Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-08-02
A Missionary in Hainan
In the Crime Of sinar,

recently destroyed. We walked about
we had our breakfast. Mr.. Byers had
his horse with him and hade some Of
the way After that we climbed the
first mountain, about as steep as the
bluffs along the Iowa river near the
cemetery and four or five times as
high. The carriers who carry our bag
gage cannot manage load of much
more than eighty pounds, forty in each
basket, over these mountain trails,
Along this road we go, thru streams
and jungles. where there are tree ferns
twenty and thirty feet high, with per-
fcctly beautiful foliage. About two IN
the afternoon our party divided and we
came over another mountain to the
village OF Dang -kow -liau or Eastern
Melon Shed" where we spent two
nights.
One night while we were there some
men came in with a flying fox which
had been shot with poisoned arrow.
He had wings like bat only
when the skin was spread out the
shape was oblong, except for the head
and tail. about two feet by two and
one-haf in size, with claws at each
corner. The tail was fully foot long
nice and bushy. / begged the skin as
q souvenier. Last night in another
village one OF the men shot small
deer with his gun and we had venison
I have also seen a porcupine, with his
quills some OF them almost q foot long.
At the communion which was held
Easter Sunday twenty-four Of the
fifty-five candidates examined for
church membership were baptized. II
was q wonderful service up there in
the heart Of the mountains, In the
grass matched chapel, with six or
seven hundred people in the audience.
These people are very responsive TO
Christianity, having naturally a simple
religious temperament, and they dear
" love to sing. They meet every
morning and evening in their chapels
to sing, pray, read and study. A num-
her of the women and girls are doing
very well with their studying-ana
none Of them had ever looked at a
book until two or three years ago.
A Plague of Leeehes.
Monday Mr.. Byers returned TO
Kachek and Tuesday went Oh into the
mountains to another village. From
this village OF Ea-lai we went a Jour
ney or about six or seven miles over
mountain trails to a new village just
being established. ] had a long de-
sired wish fulfilled those few days as
/ went over trails into villages where
no white woman had ever been, and
e,$o q
yet gone. Mr.. Byers had left his horse
for me, and the poor creature was
literally pulled up the steep mountains.
Riding him was out of the question.
We reached the village just in time to
escape heavy rain. The next morn
ing when we started out every one
knew leeches would be plentiful. The
stick with little bag Of salt and betei-
nut flowers fastened to the end, TO
scrape the creatures OH. They literally
feel after you from every. blade OF
grass, stick or stone. only had one
bite-but / was SO busy picking leech-
es of my walking boots and stick ana
gloves that had no time to botanic or
admire the scenery on the step noun
tain we climbed. We had six Mao
men with US that day, with their
murderous looking knives in the woven
sheaths at their backs, and they had to
clear roads for the carriers and for
the pony where we crossed deep ra-
vines on bridges Of slender poles LASH
ed together. This was really the most
difficult part Of the trip. though we did
ten or twelve miles one awfully hot
morning over an open mountain when
I was good and tired at the end. We
dare not drink unboiled water in this
country and altho we carry. canteens
with us We often stop at streams and
boil kettle of water to quench our
thirst. The teakettle. the mosquito net
and the quinine are inseparaole COM
panions on any trip ont here.
Chinese Fishing.
This spring there has been almost no
rain and the rivers .1S lew. Ca2se-
quently the people have been fishing
on a large scale. A number OF villages
20 together and dam the river. Then
they take the bark Of a certain tree,
something like a lacquer tree. and
pound it fine, mix 1t with macerated
bark of certain vine.l and put pounds
and pounds Of the mixture into the
river. It either kills or Supplies the