iv.] THE MISSIONARY. 160 



quirement. Professor Owen 1 thus eloquently refers to 

 such a training. 



" In the perusal of the Missionary's Travels it is impos- 

 sible not to infer the previous training of a strong and 

 original mind richly and variously stored; not otherwise 

 could science have been enriched by such precious records 

 of wanderings in a previously untrod field of discovery. 

 Our honoured guest may feel assured that whilst the culti- 

 vators of science yield to no class of minds in their appre- 

 ciation and reverence of his dauntless dissemination of that 

 higher wisdom which is not of this world, such feelings 

 enhance their sense of obligation for his co-operation in the 

 advancement of that lower wisdom which our great poet 

 defines as c resting in the contemplation of natural causes 

 and dimensions/" 



The missionary must be well versed in common things. 

 The following passage referring to the monastic orders of 

 the middle ages, applies to modern missionaries similarly 

 situated. 



u The monks did not disdain to hold the plough. They 

 introduced fruit-trees, flowers, and vegetables, in addition 

 to teaching and emancipating the serfs. Their monasteries 

 were mission stations, which resembled ours in being dis- 

 pensaries for the sick, almshouses for the poor, and nurseries 

 of learning. Can we learn nothing from them in their 

 prosperity as the schools of Europe, and see nought in their 

 history but the pollution and laziness of their decay 2 ?" 



A knowledge of the resources and geography of the 

 country in which the missionary resides, as well as of the 

 manners, habits, customs, and prejudices of the people 

 among whom he labours, is of great consequence to the 

 missionary. 



In several passages of his work our traveller gives us a 

 picture of every-day missionary life. The stern reality of such 



1 Speech at the Farewell Festival. ' Travels, p. 117. 



