The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1941-11-20
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Strikes Village OF Bluffton Missionary

fected area. The decision 10 go Dach
alone was one requiring real courage
because no one would risk his life
to help him in case of illness. In
case of death, he we'll knew that no
one would bury him and that he
would be exposed to the vultures and
the wild animals.
When he arrived in Dharcula he
found that many were i'll from chol-
era and that many had died. He inn
mediately went to work and began to
administer medicine to the sick and
preventive medicine to the well.
Wherever a person died he disinfect-
ed the house.
DISCLOSING OF CoRPSES
One of his greatest difficulties was
to persuade the natives to bury their
dead. In one instance a Hindu res
ident died of the disease and lay in
his yard for a day. No one wanted
to bury him because he had no rela-
tives except a five-year-old daughter.
Finally a neighbor took the corpse
and dragged it by the foot over the
rough stony ground and threw it
into the river. The daughter wan
dered around the town for days try
ing to get some one to take care of
her. Finally one of the residents
took pity on her and decided to give
her food and shelter.
Other residents in the community
were disposing of the corpses in the
same manner and shortly afterwards
cholera also broke out in villages on
both banks of the Kali river below,
which depend on river water for ex-
istence. With considerable effort the
missionary was able to convince the
people not to throw the dead bodies
into the river.
SCENES OF HORROR
After a week Rev. Steiner re-
turned to Khela and along the road
many scenes of horror were encoun-
tered. In one instance he encoun-
tered a Bhotiya widow near the
road. Her husband had died two
days before and three of her four
small daughters were also i'll or dy-
ing with the disease. As he saw the
dying mother, one could not help but
wonder what would become of the
children. In another case he saw a
widow of 60 deserted by her family
and left to die and be devoured by
the vultures.
During the entire route Rev. Stein
er saw corpses right and left and
dozens and dozens very i'll with the
disease and little chance for recov-
cry. Most of the corpses were eth
er eaten by the vultures or by the
wild animals. So bad was the epi-
demic that the road from Dharchula
to Sirkha was closed to all mission
travel during May and June.
HARD TO CONTROL
Through administration of serums,
disinfectants and medicines, Rev.
Steiner was able to restrict the raw
ages of the epidemic. One of the
difficulties in control was due to the
fact that in the Himalayas one can
travel only 10 miles per day and the
epidemic was raging over 10 mile
area. With hundreds of cholera vic
TINS in the area single medical
practitioner also found himself at a
disadvantage in terms of numbers.
Most of the hundreds who died
from the disease passed away with
out Christ, Rev. Steiner pointed out
in his letter.
Rev. and Mrs. Steiner occasionally
travel in mysterious Tibet, land
seldom traversed by white man. Mrs.
Steiner once did a favor for a Tt
betan official and in return special
favors now can be secured by the
missionaries.
Rev. and Mrs. Steiner returned to
this country on furlough in 1887 and
spent considerable time in Bluffton.
They are not working under any
mission board and are known as
faith missionaries" depending on
voluntary contributions from both in
dividuals and churches.