When a person is stricken with the
disease, instead of allowing him to
sleep everything possible is done to
keep him awake. The natives believe
that If he is allowed to sleep the Ill
ness will prove fatal, and the entire
house is kept in an uproar to prevent
i he patient from getting even a short
nap. Drums are beaten, he is forced
to swallow strong coffee, and if these
measures prove inaffective red pep
per is rubbed on his eyelids to pre
vent his closing them.
The priests chant long incantations
and sometimes in an effort to cure
! the disease the scalp is turned back
and a poisonous drug sealed into the
opening with lime.
In its mission field on the west
coast of the Bay of Bengal, with a
population of 6,000,000, the Ameri
can Northern Baptists have six hos
' pttals and ten dispensaries, and are
erecting another large hospital at
Ongole. They propose to extend then
work by erection and equipment of
two new hospitals for women at Pal-
mur and Hanumakonda. This will be
, done from the proceeds of the fund
raised as a first step in the Baptist
New World Movement, in which the
denomination is co-operating with
the Interchurch World Movement.
In Assam, where the Baptists have
a mission field comprising a popula
tion of more than 7,000,000, they
have not yet established a hospital
for women and have only one dis
pensary. The immediate programme
which has been adopted calls for two
fully housed and equipped general
hospitals and at least one hospital
. for women, with a staff of women
physicians a.nd nurses.
