The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-02-14
THE ISLES OF SAMOA.
Descript:o o , O, The Count y q ID Inhabitants
-Proy"es o. Ch: Slant, and Educat' 81.

-Prog"es o. Ch: 'si;al:t, and Educat' 81.
The prominence which recent events
have given to the Isles of Samoa has
led me to think that brief description
Of these islands might not be undesir-
able by Some Of the readers Of The
Herald and News, those especially who
may not have access to books Of refer
ence upon the subject. This group of
islands of which nine are inhabited was
for long time called Navigators' Ist-
ands, so named by Bongainville, a
Frenchman, who visited them in l76S'
They liein the south Pacific Ocean, be-
tween 130 and lie South latitude and
between 1852 and 172o west longitude.
Their area is about 200 square miles,
and the population 10000 They are
Of volcanic origin, and some parts of
them rise to the height Of 5000 feet
above the sea- The largest island Of
the group is Savaif, which contains
about 700 square miles, and has popu-
lation of 1900. Upolu has heretofore
been looked upon as the most import
ant island of the group. Its area is $50
square miles with population of 1000.
On it is the town of Apia with 375 peo-
pie. This town is the residence of the
consuls Of the various governments
that have representatives in this locali-
ty. The Roman Ca4holic Bishop of
Oceania also lives here. The little
island of Tutuila is the one in which
the government of the United States is
most interested at present. Its area is
placed at 50 square miles and its popu-
lation at $500. 1t is situated directly
in the steamship route from San Fran
cisco to Australia. It's value conse-
quently to the commercial interests of
the United States can be widely appre-
ciated. In 1872 Commodore Meade, vis-
Ting the Samoan Islands, effected an
arrangement with the native chiefs by
which the port of Pago Pago was
taken under the protection of the
United States. During the following
year the President sent special ageLt
to these island. This agent reported
that the Chiefs We're anxious for the
United States to assume the protection
of the entire group. This was not done,
however, for il 1875 a native king was
elected, whose powers, it seems, have
not been questioned until recently,
when Bismarck y 8. ito busy himself
about the riggs + kings in the
Pacific. ~ s IT Of Pago Pago alone
mentic- c-'IilnSist the southern end of the
is;T'heoiof utuila. 1t has, it is said, the
fl. 81 narbor in the Pacific, completely
lald-locked, no rocks in the channel by
which it is ,approached-and having
sufficient water to float the largest yes
sci in the world. ....- -....
The soil of these islands is very good.
Cotton, .(sea island), sugar cane, tobac-
co, oranges, cocoanuts, bananas, and
many other tropical and semi-tropical
plants and fruits, are easily grown
with commercial fertilizers.
The natives are we'll formed, active
and intelligent. They are Of a dark
brown color, hair black and straight,
lips thick. The nose is less flat than
among other members Of the Malay
race. They are al nominally Chris
tians, and every little village has its
church and school-house. What seems
remarkable, is the fact that not seven
year old child can be found, in these
islands, that cannot read his own
language, and nearly all the adults can
read and write. Altogether, the
Samoanitans possess no small degree Of
interest which is at present greatly en-
hanccd by the fact that two great
powers have focused their eyes upon
them-and the added fact that many
persons think they see dark war
cloud hanging over the sunny lands Of
the South Pacific.
It is, perhaps, needless to state that
this article is mainly a compilation.
The greater part ol my information on
the snbject was obtained from Apple
tons Cyclopedia. a. P. P.
NEwBERRY, S. c., Feb. 9th, 1883.