Among the Santals, India
By W. A. Barlow
SOME time ago while traveling through the jungles, I came across a Santal shepherd boy, with his herd of cattle. I noticed a small bundle on his shoulder. On asking him what it was, he opened the bundle and showed me a Gospel of Luke, which he takes with him when looking after his cattle. I turned to Luke 15, and asked him to study the parable of the lost sheep. He is a student in our Seventh-day Adventist school, and had secured the Gospel from the school. At this time he was enjoying his winter holiday for one month. Early one morning a man came to ask me to lend him one rupee, or about half a dollar, to help him bury his poor old man father, who died very suddenly the night before. I inquired the cause of his death, and the poor man could not tell me the story in full, his heart was too heavy and sad; but I learned from others that his father had come to visit him, and after offering the annual sacrifice of a pig, etc., to Satan, and dining from the same, he went out into the garden and died. His body was burned near our place on the banks of a river, and a small bone preserved and carried many miles to a sacred river, and there buried in the sand on the river bank with some eatables, etc., his son believing that this act will land the poor old father in heaven at last. How these poor heathen souls are deluded and bound by Satan, who is their principal object of worship, not from love, but from fear. They worship evil spirits, and the chief spirit is Maran-burn, or the devil, also river spirits, jungle spirits, mountain spirits, and a host of others. They appease their anger by offerings of pigs, goats, fowls, etc. They are troubled by witches also. It is a common sight to see a number of men going off to inquire from the “Janguru,” witch-finder, the reason of sickness and death in their village. The witch-finder pretends to be inspired, and reads from an oiled sal-leaf, afterward charging a fee of about a dollar or less. They need the love of God in their hearts, homes, and villages, and this is the reason I have given my life to labor among them, that I might win some for Jesus. While visiting a new village a few Sabbaths ago, with our school-teachers and students, we met a poor crippled Santal man, about twenty-five years old, blind and lame, but glad to hear us sing the song of Jesus and his love for poor sinners. After some gospel songs and a talk on God's love, he began to sing a song which he had learned by heart from some preachers in his old home many miles away. I got him to sing it over and over again with our singing band and my violin, and I tell you it touched my heart. I felt so happy to see this poor blind cripple singing a song of heaven, learned from some humble village preacher. A few days ago I went down to Karmatar with a candidate for baptism, and he was baptized with five other students from our Karmatar girls' school by Elder W. W. Miller in a large sheet of water near the mission compound, who was assisted by Brother and Sister J. C. Little, Sisters Burroway and Whiteis, Belchambers and others. I had the pleasure of giving an address to the students and others in the evening on the three baptisms, of water, the Holy Spirit, and suffering, and we closed with hearts full of joy and praise. The next day Elder W. W. Miller, Brother J. C. Little, and the writer visited Koro village, a few miles from Karmatar, to look for a plot of land for the medical missionary work among the villages around Karmatar. David, the man who was baptized by Brother Miller, went with us, and gave us much help, speaking and singing to the Hindus and Bengales along the highways and byways. Brother Little was very busy distributing tracts to all who could read. God was with us, and blessed us in speaking a word for him. I left for Babalmohal the same day, via Simultala. We are busy with the school, village preaching, and building a house which we will occupy until we have a mission house built, and then it will be used for school and other purposes. We have one of our Santal teachers stationed about fifteen miles away, among the heathen, teaching school half a day and preaching half a day. Pray for us here in the Santal jungle life.