This young
man could put the point of his arrow into a deer's eye a hundred
yards distant]
[Illustration: FASHIONS OF THE CHACO.]
There is, among the Lenguas, an old tradition to the effect that for
generations they have been expecting the arrival of some strangers
who would live among them and teach them about the spirit-world.
These long-looked-for teachers were called The Imlah. The tradition
says that when the Imlah arrive, all the Indians must obey their
teaching, and take care that the said Imlah do not again leave their
country, for if so they, the Indians, would disappear from the land.
When Mr. Grubb and his helpers first landed, they were immediately
asked, "Are you the Imlah?" and to this question they, of course,
answered yes. Was it not because of this tradition that the Indian
who later shot Mr. Grubb with a poisoned arrow was himself put to
death by the tribe?
About twenty boys attend the school established at Waikthlatemialwa,
and strange names some of them bear; let Haikuk (Little Dead One)
serve as an example. It is truly a cheering sight to see this sign of
a brighter day. When these boys return to their distant toldos to
tell "the news" to their dark-minded parents, the most wonderful of
all to relate is "Liklamo ithnik nata abwathwuk enthlit God;
hingyahamok hiknata apkyapasa apkyitka abwanthlabanko.
Aptakmilkischik sat ankuk appaiwa ingyitsipe sata netin thlamokthloho
abyiam." [Footnote: John 3:16]
Well might the wondering mother of "Dark Cloud" call her next-born
"Samai" (The Dawn of Day).
The Indian counts by his hands and feet. Five would be one hand, two
hands ten, two hands and a foot fifteen, and a specially clever
savage could even count "my two hands and my two feet." Now Mr. Hunt
is changing that: five is thalmemik, ten sohok-emek, fifteen
sohokthlama-eminik, and twenty sohok-emankuk.
When a boy in school desires to say eighteen, he must first of all
take a good deep breath, for sohok-emek-wakthla-mok-eminick-
antanthlama is no short word. This literally means: "finished my
hands - pass to my other foot three."
At the school I saw the skin of a water-snake twenty-six feet nine
inches long, but a book of pictures I had interested the boys far
more.
The mission workers have each a name given to them by the Indians,
and some of them are more than strange. Apkilwankakme (The Man Who
Forgot His Face) used to be called Nason when he moved in high
English circles; now he is ragged and torn-looking; but the old Book
my mother used to read says: "He that loseth his life for My sake
shall find it." Some of us have yet to learn that if we would
remember His face it is necessary for us to forget our own. If the
unbeliever in mission work were to go to Waik-thlatemialwa, he would
come away a converted man. The former witch-doctor, who for long made
"havoc," but has since been born again, would tell him that during a
recent famine he talked to the Unseen Spirit, and said: "Give us
food, God!" and that, when only away a very short while, his arrows
killed three ostriches and a deer. He would see Mrs. Mopilinkilana
walking about, clothed and in her right mind. Who is she? The
murderess of her four children - the woman who could see the skull of
her own boy kicking about the toldo for days, and watch it finally
cracked up and eaten by the dogs. Can such as she be changed? The
Scripture says: "Every one that believeth."
The Lengua language contains no word for God, worship, praise,
sacrifice, sin, holiness, reward, punishment or duty, but their
meanings are now being made clear.
The church at Waikthlatemialwa has no colored glass windows - old
canvas bags take their place. The reverent worshippers assemble
morning and evening, in all the pride of their paint and feathers,
but there is no hideous idol inside; nay! they worship the invisible
One, whom they can see even with closely shut eyes. To watch the men
and women, with erect bearing, and each walking in the other's
footsteps, enter the church, is a sight well worth the seeing. They
bow themselves, not before some fetish, as one might suppose, but to
the One whom, having not seen, some of them are learning to love.
One of the missionaries translated my simple address to the dusky
congregation, who listened with wondering awe to the ever-new story
of Jesus. As the Lengua language contains no word for God, the
Indians have adopted our English word, and both that name and Jesus
came out in striking distinctness during the service, and in the
fervent prayer of the old ex-witch-doctor which followed. With the
familiar hymn, "There is a green hill far away," the meeting
concluded. The women with nervous air silently retired, but the men
saluted me, and some even went so far as to shake hands - with the
left hand. Would that similar stations were established all over this
neglected land! While churches and mission buildings crowd each other
in the home lands, the Chaco, with an estimated population of three
millions, must be content with this one ray of light in the dense
night.
On that far-off "green hill" we shall meet some even from the Lengua
tribe. Christ said: "I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved." But oh, "Painted Face," you spoke truth; the white
"thing" is selfish, and keeps this wondrous knowledge to himself.
PART IV.
BRAZIL
[Illustration]
"There can be no more fascinating field of labor than Brazil,
notwithstanding the difficulty of the soil and the immense tracts of
country which have to be traversed. It covers half a continent, and
is three times the size of British India.
