September 1928
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
526
ple as possible, I asked my one question: “ Is there any one here who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ?” After many replies in the negative, I was directed to a Chinese carpenter’s store, and found the Chinese bro ther who acknowledged the n a m e o f Christian. His face, I am sorry to say, did not look like that o f a Chris tian, and as Mr. Moody said: “ He may have been a Christian, but he did not smell like one.” ») His face was flushed with wine. It was :hard to blame him, however, for there he was —a lone Christian— in the midst of the darkness of heathendom. He had a Bi ble and prayed sometimes,
ports on the east coast of Borneo, but as far as we are able to learn, there is no witness for Christ at any of these places. From many o f these ports the interior of Borneo may be reached by river. On perhaps only one river is there a regular steamship line, namely, at Samarinda; but by native craft the missionary c a n penetrate the interior and reach the wild man of Bor neo, the Dyacks. T he D yacks oe B orneo The Dyacks, no doubt, originally occupied the en tire island of Borneo, but the coming of various races, the Malays, the Javanese, Chinese, Indians f r o m
* Keystone View Co. A BLOCK OF "TENEMENTS” IN WH ICH SOME OF c h i n a ' s FLOATING POPULATION DWELL.
but I fear he could not be considered a witness for the Lord Jesus. Later I met another Chinese friend, who seemed to love the Lord, but who said that he dared not be baptized and confess Christ for fear of offending his parents. This friend was very kind to me while in Balik- papan, and finally came to the steamer to see me off. T he T erritory of S atan While in Balik-papan, deep depression of spirit and a feeling of discouragement, doubt and fear, seemed to. settle upon my soul. It came upon me like a dark, thick cloud of gloom, and I could not shake it off. Only His light and joy finally dispelled the darkness. It did not last long, but it was long enough to make me realize that I surely was on the enemy’s territory. Yes, here is the place where the supreme rule of Satan has never been disputed. The Prince of Darkness has never been challenged here. No messenger of Christ has ever lifted up his voice to preach the Gospel in this place. It is a place where Christ has not been named. What utter darkness! There fis no Gos pel chapel here. Can we open a work for Christ in this place? When? Who will go? Whom shall we send? SAM AR INDA . I was anxious to visit Samarinda because it is at the mouth of the Kutai or Samarinck River and the main entrance to the interior of Borneo from the east coast. There are at least four other rivers farther north, which also form gateways from this coast to the interior. The River Kutai is navigable by small steamer for ten days as far as Long-Iram, and by native craft for many days farther up. The Roman Catholic Churdh have a mission three days inland from Long-Iram at Lahan, where priests and nuns are teaching the people farming, trades, etc. I felt ashamed that the Roman Catholics, with so little Gospel, should have gone to the interior of Borneo before us. All the other rivers from the east coast, save the Kutai, are, I fear, navigable only by native craft. A Dutch official told me he had traveled up one of these rivers ascending terrible and dangerous rapids'for seventy- five days, and had come down the river, covering the same distance, in ten days. Here again is another city of darkness and the same mixture of races. I entered a Mohammedan mosque. There are Chinese temples here: they looked to me ugly enough from the outside. I had no desire to enter and look upon the hideous idols, already so familiar to me.
Madras, and Arabs, has gradually crowded the wild man away to the interior. The Malays have intermarried some what with the Dyacks, with the result that the Dyacks to this extent have been absorbed. It is said also that the original pure Dyack of the interior of Borneo is decreas ing in population. The Dyack was originally a “ head-hunter” and a can nibal, and in some cases may still be such, but the influ ence o f other races has had the. effect of subduing and semi-civilizing the wild man o f Borneo. One of the original customs of the Dyacks was that a young man proposing to-his bride, must have the skull of one whom he himself had slain ere he could hope to be accepted by his bride. This custom, however, I am told* has all but died out. ■There are many different language groups among the Dyacks. Most of them haye .never been reached with the Gospel messagte. Fjopi the ..sputh coast, o f Borneo, some effort is being made to reach them up the Barito River with Banjermasin as a base. Some effort was. also com menced on the west coast of Borneo, entering by Kapoeas River, but the Methodist Episcopal Mission has now entirely withdrawn from Borneo. According to our maps there seem to be a dozen or more ports on the west coast of Borneo. On the south coast of Borneo there are, besides the River Barito which empties into the sea at Banjermasin, five or six other rivers, which are gateways to the interior. At none of these points has missionary work been attempted. BA L IK -PA PAN . I stayed at this, port two days. It is a city of about 21,500'people. The district, of which it is one of the centers, has a population o f about 200,000. Balik-papan is the great oil field of the Dutch Indies. The installation of the B. P. M. (Batavia Petroleum Com pany), the Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum Co., a branch of the Asiatic Petroleum Company, is the largest oil installa tion in the Far East. All the A . P. C. oil consumed throughout the Ear East comes from the Balik-papan wells. ri The population of the city includes a great mixture .of •races: Malay, Javanese, Boegis, Chinese from Fukien, Canton and other parts, Indians from Madras, Arabs, and also a sprinkling of Dyacks from the interior. As I walked the streets of this city trying to get in touch, through the English language or through Chinese, with as many peo
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