"In the month of April 1864, Mr. Clark, accompanied by Mrs. Clark, and having with him some reliable native assistants, re-entered the valley, having secured beforehand a house which he had rented from the proprietor. On their arrival at Srinagar they were at once mobbed by a crowd of a thousand people, who threatened to set the house on fire, some of them coming within the compound and throwing stones. Further disturbances being threatened, a French gentleman resident in the city, accompanied by two of his friends, waited on the authorities, and remonstrated with them on their permitting such tumultuous proceedings, not only insulting to the missionary, but endangering his personal safety and that of his family. The mob-greetings were accordingly stayed, but other means were adopted of obstructing the missionary in his work, in the hope that, becoming discouraged, he might abandon it, and, retiring from the valley, allow all things to fall back into that condition of spiritual death in which they had for ages lain. Men were stationed on the bridge close to his door, to prevent any one from coming to visit him, or, if they persevered, to report their names to the Wuzeer. His servants could not succeed in purchasing the mere necessaries of life, and M. Gosselin's servant had to be sent to the other end of the city to buy àtà for them. So determined were the authorities to prevent all intercourse between the missionary and the inhabitants, that when, on the occasion of a large fire, in which many poor people lost their all, a little sum was collected and distributed among them, they were compelled to refund it, because the native Christians, with Mr. Clark, had contributed to it.
"Meanwhile, although in the presence of so great irritation public preaching was not attempted, yet inquirers came in, some of them entreating that they might be baptized at once. One of them was beaten by his master, who threatened to kill him if he persisted in frequenting the missionary's house. This young man, Husu Shah, during the previous year had been imprisoned for the same offence, having been forcibly taken out of Mr. Clark's house under the written orders of the authorities. During the time of his imprisonment he had been repeatedly beaten, and had logs of wood tied to his feet.
"At length, at the suggestion of the British Resident, Mr. Clark offered to vacate the house within the city, provided suitable accommodation was provided for him outside the city, near the Shekh Bágh. And yet, while thus in every way consistent with his duty, endeavouring to conciliate, he had the pain of learning that Husu Shah was again imprisoned. They offered him, indeed, his liberty, on the understanding that he would not again visit the Christian missionary, nor try to escape to the Punjaub; but, on his refusal, the logs of wood were again fastened to his feet. Through the interference of the British Resident, he was, after some days, liberated, and his first act was to revisit the missionary."
Although the Resident, Mr. Cooper, wrote to the Maharajah, asking that Mr. Clark might be allowed to remain, he was "inexorable, and as he had by treaty the right to insist on the withdrawal of Europeans from the valley during the winter season, he claimed to exercise it in relation to Mr. Clark, who was thus compelled to return to the Punjaub."
One of the reasons urged by the Resident for the extension to Mr. Clark of the privilege of remaining in the valley, is interesting:–"His Highness is not perhaps aware that the wife of Mr. Clark is an accomplished physician, and has devoted her life, her strength, and her talents to the relief of the sick and the suffering. I suggest, therefore, my dear friends (the Diwans), that you represent to his Highness that while he is consulting the religious feelings of his Srinagar subjects, and perhaps the general peace, in maintaining, as long as may be necessary to his Highness, the principle or custom that Europeans should not be allowed to reside in the city without express permission of the Government, his Highness would be inflicting a real injury on his people, if he withheld his permission from Mr. Clark and his family to continue to reside during the cold weather, because the humane exertions of the lady have already been attended with wide benefit and comfort to the Maharajah's people." The lady, who still seeks to improve her medical knowledge, would not, in 1864, have endorsed the compliment that she was an "accomplished physician," but she may take the comfort of knowing that her medical services were useful and much appreciated. It gives us peculiar pleasure to record this, for the encouragement of female medical missionaries. Her husband, writing to Mr. Wm. Coldstream from Srinagar, in May 1864, informs him that "Mrs. Clark has begun a dispensary, which is crowded daily, and takes up daily three hours of her time in hard work. To-day there were eighty-four (?) cases,–one man came twelve miles from a village, and a poor woman, thought to be dying, having recovered, the dispensary stands high in public estimation. The native apothecary, who is supposed to cure all the Maharajah's soldiers at one pice a-head daily (when the M. H. is here, for they have no medical attendance at other times), came to-day, and wants to send his son for instruction. All this will do good." But it is time to accompany Dr. Elmslie in his interesting work.
[2] Coolies are used everywhere, for there is not such a thing as a road, nor a cart in the whole of Kashmir, though in the valley itself it would be the easiest thing to make good and permanent roads. The country is level, and kunkur abundant.
CHAPTER VIII.
WORK IN KASHMIR.
"On the 12th April," writes Dr. Elmslie, "I left Lahore for Kashmir, the future scene of my medical missionary labours.... Through the kindness of the Rev. R. Clark of Amritsar, two of the most promising of the boys belonging to the Missionary Orphanage are to accompany me as assistants. The Rev. Messrs. Forman and Newton of Lahore have very obligingly transferred to K. M. M. for the season, one of their catechists. He is a Kashmiri by birth, and, on that very account, suitable for the work in which we are to be engaged. He is able to speak fluently the language of the valley, and is intimately acquainted with the habits and character of the people. (See Woodcut.)
