The judgment of the Edinburgh Conference was that at least six of the eight millions are beyond the reach of the present missionary force. Unless there is adequate response in Christendom six millions of our fellow beings in this one land must lie down and die without a knowledge of Christ.
2. Central Asia.—Between the Near East and the Far East is Central Asia. The lands located here are comparatively little known, and in part unexplored. They have an area of 2,700,000 square miles, nearly as great as the United States. Out of this area we could carve fifty-two Englands, or nearly eight provinces the size of British Columbia, or twenty-four countries as large as Italy. The population is quite dense in the oases and along the rivers, but in other parts widely scattered, so that the numbers are not nearly so great as in the countries with which its geographical area has been compared. There are, however, 23,368,000 people. We have here a bewildering array of races and languages.
The most important of these lands are Afghanistan, Chinese Turkestan, Tibet, and Russian Turkestan. The entire region is overwhelmed by the intellectual stagnation and moral rottenness of Mohammendanism, except Tibet, which is the stronghold of Lamaism, a corrupt form of Buddhism.
In all this region there are only three mission stations, and not a physician or hospital anywhere. It is 2,000 miles from the Moravian station at Leh to the first outpost of the China Inland Mission in China. From the last station of the Church Missionary Society in North India it is 1,000 miles northward to the next missionary outpost.
In this territory there are some cities of considerable size like Bokhara, which has 10,000 students and 364 mosques, but no Christian church, and Tashkend with a population of more than 155,000. There are a dozen or more cities with populations reaching from 25,000 to 200,000.
Afghanistan is unoccupied by Christian missions. Fanaticism and hatred of Christ hold sway everywhere. According to Dr. S. M. Zwemer, 94 per cent. of the people are illiterate. Mohammed has swept the field. Only fearless workers can win this land.
Tibet is still the Gibraltar of the non-Christian world, and although a line of missionary outposts is drawn around it, in one place there is a gap of 1,500 miles between stations.
3. India.—India is the burning heart of Asia. It has a genius for religion unsurpassed in the world.
India has been called the Mother of Religions. Of the four great faiths which were born in Asia, two came from India.
India is a menagerie of races and languages. According to the Edinburgh Conference Report there are 147 languages in India. Some of these are spoken by only a few people, but there are ten languages, each of which is spoken by ten millions or more.