Itinerating Among the Santals, India
By W. A. BARLOW
From the point of view of locality, three spheres of the missionary’s influence may be recognized: (1) the central station, with its church, training-schools, dispensary, and perhaps hospital; (2) “the regions round about,”—the district extending for a distance of four or five miles on every side of the station, with villages whose schools may be superintended from headquarters, and which the evangelists can visit regularly at all seasons, returning to their homes in the evening; (3) “the regions beyond,” where may be a few outstations, which the missionary visits as often as he can. The last is the sphere of the itinerating missionary. Early in the cold season, perhaps in November, in two bullock-carts he packs a tent or two and some simple remedies for the sick and a good supply of the Scriptures and of tracts for sale and free circulation, and sends them off on a ten- or twelve-mile march to the first encampment. There a spot is chosen where a few shady trees will serve as a kitchen and stable, and where there is a convenient supply of water, and the tents are pitched. Here the missionary and his co-workers (Santal preachers and others) remain till they have visited all the villages within reach. This may mean two or three days or a week or more, according to whether it is a district where villages are plentiful. The mornings are probably devoted to medical and other work, and the afternoons to village preaching. The Santals are themselves a healthy people, but news of a medical missionary—or daktar sahib—draws a crowd from far and near, of every race, creed, and class. In a thickly populated district, the camp may be besieged from morning to night by a multitude of the sick and suffering. They are often a pitiful sight, victims of lifelong starvation or disease, who come in the vain hope that a few doses of medicine will relieve their sufferings. On the other hand the doctor’s heart is often cheered by finding cases where the proper treatment does untold good. It is astonishing how much misery may be relieved, in any village in India, by the proper use of the simple treatments. In camp, dispensing to the sick, the missionary is the object of attack; in the villages he assumes the offensive. Most Santal villages consist of one long, straggling street, each hut being surrounded by a cultivated plot. There are no back closets to explore, no stairs to climb. Each house is surrounded by a courtyard, with something like the sanctity attached to a bedroom in a European establishment. We may visit a few houses to intimate our arrival; or if the village is small,—and a village here is anything from a single house upward,—we may go literally from house to house. But as a rule our meetings are held in the street, the favorite gathering place being the marghi thar, or village temple, with its raised floor and thatched roof; or the village smithy; or the oil-press, which, like the smithy, is nearly always at the foot of a fine, shady tree. A bed is almost invariably provided, as an act of courtesy, for the sahib to sit on. The preaching is chiefly conversational, and the people are as a rule eager to talk about everything except the one thing we have come to speak about. Often a hymn is sung, and it is always appreciated, especially if set to one of their own tunes. Sick ones are seen and prescribed for, the people are invited to come to camp for further information, and a move is made to the next village. In this way three or four villages may be visited in an afternoon. It is not an uncommon thing to find a whole village apparently deserted. The men are away hunting, and in their absence the women are hiding. But the men, on their return in the evening, hear all about the visit of the preachers, and however indifferent they are to religion, they are pleased to know that they are not being neglected. Almost any day a Santal will present himself at the station dispensary, and introduce himself as belonging to “the village you visited during the former camping season;” perhaps he will say, “you visited our village a day just after the rice harvest; it was full moon, and we were all away hunting—don’t you remember?” On the strength of that visit one, or two, or three years before, he expects you to take a particular interest in his case, and to prescribe the very best treatments or simple remedies. On returning to camp, there is probably a small crowd of sick to attend to. Sometimes a magic-lantern meeting is held after sunset under a shady tree, and in all cases evening service (worship) with our native Christian helpers and others who may attend. This brings the day’s work to a close.
In the delightful Indian cold season, when the earth has not quite lost the freshness of the rainy season, camp life is in ordinary circumstances an exceedingly pleasant one. The daily change of scene, the variety of work, the active outdoor exercise, the sense of elbow room, of freedom, and unconventionality, and the abundant opportunities of doing good every day and all day long,—these are stimulating to mind and body alike. The occasional discomforts which have to be endured when the weather is bad, or a bivouac has to be made on the bosom of mother earth, would be lightly thought of if they occurred in the course of a picnic at home. The routine of camp work is occasionally varied by a visit to a country fair or weekly market, where crowds of villagers gather to sell their produce or to exchange it for cloth, salt, oil, ornaments, brass vessels or other commodities. These markets, where buying and selling are the order of the day, and a good deal of money is in circulation, afford our best opportunities for selling the Scriptures and other religious books and tracts. Such is the general outline of a Santal missionary’s work. Of course it varies greatly according to circumstances. Under the pressure of necessity, or owing to special gifts and opportunities, one man’s work may develop more particularly in one direction and less in another. But all the work here described is represented at the mission stations. Babalmohol, Simultala, E. I. R.