| Show TIME A VIVID description OF THE ISLAND mill an account of he people there writing from the island of samoa a correspondent to the says the small party of missionaries destined for this place who left salt lake city sept 13 1888 arrived in francisco on the we spent nine days in that city viewing the sights which have apen described so many times so well that I 1 will not attempt to do so again cuffiee it to say that we visited the beautiful parks gardens public buildings etc and saw enough ofilio worl dand its ways to make us feel thankful that wo bom in utah and taught to avoid the evils of modem civilization we left san francisco for samoa via honolulu on the steamer mart posa sept being two days late on account of delayed mail our voyage was more pleasant than wo had anticipated by the time we reached honolulu all traces of seasickness had vanished and we were ready to make the our short stay there we arrived in honolulu on monday october ast 1st 1888 and were met on the wharf by President king and brothers davis barrell noall and beesley with the families of the two latter I 1 can assure you that it was a pleasant meeting of brothers sisters and schoolmates school mates who had been separated for three years after our greetings wore over wo all entered vehicles and were driven through the city to the neat little cha to the latter day saints this building is a credit to the deison er and principal builder brother matthew noall and it is better than many of our ward meeting houses at home our ada through the streets of honolulu was a pleasant change we there saw for the first time outside of the conservatories conserva tories of san francisco many tropical plants and flowers that were the more h appreciated because of tho week just spent on the ocean after lunch we visited many places of interest closing oar trip by climbing to the top of an extinct volcano called the punch bowl prom this elevation we could see the entire city with the bay and vessels of all kinds and sizes wo spent the evening with our friends talking about singing of our own dear mountain home we left honolulu at 12 p m affer a stay of tan hours leaving one of our party Brother M F eakle who joined us in san francisco behind tho remainder of our journey was quiet but interesting on saturday oct 6 we crossed the equator we made a number of friends among the passengers and I 1 believe wo left them with a batter opinion of mormonism than they had before we met at daylight on the fifteenth day of our voyage wo could see tho island of tutuila one of the samoan group in the distance upon hearing this group we wore met by president jos H dean in a largo boat by eight natives and into this boat we were lowered from the st camer with our trunks it was fortunate for us that we wore met by brother dean otherwise we should have had to go by a roundabout way to our destination which would have been both expensive and inconvenient we stopped a few hours on tutuila while the natives ate their lunch and rested we slept in the open night and by 9 the following mum ing we rf ached our destination the island of ainuu chero most of the saints reside As we neared the shore we could see the natives old and young gathering from all directions to meet us we carried from tho boat to the shore on the backs of stalwart native chief and received a warm welcome from the people we were escorted to the best house in the vil lage a frame building built after the american style where we found nice rooms which we soon made mm fordable for table with the things brought from home there are about thirty latter day saints in this place with a fair proa peet for more in the near future the bemoans are a fine looking race of people the boys are well proportioned and as straight as an arrow while many of the men are fine specimens of physical manhood it is surprising to see the large pieces of wood that these men will carry on their naked shoulders wo have found that the historians have not over praised this people in regard to their general good qualities and kindness to strangers since we came here we have not wanted ifor any of the native fruits vegetables and even chickens all of which have been given us at different times by both members and non members of conr faith these natives seem to be naturally good they are of a much lighter color than the hawaiians Hawaii ans or the american indians but the similarity can be easily traced in their features although 1 am happy to say that so far 1 have not found them similar in their habits they are a religious people and nearly all belong to some christian denomination there is ono custom they have that would be a credit to any people every night the members of each family meet together and read a chapter from tho biblo then cwg a hymn and close with family prayer the native houses are nearly ill oval in shape the roofs are waterproof and made of thatch they are supported by two rows of posts one around the outer edge and the other some four nearer the centre there are no walls to their houses the space between the ground and roof being open to allow breezes from all directions to pass through they have blinds alade out of matting around the entire building which can be lowered and raised at pleasure thero is but one room in each house sleeping apartments be being divided off by eherts of native cloth that are lowered from the ceiling making a partition and at the same time protecting the person thus enclosed from tho toes which are so plentiful that they must be barred out or the result is painful to the sleeper the flooring of their houses is composed of small coral pebbles and washed to a bright whiteness by the davs on this floor they spread their mats which are world renowned A mans financial standing here is gauged to a great extent by the number of mats he possesses the native food consists of breadfruit halo cocoanuts cocoa nuts bananas and oranges also pigs cL ickens lish and various mixtures made with tho abovementioned above mentioned fruits and vegetables I 1 saw a native spearing fish the other day from the edge of the he threw his spear twice and each time drew out a fish there are seven islands in the group with a native population of and about foreigners president dean came here four months ago to open this mission he was greatly blessed in his labors and soon had a small branch of the church established he was joined two months after his arrival by a hawaiian elder and the present number of saints including missionaries are 66 president dean and the native saints had commenced to build a meetinghouse before we came and since our arrival we have been studying the language and helping to finish the meetinghouse meeting house wo held our sabbath school and two meetings in it yesterday although not quite completed and it all is well will dedicate tho first samoan latter day saint house of worship next sunday it is our presidents intention to establish a belief society at the same time and hold our first semiannual semi annual conference after which we elders expect to go in pairs over the other islands preaching the gospel wo have great hopes of the rising generation among this people and expect to start a day school as soon as possible eo that the children may be taught correct principles and grow strong in the faith we long for news from home not having received any since we left and we are curious to read what the papers have to say about tho samoan war as the last we heard of that was through the san francisco papers whatever fighting was done up to that time was on the island of upolu which is seventy eight miles from here a long and safe distance between two islands mail communication between the different islands and the rest of the world is about as bad as it possibly could be SEMO |
