(an extract from Schomburgk’s expedition to the interior. The work was translated from German by Walter E. Roth, Stipendiary Magistrate of the Demerara River District and author of several scholarly works, in 1920)
250. In the absence of any favourable wind we had to cast anchor with the commencing ebb and wait for the next flood-tide. The river here looked like some inland lake studded with numerous woody islands, because those situate behind were so closely packed together that the river mouth was completely hidden. A number of high chimneys that rose in isolated spots above the luxuriant growth of tropical forest, and indicated the creative hand of man, lent to the surrounding landscape an infinite charm, and at the same time a character which I have found peculiar only to the Essequibo: the thousands of parrots that towards sundown were flying over the water with deafening din from West to East further helped to improve it. Judging from the rank vegetation, the land here must be unusually fertile. We were able to resume our journey before daybreak, a little after which Mr. King, with a view to visiting certain of the settlements on the Eastern bank, left us for the corial which, as he had been expected, we soon saw being paddled towards us, Daybreak was greeted with the same flocks of parrots, which now flew over the stream from East to West probably looking to plunder fruit-trees anywhere in this direction of the compass.
251. The washing tide soon brought us to Itaka Creek which joins the Essequibo from the Eastward. The first rocks now appear. They belong to the primitive series, stretch unusually far into the river and at high flood are completely covered by the waves, for which reason a very experienced steersman is necessary to avoid all the dangers attendant on the passage of boats. Partly to avoid these, and partly also with a view to lunching with one of our captain’s acquaintances, a timber merchant whose factory was already beckoning to us, in the far distance from off Saxically, a projecting rock on the Western bank, the schooner was turned in that direction. Mr. Moller received us in a most friendly fashion and we gladly let him persuade us to spend the night there.
On resuming our journey next morning we found the stream narrowed to more than half on account of the Saxically rocks. The extraordinary sight of a 20 to 30 ft. high cliff projecting into the river immediately attracted our attention. It was a sandstone. Full of magnetic iron with wavy strata, similar to Itabirite. In the immediate neighbourhood of this upright rising crag lay at the same time beds of sandstone that were tinged black and cemented by iron and manganese directly opposite the cliff on the Eastern bank the river Ampa. flows into the Essequibo, the Indian Post (Sec. 191) of the same name lying in the close vicinity. Some six miles above Ampa several dangerous rocks again emerge above the surface, the “Three Brothers” and “Three Sisters,” of which one has the exact shape of a huge head bobbing out of the water.
As soon as we had turned our backs on the small unoccupied islands of Patta-pateima and Nai-kuripa, the cheery white house at Bartika Grove Mission already at a tolerable distance away smiled invitingly at us from out of the thick succulent foliage of plantains and coconut palms. My brother had told me that in Mr. Bemau the Missionary I would find a German and that a Prussian born. Our schooner soon cast anchor under the houses that had been built upon the rise, the boat paddled quickly to the landing-stage, and we were most heartily received and welcomed by a Silesian, Mr. Bemau and his wife.
252. Bartika Grove is the most important of the new Missions that I found in Guiana- It is maintained by the Episcopal Church, and was established and managed by Armstrong, an Englishman in 1833. He was succeeded by Missionary Youd, who, inspired by an inward passion for the Ideal, was induced by my brother, after a short stay in Bartika Grove to shift the scene to his labours to the country of the Makusis where he founded Firara Mission. As in the course of my journey I have still much more to say about this station, which at the same time was so full of promise, I propose postponing its short history until later.
253 Mr. Bemau who was educated in the mission schools of Basle and London, accepted the post of Missionary Youd, and have been labouring here now for some years. The mission numbers about some 110 residents, mostly coloured people. In Mr. Bemau I came to know not only an unusually industrious extremely estimable teacher, but also a man who, thoroughly absorbed in his high calling, devotes to it his entire spiritual and bodily strength. Experience unfortunately has taught him that no field is to be found amongst the older generation while the seeds of true Christianity can be sewn with success: not the sort of Christianity that consists in just using the terms “God” or “Lord,” but the kind that is blessed by inward correspondence with our thoughts, desires and actions, whereby we love with our whole heart and soul and our neighbours as ourselves! A virile civilisation and obstacles of that nature, especially among the older folk, have opposed its propagation on such soil with the result that up till now all the efforts of the worthy man has remained without any lasting results.
254. When first established, several of the Indians accepted his invitation to settle down in the neighbourhood of the Mission, but this always lasted for only a short while, and their unquenchable thirst for an unfettered life soon drove them back into their forests; a bent for the most absolute self-will and their ingrained indolence, according to which they exert themselves physically only when urgent requirements demand it, and after its gratification regard any further labour as unnecessary-all these combined have unfortunately up to the present made every such sacrificing effort ineffective.
So long as the watchful eyes of the missionary rested on his grown-up scholars, he could find no more willing pupils: but hardly were he to turn his gaze aside) than what he had bidden them do was forgotten, the old fashions again became their absolute masters, and one Indian disappeared after the other: indeed the prohibition about drinking spirituous liquors alone had already proved sufficient to drive them away. That, the seed sewn by Messrs. Armstrong, Youd and Bemau has not been entirely destroyed however, is quite, apparent from the fact that on Sundays certainly a number of visitors from settlements near and far are to be seen continually coming to church without any invitation just as unexpectedly as they take their departure when service is concluded.
255. When, after innumerable attempts, Mr. Bemau recognised that his sacrifices on behalf of the elder generation were in vain, he exerted his utmost with the younger members and, in connection with the Mission, established a school for Indian children, especially for the orphans whom he gathered from among the different tribes. At the time of my first visit the number of little brown proteges had amounted to 50, by who he as well as his wife was most dearly loved. Every year the zealous missionary takes a trip among the different tribes, with the object of inducing the parents to trust him with their children of any age, but he only rarely succeeds in doing this because the Indians, especially the mothers, are exceedingly fond of their youngsters and look upon them, especially the girls, as little “helps” for the household. If orphans whose support falls upon the relatives are found in a settlement they are in most cases readily and freely handed over to him. The success with which Br. Bemau’s noble efforts have been crowned, borders on the marvellous, and one might search Germany in vain for a school where the pupils pick up with equal ease and rapidity that which is brought before their juvenile understanding, and where, particularly in so short a time, the scholars learn to count or speak or to read and write a foreign language like these little brownies do their English. One little Carib boy learnt to read and write readily within four months; another, of the Akawai tribe, within fourteen months managed to reckon up to the Rule of Three. The little pupils had also made most striking progress in singing and I shall never forget the impression which their soft pleasing voices made on me. Two teachers assist Mr. Bemau with the boys, and a governess helps Mrs. Bemau with the woman’s work and in minding the little kiddies, some of whom are not yet two years of age.
256. Besides school work, the boys are taught all kinds of unusual labour, in which Mr. Bemau himself shows unusual skill. When the boys are confirmed, those who desire and are fit for a trade are apprenticed to a master. If any show the necessary abilities for teaching, the Mission itself affords opportunity for such a training, so that later on they may act as teachers amongst their own people. The girls are also either trained as teachers or else sent to the best families in Georgetown as servants.
257. As soon as a child is handed over to Mr. Beman, it is no more permitted to visit its parents in their village but on the other hand they can come to the Institution whenever they wish and stay as long as they like. With this object in view he has had a large house built where the parents can reside during their stay.
258. The Boys’ Home is large and roomy and serves at the same time as Church which, like the Girls’ Home, is still under construction. The boys’ clothes consisted of a multi-coloured striped shirt, white trousers, white jacket, and small straw hat.
259. As my brother was anxious to reach by afternoon the colony of coloured folk at Cartabo Point where he had recruited his former hands, Mr. Bemau was kind enough to lend us his own boat with which his strongest pupils were to take us to Cartabo Land-spit which separates the Mazaruni and Cuyuni, before they fall into the Essequibo.
260. Under the regulated stroke of our young paddlers we speedily made our way to the estuary, quite a mile wide, of the Mazaruni and Cuyuni Rivers which, about eight miles south of this common mouth join into a single stream. Swift as an arrow we rushed along past the thickly-timbered Eastern shore until the sudden advance of night enveloped everything in darkness and allowed me only sufficient time to recognize in the glorious carpet of flowers Petrea, Combretum, Schousgoea, Seccuridaca, several Passifora and Echites, as well as many a flourishing Malpghi Ciusia, Mimosa, and Melastoma, while the large blossom carvlinea princeps showed up bright and brilliant through the thick underwood.
On our journey up the Essequibo we had kept as much as possible in the middle of the stream, so that I could only admire the luxuriant insular and riparian growth as thick masses of foliage. It was already quite dark when we reached Cartabo Point, where we did not find those whom we were looking for. However worrying this must have been, my brother nevertheless felt pretty confident that all his former hands would some to Georgetown directly they heard that he had returned to South America and required their services again.
