The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-02-20
FROM OUR SAMOAN CORRESPONDENT.
IsIands..-Ab II
Fruits and EIOwnrs... VI ar0 ueSaI


Architecture..-Tatto ooing-..simpl
tty of Acknowledgement and
American '1WarriorS.''
NoRD DEUCHER LLOYD S. S., "LU-
BECK" ENRoUTE FROM APIA,
SAMOA, TO SYDNEY, N. S. w.
AUSTRALIA, Dec. IS, 1883.
Dear Neighbor
The press of business duties for some
months past has prevented me from
writing earlier, and I now take this
opportunity, whilst running down
from the Samoan Islands to Australia
to send some dispatches to our govern.
ment,) to say something about the
South Sea Islands.
Coming over from South America
last October the Nipsic put into Fatou
Hiva (Magdalen,) Marquesas Islands,
to replenish our stock of fruit and
fresh provisions. I had quite rough
time reaching the shore, owing to the
extensive coral reefs that exist in the
bay; when at last the boat had thread
ed the intricate channel and reached
shallow water I was obliged to avail
myself of native assistance for reach
ing the beach. The boat was sur
rounded by natives who had waded out
to me, and, quickly jumping over
board I was caught by a powerful cop
per-colored man who carried me upon
his back to the sandy shore.
Fatou Hiva is q very small settle
ment scattered among the countless
fruit trees that abound upon all the is
lands of the Marquesas group. Indeed,
the village streets are but sylvan az
cades, and the whole island forest Of
fruit and flowers.
Like nearly all the islands of the Pa
cific, the Marquesas are of volcanic or
igin, and bear plenteous marks of the
gigantic upheavals of olden times.
Great mountains, beautiful valleys,
awful precipices, and gentle plains are
all here, and all are covered with the
richest verdure.
The variety of fruits is ample enough
to satisfy the most tickle tastes side by
side you find the stately cocoa-nut
palm with the sturdy bread-fruit trees
the pineapple and the orange, the ba-
mana and the lime, the mango and the
grenadelia; this last mentioned fruit,
which seems q cross between the
pomegranate and orange, is, so far as
am aware, unknown in the States.
Flowers grow in profusion on every
hand, but owing to the deficiency of
my botanical education I am unable to
describe or classify them properly
however, may convey some idea OF
their beauty when say that the whole
island seemed a huge living bouquet,
wherein the forest of fruit trees was
set to lend its rich green foliage as q
foil for the.gorgeous and varied colors
of the flowers.
Fatou Hiva has no large town, and
contains only about 5000 inhabitants.
The small village at the harbor is quite
interesting to q stranger the houses
are of various designs, none of them
however, being over one story high.
Most of them are made of unplaned
boards, with thatched roofs of straw,
while you will also find many made
wholly of bamboo-canes set upright in
the ground and lashed together with
the fibre of cocoa-nut trees, and cover
ed, like the others, with straw. They
are all neat, and majority of them
are rather new, for, as the cost and
trouble of building is so slight, the
people renew their houses very often-
usually every twelve or eighteen
months. This is rendered necessary
in the cases of the bamboo houses be-
cause of their early decay. The floors
are either the natural earth pressed
hard, or bamboo joints covered with
artistically made straw mats. Fur
niture is scant, and little needed, as
the natives eat and sleep upon the lev
ell floor.
There is no store upon the island,
the people depending upon an occa-
sional whaling vessel to supply them
with such articles of trade as they de-
sire. With their food ready at hand
the year round, and with scarcely any
other wants, the natives do not feel
this lack of trading facilities very
deeply.
Perhaps the least said of the people
the better, for they are not a very re-
fined or attractive race. Originally
they were cannibals, and it is said a
few of them still have a tooth for mis-
sionary diet, though they are not
now allowed to indulge this hereditary
taste. The whole population follow
the custom of tattooing to a great eN-
tent, men, women and children are
walking picture galleries; some with
human portraits upon their copper-col-
cred skins, some with rural scenes and
beautiful landscapes, and others with
CORY battle fields and single combats.
Much of the tattooing is really artis-