CHRISTIANITY A^'D EDUCATION. 



375 



hold among them, nor has it since, and the only Mo- 

 hammedans now in the land are the immigrants at 

 Menado, who have come from other parts of the 

 archipelago, and a tew natives banished from Java. 

 Even as late as 1833, but little more than thirty- 

 years ago, Pietennaat, who was then Kesident, in hlf 

 official report, says of these people: "They are 

 wholly ignorant of reading, writing, and arithmetic. 

 They reckon by means of notches in a piece of bam- 

 boo, or by knots made in a cord." Formerly they 

 were guilty of practising the bloody custom of cut- 

 ting off human heads at every great celebration, and 

 the missionaiy at Langowan showed me a rude draw- 

 ing of one of their principal feasts, made for him by 

 one of the natives themselves. In front of a house 

 where the chief was supposed to reside, was a short, 

 circular paling of bamboos placed upright, the upper 

 ends of all were shaipened, and on each was stuck a 

 human head. Between thiity and forty of these 

 heads were represented as ha\nng been taken off for 

 this single festive occasion, and the missionary re- 

 garded the drawing as no exaggeration, fi-om what 

 he knew of their bloody rites. 



The remarkable quantities of coffee, cocoa-nuts, 

 and otlier articles yearly exported from the Mina- 

 hassa show that a wonderful change has come over 

 this land, even since 1833 ; and the question at once 

 arises, What is it that has transferred these people 

 from barbaiism to civilization ? The answer and the 

 only answer is, Christianity and education. The 

 Bible, in the hands of the missionaries, has been the 

 chief cause that has induced these people to b\y aside 



