Show THE WAR IN SAMOA OWING to the fact that latter day saint missionaries are laboring with more or less leas success in u the samoan islands a tinge of local interest is imparted to news f from roin that part of the world and especially in regard to the war now in progress among tb the e natives ot of the islands the samoan group is situated in trie the pacific ocean between the and parallels ot of latitude and the and of longitude giving them a tropical climate modified by the ocean the group consists of eight or nine islands the largest of which avail is about 80 30 miles long by about 60 50 wide the second in size upolu contains nearly as great an area but the rest are smaller the native population of the roup group is stated at about and a few thousand foreigners mostly bermans ier mans englishmen and americans have located there during recent years thes the soil 0 1 is al ve very ry rich and productive and pois in n the group are favorite supply points int s fe fer vessels the natives are we well formed cheerful and affectionate ti onate and hold their women in high esteem they are among the most tell of the pacific ocean races and are naturally moral and virtuous A great reat portion of them nave have been converted convert Pd to christianity they are governed by hereditary chiefs a certain number of whom have the right to casoose a supreme ruler or king of the whole group duang recent years yeara the united states eug england gland and germany have united in forming a sort of protector ate over the islands such a course being deemed advisable on account of and ana number citizens which each of those nations had bad on the group the native system of government has not however horev leen materially interfered with bys by those powers the present war according to the best information we have originated to in the election of a new king the incumbent of the throne tam adese refused to surrender it to the king elect malletta MalSe Malle toa enough a majority of the natives and their chiefs an appear to have taken sides with the latter on the alt on the island of upolu a battle was ought between the armies of the two contestants for thel throne the forces of Tama sese had bad entrenched themselves behind earthworks earthworms earth works constructed in a primitive manner the women wove baskets of cocoanut coco anut leaves and these were filled with sand and aal a wall was made of them enclosing a space shaped like a horse shoe near bear the centre of this space stood a tree in the branches of which were lodged baskets of sand in such a manner soto asto so as to form a protection to two or three lookout men who were stationed in the tree the number of ses army thus int is no boft stated but it appears tobaie to have bave been two or three thousand this encampment was located on malinab point on one side iside of the entrance to the main harbor of the island oft the opposite side of the harbor were the government build ings the rings kings residence etc and the town of apia abia in and about the town TRUla sese also bad a large number of his bis forces concentrated and he tae a appeared p eared to be in a position to hold the harbor and the capital of the island the followers of malietha dalietos Malie toa tos were ranged along the coast near and in the district behind apia abia and the harbor both leaders had been for some time engaged in assembling their forces here from the various islands and it appears that each kad an army ot of about men when the battle took place the raen men on both sides were armed with improved rifles and were well supplied with ammunition Malie toas army opened hostilities by atts attacking eking ses entrenchments after brisk firing foran for an hour or two ses soldiers retired from their first line of defenses in uie the direction of the waters edge and the victot victorious ious followers of Mal galleton Malle leton toa in stead of pursuing ar their success laid down ther rifles sang a song of triumph rested awhile and allowed their women to pass around among them mem vessels of water with which they refreshed theN themselves selves this was in accordance with a meanwhile however the defeated forces of Tama sese constructed construct et another alae of entrenchments similar to the breastworks they had bad just lost and hence were that hat t much better prepared to resist the next dart charge it appears that the fight was kept up on mulinuu point two or three days and that a german gunboat lying alyin near by prevented the utter defeat of tama tama sese from the abe tenor of the latest news broft samoa it seems probable that the ron contest test will not long ions continue and that Nalle right to the throne willbe will abe conceded foreign residents have not been involved in the war in any way nor have any of them been killed with the exception 6 of a captain bassett who was fatally wounded in apia abia by a tray stray bullet ballet fired from the opposite side ide of the harbor during the fight german residents claim that they have lost such property as pigs poultry taken by foragers for agers but their chatma claims will probably be amicably settled there is so far no reason to suppose that the utah missionaries have been in any way concerned in the troubles or that they have been I 1 a the vicinity of the flykt |