RITES AND WRONGS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 175, 28 August 1909, Page 4

RITES AND WRONGS.

SOME STRANGE TALES TOLD By MISSIONARIES. ; "The heathen in his blindness : | Bows down to wood nnd stone." | So runs the well-known hymn. And ; strange idols of wood and stone, to I i which the Jieathen bow down, have been' j I'Miibited at the .Missionary Exhibition, at the Agricultural llall (save tt - London 1 journal). ' . is not, however, the idols themse.ves—fetishes and relies of barbarism • handed over to the missionaries bv con- ! .verts—which alone interest the ou- | looker, the student of human natu'e,; •ill such an exhibition. 'lt is the human: element itsolf the men, (he women, j modest, unassuming, h.irdiy striking in I | personality, the inir-.-n si vies who ha,el carried the Word into uisiant lands—, that capture the /alley. !• There is the nu'dical niissioner from j Africa, who has had a black-water feveri ino less than seven times—a thing m- ■ paralleled in medical annals. .Medicine ! ; first. The cure of the body first; then,' when confidence is gained, more sp ritual things, ! He, too, has idols given to him bt converts, and more than one ijuainL uv —told with that sense of humor whi.h these humane men never seem to lac!; .. is in his budget. For instance, in one part of Afr:,:i there are enterprising natives, the po*- ; sessors of certain K ni '«3 which are, u • them, gold mines. Tin - have mannf-c-1 1 tured these idols—really, it might l.e' • whispered, as a sort of speculation, and they set them lip at the roadside, where 1 the people will pass going to market. • Always, with the simplicity of the sa«-; - age, the native throws a small offering > to this god, who rests supreme on a 1 piece of red carpet. Perhaps his marketing that day is I successful. He puts it down to the god. v He spreads its fame amongst his fel- 11 lows, and should the next two or three d marketing days be successful, that god f is for ever after a steady source of in- s come to its owner, who sits by the side v of the carpet, receiving the offerings which the credulous throw to it o n their T nay to market. a

I And just another strange thing with these same West Africans. They worship a god—a small, hideous object—- ' which they declare to he the god of .visdom; hut only for the front part of the 1 head, having another for the back, .is they declare that in the front part of the brain resides wisdom. Now, it is well known to medical men i and physiologists that the front part of tile brain i 9 really the seat of wisdoi.i; 1 injure that, and your knowledge mil i intellect vanish; touch the back part of . the brain, and yon are only physically I injured. And here the6e rude savages, without ; knowledge of anatomy or science, have i 1n this peculiar way hit upon the truih. i t This medical raissioncr travels from I tillage to village, welcome always be- I Realise ho is a "medicine man." And he I adds. wilh a twinkle in Ills eye, that at i i | each stopping place he is drummed into t I the town by two or three enthusiastic I natives, singing his orrises loudly, and s telling all theii- friends tint lie' is In- \ . fallible. He adds that this ffoos do'vn in the "bill, as he is expected to tip tlu-so purveyors of praise, who, in the hoivs of good largesse, are inclined to exayger. a ate his powers. ( Then there is the lartv missioner from Persia, who relates humorous tales of J the important purt the sneeze pUva there in everyday life. Many a time 1 nas she had patient?-come to hov in a 'state of terror, as if thev were on the ( brink of'the grave, declaring that they have not sneezed for nearly tlnve v ' months. ' , 11 Without hesitation ?he prescribes n dose which bring* about the necessary effect, and awnv 20 the patient* And through* it all to the student'of , politics and humamtv there comes th« ? cheering reflection that those brave mis- c . sionaries all tell you, without exception, 1 tint 'the white man—and. above all. the " Englishman—-is trusted implicitly by'., these simple children of Nature.