A Visit to Saba by A. J. Haysmer

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 5, 1902

A Visit to Saba

By A. J. Haysmer

A. J. HAYSMER

Saba belongs to the Dutch government, and is a rocky island about nine miles in circumference, rising abruptly from the sea to a considerable height, the highest peak being about three thousand feet.

The latest statistics give the population as about twenty-five hundred. They are mostly white, and live in five small villages.

The majority of the men are sailors, and are away from home most of the time. The women make straw hats, drawn needlework, raise fowls, etc. Milk, eggs, and onions, as well as tropical fruits and vegetables, are abundant. The climate is almost perfect.

In going from the other West Indies to Saba there are a few things that especially impress the visitor,—the industrial habits of the people, their neat homes, their hospitality, and a higher standard of morality. Most of the people belong to either the Anglican or the Roman Catholic church.

Within the last two years a sect of

no-law missionaries has been working there, and has succeeded in perverting the Bible truths, and in securing quite a following.

May 6, Brother and Sister S. A. Wellman and the writer started from St. Kitts in a small sloop to visit the island of Saba, about thirty-five miles to the westward. We had had many invitations to visit this place, but could not do so before. We landed about three o’clock in the morning, and walked up a steep, rocky path about one and one-half miles to the home of Brother James Hassel, the only representative of the third angel’s message in the island.

THE PRINCIPAL VILLAGE ON THE ISLAND OF SABA

This brother accepted the truth about two years ago, while engaged as a captain on one of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company’s coast steamers at St. Lucia. In order to live the truth, he had to resign his position. He returned to his home in Saba, and began to clear off and work the rocky soil in order to provide food for his family. He has had many hardships and trials, but has stood firm, knowing that the reward is almost in sight. He has been preaching the truth not so much by words as by a quiet, godly life.

We found a comfortable house in readiness for us, and appointments out for meetings. We remained about thirteen days, having from two to three meetings daily in the best homes in the island. We could not begin to fill the calls to visit and hold meetings. We took our small organ with us, from village to village. We sold several dollars’ worth of our small books, and distributed tracts and leaflets.

The governor attended every meeting that we held in his village (shown in the accompanying illustration), and gave us an urgent invitation to return as soon as possible.

We believe that the Lord has honest souls in this island, and we were reluctant to leave; but other work demanded our attention, so we had to go, promising either to return or to send some one as soon as possible.

Many of these little islands are unwarned. How important that we hasten to bring this last message to them, that they may have an opportunity to accept it before being cut off by the terrible visitations that threaten all of these islands.

May we have your prayers and support for the work in this field?