Mission Work

Oscar Roberts, a well known graauate oí the Iniversity, wlio is now a misaionary and whose salary is paia by theti O. A.,has thefollowing interestmg letter in the Assembly i U raid. The night of August 14th. 1 spent with a community of forty-seven Dwarfs who have been living Cortwo raonths live hours' walk i'rom Batanga. We cali these people Dwarfs, for want of a better name; they do not deserve the name so much from their size, as ïrom the similarity of their habits to those of the true Dwarfs of the tar interior. AVe reaehed the place at 3 p. m. Nearly all the men, women and childrenwere away hunting. There were eight or ten Mabeya women who came from their towns with knak (the native foodi to tracle i'or meat; ;üko two Mabeya men The36 women stay with the uwarís sometimes ten or lifteen days, drying the meat over the lire, as they can trade íor it. A f ter 5 o'clock the people carne in with three animalp. The i-lace was in the bush, where they hid good water, but no clearing of any kind. There were four rows of sheds, with fromten to twenty beds in each sbed. The roof is made of leaves, and there is no wa'.l cxcept a lew leaves at the end of the shed. The pole bed is the only article of fnmiture. There is room for a lire between every two beds. There was not a sign of any clothing, orfood.or tools in any of these sheds. [f they had anything of the kind they had hidden it in the buih. They seem to live just aday at a time without any provisión for 'tomorrow, a hand to mouth existence. tter supper they camp, and we spofce of Christ and ilim cnicitied. They listened attentively.. -May the lïoly Spirit enable themto realizethat the love of Christ is for them! It brings one faceto face withhis own weakness lo talk to such people, and brings such .1 r. a 'v. -ition oï aasolute dependence upon the Hok Spirit. May He who l tin.' few loavfea and debes to the ng ot' the mul! ilude so multiply roída spoken to these Dwarfsl We liad forgottea the lautern, but they made a gcoil substitute byburniupt grease on a stick. After meeting they had a dance, and there wasnot nmch chance to sleep with al! tlie racket. The next moraing before breakf astw they had another for my special benefit, I think. They had five waya of making a noise. A. stick. probabiy au ïnclianüa lian müinmeier, [ving on the ground, was a substituto tor a piano. Two women playecl a duet, vising a stick in each hand. The drum is made of a loar hollowed out with a deer skin tigtitly strcehed over the top, held in placo by a band under whicta plugs were driven. They liad a small one, only about tjro feet high and eight inches in diameter. A woman beat this, using all the fingere except the index flngers. Another ins'rument made from metal of some kind, con sisted ot two hollow pieees, the shape of an elongated cow bell, the pieees joined together at the top The Bule and Mabeyause&tomakethem. A man struck these pieees with a stick. The women who aid not have anything else to do, clapped their hands, all of them singing. Every fourth beat of the stick etc, and every fourth cali was louder than the rest. In that way they kept time. White all this noise was being made, a man was moving aa nearly as he could, eveiy másele in his body. He kept it up as long as he was able, and when lie stopped, the noise stopped until another man began. 1 told them I oould not go there often, anrt asked them to give me a ti n boys and young men for the school at Iiatánga, but tliey were afnvd. The (iovemor punished the Mabeyas three years ago by burning their towns, and they believe that every white man must be a Governor. They would pot in lieve the Mabeyá who told them I as not the Uovernör, and that they iad no cause to fear. They exiressed a desire to know about the ospel, and said that it' I would come ack again so that they could be sure bat I was not the Govérnor, then they night be willing to send some of their boys. The boys were there in the vening, but not one of them was about n the morning. I sat down beside a young man, the only one to be seen, and began to speak to him. lie soon ot up and left, and I did not see him inv more. lt is no wonder they fear a white man. The Lord will give us heir confidence in coming in touch wiihthem. There is a personal equa;ion in the salvation of every soul, for men cannot be reached with a forty foot pole. lt takes a living touch, and that means a personal acquaintance. I took the census, got the name of every man, womtn and child. If they do not run away before 1 get time to go back again I hope to study those names. lt will be uo surprise to learn that Woyler, the man who makes war on women and permití! dead bodies to be mutilated, has mado himself a many times millionairo since he has been in Cuba. He has doue it by abuso of his power as captain general - just got down to a low down game of extortion and skinuing. Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, American cnilnssiidor to England, did the Prinyc of Wales the honor of asking him to dinncr. „