72 
Bartika Grove Mission. 
wavy strata, similar to Itabirite. In the immediate neighbourhood o( 
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 Am pa 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 of Rartika 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 Air. Bernau 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 land- 
ing-stage, and we were most heartily received and welcomed by a Siles- 
ian, Mr. Bernau and his wife. 
252. Bartika Grove is the most important of the new Missions that 
1 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 of his labours to the country of the Makusis where he 
founded Pirara 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. Bernau who was educated in the mission schools of Basle 
and London, accepted the post of Missionary Youd, and has been labour- 
ing here now for some years. The mission numbers about some 110 
residents, mostly coloured people. In Mr. Bernau I came to know not 
only an unusually industrious and 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 
where 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 File kind that is blessed by inward correspondence with our thoughts, 
desires and actions, whereby we love God 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 propaga- 
tion on such soil with the result that up till now all the efforts of the 
worthy man have remained without any lasting results. 
254. When first established, several of the Indians accepted his invi- 
tation 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 
v hich 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 
