Note 3 — LETTERS ON THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF SOUTH AMERICA. (continued 2)

Although I resided upwards of two years in Peru, yet during that time I did not meet with any person qualified to translate the Scriptures into either of these two languages. But after leaving that country, I met with a person fitted for translating into the Aimará, in a place where I little expected to find one. In London, last year, when in one of the Paddington coaches, I perceived that one of my fellow passengers was a foreigner, from his countenance and manner of speaking. After we had conversed a little with each other, I took the liberty to ask him from what part of the world he came. He told me he was from South America; and upon inquiring more particularly, I found he was a native of La Paz, in Peru, the very spot where the Aimará language is spoken. This individual I found to be perfectly acquainted with this language, having spoken it from his infancy; and from his education and other circumstances, I conceived him to be a suitable person for translating the Scriptures into that language. Our acquaintance increased, and led to his being engaged by the British and Foreign Bible Society to translate the New Testament into his native tongue; and he has now nearly completed this work.

We call a meeting of this kind accidental, and it was truly so, in the common sense of the term. But the Christian looks higher, and finds the directing hand of God in such matters. What adds to the interest of this circumstance is, that besides the person mentioned, there is not an individual in England who understands a word of the language referred to.