h their child, came to live at Goobbe, and had
half the new house (namely, one large room and two small ones) given up
to them; the two mission families cheerfully sacrificing a few comforts
for the benefit of having an additional preacher in the Circuit. We
have seen how Daniel, even when a lad, and without the gospel, treated
idols and idolatry; but after the gospel had been preached to him and to
his neighbours, the people of his village came round very much to his
opinion, greatly to the encouragement of the Missionaries.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

AN ABANDONED HEATHEN TEMPLE.

On the 11th of October, 1839, Mr Arthur joined Mr Jenkins at Goobbe,
and by that time the fruit of past labour was beginning to appear; not
in the shape of individual conversions, but in an extensive neglect of
idol-worship, particularly in Singonahully. Mr Arthur gives the
following account: "About the time of my arrival, the inhabitants of the
place declared that they had abandoned idolatry, and would no more
honour the temple of Runga. To test their sincerity, Mr Jenkins one
morning, asked them whether he might go to the temple. `O, by all
means.' `Might we enter?' `Yes; go where you like.' `Might we enter
without taking off our shoes?' `Certainly; we don't care who goes, or
how: we have given up the idol.' This was strong proof that their old
feelings had vanished; and, accordingly, at the temple we found no
obstacle to our entrance. Shod and covered, we passed up through the
outer apartment to the sanctuary, where sat the grim image of Runga,
incrusted in the congealed oil and _ghee_ of many anointings, with the
lightless lamp before him, faded garlands hanging round his neck, loads
of dust settled on his person, and part of the roof falling in directly
above. No room remained for doubt. The faith which once adored Runga
had changed into contempt; and we rejoiced over that forsaken idol, as
an earnest of better days. On afterwards enquiring what induced them to
withdraw the confidence they had so long reposed in Runga, they
answered, `You,' (meaning the Missionaries), `told us that the god did
not protect us, but that we protected the god; that if we only left him
alone, we should see that he could not take care of himself; and if he
could not take care of himself, how could he take care of us? Now we
thought that was a _buddhi matu_,' (a word of sense), `and so we
resolved to see whether he could take care of himself or not;