SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SANTAL MISSION OF TH~E NORTHERN CHURCHES (THE INDIAN HOllE MISSION TO THE SANTALS) FOR THE YEAR 1934 DUMKA PUBLISHED BY THE SANTAL MISSION OF THB NORTHERN CHURCHES frinted AT THE BENAGARIA ]985. MISSION PR'E88~
the SANTAL MISSiON OF THE: NORTHERN CH.URCHES -~ From.America : BJERKESTRAND, MR. & MRS. O. S. GIRTZ, REV. & MRS. J. M. HELLAND, REV. & MRS. B. A.. MILLER, MISS DAGMAR, OLESEN, MISS ANNA, OSTERGAARD, DR. E. PEDERSON, REV. & MRS. M. A. PEDERSEN, DR. Miss D. REV. R. ROSENLUND. J)umka, Santal P a'l'ganab, Bihar. J\lis.6ionaric.6. (April 1925), Mornai (April 1925), Kaerabani (Oot. 19~6), on fur~ (Nov. 1920), Harapnta (April 1925), on furl. (Nov. 1928), on furl. (Oct. 190,1), Kaerabani.. (Oot. 1931), Harapnta. From Denmark : BAGGER, REV. & MES. V EIE, MR. & MRS. O. FISCHER, MISS BETTY. HOLTEN, MISS GUDRUN, KAMPP, REV. & MRS. H. P. H. KRISTIANSEN. REV. & MRS. A. KROHN, Miss ELISABBTH, LOWE, M.ISS ERIKA, NIELSEN, MRS. DINA, RoSENLUND. REV. & MRS. R. (Deo. & Nov. 1927), Saldaha. (Oot. 1920), on furl. (Nov. 1934), Gaarang (Deo. 1927), Benagaria. (Nov. 1915. & Maroh 1918), Narainpnr. (Deo. & Nov. 1927), Gaorang. (Oot. 1933), Benagaria (Nov. 1924), Koroya (Nov. 1912), Karaya. (Febr. 1910), Dumka
iii.from Norway: AASLAND, Miss MABIE, BUTTEDAHL, MIss MAGNHlLD, DIESEN, MISS NANCY, GAUSDAL, REV. & Mas. J. GLAD, Rev. & MRS. W JOHANSEN, J. EsQR. LOHNE, MISS LAURA, N ESSET, MIss SOFIE, OBSTAD, REV. & MRS. K. PEDERSEN, REV. P. SIGURDSBN, MIss EDLE SOMMING, Miss SOLVEIG, STRONSTAD REV. & MRs. A. E. THu, REV. & MRS. ARNE, T&OHBOBG. REv. & MRS. K. (Oct. 1933), Maharo (nec. 1927), Maharo (Dec. 1911), Maharo (Nov. 1915 & Jan. 1919), Mohnlpahari (Nov. 1931), Chondorpura.. (Nov. 1930 I, Dumka. (Oct. 1923), M.aharo. (Maroh 1932), Harapnta. (Nov. 1915. & March 1918), Grahampnr. (Jan. 1934), Grabampur (Nov. 1934" Dumka (Feb. 1933), Darjeeling (Nov. 1934), Benagaria (March 1920), Benagaria (Sept. 1920. & Oct. 1923), Benagaria.. REV. R. ROSINLUND, RIGHT REv. B. STOYLEN, 'Qrrusttts. Dumka, SantaI Parganas, India. OSLO, NORWAY. REV. COUNT VIGGO MOLTKE, ASMINDEROD, F1(EDENSBORG, DENMARK. REV. A. J. HULTBNG, Grand Forks, North Dakota. U. S. A. HEV. M. A. PJl:DEB80N, Kaera.bani, Santal PargaoaB, India. RJ!v. J. GAUSDAL, Mohulpahari, do do de
if ~onte ~Oarb5. THE NORWEGIAN BOARD FOR THE SANTAL MISSION Holbergs Plads 7, Oslo, Norwa!J. President. RECTOR HANS HOEG. Vice-President. PBOE'. KARL VOLD. Bec1 etary. REV. J. OB'BTAD, HOLBKRGS PLADS 7, OSLO. Treasurer. MISS ASTA OPSAHL, HOLBERGB PLADS 7, OSLO. MISS M. KINNEROD. RONSBERG ESQ. REV. 1\1. JOHNE. REV. A... E. LEERE. S. BALBO, Advocate of High Court. THE DANISH BOARD FOR THE SANTAL MISSION Valbygaardsve} 76, Oopenhagen, Denmark. President. RIGHT REV. P. OLDENBURG, Aalborg. Secretary. MR. VALD. CHRISTIANSEN, Aarhus. Treasurer. MR. AA. KLEFFEL, Valby, Copenhagen MRS. SVELHOE THOMSEN. REV. RaRDAM CLAUSSEN. REV. M. HANSEN. CARLSEN.SlnCIDT, ESQ. RIGHT REV. H. FONNESHECH WULF. Mr. FIBIGER. REV. A. THELLE.
THE AMERICAN BOARD FOR THE SANTAL MiSsioN Augsburg Seminary, Mitl,neapolis, Minn. U. S....4.. REV. J. C. AABERG OFFICERS: REV. A. J. HULTENG, President REV. J. C. AABERG, Viae President and Ohairman Ez. aom. REV. M. C. DlXEN, Beoretary and Treasurer. REV. B. K. BARSTAD REV. M. C. DlXEN REV. W. M. HAGEN MR. C. P. HEIDE PROF. A. HELLAND REV. A. J. HCLTENG REV. A. R. PETERSEN REV. S. O. RONDESTVEDT REV. O. H. SLETTEN S. M. STENBY REV. C. M. VID I BECK The Committee of the American Danisb Eva,ng. Luth. Church. REV. J. C. AABERG, President. REV. H. PLAMBECK, Secretary. MISS S. OSTERGAA.RD, Minneapolis, Treasurer.
c$antai tlasittrs. Andreas Mnrmn 1924. Dnmka. 2 B,ij,l Hasdai: 1924, Gamharp,b,ri (Benagaria P.O.) 8 Cha mp,i Hisdai: 1924., Pipra (OhO'rkhair P.O.) 4 Dhononjoe Ojha 1923, Maharo «Dum.la P.O.) 5 Dhunu Kiskn 1916, (Retired) 6 Emanuel 'fn<;in 1929, Haripnr (Paluria P.O.) 7 G,lu Sgr~n 1928, T'1Ini (Katikund P.O.) 8 Jalpa Sg~n 1991, Narayanpur (Toor P.O., Dinajpur) 9 Jghgn Hiisdal{ 1938, Dhgr9mpnr (Kumrabad P.O.) 10 RaIn Kisku 1931, Mohulpahari. 11 Karan Sgr~n 1934, Tilabani (Asanbani P.O.) 12 Khela Murmu 1924, Manjadabri (Dingdinga P.O.) 13 Khudi~ M~rnQi 1931, Koroya (Dumka P.O., 14 Kisun TUQu 1921, Rantzaupur (Dingdinga P.O.) 15 KUllj,l P~uria 1930, Pharidpur (Habra P.O.) 16 Lodo S9r~n 1930, Sapadoha (Benagaria P.O.) 17 Lokhon Hembrom 1930, Grahampur (Dingdinga P.O.) 18 Lopaa Sgr~n 1932, Babhonc;lia (Kaerabani P.O.) 19 Minghu Sgr@D 1926, Joema (Gossaingaon P.O.) 20 Mondol Murmn 1924, Saldoha (Mohulpahari P.O.) 21 Mgnggl Hembrom 1933, Divinity School, Benagaria 22 Mgnggl Kiskn 1930, Rantnagor (Banisankall P.O.) 28 Naran Sg~n 1934, Kaerabani. 24 p,ln Risdai 1928 1 (Retired)
25 Pitor Hembl'om 1928, Mornai (Dingdifl.ga P.O.) 26 Ragda Sgr~n 1931, Jolesari (Kochugaon P. O. 27 R.ti" Bgl'g 1911, Haraputa (GoS8aingaon P.O.) 28 Ruben Murmu 1933,. Divinity School, Benagaria 29 SImon Mnrmu 1929, Khorib"ri (Muckia P. 0,) 30 Sonaton Hembrom 1925, Ba,setkuJ}4i (Maheshpwr P.O.) 81 Tik. Mnrmu 1924, Chondorpura. (Katiwnd P.O.) BENGALI PASTOR. Srinath Biswas 1980, Rampurhat. BQRQ PASTOR. Qlichol'on BgrQ 1932, Gaorang (Haltugaon P.O.)
THE SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1934. Not by might, N or by power, But by my spirit, Saith the Lord of hosts. Zech. 4, 6. The great and mighty are to be found on earth now as formeriy, and the world apparently requires them. In. the realm of knowledge and science they are needed, trade and commerce cannot manage without them, and the states and the nations are in their hands. Bot whether they occupy chairs of dignity or wealth, d well in royal palaces with agelong traditions, or have sprung up in new surroundings and in new attires, their display is always grand and their satisfaction lies in attainments of things of this world and jn ~he aqmiration.nd flattery of the masses.
2 THE SANTAL MISSION OF THE NORTHERN CHURCHES. Power is admired in our age probably more than at any time before. Mental power and physioal power have had their admirers among the races -of m~nkind as far back as history can give us information; but technical power has never had a day like the present. Weare all under the spell of it. High above the jungly village of the illiterate masses of tropical India roars the aeroplane, and in a few days it jumps from England to Australia.. Sparks flash, ether vibrates, and in a few seconds man can commul/ieate with man round the world or from pole to pole. Truly, the mighty are powerful as never before, and power is admired in all spheres of work and activity; but unto Zerubbabel of old came the words: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Thus there must be a field of work not covered by the ordinary la.ws of might and power among the millions on earth. Churches and Missions have their organisations very much on the pattern of other bodies operating among the masses of the world, a.nd organisations function very much in the same way whether they are religious or secular. They have their seats of dignity and their mighty persons, and they are moved: by powers which set their rank and file in motion, powers of the moment roughening" the waters, and yet the old book tells us that to Zerubbabel came the words: "Not "by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." The most vital thing in the realm of the kingdom of God has been withdrawn from the might and.the power as lcnown by man~ whether that man is a reli~ious man or not~ an,q
... sttty EIGHTH ANNU AL RBPORT. 3 reserved it for the Holy Spirit. This truth should humiliate every so-c:t1led "spiritual worker" and ma.ke "nothing of all flesh", and at the same time open up for him the "windows of heaven" so that the Lord of heaven and earto may pour out His blessings, because this hu~iliation leads hearts on to that spirituill attitude which can believe in God, and God alone, and trust His word. And there is naught else for UB to rest on, neither chu'rch systems with historic institutions, nor mission organisations with perfect administrations. God is the Lord of the sons and the daughters of faith now as always, and the words came to one of them and is recorded for the rest of us : "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Let us therefore with humility, but also with confidence, look up to Him who ha.s granted us to labour in this His work for the salvation of souls amon~st the Santals, Boros Bengalis or whatever name they may bear, and allow Bimby His Holy spirit to work out his ways to the glory of His name I And let us place ourselves in utter humility as useless and yet useful serva.nts at His disposa.l, saying: "Here I am, 0 Lord, send me, send me 1" The Christian Community. The quickening of spiritual life, which was mentioned in our last annual report, has quietly entered the Christian Community with new experience of the grace of God, and new visions of the true Christian life, without causing any divi SiODS in the fold. For which we are very grateful. The ex:tent to which old Christians have been,touched by the Spirit and blessed from the never failing sources,
-4, THE SANTAL :MISSION OF TaR NORTHERN CHURClhs. and new ones brought to the Saviour, is hidden from US; but we humbly put on record that the Lord has revealed to us more of His work 8S performed by His Holy Spirit, and we have been permitted to see His hand at work in several places more clearly than before. The reader is referred to the different station reports for more detailed information about this; but total ingathering to the king. dom as reported by the number of baptisms from the Maharo area in north. west to the Benagaria area in south east for the year under review shows that we have had and are still having a time of wonderful blessing. The position can be 8ummarised thus: Sultanabad and Jubdi with Saldoha in the south-east corner has been a progressive area for number of years, and the figures for the whole are still on the increase. Theoountry around Koroya, Maharo, Dumka, Dum and Mohulpahari has had steady work J but of late not shown any great advance until now when the baptisms of heathens for 1984 outnumbers the total for the previous four years (1930 1988). And in N ankar the desire to listen to the word of God has sprung up in new places, and in that way also revealed some of the wonders of the Kingdom of God. Mentioning a particular stretch of t:le field does not mean that the Lord's hand has not been visible elsewhere, but only that we admit the truth of the words of the Lord, saying: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth."
SIX'fY BIGHTH ANNUAL RBPORT, It has become very evident.that 'the Christian Community finds g-reat bles!;ing in la.rgel' devotional meetings, usually called "Sabha."s or conventions. The year 1934 saw ma.ny of them, and everywhere they appeared to bring new life and strength to the Christians. At the end of February we bad two such meetings, one at Haripur in Snltanabad, and one at Mornai in the Assam field. Shortly afterwards there was one for Boro Christians at Gandabil east of the Ai river In the Goal. para district, and at the end of ~1arch the Santals on the plain of North Bengal ha.d their gathering at Phoridpur, while the brethren fairly close to Bena.garia gathered a.t Ea.ster time. And after the ra.iny season the Bengali Christians met at Narainpur, a special women's meeting was held at Koroya, a "prayer and peace" meeting at Pastor Jalpa's plaoe in Dinajpur in November, and finally a teachers' retreat at Ka.erabani in December. All these meetings testify that the word of God and the fellowship of believers have become potent factors in our communit.y, and open up a new line of advance where the exposition of the Scriptures will come more and more to the front. But the appointment in the villages of "dhqrqm manjhiko" - chiefs of "dhqrqm", i. e., righteousness) - and local church committees have not made any great stir in our fold. Our Christiaus, both preachers and heal'el's, feel the task of church organisation and self-support as being very difficult, something with which they have ha.d no experience, and therefore cannot imagine bow it works, and we have
~ THE SAN'rAL MISSION Olr TBR NORl'BERN' dhurcrks. to admit that our derr Santals are always a bit slow in tbeirmovements The new day will probably not come by spending a little ink on a well-worded paragraph, but by missionaries establishing in practise new traits catching the Santal imagination. Abouttbe Santa I pastors only a few things are to be mentioned. During the hot and rainy season Galu pastor served in the Maharo field, and for a few weeks we got Raben pastor from the Benagaria Divinity School, and some of the students also, to work there, and this naturally led to that Raben was transferred to Maharo when his serviee was no more required at the scnool. The other pastor, Mongol, was placed in the Nankar field. Dhononjoypastor was felt.to be our only man for Dangalpara in Dumka hazar for the as yet small nod Santal Christian Community in this town. On the 29th of October Karan SQr~n was ordained for Til abani and Naran SQ~~n for Kaerabani. The ordination service was held at Kaerabani, and one of the Gossner Church pastors who happened to 'be here, joined with -08 1D the service. In the rainy sesson the pastor at Pipra in Champai, had to be relieved of his duty. Rajsbahi, The Institutions,A day of real advance has drawn DeBr to the Santals, that is a conclnsion which can be drawn from the fact that the schools a.re filled to their limit ;everywhere in spite
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 7 of the depression, which now has reached the Santal villages wherever you go. Miss Van Doren from the National Christian Conncil Bnd Rev. Canon Tarafdar from the Bihar and Orissa Christian Council visited the Kaerabaui school in April and recommended that it be made into a high school for th~ Sa.ntal area. The Government of Assa.m has recognized the Haraputa Girls' school. None of our institntions suffered to any great extent by the very severe earthquake on the 15th of January 1934 except the Saldoha Leper Colony where the soil is particularly difficult to build on. The Superintendent's bungalow was badly damaged and several other buildings; but Government has also in this emergency sbowli a very sympathetic attitude and granteu help for repairs, for which we indeed are very grateful. The Missionary Staff The missionaries on the field met for the annual Conference at Dumka 6th to 10th February 1934 and got through the ordiul:.lry work in the usual way. A stray proposal to move the Secretary of the Missiol1 from Dumka. to some other place upon the return of Rev. Rosenlund was passed by It couple of vottas majority and bad to Le vetoed'. It was shortly after tbe big earthquake when the Lord of all creatio~ had ~~ed to ~h~ millions through the ~atastrorhe
8 THE SANTAL MISSION OF THE NORTHBRN CHURCHES. which befell the oountry north of us, and a sense of un deservedly having been spared WtlS over us and gave us a blessed time together. Just before the Conference we had the pleasure of welcoming Rev. Petter Pedersen, a new Norwegian missionary, to our ranks. The Conferenoe placed him temporarily at Grahampur, Assam, for language study. Shortly after the Conference Rev. & Mrs. Helland went on furlough to A merica, and Rev. Girtz with family took over their work as head of the Kaerabani school. It is a particular case for gratitude to him from whom all good J!ifts come that their health has continued to improve, and no one can now see that they have just passed through a time filled with so much of anxiety. Miss Lowe was placed ~t Koroya to take overr the school work, and for the rest the Missionaries were to remain in the same places DR hitherto, until help could a.rrive from the home countrie's. On Wednesday the 18th of April ]934 Rev. & Dr. MIS. Bodding left Mohulpahari and retired t{) their home in Norway. He had shortly before completed the manusoript of the big Santali to English Dictionary, and 8S the printing is being done at Oslo, he could more easily see it through the press there thlin out here. He had also seen forty.fonr years pass since he, in January 1890, landed in India, and his wife, Dr. Bodding, nelirly nineteen, and as they both required a change of climate they felt it right (io seek rest. It was in the hot B~aSOD, and it was not possible
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL ImPORT. for au the missionaries to come together, but as ma.ny as could met a few days before their departure at Dumb, and we all felt that a c,!tapter of the higlrest qualities of service WR8 nearing its 0108e It is not possible in a brief report like this in any adequate way to give expression to the extent and va.lue of their combined contribution to the work of the mission, but the mission could not have been what it is to-day without the service they have so unreservedly placed at the disposal of the Lord. In the month of may Mr. Eie with his family had to go on furlough to Denmark a~ Mrs. Eie's health requir~d a change of climate. As pr6viously a.rranged Rev. Bjerk~strand with his family left Basetkundi and took over the ma.nagement of the Mornai 'rea Estate. The Basetkundi area was mea.nwhile to be looked after from Chondorpura. In Noveml:>er we had the pleasure to welcome Rev. & Mrs. Stronstad and Miss Edle Sigurdsen, all from Norway, and a couple of days later a company from Denmark con si9ting of Rev. & Mrs. Rosenlund returning to their duties, and a new lady, Miss Bessie Fischer. Mrs. Kristiansen and Otto had also been in the same company from Denmark to Calcutta, but thpy were there met by Rev. Kristiansen and proceeded direct to Gaorang. We had a happy dinner party on the 12th of November to welcome all both old and new to tbis wonderful field of work, but at the same time to express our gratitude a.ud bid farewell to Rev. & Mrs. Thu. After two periods of service out h-ere they finel that th~y for family reason have to ta.k.~ up work in their horoolaud. Daring their first period ~
10 THE SANTAL MISSION OF THE NOR'rHKRN CHURCHES. out here they were stationed at Dhorompur in ordinary distriot work, u.nd during this last period they have been in charge of the Divinity School at Benagaria. Two batc hes of students have been trained for.the Lord's service in this period, and we could confidenly say to them on their departure that "y~)ur labour is living on in the sorils of those you have trained." Rev. Thu with his family left Oalcutta on the 1st of Deoember. It is a special pleasure to mention that few days before the olose of the year Miss Miller was able to retarn to India in spite of the general depression whioh have been felt very acutely in her homeland, America.. The strengthening of the missionary staff by the arrivals in the fall made it possihle to realize what the annual Conference had decided. The writer of this report with his family are now settled at Mohulpahari, and Mr. Johansen has gone to Joema, which has been without a resident missionary for Beveral years. Miss Sigurdsen was by the Executive asked to step in to the work in the Dumka Office. The other new arrivals have temporarily been placed thus: Miss Fischer at Gaorang and Rev. Stronstad at Benagaria. Iater-IrauioDary Activity. Delegates to the Bihar and Orissa Christian Council and to the Bengal and Assam ChristiMn Counoil were sent as usual. The proposa.l to form a Santal Christian Oouncil has met with general approva.l in the Santa.l area. A committee appointed
SiXTY EIGHTH A.NNUAL li.bport. 11 by the B. O. C. C. to scrutinize the proposed constitution of the new council met on the 29th of August at Bhagalpur, and the proposal is now so far advanced that the first meeting of the new body is to be held at Benagaria in the beginning of January 1985. The undersigned was invited to attend an ordination service of the Calcutta Presbytery of the Church of Scotland and joined with their own church servants in ordaining Dr. R. M. Macphail to the ministry of the Church on the 25th of March 1934, at Bamdah. The Administration. The annual Conference recommended to the homelands that the application ro~ the K vinnliga Missions Arbetare, Stockholm, Sweden, that the Swedish Mission, at Cooch Behar be joined with the Santal Mission of the Northern Churches in all "except what relates to trust and property" be granted, and this has been sanctioned according to the constitution. The union will officially take place on the 1st of January 1935, and the Cooch Behar missionaries are therefore to be found on the list of missionaries in this year's report as well as the homeboard at Stockholm. May the union lead to new strength and new blessing of the Lord's work both at Cooch Behar and on the fields of the Santal Mission. Up to the time of Rev. Rosenlund's return Rev. Bagger officia.ted as trustee for Den mark on the field) and the a.nnual Conference decided that Rev. H. A. Helland should be appointed trustee for America on the field when Rev. M. A. Pederson retires. To sit together with the Field Trustees a.nd form the Executive Committee until the next Conference, the annual Conference in 1934 elected Revds. K. Ofstad, Kampp, and Bjerkestrand,
12 THE SANTAL MISSIONOP THE NORTREEN CHUROHES. with Rev. Tromborg, Mrs. Nielsen, and Rev. Girtz respectively as 8ubstitlltes. The financial position of the mission has not been without 8!DX'iety this year either; but it has not been 80 difficult to manage the affairs out here in 1934 as it was in 1933. This was partly due to a legacy from America which in part has been paid to the mission this year. The Tea Garden has cdntinued under th,e a.ble management of Messrs. G. Lochen & Co., Calcutta., as ma.naging agent~. The year 1933 gave profit, and from this the mission rpceived sufficient to repay the loan mentioned in the last report. Acknowledgements. At this place we wish to tender our gratefnl thanks to. the GDvernment of Bihar and Orissa and the local authorities for their continued Iibera.l grant-in-aid to our training SChD01s and the hdstels cdnnected with them, to. village schools and the industrial school and to our Leper ColDny at Saldo ha. Wew;ish also. to record our grateful thanks to the Government of Bengal for the grant given to the Narsyanpur M. E sehool, and to village schools in II aida, Rajshahi aad Dinajpur, as well as to the Gover-nment. of Assam for grant to the M. E. s.cho.olat Grahampllr add tile Joema school and several viila.ge schools in the Santal Colony ~ On behalf of the mission we would also most heartily thank all our friends and supporters in the homelands, in Denmark and Norway, in the United Statrs of America and Canada, and in New Zea.land, both single individuals and associations, and especiallyt-he ladies' societies, for their fa.ithfulness, thei.r prayers and their gifts. J. GAUSDAL.
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL RBPOKT. BENAGARIA. "I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." John 4; 85. All the workers agree that 1934 has been a very good year with tbe grtlatest oppurtullities to proclaim the "Good Tidings" for the people of Benagaria district. Without any outward hinderances the whole staff (2 pastors, 14 elders, 11 Bihltl women, 23 school teachers, besides those who occasionltlly help) have been permitted to ca.rry on with preaching, Christian instruction and school work. Many Christiar,s listen to the Gospel with new interest. And the willinguess of the non-christia.ns to hear seems to be increasing. ~ome of the workers feel that in many places people have never before been so eager to listen to the word of God as they are now. About Belbuni outstation, Baijal Pastor recently s"id, "It has always been dead and quiet I have never seen anything happen." This year, however, we ha.ve had the joy of seeing the little congregation bein~ increased with nearly 30 new Christia.ns. Many of the new Christians live in a village called Baromashia. where they are the first fruits of the Gospel. In Sulunga village, the Christia.ns have, at their own expense, made a nice little church, which was dedioated at the eljd of the year. It is not intended to have regular Services there, but the Christians felt the need of a house where they coull gather for evening prayers and other devotiodal meetings. I mention this as an encouraging sign of spiritual awa.kening.
14 THE SAN TAL MISSIO~ OF THB NORTHERN CHtTl~CHE8. The women's meetings in Benagaria on Thursda.ys have been very encouraging. Sometimes nearly a hundred gathered. The self support is very slow and hard to develop. But we are glad that it has goue a little step forward. The tot&.l for this year is Rs. 672/- Last year it was Rs. 4:75/-. We have counted the Christians this year also and got the number of 1791. But it ought to be understood that it is very difficult to know the exact number of Christians In a big district wit h thousands of people. The conduct of some baptized families and individuals makes us sometime very much doubtful wheather we dare to count them as Christia.ns or not. The baptisms of the year have been as follows: Villages Balbuni Gamarpabari,lithia Dimbadoha Sapadoha Benagaria Itor Beldanga Children of Christian parents. 2 4 4 3 4 22 4 1 From Heathens. 28 4 3 5 34 Total 44 74
8IX'TY EIGHTH ANNUA.L REPORT. 15 The Staff of Congregational Workers, Benaga'l'ia: Pastor: Baijal Hasda.R, Eldels: Dhunu Kisku & Khade HasdaR. Bible women: Anpi, ~alotni, Mariam and Salgi. Belbuni : Elders: Hadu Soren & Caron M nrmu, Bokor: Elders: Lutu Tudu & Jadu Basda~. Bible women: Mariam and Bumi. Beltlanga: Elder: Sadananda Baskey WliS taken ill and had to leave work and rest for some months. He is better now. When he left, Durga Hembrum from Itor was placed in Beldanga. BU'ruamcua: Elders: Hikim Baskey & Sasn Baskey. Bible women: As we found out that Mariam hardly did a.ny work at all, we have discontinued to pay hel'. Delgo is too old and weak to do any work But f.3lte continues to get a little ilelp from tile Mission. Sapailoha: Pastor: Lodo Soren, Elders: Barsa H[sJak: Bible woman: Malho. ])imbadoha: Elder: Anta. MUfmu. Bible woma.n: Chita. Gamarpahari: This congregation hits been looked after by Pastor.Baijal Hasuali:, who still lives there although he has most of his work ill ilenagaria. Joseph Murmu, a teacher of Benagaria school, is now working as elder of Gamarpahari. Villa.ge Schools: Inspite of many shortcomiogr and poor work in our village schools, we attach a good deal of im.portance to
1-6 THE SANTAL KISS:lDN 0" THB NORTBRBN 4!HUROHES. them, as we see a big diff.erencebetween tbase Sant9ils who had never been in any school and t,hose who have been in village schoo]s. At. pr~sellt we have 10 vhlagebooools with 1] teachers and about 175 children on the roll. Boys' U. p. School, Benagaria. On roll: 180, Average attendallce: 86. exa.mination: 114. Number prssed: 75. The has renewed its grant of Rs. 45/- per month. Girls' U. P. School, Bellagaria. Appeared in Government On roll: 107. Average attendance: 76. Appeared in examination: 75. Number passed: 56. The Government has renewed its grant of Rs. 30/- per month. Induat, ial School, Benagaria. Enrollment in the Weaving srction: 16. Enrollment in the Carpentry sec.: 38. Besides the reguhu stu ients, a number of passed students do piece work hrre from time to time as the need may be. It seems that an increasing number of young men are drawn to the Industrial School from the wlte.l-e dibtrict. From time to time thfly come and ask for admission. On admission day, at the beginning of the year, lebs than ODe third of the applicants could be admitted. Some new designs have been introduoed 10 the Weav ing. We have bad quite a. good sale of table oloths, curtains and others commercial clothes. At the Ilijla Mela exhibition we seoured a number of prizes both in car.peutry ",pd weavins.-'
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. The school has been inspected by L. D. Conesl&nt, Esq, Inspeotor of Technical Schools and S. Lall, Esq.,!. C. S., Direotor of Industries, Bihar & Orissa, who in his report writes, "The school appeared to me to be fulfilling a v-ery useful purpose.. " The Government has renewed its grant of Re. 2,800/- per year fo1' another 3 years. We also ha.ve a. grant of Rs. 8/ per month from the Distriot Committee towards an _V;Qni~1f Bohool for the students of the- Indusbial. snhqq1. anc! othel's who. might like to attend. Press. The Press has done well a.nd had plenty of work dnring the whole year. There is an urgent need of a new Etat. ot types. But the difficulty is to find the five or six hundred rupees needed for that purpose as the regular work hardly gives any profit. The scanty profit b.arely allows us to carry ODe The Manager of the press su bmits the following report:- HQr" Besides the regular fortnightly issues of "Per~ ld Santali and monthly issues of "Bongo Bondhu" and "Mohila Bandhab" in Benga.li, and the special edition of 1700 copies of the Christmas number of 'c Perf}. HQr," the following books have been printed during the year:- Chotrae Desmanihi rear: Katha 94 pp. 500 copies. ~kil HQr 1. (Reprint) 82 pp. 1000 Do. III. " ( u ) 60 pp. 750 ~, MQr~ gel Nawa Serenko 24 pp. 750 " 3
18 THE SANTAL MISSION OF THE NOBtBBBN OHUROHES. Martin Luther real JiQn C"rit 86 pp. 500 copies. Nawa. Ni,m real Puthiko rean 92 pp. 350 " Panji for 1935 16 pp. 1300 KulHi Puthi (In progress) 104 pp. 500 " " The reprinting of the lacking forms of some of the un bound books in stook was also done for the Book Dept. Besides the above a good number of forms, pamphlets etc. for our and other missions and for Dumka Tea District Labour Assooiation and Grant Estate has been done during the year. Book-Sales. The Book Sales may also be mentioned. For some time I had been thinking that it ought to he directed by the LiteratUl e Oommittee of our Mission, who naturally should decide which books ought to be distributed from our Book Sa.Ies. The matter was brought up and decided upon to that effect. by the Executive Committee. The result is that since the 15th July this year, the Literature Committee of which the Press Superintendent is a member, is the directol' of publishing and selling Santali liter~ture. The annual sum 01 R6. 500/- from the Mission to be used by the Literature Committee, has been utilized for new books in Santali. An Extract of the Accounts will be found in the Accounts Appendices under the heading " Book- Sales." Zemindary. The collection of rents and other works in connection with the Zemindary has proce~ded very well. The state-
ment of income and expenditure will be found in the Accounts Appendices under the heading "Indian Home Mission Zemindary.Estate." * * * * * In closing we send oar greetings and cordia.l thanks to those who have been with us in prayer and supplications with thanksgiving. We trust that you will continue with us in the new year. 19 K. TBOMBORG. BENAGARIA DIVINITY SCHOOL. During the past year we have had the same number of students as in the previous year, namely 15. The number of teachers remained the same. We have studied I Corinthians, I Timothy, and a selection of Psalms. In Church History we have studied the recent years in India and the first 800 years of European Church History. Instruction has also been given in Dogmatics, Homiletics, Singing and Liturgics. Book-keeping has also been taught. Pastor Ruben Murmu has lectured on Dogmatic:;, and on the Old Testament, as well as helped with. singing lessons. Pastor Mongol Hembrom has lectured on Church History, add during one term has given instruction in English.
20 THE SANTAL MISSION OF' TH! NORl'HERN CHURCH~B. TWice a month, in three groups, we have prea.ched 10 the '11illages in Nankar. We have had weekly discussion and weekly prayer meetings besides our daily devotional meetings. Our monthly meetings have been continued. Every ard Sunday in the month the 'teachers and I have taken our turns at con. ducting the services in the Benagaria Church. During the first term we had weekly preaching tours to the surrounding villages. Both these tours and the Sunda.y services have been a great encouragement to us all. During the hot season holiaays the students and teachers visited the different congregations, spoke there and gathered money for the National Missionary Society. During the year we ha.ve had the great pleasure of tbe visit of Rev. J. Gsusdal, and of Rev. Walter Miller Rev. Gausdal gav~ us two very interesting lectures on the Church Council of Nices, and Rev. M.illar, from the Church of.scotland Mission,.gave ns two very instructive lectures OD,how toprepl;lre sermons. The annual exllmination was In October and November, and Rev. Gansdal and Rev. Tromborg were censors. The resurts were very satisfactory as the students received from 67 to 86 % of total marks. Being their last year, this was :their :finaj exanlination, and the following 15 candidates received 'diploma's : Dlivid.Baska Bhikulal.HasdaK: Jagdish Kisku Bhima Marndi Paul Murmu Barnaba SoreD,
Benjamin Hembrom Munshi Hembrom Suphol Hembrom,8lX.T!' ]UGB'l'H ANNUAL Chondo Marndi Sibram M'arndi Bhogon Murrnu R.EPORT. Choron Soren Huben Soren Kanhu Tudu. 21 Benjamin Hembrom and Choron Soren are from the Church of Scotland Mission and they return to work in Pokhuria and Pacham bat In the Executive Comimttee, which met at Dumka. Nov. 13th., the remaining ones were placed as follows: Kanhu Tudu in Assam Colony, Paul Murmu in Joema District, (he is to be ord:lined in the near future), Barnaba. Soren in MaIda, Munshi Hembrom and David Baske in Benagaria., Bhikulal HasdaR: in 'Basetkundi, Chondo Marndi and Sibram Marndi in Chondorpura, Bhima Marndi in Saldoha, Ruben Soren in Karikador, Suphol Hembrom in Dhorompur, Jagadish Kis'ku in Maharo, and Bhogon Murmn in Kaerabani. At the same meeting it was decided that Pastor Ruben Murmu was to work in Maharo, and Pastor Mongol Hembrom in Benagaria District. The Divinity School is discontinued for the time being, but we hope that it will not be long before it is reopened. It is with thanldullness to God for His a.bounding grace toward us during the past year that I finish my report. It ha-s 'been a good opportunity and very interesting to work with these young Santals, and I wish at this time to thank the teachers and.students,for hearty co,operation. My work with them has been a source of true joy and it is my
22 THE SANTAL '~lbsion or rat NORTHIBN CBURCiiIcS. sincere wish and my prayer to God that He will bless each one in his field of labour. ARNB TRU. BENAGARIA CHRISTIAN HOSPITAL. Dr. Ostergaard went home o~ furlough in January and Dr. Banerjee has been oarrying on the work in the hospital much as usual. In February Miss Krohn joined us; she has taken over the supervi sion of the operating room and the out-door department. Two of our young compounders died in the beginning of the year; the one quite suddenly from a cholera-like attack; the other after 2 weeks' illness, from Tuberculosis. He died in the hospital and many of us were deeply touched by seeing him so fnu of joy and peace and trust in God. One compounder lefli us to go to high school, and one beoa.use the work was too hard for him. We were very fortunate in getting two experienoed compounders from Mohnlpahari, when Mrs. Bodding left. Two new ones were added to the stoff later on. Our oldest compounder, Bbuju has been helping Dr. Banerjee by seeing some of the out-door patients. We have been trying to holdolasses with the compounders aud Durses as usual. One of our nurses had to be dismissed
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 28 from the work because of sin, but she confessed and was really repentant. She is married now and is leading a good Christian life in the village. In her place an old experienced nurse from Mohulpahari joined us. All the other workers are the sa.me as last year, including the Santali and the Bengali preachers. It has been a joy to work with them all and to see how everyone of them is trying to do his or her best. Their work and spirit is good and it has been encouraging to notice how the compounders and the nurses are trying to witness for Christ to the non-christian patients. The bibleclasses with the women have been a help and encourogment to us. We have noticed a real change in two or thrfle of them, they have haa a deeper experience of God, abd the fejiowship we have had with them has been a great joy. We feel that the Holy Spirit is working in us. We are very thankful to Rev. Thn and Rev. Tromborg for taking the bibleclasses with the compounders W e have repaired an old veranda so that it will now be useful for patients with Tuberculosis. In Dr. Ostergaard's absence some of the major surgery has had to be given up. We have had a larger Dumber of confinement cases than ever before, but as a whole, as the statistics will show, the number of patients, both indoor and out door, has decreased this year. Considerable medicine has been distributed at Basetkundi less at Narainpur and Chondorpura.
M TaE SANTAL M.ISSION 00 THE NORTHERN CHUROH'ES. M edieai Statistios. In-patients Out patients 721 19,674 Operations ~ Minor Major 671 324 Total 995 Confinements: Normal Instru mentation 25 12 37 Mti 1e,.patients Female patients 61.8% 38.2% Classed according to reljgion: Hindus 39,2% Muhamedans 19.6% Christians 21.4% Santals ( non.christians) 19.8% Laboratory Statistics. Intravenous injections La.boratory investigations Kahn tests 233 1134 130
IXTY ~IGJlTH ANNUAL lleporl'. 25 Major OperatioDtJ. Eye Operations: Cataract Others 142 14 Bone Operations: Sequestrotomy A mputlltions 4. 2 Abdominal Sections: Liver A bcess 2 Appendioal Aboess 3 Appendectomy 9 Ovariotomy 1 Caesaria.n Section 2 Giliam's suspension 2 Exploratory Laporotomy 3 M. iscellaneous : Hemioplasty 11 Hydrocele 62 Orchidectomy 7 Suprapubic Lithotomy 8 Nephropexy 1 Others 3 Tumours & Cysts: 22 Gyn. & Obstetrioal 31 Total 324
26; THE SANTAit HISBI()N- OF' TlfB' NORTBBBN CHUROHBS. Surgioal deaths" Medioal " 34 In closing this report we wish to thank all our friends both out here and in the home couiltr~ies for your prayers for us and fof your trust in us. Above all, we thank our Hearvenly ~3ther our prayers and blessed our wqrk., who has heard G. HOLTEN. Congregational Work: BASETKUNDI DISTRICT. The staff' of wi>rkers is the same as last year. The congregational work is carried on as usual. Especially the two pastors, Sonatan and Emanuel are doing a very faithful work. In Sulta.~ba.d also there seems to be an awakening among the heathens. There are a number of heathens receiving instruction for ba.ptism at many: of our stations. The evangalistic work is progressing and the outlook is very hopeful. School-Work: Especially here in Sultana bad there is a great demand for really trained and able teachers, as most of the teachers
SIXT"Y EIGHTH ANNUAL RBPORT. 27 now occupied in the school-work, :have no idea of instructing the children, therefore the schoolwork seems to be very much behind. We do hope it will be possible to. get trained and able teachers for all our sehools in Sultanabad. Since Rev. & Mrs. Bjerkestrand left Basetkundi in April, we have been Bupervising the work, and we have been glad to 'do it. The Bjerkestrands have done a faithful and good work in Sultanabad, and we understand that they are loved by the people there. The people are longing and hoping that it may be possible for them to retarn to Basetkundi. The baptisms of the year are as follows: Children of Christian Parents: 31 Heathens DO Total: 81 The total number of Christians 'from the whole district: 1.. 426 Average Church attendance:.00 Average Communicants 221 We want to thank all who have remembered this work before the throne of God. May the Lord bless you all. W llllah GLAD.
28 THE 8A.NTAL :M:[SS[Otf OF THE NORTHicRN CHURCHES. CHONDORPURA DISTRICT. "And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Joh. I. 14. In the closing remarks of last year's report, we expressed our belief that Jesus Christ would lead us on to greater victories. Now the year of 1934 has passed, and our hope has not been put to shame. The Lord has given us exceeding abundantly above all that we asked or thought. Indeed we have seen "His Glory" manifested in our midst as never before, and that is "Grace for Grace. " CODlngatioaa! Work: As far as the sta:ii is concerned we have in the work 2 pastors and 10 elders. In the month of September we had a. Bible course for the elders here in Chondorpura, and it was a great help and blessing to all of us. The Lord drew nigh unto us, and it seems that God put the salvation of Bouls as a burden npon onr hearts. It is really a great joy and inspiration to Bee that there is a real change in the life of some of the elders. The Ba ptisms of the year are as follows: Village Oltildren of Ohriatian From Heathen Parents: Chondorpura Gadiapani Ranga Tarni 24 3 1 12 50 24 14 23 Total 40 Total 111
The total number of Christians from the whole district is: 1235. Average Church Attendance: 485 Average Communicants: 266 Confirmed 49 29 Village Schools: Chondorpura Dungal Gadiapani Ranga Chirapathor Tarni Bhalukcua Average attendance: 56 20 22 6 18 40 25 Total: 187 The work in the village s()hools IS going fine. We have started two new sahools, and the teachers there have been working the whole year without wa.ges, and that is indeed praise-worthy. We have built a school-house here in Chondorpura, and the work is progressing. From the new year four teachers will ha.ve their work here in Chondorpnra compound school. This yeir also, the schools ha.ve proved to be a. real blessing to the people, in fact many people ha.ve been brought into oontact with Jesus Christ through our sohool children,
30 THE SANTAL MISSION 0.8' THE NORTHERN CHUROHES. and in that way toe school work has been an important fllctor in the evangelistic work in the district. There is still a -great dema.nd for schools and trained teaohers. The Evangelistic, oongregational, as well as the school work is progressing. There seems to be 'an awakening, espeoially among '~he heathens. Wherever we go the people are ga.thering, and they listen intently to the everlasting and life giving Word of the Cross. We do believe, that the Lord, in 'His mercy, will pour out of His Spirit rupon the people, tliat it may be a spiritual a wakening in the.deepest sense of the word. We have been very fortunate to get two new elders from the Bible sohool in Benagaria and two new 'teachers from the teachers training sohool in Kaerabani, to help us in our work. We pray that the Lord may bless them and use them to the glory of God and salvation of souls. 1n olosing we want to express our SlDeere ;and iheart felt thanks to all who have been with us in prayer, and Rssisted us in many ways. May we all be faithful in Bis servioe during the new year. The work is great and the labourers lire few, bnt the Lord Jesus is with' us, and under His leadership the work shall progress. Let us all pray that the light of the CrOSE may shine into every corner of this vast oountry of the East, until all the people "may see "His Salvation." W IL'LIAH. GLAD. : r
~'f!' IIlBEl,! Ad.,U'" B 3t SALDOHA LEPER, GOLQNY,MIlD. SA~DOHA_ DISTRIO'r. The yea, bf:!gau; rather violently. as. th~ earthq~ke. which o~cur.. ed in N.ol'th, Bihat" o.n' tha, 15th. Janu.ary was felt very strongly at Sa.ldoha" ~p'~rently. due to special conditions of. the soil. It caused consid~ra.ble damage to the buildings of the colony, especially the missiona.ry bungalow, the staff'. church, the. he~d compounder's a.nd pastor's, houses and a cow shed were severely, cracked. Only o-ne of the p~tient wards suffered, and none of the inha.bitants were hurt. Through the help from Government's special ~arth.quake funds reparation work is making good progress, and we hope to have it completed within a few months. The colony has been full to capacity throughout the year with an average Dumber of 300 leper inmates, besides in a seperate home 23 untaillted children of Ipper parents who lue resident:l in the colony. Dr. Gupta and the compounders have carried out the medicd.l work in the usual efficient way.. Many patients have been relieved in their sufferings, quite a. number have been discharged with their disease arrested, at lea.st temporarily, and new patients have taken their place. Experience shows, that ma.ny relapses occur amongst the discharged cases, but they are always encouraged to return for further treatment, if needed, or to attend one of the 3-4 out-door treatment centres in the district. Some experimental work has been- oarried out with injections into the skin of aniline-colours, but with no real succ S$. Besides the intradermal injeotions of oil, which seem to heal up many ea.rly cases of leprosy, no r~al aclyancf} has been rpade in th~!
82 THE SANTAL MISSION 01' THE NORTHERN CHUROHES. methods of treatment. Except for our bi-annual epidemic of ma.laria. we have been saved for other serious epidemic diseases, which appeared regularly in earlier years. Our out door clinic at Baromasia has also had a good attendance, though slightly smaller than the" first two years after its opening. As there are still Dew patients coming for treatment we hope that through some propaganda work in the district a more regular attendance shall be brought about. Ignorance of the nature of the disease is the main factor responsible for the speed of this disease and the slow progress in its treatment. Our village-schools have. also worked satisfactorily and with a. total attendance of 275.pupils in the 7 schools. OurU. P. boarding school with its extensive garden work attached to it has also made some progress, though it is still on the experimental stage. In the spiritual work we have felt God's blessing as weji in the colony as jn the district. From the beginning of the year we had to lend our only Bible school trained elder to another district without having any other to take his place. But the loss was to some extent made up for by some of the colony staff, amongst whom a. mission spirit was a wakened through 1ast year's revival, "and who are now giving part of their spare time to evagelizing work in the district. Six Heathens were baptised in the colony and eleven in the district. V BAaGE~.
SIXTY R10HTH ANMttAL dport. MOHULPAHARI WITH TILABANI AND KARIKADOR. As already mentioned in the intr()duetion to this Report Revprend and Dr. Mrs. Bodding left Moh1llpahari on the 18th of April 1984. The departure of the medical missionary from this place naturally brought abdut the greatest change in the life of the mission station. She ~ been the fiiith.. ful and sympathetic friend and helper of every suffering person entering the compound, and without her this work was bound to shrink in every respect. The Annual Conference agreed in forming Mohulpahari, Tilabani and Karikador into one missionary district, and regular munthly meetingi! for the workers of this area was therefore started in the hot seasod. The congregational work as a whole is in Ii period of stangnation in the southern part of the area, whete our work is dating baok to the beginning of this mission. Thus we cannot rppgrt of a single heathen ha\ring been brought so close to the Saviour as to accept baptism in the Tilabani - Lota.bani Karikador area for the whole year. The workers a.nd the few old Christians have {elt it as a hard time, a time of trial a,nd disappointment, and their new leader, pastor Karan Soren, probably more than the rest. But I am glad to report that a.t the close of the yea.r two families of fallen Christians have expresse1 their dcs~re to return to the fold a.nd are receiving instruction, and one heathen f3mily of the Hinduised " Sadhu" type is also under instruction. We hope that these are the first signs of a nelw advance, and we ask friends to remember especially thi$ area in ~eir pu.yara. ~
84 ~RB SANTAL MISSION OJ' TH! NORTBERN CBUBOHRS. Ka.lu pa stor bas continued the work around Mohulpabari, and he has ha.d the sa.me congregational workers to assist him as last year. It has been a quiet time of work with nothing very outstanding to report. They have seen Borne fruit of their labour. The position of the whole field becomes fairly clear from the figures printed below: Average Baptised in 1984 Total chnrch Children From Christians attendance of the Christians heathen. M ohulpahari 274 92 14 20 Tilabani 79 47 4 0 Lotah.ni 11 ]0 0 0 Karikador 68 2; 4 0 But this arfla from the Rrahmini river in the north to the boundary of Santal Parganas in the south has about 250 villages with a toth1 population of pr.:>bably about 50 thousand of which the tribal elemant amounts to about 56,%, the Hindus to 85.4%, the Mohammedans to 7.6% and the Christians to less than 1 %. Truly the "nelds are white already to harvest." Here are schools of the ordinrry village school type at the following places: Mohulpahari, Ambajora. Sampur, Tilabani, Sarsa, Hirapllrand Karikador, and though they do not deserve praise, as my knowledge goes, it would he unfair to regard them as of no importance. Bot neej of impfovement is evident everywhere.
\ '. ~: SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT, U dai and Birsin have faithfully continued the dispensary work. Up to the day of departure of Dr. Mrs. Bodding the regist.er at the Dispensa.ry shows 2,907 entries of new patients for this year, and at the close of the year 6,281. Thus they have on the average had about ] 6 new patients a day to attend to, and bpsides these all those who require more help than what can be given at one time and are therefore counted 'c old" patients, and I believe they have been doing their work faithfully and in a good spirit. J. GAUSPAL. DUM K A DISTRICT. As in previous years services have been held at the 3 places Dumka, Dum and Rang". Sometimes the 3 congregations come together for service or congregational meetings here in Dumk". They have one congregational council for all 3 congregations. Andreas is pastor for them all but his special sphere of work is the immediate neighbourhood of Dumka He is Rssisted by one Elder. Simon is leader ld Dum and Nonda in Ranga. and besides them there is ld each of the 2 places one Elder 8S helper in the work. If we look for visi ble results of the work the outlook is brighter in Dum and Dumka than in Ranga. :More people have been baptized than the previous year, but none in Ranga. The heathen Santals in the vicinity of Dumka and to the East seem to listen more eagerly now than only,two years ago when the,gospel is preached in the village streets.
S6 TRB SAHTAL.18810B Oli' THE NO~T.H&RN CHURe SES. In the little church in Range. I have had the joy of c,pqfirming boys ~nd girls who had been well taught by N o~da.. I felt that Sqnday that also in Ranga tb~ wor k has npt been iu vaijl A somewhat disquieting f~ature is to be noticed in onr viu~g~ school w()rk especially in Kusnm. The number of Hindu a,d Muha.mmedan chi Idren is ijlcreasing the Santal childreq are now in the minority. The 2 teachers there are young Santals without teachers' training but one of them is a v-el'y able teacher. Hindi is taught but also San tali, and instruction in biblicdl history is given, besides that Christian hymns are taught. One \JOuld e~pect some objection from the non Santa1 children's p..1p"~nt8 W this arrangement. Santali is of no use to them &Jl4 they migbtdislike the religions instruction-bu~ they do not. They have come to appreci~te education. The Santals have here got an opportunity to have their children ~ducated i. tbeir own language besides the advaqtage of instruction iu Hindi which is of much value under the existing cirums ~~ce$-but tbe number of Sautal children in this school is decreasing. I do Dot ~hiuk this to he the fault of the :l. Santal teachers. DUliKA BENGALI WORK. D~iel Ojha has be~d carryio.g on bis work 8S usua.lly, doini,vadgeli~iowork,aqlong Don Sautals iu Dumka ~Dd
IUl:l'Y RIGHi'S ANNUAt, REPORT. 37 the vieinity, conducting Bengali service on Sundays and attending to the High Sohool Boys' Cluh in the evenings. Besides that he has continued his special work of visiting our 3 village sohools and giving instruction in biblioal history for the benefit of those pupils whose language is Hindi or Bengali. Koroya: KOROY A AND MAJDIHA. At the close of this year we are very thankful to God for what we have been permitted to see of His work in the hearts of men around us. The workers have been the same (l8 pl'evious years, namely, the pastor Khudia, the elders Cunu and Hikim and the Biblewomen Martha and Kolean. I think I am right in saying, that we have never been working with greater joy than in this year, not beoause our work succeeded, but because God gave in oharge. to us this one a.nd that one, who needed help to understand what it really means to be a Christian. And it was a. joy to see, how some of the members of the congregation helped in the work, becau3e they felt a responsibility for their own relatives and friends and wtinted to draw them to God. They were perhaps mostly those, who have recently been baptized. I am sorry to 13ay, that some of the old Christians are not so eager to get their relatives along. But a few a.lso among them have been very eager lately. During the year 57 from the heathens have been baptized, and some of their relatives a.re coming to church S lying, that th&y want to be Gbristip,n8~ One young man joined our ohurch; he was ba.ptized hi the Catholics 2-8 years ago.
OJ 1 38 THIl: SANTAL JrliSSION oj!' 'l'he NORTHERN CHURCHES. In the Orphanage we have the same ct mothers" and a nurse, Manjhan, wilo looks after the smaller children and the dispensary. Among the children N aso was married, Hupi sent back to her brother, Tbakran finished her teachers' trs.ining and will be a teacher, but does of course still belong to the Orphanage. Her brother Pitho is a lost son, staying with BOIDe relatives. We have got 8 new children, one came as nurse for her little brother; the two are only here temporarily. We have 85 in the Orphanage now. Majdiha.: At Majdiha the same workers as last year have done good work, namely Mansing, Dasmath and Alma. They have had both joy and disappointment in the work. Two of the Christians seem to go back to heathenism, one with his whole family, the other one alone, we hope. On the other hand we had the joy of baptizing two village teachers, one with his family, the other one alone, so far. In finishing this I want to thank our friends In the homelands most heartily, for their pr!lyers and supplications for us as well as for the many sides of the work. It strengthened us to get many killd letters, wbich told about their interest in the work. DiNA NIELSEN. Koroya School. Looking back over tile year 1934, in Koroya school, the words from Psalms 126 come to me: "The Lord hath done great thiflg for us, whereof we are glad." God has surely blessed the work and the teachers, and this year also the Spirit of God has been working amongst the boys in
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNU A.t RIPOnT. 89 the two Upper classes. Of these, four were Christians, and they have be'en the leaders of the whole school, ~nd have been very keen in bringing their classmates to Jesus Christ. They have had the joy, that God has. heen with them in their db.ily Hfe and work. 6 boys asked for baptism, and 5 were allowed by their relatives to become Christians, but one boy, who was not allowed, was old e;.ough to decide for himself and so he did, though his father threatend him and said, that he would Dot have him in the home after the baptism. After all he took him in and gave him food. Some of the boys have suffered much hecause of their Christian faith, but by this at least, one has beeu able to draw his own pf'opje to Christ. We have very often been encouraged in the work by seeing the boys' esgerness. Three of the smaller boys were baptised together with their parents. Total ejll'ollment wnt: 83 and avpj'p.ge atttndance 64. For the annual examination 7'2 appeared and 4~ passed. 5 boys will in the new year go to 1\ aerabaui scho.ol and 7 girls to Maharo school. In order to keep in touch with the hoys, who have left the school, the teacher, Bhonde, has had meetings for them and football matches, and some of them have got help through these gatherings. Beside this the teachers from Dllmka, Maharo and Koroya districts have had monthly meetings. Bhonde is the leader and has been used by God to lead his fellow workers into a more successfull work in the school and iu. their work for the Kingdom QI Chris~,
40 THE SANTAt ll18bion OF TIIK NORTH.RN CHURCHES. Maj diha. School. Since thd middle of the year we have been able to have two teachers at the schoo], and this has been an improvement. The new teachers, Dulu, is the only Christian in his family, and he has his home near the mission comp()und. Average atte!ldance was 30. Three of the pupils went in for Lower Primary examination and passed. Silingi School. The schoolhouse has been fiuished by the village people, Bnd the work has been continued by the teacher, Barsa. 6 of the bigger boys came ~o the Rnnual examina.tion at Majdiha, and one passed in the first Lower Primary ruasl!. Our hearts are full of thanks to God for what He has done amongst us. He has brought. His light to shine into the hearts of many of the pupils, and they are agdin giving out to their own folks and their neig hbours. We know that all what has happened is answer to our friends prayers and we thank you all for this and ask you to join us in praising God for His mighty work in the schools this year. ERIKA LOWE. MAHARO GIRLS' MIDDLE VERNACULAR AND TRAINING SCHOOL.,~ Now unto Him that is able to do ex('eeding a.hundantly above all we ask or think... unto Him be glory." We do feel that we have very much to thank our Heavenly Father for. The year just.,nd~d Jta.s in so man~r
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 41 ways been a good year. We have felt the Lord working amongst us both in the school and in the congregation. We believed that also this year some have given themselves to the Lord to be His and to serve Him. There were in the beginning of the year 212 and in the end of the year 189 girls on the roll. In the Training Class we had 14 girls who all appeared for their final examination in November and December. The result is not known yet,. but we hope that all will pass. 12 girls passed out of 14 in the middle school examination. One of the Santa.} girls passed with distinction and honour and also recei ved a scholarship. The teachers have worked faithfully throughout the year and the result in the school examination was better than it has been for many years. We ha.ve had more illness In the school than we usually have. There were 8 cases of typhoid in the Bchool and the compound. One girl from 7th class, Ripora BasdaY., died. Sipora was a fine Christian girl, whose influence for good among the others was very marked. We miss her, but we know that for her it is far better to be with the Lord. We have continued our Bible readings for the girls every Bunday morning and the teachers have met twice a. month for Bible study and prayer meeting. We have also had other meetings for the girls and teachers where we have felt the Lord's presence amongst us, The Training Class girls have had charge of our Sunday Sohool for village children.
(.2 THE 8ANT4L MISSION OJ' THB NORTHERN CHUROHES. Also in- the oongregation we have had a good year. More people than ever before have been baptized from amongst tlle heathen. The church collections have also been larger than ever before. We had a convention for the Ohrist.ians from our own district in the end of September. It was a mnst blessed time. The Lord was amongst us in a wonderful way. Miss Aasland has also been with us and beside studying the language she has been a good help in the school. We close the year with thankful hearts to God and our friends in tbe homelands who have been supporting us with their prayers and money. N. DI1~SEN. LAURA. LOHNE. DBOROMPUR DISTRICT.As Mr. Johansen bas been transferred to Joema it is now felt even mo~e strongly than when he wrote the report for last year, that a missionary is very much needed there. It is in more than one way a hard working field. The Santals there are of a peouliar sort. On~ Sunday when my wife and I were there a Santal tried to explain that as long as Santali is ta.ught in the mission schools it is of DO use to send their children to school, because they have a sufficient knowledge of their own language, it is waste of time to learn to. read and write it; Hindi or Beogali IS what should be taught exclusively! The school work seems to be in hopeless stagnation. The mission work and the work in the congregation has been carried on as usually_ Pastor JOhOD if:; a good
and faithful young worker, but he has been hindered to some extent by severe malaria. In Bagjobda Ramu has had a. difficult time His wife died, and he has been feeling very lonely under very discouraging circumstances. We are now considering whether it would not be advisable to let Bagjobda be joined to Tilabani as in the old times. We certainly could not give up the work there even if it has until now been very disappointing. 43 KAERABANI DISTRICT. The depression is still with us. During this year also we have had to scrimp and spare in every possible way in order to make ends meet. But on the whole this has been easier than last year. Perhaps the reason is that we are getting used to the depression and have accepted it as the normal condition. But even so it has been far from easy to meet expenses month by month. One thing I feel certain about, and that is, that we have been taught a lesson in economy which none of us will ever forget. The spiritual work in this district has heen c~rriej on very much like last year. But more stress has been laid on the necessity of getting the local Christia.ns to ta.ke a more active part in the spreading of the Gospel among their non Christian neighbours. Some of our workers have tai'bd with them on their preaching tours one or more as helpers. They try to take them out by turns to preach in
M orne 8ANTAL M[SSlO~ OF TlI~ NOR'raI:RN CHURCHES. the villages and this has worked very well in some places. So much depends on the lea.der. Other workers have put their Christians to work instructing such people who wished to become Christians. All have been urged to take a more active part in the evangelistic work of the M.ission. N a changes in the working staff has been made except that our elder here at Kaerabani, Naran Soren, was ordained by the Secretary on Oct. 2~. He lives at Kaerabani. With Lopsa. Pastor at Babhondia and Naran here, this field should be pretty well supplied. 84 sonls from the heathen have been haptized during the year. This is only half as many as the Lord gave us last year. 52 children of Christia.ns have been ba.ptized. This is then my last report to the Santal Mission. In a few weeks we retire and return to the United States after 80 years of service. In looking back on these years we feel that our first thanks are due to our Heavenly Father for His wonderful guidance and loving care for us. We also wish to thank our fellow-workers for their splendid co-operatiod and fellow ship in this work. And last but not least, we want to express our hearty thanks to our many friends in the homelands for all that they have dade for us and especialjy for their prayers for ns and God's work out here. God bless and keep you a.ll till the day is done. M. A. PEDERsoN.
SIt:TY EIGBIfH ANNUAL REPORT. 45 KAERABANI MIDDLE ENGLISH AND ELEMENTARY TRAINING SCHOOL. We were sent to Kaerabani in February, to take up the work here, while the Hellands are on furlough. It is after an interval of 7 years that we are back here again, and it is interesting and encouraging to note the advances and improvements in every department. However each new generation of pupils brings its problems j for while we may improve materia.l thin :58, surroundings, equi pment, systems, and methods, human nature is still the same, and each new child coming into the world has the same problems, th~ same temptatiods, a.nd the same battles to fight. But improved methods, systems and surroundings have their use and rightful place, for they make for an easier ha.ndling and solving of the problems. So each new adva.nce, each Dew step, helps to bring us nearer our desired goal. The enrollment this year ha.s been large. There ha VB been arround 315 boys throug11out the year. 270 of these were in boarding. There has been a great deal of sickness. Measles, mumps, dyeentery, and fevers we ha.ve had. Cholera has been epidemic all arround us, but we have been providentially spared, although many died in the nearest villages. In January the teacher Mohon Soren's wife died. He was left with two small children. Then in the latter part of July Mohon died. He was our best educated Santal teacher, a very aapable man, and & very helpful and good
neighbour. We miss him very much. Another teacher, Biram Hasdag, lost his wife also in July. He was then left with three small children to care for. All this has been very disturbing, and we were none to optimistic when we sent our boys up for the Government M. S. C. examination. However we were gratified to learn that 24 had passed. Twelve boys have gone out as teachers, having passed the course prescribed for them. We hope they may become teachers in the real sense of the word. Two of those boys were from the Methodist Santal Mission, and one from the Scottish Santa.l Mission. 8everal boys who came here as non-christians ha.ve been baptized. They ha~e in turn been trying to persuade their folks to enter this new way of life, Some have suffered persecution, but we hope and pray that they may remain steadfast. God has helped us and blessed the labour of our hands, and it is with hope and courage we look toward the future. May God in His mercy grant that we all here may truly serve Bim lidd our fellowmen. May the great light and love that was revealed when Christ our Saviour came to our sinful earth ever be in us. May it alwa.ys be said of us: "The Kingdom of Heil ven is in the midst of you." His name alone be glorified, for from Him all blessings flow, We express our gratitude and thanks to all who labour in prayer and good works for the cause represented here i and 'Our tha.nks for all contributions from the homelands, tt.nd for the grants from Government.
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 47 N,ARAINPUR AND MALVA BENGALI WORK. With 1934 ended the tenth year since the Bengali work was commenced in our mission with th~ laying of. the foundation stone of Narainpur Mission Station. It has been a period not without opposition and disa ppointment on the part of men and at the Bame time of much blessing and daily experience of grace 8 nd faithfulness on the part of God. The results or frnits of the work during these years are neither great nor brilliant. It hrs often heen a trial for our patier.ce that the growth was not more ra pid, not least,that the prospect and hope of getting more missionaries for this work have continually failed. so we have still only this ODe station for Bengali work here at Nflrainpur in Birbhum District. If we had also at least on e in San tal Parganas, one in MaIda and one in Goalpara District in Assam. we might say that the most indispensable need for beginning the work had been met. Still as the Swedish Mission in Coach Behar, where the work is also among Bellgalet"s, has now been united with our mission, we are no longer quite alo[ e. But Cooch Behar is on the east border of Bengal towards Assam just as we are on the west border towards Bihar, so the distance between us is great, and within the original area of our mission the union does not mean any extension of the work. However we are gr~teful that the work has been permitted to continue at all, when we see how several other i missions are compelled to give up station after station and. even di~trict after distriqt. And even m~>re grateful we ar~
48 THE SANTAL MIsSION OF THE NORTBIRN CHUROHIS. when Vie look at these meagre visible results of the work and fiod that after all they give clear evidence that work among Bengalees is by no means hopeless, but on the contrary the possibilities of evangelistic work among Begalees are Com. paratively llot less than among the Santa]s-if only we had the workers. Especially tile last few years seem to indicate this In 1934 some fotty vld Bengalees joined our congrega. tions through baptism. That means abuut five per mission worker amongst them. UsuallJ in the Sautali work of our mission the average is somewhat less than 2 baptisms (from among the non-christians) per mission worker. The sadness of it is, however, that we ha ve abc u t fifty ti mes less of workers among Bengalees of our areas thao those among Santals, although the Bengalees are many times the more numerous. And it seems we can hardly hope for a.ny consider able change of this proportion till tbe number of our Bengali missionaries is increased. The work during 1934 has bet:u continued prl1ctic~liy without aoy change since the previous year, the workers shying on where they were. In Maida one of the young men, who are beiug trained for evangelistic work, Buel B. B. IJas, has moved to Deotola and acted phrtjy as tehcher, partly as assistallt evangelist. On the other hand Daru for fa.mily reasons had to be out of work for ooe half of the year. In spite of this it is in MaIda district that the majority of the new baptisllis have occurred. There has been something saddening and something encouraging at all tile places of work, for instance, at Beuagaria, where the congres-stio:q has been the [lleans of what we
8IX'IY EIGHTH A)JNU AL aeport. 49 regard as the ~o~t difficult 'l\s~ of a.ll l.-t\ling a Muslim family to accept Christianity and as we hope-christ. And if we have to gather in a sum the results of this year and all the ten years, it is this: God be praised and thanked that He found a way to further His Kingdom and give His blessing on the work in spite of al1 our shortcomings! As instances of practical activities we ma,y meptifllj the treatment of some 1200 patienta, in~lt~ding apqqt f?:i tootll extractions and a similptr number of ears ci~nett; also the girls school at Naraippur working 8S before. At the woman'~ meetings it was part of the activitie~ to sew and 9~A~rwjs~ prepare various articles for a small "mela" or sale at the b~ginnidg of 1935. The desire of a couple of Hindus to become ChristianJi caused their relations to bring a law suit a.gainst DS, which took much tirpe and expedse, but also caused our work Bnd the Clll-istian religion to be much discussed througboq.t the whole ()f Dumka Subdivision and a tract we pjlblished in that connection to be v~ry intensely studied, so w~ hope that some good ca.me out of this evil too. H. P. H. K... rp. 7
50 THE BANTAL 1I1SSION 01' THlr NORTB'ERN OBURCHBI, DINAJPUR-MALDA-RAJSHAHI. From the survey of these regions given in our annual ~port for last yea.r it will be understood that each of our 5 pastorates over there is in fact a mission district more than a pastorate. Soattered over a wide area are small groups of Christi~ns gathering for Sunday service in out. station churches. The Christians as well as the whole Sa.ntal population over there might well be called "sojourners of the Dispersion." The 5 pastors will have to be very much on the move between all the small congregations. In some of the more lonely and far away places Holy Communion is perhaps only celebrated once or twice during the year. A nd the congregations need much instruction and guidance. Among S&.ntals t.here will always be a lot of '( cases" that have to be settled, not only disputes but also several questions concerning the daily life of the community with relation also to the necessary intercourse between Christian and heathen Santals. Local leaders are rpquired. The pastor is an outsider who comes now and then on a short visit. When he is most needed he might be far away. The leaders of the congregations are the Elders. And besides taking the lead at all the communal and social occasions, visiting sick people and giving advice and instruction to the Christians in the neighbourhood, the Elder will also have to preach on Sundays in the church and to instruct heathens who want to become Christians. For the last purpose he will often have to wander about a~ and wide. It is no wonder that a strong feeling has been developed that conventions are absolutely necessary, conventions for the
SIxTY EiGIlTH ANNUAL REPORT. 51 pastorate as well as larger conventions for the whole field. But such gatherings cost a lot of money which could not be got from the mission in these "cutting down" times. The Christians have been exerting themselves admirably in this direction. The times are hard and especially in those parts. The harvest has been very poor this year and agricultural products are i~ a very low price. Looking forward many questions arise. One of them IS this: Are the local Elders really able to give instruc tion for baptism and are they in possession of sufficient knowledge and mental equipment as preachers, Our mission has sometimes been called a laymen's mission, and we hope that it might be true also in the future. But more knowledge is certainly to be desired in the case of many of our Elders. Taken as a whole they are doing a good and faithful work, and many of them are striving to gather such knowledge as they need in their work, learning themselves while they are teaching others. As yet we have not been successful in getting men with Divinity School training into the work in those parts. There is at present only one man working as Elder who has got that education. A special new difficulty has turned up this year. Champai pastor has been dismissed. It was necessary. We hope earnestly that it might later on be possible to employ him again in the work. Simeon pastor has had to take oharge of his district in addition to his own large district.
62 'l'hb SAN1'AL ltt8sion OF TaB NORTHBRN ciiurciljllb. Mongol paster in the Northern part of Dinajpur and Kunja! paster in the Eastern part of Dinajpur have earried on the work as usual. Jalpa pastor has been the leader of the whole work over there, and his long experience and great ability has helped him. But he is overburdened with work, as the M. E. hoarding school in his own station, N arayanpur, needs his snpervision. We are thankful for all the work he has done and is still doing, but now we must attend to his suggestion that a young man be ordained and placed as his assistant. Of course the present financial stress is felt very hard over in these regions. But it might also be caned a bless. ing in dmguise as it is urging tthe Christian Santals on to treater efforts. We are yery thankful to Rev. R. W. Edmeades of the Baptist Mission Society in ~inajpur fol" his kind assistance in many ways to the wo.,ar!"odg the Saotals. We are so to say guests in the territory of the Baptist Mission. And Rev. Edmeades has for ld&dy years in the most unselfish way helped us in the work as a member of the board for Narayanpur school. and in many other ways, giving advice and encouragement to our pastors and other Santals. It has not been a. mere neighbourly intercourse between two missions, but hearty oo-operation from which the.baptist Mission ~6uld "gain" nothing, and our mission has had al1the benefit. We '&bau trever, forget it. And I take this opportunity for ~Xl1te881n~ "'hat I bave long been fe&ling.
sil:'fy )n~htlt ANNUAl. R~:POB.T. CODCH BEHAR. Apart from the schoolwork there has been "very little visible change in the work, in spite of that we all have done our very best during the year to bring about the good tiding and to get the hearers to make a decision for Christ. Miss Johansson has unfortunately on account of sickness been away from Cooch- Behar the most of the year. W-e do hope that God who has restored her health, s"hall give her the strength to use all the opportunities for service to the women and ehildren of Cooch- Bebar during the coming year. We have been fortunate in getting a good Christian M. A. as Head Master for our H. E. School during the year, which means an increase in the number of the staff and the nsefulness of the school. The students have also increased from 244 to 281 during the year and the Inspector of Schools gives a good and satisfactory report of the school. The affiliation to the Calcutta University has been extended for another 3 years. The Primary Schools have also shown 80me progress and a school has been opened for girls in Mekligunge with 18 pupils on the register and the Inspector gives a very good report of the progress and the Mistress's work. The school in the Coach Behar town for the depressed clssles children had to be closed for lack of regular attendance and interest from the parents, but in its place a new school has been opened in Dammanpur for Garo children and we hope that it will do well.
54 TB.E SANTAL MISSION or TlIlC NORTHERN CHtnr.OB:~S. The evangelioal work has not been without result. One family from the Hindus has been baptized after having received instruction for a long time. It is evidenced that God has brought a ohange in the home and in the man who has been ill for some years a.nd unable to go outside hib oom pound, can now by the grace of God move about fre(liy and we hope that he shall be a worker for God. He has earlier been a Hindu teaoher. One daugbter of an recent convert and a son of our Biblewoman bave also been baptized. We hope that the other family who reoeived instruction for baptism shall also soon come forward. Sta.tistics. Elders 7. Mistress 1. Baptism 6. Biblewomen 2. Teflohers 16. A verage Church attendance 67. Total Christians 126. A. W BRANDT
SIXTY EIGRTB ANNUAL REPORT. 55 SANTAL COLONY, ASSAM. In many ways the year 1984 has been a strange one for the people here in the colony. The struggle between light and darkness has been very hard. But idspite of the terrible resistance from the evil one, the light has come out victoriously. And we thank God. It is a sad fact thrt some have gone bhck to heathenism. Although they do not really worship the evil spirits, they have altogether drifted away from God. It is evident, however, that they ha.ve no rest or peace so we hope that tbf>y will again return to God. Many are prllying for them. And there are some who have already repented and have been re admitted to the congregation. We have had a g-reat joy of seeing a true revival amongst the Christians. Some of them Are now going around in the colony 1r1VlOg testimony to their fellowmen about the Lord and Saviour. Our Young People's Association which has come into existence a short time ago, has been a great joy. Many of the members are whole-heartedly on the Lord's side. The people of the colony have been very hard up this year. Some of them have even been starving. There has be~n a very poor harvest for the last th,ee years. So many people find it very ha.rd to meet aud take care of their obligations. We have tried as far as our ability goes to give a he1ping hand from the Church collections. But it does not go very far amongst such lio number of needy people. Yet inspite of all, the colony :people have paid oft.
S8' THlI: SAN TAL K18$IOM 01 THll NOB'l'HB&N CHURCHE8. more taxes to the GoveruJq811t th,n the peqple outside the oolony. The C)opgr~tiQn,l w9rlt has oontinued as previqusly with the ~m~.llb~tors And elders. They have all been good IW.d faitbfql wqj'kers. I t is not eally to be a leader ii:t this plaoe. Much wisdom from ~bove is needed. Be.ides his own oongregation in HlU"sputl\, Ratia fast~r bas continued to look after our little Boro oongreg3tion lr. Samp,gqri, with ons elder as helper. We he-ve Q.lso had the joy of seeing '" new congregation grow ljp outside the colony, idsid~ the Cooch Behar state. The new Christians there have built a little ohuroh with su pport and help from friends in M anjadabri congregation. With regard tq sejf.. support, the Chri~tians have given more than the previons year. The situation with our vil1sge schools is rather sad. In ] 938 ~ll bad to be closed down on account of fina~cial di1lictllties. This year we reopened 5 Qf them and all have done good work. We wish we were able to open JIlore Schools. Graha.Plpur Middle English school has had the same staff as last year with the exception of one teacher who came from Dinajpur. He is a prssed Matric and we bope he will turn out to be a good worker. One of our previous teachers had to leave the work on aocount of an attack of Tuberculosis. We also bad the Borrow to see one of our best boys die.
This year we,have got,a new school building, for " whioh we are very glad. It does not look very magnificent, but. it is \ useful.,. If,we had not made this building, we should have had to -olose the sohool this year. We will now try to improve the buildings a little year by year. They have been in a very bad condition. This year four of our boys will appear for M. E. Examination. Last year ~e had four, ont of whom three passed. It seems as if people have started to realize ~ore ~hat the sohool means. We have more boys coming than previously. The Loan Fund does not run very well. It is impose sible to oollect money from the debtors. Therefore, -it'. is"also difficult to payout to those who have put money into the Loan Fund and want to withdraw some of them. It seems best to close the whole thing by and by. When we look back on the year passed, we have reasons to thank onrheavenly Father for all His grace and mercy towards us. He has been good to us, also here in Assam. : K. OJ'ITAD. 8
,"58 THE BAN'l\.AL MI8810N OPTS)! NORTHBRNCHUBCHlCS. MORNAI TEA ESTATE. "Wherefore He 'is able to save them to the ut~r most that come unto Goa by Him, seeing He ever 'liveth' to make intercession for them." Heb. 7: 25., We are glad that again this year we have experienced God's 'power to save anq'i)[eepthose who call upon Him in raith. 'In 'February a convention was held here. There was a gaoa attendance and reports of the meetings tell of muoh blessings received. Due to illness it was necebsaryfor Mr. & Mrs. Eie to Jeave for Denmark in :May and we came from Basetkundi So ibke over the -work here. On the whole the congregational work has been encouraging. The Santal workers Bre the same as last year. They have been sincere in their work and it is a joy to see thutt they are burdened for the salvation of sou Is. There has,been a spirit of good will and co-operation between them and we have been happy to see them go out into the Lines 8nd villages to witness for their Saviour. Church attendance has been good. There is a willingness to hear and learn the word of God and contributions are steadily increasing. Sunday Schools a.nd women's meetings have been attended. well Eight from the heathen and thirteen children of Christian parents have been baptized, and several are under instruotion for baptism. Twentyseven Bantal boys and girls have been confirmed during the year,
SIX'!'l' EIGllTH A.NNUAL REPORT. J ohon Topono. is in charge of the- Mund&- work. Lokhon Guriah has helped him. Church attendance has ~ee~.. good but some of the member~ have been excommunicated. on account of drink. We pray that by God's help they may overcome this temptation. Six from the heathen and 2 children of Christian p&1'8tltsi have been baptized. Seven have been <Donfirmed. The new three-room school house is a great improvement. The day and evening schools have been well attended, and the teachers, Sorkar Hembrom, Garo, Sukhu, and.p~ Chakravarty have done good work. We received Government aid for the school. The Medical work has been faithfully ta.ken care of by Dr. Chakravarty and his helper Mr. Bowah. The general health of the workers has been fair. During. the rains many of the children had whooping cough, and S" rather severe type of measles. The outturn of tea is below normal this year, due to S great extent to a severe hailstorm in the beginning of the season, followed by blight on the weakened bushes. P.,ices have been fair, however, and some profit will be realized. We wish to thank the friends who have rememru;,recl Mornai in their prayers. O. S. B,ti:RnstBAND. i;.
HARAPUTAGIRLS' SCHOOL. Looking back over t~e past year I remember a word of Paul: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" We have had difficulties and disapointments too in the work throughout the year, but despite all that God has O&r'l"ied us :through. So looking. back above all we recognize God's great mercy toward us. In the school we have had a quiet and good working time. The health has been unusually good both among teachers and pupils, and the interest in the work has been keen. There always are things which make me feel thankfn! for the privilege of working amongst the young. The Bumber of boarders has been increasing during the year, but it is very difficult to keep up the interest among day scholars. At the close of the year we have 55 boarders. The average on the roll monthly is 90, and the daily attendance 80.7': The Sunday schoo] has been regularly attended by about 60 children. The work among the women in the villa.ges has been carried on, though the interest in many places is not very keen. The amount {)f rice collected at the weekly Friday meetings has decreased much. 'l'hat I think is partly due to'the failure of the rice crope last year, and partly to the fact that the villages have not been so regularly visi~ed a8 formerly.
In the confirmation class are 63 girls of whom 5 are being train~ for baptism. It is a joy for me every week together with one of the Biblewomen to meet with so many young people and divide the living word with them, because the word of God can never fail. 61 SOJ'IE NBSSJ:T. ASSAM MEDICAL WORK. This has been an enoouraging year for us. I have been here the whole year and the work is increasing, not so very rapidly but steadily. I have the same nurse as last year but have taken on a. new com pounder. The one I had last year was a Boro and is a.t present helping with the Medical work in Gaorang. We have also been training a Boro girl so she could be a help a.mong her own people. The compounders from San tal Parganas do not like to come to Assam. So I have to train Bome from here, myself. We have built a Santal house near the Dispensary which we use as a hospital. I have two rooms and a verandah. I was glad to get it 8S before I had DO place for the patients who needed to stay. Another thing for which, we srevery glad is that this year we have been called for a Dum~r.. of oonfinement cases,-several normal oases besides a number of instrumental and other abnormal oases.
The number of codsultation's at the Dispensary.has 2993, of these: Women : 33l% ;'H7ChristialJ8 Men 66f % Other religions Santals 40% Mohammedans 86% Boros 10% Hindn Rajbunsis Nepalis } 14% been 80% 70% The number -of 'lepers being: treated is slowly increasing, but we need a colony very mu~h here in Assam, as that IS the only way that we can treat them adequately. Of the ordinary diseases malaria of conrse ranks first in number, but intestinal worms is a close second. Then eye troubles, next skin diseases, the others vary. This year 'there has been much pn'enmonia. But we here &.t this station 'have had no epidemics of a~y kind. The Assam Medical Work 18 developing rather slowly. The lack of a hospital is of course the main factor, but the lack of means of better transportation is also important. Because there is no hospital I have to make so many visits to ~he villages and when I ha vn't a car I spend half of my time on the road. But we most try and be patient. Finally let me say, it il:l a joy to be in the work here and we wish to thank the friends who with their meads 8Dd prayers have made it possible. DAGJlAB PIDBBBBlf.
,ISH EIGHTH AH'NtJAL RIPO-RT. 83 JOEMA. About'two wee'ksbefore the year closed I took charge of the work in J oema. District, so a detailed report regarding,the 'work in thefearpast.cannot be given. For the rest of the year the w-ork was supervised by O. Eie ~IIMJlI.r" ' and Rev. O. S. Bjerkestrand. During the past year two new churches have -bean built without any expenditure of Mission money. The Christians at Sapghati in Darrang District have built their own, and at Phatemabad in Kamrup District a Tea-Manager has been kind enough to erect a church for the Santal Christians working in the Tea Garden, 80 all in all there are in Joema District 18 different places where oantals gather for worship' every Sunday. The workers are the same as last year, Renta. H~mbrQmJ Atiabari, one of t.he Elders, however, died in October. We are glad now at the end of the year to have Paul ',-",ack from the Bible Schoo1. It is the understanding that he will be ordained shortly. He is.to stay in Galajhora, and it will be a great.help for the two other pastors when Paul is ordained. Minghu and Ragda, have been touring the district as formerly, and though Minghu pastor is getting old he is still whole-heartedly in the work. About 80 heathens have been baptized -this year, and several people are receiving instruction for 'baptism. The, villa.ge schools are going on as usua.l, and the boarding school here at J oema as well. The church colleotions this year a.lqount to R'S. 802 1-3,
,~t4 THE SAN1'AL.'lIISSION OlP THI,lfORTR:lBN CHUROHII. Just when I arrived :here, ~1I the elders and teaohers were gathered from,the whole district, and it was a great joy for me to meet, them all. I wish to tb'ldk all who have remembered the work in,bah1'8 Hasa in,their prayers during the past year. Continue to stand by in the year to come. "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain tha.t build it, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketb hut in vain." JOB. JOHANSEN. / GAORANG. And the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how. But God ga.ve the increase. I Cor. 3; 6. Mark 4: 27. These words come to me when I consider how the Lord has blessed the Boros. The good seed is growing up and bearing fruit. and God has given the increase. 283 Boros have received holy baptism during the year, among those 226 from the Heathen. There are now a little more than 2000 baptized Boros in onr "mission and nearly 500 are 'under instruction for baptism. In 19 small churches scattered in the jungle the BQrQs worship God every Sundal'
SIXTY EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. The Roman Catholics have- been working hard among our Christians and they have enticed a few families to join them. It has therefore been difficult to keep ohurch disci. pline. On this account some Boros have taken to their old oostom of selling their daughters. We USE'd to excommunicate them, but now I only tell them that they ought not to sen their own flesh and blood like beasts. This question was discussed at two big meetings for the church members. As far 8S I can judge the Boros are not, at present at least, inclined to join the Church of Rome but the Catholics are still making some progress among our new and excommunicated Christians by telling them tha.t they will get more help and that they can do just what they like if they join the only church with the keys of heaven. Our pastor OHshoron and our 21 Elders have worked faithfully during the year. A Christian Sadhu, a Boro narneu ;\1 aguram, has bean very useful in the ~ervice. He has visited the c.)ngregations, preached the gospel to the Heathens and he has been a good helper in the translation work. ~{ay the Lord send many workers Hke bim! 'rhe Boros who used to go to Joema joined us in the beginning of the year. They ha.ve got two small churches. tone of them is quite near Rajadhabri where the Christian!~antals started the work among the Boros many years ago. 'In Patgaon where Skrefsrud preached the gospel in 1887 Bome familes are under instruction for baptism. There are row 11 village schools, but there ought to be a school in ~very congregation. A good many of the Christian Boros ~ave now learnt to read their mother tongue'. The congregations have contributed Ra. 916-2-6, that means that they pay 83! per cent of the evangelist,ic g
66 THE SANTAL HISSION OF TRK NORTILBBN CBUBCHBB. work. Besides.this they build and repair their chu.rches and school 'houses and give one ha.lf of the teachers' pay. The Boros still like to move a.bout like the gipsies. That makes it difficult to look after them, but some.of tbem at least seem to be able to take care of themselves. It is a great pleasure to know that our emigrants in Kamrnp District have built three smqil churches. They also have a Village school. Our Christians in Darrang District have a church and a village school. They only get a smau grant for their school and our pastor visits them (ccssionally. The gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Mark and the first Epistle of John hhve been translated and The British and Foreign Bible Scciety hlls been kind enough to print the first gospel in 1500 copies. We rf'ceived it a few days ago and the Boros were very happy. Almost every day they are praying to God that they might.get the Bible in their mother tongue. In July we had an encouraging course for the Elders and 'a short course for the teachers. We discussed and studied the new tradslation. The hymn book has been revised and enlarged and is now in the press. In November I had the joy to receive my wife and child from a rather long etay in Denmark. Also the Boros, especially the women and ohildren rejoiced. A little later Miss Bessie Fischer,from Denmark joiiled our MissioD to the great joy of the Boros. May God bless her in the work. I have for a long time felt the need of a special worker among the women and so have the BC'ros themselves, and we feel that tbelord has heard our prayer. I want to express my, sincere and heartfelt thanks to our friends for their prayers, love and support. A. K~:6~IANSEfi.