A LETTER FROM ONE OF OUR MISSIONARIES.
By Editor
Just about the time of our camp meeting in California, a letter came from Brother Elliott Chapman, one of the company who left on our good ship Pitcairn. We have not been able on account of more local matter to find space for it till now; but although a personal letter we are sure extracts of it will be gladly read even at this late date. It was dated Tahiti, April 6, 1892:— Dear Brother: Since bidding adieu to our many friends in California and casting loose from the physical ties that bind us to our native land, we of the Pitcairn have experienced the guiding hand of an ever-merciful Heavenly Father. We have all enjoyed a reasonable degree of health and strength, and have been kept from the dangers of the sea. Seasickness for a time made life seem miserable, but this unpleasant condition finally wore off, and we are all now able to come to the dinner table, and spend the passing hours of day in profitable employment. After leaving San Francisco we were favored with a good breeze most of the way until we reached 7° north latitude, where we made little headway for two days. After rolling about there for a while, our sails were once more filled with wind, which carried us across the equator and bore us along to 11° north latitude, where we experienced another calm of about four days. The remainder of our voyage was made with light winds, frequent squalls, and sultry weather. Sabbath afternoon, February 18, we sighted Pitcairn Island, and bright and early Sunday morning we were greeted by two boat loads of happy islanders, including Elder Gates, who was rejoiced to see us. After nearly thirty-three days on shipboard, we were cheered by a right hearty welcome to the shores of Pitcairn. Our stay on the island will ever be pleasant to look back upon. There were words of cheer and smiling faces wherever we would turn. Our time was spent quite profitably while there, as we had some excellent meetings and received a better fitting up for the work that is before us. While part of our company remained on the island, the Pitcairn sailed over to Mangareva, a neighboring island of the Gambier Group. Elder Gates went along, also Edward Young, in the hope of finding an opening for missionary labor among that people. The natives were much interested, although Catholic influence was so strong that no place was found for a missionary to locate among them at present. This trip to Mangareva occupied three weeks as the wind was very light. The time for departure from those on the island of Pitcairn came at last. We had learned to love those islanders, because we found in them brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers who were serving the same Master as we. As we all knelt down on the beach and thanked the Lord for the blessings of the past, and sought his guiding hand to be over us as we separated, our hearts were knit together, and we longed for the time to come when such partings will be no more. The setting sun had disappeared beneath the sea, as we once more found ourselves on the deck of the Pitcairn, and bound for Tahiti. There was scarcely any wind blowing, and as that is our motive power, we made headway slowly, and after six days had passed we were still less than three hundred miles from Pitcairn Island. The sea all around us was smooth and unbroken by a ripple, while we rolled from side to side over the swells that are ever present. Our course to Tahiti lay through the dangerous archipelago where there are a great many small, low islands and reefs. A good breeze came at last and we were carried along past the islands of the Gambier Group on the left, with Maria Island on the right. Wednesday morning, April 5, we sighted the loom of Maitoa in the distance. This is the most easterly of the Society Islands. In the afternoon of the same day the dark shade of Tahiti was seen against the western sky, and with a good breeze we glided up as near as it was safe and lay to for the night. In the evening the pilot came out, but the breeze went down and here we are becalmed within sight of Papeete, where we hope is some mail for us. A good breeze came up later in the day, and we are now safe in the harbor. Elder Read met us with a quantity of good letters and a hearty welcome. It has been decided for Elder Cole and wife to go to Norfolk, Elder Cady with the ship for the present, and the case of my wife and I is still on the ragged edge of uncertainty. It was decided at Pitcairn that we either go to Nukalofa, Tonga, or to Fiji, but since coming here Elder Read has about persuaded the captain and Brother McCoy to think that we had better stop here. We are all of good courage and rejoice to find so good news from home. Your brother in Christ, Elliott Chapman.