Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-03

rather One-sided, as the procedure is to kill
twenty chickens, cook and eat nineteen and
throw out the twentieth to Umvili.
"Golos and Dinkas both associate the
ideas of reverence and divinity with the
sky, and of malignity and punishment with
the bowels of the EARTH pointing upward
to their gods and downward to their devils
This association is, l believe, universal, and
has probably it's origin in sun worship
The natural human instinct for religion is
probably as deeply rooted in the Bahr-el-
GhaZal as elsewhere, and manifests itself
perhaps in the readiness with which these
tribes embrace Islam when they learn
about it in Sudanese regiments or as
slaves"
A report on the same subject from Rev.
Mr.. Giffen varies somewhat He repre-
sents them as believing in a supreme being
who created the world and controls every
event for good or evil, but they do not di-
rectly worship him or have any RESPONSE
bility to Him except through an intermedi-
airy called Nfk-Kanga, sort of mediator
to whom they erect temples and make sac
rifices These sacrifices have influence upon
their health and prosperity, the growth of
their crops and f1ocks and herds, and their
peace and happiness. In each village is a
temple, usually small hut set apart for
worship in charge of priests. They have no
definite notions as to how the influence of
the supreme being is exercised or how the
mediation of the Nik-Kanga is applied nor
have they any theory of a future life.
Working Since 1854.
The United Presbyterians have been work.
ing in the valley of the Nile since 1854 with
great success 1 wrote you concerning their
schools the other day, and you may be in
terested in some reference to their evan
gelical work which has resulted in fifty-two
regularly organized churches, with mem
bership of $780, of whom 3, 725 are men and
3,0I7 are women. During the year 1902 $40
were admitted to the churches upon pro-
fesSion of faith, and the average attendance
at the Sabbath morning services was 10, 723
during the year. There are seventy-one
missionaries of foreign birth at work, in
Guiding teachers and physicians, and 495
native clergyymen, colporteurs, teachers
and mission workers, including fifty women
who go into the harems and homes of the
native families and read and teach the wo-
men and girls who are entirely shut out of
the world Last year 1.75S copies of the
Bible, S,133 religious books and 81, 375 edu-
catiOnal books were sold.
DR.. Ewing of Cairo, the pioneer and dean
of tie American missionary COLONY tells
me that Lord Cromer and other officials are
kind and helpful; that the khedive and the
Egyptian officers are friendly, and that the
natives are tolerant and kindly disposed.
The mission workers seldom have trouble
except occasionally, when they come into
contact with vicious and disorderly ruffians
The Mohammedan priests are very decent
sort of people from their own standpoint
and seldom interfere with the missionaries
except to try to keep the children away
from the Protestant schools.
The Ruined Mosques.
1 have not said anything about the
mosques of Cairo, although there are more
than 800, because most of them are in
ruins, many are devoted to secular pur-
poses and the remainder do not compare
with those of Constantinople, Damascus
and the Mohammedan cities of India. One
of them. called the Sultan Hassan mosque,
was originally a magnificent building and
is known 1.-The superb" 1t was built
more than 500 years ago and at that time
cost 50 100000. Many writer's claim that il
Is the most perfect example in existence of
Saracenic ecclesiastical architecture, and
THAT its proportions are absolutely perfect.
Without admitting this pretension, it is
certainly a noble and majestic building, but
has been allowed to fall into a wretched
sta tie of decay. The walls no longer
safe and the dome may fall at any moment
Instead of restoring 1t, the late khedive
wasted his energies and emptied his purse
in the erection of a new mosque, imme-
dia tely across the street, which is only
half finished, but contains his tomb and
those of his mother, wife and daughters.
The Sultan HaSsan mosque has vast cir
cular dome 1870 feet high springing from
square tower. The outer walls are 100 feet