THE ISLAND OF NIAS AND ITS PEOPLE. 233 



the vast difference that exists between well-mothered children 

 and those poor little Ishmaelites who, through want of either 

 time or capacity on the part of the mother^ are left to scramble 

 along the path of life as best they may. The teachers, with all 

 our books and methods, can not lead a child even to speak cor- 

 rectly, when it hears nothing but bad English at home ; how, 

 then, can our endeavors, temporary and intermittent as they 

 must be, counteract the demoralizing influence of the shif tless- 

 ness and disorder that prevail in a home from which the mother 

 is always absent ? It is beside the mark to object that the 

 mothers themselves are often so ignorant and thriftless as to 

 make their presence little to be desired in any home ; can we 

 expect to find models of the domestic virtues among those who 

 have never had the opportunity to practice them ? We all know 

 that there are foolish and incompetent mothers in every walk of 

 life ; but would any one, therefore, argue that it is good for chil- 

 dren in general to be deprived of the care of their mothers ? 

 Such faults of the poor as arise from lack of opportunity we 

 may hope to correct ; those that are inherent in human nature 

 I leave to the moralist, as beyond the scope of this paper. 



-♦♦♦- 



THE ISLAND OF NIAS AND ITS PEOPLE. 



By H. SUNDEEMANN, Missionary. 



THE island of Nias is situated in the first degree of north lati- 

 tude, and between the ninety-seventh and ninety-eighth de- 

 grees of east longitude, and is the largest of the chain of islands 

 that stretch along the west coast of Sumatra. It is about seven- 

 ty miles from Sumatra, and is about seventy-five miles long and 

 from eighteen to twenty -five wide. It consists almost entirely 

 of hill-land, through which road -making is difficult, and this, 

 with the thick, tall grass rendering the narrow native paths in- 

 visible except almost at the traveler's very feet, makes communi- 

 cation difficult. Animal and vegetable life are sparsely repre- 

 sented. There are no dangerous animals except crocodiles and 

 wild swine, which last are very destructive to the cultivated 

 fields. The only domestic animals are swine, hunting-dogs, cats, 

 hens, and a few goats. The timber-trees, in considerable variety, 

 furnish good building-woods ; the cocoa and durian are the prin- 

 cipal foods. Sago and sugar palms, rice, yams, caladima, pisang, 

 a sort of spinach, and a small bean, are the principal cultivated 

 plants. 



The people call themselves "Niha," which signifies "men," 

 and their island " Tano Niha," the land of men. No definite ac- 



