Page 66 - Malaysia by John Russel Denyes

it has been that Methodism has done but little for
the evang'elizing of the pagan races. These folks
are nomadic in their habits, moving from place
to place at short intervals. There are, however,
some tribes which have settled homes. These the
mission has in the last few years been attempting
to reach. In Sarawak a few of the Dyak boys
have been gathered into the industrial school.
But in West Borneo the attempt has been more
successful. Half a dozen vernacular schools have
been started and a hundred and fifty boys and
girls are regularly enrolled. The first of the
teachers sent into this region was a descendant
of the cannibal chief who massacred the mission-
aries Lyman and Munson in Sumatra. The gen-
eral method adopted for reaching the pagan tribes
is that of reaching the children through verna-
cular schools and following them into their homes
through native evangelists.

Policy for The problem of dealing with
Mohammedans. Mohammedans is to get a sym-
pathetic hearing. The evange-
list finds the people either hostile or indiflferent.
Moreover the missionary is finding it increasing-
ly difficult to reach the people on account of the
rapidly increasing number of Hadjis, or religious
teachers. Ten thousand pilgrims from Malaysia
find their way annually to the sacred shrine at
Mecca. These return to Malaysia with greatly
increased social prestige which they use to tight-
en the grip of I^lam upon their fellows. Wher-
ever there is a Hadji there is a home or perhaps
a whole village closed to all mission work. The
increase in the number of Hadjis and the rapid,
natural increase of the population, which amounts
to nearly five hundred thousand a year, makes
the outlook rather hopeless, unless we can create
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