General Fiistory of the Present-day Mission. 21 called the Dinkas. These proved, however, to be much fewer in number than had been imagined, and a variety of causes broke up the party in a short time, until at the end of 1908 only one of the original band, together with a recruit recently arrived, was still labouring in the Southern Soudan.

The Present Position.

During the present century the Mission has lost three greatly valued workers. The Rev. F. F. Adeney, the Secretary of the Mission, died in 1902, after ten years’ devoted labour in the country; in the next year Dr. A. C. Hall, who had won the confidence of the people of Omdurman by his skill and kindness, was called to his eternal rest ; and in 1907 the Rev. Douglas M. Thornton passed away after nine years’ service in which he had met with marked success in his work among the students of Cairo, and had shown himself to be a missionary statesman. The loss of these brethren has been sorely felt,and has prevented any great extension of the Mission in Egypt proper. Nevertheless there has been some advance and also great consolidation of the old work. Schools at Helouan previously carried on by Mrs.

S. W. Edwards, of Clifton, have been taken over by the Society ; efforts have been made to stimulate a revival of religious life among the Copts; systematic medical itinerations among the villages of the Nile Delta have been undertaken ; the efficiency of the hospital work at Old Cairo has been promoted by the erection of new buildings; the educational work among girls has been reorganized ; literary work has been developed; and evangelistic meetings of various descriptions have been set on foot. In one year (1909) eleven adults were baptized, and the number of baptized Christians, which was 142 at the end of 1898, had risen to 191 * ten years later. During the same period the number of children on the rolls of the Society’s schools increased from 326 to 557.

Other Missions.

Some mention must be made of the other missionary societies working in the country. By far the most influential is that of the American United Presbyterian Church. This Mission commenced its work more than fifty years ago, and from the beginning has aimed in the first instance at the reformation of Coptic Christians, and secondarily at the evangelization of Moslems * In this figure are included the Egyptian Christian adherents of the Mission, and their children,