Excitement, Courage, Trials, and Grotesque Experiences
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Excitement, Courage, Trials, and Grotesque Experiences
By C. H. Pretyman
BROTHER S. W. CARR and I set out one day for a trip into New Guinea. At present there are no railways and practically no roads in this country. The so-called "government roads," a few miles outside of Port Moresby, consist of tracks cut through the bush. In places there are a few bridges, but most of the river crossings are by ford or log, and sometimes they are impassable for days. The nature of the country makes it impracticable for the white man to travel as the native can, and I have no doubt that this message will ultimately be carried to completion by the Papuan. I have been glad of the privilege of seeing some of the difficulties our workers have to face—difficulties of climate, of language, and of transport. Surely they need our daily prayers that God will give them richly of His Spirit to fill their hearts with courage, faith, hope, and love. Twenty-seven miles seems no great distance to us who have trains, trams, and motor-cars at our call; but twenty-seven miles in Papua means something, especially where ten of those miles are covered by mule track only. Vehicles can come no farther than Sapphire Creek, and all goods taken further inland must be carried by pack-mules or on the shoulders of the boys. There is no ambulance wagon here. One poor fellow who fell sick some time ago, had to be carried on an improvised stretcher, by four boys, fifty miles to the hospital. In one instance we were overtaken by a rain-storm, and by the time we reached the village we were thoroughly soaked. The village policeman made us welcome in his house, and one of the native women soon had a fire blazing for us. So we changed our clothes, and dried the wet ones over the fire. Our host offered us the use of his room up-stairs, but I preferred to sleep—or try to do so—on the veranda below to be in the fresh air. We had plenty of company—cockroaches around and above, and pigs below. The pigs had an unhappy knack of squeezing under the veranda floor, which was hardly high enough for them to stand under, and more than once I was awakened with a sensation akin to that produced by an earthquake. Not content with this, the pigs were quarreling and squealing nearly all night, so I slept little. Brother Carr slept on, undisturbed, evidently being used to such trifles. Brother Carr held services both evening and morning, while we were here, and the natives seemed to pay earnest heed to what he said to them. At the different villages, we saw many afflicted with skin diseases and sores, and my heart went out to the sufferers, most of whom were small children. I longed for the power the Master had—and promised to us—to heal the sick; and I realized perhaps as never before my need—our need—for the gifts of the Spirit. May God help us to search our hearts for the hindering cause.