adults. The arrival of Pastor Wenger was a
source of joy to the workers, particularly because
Missionary Theiss was compelled to leave for this
country on account of the precarious condition of