St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-01-31
THE SAMOA NDS.

The Samoa islands have lately at
tracted more attention than usual
on account of the rival interest of the
American, English and Germans cen
tered there. The archipelago com
prises about 116O square miles, and
a population estimated at Sc, 900
The islands are situated under the
thirteenth parallel of south latitude
The first man to explore the islands
was a French navigator, and it was
proposed to call them the Bougon-
vile archipelago in his honor
The word Samoa is supposed to be
derived from Moa, the hereditary
name of the King of Manua In the
Samoan language the particle sa,
preflXed to proper name, signifies
the family of. Samoa, then, is sup
posed to mean the family of Moa.
A comparison of the traditions and
popular songs of the Polynesian
tribes, leads to the belief that the Sa-
moan group is the parent land of
Polynesia, from whence the other
islands were peopled.
The SamOanS are regarded as an
independent people, and although
numbering much less than a century
ago, are now gaining slightly
About 80, 900 of the present popula-
ton are regarded as Protestants and
5000 Catholics. a few hundred
whites represent the German, En-
glish and American nations. The
Polynesian tongue is generally used
even in the religious service and
chanting of Christian hymns, but the
English language has been widely
spread through the land by the efforts
of the Protestant missionaries
The Samoans are well formed ply
sically, and, as people, noted for be-
ing more than the average in height;
dignified and graceful in movement
and brave. Tattooing is fashionable
among them, but the fanciful designs
and elaborate work in this respect is
not as common as formerly
Through the efforts of the mission
aries and from contact with the
whites, they have generally discarded
state, and follow in q measure the
styles of dress used by Europeans.
STANLEYS EARLY HISTORY.
Henry M. Stanley's real name is
John Rowlands Noah Brooks has
written an article on Stanley for the
February number of st. Nicholas,
which will be illustrated with a new
portrait of the explorer, maps, etc
In this article Mr.. Brooks says B.:
STANLEY was born in Wales, near
the little town of Denbigh, and his
parents were SO poor that when he
was about three years old he was
sent to the pOorhOuse of st. Asaph to
be brought up and educated. When
he was thirteen years old, he was
turned loose to take care of himself
Young though he was, he was am
bilious and we'll informed AS lad,
he taught school in the village of |
Mold, Flintshire, North Wales. Get
ting tired of this, he made his way to
Liverpool, England, when he was
about fourteen years of age, and |
there he shipped as cabin-boy on
board a sailing vessel bound for New
Orleans, in the promised land to
which SO many British-born youths
have turned their eyes. In New
Orleans he fell in with a kindly mer
:hant, Mr.. Stanley, who adopted
1im and gave him his name; for our
young hero's real name was John
and he was not Stanley
Until he became an American, as you
zee. Mr.. Stanley died before Henry
became of age, leaving no will, and
he lad was left to shift for himself.
Young Stanley lived in New Orleans
Until 1861, when he was twenty-one
ears old, having been born in 1910
Then the great civil war broke out,
md Stanley went into the Confede-
ate army"