“Amidst old tins and bottles on the shelves we see San Antonio and the Virgin. On the wall hangs a picture of what looks something like a woman, the Virgin. A rope full of clothes stretches across the room, and a few other odds and ends leave but little space, which is filled up with smell.” This is what the missionary has to contend with, and as we emerge into the sunshine, and breathe God’s air once more, we long to see a large, airy building where the sick ones can be tended and nursed back to health. Shall we not begin to pray: “Lord send out some of Thy messengers, and some day, if it is Thy will, I will go and help them.” Coming, coming, yes they are, Coming, coming from afar; From beyond the Andine mountains, From Bolivia’s mighty plains, As they hear the Gospel story, And are loosed from Satan’s chains. CHAPTER IX PEARLS OF PERU Last, but not least, we come to the most historical and romantic Republic of the whole continent, Peru. This country was discovered by an adventurer named Pizarro. He was a zealous Roman Catholic, but his spirit of greediness over-balanced his religion, and the story of his conquest of the Inca Indians of Peru, as related by Prescott, is one of the darkest in history. Before the invasion of Pizarro and his fellow-countrymen, over four hundred years ago, there lived a very highly-civilized race of Indians who called themselves the “Children of the Sun.” They were a most enlightened and industrious people, having their own king, as well as their own laws and religion. Since the days of Pizarro and his followers everything has changed. The king was slain with hundreds of his loyal subjects, and the Spaniards took possession of the land. There you will see the Indians to-day, living in spiritual darkness and superstition, scarcely able to call their souls their own, a crushed and conquered remnant of a once splendid race; and to-day “the children’s souls which God is calling sunward, spin on blindly in the dark.” On the lonely mountain side we will find them, tiny mites of three and four years of age, tending the sheep, and often very scantily protected from the severe and biting winds. But the mountain children have an easy time of it compared to the children of the city, for slavery and starvation are the common lot of these little ones. We will visit Cuzco, the romantic and religious city of the Inca race; but we must not forget to sprinkle our handkerchiefs with perfume, for we have now got back to the hot climate, and the streets we are walking through are long and narrow and have an open drain running down the centre, a common thing in these cities. But if we would be missionaries some day, we must not mind the smells now, especially as we want to become acquainted with some of the “Pearls of Peru.”