The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 04, April 1879 — John Shaqi
The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 04, April 1879Various
History
The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 04, April 1879
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
As they gently and elegantly wheeled in regular order into their
respective places, three well-formed and comely girls, about
nineteen, side by side, tossing their bodies right and left, to
and fro, in a very graceful manner, danced together for nearly
a quarter of an hour. After the triple dance there was a double
one; this was succeeded by a single dance. These three girls were
then withdrawn and other members of the order were selected to
fill their places. Many feats of skill in dancing were performed
by the first three. I noticed that when they danced their supple
limbs were tossed in many enigmatical postures, which drew forth
applause and great laughter from the bystanders, who understood
them. After dancing for an hour before us, the leader of the
mystic sisterhood ordered it discontinued, and they retired to a
capacious bamboo-covered hut to partake of refreshments, which
seemed to have been prepared and furnished by every village
for miles around. Before taking my departure I inquired of the
chieftess who these women were. She replied that they were the
Bundoo women, who were about to remove their place of meeting to
Carter, farther into the interior, because they were molested or
hindered by the advance of Christianity, which is continually
increasing about their old meeting bush. All must acknowledge
this as a triumph for Christianity, and those who contribute to
the support of the Shengay mission ought to rejoice that they
have had the privilege of being instrumental in causing one of
the greatest evils to Africa’s social and Christian advancement
to move back into the forest, there to await the coming day of
its inevitable dissolution, which, I trust, is not far off.
* * * * *
A Visit to the Interior.
REV. A. E. JACKSON, AVERY.
Avery is situated at the head of navigation on the Little Sherbro
river, a beautiful site overlooking a vast scope of country. It
is about forty-three miles from Good Hope, and quite accessible
to any point where we may wish to push our work in future; and
it is hoped that this station will be the centre from which
many stations may be planted still further into the interior at
no distant future. The Little Sherbro river, with its rippling
stream, glides within a few hundred feet of Avery, and flows into
the Big Bargroo river, and the Big Bargroo, with its tributaries,
opens an avenue to any part of Africa accessible by water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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