Bible Scenes in a Land without the Bible.
By J. D. Eaton
ONE need not brave the dangers and discomforts of a sea voyage, and of tent-life among the Arabs, in order to visit a land where many things are done almost as they were done in the time of Christ. In this Mexican city of Chihuahua, and in the surrounding fields, are many novel sights which seem to belong to Egypt and Palestine. A prominent feature of our city is the principal fountain to which, all day long, come the poor people with pitchers and jars to carry the precious water to their homes, and to the better houses of those who can afford to pay for having it brought. (Rev. 21 : 6.) The women, and even little girls, after filling their earthen jars, will deftly lift the heavy burden to the waist, then to the shoulder, and often to the head, and walk away under it with wonderful steadiness and grace. (Gen. 24 : 46.) The water for the mission house, distant a block and a half, is carried in a small barrel slung on a pole between two men, who keep step in a kind of slow trot, and receive three cents apiece for each trip. While there are grand houses for the wealthy classes, provided with fine carpets, furniture, and pianos, the homes of the poor generally consist of but one room, in which is done the cooking, eating, sleeping, and work of an entire family. The floor is the beaten earth; the walls are built of mud bricks, mixed with straw and dried in the sun (Ex. 5 : 7), and the roof is flat, made also of mud supported on rafters. Window there is none, the light and air having to pass through the open door. There is no stove, and sometimes no table, chair, nor bedstead. The people squat on the ground, or use low stools. The bed may consist of an oxhide or a piece of matting, lying upon which the Mexican wraps himself in the blanket which has been worn during the day in place of coat or shawl. In the fireplace is cooked the simple meal, consisting of a thick soup of vegetables and meat, and perhaps some tortillas, or griddle-cakes. These are made of boiled and hulled Indian corn, which is ground by women between two stones (Isa. 47 : 1, 2), mixed with water and fried without seasoning. The pale-looking cake is torn in pieces with the fingers, and a piece bent into the shape of a rude spoon is used to dip up some of the pottage (John 13 : 26), both spoon and contents being passed into the mouth. Firewood is too precious to be used for heating a room, and the cooking for the day is often done with two small sticks, costing about a cent apiece. (1 Kings 47 : 12.) In the country sometimes we find little round ovens, like a hemisphere, built outside the hut. For heating them, nothing comes amiss: grass, weeds, brush, dried dung. (Matt. 6 : 30; Eze. 4 : 12, 15.) There are no fences to divide the great farms, or haciendas, but landmarks are built of stone or brick, often placed on high points of land, and whitewashed so as to be seen from a distance. (Prov. 22 : 28.) The mixed flocks of sheep and goats are watched all day by shepherds, who bring them home at night to the fold. Other folds there are for the cattle, which during the day have also been herded in “green pastures,” and sometimes led long distances to the “still waters.” In this “dry and thirsty land” a stream of water or “a pool in the desert” is a great treasure. Not only the “garden of herbs,” but fields of grain, before being planted, are covered with a curious network of furrows so that afterward they may be watered evenly and thoroughly in sections. Openings are made or closed often with the naked foot (Deut. 11 : 10), and so the rivers of water are turned whithersoever he will. (Prov. 21 : 1.) In and around the city the fountains are dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets. (Prov. 5 : 16.) The price of a garden includes pay for a stream of water for so many hours each week. Down one side of a shaded street this morning runs a little brook, watering a row of trees. In the afternoon it merrily rushes along the row of shade-trees on the other side. To-night it will be found in still another street or making glad an orchard or garden. (Ps. 46 : 4.) The harvested grain is carried to the threshing-floor of stone or beaten earth, in a circular inclosure. Into this are driven a number of unmuzzled cattle or horses (Deut. 25 : 4), to “tread out the corn.” For winnowing, a breezy day is chosen, and a long-handled wooden fan is used, like a huge snow-shovel. With this the contents of the floor are tossed up, and “the wind driveth away” the chaff, leaving the wheat to be gathered into the storehouse. (Ruth 3 : 2.) When Ruth (3 : 15) held her veil to receive the six measures of barley, she did as does her sister here with the reboso which is wrapped about her head and shoulders. So does a man often carry home the corn or beans he has bought in the blanket, or serape, which was worn over his shoulders. This is often put in “pledge” for money, and there is left him but little “raiment” to sleep in. (Dent. 24 : 13.) The great burden-bearer is the ass. He carries leathern bags full of water, jars of milk, bricks, stones, and earth, wood from the mountains, ore from the mines, straw, grass, corn-stalks, coops of fowls, crates of fruit and vegetables, children, and even a whole family! For I have seen father, mother, and two children, besides many odds and ends, loaded on one patient ass plodding cheerfully along at his even and rapid pace. Sometimes there will be met in the way a woman mounted on an ass, her face partly veiled, while a baby lies folded snugly in her arms, and her husband, carrying a staff in his hands, walks at her side. It is a living picture of the holy family going into Egypt. Very likely the baby’s name may be Jesus, for that sacred name is given to many of the boys here, and even to the girls; and there are many Marys and Josephs. But these people who show in their country and habits so many pictures of the Bible lands, from which some of their ancestors came, by way of Spain, have most of them never seen a Bible, and of course know but little about the Saviour whose story it contains. In their churches they have horrible bloody images of the Crucified; but the image of the Virgin Mary is given the place of honor above the altar, and to her and to the saints they pray more than to God. In this whole State of Chihuahua there are but four or five copies of the Roman Catholic Bible for sale, at a price ranging from sixteen to thirty-five dollars. It is very wonderful to this people that they can buy of the missionary a copy of the Psalms or a gospel for five cents, a Testament for fifteen, and a whole Bible for thirty-five cents. Not half of the men and women know how to read, but the children are learning, and many of the old and young together are finding great joy in studying and committing to memory the words of the Book.—Rev. J. D. Eaton, in Missionary Herald.