The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-02-24
FOR FAR-OFF HEATHER
SOME OF THE THINGS SENT ABROAD
BY THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD.
Articles of Civilization Forwarded
to OutpOsts OF Savagery.
New York Mail and Express.

Otner Things tnan tiDleS go 10 the ldnuS
of the benighted heather. The foreign
missionary takes his bicycle with him and
evangelizes awheel through the outposts of
savagery. His good wife sends back for
her sewing machine and manufactures
shirts for the untutored infants of the wild.
Both of them will insist on canned goods
and the hereditary substantials of the An
glo-Saxon palate. For their kitchens stoves
must be supplied; for their homes. library
books and pictures. and the thousand and
one articles demanded for their comfort
abroad keep a number of men busy in the
home Offices of every foreign missionary
board.
One of the important departments Of the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions is
devoted to the purchase and shipping of
goods for its laborers in remote regions.
Some idea of it's dimensions is gained from
the figures of the fiscal year lS94-95. In
that twelvemonth the board shipped 33Sls
tons of freight abroad in 164 separate in
voices. This represented 4,0iS packages.
There were 2,493 purchase orders issued,
and the difference between the two totals
represents the contributions of friends of
the missionaries transmitted TO their desti-
nation by the good offices of the board
The total value of all shipments for the
year was $50,205, and they occupied 1880
cubict feet of space in the holds of ocean
steamers. There are about $50 ministers
under direction of the board, and nearly all
at one time or another avail themselves of
its aid in importing goods from America.
The shipping department has grown up
with the development of the missions. 1t is
under the direction of Treasurer William
Dulles, jr. The board sends supplies TO its
fields in Mexico, Colombia, Chile. Brazil,
the Cameroons. Liberia, India, Syria, Siam,
Persia, North China and Japan. The goods
shipped take every form, from needles TO
safes. About the most valuable articles
sent are the printing presses, with which
the ministers print translations of the
Gospels and reduce TO English the literary
masterpieces of gnregenerate countries
ern Siam, perhaps, than to any other point.
LITTLE CLOTHING WANTED
From China and Japan there is little call
for food articles. the native diet being
largely adopted by the resident ministers
But for Siam and in parts of Central Africa
it has been necessary to send certain items
of food from time to time. Small de-
mand is made for clothing from any quar-
ter. The families of missionaries often
adopt the distinctive dress Of the people
among whom they work. finding the garb
| of the native more conducive to comfort
| than the parapherna.ia of western civiliza-
ton. There is, however, an occasional re-
| quest for linen shirts, underwear, socks
| and the like. Frequently the departing
volunteers carry with them to their sta
| tons rolls of cloth and linen, prepared to
| reclothe themselves as the tropic sun or
| the thorns of the jungle lay tribute upon
| their garments.
To each field a shipment is made on an
| average of once in about n monih. The
| board has it's purchasing agent. who goes
| out on the street and secures he best PAL
| gain he can from the merchants OF the
| metropolis precisely a commission brok-
| er would OF course, the supplies for the
| mission work are furnished from the funds
| of the general board, but the things re-
| quired for the homes ana personal needs
| of the ministers they pay for themselves.
| The charges of shipment are added 20 their
bills, the board merely assuming the cost
| in stock only in few places in Africa are
! there any vestiges IF the depot system
| whereby .the missionaries can have th?'r
needs attended to without sending Ito
America.
TIE incidents of shipping constitute an in
| teresting chapter. In the out-of-the-way
countries, remote from commerce and inno-
| cent of roads or ordinary methods of trans
| portation, recourse is mad to odd means of
back of a stout native. or the slow stages of
A house boat on some inland river, are re-
| serted to as occasion may. require. Some
| and swoops down upon little mission cara
| van. There are stupid custom house officers
| to be enlightened. and marauding sheiks are
| TO be placated before the goods are dropped
| In safety at the outlanders threshold.
variety of regulations is to be observed.
| In some countries the invoices are deter
mined by weight in others, by the number
| of articles. and in others by their value.
| Boxes of goods sent by friends or relatives
under care of the missions have to be I'M
| packed AMI broken up in variety of ways
| to conform to the customs OF the countries
| through which they pass. There is an endless
| amount of detail made necessary by the i'm
| post duties of the various peoples. In China
| there has been a very heavy tax on ma
chinery. while in Syria the Turkish tax col
| traband nature in the most innocent con-
signments.
REVOLUTIONS BARRED.
| Uncomplimentary references 10 the Mos
lem religion are sufficient to secure the con-
fscation of the books containing them and
only the most orthodox political doctrine is
safe from confiscation The story is told of
| sage custom house official who annexed a
treatise on astronomy because it contained
an unguarded reference to the revolution of
the solar system.
| Many difficulties beseI transportation in
the ancient provinces of Persia. The timer
airy of missionary camel train suggests the
| hymn line through flood and fire." For the
| convenience OF travellers, there ares caravan
| saries along the way about score of miles
| apart. These rude structures OF burnt brick
| were erected centuries ago by the Saffavian
kings At them the muleteer and the camel
| driver may bait their animals and them
| selves obtain meal OF fowls and eggs. The
| caravansaries are low, quadranguiar struc-
lures, surrounding an open court, in which
| and beast. Three sides OF the Enclosure are
| devoted to storehoGses anu stables, and Or
| the fourth side there are accommodations
Cor travellers. so rude that few care to tarry
lono
The average logs is very small. consider
| ing the distance and the primitive means oil
frnrt fnf = ra,axr rVlrf ~
the board to send the missionaries who
| make reQuisitioD for New Orleans molasscs
| the deiectable syrups OF Porto Rico instead
| as the American article Is apt To fermeni
in the passage AID burst the cans contain
ing IL.
Sometimes a rich native grows enamored
Of the conveniences OF his white teacher
and seekS by legitimate means to secure
! them for himself. In q station Of South