Rev, W. H. Hudspeth Lectures to Union Church Club Members of the Union Church Tuesday Evening Club, at the rst meeting of the present session on Nov, 23, listened to a most interesting, lecture on "The Miaos of West China" by the Rev, W. H, Hudspeth, who as a member of the' English Methodist Mission spent some years among this primitive people, Mr. "Hudspeth pointed out thi some 4,000 years ago the Miaos were prosperous people, and for a considerable period occupied a considerable portion of the fertile lands which how form some "of the central provinces of China, but gradually. Yielding to the onward march of the Chinese had been driven into the mountainous parts of the provinces of Yunnan, Kweichow, Kwangsi, and Yunnan, where a comparatively small number still are found, Though they have been in contact with the Chinese for 4,000 years the Miaos have never adopted any part of the Chinese religion. They are [worshippers of trees and of animals. There is no regular priesthood, each head of the house being the priest of the family, One of the principal objects of their worship Is the door, because it is through the door that all_ influences—good and evil—enter.
Children of the hills, the Miaos had no written language until about three decades ago, when two missionaries first brought them the Gospel message. The language being phonetic, the missionaries set to" work. to) translate the Gospel of Mark, which was the frst portion of the Scriptures {to be printed and distributed. To-day there "are 20,000 adherents of the Church, and several thousand who are able to read the Bible.
The lecture was illustrated by a number of excellent slides. of the People and the districts In which they reside.
Tt was an interesting coineldenee that the Chairman of the evening who introduced the lecturer should have first met Mr. Hudspeth in Japan twenty years ago when he was there supervising the printing of the Scriptures in the Miao dialect The Annual Meeting During the supper which preceded the lecture the members elected their Committee for the ensuing year Four of the old Committee—Dr. A. C.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.