The morning call., 1894-05-07
Wild People Who Worship
Demons.
WHAT A MISSIONARY SAYS.
Twenty Years of Labor Among
Savages.
EXPERIENCE OF REV. M. MASON.
A Land Where Elephants Are Cap.
tured In Great Numbers and
Trained for Service.

Rev. M. c. Mason. who for the past
twenty years has labored as q missionary
among the Garos of the western border of
Lower Assam, is guest at the Occidental.
He is accompanied by Mrs. Mason, their
two daughters and Miss E. E. Bond, his
niece, and Mrs. Hancock. missionary
stationed at Mandalay. Burmah. Mr..
Mason is on his way home for pro-
longed visit. this being the second time he
has left Asia in twenty years.
The Garos are people quite dis
tinct from the Assamsse." said Mr..
Mason. "They speak different language
and are of Mongolian origin, while the
Assamese are Aryans. They are much
lower than the true Assamese In the scale
of civilization.
"Our principal station is at Tura. The
Caro- mission is under the American Bap-
tist Missionary Union. We have had over
5000 converts since went to the country
in 1874. and there are about 2300 native
Christians at the new station now.
"rhe country which the Garos inha bit is
mountainous one, at the extreme west of
the range which projects into the Bengal
plains. The people seem to be allied to
the Koreans.
Their language is made up in peculiar
sort OF way. Each syllable seems to be
a word or have meaning, and these are
com mnined to form new words.
The people were extremely barbarous
when | went there. | was told on my ar
rival that the British Government was
about to Issue an order that no white man
should 60 into that county without
police escort, but | went, and although we
have mad several frights from the natives
during the past twenty years, / cannot
say that our lives have ever been endan-
gered. The country is wild one, filed
with wild beasts. and until recently it took
from one TO two months to get ones pro-
visions there from Calcutta.
THE natives are neither Buddhists nor
worshiptrs of Brahma. Their whole re-
ligiou seems to be a SuperstiNous fear of
demons and spirits. Formerly they Of
fered human sacrifices, and have had the
chiefs work with me for days at time
urging me to request the British Govern.
ment to allow them to offer up human
sacrifice for some purpose or other. They
are wild, ignorant, and almost naked
people.
'The Garos have nofwritten language.
We had TO reduce their language to writ
ing, translate the Scriptures into it and
then start schools in which we taught the
natives to read.
u. II. L NY DTUtucE.iu.laW, was
the only othsr early missionary besides
myself among the Garos. In more recent
times Mr.. Boggs Of Nebraska and Mr..
Dring of Kansas have been sent ou. by The
American Baptist Union. which is the
only religious organization having mis-
sionaries among these people. The only
other white men in the country are the
British officials. Upon my return ex-
pect to take back twenty-five miss onaries
to labor there.
"The country is land of mountain and
jungle. There is much malaral fever, but
other wise it is healthful. The thermom-
eter ranges from AZ degrees to 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. There is dry and wet
season. The rains fall during June, July
and August. A few showers fall in May.
In June the rain sets in in earnest and it
rains continuously there for days at a
time.
"One OF the great pastimes or pursuits
Of the Garos is the elephant drive" con-
tinued Mr.. Mason. ''The largest elephant
catch ever made was made In this region
when 137 animals were captured. The
natives start out and form a circle cover
ing a large area of country. The area is
gradually lessened Until the animals are
driven into pen. Domesticated elephants
are used to assist in the drive. The ele-
phants, except the very old ones, are easily
domesticaled, and within two or three
months after they are captured are quite
tame. They are used by the Government
mostly, which has them at every station.
They are used In carrying loads through
the 1ungieS and in many ways.