From The Tropics

 

 

 

     When I was a girl we lived in southern California and someone said to us just cut off the top of the pineapple and put it in the ground.  So we did, but it never did anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Now I have been in Canada more than forty years.  Some years ago we put a pineapple top in the dirt in a bucket and it started to grow.  Were we amazed! 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we did try some more.  Some grew and some did not.  It was so exciting to see it doing something.  Of course we brought it in the house for the winter. 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

          

                   Three

 

 

 

 

      The hope back in the mind is that someday it will have a pineapple on it but that is too much to ask for, after all the pineapples grow in the tropics in full sun and these pineapple plants may be growing but do not have enough sun to produce fruit. 

 

 

                                                                                  The fourth pineapple.

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  But after approximately six years went by for that first plant and it was getting so big and then we noticed the center was actually growing a pineapple.  Can you imagine a big pineapple plant growing in your bedroom and to the surprise of all it has a pineapple on it. We have to keep trimming the leaves so we can walk by the bed.  When that first pineapple ripened we cut the top off and put it in the dirt in another bucket beside it.  It was a beauty, so fresh and bigger then I had ever seen in the store and took to root readily and grew big like the first one and would you believe it after several years that second plant got its pineapple too.  The first plant over the next few years has had two more pineapples on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Now for some one who knows these things can happen, its no big deal, but for us who do not know much about what can be done, it was a very big surprise!  We have put the tops of all these in the dirt and each are growing so nicely in the house.  There are several other pineapple plants also and we have shared them too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   These are the tops

      of the pineapples that grew in the house

 

 



    

 



This is number five.




Five pineapples have grown in the house 

over the past few years.



 




 "One week from California we reached the Sandwich Islands. The scene presented from the steamer as we approached Honolulu was very beautiful. The mountains rising at a little distance from the water's edge, and clothed with the rich green of the tropics, and the city in its setting of palms and other tropical trees, appeared especially attractive after gazing for seven days on the boundless expanse of waters. We were met at the wharf by friends living in the city. Men, women, and children greeted us so heartily that we could not but feel at home among them. We were glad to welcome these dear friends, and to meet again Bro. Starr and his wife, who had been about five weeks on the island, laboring among the people, and speaking in the churches, by invitation, with good effect.   

     The business part of the town is very indifferent, but the residences are fine. They have broad verandas, and are surrounded with green lawns, which are beautified with all kinds of tropical trees and flowers. We saw beautiful avenues of royal palms; trees and vines, shrubs and hedges, brilliant with flowers; cocoa palms laden with the brown, heavy-looking fruit; bread-fruit and mango trees, fields of pineapples, and patches of taro, the staple food of the natives; with many other trees and plants that I cannot name.   

     For six miles back of the city the road gradually ascends a mountain valley, to the "Pali," or precipice, a point of interest, both for its historical association, and for the fine landscape view which is obtained from it. Standing on the rocky edge of the precipice, we look down 1,200 feet, while on either side the bare, rocky summits tower to a height of 3,000 feet. Below is a rich green plain, dotted with rice and sugar plantations, and hills around which the brown road winds in and out; beyond all is the broad blue sea, the white surf breaking along the shore.   

     It was near the head of this valley, about the close of the eighteenth century, that the last native chief of the island made a stand with his forces against Kamehameha I., who was trying to bring all the islands under one government. The chief's forces were defeated, and, fleeing up the valley, many were driven over the precipice, and dashed in pieces on the rocks at its base. It is said that the bones of these unfortunate warriors are still to be found scattered on the plain."




 BEcho, January 1, 1892   





 







Visiting the Samoan Islands



     En Route to Australia in 1891


"The ship cannot come into port. A pilot is brought on board to guide the ship as near land as possible. There sit in the boat five natives nearly naked with a cotton . . . cloth of some bright color about their loins, a turban on their heads, [unclothed on] the arms, legs and bodies with the exception of the one piece of cloth about the loins. Here they come in all kinds of boats loaded with fruits--bananas, pineapple, limes, oranges, fruit as green as grass, . . . oranges, melons--pictures of the natives, pictures of the scenery on the island."




  

10MR 59




 "On Friday, Nov. 27, we reached the Samoan Islands, after a pleasant voyage of seven days from Honolulu. We had expected extremely hot weather in passing through the tropics, but in this we were happily disappointed. Only a few days were uncomfortably warm. On Tuesday, Nov. 24, when we crossed the equator, the air was so cool that we found our wraps needful on deck.     

     Our steamer cast anchor off Apia, which is situated on the island of Upolo, and is the principal town of the Samoan Group. The harbor or bay of Apia is a beautiful expanse of water, shut in by coral reefs, over which the surf is constantly breaking. The island is clothed in the richest and most luxuriant verdure. The mountains rise almost from the water's edge; cocoa palms grow all along the shore and far up the mountain sides, which are clothed in green to the very summits. The town of Apia consists of two rows of small white buildings on either side of a narrow street that winds along the shore.   

     Through an opening in the reef that encloses the harbor, vessels pass in and out; another reef lying nearer the shore prevents them from reaching the dock; but passengers are taken on shore in boats. Before us is a reminder of the terrible storms that sometimes visit this lovely spot. On the reef between us and the shore lies the hull of a German vessel that was wrecked in the hurricane of March, 1889, when seven men-of-war and fifteen merchant vessels were either stranded or wholly destroyed.   

     Before our steamer comes to anchor, we see boats and the canoes of the natives coming out to meet us; and soon we are surrounded with them. The natives are physically well developed, and are said to have the finest physique of any of the South Sea peoples. They are of a light brown color. Most of them are destitute of clothing except a cloth or mat about the loins; many are elaborately tattooed. Some wear broad-brimmed straw hats, some turbans, while many have the hair dressed with lime, giving them the appearance of wearing a white cap. The canoes were laden with pineapples, bananas, oranges of a bright green color but of excellent flavor, mangoes, limes, cocoa-nuts, and other tropical fruits, shells and coral, mats and cloth, together with baskets and fans, very neatly woven from the native grasses.   

     Most of our party went ashore, and had an opportunity of seeing the natives in their homes. The huts are made by spreading over a wooden framework a covering of palm leaves and native grasses. For the floor, the ground is covered with gravel or pounded coral, on which is spread a coarse matting. Mats form the beds at night, and the table and seats by day; large leaves and cocoa-nut shells serve as dishes. Our party were greeted cordially by the natives, who brought them flowers, and seemed anxious to show their feelings of kindness. At one o'clock P.M. the anchor was lifted, and soon our boat was again on its way over the broad Pacific." 




 

BEcho, January 1, 1892