hearty welcome in tubuoi—start for tuamotu—reach papeete, tahiti—visit to huaua—leave tahiti—writer gets relief from seasickness—broiled fish and cocoanuts—in a school of whales—thrown into a coral reef—total wreck imminent—three persons get ashore—boat goes out to sea—wreck of elder dunn's party—three days in the sea, clinging to a capsized boat—clothing torn off by sharks—skin taken off by the sea and sun—reach the island of anaa—recognized by a man who had seem me in a dream—preaching and baptizing—many of the natives church members—make a rude map of the california gold fields—tell of having been in the mormon battalion—catholic priests elicit this information as past of a scheme to have me expelled from the island.
when we landed on tubuoi on may 20th, we found the people feeling well. they were greatly pleased to see us, and we rejoiced to meet with and preach to them. we traveled from village to village preaching, and visited the people from house to house, being received everywhere in the most friendly manner.
on july 1st and 2nd we attended to correspondence, and on the 3rd everything was in readiness and we sailed with a cargo of cattle for tahiti. elder a. hanks and the writer were bound for the tuamotu group of islands. on the 6th, after a pleasant voyage, with the exception of seasickness, we landed at papeete, tahiti, all well.
our captain said that he would only remain in harbor a day or two, then would sail for anaa. as i desired to visit the brethren at huaua, fifteen miles up the coast, i started at 4 p.m., afoot and alone, and reached my destination the same evening. i was surprised when the whole family, men, women and children, leaped from their beds and embraced me, and wept for joy. some refreshments were provided, and we then turned in for the remainder of the night.
i stayed there until the 8th, and met with elders julian moses and t. whitaker, who accompanied me to papeete, where we arrived at 1 o'clock p.m., and found the vessel being prepared to sail. brother hanks was detained in getting his permit until it was too late to get out of the passage till the 9th, then the wind came straight into the passage, so that we had to drop anchor till late in the afternoon. we managed to get clear that night, but the wind being contrary we did not lose sight of land till the 10th; then we had a perfect calm for two days. late in the evening of the 12th we got a light breeze. this day was the first time in my life that i could say that i was well at sea. never before that evening had i gone below and enjoyed a meal of victuals; but from that time on i could take my rations with the rest except in a storm.
on july 13th we sighted and passed metia, and sighted tikahau; the 14th matea was in view, and we passed along close to the weather end of riroa; the 18th we were near uratua. there two boats were let down, one to pull up through the lagoon of the island, twenty miles long, to where brother hawkins lived, and the other to fish. about 11 p.m. we neared the village when the natives came and conducted us to the place. they spread some broiled fish and cocoanuts before us; and of course we were thankful to get that, for there was no other food on the island. this was all that some of the inhabitants ever had to eat on their own island, save an occasional pig or a chicken. after the refreshments we turned in for the night.
next morning we were feasted as best the people could do. we preached to them, then sailed away; for our schooner was waiting for us. we next headed for riroa, as we could not get a wind for anaa, which we had been trying to reach from the time we left tahiti. on the 21st we passed through a school of whales to the harbor. again we encountered a strong current coming out of the passage, and a headwind. then, in trying to beat up into the harbor, our vessel failed to stay, and we were driven into the coral rock, which stood up in the water like tree-tops. crash we went, and the vessel began to quiver and jar. all hands and the cook had an awful scare, and for a few moments it looked as though our vessel would be a total wreck, and we be all spilled into the raging billows, among crags and rocks. but thanks to the lord, this was averted. three of us succeeded in gaining the shore in safety, and the vessel put to sea for the night, coming in on the 22nd to anchor.
on shore we were feasted on broiled fish, cocoanuts and roast pig. the people seemed overjoyed at our visit. we called a meeting and preached to them, encouraging them in their religious duties.
it was while we were on this island that we heard from brothers dunn and crosby, who were well. we also heard from manahuni and party, who left tahiti at the same time that we departed on our first cruise. they sailed for anaa, in a small, open boat called the anaura, the same that brother grouard made many trips in from island to island, and in which he had many narrow escapes. but manahuni and his party of six brethren and sisters had a much severer experience than any former party. their boat capsized in a heavy storm, the same that we had been caught in on our former cruise. they lost everything save their lives, and these were preserved only by clinging to the keel of the boat for three days and three nights. finally the boat righted itself, and they drifted to the island of tikahau, but not till the last rag of clothing had been torn from their bodies by sharks, and much of the skin—all of the cuticle—had sloughed off through their being in the salt water and hot sun so long. but their lives were spared to them, and they were nourished by the kind people of tikahau, until they were able to reach the island of their destination, anaa.
a fair wind for anaa came on july 26th, so we left for that place. at dawn on the 28th we sighted the island, and at 10 o'clock a.m. we landed at tuuhora. as we neared the shore i was seated in the stern of the boat, when a man came bounding through the water and passed all our party till he came to me. then he reached out his hand, which had in it five pearls wrapped in a little rag, and said, "here! i have seen you before. you have come to be our president, for you have been shown to me in a dream. welcome, welcome to our land!" just then he turned his back for the writer to get on, and in this way took me to the shore, where the people soon prepared a feast of welcome, as is their custom when their friends come to see them. no feast, no welcome.
the feasting over, with brothers hanks and hawkins i visited the branches, the three of us traveling together, preaching and baptizing the people, who came forward in large numbers to receive the ordinance. august 5, 1851, brother hanks left for taroa, and brother hawkins for arutua. i had been appointed to preside on anaa, and commenced my labors in that duty. on the 6th i was instructed, by elder b. f. grouard, to travel and preach, to reorganize the branches wherever it was necessary, and to organize and teach schools as i might find it prudent; in fact, to do all things pertaining to my calling as a missionary. thus i started out alone.
one of the first things i found after i began my labors was that there were four catholic priests on the island, building four stone churches; that they had about thirty natives employed on them, and that no others would attend their religious services; it was claimed that there were about nine hundred persons belonging to the mormon church, most of them being members in good standing. there were no natives there belonging to the catholic church.
on one occasion soon after my arrival, i was being questioned, in a conversation, about california and the gold fields, and also about my birthplace and the city of my residence. i took a sheet of paper and sketched a rough outline of the gold fields. one of the natives who apparently had been greatly interested in the narrative, asked for the sketch. it being given to him, he went off and soon returned with a large sheet of drawing paper, on which he requested me to draw a map, on a larger scale, showing my birthplace, where salt lake city was from there, and the location of the gold fields. then the question was asked, how i came to be in california at so early a date. i told them i went there in the mormon battalion, in the service of the united states, during the war with mexico. little did i think i was mapping out the outlines of a foundation for a wicked and false charge to be preferred against me by the catholic priest. neither did i have the remotest idea that my rude sketch would be used in crediting me with being a civil engineer of no mean ability, nor that my having been in the army of the united states would entitle me to the dignity of a highly educated military graduate from some united states army school; nor was i aware that my walk and carriage were that of an officer in the military establishment of my government. yet the sequel will show that all this was the case.
