Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah Methodist

Pelita is beginning a new series of rediscovering some of our Methodist roots and history. This would be done through articles/stories that has been previously published in our earlier publication.

Ms Sophia Blackmore's Journey to Perak

It was Dr. and Mrs. West and little Irene with whom I visited Ipoh last month. A very heavy storm of rain came on just before we left Penang, and we had a rough passage across to the Peninsula. At midnight we passed through the Dinding Islands, which are at the entrance of the Perak river. We steamed quite close to these islands; they looked very beautiful. We wished for daylight that we might see them more distinctly. Forty miles up the river is Teluk Anson. We arrived at 6.30 a.m., and had to wait till eight o’clock for the train. The journey of sixty miles to Ipoh was through cut-down jungle, which is always interesting for variety of colour and new growth.

It is surprising how quickly roads have been made in Perak. Not many years ago travelling was all done by the water ways; the only land paths were elephant tracks. Now there are several railways and very good cart roads connecting all the principal towns. It must mean much labour to make roads through the thick virgin jungle and over all the water springs, rivers, etc. Amongst the minor difficulties must be coming in contact with different kinds of insects, that are so numerous. I realized this one day, when I put my hand through some bushes to get at some flowers. I was instantly covered with karinga ants, which nipped very hard and were not easy to get rid of.

As the country is being opened up by these roads new towns are springing up like mushrooms.

One of the first places we visited was the land that has been given by the Government to our mission on which to build a school-church. The land is high, on the railway line, and in every way a desirable situation. The jungle
has been cut down, but there was still much clearing to be done. A road had to made to the land. This was begun when we were in Ipoh. The building is to be commenced when $1500 has been collected. It is hoped that not many months will elapse before the first Methodist Church in the Malay Peninsula is completed. It rained every day that we were in Ipoh. All our outings had to be arranged for the morning, for we were sure of heavy rain in the evening. On the Sunday it rained, and rained, and rained. This interfered with the congregations. The Chinese service was held first, then the Tamil. In the afternoon three Chinese were baptised. At six p.m. English service was held. Mr. Horley’s sitting room was nicely filled, although it was so wet.

In Ipoh and the surrounding towns there are many calls for Christian work. The Chinese pre-dominate. It is they who do most of the tin mining. The Malays keep to their villages on the river banks. When will the time come when the preacher of the Gospel is found in all these towns in the beautiful Kinta Valley?

One morning we went to visit some caves in white cliffs, about a mile from Ipoh. The cliffs are of beautiful white stone – they say marble. The caves are very interesting; several of them are quite large. In the best one a heathen temple is built, which seems such a pity. But all over the lovely valley are signs of heathenism and superstition. The caves are written over in Tamil and Chinese in rude charcoal characters - this disfigures the white wall. Truly man spoils the beautiful works of God.

Another morning we had a drive along Gopeng road. There are miles of white cliffs along this road, their summits and crevices covered with tropical foliage. There are caves in these cliffs too, but we could not drive far enough to see them.

Tin mining in Perak has developed in late years. Europeans with expensive ideas for machinery have not been able to make it easy. The Malay, if he has enough to eat and drink, thinks he has no need to work; so the industrious Chinaman mines for tin with success. We visited some tin mines. The sand which is mixed with tin is dug out of the hillside, and undergoes frequent washing. The arrangements for the water to run from one trough to another are very ingenious. We also saw bags and bags of the black tin ore in small grains. This ore was ready for the smelting, which is done elsewhere.

We heard from various reports of what the rain had done by washing away the railroad but no information was very definite. However, when we came to get our tickets for the return journey we found we were issued to Kampar only. When we reached that place we could only get within half a mile of the station. The carriages were soon emptied. The men climbed up the embarkment and were soon to the road. We were following but were advised to walk through the train and after some delay were taken in a van to the station. Dr. West then went to hunt for a horse conveyance, but found to his dismay that the other passengers had taken them. After waiting a long time a bullock ‘bus put in an appearance’. We and our boxes were crowded in; we were shaken and jolted at a great rate. The driver did his best by calling out and urging on his beasts but they had been the journey before that day, and were tired out.

We hope to reach Tapak (Tapah), a distance of twelve miles, by this bullock’ bus and then take a shandey-dan to Tapak, road station, six miles further on, reaching there in time for the afternoon train. But the bullocks moved on so slowly through the hot sun that we reached Tapak, at the time we should have been at the station. We were grateful for a Rest house to spend the night in, and found it very comfortable. I was tired but Dr. and Mrs. West went round to see the town and decided that more Malays were there than we had yet seen in our travels. Next morning we had a very pleasant drive in a shandey-dan to the station. At Teluk Anson we had again to wait. We found friends who kindly entertained us. Dr. West baptised a Tamil baby and found some other work to do.

Sophia Blackmore was an Australian missionary. She founded the Methodist Girls’ School on 15 August 1887, and also Fairfield Methodist School (Primary) in Singapore. She was the first woman missionary sent by the Methodist Women’s Foreign Missionary Society to Singapore. She also set up a boarding home for girls, supported the early Methodist Straits Chinese Christian work and published a Christian periodical in Baba Malay.

This article was reprinted from the ‘Malaysia Message, January 1896”