18 MISSIONARIES 
Sunday Island, about halfway between the two places. 
In the summer and autumn there is plenty of water. 
The arrival of a steamer is always an exciting event to 
the Europeans. 
There is only one Protestant mission here—that of 
the Church of Scotland—and it is in charge of a most 
zealous missionary, the Rev. G. Cockburn, who is the 
oldest European inhabitant and a first-rate Chinese 
scholar. He is greatly assisted in his many and varied 
duties by his wife, who was the first European lady to 
ascend the river beyond Hankow. 
They reside m a small bungalow, which is made a 
frequent house of call by Protestant missionaries of all 
denominations and travellers passing up and down the 
river, who have all to be thankful for the hospitality of 
these kind-hearted people. 
The Roman Catholics have also a mission, presided 
over by Bishop Benjamin, whose predecessor died of 
cholera shortly after my arrival. This disease works 
great havoc at certain seasons among the natives. The 
Rev. Father kindly gave me useful letters of introduc- 
tion to the missionaries further west. He has recently 
erected a fine building facing the river, into which the 
Franciscan Fathers have been transferred, their old 
mission house being now inhabited by the Sisters who 
have lately arrived. While the new building was in 
