178 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. vii 



kept compounds round the houses give it a very neat and 

 tidy appearance. There are very few large trees actually 

 in the Tillage, and this, I believe, accounts for its remark- 

 able salubrity compared with many of the other villages in 

 the island. 



As soon as we had landed we were conducted to the 

 house of Mr. Steller, the missionary, a very pleasant and 

 picturesque little home at the head of the village. Beds 

 were provided for us at the house of the rajah, and we 

 were invited to take our meals during our stay with Mr. 

 Steller's family. I can never forget the kindness and hos- 

 pitality of these good people, and perhaps the two days I 

 spent at Manganitu were the most enjoyable and interesting 

 of the whole cruise. I had often felt dissatisfied in other 

 places with the results of missionary work —I thought that 

 the benefits that accrued to the natives were hardly worth 

 the expense and sacrifice incurred; but in Manganitu I 

 began to feel differently about it, for Mr. Steller's beneficial 

 influence upon the people was to be seen on every hand, 

 and the practical value of his teaching was to be observed 

 in every corner of the village. 



A missionary such as Mr. Steller, who teaches the use 

 of some of the simpler arts of the civilised races, and by 

 cultivating the soil himself brings home to the native mind 

 the practical value of the land he lives upon, undoubtedly 

 increases the happiness and prosperity of the people. 

 The missionary who merely indulges in evangelical dreams, 

 and devotes himself only to the destruction of practices 

 and beliefs which he classifies as ' pagan,' is to my mind 

 worse than useless. 



After we had partaken of some lunch we were introduced 

 to the tuan bohki, the rajah's wife, and she took us to her 

 house to see the room that had been prepared for us. 



The house was a very large one, and consisted of a large 



