The Story of Laulii: A Daughter of Samoa. Giving Her Life, Manners and Customs of the Islanders, Peculiarities of the Race, Games, Amusements, Incidents of Many Kinds, and Matters of Interest in Connection with the Samoan People. Also, a Sketch of the Life of Alexander A. Willis, (her Husband.) ... |
Common terms and phrases
America Apia arrived asked banana boat bring brother brought called Captain carry Chief church clothes cocoanut comes Consul cook custom death desire dinner drink English everything father fish friends fruit gave German girls give given hair hands head heard husband interest island keep kill kind King land language Laulii leaves letter live looked marry mats matter meeting miles mission missionaries morning mother native never night party passed present reached ready received returned Samoan sent ship side sister soon speak stand stay stones taken talk teach tell things thought told took town tree Tulafale Turner wanted wife Willis woman women young
Popular passages
Page 248 - The casual traveler, who, a few years ago, would almost inevitably have been killed had he ventured to land, is now chiefly in danger of asserting that the natives have been trained to be religious overmuch — their "innocent nature...
Page 239 - Each cottage is the home of a student with his wife and family, preference in the filling up of vacancies being given to married men, both as a means of educating the women and children, and also because the people, in applying for teachers, generally ask for some one whose wife can teach their wives and daughters.
Page 252 - ... thing may be enacting at this moment in the gloom of the forest. Far away is the gleam and glitter of an enormous waterfall, marking the green with a silver bar which it takes a whole long day's walking to reach. The timber, generally, is finer than that of the Society Islands, and the varied richness of the coloring infinitely superior.
Page 241 - It would be difficult to imagine a healthier, happier life, than that of these students. At the first glimmer of the lovely tropical dawn, the college bell rings to mark the hour for household prayer. (There is probably not a house in Samoa where the family do not assemble daily for morning and evening prayer.) Then all the students go out, either to work in the gardens, or to fish in the calm lagoon. At eight the bell rings again to warn them that it is time to bathe and breakfast, to be ready for...
Page 238 - You must not infer from my speaking of a college, that Malua bears the slightest resemblance to any collegiate institution in Europe. It is essentially South Sea, which means that it is suitable to the climate and the people, and it consists of a large village of about sixty neat thatched cottages, laid out in a square, at one side of which stands the large class-room. Each cottage is the home of a student with his wife and family, preference in the filling up of vacancies being given to married...
Page 239 - ... greenery and bright flowers, for each student is required to cultivate a garden sufficient for the requirements of his family, and to raise a surplus supply, which he may sell to provide them with clothing. Dr. Turner himself founded this college in the year...
Page 243 - Dr. Turner began his mission career in stormy times. Soon after the Rev. John Williams had been treacherously murdered at Eromanga, in the New Hebrides, in November, 1839, the London Mission Society determined to make a renewed effort for the conversion of its fierce, inveterate cannibals. Mr. and Mrs. Turner were, accordingly, sent on this most dangerous mission. They were joined in Samoa by Mr. and Mrs. Nisbet, and together proceeded to the New Hebrides. The day before Mr. Williams...
Page 240 - ... make it over to the mission. It was, however, considered preferable to buy a piece of land on the coast, in a place quite apart from all other settlements; so Malua was selected, and thirty acres of land purchased in due form.
Page 159 - The Samoans tattoo the whole of the body from the hips to the knees, covering the skin so completely with the pattern that it looks at a little distance exactly as if the man were wearing a tight pair of ornamental drawers.
Page 250 - Wesleyans have done such excellent work in Samoa, it is to be regretted that a corner of rivalry should have contrived to creep in — a rootlet of bitterness — not very serious perhaps, but still a corner of contention. It appears that at the time when Mr Williams first landed in Samoa, in 1830, several native teachers from the Wesleyan Mission in Tonga had already begun to work there, and the promise of white teachers had already been made to expectant congregations. When, therefore, in 1835,...