The Canary Islands as a West African Furlough Base

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 23, 1913

The Canary Islands as a West African Furlough Base

Last year, in order to establish a near-by retreat for workers falling ill on the African West Coast, it was decided to start work in the Canary Islands, and make the mission station available as a rest home when the laborers should require a change. Brother W. H. Lewis and family were the first who required this change to the islands. Brother Lewis writes thus of their visit to the Canaries:—

“We left Freetown March 4, in quite a run-down and overworked condition, after two years of strenuous labor in this trying field. I was so weak that I had to be carried in a hammock to the boat; Mrs. Lewis was in a very weak condition after about fourteen months of severe illness, and both the children were far from well.”

“After a smooth voyage of five days, we reached Teneriffe the night after the Sabbath, about ten o’clock. I had gained some strength, but was still so weak that I could scarcely walk. We spent the night in Santa Cruz. Sunday morning we went out to Laguna by electric car, and were met and heartily welcomed by Brother and Sister B. B. Aldrich.

“As Brother Aldrich had not had time to fit up the home for the West African workers, and indeed had not yet received the necessary means to do so, I was in time to lend him a helping hand; and with a few tools which the landlord, who is a mechanic, was kind enough to lend us, was able to save a few cents in fitting up the rooms.

“Teneriffe is not only healthful, but very beautiful and picturesque; and from a health standpoint and for beautiful scenery, Laguna, the town where Brother and Sister Aldrich have established the mission home, is one of the most desirable places I have ever seen. The climate is delightful. In fact, in the island of Teneriffe one can have almost any climate he wishes, from a hot to a very cold one. As one who has spent some time in the hot, debilitating climate of West Africa ascends on the mountain electric railway, which winds in and out, he can but admire the beautiful panoramic view spread out before him; and as he feels the gradual but steady fall in temperature as he nears Laguna, he is ready to conclude that here it is quite cold enough, and is willing to leave the car and find a warm room. This was our experience.

“As I have said, the island is very beautiful. It is a mass of mountains towering one above the other until the highest reaches an altitude of about twelve thousand feet, and is covered with snow and ice the entire year. The soil is very productive and is well tilled, scarcely any being left uncultivated. Vegetables of all kinds, and fruits of both tropical and temperate zones are grown, and yield very abundantly. The flowers are beautiful, both wild and cultivated.

“We had been on the island but a short time when we began to see and feel a marked change for the better in our health. When we left Freetown, I weighed one hundred thirty pounds; and when I returned, my weight was one hundred seventy pounds. Mrs. Lewis weighed more than she ever did before, and both the children gained rapidly. I am quite convinced that as a health resort, where the workers can recuperate for a time after battling with the trying climate of the West Coast, this place will prove to be a great boon and a blessing to both the workers and the work in West Africa.

“I might add just here that when it was decided by the brethren at headquarters that we should go to the Canary Islands for a change and rest, I felt like rebelling, as I did not think it would be far enough away from the coast to do us any real good, and I almost felt that the Mission Board was making a mistake and would be spending time and money for naught. But I have been forced to change my opinion on that point, and I believe, yes, I know, that it was the plan of our Heavenly Father for our good, and also for the good of the people of the archipelago, for surely it is time for them, as one of the ‘isles of the sea,’ to receive the message for to-day. The people are quite intelligent and very sociable, and in my short stay I learned to love them. Several seem ready to receive the truth.

“We spent three months and twelve days in Teneriffe, and surely enjoyed our stay and felt greatly benefited by it; but we were glad to be able to return and again take up the work which we so much love, but which we were forced to lay down for a time. Pray for us, and for this enterprise, that it may prove a great blessing in advancing the message in West Africa, and in the salvation of many souls in the islands.”