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The Indians of Guiana

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 18, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 11.

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The Indians of Guiana

By T. J. KENNEDY

T. J. KENNEDY
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” This scripture, including, as it does, every race of men on the face of the whole earth, takes in the aboriginal Indians of Guiana. To-day, scattered throughout the seventy thousand square miles of territory in British Guiana, there are twenty thousand or more of the aboriginal population of this part of South America, who know little or nothing of a Saviour who died to save them. And although some efforts have been made by other denominations to reach these benighted people, the great majority still remain in gross darkness and superstition. The only hope is the third angel’s message, which must be carried to them sooner or later. But at present very little is being done in that direction. Higher up in the interior of the colony the number of individuals forming the different groups can hardly be determined, for they live, widely scattered, in a country otherwise uninhabited, and only partially explored.
The following will give some idea of the number of different languages in which the message must be given: Akawai, Amaripas, Arawak, Arecuna, Atorai, Caribs, Macusi, Maopityans, Wapiana, Warrau, Woyowai, Zurumutas, and several others on the borders of the Brazilian and Venezuelan territories.
A COMPANY OF INDIAN BELIEVERS
A COMPANY OF INDIAN BELIEVERS
At present we have only one church building, at Tappacooma Creek, Essequibo, with a membership of thirty-nine, and one or two small companies along the frontier of the colony. It would seem almost a problem how the message would ever be carried to them, had we not the assurance that God himself is going to “finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9:28. And also in Isa. 11:11, 12, we read: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Much remains yet to be done for the people of this needy field. And while the Macedonian cry is being heard from many places, may God’s people everywhere remember the Indians of Guiana by responding to the call of the hour. “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”
Aurora, British Guiana.