72 
PASO— NATIVE CHRISTIANS. 
from the church door. The last thing clone was 
to rake and tidy the space in front of the church, 
— “ for if proper respect were not paid to Tuan 
Allah, perhaps some misfortune might befall 
one or other of the prahus.” 
Bo we have the village pretty much to our- 
selves, and there is at most times a stillness like 
that of a Scotch Sabbath. Sounds suggest it as 
well as silence. The few remaining at home at- 
tend church diligently, and singing like that of 
a country kirk is frequently heard. It seems 
they observe Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday 
as holidays : Thursday because Christ died on 
that day, Saturday as a day of preparation, and 
Sunday as we do. Thursday is observed almost 
as rigorously as Sunday. • No boisterous play or 
shouting is permitted, nor, until after service, 
the daily avocations. But this devotion is 
purely ceremonial; their life is not influenced 
by the moral precepts of Christianity, and they 
have no intelligent comprehension of its tenor. 
“ Christians ” are inveterately lazy, and think 
themselves too much the equals of the Europeans 
whose religion they have adopted to serve them. 
Their change of religion has done much for them 
in many ways as a community, but they have 
benefited little individually. Intoxication, for- 
