"The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.”—Ps. lxxiv. 20. Ip you will look on the Missionary Map at the other side, you will see a large island to the south-east of China, marked BORNEO. It is the third largest island in the world, and contains about 3,500,000 inhabitants. The original inhabitants are called Dyaks. About 2,000,000 of these still possess the interior of the island, while on the coast are several other tribes. Some of these are Malays, others Bugis, both partially civilized, and engaged in trade with other countries, though the Malays are fonder of being pirates than regular traders. The climate of the island is very fine and warm, and the soil, in the lower parts, unusually rich. The centre of the island is mountainous and barren; but down in the valleys, and along the coasts, magnificent woods, and beautiful flowers, and excellent fruits, abound. It is surrounded by clusters of islands, as you may see, which so shut in the little seas and bays around it, as to make their waters as calm and smooth as those of inland lakes. It is a lovely sight to stand on some of the shores about these seas, and watch the movements of the many native vessels and canoes engaged so busily upon them, as they are either coming in, laden with the produce of other islands, or going out, bearing forth the productions of their own. Beautiful, however, as the island and its scenery may be, it is after all one of "the dark places of the earth, and full of the habitations of cruelty." The Dyaks, mentioned above as the original inhabitants, and still inhabiting the interior, are a most cruel and barbarous set of savages. They are divided into different tribes, and vary much, according to these tribes, as to their character and conduct. Some are quite wild, and others more civilized. The wild Dyaks are little Other tribes of Dyaks are engaged in cultivating the land, and collecting the produce of the country, such as camphor, bees-wax, gold-dust, &c. which they either sell to strangers who come to their shores, or send off in their native vessels to other neighbouring lands. All the Dyaks, however, are more or less cruel and savage, and some of their customs will prove it. One of their most common practices is that of "head-hunting." Every man must have procured at least one human head before he can marry; and no lady amongst them would condescend to take the man, for her partner in life, who could not shew her one or more such heads he had himself procured; the more, the better she would think of him. The poor victim that they kill for the sake of getting his head is not necessarily their THE DYAKS. enemy. He may be their friend. They do not kill him because they hate him, or because he has offended them, but only to get his head. Hence nobody is safe. All the men are ever seeking heads. They lie in wait on the road side, and attack any one that passes to chop off his head; and the Dyak who can produce his twenty, thirty, or fifty heads, is thought a great and honourable man. Indeed, they measure a man's consequence and honour by the number of heads he possesses. The American Board of Missions sent Missionaries to these people some years ago, and they have given us sad accounts of this practice. The people in the village where they lived boasted of the number of heads they had taken, and brought in several fresh ones every year. In the verandah of the house where they lodged, there were fifteen or twenty suspended from the roof; some directly over the places where they slept. On one occasion they tried to procure one of these heads to send home, but the natives refused to give them up. They think they act like charms to ward off evil. The Missionaries tried to shew them the wickedness and cruelty of the practice; but they laughed at them, and defended it as an honourable thing. With all this cruelty there are also some good things about their character. They are very industrious, and honest, and hospitable. Strangers are kindly treated by them, and, it is said, are quite safe in residing amongst them. Accordingly, Mis THE HAPPY I THANK the goodness and the grace, Which on my birth have smil'd; And made me in these Christian days, A happy English child. I was not born as thousands are, Where God was never known; And taught to pray a useless prayer To blocks of wood and stone. 39 sionaries are now labouring to do them good, but as yet have had only small suecess. The Dyaks are of course heathen, and are idolaters, but seem to have very little religious belief. They can scarcely be said to have any idea of God; but they worship their ancestors and great men, who have distinguished themselves by daring exploits, cutting off heads, &c. Whenever such persons die they make a wooden image of him, varying from twenty inches to three feet in height. When finished, they call the people together, and hold a feast of consecration, and then set him amongst the others. These images are looked on as patron gods, whose business it is to watch over and prosper the cultivation of rice, &c. They are generally kept in a shelter erected for them, but are brought out at the time of planting the rice, and are set with their faces towards the field until the harvest is gathered in. The only act of worship apparently paid them, is offering them food once a month. How different, dear children, is your lot to that of these poor Dyaks! No one is seeking your head, but all are trying to make you happy. No cruel master is making you his slave; but Jesus is waiting to make you his child-an heir of glory-a little prince to God. Oh! how thankful you ought to be that God has been so kind to you, and how anxious to send the gospel to those who know it not, to save them from their wretched state! 40 YOUR OWN CHAPTER. YOUR OWN CHAPTER. "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not."-Mark x. 14. I SHALL close my little sermon on these words by saying a few things on the third point I laid down at its beginning, viz. III. The ENCOURAGEMENT you have to come. And here I might encourage you to come, 1. By telling you of the kindness, and gentleness, and power of Him that invites you to come, Read over what I said of this before, and then say, does not the thought of Jesus being so good and kind make you feel encouraged to come and give up your heart to him? Oh, yes! I think it must? But, as I have already said enough on this matter, I must now encourage you by other means. 2. By telling you of his promises. You know he cannot tell an untruth. When he speaks he means what he says, and when he promises he is sure to fulfil. Well, he has promised to help you. Here are some of his promises: Him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out," John vi. 37. "Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon," Isa. lv. 7. These are his promises, and hence we should be encouraged to come. But again, I may encourage you, 3. By telling you of many that have come, and have been most cordially received. There was Mary Magdalene, a very wicked woman, and you know how she came and got entire pardon. There was Zacheus the publican, a very unjust person, and you have read how Jesus received him, and brought salvation to his house. There was the dying thief, who cried to Jesus on the cross, and you know how welcome he was made. There was Saul of Tarsus, the blasphemer and persecutor, and yet Saul of Tarsus was forgiven when he came to Christ. And shall he not receive a little boy or a little girl that comes to him in simple faith? Oh, yes! I am sure he will, for he has received many, very many of them already. I have seen little boys and girls that came to Christ. I have heard them say, they knew he had pardoned all their sins, and I have been told how happy they were made; and He, my dear little friend, that saved them, is willing to save you, and says, in sweetest language, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." Oh! shall he call to you in vain? No! never! say now, "Lord take my heart, and whatsoe'er is mine; I pray that it may be so!-Amen. Price d. or 4d. per dozen. Published by J. GALL & SON, 38 North Bridge, Edinburgh. G. GALLIE, Glasgow. W. M'COMB, Belfast. J. ROBERTSON, Dublin. HOULSTON & STONEMAN, London. These are described by the Missionaries who first visited them. In my different stories about God's work | month mention some of their customs about in this Paper, some references have been, the dead. and will still be made to peculiar customs, which I cannot stay properly to describe; and, to meet this, it is my intention to give some notices, in distinct chapters, of such customs, with here and there a picture to illustrate their meaning. I begin with the South Seas, and this The South Sea islanders, like all savage and heathen nations that we read about, were much afraid of death. They fancied that as soon as the spirit left the body, it was seized by demons, and carried into a place, where it was eaten by the If the dead were a man of great rank and wealth, a priest was generally hired to attend at the bier or stage for some months, and perform additional ceremonies from time to time; but I have named the principal connected with the burial. gods, not at once, but by degrees. They there. The hole was then filled up, and imagined also that it was scraped with a the people fancied the sins were buried. shell at different times, and that, after be- After this, all the persons who had assisted ing eaten three different times, it became in the ceremonies washed themselves and an immortal spirit, and was allowed to their clothes in the sea, and then returned come back to the world and visit others. to their homes. Their horror of death, and their dark notions of a future state, made them perform many singular rites when any person died. As soon as a person died, rites were performed to find out the cause of it; and if this was declared by the priests to be from the anger of the gods, other ceremonies The poor Tahitians used to connect with were gone through to prevent the destruc- the death of their relatives some most cruel tion of his friends. The bodies of great practices. They wailed and howled in the men, such as chiefs, were preserved, as most affecting tones, tore their hair, rent long as possible, from destruction, by being their garments, and cut themselves with embalmed; but those of the common peo- shark's teeth, or knives, in the most shockple were burned. The manner of embalm- ing manner. Their appearance at such ing the dead was very simple. They took times was most distressing and frightful, out certain parts, and dried them in the as with torn hair, and smeared all over with They dried the body well, filled it blood, they howled and jumped about like with cloths soaked in sweet scented oils, madmen. Sometimes this grief was shewn, and rubbed it all over with the same. not only by the family, but an entire vilThus embalmed, the body was then placed lage; and if a chief, an entire district, or upon a sort of stage, with a shed over it, an entire island. Sometimes also their and left to dry or decay in the sun. A lit-grief rose so high that they could only tle altar was sometimes erected near it, find a way to express it by beating one and the friends and relatives brought offer- another with clubs and stones, which someings of fruits and flowers every day for times led to quarrels, and at last to murseveral months. The picture at the head ders. of this Paper will give you a right idea of How different is such conduct to that we the shed. The woman is intended for a might now see amongst many of these very near relative presenting her offering. The people! All now is quietness and resignalaying of the corpse upon the stage was tion; and you can see the Christian burial, connected with many singular rites, one of and the religious ceremony, just the same which consisted in digging a hole near one as in our own favoured land. Let us pray of the posts, and burying in it the dead that very soon every island may be enman's sins. This was done by a priest lightened by the gospel, and that all these offering up a prayer, as soon as the hole foolish and cruel customs may for ever pass was dug, that all his sins might be east in away. sun. HEATHEN CRUELTY. I AM going, my dear young friends, to tell you a little story, which is quite true, about the poor degraded heathens in India, in order to stimulate you to seek more and more earnestly the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. |