A NATVBALI8T IN CELEBES 



entirely of wood and raised on wooden piles about five feet 

 above the level of the ground. It consists apparently of 

 one large room, which may be temporarily divided into 

 several smaller ones by great cotton sheets stretched across 

 it. As we sat and talked to the Eajah, the room gradually 

 began to fill with native men and boys, who squatted upon 

 the floor or crowded along the walls silently watching our 

 every movement with the greatest interest. After a little, 

 finding that we could not get much information from the 

 Eajah, we left his house and walked through the vUlage to 

 pay a visit to the missionary. The houses of the village 

 are situated on either side of a pretty broad road, and 

 with their little garden patches and banana groves have a 

 very neat and tidy appearance. 



We found Mr. Kelling, the missionary, at home in his 

 little house at the other end of the village. He is a German 

 by birth, but at an early age he left his home and native 

 country to take service under the Dutch as a pioneer of 

 Christianity in the far East. Long past the prime of life 

 now, he has buried two faithful companions who came to 

 share his labours and anxieties ; he has suffered terribly 

 from the effects of insufficient nourishment and the ma- 

 larious climate ; a witness of the terrible eruptions of 1871 

 and 1874, by which he lost many of the faithful members 

 of his congregation, he nevertheless seems willing and 

 contented to pass the rest of his days in solitude and hard- 

 ship for the sake of the sacred cause he has at heart. No 

 one who has seen these faithful men at the scenes of their 

 labour can fail to admire the simple-minded courage and 

 determination with which they spread the first principles of 

 a higher civilisation amongst a savage people. It is true 

 that there are some black sheep even in this noble flock 

 who do an immense amount of mischief amongst the people 

 they are sent to minister unto ; but, as a rule, the traveller 



