The record-union., 1893-03-11


work IS being jointly borne by the
American Bible Society, the British and
Eorelgn Bible Society, and the National
Bible Society of Scotland.
The American Bible Society is now
printing the Old Testament for the Gil
bert Islanders, and the dwellers on those
remote islands of the Pacific Ocean will
be furnished with 1000 copies for their
spiritual edification. The translation has
been made by the Rev. Hiram Bingham
and his wife, They were pioneer mis-
sionaries to the Gilbert Islands, and went
TO Micronesia in 1857, and found 10000
strange people sea ttered over a group of
small islands. They compiled lists of
words, made study of the structure of
the language, ana mastered its vocal and
grammatical peculiaritieS. 1t took them
nve years to get the Gospel of Matthew
ready for publication. Book by book the
New Testament was translated and pub
lished and passed through several edi-
tions. The entire Bible is now in the
press.
Here is the first verse Of the first chap
ter of the Lamentations of jeremiah from
the English Bible:
How doth the city sit solitary that was
full of people! How is she become a
widow! She that was great among the
nations and Princess among the PROV
inces, how is she become tributary!'
Translated phonetically into the lam
guage of the Gilbert Islands and set up in
roman type, the above verse reads as
follows:
''Eatekateka kama te kawa nj kamaroa,
ae on irouia aomata!
u rlkl kama II aine ae e mate buna
''Neie kakanato buakoia botanaomata.
ae te toka buakon aba aka burawinti.
'E riki kama n te tia ananab'ai nakon
to nea!"
The verse in the Gilbert island tongue
IS printed after the manner of poetry.
Inc old King James version OF the Script
ureS treated the Lamentations as prose.
The Gilbert Island word for Jeremiah is
leremia, and the word for Lamentations
IS Balbaeti. The Book of the Prophet
Ezekiel becomes, in that language, Ami
Bokl te Burabeli Etekiera. Iehova is the
way they pronounce Jehovah in the Gil
bert Islands.
For the missions in the Pacific Ocean
which are under the care of the Ameri-
can Board of the Congregational Church,
the American Bible Society has now in
the press an edition of the Books of GEN
esls and Exodus of the Old Testament in
the Ruk language spelled phonetically
In English. The edition will number
1000 copies.
Formerly whenever there was the
smallest nucleus of a written or picture
or sign language among un@jvilized ma
tlons 1t was the custom to prepare for the
nation IN question Bible or d book from
the Bible, printed in their own tongue
ana their own characters. But many ma
tions were found to have no written or
stable sign language, and for them the
Bible has been printed in Roman letters,
arranged in the words of their language,
spelled phonetically or as they pronounce
the words of their language.
This plan is being adopted with respect
to some nations which have u written
language, as it is found to be about as
easy to teach them their own words
spelled in English as it would be to teach
them to read their own sign language.
by the new method very great saving
III cost is effected, as elaborate and
strange characters do not have to be
printed. AS rule, the missionaries have
no great trouble in teaching the natives
TO read their language spelled out in
Roman or English letters, and, with
Bible of this kind, the work of teaching
the natives the English language itself
would be very much simplified. The
varieties of the language spoken bv the
nations for which Bibles are now being
printed in New York are illustrated pV
The following examples:
The twenty-eighth verse of the first
chapter of Genesis reads:
And God blessed them, and God said
unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and
lSp4OAtoh INC edItl, anu SuDUQ6 1t: and
nave dominion over the fish of the sea.
and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the
earth"
In the Rux language the same verse
reads:
''kot ap afaia1u ir, Kot kin kapas
nanal II, Au pue aupua tn. nura la, O
autane Ia tanufan, o tanuanai i: o au pue
namanl TX kama leset, o man susu kama,
~ IN ma i,,;s, Ii
uan fanutan."
Having no word for God which was an
plicable, the natives were taught the Enr-
lish word. and they pronounce it as if it
were spelled hot. Genesis is spelled
Jenesis for them, and their word for chap
ter is sopon.
The society is also engaged in reprint
ing the Zulu version of the Bible in Ro-
man letters. The present translation is
Inc work OF various missionaries of the
American Board, and in recent wears
there have been many urgent calls for it
from missionaries i'll Southeastern Africa
a large and representative committee has
been organized to revise the existing YER
sion, but it will be several years before
Its work is completed. The new edition
which Is now passing through the press
is from photo plates. This is method of
printing which has lately come into great
iavor, because it saves a good deal of
money for the society on composition
and proof reading. Each page of the old
Bible in Zulu was photographed, and a
plate was prepared from the photograph.
The new edition has benefited by some
photographed emendations. A short
while ago an edition of 5000 copies of the
Zulu Bible was printed, and the edition
which is now in press, numbers 1000
copies.
The first verse of the twenty-eighth
chapter of the Second Chronicles in Eng
lish reads thus:
% haz was 20 years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in
Jerusalem; but he did not that which was
right in the sight of the Lord, like David,
his father"
In the Zulu tongue, rendered phonetic
ally, Chronicles becomes IzikronilSe. and
each chapter is an Isahluko. The Book
OF Ezra is lncwadi Ia Terra. The above
verse in Zulu Is printed in this way:
'Uahazi wa gala ukubusa @ neminyaki
e ngamashumi amablli, wa busa Jeru-
salema iminyaka ishumi nesitupa:
kodWa kenZanga okulungileyo emehl-
weni ka Jehova, njengo Davida uyise."
The Zulu word for God appears as Je-
| hova, but this is word which was taught
| the people by the missionaries. They
have no word in their own language an
swering to our idea of the Lord.
The society has in the press transla-
ton of the Book OF Genesis in the Mus
kokee language, prepared by the Rev. j.
K. Ramsay, missionary OF the Presby-
terian Church, and revised by Mrs. A. Il.
| w. Robertson, PHI. D., with the help of
| the Rev. John Edwards. 1t is for the
! Creek and Seminole Indians, who come
/ under the care of Presbyterian, Metho-
/ dist and Baptist native pastors. The
| translation was offered to the society. and
there was unanimous request for its
publication from the Presbytery of Mus