Show written for this paper TRAVELS LETTER NO wednesday october and 1895 1 I spent the day at fagalii Faga Fag alii iii samoa busily engaged in historical labors assisted by elder william G sears thursday october 3rd ard we spent the forenoon io writing at fagalii Fag alii and in the afternoon elders beck sears kippen and myself went to apia abia and sat down in a photographers gallery while a picture of our dear selves were being taken in company with elder beck I 1 also visited king of samoa who lives in a neat little frame cottage standing near the beach immediately F west est of apia abia he fie is an ordinary look ing man possessing only average intelligence telli gence and he appears to be very guarded and slow in his conversation his clothing clothine consisted of a plain shirt and the ordinary lava lava breech cloth worn by the natives he could not tell us how old he was but we noticed that his hair was quite grey his best toom room in which ne he receives visitors is kept tidy and neat the floor door is covered with fine mats and the walls ornamented with pictures among them we noticed a good portrait ol of queen victoria of england and a ditto of emperor wilhelm I 1 of germany the king was very reluctant in expressing his opinion in regard to mormon ism but he showed us a neat copy of the large type edition of the book of mormon in english which he received some years ago as a present from the first presidency in zion on our return to fagalii we called on mr the american consul to samoa who was about to return to his country he had no great love for either samoa nor its people I 1 spent the remainder of the day and aid evening at fagalii finishing up my historical notes packing a small box to send home and conversing with the brethren about inid midnight night we sighted the mail steamer steaming into apia abia harbor friday october ath I 1 arose at daylight and roused up the other elders eldens we had early prayer and breakfast alter after which elder john W beck and myself boarded a little boat which belonged to a european brother christopher pike who together with a mr fischer both from tutuila had stopped at the mission house over night exposed to the drenching rain against which our umbrellas afforded us but little protection tec tion we rowed three miles to the apia abia harbor where chere the steamship blon owai was anchored and after securing passage am berth I 1 landed once more in apia abia to finish up my labors in connection with elder beck of whom I 1 took leave at 12 at noon to be rowed a quarter of a mile while exposed to another drenching rain to the manonah Man Adan which about an hour later lifted her anchor and steamed off tor lor new zealand we rounded the east end ot of upolu at p m and before nightfall we had bad enjoyed the last glimpse of the upolu mountains far away to the north seasickness has peculiar freaks st at least so far as its dealings with me are aire concerned after hau having ng been jotted pitched and tossed a about t on board a little schooner tor for several days without hardly getting seasick I 1 had bad no anticipation of of being made the victim of that most unpleasant malady on board a steady going ocean steamer in fair weather but tate fate would have it otherwise and after this whenever I 1 start on a voyage I 1 shall frankly admit that I 1 dont know whether I 1 am to get seasick or not saturday october ath the sea was rough and the wind blowing hard seasickness was king and kept nearly all the passengers in humble submission below sunday bunday october ath I 1 had an interesting te morning conversation with the commander ot of the ship captain michael carey who accepted with thanks my offer to give a lecture in the evening in the ships social hall at 8 p m as duly announced by a neat little notice written and posted up by the purser most ot of the saloon passengers and quite a number also from the lore fore cabin as well as some of the officers and men belonging to the ship assem bled in the beautiful halland hall and listened very attentively while I 1 addressed them over an hour on utah and her people taking particular pains to tell them what the mormons cormons believed in jn in answer to earnest prayer the lord strengthened his servant who spoke considerable with freedom and plainness after I 1 was through one of my fellow passengers who expressed himself as being much pleased with what he had heard made a neat little speech in m which he in his bis way bore bare testimony to the truth of what I 1 had said and a hearty vote of thanks was next in order A swedish clergyman methodist who was making a tour around the world and wh had never heard a mormon elder speak be fore was very much surprised to learn that notwithstanding all he had heard beard to the contrary the mormons cormons Mor mons believed in christ and the bible and were actually christians he insisted upon treating me to something to drink as he be lieveld me dry after speaking so long I 1 accepted of lemonade during the day I 1 had several conversations with another swede olson by name who was returning to new zealand with his family from a visit to his relatives in in box elder C utah he did not find his relatives to be as good as he had expected if he had he would have remained in utah in the evening we crossed the tropic of capricorn latitude 2 3 0 30 south into the south temperate lone zone monday october ath I 1 had bad a number of inter interesting eiting conversations with officers and passengers on utah and religion my lecture the previous evening having created a desire within many to learn more at noon the daily bulletin read latitude 27 7 f south longitude 1780 i 1 west miles from apia abia and miles to auckland I 1 spent much of the day and evening writing in the saloon and retired at a late hour when I 1 arose the next morning I 1 was informed by captain carey that wednes day october ath had dawned upon this part of the world what had become of tuesday october ath at 4 that morning we had bad crossed the imaginary line known as the meridian that explained all I 1 had crossed that line twice before first between hawaii and fiji which robbed me of a sun sui and second between tonga and sal sa which gave me two wednesdays Wednesday vs in week the day was quite cold i windy thursday october loth the c and cloudy day made my extra un clothing which I 1 had not worn du dm i ny my sojourn in the tropics feel qi comfortable when I 1 put it on thi this dooh ar ing ig at ii a m land was se ahead with ith the naked eye an and it those ll 11 the passengers who had never neve new zealand before were informed inform F those who had that this particular I 1 i was the mountainous island kno knewt the great barrier which is di distaff dista tf from auckland about sixty miles S soll after this a heavy gale struck the he 0 s which made her rigging groan afi crackle and the hull shake and thern one ot of the furled sails became un and napped flapped with great violence aga agai ax the cross spar and mast one of ofal most experienced sailors was sent up fasten it and after much exertion succeeded in doing so but it I 1 loo very dangerous and many of the pi engers who watched him trembled fear lest he shou d be knocked 0 board at noon we were were 1531 M from apia abia and fifty nine miles t auckland As we proceeded we shown the spot off the rocky cut coast the great barrier where the st Waira rapa was wrecked a few mo conf ago 4 musing causing the loss of several hu hunan lives near this place ais also off tl great Barri barrier erp a number ngou of 0 saraa st raa looking rocks are seen risi rising out oft f ocean independent of each other of them attaining a height of 0 nearis hundred feet perhaps more it t brea very interesting to watch the braai spend their fury pon those maji maj rocks which are known to navigators the needles at i z p awe were si ing close to a mountainous island on one right and soon afterwards the the main mainland land or the north island ot of nw zealand were visible in the mean ane wind continued to blow hard ao though somewhat shielded by land thae good sped on her course in sowe somewhat what shaky manner which mea some of the passengers shaky too foft W P m we entered the beautiful bj lair f bor of auckland and at 6 we fa along side of the wharf in look looking 71 1 over the big crowd ot of people which bad ft gathered on the wharf to wa watch OW fly 11 1 1 1 steamer co come me in and to meet frie friends anim relatives I 1 noticed a man wit with a map sandy beard who distinguished hi hians from all the rest ot of that smiling WW pleasant countenance characteristic true mormon elder nor wa was I 1 tib taken for he turned out to be beolder Elder wliam gardner president of the aa tra lasian mission who together wath elders john johnson of elsinore wf thomas S browning of ogden butak haa had come down to meet me as they nad reason to expect me in by the monoval they had looked for my arrival arriva earlier date my visits to the othet idi lands land having occupied more time than man at first anticipated the meeting with these elders was very pleasant to zno falej J i and so was also the mail from tiomi which awaited me here for th months I 1 had not heard a word from family cr any one else in zion my re of travel having been such that 1 letters could reach me the australasian mission has had ao ve P C manent headquarters though A ai te dor stood to enjoy that distinction the president spends nearly his time traveling in the different paying particular attention to the maori ri part of the mission and when ivaa d rooms with elders johnson I 1 1 rid d browning who rent a small apart T an old lady on grey street no board themselves these two bgern pwen have been appointed to labor aft and vicinity where they are endeavoring to raise up a branch of the chorchi am now maki g my temporary home with these elders also while I 1 peruse the records of the mission ds I 1 expect to visit the different districts constituting the new zealand asat of the he australasian mission ANDREW JENSON AUCKLAND new zealand october |