The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-27
Especial Correspondence Of The Post,

Especial Correspondence of The Post)
Samoa. July 6.--when Tennyson told hi:
dream OF lotusland In verse as mellow
as the tropics he described. the picture
that he painted was an almost perfect por-
sunsets lingering low down lin the red
west" the dropping heavy biossomed flow
ers. as rich Ia perfume as in beauty OF
color; the heavy fruited trees hanging
low beneath their burden, aud all the char
acteristics Of the poets
Summer Isle of Eden. lying In dark pur-
pie spheres OF sea-"
Navigator's Islands was the name that
was applied to this group in the old geo.
graphies Navigators Paradise would
have been a more appropriate title, for one
may voyage from the far East TO the far
West and from the ice of the North to the
SHOWS Of the South without being able to
find another spot where nature has been
SO lavish with her gifts. When Stevenson
first dropped anchor before ono of these
Samoan villages he became the bond slave
of the islands," as he expressed the feel
ing of perfect peace that took possession
of his sould and more than one traveller
who has come to this mid ocean Paradise
to stop for a day has been overpowered by
the army OF charms by which he was sur
rounded and has never returned to ciyili-
cation. To the stranger this may seem
too strange a statement to be true hut to
the mind of one who knows the islands
no assertion OF this nature could be an
exaggeration.
l hope / shall not he misunderstood as
having advised tie immigration of Amet
can labor to Samoa for that Is about the
last thing that any sane man would sus
gest. No one works in Samoa. and the
few exceptions who prove the rule will
cease TO labor as soon as they are thor
ougnly acclimated To toll in Samoa would
be a sacrllege, for why should one spend
his energies in labor when nature mas pro-
vided all that Is necessary for his we'll
being. That is the comfortable philosophy
OF the native. philosophy 20 which most
Europeans soon become converts, and the
theory finds is most striking proof in the
natives themselves
AA-t't'iANSN Na+'Na
manhood, considered from the physical
standpoint. OF course, it would be difficult
TO imagine and yet work is something to
which they have always been strangers
Nature provides their food and nature fur
nishes such clothing as they require, eX-
cept in the case of those who desire to
attain a higher state of civilization has
carried them as far as suit Of light ma
teria cut a la paiama, and even these are
not difficult to obtain.
In such land poverty IS naturally I'M
known. but to this attractive cline no
man should come unless he is prepared to
forswear all labor. either mental or physi-
cal, and TO allow himself to relapse into
that condition OF mind that is exemplitied
IN the old philosophy OF epicurianism. \
man who has no thought except such as
are embraced in the maxim to eat, drink
and be merry would be Mt home in Samoa.
Here he would have food in plenty, beau
tiful women to wait attendance upon his
wants. and, as soon as he became accus-
toned 10 the taste of native beverages,
all the drink that he could demand.
When one remembers that it is under
these conditions that the Samoans have
lived for several generations 1t does not
seem strange that TO the superficial OBJ
server they should appear race OF yaga-