Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/381

Rh for purchasing land upon which to establish Christian villages.

It is an interesting fact, and one which justifies the union of the palm-tree and Christianity in Southern India in one chapter, that Christianity is actually following the line of the palmyra groves northward from Tinnevelly into Madura. Owing to the peculiar nature of caste influences, the conversion of the Shanars of the sandy plains near Cape Comorin has an effect upon those who live beyond them to the north; and Christianity seems to be spreading a bright line from Tinnevelly along the seaboard to the north.

Did the limits of this little work admit of it, our readers might be told of many interesting circumstances connected with individual converts and particular movements. But the few hints given suffice to show the nature and the greatness of the work which God is doing by his servants among the groves and fields of Tinnevelly. To those who ask whether the preaching of the gospel in India has not been a failure; and to those inclined to answer this question on the testimony of sailors who spend a few days in a tavern at Madras or Calcutta and say that they saw no Christians in India;