WESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

May 17, 1876

BY REV. A. STRITMATTER

December 21st -- There was a slight breeze to day, but it was directly down the river, and all the progress we made was made by pulling and propelling. We came only five miles, but reached the village of Ten Chiao early enough to spend a few hours on shore. Several of the native gentry came on board to visit us. Our friend, Mr. Yu, on learning we had arrived, also came on the boat to see us, and we had a long and interesting conversation with him. He is a well educated man, with a good knowledge of the classics, and there is no reason to doubt that he is a sincere inquirer after the truth. As yet he is but twenty-five years of age, and his genteel manners and handsome, intelligent countenance impress one greatly in his favor. May the Lord guide and bless him.

December 24th -- We had a fine breeze the morning we left Ten Chiao, which lasted all day. We stopped two hours at Ta Tung, and had a pleasant time. Coming up the river we were delayed in picking our way through shoals and sand-bars, the water having fallen greatly since we went down. We reached the city of Ngan Ching yesterday, and found the examinations were long since over, and the people once more civilly disposed. I met with some rude treatment to day, however, from some Yamen-runners in the city, who tore my books away from me, but did not offer any other mark of violence or disrespect.

December 25th -- This has been a most beautiful Christmas day. The air has been mild and serene, with not a cloud to hide the genial rays of the sun, or a breeze to penetrate one's clothing and chill the skin. We left Ngan Ching this morning and came up the river slowly. By three P.M. we had made ten miles, and then halted at a little village where we designed to spend the Sabbath. Mr. Baller and I were on shore until sundown, talking and selling books. Usually at small places like this the people are very kind and respectful, but here there was a scoffing, sneering disposition manifested, especially on the part of a few self-important literary men, which seemed to render our attempts at preaching fruitless. The boat people, however, were much more civil, and we sold an entire basketful of books.

Sunday, December 26th -- From the first of the month we have not had a single cloudy day; but last night the sky began to be overspread, and this morning it was raining. It rained too all day, so that we have had no opportunity of going on shore. However the weather is not at all cold, so we are quite comfortable in the boat.

December 28th -- It cleared off again yesterday morning, and we have had beautiful weather since. But as the gale down at Wu Hu brought no clouds or rain, so neither did the clouds or rain on Sunday bring us any wind. So we have been working our way slowly up the river, but managed to reach the "Little Orphan," early this afternoon. We stopped to visit the temple, as Mr. Baller had never been on the island. This time I counted the steps to the summit of the rock, and found them three hundred

and ninety-six in number. In the temple we witnessed a species of worship I had never seen before. Incense was burning on the great altar built before the object of adoration, and in front were suspended two rich curtains, on which were dragons embroidered in silk. The curtains were folded back from the center, leaving a space between for the worshipers to kneel. A little round box, opened at one end, and full of small flat sticks or tallies, was put into the hands of the worshiper by an attendant priest. Holding it in both hands he would kneel reverently down on a mat, bow a few times toward the altar, perhaps mutter a petition or two, and then shake the box of tallies. Having shuffled the sticks a few times, he would draw one out at random, holding it in his hand with the greatest reverence. The priest then took up a couple of roundish oblong pieces of wood lying on the altar, resembling the two halves of an egg divided longitudinally, and threw them down on the floor. If they lay, one with the flat, the other with the convex side uppermost, then the number written on the proper one was compared with that on the magic stick which the anxious devotee was devoutly holding, and the priest would call out so many cash to one of his fellow Ho-shangs standing behind the counter in a corner of the room. The latter would then draw out a piece of brown paper, perforated with holes, and used by the Chinese in burning to the dead, which represented the required number of cash, and hand it to the man, who would pocket his treasure solemnly and walk away. Such ridiculous mummery is practiced by these heathen in their religious rites; and yet so great is their veneration for it, and so profound their faith in its efficacy, that they do not manifest the least shame or backwardness in going devoutly through it in the presence of foreigners. It is needless to say that the Ho-shangs, or Buddhists priests, receive previously from their visitors, cash of a more substantial character than those they deal out to them.

December 29th -- A fine breeze yesterday evening brought us a long way up the river, and this morning we passed the mouth of the Poyang Lake before breakfast. But by the time we came within sight of the pagoda standing on a knoll just below the city of Kiukiang, the wind died entirely away, and our further progress was slow and toilsome. So near home and yet so long in reaching it. Hour after hour passed away, and impatiently I watched the city walls as we approached them, and then the foreign hulks, and at length the beautiful buildings on the bund, half hidden by the rows of willow-trees in front. All wore the same old familiar look; and after almost four weeks of absence, I was glad to gaze on them once more. The sun went down, and darkness came on, and the bell on the English hulk struck six before we reached our landing-place. But here we were at last, and the cheerful greetings of our friends soon told us "all was well" among those we had left behind. Home again! How delightful to sit down in peace and comfort by one's own fireside and look over the letters which have been accumulating during our absence. Our trip, however, has been a very pleasant and successful one, and we have disposed of twelve thousand cash worth of books telling of the way of salvation to a people who, for the most part, have never before heard of it.