DISTRICT GODS. 561 



some evil practices of a magical kind. Superstition in this fetish form per- 

 vades the whole mind and being of these heathens, and it pollutes and shapes 

 their whole life. It is not a harmless folly this, but acts as a barrier to truth, 

 shuts God out of their world, and occasions shocking atrocities. If a woman 

 bears twins, this monstrosity will bring similar and other mischief upon the 

 whole neighbourhood. If they work in their farms on certain days, the 

 tutelary will be offended and their farms prove worthless. 



" Every district has its tutelary — in some cases invisible ; at another, a 

 stone ; here a large tree. These they call idem. Some preside over the 

 farms or jungle land, some have power over fish. Those towards the mouth 

 of the river, who live by fishing and shrimping, offer human beings to their 

 idem. The same was done this year, a few months ago, by our neighbours. 

 A man was purchased, and laid down, bound hand and foot, at the mouth of a 

 small creek, half a mile hence, to perish by inches, in order that the fish idem 

 might cause their fishing to be successful. These are a few specimens of the 

 many superstitions with which heathens are deeply imbued, and by which 

 their whole social life is shaped. It is easy to see that such superstitions are 

 powerful obstacles to the truth of God ; and they have enslaved the whole 

 being of these people, and made them truly children of the devil. 



" Lives thus shaped, and habits so gross and vicious as these, make men 

 very bad, and produce a field which does not welcome the holy religion of 

 Christ, but repels it with instinctive stubbornness. What changes are needed 

 in such a field ! What slavery to evil has to be overcome among such a 

 people ! A sensual life has irresistible attractions for men of our own country, 

 and how jnuch more for them ! They do not feel the galling burden, and 

 they desire no higher or better life. 



" Such is a very imperfect sketch of the heathen Hamite. It is not sur- 

 prising that those who have no faith in the promises of God look on the 

 attempt to raise him into a Christian man as all but hopeless. Travellers, 

 hunters, expeditioners, political, military and naval officers, and traders, all 

 agree in picturing him as embruted, selfish, inhospitable, intensely avari- 

 cious, treacherous, and addicted to every vice. I consider that the picture is 

 true ; and my own experience has often led me to paint it in colours of equal 

 or of deeper darkness. I do not wonder at the contempt and disgust with 

 which such men are regarded, or the despair of many respecting their future. 

 ' Can these dry bones live ? ' Scepticism asks this in mockery, and piety in 

 sadness. I know no strength and no hope but in the command and promise 

 of God. But these supply all the strength we require. These degraded 

 races are among the ' all nations ' whom we are commanded to disciple ; they 

 are of the ' every creature ' to whom we have to preach the gospel ; they are 

 of the heathen whom Jehovah bids the Son ask as His inheritance. This is 

 enough to warrant our efforts. We dare not mock God, and we dare not 

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