| Show The Society Island I Interesting Lottor from nidor Frank Cutlor Do crll b lng tho Wondorful Cocoanut Trno and Its USDS TilE follow Ing h I from A teller wiltim Ly Elder Frank Cutler who it I laboring M a missionary on the Society Islands It It a genuine pleasure la have an opportunity to throw off nil thought of duty and responsibility and allow my mind to feast on remembrance of home and In associations lor a bitch spell Memory ha put her sump upon the mind Indellibly fining lucre thevlslonso bright happy faces field of uaebn cram trees laden with loathsome Irons and the grand old rorky mountains Thee It I a mysterious chum about the bM Kenei which I WA almost uncon i out of unlll separated from their Im tnr liSle presence Though thousand Lf milM ol billowy wave Intervene thor muglc I Influence does not wane but on the contrary It may be ltiilnal1 tut distance does but lend enchant mint to the view It M eight months tin e I sow a mountain It is I elgnl muiithi Ince I MW am thine lOve land il 1 rock cocoanul tieea and the Ma 11 I re Is one thing I am iN to be able to nun and that nF > our Silt Lake mud ou Kill remember that uhen I led home I thought that I was coming to a rainy muddy and fiuitgrawinic I country ha dan not rain I here ai mien us at hum I and mud It I unknown on these 11101It I One could nol wish for a finer ilimste Nine out of ten days a cool zoNk r tea bonus kcept the graceful rociwnut i alms In coniunt agitation and sends lot link Mil boat of the natives t flymr across the lagoon while the roaring of the breakers on the reef furnish mUSIC In the absence ol birds When I lell you that nothing I of value II to be toiflid here outalde of cocoanuts fih and t heart shell ou will most probably I think and that t truly that this must be a moil uninteresting place to pcnd three or four cans Yet wo hate one of the wonders of the world 1 here Inn like of which I do nol think can be found In all our country It would fill a mall volume to tell of all the met which might be made of the cocoanul tree and III fruit Icrhsps a short account ac-count of some of the uses the native make ol this wondeilul tree would l be I Interesting I to you ni It will serve to how annie of their I dally habits and cui torn The tree crow i to a height of from 10 to to or 70 feel lu trunk being I from to to IS Inches In diameter with no branch whatever eicepl a heavy bunch l at Hit top It thrive well I Inland In-land and 1e In places where nothing I it but coral rock can be l urn In live ore > or-e en years after being planted It bears fruit Of the tree Ilicll the native make almost evervihlng they ute that li not I eatable Including I nouie luinltutc cloth lag cooking utenilli fuel I boats t etc tithe trunk ilteymutue what we call a vat canoe by chiseling out the cable I and rounding elf the outtlde with nn I ado Ilelore the advent of the white man this was done with hells and Is I the only kind of boat Ihcta people originally af1nIYn 3 ofItoa i ror nor ginally made It mutt have been a moil laborious talk for It Is hard wood The trunk wino furnished posts and rafters raft-ers for their huts wood lor spear ttooden bowl and now answers for making bedposts elGtliou h the people here 1 am now do not use beds Of the leaves they make their house churches etc braiding them Into I a mat some 6 by a tort and tied to cutters as we nail shingles Of the leaves they also braid and weave all I sorts Y baskets and everything they havo to carry Is yel tihfhtI r t C done In basket The native carpets and mats are also made ohm their hats ornaments ot several kinds set eral varieties of fishing nets etc the stem from ehlalh nfrum has been plucked serves usa broom while from a fibery L oaw 1rn lf f fr substance which binds the limbs lo the trunk cloth was formerly made Ityow answers as a drainer to eitrtctlhe oil from the nut strain their medicine I etc ancll It extensively used to atari afire a-fire besides being a good covering for their ovens to keep In the heat and keep I out the dirt Il resemble the material h gunny sacks are made of A sheal I resembling re-sembling the faJ n century plant h wIf which crows with and lea I protection t I to the stalk bearing the fruit contains con slderable oil and burnt readily with a brljiht light Ills split ll up kI lied III I long sticks I about two Inches thick and mrke an excellent torch by the light of which the natives fill at night The cocojnut Is the staple foot l the staff of life of the Tuimotulaii Islander III It on hit breakfast table which nm siiti 1 ol mother earth nnd generally ihny hands I 1 finds erla way back there at dinner r din-ner time and Is I never absent at supper It Is food fur him his wife his children I his pigs cats dogs and chlckent nnd If I he has more than he can eat he dries It in the sun antI sells It for four or live cents per kilo tw o and one fifth pounds while the money he gets font Is I worth Just half what our money 11 When dried It Is called pupaa cobre antI It I shipped to Europe anil America where the oil It extracted l and ertelnnumera kim purpose Of the meal In the cocoanut cocoa-nut the namo extracts II coil and make his perfume his hair oil which they nil use profusely his lamp I oil his medicine and nuny other thing while he olltn mixes It up In his tread rice etc when he Is fortunate enough to secure any and whkh make a tern palatable Olih greatly improving the Dating qualities of the article mentioned and many others besides The milk of the ount cocoanut Is n very refreshing beterage and discount soda I water tilt lo niece though I when I 1 hi first landed here 1 did not like t II It Is I a God itnd that cocoanuts bear good water ow well ns fruit for the hand water ha I very bail Ram nuoter U I much prucd no more by the iiativu than by us and ills a great mud after drinking the hard salty Island water Wher will you find another tree thai bear both food and water I I The apt or shell U the native cup and bowl made without hands andll U quite omuslng lo see how the native paw the sacrament around In them He rasps it firmly In both hands and holds it ton too to drink as belt jou can lucre attempted to take It in my hand but timu 1J i r II l no r OUt nun would not lei go and Iliad I lo flute t m This hlIl Is also an excellent mil nnd makes a bright hot lire Of the h knh husk they make all kinds I oliord and i rope that they hate use for and rup nude of this nnterlil is said 10 be much superior lathe nunilla rope eusiat home A nn they call nap nuktt a moil nscellenl spring b J r which 1 i found In almost every house in uhill I Have only Men one or two in than I and rY lr never had the privilege of olI log on one This fibrous husk called the porn Is also made Into brushes atufled into horse collars beds etc t and Is I used in Innumerable Innu-merable ways t In our country mif twisting I the Iwve mid i > lng them together a nll il made sometime auto feet In length and twenty five or thirty people v111 drag this through the water snd encircle a school of lull lhri by opening one end the fish are driven Into A bakelllko net amll a bedlam of shouting and yelling It 1 always reminds me isIs political p ndlin mium I recently re-cently saw five thousand llsli caught In a few I hour In thai way Out of this wimderlul tree they make I their houses hal clothe broom pens Ink and paper cup platen spittoons basket carpet mat hairoil fish net spring beds ropes hosts fish line nails ornaments for head and neck perfume per-fume toadies coal oil I medicine fire Wood charcoal tM dishcloths strainer and fire sinners It furnish food for himself and family tile I inIgs cat dog chickens I thicks I rat andinosi g ner ally a holt of lisa yiHds a most is frehing beverage and grows without any cultivation while Its nut is I introduced intro-duced 1 Into hundred of American food and the tree were It lo flourish In our land wonlil And lit wny Into every household Ins hundred more different article lIlcIWe We love baptism I eighteen person during my stay no I lao In the lace of the boMI ol the Josepnlle that their mil luxuries would turn back all tshu had previously been baptised Our t rtV rt J k finl oephite lilend took the very first opportunity op-portunity lo get away laving that Ilielr church lud plenty of place to tend their imuionarie where theIr labor would he more appreciated Thil too when they have a branch ilniost II large as < nra left Ilifora covIng he Mid hr toil iravile I over a good dent of thou Hinld I tl but never seen as tough a place as H lao II I le has now been here Mteen months and cannot can-not begin to hold A common comers lion let alone preach I have done first rate no far A osephlte > missionary who has Wen I here twentylx years and has been coiMtanlly engaged In preaching and Interpreting tot the last tight years recently came to lion and alter hearing him preach hl I own people I J told me they could understand me much belter They ald my talk was plain as datllglil but his ret voice was fits VCM Ie I tangled or difficult As wIth nil Ihete Islands the people of titus are easier toconveit than to get to live properly after conversion Still olSI has been I done and our people abstain from drlnic and tomato I paying very strict I regard to those aI taos while score here Trader all predict that observance will end alum we leave but we hope for belter l results i though I do not expect to tee but little progre while they remain on the Isolated barrio bar-rio Isles Tliey must come under the stir and bustle ol civilisation to wake them up and very little civilisation will eterbescen upon Ihueae scattered dots of rock antI unO There are no natural resources lo sustain x cltilind community Were not for pearlshell these natives would scarcely ever tee a whlteman or hear from th < outside v oild and from all reports Hut It I rapidly du ippearlng My only hope for the good o il theso people Is in the gathering Arliona and Monica would make an eicellent place lor them tam well and feel to press I on and do sit I can to lift them from Iho mire Into which they bate fallen 1 RANK CUTHR |
