Part 13

Twenty years ago, when the villagers living on the borders of Reigate Heath, Surrey, had no place of worship nearer than the parish church, a service was held in a schoolroom close by, and was so well attended that the authorities looked around for a suitable permanent building. The erection of a church was out of the question, but there stood on the Heath the remains of an old mill, a picturesque feature in a beautiful bit of landscape. Inspection showed that once the rats were got rid of a comparatively small outlay would furnish and render the mill fit for public worship, and soon it was opened as the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The circular brick walls of this odd chapel are mostly ivy-clad, and as the entrance is reached the vestry is seen on the left. Originally it is reputed to have been a carpenter's shed, and, except that a few pegs and chairs have been added, its primitive state is well preserved. The interior of the chapel arouses interest. Four buttresses, four feet thick by six feet in height, serve as rests for two massive beams, which cross each other in the centre and support an upright shaft, cracked with age and strongly bound with iron bands. The roof slopes down from the vertex of the shaft to the circular wall, and consequently the building, though no more than thirty feet in diameter, is of considerable loftiness. The buttresses make four natural alcoves. The entrance door stands in one, and immediately opposite is the altar; the harmonium is placed in a third, and the bell-ringer sits close beside it and rings his bell; the fourth is occupied by the congregation. The chairs are arranged so as to leave an aisle from the doorway to the altar, down which only one person can pass at a time. Above the altar and the doorway are the windows. The light is fairly good, but there are glass lanterns filled with candles in the alcoves, and a candelabrum holding nine lights hangs in front of the altar. All the seats are free, and as many as fifty people can be accommodated. There is no pulpit, the preacher standing between the prayer-desk and the lectern. A nominal rental of a shilling a year is paid to the owner of this curious church.

The horrible-looking head seen in the photograph below is a fetish which was, until quite recently, in use among the natives of Sierra Leone. It is said to be covered with human skin, and the gruesomeness of its appearance was intentionally exaggerated, as it was intended to act as a kind of household god and a defence against evil spirits. These superstitions, it is interesting to note, are gradually becoming extinct under the pressure of British civilization.

The photograph reproduced on this page was taken on the station platform at Ginginhlovu, in Zululand. The young Zulu girl here seen was waiting for a train, and had picked up a WIDE-WORLD MAGAZINE which had been inadvertently left behind by some passenger--no doubt much to his sorrow. Although the vast majority of the natives cannot read or understand English, they are very fond of looking at pictures, and this Zulu belle was much interested in her find.