Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-27

pecial occasion with five or six petticoats of
fine mats. which stand out like the skirts of a
ballet dancer. A Samosn warrior in native cos
tune is one of the fnest-looking physical speci-
mems in the world, but in European dress he
resembles simply . nondescript colored per-
son.
The Samoan Islands are "A degrees
south Of the equator and have luxuriant
vegetation. with high mountains and climate
OF the most equable character, varying between
70 and so degrees Fahrenheit all the year
around Such thing as poor man or . rich
almost on a basis Of communism. The men do
all the cooking, cultivate taro and yams build
canoes, make war clubs and spears and fish at
sea for bonito and sharks. Sharks are con-
sidered a delicacy in Samoa and the natives
capture them by rafting half cocoanut shells
strung upon sticks in the water to attract the
prey. When shark is thus seduced within
proper distance piece OF dead fish on the end
OF line Is thrown to him and drawn slowly to-
ward the boat to fetch the victim on. When
the latter gets alongside he is hit in the head
with war club and thus dispatched.
THE WORK OF THE WOMEN.
'The women of Samoa help fish on the reefs,
make bark cloth and mats, assist in wedding
the taro patches and help make thatch for the
houses. Practically all of the natives can read
and write. thanks to the missionaries. In fact
the percentage Of literacy is greater than in
any other country. Speaking of war clubs
reminds me to say that the Samoans are
nation of warriors Village is continually
fighting against village, and there ia usually a
government and an opposition, so that a year
rarely goes by without a war. Nevertheless the
people will never fight on Sunday. They have
learned from the missionaries to regard that
day as 'saa' or sacred, though their Sunday is
actually Saturday, because they take the
Australian Sunday. Anciently the Samoans
were known to the Inhabitants of other groups
as the Goddess Samoans,' because they wor-
shipped no images, having merely some con-
ception OF the Deity in the abstract and re-
garding certain objects, places and days as
'saa.' When the missionaries came they taught
the natives that one day in each week was 'saa,
and the people have since become such Sabat-
tarians that a vessel coming in on their Sunday
cannot get any food or other supplies. Some
OF the missionaries have not hesitated to take
advantage of the islanders, selling to them the
clothes and medicines sent ont free by the mis-
sionary society. On one occasion in the early
times it was necessary to build a stone wall
for little church, and certain missionaries
made mortar for the wall by burning coral for
lime and mixing 1t with sand, &c. With this a
part Of the wall was constructed the first day,
but the natives, laying their hands upon the
mortar where it was spread, said 1T is soft !
We will spread these cloths over the WALL re-
the cloths, and 10! this shall be rock. More
wonderful things than these can be done by
those who follow the Lordp
ALL THE BEST LAND OWNED BY GERMANS.
NEARLY all Of the best land in Samoa is
owned by the Germans. One plantation, be-
longing to the German Commercial and Planta-
stakeholder, alone contains 1900 acres. At
tempts have been made to cultivate on this
plantation cotton, spices and fruits, but failure
has resulted because of the distance of markets.
The cotton could not compete with Indian cot
ton and the fruits could not reach Australia in
as good condition did the same fruits from
the Tonga and other groups nearer to Australia.
Because the Samoans cannot be made to work
the German plantations are titled by black,
woolly headed natives of the Solomon and Gill
bert groups far away. These blacks are en-
ticed by promises on board of the German YES
sells and conveyed to Samoa, where they are
practically slaves being treated very severely
and fed upon bread fruit. which grows without
care, SO that their subsistence costs almost
nothing. They are bound by contract to re-
main from three to five years. at the end of
which time each man is given a shot gun, some
ammunition, piece of bright cloth and few
other trihes. He is then taken back to his ma
tive island, where these gifts serve to induce
others OF his tribe to take German service in
Samoa.
GERMANS CAUSED THE RECENT TROUBLES.
1T was the German Commercial and Planta-
ton Company that occasioned all the recent
troubles i'll Samoa. Its enterprise was not
proving financial success and the overseers
OF the plantations it owns made excuse for this
by saying that the natives were stealing their
fruit. This was absurd falsehood, though
possibly few bananas may have been pilfered.
But the Germans took this excuse to levy fine
upon the natives and told the king, Malietoa,
that he must pay $4,000 on a certain day
Malietoa with great difficulty raised the sum
and was ready to pay it over before the day
Set, but the Germans seized him nevertheless
and carried him off in irons to the coast of
Africa, placing in his stead tool of theirs
called Tamasese. The Samoans would not
recognize Tamasese and many of them rallied
around the high chief Mataafa. who took the
name OF Malletoa and marched against Tam
asese. Then followed the recent war, which
ended by tripartite agreement between Ger
many, England and the United States. The
original Malietoa was brought back from
Africa and offered the throne again, but he re-
fused, having had enough of the troubles Of
royalty.
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE sAMoANs
"The condition of the Samoans is now little
better than it was, though their situation is
still unfortunate. All their best tillable land
has been secured by the Germans, whose method
OF acquiring it is usually as follows: A German
goes to a chief and offers him gun or other
desirable article in exchange for the chief 8
does not know what a mortgage is, and so he
signs willingly, not understanding the matter
at all, but delighted to get the gun. At the end
OF three years, when the mortgage falls due. the
German forecloses it. He goes to the chief and
says: 'All this land here is mine; You must get
off it. No; this is my land replies the chief
My father and my grandfather and my great
grandfather all lived here and owned this land
Well, it is mine now rejoinS the German!
You have signed it over to me and you must
get OFF it,
'Then the poor chief cries and says that he
does not understand it at all. He goes to the
British consul or to the United States consul,
but they cannot help him. His land is the Ger
mans now. In this way many of these unhappy
natives have been tricked into signing away all
the possessions Of their families, often without
having any legal right to so sign And thus the
Germans have got possession of the fair Samoan
group by fraud and cunning"
THISTLE AND SHAMROCK.
How the Two Came to Be Adopted as Ma
tiOnal Emblems.