Arizona republican., 1901-05-08
PARADISE IN SOUTHERN SEAS.
Peopled by Kindly Ones Who Delight
 in Love Tales.

| stout grizzled mariner. has arrived in | port with his smart clipper the Belle of the Seas And tie douty seaman had to tell of a modern romance of the sea, Il valing the adventures of the rovers ot the Spanish rAain. rfvaling even the picturesque iction of W. Clark Russell. Following Is the narrative which the captain gave. frequently referring to his log as hr spoke:
 Tt was In January. 1900, that we left this port. bound for Colombo Ceylon, for cargo of sugar, But when l ar rived at Colombo the condition of ih , market there was such that cargo of sugar was unobtainable. Rather than return 5000 miles in ballast, decided to cruise among the Samoan group of is- lands. in the hope of picking up load of tropical products that would in a way lessen the loss of my useless trip to Ceylon.
 CAUGHT IN A MONSOON.
 We were some time out. just about crossing the equatorial line. when q fierce monsoon of the south seas caught us. For days we fought it. The sun | never shone. The clouds rendered the nautical instruments useless. The rig ging stood the gale, but one night We | got among reefs and the rudder was | lost. We tossed about all that night, but at dawn the man at the lead re- ported that We must be nearing land. Suddenly the storm cleared and the wa | ter was calm. We drifted gently to- ward as beautiful a palm beach as have ever gazed upon. There was pleasant. gently rolling country back O.. the beach, and still farther back was a range of frowning black mountains. "A mere sweep of my glass disclosr,. | behind the palm trees a big village, with the sun shining brightly on low cottages. built of sort of terra cotta. Drifting gently as We were 1t was a simple matter to drop anchor. This We did. and myself and Felix Harmon. my mate. and four of the crew made for shore fin a small boat. We were ob- served. great crowd of persons gath cred on the beach. We cooked our re- ! volvers and held them in our hands as we landed. ready to fire at the first show of hostilitles. and then put back to the ship for our lives.
 SMILE ON EVERY FACE. But" said Captain Granger. laugh ing and closing the log. "bless my soul. 1 It was an unnecessary precaution ! There stood the inhabitants on the beach. a l!ght-brown colored folk, men and women. with big, gentle eyes, with smiling faces. Handsomer men I never saw, or comlier women. Later I found that the delightful climate and the fine old surf in which they bathed daily and the simple habits of the people had made disease stranger to the island Old age is the sole cause of death in that little paradise of the sea"
 The captain reopened his log. Now. owing to the faulty working of my nau- tical instruments. cannot be very ex- act. but the island is located at about 10 degrees south latitude. and about 125 west longitude. Of course, I don't want to be too exact You'll see the reason of that later.
 well. because of our lighter color we were deemed superior beings, and men were never accorded a kindller recep- tion. The old men were considered the most honorable. and we were escorted to the pretty, red sort of brick cottag- es ar the most venerable inhabitants. We were fed delicious fruits and certain cooked dishes that any hotel chef would give ten years of his life to be able to produce. I noticed that the houses of the older men were no larger than those or the younger. That was the key to the situation. There was no distinction there. All were equal. were equally happy. Food and clothing were obtain ed from common supply. and both were to be had in plenty.
 THEIR SIMPLE ATTIRE.
 "Of course the clothing was scant. Men and women wore soft, clinging robes of white. At night sweet, cool winds blew over the island. making sleep delightful, On the very next morning we came out of the houses of the patriarchs to find that in the night the natives had toiled SO that each of us wao supplied with one of the pretty little cottages similar to those of the habitants Were we so inclined. we were told. we might each choose a wife rom among the islands most beauti- full maidens.
 "One month passed among these de- hghtful people. In all that time I never beheld anger flash in the eyes of one or them. The big mountains were the homes of the gods. and these were all good, amiable gods. The thunder was to them the laughter of their gods. lightning the kindly flashing of the eyes or their gods and rain was blessing. The whlrling of high winds they list ened to with dreamy eyes, like persons Who listened to music and were pleased. There were beautiful beach dances by the maidens, and at night the men and women sang strange, sweet songs, and the old men told legends. all stories of kindly deecs of beautiful friendship and or faithful lovers. It is an earthly par adise If ever there was one.
 During this time my men had been busy fashioning a new rudder for the beie rom some timber obtained in the forest. The natives were always around offering their services or seeing that our men had fresh. sweet cocoa nut milk to drink while at their work.
 But when the rudder was fixed in shape the men came to me in a body They said they did not wish to leave the island. It was no mutiny. Good feeling and gentleness were catching in