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Twenty-one Years in India .



James Lorenzo H



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HARVARD COLLEGE
LIBRARY



THE BEQUEST OF
EVERT JANSEN WENDELL

(CLASS OF 1882)
OF NEW YORK



1918



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TWENTY- ONE YEARS
IN INDIA



By

REV. J. L. HUMPHREY, M. D.



CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM
NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS



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HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FROM

THE BEQUEST OF

SVERT JANSEN VIENOEU

t8t8



COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY
JENNINGS AND GRAHAM



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PREFACE.

A ^Ew words in the way of preface may not
be out of place. I am aware that much has been
written about India late years, and that there may
not seem to be a demand for another book on that
subject. I have only to say, that much remains
unknown still to our people here at home about
that country and people, and about the great work
going on there. It fell to my lot in the provi-
dence of God to be associated with the work of
our Church there in its very beginning, and what
I have written may be of some value farther on
when the history of our Mission in India is writ-
ten lip. I have seen the work expand from its
very first inception to the great proportions it has
now attained. God has indeed done great things
for us ; but there are undoubtedly greater things
in store for us in the future. I wish to record
with others the goodness of the Lord seen in com-

9



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4 Preface:.

mon with them. Perhaps something here men-
tioned may not have been mentioned by others,
and so may contribute to the general fund of
knowledge which has accumulated as the years
have been going by. I feel it, indeed, to be a
very great honor to have had a part with our
noble band of workers for Christ in India. If
what I have written shall in some little d^^ee
even contribute to the advancement of India's
evangelization, I shall fed myself amply repaid.

J. L. Humphrey.

I^ITXI^E Fai,I3, n. y.



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CONTENTS.



CHAPTER PAGB

I. Introductory, Topography, Scenery, the Way

People Live, Etc., ii

II. Appointed a Missionary to India, Voyage and
Arrival in Calcutta, and Journey to Naini
Tal, 22

III. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the Way It Began,

AND What Led to It, Etc., - - - - 41

IV. Beginning to Open Our Work in Naini Tal

AND Make Our Pians for Work in the

Plains, 61

V. Opening Work in Moradabad and Bareilly, - 80
VI. Beginning Preaching in the City of Bareilly,

AND Baptism of Our First Convert, - 98

VII. First Arrivals From Home, and Opening

Work in Budaon, 117

VIII. Return to Bareilly and Removal to Suah-

JEHANPORE, 141

IX. Removal TO MoRADARAD AND Furlough Home, - 159

X. Medical Work, Etc., 175

XI. Our Work in the Mountains, - - - - 189

XII. Naini Tal, Pithoragarh, and the Tarai, - 205

XIII. The Hindu People, 223

5



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6 Contents.

CHAPTER PAGB

XIV. The Mohammedans of India, - - - 233
XV. Again Pastor at Naini Tal Engush Church, - 245

XVI. A Call to This Work, 258

XVII. History and Progress of Missionary Work in
India, With Statement of Results, Both
OF Our Own Church Work and of the
Work as a Whole as Seen by the Last
Census in 1901, 268



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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.



1. View of Naini Tal, Our Oldest Mission Station, Frontispiece

PACING PAGB

2. Joel Janvier, a Native Minister Given to Dr. Butler by
the Presbyterian Mission in Allahabad, Blind and in

His Old Age, 31

3. Memorial Well, Cawnpore, Into Which the Dead and
Dying Women and Children Were Cast Who Were
Massacred by the Order of Nanni Sahib in the Mutiny

of 1857, 56

4. Zhur Ul Haqq, Our First Baptized Convert and Fu^t
Native Presiding Elder, - - - - - - 112

5. Sir William Muir and Sir Henry Ramsay - - 183

6. Medical Qass. About the First Women Educated in
Medicine, 187

7. Isa Das and Family. A Brahmin Baptized in 1870 in
Haldwani, 193

8.' English Methodist Episcopal Church, • • - • 207
9. Wellesley Girls' High School, 209

10. Oak Openings Boys' High School, > • • - 210

11. A Class of Christian Gbls, and Rebecca, Their Teacher,
Another Member of the Medical Class, and Who was
Miss Dr. Swain's Assistant in the Woman's Hospital

in Bareilly for Many Years, 232

12. Bareilly Theolc^^ Seminary Faculty, - - - - 281

7



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Twenty-one Years in India.



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CHAPTER I.
Introductory Chapter.

India is a very interesting country; but few
who have not visited it, or lived in it, can realize
how interesting it really is.

In past ages it has been thought of as a verita-
ble El Dorado or a kind of fairy land, possessing
fabulous wealth. Solomon's ships visited India,
and brought back gold, precious stones, and pea-
cocks' feathers. Christopher Columbus aspired to
find a Western pasage to India; but instead he
discovered this continent, and opened up a new
world. He thought it was India, as he called the
people he found here Indians.

The country is about i,8oo miles at its ex-
treme points from north to south, and about 1,500
miles from east to west, not including Burmah.

It contains a superficial area of 1,860,000 square

II



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12 Tw^NTY-ON^ Y^ARS IN InDIA,

miles. In 1901, when the last census was taken,
the population was 294,382,676, nearly one-fifth
of the population of the entire world. The great
mass of the people are very poor. The wage
of a common laborer is not more than two dol-
lars a month, he finding himself. The popula-
tion, under the paternal care of the British Gov-
ernment is increasing, and one of the great prob-
lems confronting the Goviemment is how to im-
prove the condition of the great wage-earning
class of the population.

The Secretary of State for India, Lord
George Hamilton, recently said in Parliament,
"That so far as eighty-three per cent of the popu-
lation was concerned, there was a clear and in-
disputable evidence that their condition during
the last twenty years had improved." He also
stated, "That the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, has re-
cently taken the greatest pains to ascertain what
the average income per head of the agricultural
population now is, contrasted with twenty years
ago; and he finds that in 1880 it was rupees 18
per head; in 1900^ notwithstanding the increase



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Tw^eNTY-ONB Ybars in India. 1 3

in the population, it was rupees 20 per head, not
a great increase, but still an advance. During
that period the income per head of the non-agri-
cultural population is estimated to have risen from
rupees 2y to rupees 30. The total of land under
cultivation in 1880 was 194,000,000 of acres; it
is now 217,000,000 of acres. In the yield per
acre we see a marked increase; in 1880 the yield
of food crops per acre was 730 pounds, in 1900
it was 840 pounds."

Sir William Hunter, in his work "Our Indian
Empire," says that not much more than four per
cent of the people live in the cities and larger
towns, showing that the population of India is
largely rural, and as a whole very poor ; but there
is actual improvement in their condition, as these
figures show.

The country is crossed from east to west be-
tween the twenty-third and twenty-fifth parallels
of latitude, by the Vindiya range of mountains,
at the base of which flows the Nerbudda River.
The country to the north is usually called Hin-
dustan, and that to the south is the Deccan. Stan



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14 Twenty-one Years in India.

means place, Hindustan, therefore, means place
or country of the Hindus.

Two great rivers take their rise in the Hima-
layan range of mountains, and have much to do
in fixing the general outlines and topography of
the country to the north, or Hindustan proper.
One of these, the Ganges, flows from the moun-
tain range on the north to the southeast and
empties into the Bay of Bengal; the other, the
Indus, flows to the southwest and empties into
the Arabian Sea, or Persian Gulf, at Karachee.
These magnificent rivers drain and irrigate nearly
one-half of the entire country.

The great Gangetic Plain stretches away from
Calcutta to the northwest to Peshawar on the
Indus, 1, 800 miles, while the Indus extends away
to the southwest to the Arabian Sea.

These plains are, on an average, three hundred
miles in width, and they constitute the garden of
India. On the north we have the grand Hima-
layan chain of mountains, with the snowy range
towering up in the heavens and sparkling in the
sunlight with indescribable beauty. In the cold



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Tw^NTY-ON^ Yj^ars in India. is

season as you journey to the Northwest on the
Grand Tnmk Road, a metaled road all the way
from Calcutta to Peshawur, i,8oo miles, without
doubt the finest road in the world, or by railway,
this snowy range may be seen for hundreds of
miles of the journey. This vast plain continues
practically up to the base of the mountains, hav-
ing only a slight ascent for a few miles before
reaching the mountains proper, and so gradual
is the ascent that it is hardly noticeable to the
ordinary observer. There is not much hilly or
rolling country through which you pass as you
approach the range itself. At the foot of the
mountains is a strip of country slightly declining
towards the plains, called the Bhaber, or waterless
forest, as the word means ; that is, water can not
be reached by digging wells. The Bhaber is from
ten to fifteen miles in width; then we strike the
Tarai, where the water is very near the surface,
and is covered with tall grass and more or less
with forests.

This section is very malarious during the
rainy season and for some months afterward.



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i6 Twenty-one Years in India.

Many wild animals inhabit this region, such as
bears, leopards, tigers, and even wild elephants
are found here. The great thoroughfares from
the seaports to the northwest, pass through these
plains. It may be imagined that they are monoto-
nous to the traveler; but such is not the case,
however.

The landscape is usually attractive, and often
especially so during the cold season when travel-
ers visit India. The palm tree with its feathery
top and unique leaves and branches, dots the ex-
panse and constantly reminds you that you are in
a tropical land — b, land strangely unlike your
own. The great Gangetic Valley is for the most
part highly cultivated and densely populated.

In Upper India you will see vast fields of
wheat, rice, millet, dal, gram, potatoes, sugar-
cane, and tobacco, and many other purely Indian
cereals. In some parts you find indigo, poppies,
and cotton being cultivated to a large extent. Po-
tatoes, late years, are being cultivated extensively
both in the mountains and plains. At the foot of
the mountains, in the locality I have spoken of as



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Twenty-one Years in India. 17

the Bhaber, large fields of mustard may be seen in
the proper season, and the air will be scented
with the perfume of its bright yellow flowers for
a long distance. Mustard-seed yields a kind of
oil extensively used and very highly valued by
the natives. Wheat is much grown, especially in
the Northwest. The landscape is much broken
by numerous groves of mango, tamarind, pepul,
and orange trees. These groves are usually con-
tiguous to the villages and cities, and, being set
out with regularity, they add much to the beauty
of the country, and serve to break up what would
otherwise be very tame and monotonous.

There are no homes scattered about over the
country as with us. The people live in cities or
villages. In the villages the houses are squalid
and uninviting. The walls are of mud and cov-
ered with grass, without windows, or floors,
other than the earth itself. There is not much
order in the location of houses in a village. A
village is simply a collection of miserable mud
huts, thrown in about as it happens; the streets
have to take their chances, winding about, and



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i8 Twenty-one Years in India.

finding a passage through if possible. As a rule
they are filthy and sadly lacking in all sanitary
arrangements. They are likely to abound with
ill-kept dogs, goats, cattle, and naked children.
You will not often see swine about, as they are
only kept by the very lowest class of the people,
and not by the Hindus or Mohammedans at all.

In the cities the buildings are superior to those
in villages. Generally, they are built of brick and
covered with tiles or cement. The houses are
not arranged at all according to our ideas of con-
venience and comfort. The rooms are generally
small, low between joints, without windows, ill
ventilated, and quite without all furnishings, ex-
cept in the case of the very well-to-do.

A small piece of matting serves in place of a
chair and for a bed. They do not have chairs or
tables in their houses. They sleep, sit, and take
their meals on the floor or ground.

They have no knives, forks, or spoons; but
make their fingers do service in place of these.
A house is not to them what it is to us in our
cold climate. The most of the year it is very



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Tw^NTY-ON^ Y^ARS IN InDIA. IQ

warm, and at no time is the cold excessive, and
for the largest part of the year it is uniformly
pleasant, no storms, night or day, for wedcs and
months even, so they live much in the open air.
They wear light clothing; the poorer people
clothe themselves very scantily.

I have now described Upper India, or Hindu-
stan proper. I have mentioned its two great
plains, that of the Ganges and Indus. Much of
India is a vast plain. We have, in addition to
these plains, the great sandy desert on the west,
and an elevated tract called Central India. The
Deccan, or South India, has a chain of mountains
on its northern boundary running nearly parallel
with the Vindiya range, to the south of which
stretches a table-land of triangular form, termi-
nating at Cape Comorin with the Western
Ghauts on the opposite coast. Between the
Ghauts and the sea lies a narrow belt of land
which runs around the whole peninsula.

The soil is generally productive, only requir-
ing water to produce good crops. Indeed every-
thing grows with great luxuriance in India when



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30 TwENTY-ON^ Years in India.

the rainfall is normal. When the fall is less than
normal the price of grain rises in the market, and
the people begin to feel the pressure of want. If
the rainfall is materially lessened, and this con-
tinues for two or three seasons in succession, it
produces famine with all its attendant horrors.

From time immemorial the country has been
subject to these calamities. To obviate them, or
to lessen their influence, an extensive system of
irrigation has been carried out by the Govern-
ment, at an immense outlay, and by this means
a considerable part of the country is protected
from this calamity. In 1900 there were 180,-
150,454 acres of land cultivated; 31,544,000 were
rendered safe from drought by irrigation. We
now have over 27,000 miles of railway spread
over the country. These, too, are a great protec-
tion from the evils of famine, as by means of
them the surplus production of one part of the
country can be rapidly removed to another part
in a time of emergency.

There is a large amount of wheat grown in
some parts of the country ; about thirteen bushels



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Twenty-one Years in India. 21

to the acre would be regarded a fair yield. The
exports of India in 1900 were 77,950,000 pounds
sterling, $399,750,000. Imports were 61,11 3,000
sterling, or $355,565,000. The Government of
India is a very paternal government, and in every
way in its power seeks to improve the condition
of the people.

There are three seasons in India, the hot and
rainy season, which begins about the middle of
June and continues until the middle or end of
September. Then begins the cold season, which
up country is almost uniformly pleasant and de-
lightful. The hot season begins in March or
early in April and continues until the rains set in,
in June or July. It is extremely hot during this
season. The heat is somewhat modified by the
rainfall, but the humidity of the atmosphere
makes the heat even more trying to many, than
the hot season proper.



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CHAPITER II.

Appointed a Missionary to India, Voyage, and
Arrival in Calcutta.

In 1854, Dr. Durbiti, Secretary of our Mis-
sionary Society, published a call for two young
men to go out to India. It was felt that the time
had arrived when we as a Church should enter
upon this work in that country. It was then
thought that they would be desired to go out the
following year. I had been deeply interested in
this subject, for some time felt that God had
called me to this work. After much deliberation
I responded to this call and signified my willing-
ness to go if needed. I heard nothing from this
until September, 1856, when Bishop Simpson
notified me that I was accepted for India, and
would be expected to sail in May or June fol-
lowing. I was stationed at Malone, in Northern
New York, at the time, and this arrangement

would enable me to finish out my year before

22



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Tw^NTY-ON^ YMRS in InDIA. 23

leaving. A few months before the Rev. William
Butler, of the New England Conference, had been
appointed superintendent, and had gone out by
the way of England to visit friends, and to con-
sult with missionary secretaries and friends there
as to the portion of India it would be best for
us to occupy. He arrived in Calcutta about the
time I received my appointment, and after most
careful consideration and consultation with mis-
sionary friends and secretaries, he resolved to lo-
cate in Bareilly, the capital of the Province of
Rohilcund, in the Northwest. It was in his plan
to occupy Oudh, to the east of Rohilcund, and
probably would have settled in Lucknow, the cap-
ital of Oudh, if he could have procured a resi-
dence there; but failing in this he located in
Bareilly in January, 1857. Rev. Ralph Pierce, of
Moira, N. Y., had received his appointment to
India some months before I received mine. His
wife was an adopted daughter of Dr. and Mrs.
J. T. Peck, afterward Bishop Peck. I left Ma-
lone on the 24th day of May, and after a few
days in New Yorjc, we all, accompanied by Dr.



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24 Tw^NTY-ONK Y^ARS IN InDIA.

and Mrs. Peck, Dr. Durbin, and Rev. D. Terry,
went to Boston, where farewell services were
held on Sunday. On that very day the mutiny
occurred in Bareilly. On Monday we sailed, our
party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Pierce and their
little babe; Mrs. Owens, wife of Dr. Owens, of
the Presbyterian Mission of Allahabad; Mrs.
Humphrey, and myself. Our voyage, though
long and tedious, was on the whole a pleasant
one, and we improved our time in the study of
the language, and, with Mrs. Owen to direct us,
we succeeded in laying a good foundation, which
was a very great help to us after our arrival in
Calcutta. We learned the alphabet, read and
translated several of the first chapters of Mat-
thew's Gospel. A very pleasant incident occurred
when we were about twenty degrees south of the
Equator. We sighted a ship from Liverpool,
Bound to Australia ; the day was fine, and the sea
fairly smooth, and we came near enough to com-
municate by signals. The captain of the English
ship invited our captain to take his passengers and
come on board their ship and dine with them.



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Twenty-one Years in India. as

Upon our concurrence, he accepted the invitation,
and we had a most enjoyable time. They had a
large number of passengers, and it did not take
us long to become acquainted. We learned that
they were from Liverpool, and left about the same
time we left Boston, so we did not have much
news to communicate to them, nor they much to
give us; but we had many things to talk about,
so the two hours we passed on board their ship
flew by very quickly, and the memory of them re-
mained with us for many a day. Some of the
passengers we met that day on the Southern
Cross, the name of their ship, wrote to us in
India, and for some years we maintained a very
pleasant correspondence. Our course lay about
four hundred miles south of the Cape of Good
Hope, and, it being winter on that side of the
Equator, it was very rough and cold. Westerly
winds prevailed in that latitude at that season of
the year, and we were rapidly swept eastward on
our course until we sighted the little island of
St. Paul's, which was our signal to turn to the
north up towards the Bay of Bengal.



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26 Tw^NTY-ON^ Ymrs in India.

On the 17th of September we sighted the
lightship, as we supposed, near the mouth of the
Hooghly River, where we expected to get a pilot
to take us up the river a little more than a hun-
dred miles to Calcutta. We arrived in the night
and cast anchor to wait for the morning. We
could not get our pilot until morning, this we
knew. Then we learned that bad news awaited
us, but we could not find out what it was. We
also found that we had gone to the wrong light-
ship. The one we wished to get was about forty
miles away. It took us nearly all the next day
to find out this much, and as the hours passed by