St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-07-23


are spread upon the beachstones or
grass to dry. The water is warm
and it is very comfortable sitting in
it. In fact all these natives battle
morning and night, and keep them
selves very clean. They have great
sport bathing. 1 hardly ever pass
the river without its being full of ma
tives, men or women and children,
jumping off the bridge, diving, swim
ming under water, and dog fashion,
and on their backs, FLASHING and
f1oundering about like school of
crazy fishes. The youngsters, hard
lv old enough to walk will founder
about in the water like spaniels. In
front of our house people can be seen
all day long swimming, or fishing,
or wading about hunting for certain
fish or mussels that are found upon
the bottom, rowing in boats and,
when the tide is low, jumping out
into the water to tighten the boat,
or pull it along over the shallow
places They are like ducks in the
water.
A Visit to the Interior.
Perhaps you will be interested in
an account of one of our horseback
rides and what we saw. Crossing
several streams without bridges, we
came to one of the big German plan
tations, Vailele, where we entered
cocoanut grove of 1000 acres, as
large, say, as eight very large Yer
mont farms, with their beautiful
feathery branches forming arches
above the grassy roads. Herds of
fine cattle were feeding here and
there on the rich grass, piles of CO.
coanuts scattered along, little gray
donkeys with baskets like a half bar
rel, holding a little over a bushel
each, hung one on each side, and
''black boys" from the Solomon
Islands thrusting sharp stick into
the husk that surrounds the nut, and
so, by the stick, lifting the nut into
one of the baskets, when a yank
snapped the nut off and the stick
went into another and so on. These
"black boys are not boys at all, but
men, though very small, black as the
ace of spades, and are paid 81 a
month, beside food and shelter If
they run away, they are hunted,
sometimes with dogs. There are
quite a number of them living in the
mountains back in the middle of the
island. They are cannibals in their
own country, but here are almost
slaves to the German planters, and
when they escape they live in the
woods on bananas, cOcOanuts, wild
fruits, etc. No white man here has
ever had any trouble with them, but
they and the native Samoans do not
get along together well, and occa-
sionally they kill one another. The
black boys are very inferior and de-
graded looking, compared with the
Samoans, who are larger, erect, fine
looking, well developed people.
But to go on with my ride. We
passed for miles through avenues Of
magnificent, waving palms, green,
feathering and grateful, with occa-
sional patches of bread fruit trees
with fruit on them, orange trees,
great banana groves, fine large rich
green colored mango trees, coming
out in places upon elevations looking
down into valleys through which
brooks ran, and bordered by fields
and trees almost like one of our own
New England landscapes in June. 1t
made me feel almost at home until /
looked back and saw the tropical
foliage around us.
Finally we came out at the head
quarters of the plantation, where
there was a large field ofcoffee grow
ing on bushes three or four feet high
and branching out quite widely.
From this point the view was une-
qualed We were far up on the
mountain slope. Back of US were
the mountains covered with verdure,
green, varigated, beautiful. Imme-
diately below were the vast groves
Of palms, bananas, bread fruit, man
Cos, orange and other tropical trees,
swaying in the fresh tradewinds
and looking like one mass of waving
plumes. Beyond lay Apia, and the
winding harbor and the shipping,
and the white line of surf, breaking
in plainest view for miles on each
side and below us. 1t was ma gniti-