The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-19

y
ing, which is fine specimen of island
architecture, but also over 900 acres of
land, much of which is cleared and
planted, not to mention several rivers
aud waterfalls, which are thrown in
without extra charge.
Then there is the historical reputa-
ton of the place to consider. Stevenson
has made it famous to modern readers,
not so much by his descriptions, for L
do not remember that he has given US
a detailed account of Vailima and its
surroundings, except we include the
scattered references in the ''Vailima
Letters" but rather through the fact
that there he lived and worked for the
latter years of his life, and there he
passed away in the midst of his native
adherents. who loved him with the
fidelity of Scottish clansmen for their
leader.
But the natives knew the sight long
before Stevenson's days. For hundreds
of years it has been a famous meeting
place, often, indeed, a battle ground.
Stevenson himself tells how, in one of
his rambleS, he came across a bleached
skeleton, half hidden among the rank
underground of weeds; and by the side
of the victor's bones was a s!Sull-the
skull of the vanquished. The warrior,
carrying home in triumph the head of
his enemy, had himself been overtaken
by death, and the relics had lain I'M
noticed il the silence OF the bush
until the author had stumbled upon
them.
The very name itself, Vailima, means
the meeting place of five rivers, noun
tain streams, tearing down from. the
rocky ranges behind Apia, and just be-
hind the house. spreading themselves
out into the broad and fertile valley of
the Vaisinango. The point was one
where any force advancing from the
interior must debouch upon the coast,
and hence the natives loved to gather
and also to fight there. And if Samoan
legend be true, the shadowy legions
often meet and renew their Old battles.
There are spots where the angangaS,
or spirits of the dead, assemble, and
there is a beautiful green lowered pool
not far up the river, where a dusky
Lorelei dwells and entices all who
listen to her voice to their destruc-
ton.
These things may be but the imagin-
alive freight talk of a superstitious
people, but, sitting in q prosaic Nine
teenth century parior Of the Occidental,
away from the glamour Of angangas
and ghostly armies, her grandchild
cooling its infantile prattle by her side,
Mrs. Stevenson in all seriousness, tells
and think.
'It was only about six weeks ago"
she remarked, during the middle of
the night Everyone else about the
house was asleep, when suddenly, with
out noise or footstep or sound of any&
kind 1 was lifted violently from my
bed and thrown across the room. Twice
this was repeated, until, in my despair,
I thought I had fallen into the hands
Of iuI,+ In rnlr
took no harm, and then, when 1 had
Gained down, I came to the conclusion
that there had been a violent earth
quake"
WAS the house much damaged?"
THAT is the curious feature Of the
whole affair. The doors were fastened,
the locks were intact and no one had
entered during the night. Burglars were
out of the question, and as to the earth
quake, nothing about the house was
damaged-not even a piece of crock
cry broken nor a picture thrown down.
And no one else had been disturbed
during the night
It proved futile to ask Mrs. Stevenson
for an explanation of this strange oc-
currence. The facts We're there, and
could draw my own conclusions. So
can the reader.
But to come down to everyday topics.
Mrs. Stevenson explained that her visit
to California was due mainly to bust
ness reasons.
II have to go to London she said,
ito arrange for the publication of my
late husbands life. Sydney Colvin has
the work in hand; he has all the ma
terial, and some time ago he wrote,
asking my presence in London. The
book is to be partly in the nature of
a biography and partly a collection of
1-4+
fore the task can be completed. In
the meantime l am going to avoid the
English climate by spending the win
ter here, and next spring l shall go to
London and commence work with Mr..
Colvin."
Mrs. Stevenson will not be lonely
during the winter months she spends
in California. She has hosts of friends
and relations here, and already, though
she has landed but a few hours, there
is quite a family party gathered to-
gether at the hotel. Mrs. Strong, who
accompanied her mother from Samoa,
is, of course, present, and Lloyd Os-
bourne, with his charming young Cali
fornia bride, has come over from
Berkeley to greet his mother and sis
ter. Mrs. Stevenson's sister, now mar
ried and living in Oakland, is also
there, as we'll as a nephew. And last,
ton the pride Of the Stevenson family,
the grandchild born at Vailima-a
kicking, lusty youngster of s months.
Mrs. Stevenson has little or no news
to report from Samoa. Things do not
happen very often down there, or if
they do happen, they take a long time
about it. The only thing of Importance
is that the supporters of Mataafa are
making a strong movement to get their
chief back from his exile in the Caro-
lines. Nearly all of the ex-king's fol-
lowers have come in and made sub
mission to the de facto monarch, Ma
ietoa; so that there is now only one
rebel king in the field, the stubborn
Tamasese, who still, safely intrenched
at Leulomoenga, declines to yield to
the puppet monarch of the three DOW
ers. As this is the normal state of
affairs in Samoa there is nothing to
worry about; the only question is
whether, if AIataafa is brought back.
his followers will maintain their pres
ent attitude of peaceful submission.
Probably not The chances are that if
this element of strife is let loose there
will be another tribal war, and the
treaty powers viii have again to crush
the futile conflict.
Coming straight from the Navigators.
where, whatever one may say about
the system of government, native life
is absolutely free and unhampered.
Mrs. Stevenson naturally sympathizes
greatly with the oppressed Hawaiians.
and IS strongly opposed to the attempt
now being made to force them into an
neXatiO0 with tba TTOitad C+o+ae