Bube Bible History (3)

**List: Bube Ministry the Bible ( the Bible ) Bube... FERNANDIAN, OR ADIYAH. THE island of Fernando Po is situated in the Bight of Benin, about twenty miles distant from the continent, between lat. 3° 11' and 3° 47' N., and long. 8° 24' and 8° 56' E.   It is about 120 miles in circumference, its greatest length from north to south being rather more than thirty-six miles, and its greatest breadth about thirty-one miles.    The inhabitants of this beautiful island number 20,000.   The tribe to which they belong is called Adiyah, and this name is often given to their language.   They are a timid, inoffensive people, less covetous than the generality of Africans, and remarkable for simplicity and childish good nature. They reside principally on the sides of the mountains of which their island is composed, and generally at a height of from 1000 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea.   There are upwards of two hundred villages thus scattered among the mountains, besides fishing villages; and about fifty trading ports, where they carry on a traffic in yams and palm oil.   The government is in the hands of headmen, one of whom presides over each village, assisted by a certain number of counsellors selected from the aged and experienced.   The religion of the Adiyah is the same as that of their brethren on the opposite shore, consisting in a rude kind of worship rendered to frightful images, and in veneration for charms and amulets.    Fernando Po is a dependency of Spain; and in 1846 the mies. labouring in the island were exposed to some persecution from the emissaries of that government.   The Spanish consul even forbad the use of the Scriptures in the native schools, but was subsequently induced to withdraw the prohi- bition.   This seeming tolerance, however, was only of brief duration.   The persevering opposition of the Romish priesthood had been awakened by the manifest success which attended the efforts of the Protestant mies. to diffuse a knowledge of the revealed Word, and the result has been, the enforced cessation of these important labours.   The mies. were compelled, in 1858, to withdraw from the island.   The Gospel of St. Matthew, printed at the expense of the Baptist My. Society, is the only part of the Fernandian version that has yet been committed to the press.   The Gospel of St. Mark has long been translated, but is not printed, and other portions are ready for the press. This translation was commenced by Mr. Clarke, and is now being carried on by Mr. Saker, of the Baptist My. Society."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] FERNANDIAN, OR ADIYAH.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. Matthew 5:1-12 unknown.]

[Christian Helps Ministry (USA)] [Christian Home Bible Course]