Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-03-01

ashes until September 18th, covering the
northeastern part of the island with
sand and MASKING down all vegetation,
and small trees But fortunately, a
1 heavy rain commenced about the time
the fire ceased, and continued Tor one
month, thus washing of the sand from
! the larger species OF vegetation. This
I RAIN was certainly God send to the
] people; for had it not come, but very
little Of the vegetation would have re-
yived. There is a very steep embank-
meut OF lava aud SIND about 800 feet
! hiph cncircling the lake, which appar-
entity has been thrown by volcanic action
/ from the place where the lake now lies.
! The balance OF our time on the island
was spent striving to SOW the seeds OF
/ truth In The hearts OF the people, by
| preaching and conversing with them
whenever opportunity would permit.
/ However, the people are very indifferent,
| and loath TO adhere to our teachings.
/ They seemed TO think that the Gospel
| tn y hav is sufficient for their salvation.
Monday the 9th, late in the evening,
we set sail for UVea, or Wallace island,
| which lies I35 miles north OF Nlualoou.
Wednesday the nth, at 10 M, we
cast anchor in the Uvea harbor, abouta
! lllit liptAl aAitlNI hAh VIC OIlO VI
| getting ashore IS by small boats. At 4
| p M. Elder Smith and went ash Jre,
and was soon successful in finding
another kind friend who made US wei
come at his place His name is Mr..
! Harry Quicker. The Uvea language is
very similar to the Tongan-so much so
| that we were able to converse very we'll
with the people. The Catholic church
! is the only church on the island, aud has
| full sway in temporal things as well as in
spiritual. They have a king, and claim
he has power to rule the people, but he
! is merely cipher, and is not abe 10 DO
| anything without first consulting the
priests. The French government has
this group OF islands under its protec-
ton. Our presence on the island caused
much excitement among the people for
a few days, for as soon as we got ashore
The news oil our arrival began to spread.
The priest at Mua (the village where we
landed) sent messengers TO all the other
priests on the island to warn the people
against us.
Tuesday the I7th, after partaking of
good breakfast with Mr. Quicker, we
started out to the kings place, which is
seven miles from Mua While on our
way we were overtaken by native, who
asked us where we were going. We
told HIM we were going 10 the kings
place. He said he had been sent as an
interpreter, as the king could not talk
English He talked very broken
English. We then began to talk to him
in his own language. "Ohl" he said,
you can speak our language and you
don't need an interpreter" We told
him we thought we were equal for the
occasion, anu could get along without
his assistance. At 10 a. III. we arrived
at the kings place, and made our bust.
ness known to some men who were sit
ting ON the veranda making "kava."
They said the King would be Tree to re.
ceive us in lew minutes. We waited
Tor a short time when he came out and
introduced himself as King Lavelua.
He asked US in the house and had a
man serve the "kava," after which we
made known to him the object OF our
visit He would not listen to anything
we had to say about the Gospel. He
said he knew that the Gospel he and his
people had was true, and he did not
want to hear any other. We asked him
| il he had ever heard any other. He
said he had not, nor did not wish to, as
he and his people were satisfied with
the religion that they have. We then
offered him tract, but he refused to
take It. We had some nice views 1oi
Salt Lake City, and thought he would
be pleased to look at them. We there
fore protlered to show them to him, but
he declined to look at them. We tried
to reason with him for about an hour,
but he would not listen to anything we
had 10 say to him. We learned later on
that some OF the priests had been at the
kings just prior to our visit, and told
him not to have anything TO do with us
as we were very low class OF people.
After leaving the kings we made our
way back to Mua, giving out tracts and
talking with the people wherever we
were privileged to. The people were
very shy ana many oil them were afraid
to talk with us AT S a, m we again ar.
rived at Mr.. Ducker's. As we went in
the house Mr.. Ducker introduced us to
a member OF the police, who he said
had been waiting Tor us all day. We
asked him what we had done that he
should be waiting Tor US. He said he
had message from the king to deliver
to us. We told him we were free to re.
ceive it. He then read the letter, which
forbade us preaching, or conversing
on the road or in the villages; and also
forbade us distributing any tracts among
them. We were watched very closely
from that time on during our stay on the
island. This group is composed OF one
island about twenty-five miles in circum.
ference, and few smaller ones grouped
closely around the large one. 1t has
population OF 5000.
Saturday I4th, we again boarded the
schooner to sail to Futuna, which lies
1870 miles westot Uvea.
Sunday 18th, at a. m, FuIuna was
in sight, and at q p, m. we cast anchor
in the haIbor. The boat had stopped
but few minutes when number OF
natives came out 10 il in their canoes.
The Futuua language is much different
from the Tongan; therefore IT was very
difficult for us to understand the natives.
This island is ruled by the same pow
er as Uvea, and the people are all
Catholics, Only one European trader
ii living there at present. Although he
is Catholic, he proved to be very
true friend, making us welcome at his
place curing our sojourn there.
The island OF Futuna has an area of
about sevsniy-five square miles, and is
very mountainous II has two kings
and population of about 400.
We found few people there who
were able to speak the Tongan language
and conversed with them on religion;
and also gave them some tracts, But as
soon as the priests heard of il, they in