CATHARINA SOPHIA

[s. 153] : A village in Surinam, South America. Its climate is damp and rather unwholesome, the rainfall during the year averaging 79 inches. About the year 1849 the mi ionaries of the Moravian Church obtained permi ion to visit the plantations on the lower Saramacca. A work of itineracy was at once commenced, ajid the labors of the brethren were greatly ble ed. The managers of the Catharina Sophia Plantation, which at that time belonged to the government, were kindly disposed toward the mi ionary and a isted him in every way. In 1855 the government offered to hand over to the Moravian Church authorities a chapel and a dwelling house for a mi ionary, which had been built of pitch-pine in Holland, and brought out to Surinam for the use of emigrants, most of whom had left the place. The offer was thankfully accepted, and the chapel was consecrated July 22, 1855. The congregation here consists of negroes, Chinese and East India coolies; there are now 1 mi ionary and his wife, 27 native workers, and 383 communicants. 153