Show SMALL TASTE OF WAR A Nights Experience on the < Island of Tntnila THE SCENES IN APIA HARBOR The Heralds Samoan Correspondent VIews i the Horrors HiFated American Ves selsRiding the Reefs j VATIA Tutuila Samoan Islands March I 181889 Special Correspondence of TuE HERALD Since writing my last to you from Aunun we have moved to Vatia a small village on Tutuila containing about one hundred and twenty natives and about twenty huts also a very ancient looking concrete meetinghouse with mosscovere walls We were taken to the chiefs house and with our own household effects which consist of a small tuble two chairs and a box we were soon as comfortable as possible possi-ble We have neither board floors nor windows win-dows or doors in our house but instead we have mats on a pebble rock floor and the house being round in shape and open between posts all around we have all doorways door-ways We live almost entirely on native food cooked by themselves and since our arrival here we have been very fortunate in getting get-ting cocoanuts and bananas to eat also plenty of oranges We have been here over two weeks now and we HAVE HEARD OF XOTIIIXG BUT WAR on Tutuila There has been a very strong party feeling existing between the Tame sese and Maleatoa men ever since the war began on Upolu and when the Malcatoi chief Leiato was taken and imprisoned at Leone by the Tamcsese crowd the Malea toa side declared vengencc and have been preparing ever since until the day before yesterday when word came to this village for the Tamesese people to leave at once lest they should all be killed so the men of this crowd were not long getting ready to move their families to safer quarters In times of war the old women are always left behind to be murdered by the enemy We < were at the beach when the parting of these friends and relatives took place The scene was quite touching to us for they would kiss each other by rubbing noses and crying as if they would never meet again One of the men who went took his family and he being the owner of the house where we are staying gave us charge of his two houses his pigs and all of his land and said we could live in his house and use what cocoanuts etc his land produced We told him we did not wishto be mixed uu in their political affairs whatever He said he would not hold us responsible for anything that might be destroyed de-stroyed when the enemy invaded but that he would rather us stay on his domains than his Samoan brethren We thought it i very kind of him to offer us a home and food and told him we would do what we could to save his property We thought this war talk and excitement were like previous rumors we had heard but we were greatly surprised when our neighbors called us about 4 oclock in the mornng and told us to get up immediately immedi-ately lor TIlE VILLAGE WAS TAKEN by a small army of mea from Pagopago We soon heard shots from their rifles and were not long dressing We were in a village where confusion reigned Men with guns were running in all directions Women with their children were hurrying from their houses to places of refuge and everybody terribly frightened On account of those men leaving here of the Tamasese side there was no blood shed nor fighting done only with pigs chickens and dogs The armed visitors were not long setting lire to the enemys houses and killing all the live stock that could be found They would even cut down banana trees and pull up tobacco patches and in fact ruin every living thing on the premises We persuaded per-suaded them not to kill all of our landlords land-lords live stock and also not to burn his two houses They killed his largest pig and his dog the Samoans best IricndJ When they finished their plunderings which lasted for about three hours they gathered the dead pigs t dogs and chickens together and carried them over a steep mountain to Pagopago a distance of three or four miles where they prepared the pigs and chickens for a grand feast The dogs are killed for their skin which are used to make drum heads It is quite airusing to seeTHE see-THE StVOUT VAKRIOK when in the battlefield or on parade One will have an old sailor shirt on another will have womans shortsleeved wrapper while another will have nothing but the genuine native dress which is merely apiece a-piece of native cloth or covering made from braided leaves kiki tied around the waist another will have an old pair of pants cut off at the knees and others u will be all dressed differently Some have a good rifle while others carry an old broken musket and some are proud of an C old rusty sword For music they beat a deathlike mufllesounding drum and blow a 10cent tin whistle and when in a village J that is on the warpath nothing can be heard nor sleep had for this wonderful band All along we have entertained high hopes that the great Samoan war would be con fl led to the one island Upolu where all the lighting thus far has been done but the recent outbreak in this village and from the latest news from their camping grounds it seems that on Tutuila war is inevitable At the present time of writing great numbers of men are building forts at the villages Nun nil and Tafuga which villages are separated by a long bay about one mile across at the mouth The Maleatoa encampments en-campments are at Xunnli while Tamaseses men are at Tafuga Each side is waiting for the other to make THE OPEXIXG ATTACK which is momentarily expected It is feared that the victorious party will visit and burn down the enemys Tillages and destroy their food which will cause much trouble and privation among the people peo-ple here for a house and a small piece of land on which grows their food is all they possess and when their trees are cut down somebody will undoubtedly go short of food Xo doubt it will be interesting to some to know how these ignorant and simpleminded sim-pleminded people spend their Sundays on these far off and uncivilized islands where modern dress and customs are unknown Christianity was first brought here by a white missionary from Tahiti Island kIt he was no doubt a Protestant missionary nfofl Sa ihsirnhftl iob i but his followers call their faith Tahiti church There are also Catholics here and I understand that on Upolu and Sayan there are other sects and creeds In every little village there is an old fashioned hut or house for a meeting house and all the Samoans are strict Sabbath keepers They will not even cook food on Sunday In this village there is V VERY AXCI LOOKING MEETING HOUSE the concrete walls being covered on the outside with moss and running vines The building U i of oblong shape about thirty by twentyfive feet The walls are concrete and about eight feet high the roof is like their huts made by tying arched poles together to-gether then buy thin sticks for sheeting and braided cocoanut leaves for shingles They have windows or openings left in the wall which arc the only uoprs or windows in the building Sunday morning at about Ii oclock the teacher beats a hollow tree which sounds like a drum the little boys and girls almost naked run playfully along with their wellworn Bibles to their Sunday Sun-day school which lasts about thirtyfive minutes and they are soon out playing under un-der the palms again All thechiefs generally gener-ally meet with baskets of food by their side at the head chiefs house and have breakfast break-fast At 9 oclock a m meeting is held which lasts for an hour or more Then they visit for a while and from 11 oclock till 3 or 4 oclock in the afternoon the entire village is In dreamland About 430 p m another meeting is held and from about 6 I till 10 p m they sit around smoking and sr talking Th3 peat Samoan war is as yet unde 7 CJ J h lo cided There is no fighting being done at present but foreigners are very desirous that something will be done at once for the way things are now business is entire prostrated and will remain so until some kind of government IS established Monday night March 11th at about 12 oclock Messrs Dean Beesley and myself left our little village Vatia on Tutuili island in our small boat for Apia the scat of the Samoan government We had a good < breeze during that night and long before sun up we were straining our eyes looking for land but for two more hours we hardly knew where we were going nor what direction to take at last we saw the cast end of Upolu which we reached by 12 oclock noon having come fortyfive mile in twelve hours We were there told that Apia was thirtyfive miles up the coast so we HOISTED OUR LITTLE UNITED STATES FLAG and started again we had pleasant sailing for about four hours when all at once after being in a calm a stiff breeze caught us with broad sail and the next thing w 0 realized was that we had been capsized III the great Pacific We were not long getting get-ting wet and scrambling to the top We hailed a boat load of natives just passing and they were not long reaching us am getting our boat and valises out of the water and we soon renewed our journey Apia was still a long way off and darkness dark-ness fast approaching We were unacquainted quainted with the reef on this island so It took sometime to find a passage in the coral so as to drop anchor for the night which we finally did and slept in our wet boat When the gray streaks of light be pan to peep over the horizon we were rowing row-ing in a smooth sea towards Apia where we arrived at 11 30 a m We were the observed as we rowed into the harbor and passed the seven large menofwar flying our banner of stars and stripes There are three menofwar from the United States under the direction of Admiral Kimberly the Trenton 550 men Vandalia 230 men and the Nipsic 130 men The three Germans were Olga lot men Adler 120 men and the Eber ninety menThe men-The English fleet in Samoa consists of one elegant manofwar the Calliope with 451 men TilE TOWN OF APIA is made up of one long street running almost al-most around the entire beach inside the bay lined with stores and houses nearly all facing fac-ing the sea Most of the stores and houses are of frame and one story high There are also a few coal oil street lamps along this street The American and English Eng-lish merchants are by no means so numerous numer-ous as are the Germans which is only due to the heretofore German government We interviewed the United States consul Mr Blacklock last Friday We found him a very affable gentleman He assured us that the United States was not going to lego le-go of the Samoan government until they had a ruling hand in the same and that four more menofwar were daily expected to arrive in Samoa so it seems that the United States are preparing for the worst with Germany On Friday March 15th everybody especially es-pecially old settlers were greatly excited over an expected wind storm They told us that the barometer never registered lower and that we were going to have a nhdu terrible A anth ea i terrible hurricane Already the menof war had steamed up masts down and were preparing generally for a blow By 7 p m the wind commenced in good earnest and by 9 oclock we were experiencing a regular cyclone the waves breaking over the outside reef with terrific force Our little room was only about thirty feet from high water mark but the breakers rushed right and loft of us banking up sand and tearing away wharves There was great excitement all night and at daybreak the raging tempest was worse than ever and we were horrified to see the beach covered with wrecks and to hear that two of the GeraaT menofwar the Eber and the Adler had gone to the bottom The Eber lost eighty men and the Adler twenty I We could just discern in the blinding spray the United States Nipsic with full steam on She was dragging her anchors and would soon be on the reef Flags were SIGNALED FOR HELP but on account of so rough a sea nothing could be done until she came nearer She was anxiously watched by all the white men ashore and hundreds of natives who were waiting for a chance to render assistance assist-ance When within about one hundred yards from the shore a boat was lowered I and five sailors started for the shore but in less than three minutes they were carried car-ried under and never seen again Two natives braved the storm and after much hard swimming reached her bow with a rope and to see the sailors crowd for their turn to go down the rope was a terrible sight The captain was the last man to leave the ship which was high upon the beach on a sand bar And still the storm raged and the saddest I sad-dest was to come We could see the Van 3n beto idcI II I dalia was unable to hold her own and was gradually drifting on the reef She had been accidental y run into during the night by the German menofwar which smashed her smoke stack tore away part of her bulwarks bul-warks and knocKed a hole in her side An hour later and she struck the reef Every breaker swept her decks clean and her crew were clinging to the rigging with life buoys and preservers on not knowing what moment she would go to pieces and force them all into the learning deep Under many difficulties and after many trials a rope was stretched from the Nipsic to the andaha and many men were saved although though we saw great numbers washed I from the rope and carried out to sea The i rescued sailors did all in their power to HELP THEIR DROWNING COM1UDES We could see the poor sailors in the rigging waving their caps for help and their cries were heartrending in the extreme Many of the men were stripped of their clothing and with buoy in hand were expecting every minute to be torn from the rigging with the breakers which would sometimes hide them from our view for a minute at a time Still it seemed the worst had not get arrived ar-rived for we could just see the outlines of the immense Trenton following directly after the Vandalia and it was believed that unless the terrible storm abated soon a most terrible loss of life would be the re suit The ELglish Calliope was seen steam ing out early this Saturday morning but it is not known whether she escaped the reef or not The wind moderated about 2 oclock Sun day morning but there was a terrible spectacle presented by the wrecks and floating timber Nothing but the foremast fore-mast of the Vandalia was sticking out of water and it was said that credit was due to Admiral Kirnbcrly for saving the lives of so many of the Vandalia Alter he found that the Trentons rudder and propeller had been torn away he let her drift as near the Vandalia as possible and thereby saved the lies of 120 of her crew The German Olga is high and dry She lost no men and isnt damaged to any great extent Nearl all the business Nearly men suffered more or less some lost their small boats others storehouses full of provisions and some had their wharves carried away It is said that this storm is the heaviest and lasted longer than any other hurricane for the last seventeen years Quite a number of dead bodies have been picked up and late in the afternoon collins were made and all of the United States sailors found were buried under the stars and stripes and followed to the b graTe by their living comrades com-rades The body of one man was found twenty miles from Apia and on the shores of a small island All day Monday was spent unloading the Trenton Nearly all of her furniture and provisions have been taken out and not wthstandmg she cost 1000000 she is fast going to pieces Up to Monday it was impossible im-possible to learn the exact number of lost men but it is said that the number will reach close upon two hundred THE HOMELESS SAILORS have been very carefully taken care of by the merchants of Apia and the officers are kept pretty busy It IS stated the Nipsic will be fitted up for a sailing vessel but by her outward appearance she will take a great deal of repairing before she can be of any use All day Monday we heard numerous reports about the Britisher but she arrived safely in Apia harbor this morning She is3 powerful vessel and when once out of the iiarbor she rode the storm all right It is not definitely known how the sailors will be taken back to the United States but no doubt the upcoming steamer from Australia will take a number to S in Francisco The experience we have passed through in the last three days was of a character that can not bo fully and truthfully illustrated with pen and ink EJAIH WOULD Dont Get Caught This spring with your blood full of impurities impuri-ties your digestion impaired your appetite poor kidneys and liver torpid and whole system liable to be prostrated by disease but get yourself into good condition and ready for tho changing and warmer weather by taking Hoods Sarsaparilla It stands unequaled for purifying the blood giving an appetite cine and for a general spring medi 2ol I I |