Show LETTER FROM TAHITI tahiti society In le lands october 10 1892 thinking a short letter from this part of Oc Ocean eanica ioa will be interesting to the many readers of the NEWS I 1 submit the following for publication should it meet with your approval we often read letters from dif different forent papers avers descriptive of the sandwich samoan and new zealand islands while tahiti and the adjacent islands island ii being off the great steamship line running from san francisco to sydney australia to is but little heard of and doubtless the nature of these beautiful isles of the south pacific is almost unknown to the majority of the inhabitants of our temperate zone there are five islands in this group tahiti being the largest these with the tapuni and wands the latter group numbering about are all under the french flag tahiti and tapuai with their adjacent islands are very productive all tropical fruits such as aa oranges bananas mangos pine appyles app ples etc grow abundantly many choice vegetables of the temperate clime are cultivated and dally daily brought into papette to market by who are the most success ful gardeners gardener sand and are well rewarded for their produce the principal exports are cocoa cocoanuts nuts copra and vanilla some cotton and coffee arm am cultivated but not extensively the buying baying prices being so BO low the past few years year that the natives have ceased caused cultivating to a great extent which la Is regrettable reg retable as they pass par their time in idleness idle neu saying baying there Is no profit in industry A large sugar plantation known as an the plantation of tahiti was wai successfully run many years ago by a mr stewart and gave employment to several thousand people sugar is in now only manufactured faatu red for home use it being claimed that it cannot be shipped and compete with other market prices groat great quantities of ava an beverage are made from the juice of the sugarcane sug arcane and sold to the natives which is the foundation of many evila existing among them the islands located about miles northeast of tahiti unlike the other islands are not mountain ow out they are of coral formation and noted for the superior quality of pearl shell found there of which there are hundreds of tons tone shipped annually to different diffie rent parts parte of the thew world orld no kind of fruits or vegetables grow on these islands though the cocoanut coco anut flourishes flou bishes and this with the many varieties of fish forms the natives principal food which certainly must be very nutritive tri tive as the natives are of the largest and most moat corpulent type the skin of the native is several shades darker than that of the to their constant labor its 16 the hot sun and salt water diving for the pearl shell shelf about the year 1850 A D the church of jesus christ of Lat latter day saints bad a membership of at least 1400 natives throughout the dif terent groups of these islands shortly after the above date the missionaries were compelled to t leaves leave and many of their con convert vertis suffered buffered imprisonment for the Go sake bake at the hands handal of jealous opponents opponent a years yeara have passed and aad grievous oua wolves entered scattering the flook flock P on the of january 1892 myself wod brother W A of utah landed on tahiti as missionaries of the church of jesus christ of lat ter day saints and upon inquiry we learned that most all the church members of former days day a were dead while the younger clan being left BO long without a shepherd had associated themselves with other ue de nominations we were greeted with discouraging remarks but assured many those who could speak english that at we had come to stay two weeks week attar after arriving we started out on foot for tour of the Island anxious to begin the a study of our new language we were hailed at every town with la aranar paapaa how are you strangers 2 and when near meal time go someone gomella meola would cry out haere mat mai ta mac tatoul tafou I 1 come and eat with us I 1 vy soon learned the meaning of these words of greeting and very thankfully accepted swept edthe the kind kina invitation to eat sleep etc it being the rainy season geano at that time we had much rain ani mud to contend with and on tha east side of the island we had inana rivers to wade but we succeeded in the tour of one around the island feeling that we haa ha been greatly blamed in our aa first experience of this kind we r found aund the native people to be very and self caarl hol ng in their cru crude do oue a of living june lot 1892 we were joined in our labors by brother james B S brown arm son OB elande and of salt lake city n and elder thomas thomaa jones jone of hooder and brother brown fulfilled a mission of three years yearn to there theme islands forty two years yean ago and is well remembered by bv many vf of the natives native he is ia now a ged aired and crippled but through his hia f stith faith has haa been strengthened for every tr trial s to date and says his hie health is ia better now than thad jit it has ha been for five years through the blem blemings ble Minga ingli of ty the ae lord two baptisms have been made during the being a native rasa man who was wa greatly afflicted and instantly healed by the power of god through faith we find the aade spirit of here that the elders have to contend with in other missionary fields fielda occasioned by the false statements of the unbelieving we are diligently striving fur for a knowledge of the language and with the of divine aid hope to be successful in in removing prejudice and implanting the tha principles principle of truth instead I 1 will add before closing that all navigation from the different eslanda and to san ban francisco is accomplished by railing vessels only very respectfully JOSEPH W DA |