MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN TUNIS.

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(Continued from page 63.)

R. H. G. HARRIS, the Director of the Central Soudan Mission, most kindly offered us (continues the Rev. C. F. W. Flad) the use of his Mission House at Gabes, and we were very glad to avail ourselves of such a good opportunity. Having left Sfax on board an Italian steamer, we arrived in one night at Gabes, and early in the morning were welcomed by Mr. Leadbetter, an earnest Scotchman, who has been for many years in the country. Abdu, a Hausa man, servant in the Mission House, shewed us, with a beaming face, how he had kept everything in good order. With special consciousness of his fidelity he opened a deep cupboard in the wall, and gave us to understand that his watchful eye had been fixed on the precious thing which it contained. There was what Abdu called: "Makina inta Saidna Isa" (machine of the Lord Jesus), that is, a splendid magic lantern. With its help Abdu and many other Hausa negroes had learnt something about our Lord. We heard that the young Englishmen, who had been preparing to go into the Hausa country, used to bring together sometimes as many as fifty and more Hausas, to whom they shewed the lantern, and told, as well as they could, Bible stories.

HOUSES AT DJARA, BUILT WITH OLD ROMAN STONE.

In the afternoon Mr. Leadbetter called to shew us round the town, and especially the quarters and villages inhabited by Jews.

Gabes (Djara) is composed of several villages, which were built out of the remains of the Roman town Tacape, and more or less on its site. To this a few years ago was added a European town, with regular, large streets, and well-constructed houses. A little river, which even now was full of water, although no rain had fallen for two years, flows through a beautiful oasis of about ten miles in length. The scenery is enchanting. There are palm-trees of every height, and very vigorous, for they have plenty of water. Just then ripe fruits were hanging in golden sheaves down from the crown, and Arabs were seen gathering them. There were other fruit trees of all descriptions. Apricot trees of the strength of our biggest apple trees. Pomegranates were still hanging on the graceful branches of their trees, and between and across all these shrubs and trees the vine plant sent its branches in all directions, even up the tallest palm-trees. As we went on we passed many a clear rivulet, winding its way before us. It was indeed a refreshing sight to us, who for the last six months had seen nature scorched and barren. As it was Sabbath, we saw Jews and Jewesses gathered round and about their houses. The women dress almost like the Bedouin women of the country, with this sole exception, that the Jewesses do not tattoo themselves. As it was feast-day they had put on all their jewellery, their arms and foreheads being covered with it. It is hardly possible to give an idea of their dwellings. They offer a great contrast to the smiling, luxuriant nature around them. What these people live in cannot be called houses; but heaps of material put one upon the other. The best, and in fact the only solid partof their walls, is formed by stones and pillars from Roman ruins, and the holes between are filled up with mud. There they live with horse, ass, cow, goat and hen, and are covered with swarms of flies. These troublesome insects seem to be good friends of the Jews, who would allow them to walk across their faces in all directions and not even attempt to drive them away. There were other insects, too, which might frighten a lady from close contact with these people; but the women were so homely, and glad to talk and listen, that this made Mrs. Flad forget all the rest. We met many little boys with paies," .e., locks in front of their ears. Posts and wires drawn here and there, from one end of the road to the other, indicated the Sabbath walks. Several of the synagogues which we visited were extremely picturesquely situated in the midst of palm

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groves, and they were good, handsome buildings, giving one an idea of religious fervour on the part of the worshippers, who, contenting themselves with holes, wished their place of prayer to be better.

I looked at the Scriptures used by most of them during the afternoon service. I did not see a copy either of our Society's version of the Old Testament, or of the British Society's. They use books much inferior in print and paper, and generally supplied

a servant in a Christian family in Algeria, and the people had given her a Catechism. She was struck by the agreement between what she had heard then and what was told her now. She seemed to drink in all the words, especially the parable of the prodigal son, and the words of our Lord, "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Before leaving she told Mrs. Flad she was sure she had been specially sent for her sake,

with some rabbinic explanations at the bottom. These are printed at Livorno, in Italy. From this entire absence of our versions I concluded that I should have to do pioneer work in this place, and I was not mistaken.

On Sunday morning an Algerian Jewess, whom Mrs. Flad had met in one of those filthy dwellings, called. For almost two hours she sat and listened attentively to Mrs. Flad. The many trials of her life -including a drunken husband and a consumptive child-had opened her heart. Years ago she had been

for she had been on the point of despair, but now she could go on again.

Early on Monday morning I went among the Jews offering them our Hebrew Bibles, of which Mr. Mercadier had sent a good supply. The sale of our Hebrew Scriptures is the first step we generally take. To my great pleasure I found that an old rabbi had bought some of our Bibles five years ago, and he now took ten more and paid their price. I continued cheerfully on my way, feeling that after a rabbi had taken them they would now certainly be esteemed as

good and lawful. The beautifully-bound books were much admired by all who passed us. We crossed the river and came to a large synagogue in the oasis. The rabbi, who lay in a corner covered all over on account of a painful eye disease, was alarmed by his pupils, who at our arrival broke out into bursts of joy and admiration at the pretty books we brought. This rabbi, too, put ten Bibles aside, and at once sent a big boy to fetch the money from the chief of the synagogue, who was at work in the bazaar. Everybody was astonished at the cheapness of these Hebrew Old Testaments. Several boys ran and fetched their mothers. Many asked whether I was a Jew, whether I prayed with the tephillim, and so on. My porter (himself a Jew) told the people that the books had been taken by the rabbis, and now the whole village became excited. The poor, ignorant women took some of the books, opened them, kissed their pages, pressed the book on their hearts, and most were only too glad to pay its price. Some tried, of course, to bargain, but my remark that the Word of God should not be made an object of bargaining, put them right. There was every hope of a rapid and good sale, and I began to think that my whole stock of over fifty Bibles would soon be gone, and that by these sales I should make many good connections. In the midst of this joyful excitement about the sacred books, there came, like a thunderbolt, the news that the chief of the synagogue would not pay for the ten Bibles taken by the rabbi, and that the "dian" was not in favour of them. The ten Bibles were immediately returned, and all those who had not paid for their Bibles brought them back, and all those Jews, both old and young, who had been beaming with, welcome, were now full of suspicion, alarm, and even contempt. It was grievous to see how, owing to the ill-will of their rulers, these people turned against us in a few moments. Yet I had not said one word about Jesus of Nazareth, or Christianity. I had brought them their own Old Testament Scriptures, clearly proving that we owned the same basis. However, I was determined to find out what these rulers had to object to, and straightway went to the above-mentioned "dian," whom I found in the bazaar, sitting on a sack of sugar in front of his broker's shop. The old man looked at me with a good deal of contempt; and then I told him how astonished I was to find that the rulers of the Jews had raised difficulties about the books, which for years had been authorized by the Chief Rabbi at Tunis, and that it would be very wrong of him to prevent his people from supplying themselves with these Old Testament Scriptures, unless he could bring forth some solid

reasons.

He began to tell me, with some confusion, that he had seen on the title page a word which he did not like. That terrible word was 17 (London). A Jewish merchant, who stood near, saved me the trouble of explaining what it meant, namely, that it was the city, which they are wont to call London. However, this did not move the dian; on the contrary, this exposure of his ignorance made him all the more stubborn, and he seemed anxious to shew that in spite of it he might lord it over these poor people as he liked. He told me that as yet he had found no mistakes in the text, but before he could recommend his people to buy it, he must look up "Schulchan Aruch." This was another absurdity, for this compendium of Rabbinic Judaism was compiled by Joseph Ephraim Karo, who lived at Safed at the time of the Reformation. My argument, that he could not possibly find anything in the "Schulchan Aruch" against our Bibles, for the former had been completed three centuries ago and our version since that time, did not tell upon the old man. He suggested that I should discontinue my sales till the next morning, when he promised to give me a final answer. For that day the doors seemed closed amongst the Jews, and we therefore turned to the Gentiles. With bags full of French and Italian tracts almanacs and Gospels we went into European Gabes. There we met a great number of French soldiers just about to fetch water from the well. They were very grateful for the tracts and Scriptures. It was a pleasure to distribute among them, and they willingly listened to a few words. These soldiers belonged to a regiment formed out of the worst elements of the French nation. Juvenile criminals, rogues, thieves and others are in its ranks. They never receive money and are continually under most severe discipline. They are not used to being noticed by a decent person. Some years ago one of these discipli naries was brought to L'unis as witness in a criminal case then before the military tribunal. Through one of our invitation bills he came to our French service, and what he heard there, and afterwards from one of the English missionary ladies, caused him to begin a new life. We thought of this encouraging experience, and accompanied our distribution with much prayer. A European, who had been observing us, came up when we had finished, and said, "Sir, you are no doubt one of our religion. of our religion. I am a Protestant, and I suppose you are an evangelist or pastor. Will you be so good as to visit us? My old mother, who has come to stay with us for some months, will be so pleased to see you." We accepted most willingly tus invita ion, and as he promised to pass again in a quarter-of-an

hour, we in the meantime looked up a French Protestant girl, whom Mrs. Flad had known at Tunis, and who had since been married in Gabes. Our coreligionist, who is employed in the French administration, soon came back and took us to his house. There we spent a most refreshing hour, listening to the spiritual experiences of that old mother, at whose request I read the Bible and prayed with them before I left. At some other houses and shops also we were able to leave tracts and to speak some words.

On the morrow I went first to the "dian," who received me coldly, and told me to go and wait for him at the synagogue. I answered that I would not do this, and insisted with all solemnity that, before God, who was our witness, I wanted him to state clearly now whether there was anything wrong in the text of our Bibles. The "dian" answered that the text was all right, but that there was every indication that these Bibles had been printed and bound by "Epicoros Jews," meant by this "converted Jews." For this reason he, the dian, would not touch the books and could not encourage his people to buy. As for those who had already bought, they might keep and use. them. Thus his unwillingness was owing to fanaticism and religious tyranny. (To be continued.)

A VISIT TO JEWS IN COCHIN.

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The way has recently been providentially opened to commence, or perhaps I should more correctly say, recommence a little Gospel work among the several small but interesting congregations of Jews, who are located on this part of the Malabar coast. The town of Native Cochin is their head quarters, where they have three synagogues, and two at Ernakulam on the opposite side of the Backwater. Some fifty or sixty years ago there was a Scotch mission to the Jews at British Cochin carried on by the Rev. E. Laseron, schools were opened and good work was done, and it seems a pity that the mission was abandoned. The church built by Rev. E. Laseron was handed over to the C. M. S. about the year 1860. Nothing has been done among the Jews since, except preaching to them occasionally; but our C. M. S. congregations, following the good example of Tinnevelly, devoted their Good Friday offertories this year throughout the diocese to work among the Jews. At the same time some friends in England, especially Major Giberne, and J. Reed, Esq., who had both been on the Malabar Coast of India, were interesting themselves in the translation and publication in Malayalam of "The Promised Messiah." Accordingly at the last meeting of the Travancore C. M. S. Conference in June, the Rev. C. E. R. Romilly and myself were appointed to commence a tentative mission to the Malabar Jews. As I had just been transferred from Tiruwella" to my old station "Trichur," I could undertake this work without difficulty, and rather as helping forward my direct work of Evangerisation, or preaching the Gospel to Erery creature. Certainly it was not St. Paul's practice in his preaching tours to neglect the Jews, though he was the apostle of the Gentiles, but to go to them first. I proceed now to give a brief account of an interesting tour I made among the Cochin Jews last September. Unfortunately Mr. Romilly was unable to accompany me. For the information of

my readers, I should state, that the Jewish population in and around Cochin is very small, not more than 1150 persons including children, and that they belong to the "Sephardim" division, and are classed popularly as "Black' or "White" Jews, but more correctly there are at least three classes, which may be called"The native" or original settlers. "The white Jews" a much later and probably a European colony, and "Those of mixed descent" who were formerly slaves of the white Jews. They are exceedingly devout in their religious observances; the men as a rule read and understand Hebrew. They also speak the colloquial Malayalam. A few of the white Jews know English. They have altogether 8 synagogues, all of which I visited. I have already referred to five, the other three are situated in Parur, Chenamangalam and Mala, places somewhat near to one another, trom fifteen to twenty miles north of the town of Cochin.

Mr. A. D. Matthai, Walter Jones Evangelist, brother of the pastor here, accompanied me on this tour. Coming from the south, the first synagogue we visited was in "Malu" a small town situated at the head of a creek, about 8 miles East of Karupatna where one of the main roads from Trichur reaches the Backwater. I

We sailed up the creek. It was on Saturday, September 14, and the first man I met was a Jew. who had come to wash his mouth after taking his food. The Jews are easily recognisable, by the jacket, skullcap and two curls hanging down, one on each

side of the face. I saluted him. and said I had come to see his people. He replied, it is the "Sabbat." Thev are exceedingly strict in the observance of the Sabbath. I am told they do not even cook food. I went at once to the porch of the synagogue and sat down and was soon surrounded by a crowd of inquisitive men and boys so that I could hardly breathe. My companion had gone to seek out a lodging for us. I took my Hebrew Bible with me, and read a portion of Isaiah liii. Their Rabbi or teacher came and sat by me, evidently with the intention of defeating me in argument. Not knowing Hebrew well enough for a debate I felt my weakness. He brought forward the old Rabbinical objection that "He shall see his seed," Isaiah liii. 10. could not refer to the Messiah, because the word for seed "Zera always meant natural offspring. I took him to Psalm xxii. 30, "a seed (Zera) shall serve him, it shall be counted to the Lord for a generation," where the word has clearly a figurative meaning.

One argument he brought forward was exceedingly ingenious, riz., it is said in Isaiah Ixvi. 17, that the Lord would consume those who eat swine's flesh, and as the Nazarenes eat pork, they cannot be God's people. He wouldn't accept the answer which suggested itself to me, that the Gentiles became God's people under the terms of the new covenant recorded in Jeremiah xxxi., and are not therefore compelled to observe all the precepts of the ceremonial law.

There are about 16 families of native Jews in Mala. They have a sort of headman or Moulvie, over them, also a Rubbi or minister. A Cohen or Priest comes from Ernakulam occasionally to give the blessing. They think they belong to the 24 tribes who settled beyond Jordan, and if so are Israelites and not strictly Jews. The rest of the population in Mala consists of SyroRomanists and Mohammedans.

We had several open-air preachings in Mala The SyroRomanists were formerly friendly, and are inclined to be so now, but they fear the curse denounced from the altar against those who touch the English (!), heretical books. However, a poor blind. man who put me up 10 years ago, allowed me to sleep in the verandah of his mud house or hut. It was not very clean, but we were glad to get any accommodation. On Sunday morning I had a long conversation with the Jews. The Rabbi again came to the rescue with his Rabbinical commentary. He thought he had pinned us on Isaiah vii. 14, because the word "Almah" translated virgin, frequently means a young married girl. We took him to Genesis xxiv. 43, where the same word is used of Rebekah found by Eliezer at the well. We shewed him also Song of Solomon, i. 3, and vi. 8, where the same word is used. refused to accept even a Hebrew "Promised Messiah" because of the quotations from the New Testament with which he didn't agree. We asked him to give us his opinion of the Promised Messiah. Could he say he was David's son, i.e., descended from King David. He said "yes." Then we put him our Lord's question on Psalm ox. 1, which he could not answer.

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A Jewish woman had no idea that the word "Mashiha”