| Show VISITING EX CANNIBALS PAGO PAGO december ap 2896 on the ich of november Pre president beck elder barton and myself set out in a small row boat to visit manila 4 a group of islands sixty miles east of here we entertained great hopes of being able to preach the gospel to those b is 1 banders who had never heard the votee of a mormon elder having a good breeze and a calm sea vt we e were wafted wafred over the mighty deep until near midnight when suddenly the roar of the angry breakers on the coral reef surrounding the island was distinctly heard our captain was well acquainted acquaint eF with the passage or opening in me reel reef and after making as accurate observe eions as the darkness of night would permit we at a signal bent lustily to the oar and soon found ourselves inside ther reef through the breakers and out of danger lor for all ot of which we felt vey thankful A quarter of a miles wade brought us tb hore where we were confronted by b by band of well armed warriors they however soon showed themselves friendly and were anxious to greet us we learned hat they were standing J guard ua rd lest their enemy some adjacent islanders enter their harbor unawares aker after drinking adall ava with them a friendly frierly demonstration and after answering many questions concerning the dospel our business here etc we were given some mats for beds and bamboo benches for pillows and we were soon wandering in the land of dreams next day we procured the village house bouse and upon ringing the pate af pf about fifty persons assembled and listened to the first sermon ver ever preached by the latter latier day saints on these islands at the close of the services many came forward with questions and the people at once manil manifested ested an interest in the message we bore meetings were held almost daily on this or the ada abent island and our listeners often exceeded in number many expressed a de tire ire of identifying themselves with us but laws have long been enacted here prohibiting the people from embracing any other doci doctrines rines than those of the london landon mission society an old minister assisted water tally in presenting the truth to his people by preaching against vs us thereby keeping the people jinieres ted aed and continually running backward and forward with questions on he delivered a sermon endeavoring to prove the necessity of infant baptism aker after quoting concerning the jailor and iris bb family stephanas and his family lle he exultingly exclaim exclaimed td now where is is there te a family with no infants tb I 1 he was apparently unconscious of the fact that there are so many families lan ulies even here not blessed with offprint off pring that the pop illation ovation of samoa has dwindled irom from so 50 am the oooo in 50 years in the case rf he jailers jailors jai lors family he had apparently tailed to read the next verse which states that he and all of his household rejoiced imad ad believed in god and pauls statement to the effect that stephanas and amily had bad given themselves to the roin min ittner ol of the saints the exercise of joy in the gospel and ministering to the baines is beyond the power of in 46 tants therefore ther clore elore we conclude that the numbers members of the ane families mentioned had reached maturity at any rate it is a gross eidor to found such a sacred or denance on mere presumption and that too in spite of the fact that we are reputedly repeatedly peat edly told in the bible that baptism is for the remission of sins and who dare say that an infant hath sins we called on whom the natives said was by far the oldest man on this group ol of islands he having been a grown man when the christian doctrines wore were first introduced here sixty five years agu ago his exact age we could nut ascertain as natives kep no account of such things from we learned that they were cannibals some 65 years ago he having eaten human flesh which he pronounced very palatable greatly resembling beef he said however that those persons whom he had bad eaten were not slain lor for table use but bat lost their lives in battle and that they ate only the slain of the enemy la in the days of his youth this people fere idolaters idol aters worshipping wor shipping dogs cats eels fish and even rocks and trees these were mediums through which they ibey worshipped wor shipped spirits each bamily AA had bad its own spirit to worship family spirits were inferior and in a way subject to the village ghost which in turn was inferior to the great spirit or good tagaloa 11 sharp stones shells etc were the only implements for cutting known to him in his youthful days in bat barbering bering and the hair was otten often burned off for want of a better method huge trees were felled and shaped into canoes with stone hatchets a feat which seems almost incredible on the aith the wind changed and we once more put forti to sea and our craft was driven back to tutuila Fut uila whereupon president J W beck and elder I 1 B barton boarded a schooner tor for upolu on christmas day elders C A alleman A jensen F cluff L horn A olsen J conley and myself were gathered around a christmas dinner at the residence af oflas jas machiea Mack iea most hospitable brother and our true friend w when hen of a sudden the dishes began dancing about the house creaking ana the earth reeling to and fro this continued for about two minutes and although the rocking was quite severe no damage was done except that a lew few lamps were broken another shock was felt on the but it was less severe an earthquake shock is accompanied with a peculiar sensation I 1 almost imagined we were seated on an old worn out car fly ing over an extremely rough road at an unusual rate of speed ORLANDO BARRUS |
