Christianity has now begun to work a great change amongst these oppressed slaves. In the earlier days of the missions no special efforts had been made on their behalf, till, I believe, at the suggestion of good Mr. Ragland, when he once visited Travancore as secretary of the Corresponding Committee in Madras, a school was commenced among some of them, under the joint superintendence of Mr. Hawksworth and George Matthan, at Mallapalli. This was the only work among the slaves when I first came to Cottayam, unless there was, perhaps, already a Sunday school opened for such of them as were employed in the plantations of the Mundakayam mission. A more extended effort for their improvement in a Christian point of view originated from the college. I was walking one evening, soon after my arrival, with my wife, by the side of some of the Cottayam paddy-fields, when we came across the first slave hut we had seen. It was built, so far as I remember, of five sticks, four of which were stuck into the ground, two in front and two behind, and tied together so as to form two little forks at the top, on which was laid the fifth: over all were tied some leaves of the cocoanut palm, which forms an excellent thatch. Two naked black children were crawling about, making mud puddings, just after the fashion of their brothers and sisters in Europe; and a woman was boiling some rice in an earthenware pot, here called a codune or

Efforts on their behalf.

179

chatty, which was supported over the fire upon a few pieces of stone. The picture was garnished with two or three fish that lay about, and which had been caught by means of a fishing basket in the little canal hard by.

My wife at once proposed that we should make an attempt to teach them; and that we should endeavour to raise subscriptions in the college for the purpose. We returned home, and mentioned the subject to one of the teachers and some of the elder boys. The result was that we got promises of monthly subscriptions to the amount of six rupees. The collection of money in the college for this novel purpose interested the people in the printing office also; and there Mr. Paul Schaffter, the superintendent, son of one of our Tinnevelley missionaries, raised three rupees a month in addition. Our first nine rupees we took to Mr. Baker, senior, at that time the missionary in charge of Cottayam; and he built three schools in different parts of the mission, and used our subscription for the monthly pay of the three schoolmasters, paying each man three rupees a month. Of course it will be understood that these schoolrooms were simply made of mud walls, bamboo poles, and cocoanut leaves for the roof. For a long time we had immense trouble with these schools. The masters of the slaves were chiefly adverse to their learning anything. Many were prosecuted. The schools were burnt down. The children were forbidden

to go, and when they attempted, were waylaid and beaten. Then we had trouble with one or two of the schoolmasters. One of them we found had in a few weeks got his school full of Chogans (the same caste as the Tinnevelley Shânârs) instead of slaves. The slaves however, many of them, when a beginning had once been made, seemed determined that their children and themselves should be taught. And in the face of many difficulties and much opposition, they and we at length carried our point. I then had a slave school built in my own compound. The funds were found by Mr. Paul Schaffter. It was intended to be a model for such buildings. The roof was supported on stone pillars, nicely chunamed; and the whole was surrounded by a well-chunamed wall three feet high; and its cost was seventy rupees. It was quite a cathedral for the poor slaves. It was used as a day school for any slaves, children or adults, who liked to come; and on Sundays a little service was conducted by some of the elder boys or teachers in the college. The Rev. Mr. Andrews, when he was located at Cottayam, took particular interest in this school, and often went there to superintend the teaching, and to teach himself. Its influence soon began to be widely felt; and the greater part of the slaves who attended it living at some distance, themselves set up a school at a place called Velloor, about three miles away, and nearer to their homes. This nearly emptied my