Life in the Islands.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 14, 18 January 1901, Page 1

Life in the Islands.

No. 1. THE CEUISE OF THE WEBFOOT,

(Special to the Times.)

“ I arrivedjhere (Haapai) in the“ Webfoot” I after a very nice passage of 32 hours from Nukualofa. Sheen of Samoa was also a passenger. Before leaving Nukualofa I got a lot of photos of that part of the Friendly Islands. I also have a few showing the damage done by the late hurricane in Vavau. I have a nice pet on board the schooner in the shape of a turtle; it is not very large, weighing about 60 pounds only—still it will grow. 1 keep it on board in the ship’s boat, having had it filled (the boat I mean) up with salt water, and I often stand and watch it swimming about, and enjoying itself; its shell is very pretty indeed. The trip across from Nukualofa to here' was very interesting, for we were among Islands, reefs, and shoals nearly the whole way, and one time we saw within a space of fifteen minutes four high spouts of steam thrown up out of the sea, along a shoal of about ten or twelve miles in length. Then shortly after it came on to rain so thickly that we could not see more than half a mile around the.vessel, and could not tell when we might be upon a reef, but fortunately this did not last more than half an hour or so, and we were enabled to pick upaa native pilot, ani got to an anchorage after a lot of tacking Through the shoals, the wind being dead ahead. Skeen and I came on shore about 7.30, and found our way to the only accommodation-house in the place, an oldfashioned establishment with whales’ jawbones forming an arch for a gateway, and a flower and shrub garden between the house and a rather dilapidated picket fence, which protects the once well-kept garden from the pigs which roam at pleasure all over the village. The old widow lady who runs the show was sitting reading a book called “ The Gun ltunner,” and being quite alone, and not having heard that a vessel had come into the harbor, was somewhat surprised to see two strangers walk up to her door, We very soon explained matters, and were shown into a clean and airy bedroom with two beds in it, a sofa, washstand, dressing-table over which hangs a spotted mirror, ornamented around the frame with a piece of once green gossamar drawn along each edge to the proper shape, with white cotton, and resting on a shelf decorated with a piece of red scolloped cloth with orange and white embroidery. There is the inevitable waxcloth on the floor, and patehworh rugs in front of the beds; the toiletware is of assorted patterns and the j basiu is of course cracked, the three chairs |

are each different, the windows are huDg with red blinds and white curtains. The beds are clean and comfortable, and I enjoyed the best night’s rest 1 have had since leaving Apia. The whole building is low and rambling, and has been built for a number of .years. The parlor is furnished in a style usually seen in country or seaside places, plenty of pictures all over the walls, shell ornaments, glass cases filled with butterflies, and in the corners stands of assorted coral,

plenty of fancy glass ornaments which are constantly in danger of being knocked over, lots of drapery about the doors and windows, and every chair with a rag of some sort fastened upon it as if to prevent it catching a sore throat. The dining-room is in a lean-to on the back of the house, and the walls are

papered with old illustrated newspapers similar to ,what I have so often seen in country homes both in America and the colonies, On the verandahs about the home are several bracket stands with plants of various kinds growing in old fruit and meat tins, some of them quite pretty, and one in particular resembling maiden-hair fern which X am goiDg to get—Fiji ice-plant it is called. I like this place best of all the Friendly Islands ; the roads are covered with a soft mat of rank “Bermuda grass,” all about where the brush has been cleared away this grass grows, and around houses is kept short and clean, giving the place a very orderly appearance. After lunch to-day Mr Skeen and I went for a walk along one of these

grassy roads across the island, through banana, cocoanut, and magnificent apple groves to a lovely beach on the other side, where we roamed about for' a couple of hours,

gathering shells and enjoying the cool sea breeze. This is an ideal place for a family to come from New Zealand to spend a couple of months in winter; the climate is delightful, the place is pretty, and the freedom which could be enjoyed is all that could be wished.

The natives are not a bore, mosquitos are not plentiful, and there is none of that sweltering heat which one has to contend

with during a visit to Samoa. There are very few white people here, and no attention need

be paid at all to dress or appearance. The King has a very fine palace here, situated in the centre of a four-acre enclosure, with crotons all around the fence, and dotted

about with cocoanut and other trees. It is at

present unoccupied, and has been so for a long time. It would make a splendid hotel. The King resides at Nukualofa.

There are no creeks upon this island, and the people depend entirely upon rain water for their supply.

Women prisoners work with the men at hard labor, and when I was here the other day in the Hauroto I saw them discharging lighters upon the beach, wading up to their waists in the water, and carrying the goods ashore upon their shoulders and into the Customs sheds. It is the first time I ever saw women at this sort of work.

On our walk to-day we passed the graveyard, a neat, well-kept little enclosure, with a great variety of phloxes and pinks growing all about it, and quite a creditable assortment of headstones; one in particular attracted my attention. It was erected to the memory of one McGregor, who died many years ago, .and also to Janet McGregor, who is still alive, and is at present the landlady of the hostelry where lam staying. She erected the stone, and says she is going to remain here till she dies, and then all she asks is to be planted under that stone which she has already had labelled. Bather a novel idea, is it not? One sees many funny things in knocking about out-of-the-way places in this world. I often wish I had kept a diary since I was sixteen. It would be most interesting, as the places I have been in and the things I have seen are certainly out of the ordinary route of the every-day man of travel. Have you read the “Cruise of the Cachalot ” ? If so you will remember that this place used to be a great whaling ground, and to this day an occasional sperm is captured, and evidences of the old industry are still to be seen,- Many things in this group remind me of the' “ Has Bsehs” of the North of New Zealand —Yavau particularly of Whangaroa. I remember a town, Biverton, in the South of New Zealand, an old whalers’ resort which these islands remind me of in many ways.

Coming out of Yavau on the 20th of tbi s month, near the entrance of the harbor, the captain of the Hauroto stGpped the steamer, and had a boat lowered to enable those of the passengers who wished, to visit a celebrated cave. The entrance was just large enough to admit the boat, but getting inside it opened out and was large enough for a dozen boats. The sun was low, the time being about 5 p.m.,and it shone directly into the eave, making the sight within truly magnificent. The dome is simply grand, and the different colors ip the water and around the walls and overhead, make one fancy as if in fairy land—it is a sight never to be forgotten. I read of this cave many years ago in one of my school prizes (what I got it for I do not knows) called “The Coral Island.’ It is a story of a shipwreck, where three boys, Balph, Jack,

and Peterkin fetched up in a boat upon this group, and discovered the cave during their sojourn. It is a book Which all school boys should read, and which older people might enjoy, especially after visiting this part of the world. When I read it little did I think that I should ever be rowed into the cave. ,