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Fale o le Fe'e - The Devil as Food - Pineapple Obstructions - Musu-oe -Ferocious Mosquitoes - Ready-made-Board Tree - Banyan, its Growth - Tongan Fort - Steep Descent - River Scenery - Philistine Judge - Awkward Travelling - The Hallowed Ground - Seeking the Oracle - Recovered Appetites - Wet Night - Return to Apia.

THIS morning I put into execution an intention I had had in mind for many a long day, and, accompanied by the Judge and M., started on a pilgrimage in search of the ' Fale o le fe'e,' or, in English, the house of the octopus,' which in Samoa, as in many other Pacific Islands, is the personification of the devil; and a. very appropriate one too, for a more hideous-looking monster than a large octopus, with its repulsive colour and loathsome slimy arms, threateningly waving and curling as if in dire torture, seeking to grasp their prey, does not exist. However, in spite of its appearance and the exalted position it has been given as chief evil spirit, the Samoans convert the octopus into a favourite article of food, and reverse the proceedings his Satanic Majesty is generally given credit for, by devouring him instead of his devouring them.

Starting from Apia about ten o'clock, with two natives to carry our f6od and a change of clothes, we crossed the 'Vaisigago' about a mile from Apia, and walking up the bank of the river, on the outskirts of the 'Vaivasa' plantation, we soon came to the bush village of 'Magiagi.' Here we picked up a third native, and dividing the load equally between the three, Plunged into the narrow track, made almost impassable by a strong undergrowth of pineapples, leading through a very lovely tropical forest.

It was the same old Samoan bush, resplendent with bright-coloured flowers, and fantastically wonderful in its glorious leafage, sympathetically sheltering us from the sun's now brazen rays. Beyond a few birds of no remarkable appearance or size, this bush was devoid of animal life; but, to our cost, we found that it was by no means so with regard to insects-the blood-thirsty mosquitoes, the worst I ever experienced, reminding us of their proximity on every occasion of a halt. We were kept so much employed with these annoying creatures that for miles we thought of nothing else, and speculated considerably as to what on earth could be the use for them, and what they live upon when they can't find a human victim. To all appearance, and most decidedly to our experience, human blood seemed to be their natural diet; but then what do the other thousand billions of the beasts do who never see or taste it? It struck us that Nature had not dealt quite fairly with this bird of prey, as here he was almost big enough to be termed, in raising him in places where, but for the godsend of idiotic Britishers - who will penetrate everywhere, no matter in what discomfort or for what useful purpose-the unfortunate insect would have to put up with sucking trees and stones.

On the way, for about two miles, we found occasional clumps of cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, and oranges, but these soon ceased; whilst every now and then we would pass through spaces which bore signs of long-past occupation.

Plodding slowly on through the many and varied timber trees-from the ready-made-board tree, with its. irregular wide-spreading buttresses, to the 'musu-oe,' standing erect with a mathematical perpendicularity, as regular as if its trunk had been turned out of some workshop, surmounted with its crown of splendid foliage, whose flower produces the most valued scent and head ornament for the Samoans-and gaining height at every step, we came suddenly upon a sight worth looking at. It was an enormous banyan tree, whose branches, hung with many varieties of bushferns, supported flowery parasites of all descriptions, festooned with hanging mosses and lovely creepers. It rose to a great height above its tallest bush companions, its aerial roots descending in a vast twisted network, about eighty feet in depth, and covering a yearly increasing expanse of ground to the effacement of' its neighbours. It is, I believe, of the same species as the Indian tree, and its phenomenon of growth is worthy of remark. It commences from a seed deposited in the top of some tree, generally a palm. How it gets placed in such a position is a matter for conjecture, but it is probably through the instrumentality of some bird. Here the seed germinates, but makes all its effort downwards, guided in its descent by the trunk of the tree, which in time it thoroughly encases, and on reaching the earth it immediately takes root. This root, whilst descending, derives sustenance from the tree-trunk, for all the time the seed is putting forth leaves and shoots, from each of which more roots descend earthwards; and so this process continually goes on until the supporting tree is completely destroyed and the banyan stands alone on its own roots, often a hundred or more feet high before coming to the plant proper, from which roots are perpetually descending to earth to form fresh props to the tree, and with each new one more and more ground is taken up.

Proceeding on our way, still rising, we came to what, in very old times, had been a fort, doubtless one of the many that the Tongan invaders erected during their invasion of Upolu in days gone by. It was situated as is usual on a narrow. commanding ridge, running down steeply on both sides, the direct path being blocked by both parapet and ditch.

Going still upwards for some time, we came to a halt at an elevation of thirteen hundred and fifty feet above sea-level by aneroid barometer, on the edge of a deep gully, the bottom of which we could not see for the dense bush, though we could plainly hear the river rushing wildly far below.

There was no track, but our way now lay down to -the river; so on we went, down an incline which was not far from being perpendicular. However, although rough on the arms, it was not very difficult work, as the trees were so thick that we could let ourselves down from one to another with comparative ease.

Arrived on a swampy flat, we thrust ourselves with much difficulty through great thickets of bamboo and scrub, and emerged on the river, bounding in sullen, solemn, tumultuous grandeur in sheets of white foam over the black lava rocks.

We were now once more in the valley of the 'Vaisigago,' and, again consulting the aneroid, found that our late descent was five hundred and ten feet.

It was quite a new phase of Samoan scenery. We appeared to be in a rift in the solid rock, which, taking a sudden turn at a short distance both below and above us, left us with but a limited glimpse of the intensely blue sky overhead from our bottom-of-the-well-like position.

Fringing the dark rocks on either side, the graceful fern-trees, with their drooping fronds almost meeting, formed a fairy avenue of the most lovely description, whilst trees of every shade of foliage, trellised with innumerable gay creepers and hanging mosses, were to be seen, rendering more beautiful still the frequent waterfalls, from ten to thirty feet high, which tumbled down in showers of feathery spray into the shining, shimmering silver pools below, reflecting in their untroubled parts the fathomless azure of the sky above, and passed onwards to the sea with a soothing roar, that found a soft whispering echo in the surrounding cliffs.

Rising sheer on both sides above the cliffs, the ranges stood out boldly, thickly covered with forest. Not a sound was heard but the rushing of the water, which seemed as though it were the natural silence of the place. With this sensation, everything was so quiet and peaceful that, for the moment, one lost all desire to proceed farther on, and wished to remain in this wonderful haven of glorious rest for the remainder of existence.

Stretched at full length on a couch-like rock, with the white water merrily dancing up in front, lazily dreaming and wondering why life should not always be thus, in the fascinating lullaby of the rapidly passing stream I could imagine I heard the sound of old familiar voices far away, and in my mind was answering, when all such fancies were rudely dispelled by the Judge, in whose soul was no poetry, shaking me nearly off my rock, and holding out towards me a frying-pan of gin and water, having brought no cup, inquiring in vulgar, commonplace, earthly language most obnoxious to my then frame of mind, whether I would take a 'tot.'

The 'tot' finished, we picked up our traps and started off again on our course, which now lay directly up the bed of the river, and a most particularly rough track it was. At one moment we were clambering over slippery lava rocks, and jumping from one to the other at the risk of breaking our necks; at another time wading waist-deep in a seething pool of water, while every now and then a waterfall would effectually bar any further direct progress.

When this occurred we took to the steep sides of the gully, cutting our own track with long eighteen-inch bush-knives until we headed the obstacle; and so the journey proceeded for about two hours, when, arriving at a point where the river became divided, we took to the bush, and, travelling for some little time along a minor ridge, we descended again to the bed of the branch river, after which, crossing and plunging a few yards into the bush, we at last arrived at the 'Fale o le fe'e,' the aneroid showing a height of one thousand five hundred feet.

Like very many other sights that one takes so much trouble to get at, this mysterious house did not come up to the expectation we had formed. Our first exclamation on halting at the hallowed spot, which we had endured so much to get at, was, 'Is this all?' We felt as though we had been swindled, and had it not been for the fine healthy exercise we had enjoyed in getting there, and the certain benefit therefrom, with the consequent welcome break in the miserable monotony of Apian existence, I am afraid that we might have used bad language, so disappointed were we.

There was nought to be seen but a few upright stones cropping up through a dense matting of undergrowth which we set to work to clear away. Guided by the upright stones, about six or seven feet high and of irregular thickness, we soon traced out what had been the outer walls of a house of the usual Samoan shape, rounded at both ends. The pillars which were still standing, and others found lying scattered about on the outside boundary, had evidently formed the exterior posts of the house, and bore no traces of dressing, but seemed to have been split from the strata of basaltic rock in the cliffs close by. What means were used in procuring these, either artificial or natural, it is impossible to say; but no doubt fire and water had somewhat to say to it, as the natives at the time the house must have been built had none other than stone tools to work with.

Close by the house stands a lone pillar with a large substantial stone block at its base, upon which it is said- that the Fe'e used to sit and overlook his workmen. He probably was some old tyrant chief of former days, but, as tradition relates, his slaves, no longer able to endure his impositions, one day, when they caught him dozing, threw him 'Into the river, in which he was swept down to the reef, and still remains there.

In the centre of the outlined house is a stone rising much higher than the outside ones, and fractured on the top-this most likely was the centre-post; and close to it, evidencing the great antiquity of the ruins, grows a large tree sixty or seventy years old, perhaps more. Nothing is left to show what sort of roof it had, if ever it carried any at all; and the probability is, if it was covered, that it was not with stone, as amongst the debris scattered about, no segments of anything approaching an arch-curve are to be found : besides that, there is no indication of sufficient strength of outside wall to sustain the thrust of a stone arch.

It is very likely that there never was any roof at all, but that it was merely a mystic collection of stones similar to our Stonehenge or other Druidical circles. Samoan traditions are very hazy on the subject, merely informing an inquirer that it was built under the management of the devil, but when they don't know; but I heard one very old Samoan say that in times of trouble, or when some important question was to be investigated, the great chiefs would retire there and sit in solemn mystical silence, each one with his back against a stone pillar, until one of them should receive inspiration from the spirits supposed to be hovering round the place, and deliver his instructions in oracular form.

We soon finished our inspection of the ruins, and then went in search of a camping-place; and whilst so doing were anxiously requested not to spit or throw anything into the stream, for if we were to do so, the devil would get enraged and let loose all the upper waters upon us and drown the whole party. Selecting a place high enough above the stream to be comfortably out of the reach of any ordinary diabolical rage in case offence might be given, we set the 'bearers to construct a house for the night roofed with wild banana-leaves, whilst we bathed and donned comfortable dry clothes.

By this time we were quite ready for feeding, and a fire being started in quick time, the frying-pan, last used as a pannikin at our halting-place by the river, was discoursing rival and more interesting music than that of the bubbling stream, and diffusing around an appetizing odour of fried pork sufficiently attractive to create a soul under the very ribs of death by starvation.

With fingers for forks, sheath-knives for spoons, leaves for plates, biscuit and pork for the sustenance, and tea in a tin billy for drink, we set to work with a will to satisfy the cravings of a trio of most glorious appetites quite unknown in Apia, where one only eats to live, and looks upon, meal-times as merely regular events of the day to mark the effluxion of time.

The historical, post-prandial pipe, ever-present in all accounts of camping out that ever were written, with us was conspicuous by its absence, and for the first time in my life I was in the company of three bushmen all non-smokers. Stretched out in our rugs on a banana-leaf carpet, under a roof of the same useful article, a plenteous wood-fire brightly burning at our feet just outside, and illuminating strangely the surrounding trees with its flickering flame, we took our ease and swapped yarns.

Gradually the night closed in, and as gradually did our talking cease, till, lulled by the drowsy murmur of the little river, we dropped off one by one to a well-earned sleep.

On waking up next morning, I was very much disgusted to find that it had rained in the night, with the effect of caving in our roof and filling the house with water. It was scarcely daylight, and the river could be heard absolutely roaring, giving us notice that a freshet had come down suddenly from the heights above, without our having to our knowledge provoked the 'old gentleman;' anyway, it was lucky we had not chosen a lower level for our camp.

Daylight at last broke, and, lighting up the fire, the billy was soon merrily singing out an invitation to tea. Everything had got uncomfortably wet, but it did not much matter, as the temperature was uncommonly mild, and a cup of hot tea and a biscuit and pork soon put things all right.

Going to the river for our morning ablutions, we saw, from trace s left, that the stream had at one time during the night risen quite ten feet above its normal level, and was still considerably swollen, affording a plain hint that camping close to such water-courses was by no means safe. After a good bath and breakfast we got on the home-track.

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