[Sidenote: The Use of Maps.] We shall consider first of all the German missionary societies and their labors. Before beginning the study of any particular field the reader should refer to the brief account of the origin and history of these societies in Chapter II. He should also refer constantly to the map, marking, if possible, on a map of his own the position of each foreign field. Thus he will add not only accuracy but interest to his missionary study. [Sidenote: A Gift for Missions.] The _Basel Society_, which is, it should be remembered, not wholly Lutheran in organization, support, or workers, had already established missions in other places when, in 1834, it received a gift of $10,000 from the Prince of Schönberg with the stipulation that it should start a mission in a new place. The spot selected was the Malabar district on the west coast of India on the opposite side of the peninsula from Tranquebar and thither three missionaries were promptly sent. [Sidenote: Hard Hearts in a Fertile Land.] The country which they had selected was beautiful and fertile, but the hearts of the inhabitants were hard soil. A proverb expressed their carelessness and indifference: “What can man do? Idleness is good, sleep is better, death is best of all.” In the mission field six different languages were spoken, and thus long study and much literary work were required before permanent results could be hoped for. Establishing their first station at Telicheri the missionaries worked out into the surrounding country. As soon as possible they began to preach, to establish schools and to translate the Bible into the native tongues. [Sidenote: An Experiment.] Not the least of their difficulties was the lack of tried missionary principles. One worker was convinced that the only way to impress the heathen was to live their life with them. Persuading other new missionaries to his way of thinking, he left the mission buildings and established himself with thirty Hindu boys in a little hut. The floor served for chairs and table and the missionary ate with his pupils three times a day their meal of rice. An illness brought him to his senses and he returned to a sane way of living. With such devotion and diligence did the Basel missionaries labor that when one of the earliest workers was married eight years after the establishment of the mission one hundred and twenty Christians came to the wedding. Spreading northward into the Bombay Presidency the mission had established by 1913 twenty-six stations with sixty missionaries and not less than twenty thousand Christians.