In British Guiana by William Ambrose Spicer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 24, 1903

In British Guiana

By William Ambrose Spicer

WE have had three mission fields in operation round the east waters of the Caribbean Sea. The Lesser Antilles, that string of little islands bent like a bow between the Atlantic and the Caribbean, formed one field; Trinidad, another; with British Guiana, on the mainland of South America, as the third. At our general meeting, appointed in Trinidad, it was proposed to consider uniting all these fields under one conference organization.

After a Sabbath and Sunday in Trinidad, and before the general meeting, Brother Haysmer and I went across to British Guiana to counsel with the brethren as to their work and its relation to the new organization. Brother and Sister Morrow had been compelled to leave the field on account of Sister Morrow’s health, and were in Bermuda. But we found Brother Babcock well, and of good courage.

The day after arrival we held our first meeting with the church on the island of Leguan, about forty miles from Georgetown, in the vast delta of the Essequibo River. Our people have a little meeting hall on the high road, by the Waterloo sugar estate. The highway is really one continuous village, a large proportion of the dwellings being coolie houses, the East Indian coolies having been imported by the thousand to work the sugar plantations.

We had a good meeting here. The brethren and sisters of Leguan were as appreciative listeners to the story of our work and its soon-coming triumph as will be found anywhere. Simple toilers as they are, it was plainly to be seen that they love this truth. Brother Hyder, a native of India, has been working among his own people on the plantations. Quite a number of East Indians attended the meeting.

On Sabbath and Sunday we held a general meeting in Georgetown, the capital city. Our meetings were held in their new chapel, a neat building, almost completed. It seats about two hundred when crowded, and on Sunday evening, and at a Tuesday evening service also, the public more than filled the available space. This building has been greatly needed in Georgetown. The brethren expect to dedicate it entirely free from debt. During the meetings Brother Phillip Giddings, a native of Guiana, was ordained to the ministry.

The larger population of British Guiana is along the coast line between Georgetown and New Amsterdam, across the Berbice River. It was planned to take up a vigorous campaign, from village to village along the coast, with tent and halls, to let all the people in these districts hear the truth if they will. It will not take long to stir the coast and reach the larger proportion of the people. Our brethren in Guiana

are ready heartily to join us in the effort quickly to carry the warning message to all, and so prepare the way for the finishing of the work.

We spent one day in New Amsterdam, and had a meeting with the church. Here we met members of the church on Canje Creek, about two days’ journey by boat from New Amsterdam. The story of this company is an interesting one. A Brother Danil, from New Amsterdam, went into the Canje Creek region to gather certain medicinal barks, for shipment to London. While working, he taught the truth to the people of the village. A number accepted it; and as those first embracing it have been missionaries, they now have a company of about fifty, and expect still to continue growing.

So, too, the truth has been carried into the interior, in the Essequibo district, where it has borne fruit among the Indians, the Arawaks, descendants of the aborigines who welcomed Columbus and the Spanish discoverers to the new world.

We met also at New Amsterdam a young brother who has been canvassing in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana. We have one church in Dutch Guiana, near the Berbice border. Thus a foothold has been gained in the Dutch province, and our brethren are hopeful of good results in the work. Publications may be handled in English and Dutch. The vernacular of the people, however, is a mixture called the “taki-taki,” in which we should soon have leaflets. It is a joy to see the truth pushing into these out-of-the-way corners of the earth; for, while the population is small, and these lands lie outside of the main lines of commerce and political influence, the people must be reached by this message that is to go to every people and tongue.

Everywhere the believers in Guiana were in favor of uniting with the entire East Caribbean field in one conference organization. The nature of the fields is so similar that we all believe it will be a source of strength to join all together as one.

As in all the West Indies, sugar making is the great industry in the Guianas. The low price of sugar has struck the planters a hard blow for years past. On all sides one may see factories fallen into disuse and decay. The tendency has been for the smaller estates to go into the hands of the larger. Now there is a prospect of a revival of the sugar industry, and better times are expected.

W. A. SPICER.

Havana, Cuba.