The La Jara chronicle., 1910-02-04
La lara Boy Describes
The Society Islands


written to the Chronicle an interest
ing letter from that far off country
which many OF his friends here will
no doubt greatly enjoy reading The
letter is as follows:
Papeiti, Tahiti, Dec. %. 1909.
Editor La lara Chronicle,
Dear Sir: Thinking that many of
my friends would like TO know about
this country and knowing that The
Chronicle is in all of their homes,
have written a description of the
Society Islands, which you may print
If you desire.
Although | am in a beautiful land,
it is not like home to me and | long
to see the sunnySan Luis valley once
more
Tue Society Islands are located in
the South Pacific ocean about six
teen degrees south of the equator.
There are from eighty to ninety is
lands IN the group and the majority
are low archipeligoes. The high is
lands are about twenty in number and
some OF them reach an elevation of
"A most eight thousand feet above sea
level. One of the Islands, called
Tuluai. meaning high mountain tops.
is crossed by the tropic of Capricorn.
Tahiti (transplantedD is the largest
island in the group, 1t is ninety
miles around. and forty miles wide
in the broadest part. being pear
shaped. The vegetation is very lux
urious and thrifty. Verdure meets
the eye on every side and truly Ia
hit is the home of perpetual. golden
summer. where the temperature sell
dom varies during the whole year.
and the incessant sunshine. mingled
at intervals with rain, makes every
morning appear like a spring morn
ing in the Rocky mountains.
These islands were discovered by
Captain Wallis. in 1867. and TWEEN
ty-three years later the missionaries
of tha London Missionary Society
arrived here. Their first effort was
to establish a written language a
mong the natives so as to enab e
them to begin missionary work with
them. The first twenty one years
they spent in gathering material for
the compiling of a dictionary. Part
of this dictionary was actually print
ed as early as 1911, but on account
of the deficiency of type and other
necessary material, coupled with
numerous unavoidable circumstances,
the work was not finished until 1923.
This has been the standard diction-
ary up to the present time. This So
ciety also trans ated the Bible into
the Tahitian language frCm the En-
ghsh. At the beginning of their mis-
sionary labors they found it almost
impossible to make converts, as the
natives worshipped idcis and the ele-
ments of nature. Not until after four
teen years of constant and patient
labor did they make any impression
on the native minds. Then they sue
ceeded in making one convert. From
this small beginning they gradually
made converts until all the natives
became christians
The next missionaries to come
We're the Mormon ciuers in the year
1874 They were on their way to
the Hawaiian islands hut the captain
OF the ship would not take them any
further and PUT them ashore on the
island of Tupuai. Here they started
their labors and were quite success
full in proselyting There were four
at first but one died at sea. To-day
the Mormons have number of
church houses as well as branches
of their church. on several of the
more important islands. They also
have nice modern mission house
at Papeiti, Tahiti 1t is one of the
best buildings in that city, and in
fact is only second to the home of
the American consul. There are also
three other churches here, the Roman
Catholic, the Reorganized church and
the Seven Day Adventists. The
Protestant church is the predominant
ing one, however. The population of
the French possessions in these is
lands number about 81 900. There
are about two thousand Chinese, mer-
chants, one thousand French, officers
with their families, six hundred En-
glish, and some of all the other ma
tions, the rest being natives or Kan
akas. Papeiu is the capital and
largest city. 1t has populat ion of
about 1000. 1t has very good
ket. There are three steamships
which call every month, two from
New Zealand and the S. S. Mariposa