28 
II. THE JOURNEY 
view is entrancing : below us is the stream, which here 
and there widens into a lake ; all round is forest, but 
in the distance can be seen a stretch of the main stream, 
and the background is a range of blue hills. 
We have scarcely time to unpack the things we need 
at once when night comes on, as it does here always 
just after six. iTien the bell summons the children to 
prayers in the schoolroom, and a host of crickets begin 
to chirp, making a sort of accompaniment to the hymn, 
the sound of which floats over to us, while I sit on a box 
and listen, deeply moved. But there comes an ugly 
shadow creeping down the wall ; I look up, startled, 
and see a huge spider, much bigger than the finest I 
had ever seen in Europe. An exciting hunt, and the 
creature is done for. 
After supper with the Christels the school children 
appear in front of the verandah, which has been 
decorated with paper lanterns, and sing in two parts 
to the tune of a Swiss Volkslied some verses composed 
by Mr. Ellenberger in honour of the doctor's arrival. 
Then we are escorted by a squad of lantern-bearers up 
the path to our house, but before we can think of retiring 
to rest we have to undertake a battle with spiders and 
flying cockroaches, who seem to regard as their own 
domain the house which has been so long uninhabited. 
At six o’clock next morning the bell rings ; the hymn 
sung by the children in the schoolroom is soon heard, 
and we prepare to begin our new work in our new home. 
