SOME MORE ABOUT SAMOA.

NZ Truth, Issue 511, 3 April 1915, Page 5

SOME MORE ABOUT SAMOA.

Apia, Samoa, 26/1/15. Dear "Truth," —Doubtless you would like to hear a little about Samoa. We practically subsist m rumors here, and the latest one has caused quite a lot of work. Two German ships are said to be at large, one a transport; some say with/in three days' sail of here, A triple line" of trenches have been dug round the wireless station and extensive barbwire entanglements which can, if necessary, be charged with electricity, and •mines have been laid round about. All stores have been carted up from the water front—some six months supply or so.'All this should have been done when we first came. Colonel Fulton, who has recently taken command of the troops here, is one of the very few soldier officers on tho island (and, alas! I hear he is returning to New Zee soon). We have far "more'leaders among the privates. The administration has been very much at fault m many instances, though, of course, it is easy for one to criticise. The long months of inaction, I am afraid, have killed, or at least dulled the glimmer of that spark of patriotism which lit up the hearts of the men when we left God's Own, but it is bound to come back on return to New Zealand. • The climate here is not the best for a white. man.Ja humid heat, . which helps the weaker willed ones to a life of dissipation. of the Germans here go m for*" lager beer too muc, and consequently develop a flabby face and a rotund tummy. The natives are, generally speaking^ a broad and deepchested race, who walk along v?ry upright. Unlike the Maori, they ate riot soml-civillsed, which Is. so disastrous to our natives. The Samoans (men) go about In a long loin cloth or lava lava, which reaches down to the knees; the women the same, with a kind of gown, As far as hair goes, the ' Maoris are streets ahead of them. The majority here, jne.n arid, women, have their 4 ;hair cut fairly short and bleached yellow with lime. Eye disease is very prevalent among them, and is said to bo caused by files. One occasionally sees elephantiasis, which Is very ghastly, and attacks men, espeolally m awkward places. Every^ European here knows the Samoan, language, which, as far 'as I can make out, is very expressive. Some of the older men are very intellectual looking. . Most of the ,vegetation Is very qulok growing. Cocoanuts bear all the year round, and with them one need never die of thirst. There are two or three varieties of bananas, one of which has to be cooked before eaten. Yam, taro,- and bread-fruit, ,whQn,.'*6lled, are very good as a vegetable, but are nothing by themselves. It takes one quite a while to. acquire the taste of some of trfe fruits, such as 1 custard pear, mango, etc.. Samoa has seen a lot of fighting. I am told that m the tribal wars the natives used all the old blunderbusses imaginable, but very few were killed, though much powder and shot were used. It appears they can't stand up to guns, but while running away they will fire their guns aimlessly over their shoulders. This islarid, Upuolo by name, is very well watered, and there are some very pretty fallß about, one especially, called Sliding Rock, where one can sit down and slide for sixty feet into a pool below." Lake Lanato, 1 an extinct y,olr cano, Is very pretty. Flowers here are very pretty, but delicate. —Yours, etc., , \ PAP. _______ , _