Page:China's spiritual need and claims.djvu/48

34 this province, since 1877; and has gathered a small church there; and the colporteurs of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and of the National Bible Society of Scotland have made its mission premises their head-quarters when in. In January, 1882, the C.I.M. commenced work in Chen-tu, the political capital, and here also it has had the joy of baptizing a few converts. In the autumn of 1882, the American Methodist Episcopal Mission began work in Chung-k'ing, and now has four missionaries there. The C.I.M. has now eight missionaries in the two stations; and the National Bible Society of Scotland also has one European colporteur in the province. Of the total of 13 missionaries in this vast province, five are single ladies. If the eight men do their duty to the two cities In which they reside, the populations of which are not far from those of Manchester and Liverpool respectively, how much time or strength will remain for the rest of the province, which includes in its domain the large districts of Eastern Thibet? South of, lies the province of (bordering on Burmah and near to Assam), a province as large as England and Wales. It has five millions of people probably, and in Yün-nan Fu, the capital, in Ta-li Fu, the old Mohammedan capital, and in Bhamô, on the Irrawaddy in Upper Burmah, the C.I.M. has six missionaries working. We cannot say how many different tribes, speaking distinct languages—as the Thibetans, Lo-los, Shans, Kah-chens, Ming-kia, Miao-tsï among others—are to be found, not to speak of the Chinese; and there are six brethren among them all, including Mr. Henry Soltau in Bhamô. In these two provinces, therefore, covering together an area of 307,513 square miles, and containing 25 millions of precious souls, there are only 19 Protestant missionaries, fourteen of them men! one man, if you will, to 21,965 square miles of hill and dale, of mountain and valley—a district over two-thirds the size of Scotland. When could he traverse such a district, and reach the countless inhabitants it contains, even if the work of the city, in which he resides, were not in itself far more than he could possibly accomplish? Yet all these people