ASMARA

[s. 74] : A village west of Ma aua, in the Italian Colony of Eritrea, N. E. Africa; station of the Swedish National Mi ionary Society (1891), with 7 mi ionaries and 6 native workers, men and women; 3 village schools, an orphanage, a printing house and 51 communicants. ASSAM A province of British India ceded to the East India Company by the king of Burma Until 1874 it was administered as a in 1826. It is now a separate province part of Bengal. under a lieutenant-governor. It lies between the 30’ 24° and 28° 15’ N. latitude, and parallels of between the meridians of 89° and 96° 50’ E. from Green wich. It is the chief seat of tea-culture in India. Its area is 49,004 square miles and its population (in 1891) 5,476,833. The country consists of two extensive river At the valleys and three ranges of mountains. north, Bhutan occupies the southern slope of the Himalaya Mountains, and the somewhat lower range which overlooks the wide and fertile valley The valley of this great of the Brahmaputra. river extends from Sadiya in the east to the foot of the Garo Hills, where the river turns to the south. The right bank is level, and has broad fertile lands, densely inhabited; the left bank is crowded by a range of hills named from the tribes that occupy them, the Garo, the Khasi, and: Naga, and Singpho Hills. The comparatively level and broad valley extending from the right bank of the Brahmaputra is mostly occupied by A amese, the rulmg race. They have also several cities and towns on the left bank. Southwest of the hills of the left bank lies the valley of the Surma, a large tributary stream flowing into one of the delta branches of This valley is the Jumna or Brahmaputra. broad, well watered, and fertile. The Khasi and Jaintia, overlook it. It was formerly hills claimed as a part of the Eastern Bengal plains, but the Indian Government has now transferred this whole valley to the A am Province, to which it properly belongs. The People: The ruling cla , the A amese, hold very similar relations to the hill tribes of A am as the Burmans do to the hill tribes of They are of different race, habits, that country. and religion. The A amese are believed to be allied to the Shans, tho, perhaps, remotely. They were formerly Buddhists, but about the middle of the 18th century, having sought the protection of Bengal, they adopted the entire Brahmanist system divinities, caste, idol-worTheir language, tho originally of ship, and all. the Pali stock, has, by the adoption of Hinduism, and their intimate a ociation with Eastern Bengal, acquired a large infusion of Bengali. The hill tribes, which in the aggregate outnumber the A amese, are, beginning with the Chinese the Mishmies; the frontier on the northeast; Khamtis, said to be of the Tai or Shan family who are most numerous on the Chinese side of the mountains; the Singphos, who are found in large numbers also on the Burmese side of the mountains; the Aror, the Nagas, the Kacharis, or Kosaris, north of the Brahmaputra; the Mikirs, in the hills near Nowgong; the Garos, of several clans; and on the slopes of the Khasia and Jaintia Hills, looking toward the Surma Jaintia — Valley, the Khasi and Jamtia tribes, and still To these another tribe of Nagas, are found. must be added the Kols, a tribe from Chota 56 Nagpur, in Central India, who have been brought by the Government into A am to work m the gardens. It is said that there are over 250,000 of them now in A am. It is believed that some of the largest of these tribes are either closely afEHated to hill tribes in Burma, or, perhaps, identical with them; this is very probable in regard to the Singphos of A am, and Chittagong, and the Kachins of Upper Burma; also the Nagas of A am and the Chins, tea of Burma. The relationship of these tribes is a. moment to those engaged in Bible translation for them. Climate: A am is wholly within the north temperate zone, tho in the subtropical part of it. Its location and the high hills and mountains, which cover so large a portion of its surface In the should make it healthy, but do not. valleys there are marshy lands, and the fickle, moist, and variable temperature, with its terrible cold and its fervid heat, have rendered it particularly fatal to the Europe ans and Americans who have spent much time there. It is frequently visited by the cholera, and both acute and chronic diseases of the liver prevail. Of late years the construction of good roads, and the drainage of the marshes for the establishment of tea gardens has somewhat improved the salubrity of the country. matter of some The A amese, as we have said,, Religions: adopted Hinduism about 1760. They are rigid adherents to caste. One or two of the hill tribes on the north of the Brahmaputra, notably the Kacharis and several of the Bhutan hill tribes bordering on A am at the north, are Mohammedans. The greater part of the hill tribes, including all those south of the great river the Garos, Nagas, Khasis, Mikirs, Singphos, etc. are demon worshippers, making offerings to the Nats, or demons, to induce them not to injure them. They believe in a living Supreme Being, the Creator, but think He is too much occupied with the vast affairs of the universe to care for human beings, and too merciful to punish them for anything they have done or may do; and so they do not offer Him any worship or reverence. They believe dimly in a future life, but not in In general, a state of rewards or punishments. their religious belief is the same as that of the — hill tribes of Burma. The tribes nearest to the- Chinese have adopted some ideas of ancestral worship. Mi ions in A am: The first mi ion commenced here was that of the American Baptist Mi ionary Union, established in 1836 at the-, solicitation of Captain Jenkyns, the British deputy commi ioner, who offered of his own means a considerable sum toward the expense of such a mi ion to the heathen under his charge. The first mi ionaries were Rev. Nathan Brown, an eminent mi ionary and scholar, who had. begun his mi ionary life in Burma, and Mr. 0. T. Cutter, a printer. The first station was at Sadiya, near the northeast frontier of A am, about 400 miles from the Burman capital, and almost 200 from Yunnan, in China. The tribe to whom they were designated were the Khamtis, a lifll tribe occupying both sides of the lofty range which separates A am from China. The geography and ethnology of this region were not well understood, and the voyage up the tortuous Brahmaputra was exceedingly tedious, occupying over four months in the native boats. The mi ionaries, however, entered upon their work with a. ANlsipt 67 stout heart, and, finding that there was little to be done among the Khamtis, they turned their attention to the A amese and Shans in and around Sadiya. In 1839 an insurrection of the Khamtis commenced with an attack on Sadiya, which nece itated the removal of the mi ion Jai pur was abandoned from its aries to Jaipur. unheal you r and other causes, and Sibsagar, on a southern affluent of the Brahmaputra, was This is now the chief town in Eastern selected. A am, and is still a station of the ABMU. The station at Nowgong was established in 1841. The first A amese convert was baptized the same year. In 1842 a school was opened there, with 80 pupils, and in 1843 the Nowgong Orphan Institution was established, which for many years was the means of doing much good. It was given up in 1856. The station at Gauhati was commenced in 1843. There were very few converts, and these A amese only, till 1846. From this time till 1853 there were frequent acce ions to the churches in Sibsagar, Nowgong, and Gauhati, mostly A amese, with a very few Kacharis and Nagas. In 1863 the first of the Garos, the fiercest of the hill tribes, was baptized, and soon became a mi ionary to his tribe. The same year one of the Mikirs was baptized. From these beginnings the good work spread with great rapidity till in the churches of the Garo A ociation, in 1877, there were 617 members. The Kols from Chota Nagpur, who are employed in the tea gardens, began to attract attention in 1874. They are mostly in the district of Sibsagar. Some of them had heard of Christ from Luther an mi ionaries in their home in Bengal, and in A am they were ready to accept Him. There are now two or three large churches of these people. There have been some conversions among the Milcirs, who are best reached from Nowgong. Tho there was considerable promise among the Kacharis, north of the Brahmaputra, the acce ions from that tribe have not been large. Work was commenced among the Nagas as early as 1840, but without much result tiU 1871, when Rev. E. W. Clark made a tour of the hills. There are at least three distinct tribes of Nagas in these hills. There are now 21 mi ion stations in A am, of which 8 belong to the and 1 to the SPG, the remaining 12 belonging to the Welsh Calvin is tic Methodist Society. The census returns 35,000 Christians in A am of all denomin- ABMU Auckland A tion dam finished in 1902. station on the so called Apostles’ route, established by the Moravian Brethren in Egypt in 1865, but afterward abandoned by them. Visited as an outstation by the United Presbyterian Mi ion of tlie United of America. Station of the Sudan Pioneer Mi ion of Eisenach, opened in 1900. It is occupied by a mi ionary and his wife and 3 native worlcers. There are 2 village schools. States AS UNCI ON: The capital of Paraguay, S. America. Population 35,000; station of the ME, with one mi ionary and his wife, and one unmarried woman mi ionary, and 11 native workers, men and women; 3 village schools, 2 high schools, 1 college and 70 members of the church. Station also of the SDA with one mi ionary and his wife. 75