Next morning I went, and met the governor going to church. He said he had forgotten it was Sunday, so I would have to wait an hour or two, and come again. This I did, being stopped by the sentinel as before, going through all the ceremonies of the previous visit, and being ushered into the same room. I met the English-speaking captain, to whom I made my business known. Said he, "The governor declines to grant your request." I was not disappointed, for I was well satisfied from what I had learned the day before that that would be the result, but as the talk had not been very conclusive, I had called for a clearer understanding, hoping the governor might yield when he understood us better. In this I was mistaken, however, as it seemed the governor was thoroughly filled with prejudice against even the name of Mormon Elder.
I asked Governor Bonard his reasons for detaining us where we were. He said that in the first place he had no proof that we were good men, and he wished to know what we would preach, and what our doctrines and faith were. I told him that we preached the Gospel which Jesus Christ and His Apostles preached, and could produce our credentials, if he desired to see them. He said no, he did not wish that of us; neither did he wish to interfere with religious matters, but it was for peace in the country that he wished us to stop there; for if we and everybody who desired it were allowed to set forth new doctrines among the people, and get them divided among themselves, they would be fighting, and it was his place to keep the peace. Said he, "Before you go from this island, I wish to know more about your doctrine." I told him that was what we wished him and every good man to know, and to embrace it if he would. Then he said that he desired the Mormon Elders to get together, and make a declaration of what they would preach and how far they would obey the laws. I replied that that was just what we wished to do, but if he refused us the privilege of going to Tubuoi we did not know when we could get together. Said he, "You had better write to your friends at Tubuoi, and have them come here. Your faces are strange to me, and you are from a foreign country. We have no proof that you are good men. The doctrine you preach is new to me and if you will gather all your white brethren, and make a declaration of the doctrine you preach, and how far you will obey the laws of the land, signing your names to it, then, if I accept of it as being good doctrine, you will have liberty to go anywhere you wish, and have our protection." My answer was that we had no objection to acquainting him with our doctrine. I asked him if he made the same requirement of other denominations that he did of us, and received the information that he did not. Upon this, I inquired why he made it of us, and he stated that there had been some difficulty already with B. F. Grouard. "Well," said I, "did you not acquit Grouard?" "Yes," he said, "but we would like to look further into the matter, and if possible prevent further trouble." They had lost two good seamen going after Grouard, and one fell overboard on the return trip, but they succeeded in rescuing him.
When I found that I could not prevail on the governor to allow us our liberty, I left and visited the captain of the Lurutu. With him I boarded his novel vessel. It was of very frail construction; all the stays and braces were made by hand from the bark of a tree called by the natives burson, and resembling somewhat the basswood of the Eastern and Middle States. The captain said he sailed by the sun by day, and at night by the moon and stars, but in cloudy weather by instinct, or guess. I asked if they did not get lost sometimes; he said no, they were well acquainted with the sea. They had been three years in building the schooner. It would carry about forty tons. The crew conveyed the products of their island three hundred and sixty miles to Tahiti principally, but occasionally to other islands. To me the vessel appeared a frail craft, and wholly without comforts, for white men at least.
Having satisfied my curiosity about the strange craft, I returned to Huaua on August 11, and reported results to President Pratt, who wrote immediately to the different Elders to come and sign with us the document the governor had suggested. The mails were so irregular and uncertain that we had not the remotest idea when our release would come, for if ever our letters were received by the Elders, it might be three or even six months before they could get a passage to Tahiti. Thus the reader can see that we were doomed to tarry almost as prisoners in the little valley of Huaua, which was only about eighty rods wide by one hundred and fifty in length, being bounded on the south by high, steep mountains, that were almost impossible to cross, at least by a white man not accustomed to climbing them; and on the northeast the open sea rolled and surged upon the rocks and the sandy beach, to within fifteen rods of where we slept, our heads being not more than ten feet above high water mark. This was not all; for the Protestant ministers were very bitter against us, and so prejudiced that it was useless for us to try to enlighten them in regard to ourselves or our faith. They seemed to spare no pains in spreading their venom among the people, and in every way possible intimidated the natives so that our friends were but few, though our enemies had no power over them. With the aid of a book, however, we could improve in the language, and did so to the extent that when we had been there five months the natives who were not of us said, "Surely the Lord is with the Mormons, for in five months they speak our language better than other foreigners do in five years. No one can learn our language like the Mormon Elders unless the Lord helps them." Thus encouraged, we bore our imprisonment the best we could.
CHAPTER XXII.
VISIT TO PAPEETE—DUCK-HUNTING TRIP—A PECULIAR WOMAN—ALONG A PERILOUS PATH—AN OPINION OF ENGLISH MINISTERS—ARRIVAL OF ELDER S. A. DUNN—LEARN OF MORE MISSIONARIES ARRIVING AT TUBUOI—NEWS FROM MY FATHER AND OTHERS—LETTERS FROM THE FIRST PRESIDENCY AND SOME OF THE APOSTLES—WRITTEN STATEMENT SENT TO THE GOVERNOR OF TAHITI—VISIT THE GOVERNOR—OUR STATEMENT REJECTED—LIST OF QUESTIONS AND STATEMENT PRESENTED BY THE GOVERNOR—REPLY OF ELDER A. PRATT—OBJECTIONS BY THE GOVERNOR—PERMISSION GIVEN US TO TRAVEL AND PREACH ON THE ISLANDS.
ON September 5th, 1850, I met with the opportunity of going to Papeete in a boat that was passing. My friends took me out in a canoe to the larger vessel. I was very seasick. The wind was so high that in two hours we were in Taunoa, where we stayed over night. On the 6th we got to Papeete, where I received a letter from B. F. Grouard. I answered it the same day. We found friends who treated us very kindly; then returned to our lonely retreat, traveling through a heavy rainstorm all the way.
We continued our studies without anything to vary the monotony until October 2nd, when President Pratt and Hamatua, and three children from the latter's family, took their blankets and went into the mountains for a change, while I made a visit to my friend Pohe to get my books, which had been left with him. When I returned I continued my studies alone until Brother Pratt and party came back; then, on September 15th, I went to Papeno, duck-hunting. As Sister Hamatua had some relatives there, she and her stepdaughter accompanied me, thinking that my stay would be made more pleasant. Sister Hamatua was between fifty and sixty years of age, was well versed in the scriptures, and as true to her religion as anyone I have ever met. She had never had any children of her own, and yet she had taken three young babes, from their birth, and nursed them at her own breast, and gave them suck and reared them. I think one mother had died at her child's birth, and with another child the young mother had cast it away to die, as it was illegitimate, and she denied its being her child. The third had been promised to Sister Hamatua before its birth, and at that time she claimed it and took it home the same hour. I saw the children, and the natives bore witness to the truth of the narrative here given. The youngest child was princess of Tubuoi, her name was Aura, and at the time I write of she was a bright girl of eight years.
We went on our journey to Papeno, passing down along the cliffs of rock and precipitous and deep, dark caverns that were almost impassable. The shrieking and howling of the wind as it was forced up through the crevices in the rocks by the surging waves from the open sea, combined with the dangers of the route, had such an effect on my nerves that I have never desired a repetition of the hazardous trip, though I traveled many times on the Brom (state road), parallel with the perilous path. I had no desire to pass over or even to think of the jeopardy we were in on that terrible trail. Suffice it to say, that we reached our journey's end in safety, and stayed with the governor of the village, who treated us very kindly. We returned next day, the 16th of September. On our way we saw a ship heading for Papeete. This gave us hope that we would get some news from the outer world.
September 22nd. Pipitila and I started for Papeete, thinking we would meet with the Elders, or at least get some word from them. All that we could learn was that they were expected in Tubuoi instead of in Tahiti. We stayed in Taunaa, where we met with friends who treated us well. One old man said that he had become tired of the English ministers, for they preached one thing and did the opposite. Said he, "I have been a fool that has no eyes all my life. I have belonged to the Protestant church ever since it has been here, and still I am like a fool, for I am black or dark in my heart. I have tried ever since the missionaries came to get light. They came and went back and died, and still I am a fool, and darkness fills my soul, for I never learned before that Christ was baptized. You have given me the first light that I have ever had on the Gospel." We returned to our home on September 25th and found all well. On October 3rd friends from Tiara came to visit us, and for a time broke the monotony of our island-prison life.