AMONG THE PAGANS OF THE SOUTHERN SUDAN II The First School A need which quickly made itself felt was for a school, where such of the people as showed intelligence and a wish to learn might be taught to read. The missionaries, therefore, set about preparing a reading sheet, consisting of the alphabet, Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Ten Commandments, and a selection of verses of Scripture. This work they found extremely difficult, for the Dinka language had never been reduced to writing. It is true that a version of St. Luke’s Gospel had been published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, but that was found to be based on a more northern dialect than that of the Bor Dinkas, and so was of little use. Nor could the Dinkas themselves be looked upon as satisfactory teachers of their own language, for not only would they allow the would-be learner to continue using a wrong word or expression, but would use it themselves in speaking to him. To give an instance of the difficulty of the situation : one of the translators was in search of an equivalent for ‘‘ image, likeness,’’ and pointed to a cow made of clay.

‘* Duol,’’ was the reply of his Dinka teacher, referring to the hump on the cow’s back. Down it went in the book, and not till some time later was the mistake discovered.

As time went on, industrial work was begun at Malek. The Dinkas were taught brick-making and carpentry; a small printing-press was set up, with which were printed gospels, service books, reading sheets, etc. ; and weaving was introduced, with the idea of making it a home industry among the people, and so avoiding the necessity of dependence on Moslem traders.

The progress of these various activities, both evangelistic and educational, has been slow. The Dinkas at first’ proved very unresponsive, showing no apparent interest in anything except cattle, and having a deep distrust of all new ways and new people. Since the work was begun in 1906 the missionaries have had a hard fight, with many discouragements and much apparently fruitless work. It was not until 1916 that the first Dinka convert was baptized. During the last few years, however, visible progress has been made. Three more