Show written tor for this paper TRAVELS LETTER NO 1111 sunday march we attended three general meetings one gospel school and a priesthood meeting with the saints on tamaroa Tak aroa we also partook of the sacrament using sprouting cocoanut coco anut meat instead of bread and cocoanut coco anut milk instead of wine or water the saints in this mission are great meeting goers in most of the branches they hold three general meetings and a gospel school every sunday the general meetings are usually commenced at 6 and io 10 a in and 3 p m then gospel pel schools are held again monday evenings testimony meetings and gospel schools tuesday afternoon and evenings general meetings jis and gospel schools on wednesdays sisters meetings on thursday afternoons and gospel schools friday afternoons and evenings the elders have tried to cut down the number of meetings but the natives object it having become an old habit with them tarold meetings and schools in in that order the exercises in the gospel schools generally consist in questions and answers on gospel subjects bible and church history etc the one conducting the school gives the questions out to the several students on a previous school phool to be answered in the next these schools are generally interesting and lively as they stimulate the minds and energies of the natives who are very anxious to excel in giving correct answers the elders from zion whenever they are present usually conduct these schools monday march and we spent most of the day culling historical items from some native ke kept pt books out but they contained only a very little which could be of any use to ais us whatever As the schooner Hit inui one of brother mapuhi Ma Is vessels is about to start for tahiti I 1 decided 0 to o avail myself of the op opportunity ort unity of returning with it and de delegate eff agate the remainder 0 of my fistori historical cal labors to elder cutler I 1 had learned that if I 1 did not take advantage of this chance I 1 might be compelled to stay on the islands for months and still not be able to visit many oi of the islands the natives were milking making preparations all day for going inside into the lagoon to fish for mother of pearl shells oo 00 the lagoon side of the reef are caverns and cavities in which the large pearl oysters breed attached to the rock toy by their powerful beard at depths of five to fifteen fathoms they adhere so firmly that a stout knife is often needed to sever their hold the pearl shell is 1 itself valuable and occasionally a rich 4 pearl is found within that for which her t majesty queen victoria of england is said to have paid 6 pounds sterling fo b and mortimer came from one of of the lagoons lae the earliest r records cords e of spanish conquest in the pacific are connected with the pearl islands in the bay ot of panama in 1517 only four years after De Balboa first sighted the great sea ponce deleon caused timber to be carried across the isthmus thinus To of panama and built a small craft with which to make the conquest of the pearl islands the natives were cruelly treated and forced to give up ounces of pearls found in their possession they were further ordered to pay a yearly tribute of the same quantity of course this payment was impossible as those found in their possession were the accumulated treasure for many years pearl shell in large quantities and oi of considerable value has always been and is still a product of the pacific lagoons about fifty years ago commodore wilkes in the account of his exploring expedition refers to the large quantity sent from the Tu north then only 45 or 50 50 per ton pearl shell is now in use for purposes then unknown and the price ranges from rom to soo per ton while larger quantities than ever are demanded the great difficulty is to get good divers the diving dress has been tried by europeans but the uneven rocky bottom and the oysters habit of breeding in caverns or hollows renders the dress unsuitable native divers who use no dress or protection around their bodies are indispensable their skill is proverbial they work hard but require long rests at intervals and cannot stand the work of diving for more than a few years altogether tuesday march 3rd ard most of th tha 5 natives left the village in boats for the la goon inside the island to dive for shells orders having just been received from the government government overn ment ta open the lagoon for shell ashing fishing only five adult members of the church were left in the village though a few re returned again in the evening to remain over night I 1 spent most of the day measuring on off the village and making a plan of it I 1 also measured the meeting house etc and finished up my historical labors on tamaroa Tak aroa wednesday march ath we arose early and made ready for my departure about 7 am a in we attended a general meeting with the remaining saints at which a native brother and myself were the speakers after this I 1 called on some of the saints to say goodbye among whom were brother haruaki and wile wife who gave me two fine pairs of shells and a small pearl another brother and Mapu bils wife also made me presents we next called on the french gendarme whom I 1 had neglected to see before he said jokingly kingly io that he was about to have me arrested as a spy when he saw me the day before sur beying the town plot A gendarme on the Tu a sort a government policeman and general representative there is usually one ot of them on every island ot of importance and they feel terribly slighted if every white visitor dont call on them almost the first time after their arrival at a m I 1 gave the parting hand to brother Br cutler who expects to remain on the island for a little while and then proceed to where the april conference is to be held and boarded the little schooner Hit inui which immediately left her moorings spread her sails and went to sea the wind blowing briskly from the east we made splendid progress and by noon we were sailing close to the southeast coast ot of Taka poto by the island the wind died out and it commenced to rain most violently which drove all hands except the man at the helm down into the small sma low and sickly smelling cabin swarmed with ants cockroaches an ai other vermin with the insects crawl arav ing all over me and scarcely getting breath of fresh air except when 1 I carn car out to vomit which I 1 did quite fr fi r quent ly I 1 spent one of the most ble nights of my life I 1 had been wait wa ing for the break of day for some tic time when the man at the helm called out 0 12 midnight thursday march ath morning dawne dawm at last but the rain continued to dej d in lor torrents rents it was nearly io 10 ol 01 joe a in when it ceased and thus made i possible for us to emerge from our un u comfortable positions in the cabin I 1 was the only passenger on board tl th crew consisted of four men all native namely tapu the supercargo a ha t caste and a member of the he church wl wh can speak a little english his father be b ing an englishman teiho the calta J moe a fat man and a young man ma the last three were josephites the 1 man being an elder in that organic tion he snored most awfully durin the night so I 1 named him in the morning the champion of the pacifica pacific I 1 spent the day learning tahitian wor won from the sailors showing them in n photographs and album of views ar an trying to explain to them by signs and ar diagrams the dif difference terence between th tl true church and the josephites at i a in a good breeze sprang up ar an soon afterwards we sighted the island 0 which lies about sixty five mil southwest of Tak tamaroa Ta karca aroa the island twenty miles long by thirteen broa but has less than twenty inhabitant habitan in most of whom are members of th tl church the only village is situated 0 the northeast portion ot of the island I 1 B i 1 p in we were sailing north nor of the motu ot of the is i land and it took us till 5 t clear the other end being on the lee ie ward side of the island we hugged it i shore very close and in rounding on 01 point we were only yards oft tl th breakers on the coral reef or about ac 20 yards irom the shore continuing our 01 southwesterly course we saw the islar islan of Fak arava at lop io p in and a little late lab we sailed through a wide passage int im the lagoon and came to anchorage 0 c rotoava Rot oava the main village of the islar island at 1130 friday march ath we landed a rotoava early in the morning and I 1 fir firs called on an english trader by the nan nam of george S smith who has a native nath wife and family and next on the grei gr governor vernor eo of the principal part of all tl islands his name aa martin and he esthe is the same one w caused all the late troubles lor for our aurl elders and forbid them to preach I 1 presented my professional card chic perhaps caused him to treat me respect lully jully though he had no doubt been informed before 1 I called that I 1 was a mormon elder having only tapu of the crew for interpreter and he loosing his wonted courage in the presence of so great a dignitary as the governor I 1 could only tell his excellency where I 1 came from and where I 1 was g going he thanked me lor for calling on OB him hi in and I 1 withdrew he is rather a short and insignificant looking man appears very conceited and capable ot 1 acting very small it he is crossed how I 1 wished I 1 could have talked with him but his language was french and mine english after visiting the governor I 1 was conducted IC to the house of a native brother Ctet umu where I 1 spent most of the day conversing as well as I 1 could with the natives who came to see me I 1 tried to use to the best advantage the few tahitian words I 1 had learned and made up the balance with signs gestures and express expressions igns I 1 also showed them nay my pictures temple rocks etc and Qian gian aged to interest them in this manner I 1 believe most of those who called were members of the church as there are two small branches on this island one at rotoava Rot oava and the other at tetamanu Te on the other end ot of the island I 1 also wag mug hymns ate chicken and bread drank cocoanut coco anut milk set an inactive dock clock took a walk across the and back and finally enjoyed a good nights rest sleeping on new clean mats ts placed in a bedstead with my own b blanket lor for a covering Fak arava is one of the largest and roost important of all the islands it is thirty two miles long and arteen wide the two villages roto aya ava and tetamanu Te contain together about iko inhabitants of whom the greater number reside at rotoava Rot oava which arter ft 19 the e capital of the group and contains the tn residence of the governor religiously the people are baines and catholics taw the latter being in the majority our two branches branch ts have a membership of about fifty all told the islands or the low archi archipelago alago is the easternmost group ot of polynesia the islands composing the group extend from northwest to southeast a distance of nearly miles and lie between 1371 and 1149 longitude west of greenwich with a breadth ot of something like miles between 14 and 25 south latitude there are eighty wands islands altogether but only filly six of them belong to the government the others are attached to the island or islands for administrative purposes the islands as listed and described in the french official year book for 1895 are as follows each island bei being g numbered i matahiva Mata hiva 2 maka tea 3 Ti kabau kahau 4 Ragi roa 5 arutun 6 makura Ka 7 8 ahe abe 9 apatzki zo loMa ganibi x x joau 12 Fak arava 13 anaa achaa 14 15 faaete 16 baue hi 17 Taka poto 18 19 tamaroa Tak aroa 20 20 baraka 21 Tah anea 22 caiaro 23 f 24 motu tunga 25 kajiu 26 depoto 27 Tu anake 28 hiti 29 malemo 30 Har aiki 31 anu Aa An 32 anu 33 maru tea 34 taaga 35 Rei toru 36 pa pipi pi 1 37 38 39 teko koto 1 40 40 41 Maro kau 42 rava here 43 takuhe 44 45 Re kareka 46 lauere 47 Teto poto or 48 49 50 50 fagadau Fag atau 51 hao 53 baraoa 54 matangi Te 55 56 aaka hina 57 Pu kararo 58 59 akizaki Akia kh 60 60 Va navana or kuratani Kur ataki 61 or Vaira atea 62 pukapuka 63 tahi 64 65 ahu nui or Fanga taufa 66 jinaki 67 tata koto or Papa kaua 69 tata komoto 70 71 Pu karuna 72 Tena 73 Mature vavao 74 vahan V gaor or vania 75 reao or nature 76 Tena rena 77 maria 78 maratea Maru tea 79 Mang areva 80 80 himoe the islands numbered respectively i to 53 and 55 56 and 62 belong to the governorship while those numbered 54 57 to 61 and 63 to 80 80 be long to the or manga re revan v an government overn ment the most important island end is anaa or chain island which contains more inhabitants than any other member of the group but the seat of government is at rotoava Rot oava on the island of Fak arava which is more centrally located than anaa all the islands except maratea Ma katea and kareka Re are low and flat lagoon islands lanas is consisting of ring or bow shaped coral reels of which the widest range from 1200 to 1500 feet across and the lagoons thus formed on the inside of these reefs abound with pearl oysters the largest lagoons are those ot of ran diroa miles in circumference and Fak arava go 90 miles most of the islands have passes or openings through the coral reefs reefe from the ocean into the lagoons inside but only in a few of these is the water deep enough for large ships to pass through some are even too narrow and shallow for ordinary schooners ners and only passable forshall for small boats the land part of the islands consists of patches where the coral reefs are a little elevated above the ocean on which decayed coral have formed a very thin crust of earth which in some places are quite fertile and suitable for the cocoa palm and a variety of bush growth to take root in but there is po no real soil such as forms the foundation ot of more elevated islands each island consists of a number of or islets separated separates 6 from each other by barren ca coral ral reefs and in a few instances by deeper water passes some of the are several miles long but seldom over a quarter of a mile wide quite a number contain only a few acres of land the elevation of the highest points on most of the islands seldom exceeds ten feet over high water mark this being the ccase case the cocoanut coco anut trees on the islands seem to grow from the ocean itself when seen at a distance of several miles as their bushy tops and trunks appear to view owing to the culture of the earth appearing long before the land on which they stand seen at a less distance the aspect is one of surpassing beauty it the dry part of the island or belt is sufficiently covered with trees but much of this beauty is dispelled on a nearer approach as the vegetation is usually found to be scanty and wiry this vast collection ot of coral coral islands is certainly one of the wonders of the pacific ocean the area of the entire group according to the official year book of 1892 is about hectares hek tares or acres and the population in 1892 was in the part and in the gambier part of the archipelago the inhabitants belong to the polynesian race and are most civilized on the westernmost islands where most of the people have been converted to christianity on the eastern islands there are still traces of cannibalism the catholics are particularly strong on anazand anaa and Mang areva or the joseph ites are next in number and about eight hundred are members of the life true church of jesus christ of latter day saints some of the natives are dark skinned and resemble the finans fijians in their figure and ferocity others have the more gentle character of the tahitians Tahiti ans but it is acknowledged that they have a more warlike disposition than the latter and for this reason kept a body guard of them in preference to his own subjects they speak a different dialect of the great polynesian language to that of tahiti the islanders navi |