THE month's news from Central Africa includes two items of unusual interest the affairs in Uganda and the reverses sustained by the expedition under the Katanga company. Long communications are published in English papers from Captain Lugard, of Uganda, but they were written without any knowledge on his part of the strange stories that had been forwarded by the Roman Catholic missionaries. The statements he makes seem conclusive that the aggression was on the part of the Catholics, following immediately upon the arrival of a party of priests under the French bishop. The conflict was preceded by the attack of Mwanga and the Catholic party upon Captain Lugard's fortified position, and it became absolutely necessary for his own defence and that of his allies that the assailants should be repulsed. This was done, and the authority of the commandant was maintained. Of course there is no answer given to the recent charges made by the French priests, since they were wholly unknown to Captain Lugard. We hope to have the later reports confirmed as to the cessation of hostilities, but the position, both of the missionaries and the British company in Uganda, is critical in the extreme. As to the Katanga expedition, the first report was that it was utterly defeated; but Commander Cameron affirms that, notwithstanding the death of Captains Bodson and Stairs and the losses of a large number of the men, the expedition has been, not a failure, but a success. It seems that King Msiri, sometimes given as Msidi, was shot by Captain Bodson in selfdefence and that the Captain was then slain by the king's attendants. The party suffered from lack of provisions, having been obliged to live on white ants and grasshoppers. It will be remembered that this is the region in which Mr. Arnot's mission is established, and it is to be hoped that these conflicts will not interfere with the good work already begun.

PATIENCE under reproach is most necessary for a missionary. He is often reviled and set at naught, but, like his Master, he must not open his mouth. A writer in The London Chronicle narrates a story of Mr. Gilmour, over whose death last year so many in China and Mongolia have mourned. On one occasion he entered a Chinese restaurant where a man began to abuse him, calling him a "foreign devil" and accusing him of stealing human hearts and eyes. Though Mr. Gilmour took no notice of the man the landlord interfered, threatening to beat the aggressor. But Mr. Gilmour restrained him, saying, “Oh, no, this man has not abused me; he has abused the devil. I am not a devil. He has abused those who steal hearts and eyes, but I have never done this, so that he must be abusing some other person." The attitude and temper of Mr. Gilmour so impressed the landlord that he decided to become a Christian, and another man present said he was "persuaded there must be something in a religion which could lead a man to bear insults in such a manner."

ONE of the latest instances in which modern inventions are helping on mission work is in the use of the bicycle. Mr. Holton, of Melur, in the Madura district of India, finds his "wheel" a much more expeditious and satisfactory method of reaching his out-stations than by the ox-bandy. In the early and cool morning hours he makes fifteen or twenty or even more miles, to the great saving both of time and strength.

THE year of study in the Doshisha, at Kyōto, has recently closed, and ninety-three young men and women have graduated from the various branches of the institution. Nearly all of these graduates are professed followers of Christ. In reporting the Commencement exercises Mr. Albrecht says that they passed off pleasantly, and gave clearest evidence that the Doshisha still retains the interest and esteem of a large number of people, especially of the better classes. President Kozaki's baccalaureate discourse on "Stedfastness," given on Sunday, June 19, was eminently courageous and timely. Nine young women received diplomas from the Training School for Nurses, a branch of the institution which has won the respect and confidence of Japanese officials, and which stands for thoroughly scientific as well as pronounced Christian principles. The Girls' School graduated twenty-four pupils, and the graduation exercises won the admiration of a large assembly. At the closing exercises of the collegiate and theological departments the platform of the chapel was filled with professors and representatives of various departments of the city government and distinguished visitors. The speakers chosen from among the graduates had for themes: "Our Future," "Christ and the Civilization of Japan," "Carlyle," and "The Prophet." The concluding address to the theological students was made by Professor Ladd, in which he gave weighty counsels that will long be remembered by the students. SOME extraordinary stories have been told of what certain Japanese have done and endured in order to carry out their ideas of honor and patriotism, but a report recently received from Japan puts into the shade anything hitherto heard of. It will be remembered that two or three years since Rev. Mr. Large, a Canadian missionary, was murdered in his own house by a burglar, as was supposed, though a suspicion was entertained that the missionary character of Mr. Large had something to do with the assault. But the police have been unable to find the assassin, for though several men have been arrested and charged with the crime, no proof has been found against them. Recently a man appeared before the police authorities and confessed that he was the murderer, but before punishment was inflicted evidence was presented that the man was not guilty of the crime, and that his confession was a fraud. On an examination by the police as to the motive which induced him to criminate himself in this way, the man coolly stated that the police had acknowledged that they were unable to discover the murderer, that such an acknowledgment was a national disgrace, and that in order to remove this disgrace he would gladly have laid down his life. Such fantastic patriotism would be called insanity in America. Is it insanity in Japan?

THE papers have made some comment upon a statement that a Mohammedan church had been formed in Liverpool; and in India and elsewhere this fact has been widely proclaimed as though there were signs in Christian lands of the turning of men to Mohammed. The Church Missionary Intelligencer contains a statement of Sir William Muir that the story is "an Eastern romance." The basis of the story is that an obscure lawyer in a Liverpool police court professed conversion to Islam and so was brought to the notice of the Sultan himself. Some curious individuals attended for a time the services of this lawyer, but it is now affirmed that the congregation is scarcely visible and that the whole thing is a ridiculous exaggeration.

THE readers of the Missionary Herald have been informed from time to time of the great difficulty experienced at Guadalajara, Mexico, in securing a site for a church building. Mr. Howland has encountered opposition not only from the clerical party but from the local authorities, yet by firmness and persistence, keeping strictly within the bounds of the law, and sustained by the Supreme Court of Mexico, he was at last confirmed in his purchase and now rejoices in a suitable edifice to represent our work in the city. We are glad

to give here a cut showing the completed church. The situation is favorable, and one that cannot fail to attract the attention of all classes. The building, too, is a creditable one and will constitute a most important centre of evangelical work, inspiring confidence and hope in those who, amid trial and persecution, have come out as believers in a purer faith. A large part of the funds required for the erection of this building Mr. and Mrs. Howland have secured from personal friends, and these generous donors may now rejoice in the accomplishment of a work

which gives large

promise for years to come. It is a special gratification to note this sign of progress of evangelical work in Central Mexico, where opposition has been more bitter and persistent than in the northern provinces of the Republic.

SUCH letters as the following, just received, add exceedingly to the significance and value of the gifts: "Enclosed please find a draft for sixty dollars for mission work of the American Board. May your work not be hindered for the want of means. This is a thank-offering for God's goodness to me in the past year. I am a feeble old woman, nearly seventy-five years of age, and what I do for the cause of Christ must be done soon. May the knowledge of the Lord soon fill the whole earth, is the prayer of your friend."

ANOTHER VESSEL NEEDED.

AN APPEAL TO YOUNG PEOPLE.

ANOTHER Vessel is needed for the Lord's work in Micronesia. Are the Lord's children ready to build it? The Morning Star goes down from Honolulu once a year to take supplies to the missionaries in the three principal groups, the Marshall, the Gilbert, and the Caroline Islands; but it is absolutely impossible for the Star to tarry long enough in some of these groups to enable the missionaries to do efficient work. Last year she was unable to visit the Marshall Islands at all, and the time she could give among the Gilberts was not sufficient to make thorough work. Rev. Mr. Walkup, who has labored indefatigably for the Gilbert Islanders, declares that it is useless to attempt further work for them unless he can have a small vessel such as will enable him to move about through the group, stopping at the several islands for a longer or shorter period, as the need may be. He ought to have a house somewhere, but he thinks it must be a movable house, so that he can live at one time in one part of the group and then in another part. Hence it is proposed to build him a house that shall float; in other words, a small vessel, of about fifty tons, which he can make his home, and in which he can move about the group, having an eye on all Christian work. In this way Mr. Walkup thinks those islands can be Christianized speedily.

But, as all who are familiar with those waters agree, a sailing vessel will not do for work in the Gilbert Islands; for the calms are frequent and all the time the currents are very strong. It sometimes took the old sailing Morning Star more than a month to make a passage of a few miles from one island to another. It has therefore been decided to furnish Mr. Walkup's vessel, which is to be his house, with auxiliary power in the shape of a gasoline engine, which experience has shown can be used efficiently and economically. Arrangements are already in progress for building such a vessel at San Francisco. It will cost, all furnished, something over $5,000. Will not the children and young people, members of Sunday-schools and Christian Endeavor Societies, many of whom have contributed generously in the past for the building of the Morning Stars and for the schooner Robert W. Logan, which is now doing excellent work at Ruk and among the Mortlocks, contribute generously also for this new vessel for the Gilbert Islands? We hope for hundreds of prompt responses to this appeal. The vessel is needed, and the plan is heartily approved. Just at this time the whole Bible has been translated into the Gilbert Islands language by Rev. Hiram Bingham, and the completed volume is now being printed at the Bible House in New York. We must have the means for carrying this Bible to the 25,000 Gilbert Islanders who are waiting to receive it. Would it not be a suitable thing to cal the proposed craft the Hiram Bingham, in honor of one who has given his life for the people of these islands, who was for a time the commander of the Morning Star, and who has the rare distinction of being the first person, so far as is known, to reduce to writing a language before unknown, and then to translate into that language the whole Bible?

An interesting fact is that the islanders themselves have already raised $1,000

out of their scanty earnings for this new vessel, and some friends of Mr. Walkup have pledged $500. How soon will the young people in the Sunday-schools and in Christian Endeavor Societies send us the $4,000 we need?

Shall we not receive at the Missionary Rooms, within a few weeks, at least two hundred pledges, averaging twenty dollars each? Who will be the first to respond? and the second? and the third? The money, when collected, may be sent to Langdon S. Ward, Treasurer, No. 1 Somerset Street, Boston.

STORY OF BITLIS STATION, KOORDISTAN.

BY REV. R. M. COLE, OF BITLIS.

OUR mission was "building better than it knew," thirty-four years ago, in sending Rev. and Mrs. G. C. Knapp from Diarbekir up to this mountain country in search of health. Physical vigor came back as if by magic. Meanwhile the heroic interest of these pioneer workers went out toward the large Armenian population in this city and vicinity, if perchance something might be done for this gross darkness also.

Bitlis city itself is a unique old town of an early generation, having a population of something over 30,000, one third of whom are Christians in name -mostly Armenians, the remaining two thirds being Moslem in faith, though in blood largely Koords. Its history, like its obscure location among these Taurus Mountains, is shrouded in mystery. Moslem tradition has it that it was founded in Alexander's time by one of his generals named Laiz, who from his invincible character, looking out from his strong fort in the centre of the town, was called Bed (bad) Laiz, and hence its present name, by some euphonic changes.

But, like many Oriental cities, it has, from time immemorial, borne a Christian name also, Paghesh, which is prima facie evidence, that here too Armenians may have antedated the Saracens in occupying this strong pass between Assyria and Persia. Doubtless the tramp of soldiery has resounded more than once along this river, possibly led on by royalty, more especially if the Babylonish queen Semiramis took her summer outing at Van, as has been thought. There surely can be no doubt that Xenophon with his ten thousand Greeks in that famous retreat must have filed through here, turning to the left six miles north, through the Moosh Plain. During the Middle Ages and down to the time when navigation round from Trebizond by the Black Sea intercepted it, thousands of Moslem devotees from Persia thronged this passage in their yearly hegira toward Mecca. Whether Bitlis was larger then than now is doubtful, though one writer makes it to have been a walled town. But why it should have been walled, with such mountains as we have about us, does not appear. The laying out of the town has all the regulation of chance, just like haphazard Turkey. Here the buildings go creeping up some mountain stream, serpentine like, while others boldly mount steep hillsides or rocky cliffs that render them difficult of access, for there are no built roads. But with a goodly number of trees in the gardens and other places, and from the abundance of water, it presents a pictur