HABITS AND CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. MISSION WORK AND RETIREMENT.
During our residence in Kumaon we had many opportunities of observing
the condition and habits of the people. I have mentioned the new
resources opened up to them, and yet it must be acknowledged that many
are poor. The population is probably much larger than it has been at any
previous period. The holdings are small, and by the division made on the
occasion of the death of the head of the household they ever tend to
become smaller. There are a number in the Province who own no land, and
are poorly remunerated for their labour by their countrymen. I have
mentioned the new source of wealth opened up to the people by the canals
and cultivation of the Bhabhur. Reference has also been made to the
tea-gardens and public works, on which large sums of money have been
spent, of which much has reached the people in the form of wages. Thus
all classes, both those who have land and those who have not, have been
benefited. Indeed, apart from income thus obtained it is difficult to
conceive how the people could have been supported. If they do not make
progress in material comfort the fault must lie in their want of
energy.
Like their brethren in the plains, the people in the hills live chiefly
on cereals--the cheaper cereals--and vegetables; but, like most below,
including even many Brahmans and Rajpoots, they have no objection to
animal food when they get it of the kind they approve, and prepared in
the way caste rules require. As to Doms, nothing that is at all eatable
comes amiss to them. They have no objection, indeed, to much we should
deem uneatable. The Hindus eat the flesh of goats and kids offered in
sacrifice. They also eat the flesh of short-tailed sheep, but
long-tailed sheep are an abomination to them, as they regard them as a
kind of dog. We saw once an amusing instance of the notion of
uncleanness attached to this species of sheep. A few sheep were being
chosen by a purchaser from a flock. The animals were scampering about,
showing, according to their nature, their unwillingness to be caught.
Three or four men were engaged in catching them, but one every now and
then started back when about to lay his hand on a sheep, exclaiming,
"_Wuh doomwala hai!_"--"It is a tailed one! it is a tailed one!"--as if
he would be hopelessly defiled by touching it, while his less scrupulous
companions of the same caste said, "You fool! what does it matter? It
will do you no harm." They would not have eaten its flesh, but their
caste spirit was sufficiently relaxed to allow them to touch it.
I have referred to sanitary regulations issued by the authorities to
guard the people against epidemics caused by want of cleanliness. One of
these regulations forbids the dwelling together of animals and human
beings. On our first visit to the hills in 1847 I came unpleasantly into
contact with this dual occupation of the same house. As night was
setting in I came to the top of a hill, and from it I could see a few
straggling houses at a short distance. I had with me two or three men,
who proposed to put up a booth for the night. Unhappily for my comfort,
a thunderstorm came on with heavy rain, and the booth was no protection.
I was taken to a house a short way off, but on entering it the smell
from the animals occupying it with their owners was so strong that it
drove me out. I preferred to face the storm to bearing the effluvia of
that highland abode. I was told of a little unoccupied grass-shed a mile
down the hill. I found the grass so thick and well tied that the rain
did not get through, and the entrance was on the lee side. Into this I
crept, and slept soundly till the morning, for I was very tired with the
long walk of the day.
The new sanitary orders have no doubt done good, but it is difficult to
secure compliance with them, though fines are imposed on persons
convicted of disobedience. If there had been a reward for informers I
could have more than once won it by telling what I had seen.
[Sidenote: NYNEE TAL.]
A very pleasant break during our life at Ranee Khet was a yearly visit
paid to Nynee Tal, about thirty miles distant, which had become the seat
of Government for the North-West for half the year, and a place of great
resort from the plains during the hot and wet months. It has many
advantages as a Sanitarium. It is within sixteen miles of the Bhabhur,
and has an elevation of from 6,300 to 8,000 feet above the level of the
sea. There is a small, beautiful mountain lake, from one end of which
one looks down on the plains over the intervening hills; while at the
other end, beyond a piece of uneven ground, rises a lofty mountain.
There are rather steep hills on either side, but hills with a gradient
which admits of houses being built on them. Though so near the plains,
this lakelet was till 1842 unknown, except to natives and a few English
officials. In that year travellers with difficulty made their way to it,
and drew attention to its attractions. We first saw it in 1847, and then
it had very few houses. An old General, one of its first residents, told
us that one day the preceding year he saw a tiger walking leisurely
above his house, and looking down, as if wondering at the change which
was coming over the place. Some of the first residents were startled by
meeting bears in their walks. Since that time houses have been built on
every side, and during the season there is a great population of both
Europeans and natives. Four years ago there was a fearful landslip,
which carried down a number of houses with it, and buried many under the
falling mass.
[Illustration: LANDSLIP AT NYNEE TAL.]
At the beginning of 1857, the American Episcopal Methodist Church
entered on mission work in Rohilkund. When the mutiny of that year broke
out, the agents of this church in Rohilkund escaped to Nynee Tal, and
from that time they continued to occupy it as a mission station, and
also as a sanitarium for their brethren in the plains. The Mission has
been efficiently conducted. English services have been maintained during
the season. They have been well attended by all classes, and have done
much good. Between native servants and shopkeepers from the plains, and
natives of the hills, who flock into the place for service and work,
there is a large sphere for mission work, and much has been done in the
way of both preaching and schools. The Mission has been extended to
other parts of the Province, to Gurhwal in the north, to Petorah in the
east, and to other places, with manifest tokens of the Divine blessing.
[Sidenote: ANNUAL MEETINGS AT NYNEE TAL.]
With these American brethren we have been on the most friendly terms,
and have co-operated with them in every way open to us. We formed an
association with them for mutual counsel and help. One result of this
association has been the holding of annual meetings in Nynee Tal in
autumn, for the benefit of Europeans and natives, and conducted in both
the English and native languages, ending with the celebration of the
Lord's Supper. These meetings were largely attended, excited much
interest, did, I believe, much good, and were very enjoyable. On these
annual visits to Nynee Tal we commonly remained a week or ten days, and
had much pleasant intercourse with the missionaries and other friends.
During several years Sir William Muir, as Lieutenant-Governor of the
North-West, was resident for half the year at Nynee Tal, and our special
thanks are due to him and Lady Muir for hospitable entertainment.
While, during our residence in the hills, time and strength were mainly
given to effort for the spiritual good of our own countrymen and the
native population, there were times, especially during the rainy season,
when I was much at home; and I was glad to avail myself of the leisure
afforded of writing for the press what I hoped might prove, and what I
trust has proved, of spiritual benefit to natives and others. During our
stay in the hills, in addition to articles for the "Indian Evangelical
Review" and other periodicals, I wrote a Commentary on the Epistle to
the Romans in Hindustanee, and Essays in English, which were published
in book form under the title of "Christianity and the Religions of
India." At an early period of my missionary career, at the request of my
colleague Mr. Shurman, to whom the work of revising and in part
translating the Bible into Hindustanee was entrusted, I transferred the
Pentateuch from the Persian into the Roman character, and translated the
book of the Prophet Jeremiah, which, revised by Mr. Shurman and Dr.
Mather, now forms part of the version. Before leaving India I did a
little, at the request of the North India Bible Society, towards the
revision of the Hindee translation of the New Testament. On this work a
large and very able Committee is now engaged. During my Indian career I
have written a good deal for the press--I must acknowledge in a very
desultory manner.
Thus engaged in prosecuting our work, years passed on till the end of
1876, when we felt the time had arrived for retiring from the Indian
Mission-field. In July of that year I had a severe illness, which laid
me aside, and incapacitated me for carrying on mission work with any
measure of efficiency. I might have continued at Ranee Khet, and done
the work within my reach there, but by doing so the most important part
of the work, the work in the district, would have remained undone; and I
deemed it best to retire to make way for one who could fitly occupy the
sphere. Medical men whom I consulted strongly advised my departure, and
the Directors of the Society gave their prompt and kind sanction to our
return to England.
[Sidenote: FRIENDLY HELP.]
I cannot end this account of our life in Kumaon without giving
expression to our gratitude for the kind aid afforded us by friends in
the prosecution of our work. Among these friends, one of the steadiest
and kindest was the cantonment magistrate, Colonel, afterwards
Major-General, Chamberlain, who identified himself with the Mission, and
was ever ready to do all he could to promote its prosperity. During our
lengthened absences from the station in the cold weather, and whenever
I could not officiate, he conducted service with the English soldiers,
and he was ready in every way within his power to render help. In
addition to aid in carrying on the Mission, we received great personal
kindness from him and his partner, of which we shall always retain a
grateful recollection. He retired to England a short time after us, and
within a little more than a year he was suddenly called away--to his own
gain, we are sure, but to the grief of all his friends. It gives me a
melancholy pleasure to render this tribute to his memory. For steady
friendship and most valuable aid our best thanks are also due to
Captain, now Lieut.-Colonel, Birney, R.E., the resident Chief Engineer;
Robert Troup, Esq., a tea-planter in the neighbourhood; and Mr.
Ashhurst, engineer. Among the friends not resident at Ranee Khet, to
whom the Mission is largely indebted, are Sir Henry Ramsay and Sir
William Muir. Besides the friends I have mentioned, many others
contributed liberally to the Mission, without whose aid much which was
done must have remained unaccomplished. By the liberal contributions
received the operations of the Mission were carried on, and valuable
property was created at very little expense to the Society.
We left Ranee Khet at the close of 1876. As we were leaving India with
no prospect of returning, we spent two months in visiting different
stations, seeing their Missions, and holding intercourse with friends
and brethren. In the course of these months we visited Bareilly,
Shahjehanpore, Agra, from which we went to see that wonderful deserted
city, Futtypore Sikree, with its magnificent tombs, Jeypore, Lucknow,
Cawnpore, Allahabad, Mirzapore, Benares, Jubbulpore, and Bombay. At Agra
we attended the native service of the Church Mission. The minister who
preached was a native who had been educated in our central school at
Benares when I was superintendent, and was there led to the knowledge of
Christ, though he was not baptized till his return to his native city,
Agra. On this tour we saw and heard much which interested us greatly, as
it showed the work of evangelization was being vigorously prosecuted
with tokens of God's blessing resting on it. We embarked at Bombay in
February, and arrived in England at the end of March.
We left India, where we had spent the greater and, I may say, the better
part of our life, with feelings I will not attempt to describe. I can
only say when we review our Indian life, that while deeply humbled at
the recollection of many errors and defects, defects in wisdom, zeal,
and love, we are deeply grateful for having been privileged to labour
for so many years in the service of our adorable Redeemer, not, we
trust, without proof that good was accomplished through our
instrumentality; and so long as we breathe, our hearts will steadily
turn towards India with ardent love, and with fervent prayer for the
spiritual and temporal welfare of its inhabitants.
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