GENERAL NOTES.
THE INDIANS.
—W. H. McKinney, a Choctaw from the Indian Territory, graduated this year from Roanoke College, receiving the degree of B.A.
—Thirty Nez Perces women, widows of the men who fled from Idaho in 1876, have been permitted to leave the Indian Territory and return to their old homes.
—The Department at Washington has entered into an agreement with the managers of the Lincoln Institute, Philadelphia, whereby that institution is to undertake the education of fifty Indian girls.
—Bishop Whipple, when on a recent visit to the Indian department of the missionary diocese, administered the communion to 247 Chippewa Indians. There are eight churches in the Chippewa mission. One just building will cost $10,000.
—Three hundred acres of land have been purchased, south of Lawrence, Kansas, for the site of an Indian Industrial School, located by the last session of Congress. Suitable buildings will be erected for the accommodation of 500 pupils. Ten thousand dollars have been raised for the object by private subscription, and it will probably be completed by November 1.
—Information is published in Nebraska to the effect that the tradition that Indians will not work is untrue. On the line of the Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad they hang around the section houses and insist on being hired whenever any extra work is to be done, and every regular gang has both Winnebagoes and Omahas in it. They make efficient laborers, often giving better satisfaction than foreigners in the employ of the company.
THE CHINESE.
—The revival power is being manifested to a greater extent in Japan than elsewhere.
—A union for Christian work among the Chinese of Brooklyn, N.Y., has been formed, with Andrew A. Smith, Secretary of the Park Commission, at its head. A reading-room and headquarters will be established at 991 and 993 Fulton street.
—There are now more than 300 Chinese Christians on the Hawaiian Islands, and stated religious services for them are maintained at four different points. One of these Celestials, a member and a deacon of the Church in Honolulu, has built a school-house in his native village in China, and now supports a Christian teacher there, thus showing the importance of evangelistic work among the Chinese of these Islands.
—European statisticians are gradually reducing their estimates of the population of China. It used to be put at over 400,000,000. Behm and Wagner reduce their estimate for China and Corea from 434,500,000 to 379,500,000. Peterson reduces his estimate by 75,000,000, making the present total 350,000,000. Dr. Happer, missionary, believes this can safely be reduced another 50,000,000. Mr. Hippisley, Acting Commissioner of Customs, thinks 250,000,000 more nearly correct than 350,000,000. The losses by the Taeping and Mohammedan rebellions, and by the famine and pestilence which swept the provinces of Chili, Shantung, Shansi, Shensi and Houan, are variously estimated at from 61,000,000 to 81,000,000.
AFRICA.
—King Mtesa, of Uganda, is dead. He welcomed and co-operated with Capt. Speke, the discoverer of Victoria Nyanza, and has played a prominent part in all the events that have occurred in his kingdom, whether they were in the interest of exploration or mission work.
—The German Reichstag is said to have voted 1,000,000 marks, about £50,000, for the expense of a German exploring expedition into Central Africa.
—Mr. H. M. Stanley is said to have used more than a million yards of Manchester goods in paying the workmen employed in constructing the road to Stanley Pool.
—Drs. Bachmann and Wilms, of Munster, set out in May for a journey of several years in Africa, especially in the Transvaal, which they contemplate exploring with reference to botany and zoölogy. They hope also to develop commercial relations between Southern Africa and Germany.
—Since the overthrow of Arabi Pasha, the missions of the United Presbyterians of America have been more prosperous than ever. Their work, which is largely among the Copts, is approved by the Coptic Bishop, and one of the young men recently licensed by the mission has been engaged to expound the Scriptures. So great was the interest in his first sermon that he was obliged to repeat it three times. Women disguised themselves in male attire in order to get into the streets to hear the preaching. An effort will be made to establish a regular national evangelical church in Egypt.
—From reliable statistics it appears that the progress of Islamism in Africa, during the last hundred years, has been appalling. At the Mohammedan Missionary University, at Cairo, in Egypt, there are at this day 10,000 students under training, ready to go to any part of the world to teach the doctrines of Islam. Missionaries meet these Moslem priests not in Turkey alone, which is the centre of their power, but also in Persia, India and China, and in the heart of Africa. Very few have been led to renounce their faith for Christianity. This is owing to the fear of persecution, for the Moslem holds that it is not only proper, but a duty to kill any one who abjures his faith in their prophet.
VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESE RIVER, AFRICA.