The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-01-27
The Difficulty in Obtaining
News From Home.
VISITING TEE Battlefield.
Country on Preaching Tour
The Natives.


place that my last letter to you was
dated from. This is the only place
where we receive our mail. We stay at
q small island, Annun, which has about
300 inhabitants-all natives. This little
Island is one mile from the east end of
Tutuila, and about twenty miles from
Leone by sea, and about as far again
by laad; so you can see what chore
we have to get our mali when it does
come, and there is no certainty about
it getting here. When the steamer
from San Francisco arrives from Hon
olulu, it stops off the coast of Tutuila
about two miles, and only long enough
to give the mail bags to schooner,
which goes directly to Apis, sixty miles
from Tutuila, on Upolu Island, and the
capital of Samoa. When tie ;hooner
c )mes back to meet and get mail from
the steamer from Sydney, our mail if
they have time, is brought to Leone, so
you can readily see how uncertain it is
when we will get it, but after the war +.
when the Germans will be out of power,
it is believed that better mail service
between the islands will be had. A
good many of our letters 80 far have
been right to New York and then to
San Francisco before we get them,
which makes some of our news three
or four mon his old.
In my last, stated that we. Messrs.
Dean. Beesley and myself, were on our
way around the island of rutulla. We
finished our trip in little less than
four weeks. We held forty-six meet
ings, preached to 1851 people and
walked nearly 100 miles over the rough
est, yet most picturesque fo:ests OF
Natural ferns, etc., that white mans
foot has ever trod. We found
THE NATIVES EVERYWHERE EXCITED
over the great war, which is still raging
on Upolu and near Apia. Ne are now
in house with a native who has been
in Apia witnessing the war most of the
time, and only left there few days
ago. He says he saw most horrible
sights while there.
! have before explained about the
two great armies of Maliatoa and Tam
asese. The former side outnumbers
the Tamaseses (the Germans) by thou
sands. Tamasese and men are sur
rounded in the woods, about four
miles from Apia. by Maliatoa and 5000
men, both sides receiving food and
from the man of war YES
sells which are anchored in Apia harbor;
but on account OF Maliatoa being sup
ported by so mary men and by the
United States and English men of war.
and Tamasese only having two Ger
man boats, and constantly losing men
IN all sides, it is more than likely that
before this Maliatoa is declared King of
Samoa, and If SO, we are told that the
prospects for a better government are
much brighter.
This man tells US that he saw, when
VISITING THE BATTLEFIELD,
some terrible sights. When Msliatoa's
men would kill an enemy they would
Immediately sever the dead mans head
from his body. and it is carried in the
air by the victorious warrior as he runs
and shouts that one more enemy has
fallen through the effects of his lead.
Business has almost been entirely
suspe Lied in Apia, and our friel d
tells us that men have been
killed while doing Blu mess in the
streets of Apia, and that many
times he has had narrow escapes of be-
i Ig hit with b 4llets willie watcl lg the
battle.
Food is very scarce in Apia at present.
Clnned beef is selling at 81 cents per
pound. in cans of fifty and one hundred
pounds; butter is the same price and
sundries higher, and most of the time
nothing can be bought but hard bis
hoped and firmly believed that the
great war will soon be at an end.
We we're treated very kindly by the
natives on our trip, although they were
very much interested in the war, and
meeting together As l
before stated every village has q
fdLe-house for the purpose of public
They are the greatest people to inset
together and decide
THE BEST WAY TO DO NOTHING
ever saw. They call these gathering 8
tonos and they are conducted as fol-
lows: The huts are grass-toppsd hot ses.
made by placing a numbAr of posts
in the ground in circular shape, al d
standing out of the ground about seven
or eight feet; on this rests the roof,
which is made of cocoanut leaves tied
ON with long withes about one inch in
diameter. These houses show much
skill in the way they are tied together
with rope made from the cocoanut fibre
by the natives.
These fonos are conducted by TIE
Aliis (the chiefs), with a certain num-
Der OF young men 10 wait on them. All
of the, Aliis have their hs ir cut so that
it stands out straight from their head
about two inches. They all have their
heads covered with slack lime. It is
quite sight to see them all sitting
DOWN, each one leaning against post.
with their white hair and almost naked
b &c les 10 ling around on their mats
with their legs crossed.
They first have their ava made and
passed around until all have had
drink; they then have their usual
smoke of tobacco, which every fam ly
grows. They then talk about every
thing they have heard very lately, then
they have their bread fruit, kalo. fresh
pork or fish and many other kinds of
food which thy use for seasoning pur-
poses, which | will explain in my next.
Their food is spread on small mats,
U hiph thew Hoo- EOS 70 hIao o,Iv Thou