The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1873-05-14
From the Missionary.
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM REV. q
B. PRATT
PORT PAREDEs, Jan. 3Oth, 1873.

| AS the readers or the missionary VIII VI
interested to have some idea Of the new felc
of labor we are about to cultivate, | will i'm
prove my delay at this point to give then
some account Of the town and country itself
and of the means of getting there.
had no small trouble in making up some
of my packages, repeatedly weighing to sec
that none Of them exceeded one hundred anc
twenty-five pounds, and, at the same time,
seeing to it carefully that oxes and trunks
were well filed, 80 that the. contents should
not shake about on the rough road they have
to travel. Having thus packed up what
books | most need, with what articles Of
household use would best bear transportation,
| left Barranquilla on the morning of the
22d instant, with the two children we had
left behind, eager to rejoin their mother and
the little ones from whom they have been
separated nearly four months. We have
some fine steamers on the river, yet it was
our hap to 60 in one not even ordinarily good ;
but in the smallest, the slowest, and most un-
comfortable of all. The river is at times
four or five miles wide, and l suppose for
three hundred miles never less than one; it
is full of islands which are continually form
ing with wonderful rapidity, while the chan
mel is as continually shifting. For the first
one hundred and fifty, or two hundred miles,
there is never less than twenty or thirty feet
of water, SO that the largest steamers can
run both day and night, without fear of snags
or sand bars; after that they do not venture
to proceed after dark. The little towns along
the river present very mean appearance,
an appearance which is only too faithful an
index to their social, religious, and intellec
tual condition. There are but two or three
places of any Importance in the six hundred
miles of navigation from Barranquilla to
Honda; and most of them all are decreasing
in population.
Five days of slow navigation brought US to
the "BOca del Dique," or mouth of the
bayou, which connects the river with the
lake of Paturia. 1t was at this point that
l was detained six days on my way down
waiting f0T q steamer, 8laiiSas gaTe me the op
portunity of preaching every night and scat
tering plentifully the good seed of the word
of God. As l arrived after 9 o'clock at
night, and left at half past four in the morn
ing, had no opportunity of ascertaining
anything more than the continued good will
of all met. When | came up with Mrs
Pratt, the steamer entered the bayou, or
"cono," and came with US to Port Paredes;
but at present the water is SO low that the
many logs, fallen across the cano, but covered
at high water, obStruct navigation; so we had
to come in canoes, and arrived little after
midday, the distance being some twenty-five
miles, The last three miles is across the
beautiful little lake of Paturia, which abounds,
like all the other lakes so.connected with the
river, in fish; an article this however, which
s drug in the market here, and so hardly
deserving of mention.
During the time 1 was in Barranquilla,
the warehouse at this point was burned to
the ground with all its contents, valued at
$4,000 or $4,000, by stroke of lightning.
My own loss was about thirty dollars, having
left two saddles, brides, etc., here till l
should need them on my return. In addition
to the stunning shock felt by the persons
sleeping in the warehouse, the flames com
municated almost instantaneously to the
whole of the infammable palm thatch roof,
rendering it impossible to remove anything
but the books and papers of the office.
A very affecting circumstance connected
with this fire is, that it was "of the Lords
mercy" that all our effects were not likewise
consumed therein left here the 31st
Of December, with the full intention of re-
turning by the mail steamer of the 18th in
slant. Except for my six days detention at
the month of the cano by the non-arrival OF
the expected steamer, should have had time
plenty to make all my arrangements and
return on the 11th. In that case l should
have got here on the 10th, exactly in time tc
store my baggage and other effects, and tc
have them burned before daylight on the
morning of the 17th. For what with the
suddenness of the confagration, and what
with the CONSERVATION of the children, who
would have slept in the same building, i
would probably have been impossible to have
saved anything at all. ellis mercy is grea
toward them that fear him." Of that mercy
we have hitherto richly tasted.
The fire has thrown into confusion all ar
rangements for travel and transportation
We have been waiting here three days fol
mules which l bespoke three weeks ago, ant
now begin the fourth; there remains for u
nothing to do but to wait, while the memory
of the Lords past goodness helps us to do s,
the more patiently. "It is not in man tha
walketh to direct his steps" Waiting, how
ever, is the hardest work we are ever called
to do. / am preaching every night to tn
simple and good natured people who liv
hereabouts, a good many of whom atten,
with pleasure, and I hope with profit. Il
my next will give you an idea of the lam
journey, one hundred and twenty miles fror
here to Socorro.