Page:The Chinese Empire. A General & Missionary Survey.djvu/409

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THE CHINESE EMPIRE
331

tainous district west of Nepal, and some of these people have already been brought into the Kingdom of Christ. At Almora a fairly strong church has been formed, from which work towards Tibet is being organised. Work was commenced amongst the Joharis at Milam in 1890 by the Rev. G. M. Bullock. At this centre a girls' school was opened, with twenty names on the register. The Mission hopes to be able to move forward into Tibet itself. The Misses Turner and Routledge have for some years spent their time among these hillsmen.

The three other Missions in this quarter are:—

(1) The Methodist Episcopal Mission, which since 1899 has been working near by, on self-supporting lines. Here Miss Dr. Sheldon and two other ladies have settled.

(2) The Chowpatti Mission, whose headquarters at Chowpatti are situated on the main road leading into Tibet and Nepal, This Mission was established in 1902 to preach the Gospel in Mid-Himalaya. Mr. Grundy is the leader.

(3) The Indian Christian Realm is perhaps the parent of the last-named Mission, with Mr. Poynter, an experienced worker in India, with twenty years' record, as leader. For some years this Mission has been sending evangelists into Nepal. More recently work has also been attempted among the Tibetans.

Farther east, in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling, the Scandinavian Alliance Mission has been established since 1892 at Ghoom. This is a village on the railway just before Darjeeling is reached, and is the headquarters of this Mission's Tibetan work. They have some ten members at work, all more or less within touch of Tibet, at their five stations in Sikhim, and on the southern border of Bhutan. In the wedge-shaped country of Sikhim, bordered on the west and east by the still partially closed lands of Nepal and Bhutan, and with Tibet at its apex, the languages and types of people are much varied. The