k is not
endangered, and is followed by a number of his talibs, or students,
whose great desire is to hear a wordy battle between the Padre and
the Mullah, and to see the former ignominiously defeated.

Eastern ideas are cast in such a very different mould to Western, and
their system of logic and habit of mind are so unlike ours, that the
young missionary may consider himself fortunate if he is not frequently
held up to ridicule by some ignorant Mullah, who on such an occasion as
this, before an audience who are naturally inclined to side with him,
and can appreciate his language and arguments very much better than
ours, has all the advantage on his side. It is no doubt better to avoid
such discussions as far as possible. But this cannot always be done,
as the refusal to answer questions would be assumed to imply inability
to do so, and would be taken by the audience to indicate defeat. What
really impresses the people would not usually be our arguments, but
the patience and courtesy with which we meet, or ought to meet, the
endeavours of our opponent to make us lose our temper. According to
Eastern ideas, the mere stroking of the beard is supposed to indicate
irritation arising from the inability to answer the questions, and if
the inexperienced disputant incautiously puts his hand to his beard,
his opponent will most probably show off his advantage by pretending
to apologize to him for having made him lose his temper.

On one occasion, while touring among the frontier villages, I was
spending the night at a hujra, and after dark a Mullah had come in for
discussion, and a great number of the men of the village, attracted
by the hope of an interesting conflict between their champion and
the Padre Sahib, had collected to listen.

It was winter, and there was a fire of twigs burning in the middle
of the room, which was filling the place with its smoke, as there
was only one quite inadequate aperture in the centre of the room by
which it could find its exit. Round all four sides were a number of
the native beds, on which both disputants and audience were seated
cross-legged or reclining at their ease.

As the fire burnt low a boy would bring in some crackling thorns and
branches which were piled outside the room, and throw some on the
fire, which would blaze up and illuminate the faces of all around;
for the only other light was the little earthen oil lamp in a niche
in one corner, which only served to make the darkne