154 MISSIONARY TOUR IN BRITISH GUIANA. intended to publish a translation of it in the "Friendly Instructor," the information of our Congregations. MISSIONARY TOUR IN BRITISH GUIANA. BRITISH GUIANA is a part of South America, where, amongst the Indians, we have been engaged for some years in carrying on Missionary work. It is a country in which rivers abound, some of great size, so that their mouths form creeks which are navigable for ships of several hundred tons burden upward of eighty miles from the coast. The European Settlements are on the coast or on the banks of the rivers, the country being covered with immense forests, which the White Man leaves to the cunning Indian, who in his canoe or on foot wanders through them searching for game. These forests abound with beautiful and valuable trees and shrubs, some of medicinal properties; as the castor-oil bush, which grows about six feet high, and bears a nut enclosed in a triangular-shaped husk, which yields the oil; and also the ipecacuanha bush, about two feet high, the fruit containing a number of small flat seeds of a brown colour. Of the trees, some grow to the height of 100 feet; amongst others, the cabbagepalm, its fruit being about three feet long, and in taste more delicate than an almond. In the rich soil which lies next the coast, sugar, cotton, coffee, and indigo are grown. So productive is the country which God gave of old to the Red Man for his inheritance, but which he has never used as God intended he should. The command given him was, "Replenish the earth, and subdue it;" but he has not done Its vast productive powers are wasted in a wild extravagance of vegetable life. The Red Men, few in number, wander about in the restlessness of a savage state, and permit the wild beasts to share their patrimony with them; and such they appear to have been for generations. They are rapidly diminishing, and in a few generations more will probably have disappeared, and their place shall know them no more. Our Mission Station is at a place called Bartica Grove, where two large rivers meet, the Essequibo and the Mazaroony, the latter, not long before it enters the Essequibo, having been joined by another river called the Cuyuni. Here our Missionaries, the Rev. J. H. Bernau and the Rev. J. J. Lohrer, have access to three different tribes of Indians-the Arrawaks, who are the most civilized, and live nearest the plantations; the Akaways, whose skin is of a still deeper red than the preceding tribe; and the Carrabeese, who are very drunken, and have diminished more rapidly than any of the others. There are others more distant and less frequently met with-the Warraws, who make beautiful canoes of the trunks of trees, without seam or joint, plug or nail, and which are highly prized for their elegance and safety; and the Macusie, the most numerous of the tribes, who * A monthly periodical, published by the Tinnevelly Book Society. ́ MISSIONARY TOUR IN BRITISH GUIANA. 155 manufacture the worali, a deadly poison, which never fails to kill, and the nature of which is known only to themselves. At Bartica Grove the Christian Indians, between two and three hundred in number, consisting of individuals from amongst the three tribes we have mentioned, live under the care and instruction of the Missionaries. Here they cultivate the ground, and dwell in houses. There is a neat Church, where on the Sunday a well-ordered Congregation of 200 assembles. There are also Schools for boys and girls; and from the children of these Schools our Missionaries have been encouraged by many proofs that their labours are not in vain. Sometimes journeys are made up the different rivers, to search for Heathen Indians, and persuade them to come and be taught at the Grove. We now present a Letter from Mr. Lohrer to a Student in the Islington Institution, giving an account of one of these expeditions up the Cuyuni in Nov. 1849, which we think our readers will find interesting. The Letter is dated Nov. the 29th. We started early on Wednesday, Nov. the 14th. At two P.M. we arrived at an Indian Settlement. Here were fifteen persons, all of whom promised to see me on the morrow at a stated place. Among their number was an old captain (chief), who was most attentive to what I said, and spoke of his ignorance of these things, having never before heard them. An old blind woman was sitting in her hammock, and on my asking her how long she had been blind, she showed me by stretching out her ten fingers and then pointing to two toes, indicating that she had been in this state of darkness twelve years. "Who made you blind?" I asked. "I don't know," was the answer; "but I suppose wicked men-the peimen" (conjurers). "Do you not think Jamusi (God) made you blind?" "I don't know." "Yes, Jamusi made you blind. But why do I suppose Jamusi took away your eyesight?" She did not understand how and why that should be the case, and I continued-"Your soul is as blind as your natural eyes. God wishes to enlighten your soul, that you may see what is good for it. He therefore took away your natural sight, that you might learn to think of your soul, and ask Him for light.' She said, "Yes, perhaps it is so." I then told her that God had sent me to speak to her, and to lead her to that Light which came into the world to enlighten all who would not refuse light. She listened, and seemed to understand what I meant. After I had spoken a few words to some others, I asked them to come to our Meeting the next day on the opposite side of the river. We had to walk a considerable way through the bush before we came to the river-side. Here I gave the men some refreshment, and went higher up the river, in search of one more family, which I soon found; and, as I purposed to stay there till the morning, I asked the men to take me up the first rapids before night, which they cheerfully did. This is a beautiful scene. The stream is divided into several branches, each of which is mightily obstructed in its course by huge masses of rock. These are split in certain places, and at others do not rise above the level of the water. As the gorges which serve as outlets to the current are inadequate to the quantity of water, it passes through with tremendous force, and causes—not 156 MISSIONARY TOUR IN BRITISH GUIANA. indeed, as is sometimes said, a thundering, but yet an awful, gurgling, gushing noise, to be heard more than a mile below the spot where it is actually produced. The scene is, however, not so grand as I have seen in Switzerland. A little after six we came back to the last-mentioned family, where we had dinner, and refreshed our weary bodies. The construction of an Indian hut is very simple. Four posts are put in the earth; four bars are laid across them; and then a few poles for rafters complete the whole frame. The covering of the roof is made of a certain leaf, which they bind on with bush ropes. The furniture is as simple as the house: a few hammocks fastened to the beams, a pagole to put things into, especially when travelling, a pot for cooking, bow and arrows, perhaps a gun, an axe, and cutlass. Such a cottage we had; but I wished to have it look a little tidy, and set my ingenuity to work. Outside the cottage I observed two large earthern jars, between two and three feet high, and near them the bottom of an old basket. Having placed the two jars in the middle of the room, I put the bottom of the basket on them, and covered it with a nice clean towel, which gave the whole an air of civilization. After that I constructed a low chair before the table, and was very comfortable. The people were quite astonished at the appearance. After dinner I collected them around me, and read and expounded the hundred and fifteenth Psalm, to which they were very attentive. After prayer, I retired to my canoe, thankful to God for the mercies of the past day, and, commending myself and dear ones to the Lord, enjoyed such a sweet and refreshing sleep as I had not had for a long time before. Early in the morning we prepared to advance, and after prayers went off. We first visited a place where Mr.Youd* had a Chapel. Not the least trace of it can now be seen: all is overgrown with hedges and trees. There were a few orange trees of his planting, one of which had an orange, which I prized very much. About eight A.M. we arrived at the place appointed for our Meeting. The weather not being favourable, it was the more interesting to see the Indians in their small canoes paddling along from every direction. At about ten o'clock there were fifty gathered together under a large hut, in which they made a convenient bench for me, while they sat before me, and at my side, on trunks of trees. I now told them the purpose of my coming, and my intention to see them often if they wished to learn the way to heaven. I especially required their children: some were quite willing to give them, but others objected. The old captain whom I saw the day before gave his two boys, but I would only take the younger another man offered his girl: others said they would give theirs, but their foolish mothers would not part with them. At last I persuaded one woman to give up her boy. : On leaving them, they expressed a great wish that I would come again. About five P.M. I reached Bartica, and was received with real affection. The three children I brought with me are doing well. * The Rev. T. Youd, the Society's Missionary to the Indians, who died in 1839. VOL. I. No. 14. NEW SERIES.] [MAY, 1851. THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER. P THE REV. HENRY BUDD ON HIS JOURNEY TO CUMBERLAND STATION.-Vide p. 161. LIVES OF MISSIONARIES.-HANS EGEDE. (Concluded from p. 147 of our last Number.) THE foundation of all Missionary effort is our Lord's command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." Some, when they hear of money, and efforts, and human life, expended in making known the Gospel to the Heathen, may feel disposed to exclaim, like Judas, "Why was this waste? How much better if all this had been laid out in relieving the temporal necessities of our own poor." But Christ's command not only sanctions but necessitates such efforts; and, with that obligation laid upon us, however some may object, we may not cease from them. When individuals are faithfully engaged in fulfilling this duty, the Lord is usually pleased to acknowledge their work, and give them souls for their hire; and this, when granted, is a great encouragement. Still, the true Missionary principle is that which enables us to go on, even when we see no fruit. But for this blessed assurance-that, however unsuccessful his efforts might be, he was, nevertheless, fulfilling his Master's will-how could Hans Egede have been enabled to persevere, when, at the end of fifteen years, he could not rejoice even over one converted Greenlander? And yet this arose not from want of pains on his part. No man could labour more diligently or self-denyingly. Knowing how useless he must be until he could communicate with the Greenlanders in their own tongue, he at once applied himself to the native language. He first furnished himself with a single word-" Kina," "What is this?" and then, constantly inquiring the name of every object that he met with, he wrote each word carefully down. His children, also, soon caught the sounds, and much assisted him. The good man would also go and stay in a Greenlander's hut, cheerfully enduring the noisome smells and filth, as well as other inconveniences, while visiting them, with the hope of a rich reward in an increased knowledge of their language. After a time, two or three young Greenlanders came to live with him, whom he diligently instructed in reading, and in the truths of the Gospel. The reward of a fish-hook for every letter they learned attracted them for a time; but they soon grew weary, and said they knew not the use of sitting every day, looking at a piece of paper, and crying A, B, C; whereas going to sea, to hunt seals and shoot birds, was both pleasant and profitable: so when the summer came, one by one they stole away. Thus twelve years elapsed, the Natives continuing indifferent and perverse. If the weather changed unfavourably, they ascribed it to the reading and praying, which they said irritated the air. If they were urged to pray themselves, they said, "We do pray, but it signifies nothing." At length, in 1733, |