| Show v 0 liale OAHU SANDWICH ISLANDS march 1870 editor deseret news dear bro in my last letter written in honolulu immediately after land spoke of our awaiting the arrival of some overland conveyance from bro I 1 now propose penning a few lines descriptive of our tour tolate and of laie late itself before leaving home it appeared that many had formed a disgusting opinion of the sandwich islands if not anion f not 0 of the mission but I 1 shall writ write e according to my experience every country has its own peculiarities as well as the people inhabiting it its advantages and disadvantages it is so here so much for a preface in due time bro and benja min muff duff j jr r arrived from laie late Ija lewith with eight horses and saddles and a carriage purchased by bro in san francisco and by securing a set of harness we completed the rio rig rig an almost sleepless night spent in fighting mosquitoes finally disappeared and the dawn of another day was wel the morning discovered our faces red with blotcher blotches blot ches the carriage prepared for the ladies horses saddled and a light repast taken the word was given to mount bro king and sister hawkins took possession of the carriage the others preferring for novel tys sake the borgi horseback eback ride in the outset bro remaining in honolulu to attend to some to overtake us before arriving at the pali pail 11 aloha aloha 11 reiterated from natives ives and away we 6 go we immediately began the ascent up a tolerable graded road passing some beautiful picturesque gardens surrounding in residences belonging to foreigners tj the 0 road was bordered on each side with various native trees and ornamental shrubbery of a delightful nature the valley narrows the mountains closing in an on either side until a complete cabi eanon canon 0 11 is formed the whole face of the cou country has the appearance of volcanic agency furnishing ample food for the geologist A ride of six miles brought us on the summit or to the paly pali rall where the wind blew blow a fearful gale compelling us to hold on to hats aud and and aud bonnets we halted and dismounted to prepare for the descent of the pall pail pali pall obtaining from this eminence a birds eye eyo view of the tho sea east and west stretching far into the distance while in the foreground and almost beneath us the rural town of honolulu to the west and villages and cane fields to fo the east present a sprinkling of civilization the hills furnish pasturage for theoa the ox cow sheep pig and fowls which roam together without any ire now came the tug of war the descent of the pali pali pall the horses were led down down a distance of half a mile over a worse road I 1 presume than thad bonaparte encountered while crossing the alps the women pedestrian like wending their way almost trembling with fear while the men with native help and ropes attached cautiously and breathlessly descended with the carriage on a road cut out but of the solid rock in the side af of precipices which wind around turning at places so sh sharp arpas as almost to exclude the possibility of passing with a vehicle we continued a gradual descent to the sea bearing off to the left and thence along the sea shore shora lolale toJ lale Laie the countr country yf furnishing U many objects of interest W while ile lle passing especially the natives who created considerable mirth to our little party by rushing out of their huts while passing th through rough villages some half naked followed foll swed awed by pigs dogs chickens and eats cats to bid us no doubt a welcome we reached laie late at six 1 in the evening of the of 1869 our little colony now consists of seven families from olon zion one scotchman and abou about tSOO natives who occupy the land known aa as laie late which embraces acres and the best beat part of the island according to its size of oahu bahu and which is capable of sustaining quite a large colony of natives stock to the amount of 1000 head could find good pasturage while the mountains and gulches or caf eaf canons lons ions furnish an immense quantity of timber many kind kinds of fruit krow grow in hi the gulches and the honey phoney bees when we are ablo able abie to find them furnish sweet one hundred and fifty acres of three or four hundred acres of arable land by the indefatigable zeal and exertion of bro lassister massi lassi sted by the brethren who have hr bored labored with him have been brought into a successful state of cultivation and produce remunerative munera tive crops of sugarcane sug sugar arcane eane cane A good mill by the same bame untiring exertion aei has bas been erected besides co n s 1 01 now rais rals raised e d the value of the place from fourteen thousand to about fifty thousand dollars the mission is in a very adry flourishing condition at the present time and the manner in which bro conducts the business of the plantation as also the course he adopts with the natives is upon a truly commendable principle rin ciple elpie and quite an influence ia is used by some of the editors in leono honolulu to get the other planters to adopt his plans under which instead of laborers being bound to serve a certain time they are all free more labor being performed by those who are freedhan fre free ethan than by those who are bound the native elders lately sent out to other islands wands are reporting very favorably and no doubt we shall continue to have a gradual increase to our colony from late files flies of the DESERET NEW which is always a welcome paper here we ve learn some bome faw few things connected with zion and hope that her people will ti triumph h ae we all ali join in respects to you and bro J P F smith and praytor pray for your success in heralding moils nolis boils cause to the in hahl habl habitants tants of the earth respectfully H H CLUFF CHOCKTAW COUNTY miss march mareb 1870 i editor despret deseret neui aws dear denv ea r sir waving having studied the principles and doctrines of the latter day saints until I 1 am thoroughly satis Batis satisfied fled fied that they teach the same things that were taught by christ and his apostles and being desirous that others might see and believe I 1 have not shunned on all proper occasions to speak my convictions and read to them jhb the works which I 1 have read spencers letters setters the voice of warning arning lV and aud abo suo copy of the DESERET sent to me by my brother now df ene creek beaver city and later eldera W crosby sent me a work entitled the divine authenticity of the book of mormon which I 1 consider tae ablest document I 1 ever read reading beading these books to others and letting them read for themselves and as I 1 said above expressing my conviction of the truth of the same has gotten me a number of religious enemies among my former brethren of the baptists having been a baptist for some twenty five years and filled a number of stations of trust in that denomination I 1 became extensively and I 1 believe favorably known among them known itts itis it Is proper to state here that I 1 began the investigation of the doctrine of the latter day saints under as unfavorable circumstances as any perhaps in the united states and nothing but respect to my brother induced me to undertake it my first sensations on reading spencers letters were those of surprise I 1 read it again and again and every time with a firmer conviction of its truth I 1 should have stated above that the book of mormon was the first book my brother sent me which I 1 had read but little having been strongly impressed with the idea that it was exclusively mans production after reading spencers letters I 1 then read the book of mormon to isee ibee see bee whether it conflicted with the bible and finding it did not so far as I 1 was able to judge I 1 began to thirst for other books bools from the same source my brother kindly sent me others I 1 now have in conee tion with those named the book of doctrine and covenants a pamphlet recently sent for entitled answers to questions etc with perhaps a dozen eop cop copies coples es of the DESERET NEWS chave bee beel advised to stop reading these publications licati ons one rev bev divine said laid I 1 had better stop if I 1 the first thing I 1 knew I 1 would be a mormon I 1 ire ine re plied to the good brother who jold told me that I 1 was not obliged to imbibe error and so far as my investigations had gone t saw nothing to drea dread dand and that my investigations thus far had had a tendency to exalt the character of god and place maywhere man where he ought to be at the foot of the cross and hence I 1 could as soon lay aside the whole plan of redemption demp tion as taught in the N joew rw testament as to quit the investigation of this subject for it was emphatically the gospel of of jesus festis as far as I 1 wag was able to 6 understand it another arev sir who lias been a preacher for about forty years and who professes to have come in contact with the cormons mormons Mor mons and utterly routed them said the other day to a good Aleth methodist odist brother who ia reading my books A ahl ba brother it wont do they only want to get rid their old wives and marry others he remarked that he hit it mormon mormonism ism I 1 on all proper occasions revelations had r ceas cels as r e edthe dilg aag dag day sf of ml miracles ra cl a had passed ete etor etc anabe and be eaid eald he for mei me that I 1 should imbibe such error oh h how bow I 1 w I 1 wish some able elder would come into this community filled with the spirit of truth and confront him and let the honest inquirers after truth judge for themselves of the doctrine this rev bev divine wound up to our methodist by retailing the following as he did to me on a former occasion A couple of mormons cormons Mor mons lived jived neighbors within this mans field of labor javor one of them had bad no corn while the 0 oher her had plenty the former said to the latter one day Well weil brother have had bad a revelation that I 1 must have some carn from you when did you have that Ye revelation 1 the berday was the reply well said tiie tile first 1 I have had hatt a revelation to dagand you are not to have the corn 11 huch such are the tales of slander and vituperation p pe dra ration tion that are vended bended out to the credit bitof of the mormons Mor mons here tales too which I 1 was diep sed to believe truetell nil ill I 1 made myself familiar with the tenets of your church I 1 am now so well satis tied fied that you possess the pure principles of the gospel that I 1 am constrained to say that thail there is no truth believed by any of the sects but what is a part and parc parcel elof of 1 mormonism and land thalmor monism embraces all the truth held by others and reaches far beyond even to all truth ever revealed to man you will see by this where I 1 stand it has been my misfortune hitherto nelver never to see a latter day saint I 1 VV would woula be truly glad if someone armore elders would pay this country a visit a and ud set the truth in its purity before the people here I 1 have recently read the first three chapters in the voice of darning warning lV to the pastor of the baptist church in which ia is my membership who seemed to take a deep interest in the work and expressed himself anxious to hear the it and aiso also the divine authenticity of the book of mormon which I 1 will read to 0 him as us soon as an opportunity offers oh how I 1 should be delighted if he should embrace it and preach it for he is a man of great influence herel pray with me my brother permit me to call you such that his eyes may be opened to see and embrace the truth one such here would perhaps do more good than many elders from abroad I 1 think that all that is needed is to get the people to investigate but so long as they refuse to do this they must remain in ignorance of the doctrines you preach if this god good brother could be induce induced dito to embrace the truthfully numbers would wake up and be anxious to see bee seethe beethe the steps by which he was led to change his religious views nut bat it is a hard struggle to renounce the religion of ion lon long iong training in which our fathers lle ile lived lie d and died for one so odious in the eyes of nearly everyone every one but the sacrifice must be made some say here let the cormons mormons come here and heal the sick cast out devils and impart imparl the holy ghost by the laying on of hands that we may know for ourselves that they do possess these gifts I 1 etc I 1 have been asked the question often if I 1 thought they really did possess these gifts I 1 could only answer that I 1 did not know never having seen them but of one thing I 1 lassure was sure they were promised by christ to the believer and testified by paul they did follow such and that it was more likely that the mormons cormons possessed them than any others as no others pretended to any such thing in fact denied that they were any longer linger necessary but therin the main maln aln ain thing that attaches so much odium to mormonism smi sms is your poly gamio system of marriage please excuse thi liberty of an entire stranger i yours etc H pi P DOTSON washington march 28 th 1870 editor deseret news dear sir our visit to the settlements of the muddy as the valley is inaptly ter termed ined yaz viz st rit thomas st joseph overton and west Point Poin was waa a very satisfactory one instead of finding as many expect expected dd to find from the misrepresentations of some who had returned from there a barren and unproductive country we found a rich and fertile valley capable 9 in my opinion of sustaining i a pop population ula uia of many thousand souls in fact it K s the most inviting section of allour dixie country one of the greatest drawbacks to the speedy improvement ol 01 oc the country in building etc esthe lack of tim berthe nearest timber being fouad foulad some bome sixty or seventy miles northwest of st thomas and no water intermediate except where theroan the road for a short distance follows the muddy nor in the mountains sufficient lelent to run a steam saw mill the larud ladd on the mad dy which 1 ia a stream near th the e size of city creek ia is or can be made very pro duc tive bro andrew B S gibbons of st tho thomas mas told me that he cut his hia lucerne seven times last year and each time it was in blossom and some two feet high st at thomas thomaa has about forty seven camilie overton about thirty St joseph forty fort nort bidd bind west point eighteen the restrictive measures of congress to which the entire people are taking decided exceptions thebe these one hundred and thirty five families produced in 1866 about one hundred children as fine flue specimens of in cantile humanity as can be anywhere found much encouragement and good instruction st we ie e imparted to the saints baines in that country by the presidency and the brethren with them whom the settlers were very much pleased to see which h was evidenced in their kind treatment I 1 of us and i heir accompanying the party from place to place to obtain fur ther instructions from our oui leaders we returned from the muddy by the desert route water for our animals for the first days was brought by citizens of west point coffit in barrels the first night we camped in tho roqual wash and were supplied with water from a pocket in which it lodged during the late rains next day we drove till late in tho the after afternoon noga before we found another water pocket which was emptied long before the thirst of our animals was quenched the place is called cedar ridge bidge we camped there the night and in the morning quitted the spot early and in a few hours reached another pocket the long and perpendicular rock sided entrance to which was truly ro romantic mantle thence to st george was comparatively easy and the journey was soon ended on saturday last we visited santa clara and held a religious and I 1 might say |
