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Start on a Cruise - Lovely Morning - Saluafata - House-decoration - Papalagi - Preparations for Siva - Samoan Band-Tiny Performers - Warriors at Work - The Pride of the District - Falifa Bay - Beautiful Cascade - White Coral Church - Mistake of a New Chum - Tell-tale Girls - Native Bigotry - Start for Home - Tinted Corals - Blue Lightning - Terrible Squall - Hurricane Sunday - Awful Wreckage - A Sight for an Insurance Office - Capricious Path of the Storm.

STARTED the first thing this morning with J. and the Judge for a short trip down the coast to show the first-named, a stranger in these parts, hailing from New Zealand, a little of the country.

It was indeed a beautiful morning, deliciously cool, and the dew was yet thick on the grass, for the sun was not risen above the Vailele hills. The sea was as smooth as glass, scarcely a ripple fell upon the shining coral-sand beach, and not a breath stirred even the towering upright branches of the loftiest cocoa-nut trees. The sky was of the purest and most fathomless blue-so clear that one had a dreamy sensation of seeing far beyond it, yet realizing nothing at all but immensity. Here and there it was flecked with tiny white clouds, whose lower sides were rosy-pink, and brightly gilded by the rays of the morning sun, not as yet visible from behind the sombre mountains. Like gold and ruby spangles they floated in space. There never was-there never could be a more perfect sunrise, and everything combined to assure us that the fine weather had at last permanently set in.

After a delicious dip in the river Vaisigago our kit was packed in the boat, and off we started inside the reef to the eastward. Calling in at Vailele Plantation, and discussing a cup of tea with S., the manager in charge, in about half an hour we continued our journey.

Close by here we had to quit the shelter of the reef, as it rejoined the mainland at the easternmost point of Vailele bay, and to take to the open sea, the coast becoming ironbound. There was positively no wind at all, but a big smooth swell was setting in from the northward, breaking very heavily on shore close at hand, the waves throwing up huge spouts of spray in 'dashing themselves to pieces against the jagged black rocks standing out defiantly to meet their ever-recurring wild attacks.

Travelling lazily onwards, balancing on the summit of each successive swell as it passed harmlessly beneath our keel, and marking the effect on shore of any one of unusual size, many speculations were indulged in as to how we should stand it if these same harmless smooth swells were to be suddenly changed into crested rollers, which most undoubtedly they had been at no very distant date somewhere north; and many careless remarks were made as to our chance of living through the breakers on shore, should we be so unfortunate as to make a close acquaintance with them. We then little thought that exactly at this very point, in a day or two, we should not be talking at all, but silently and seriously speculating on the chances of our ever getting home again without going through the ordeal of landing against our will through those very same breakers in a rather more angry mood.

About three o'clock we arrived off the west end of Saluafata harbour, over whose protecting reef the swell was heavily breaking, making the boat-entrance hardly visible. We stood straight in for the break in the reef right in front of us, and got through all right with only a little wetting.

Once inside, no mill-pond could have been smoother, and paddling on easily past a small island used by the German men-of-war as a sanatorium, we soon arrived at the town of Saluafata, where Sagapuletele, the chief, who was on the look-out, received us with many expressions of welcome.

Alofas (equivalent to ' How do you do ?' - literal translation 'Love') having been exchanged, and hands shaken all round, we were escorted to the 'fale tele' (guest-house), as usual, situated in the middle or most prominent point of every village of any size or pretensions. In honour of our arrival it was very prettily decorated with flowers and garlands entwined round the upright posts, or hanging in graceful festoons from the roof, whilst every kind of bush ornament that the forest could furnish, or native ingenuity devise, had its appropriate position, converting the brown house of ordinary days into a floral bower, rich with the brightest colours, almost startling to the eye, though toned down by the softness of the lovely green foliage harmoniously blended, forming a truly artistic coup d'oeil. Such sights as these must be seen to be appreciated-words cannot present them properly.

The Kava bowl having gone its course, we proceeded to discuss the simplicities, rather than the mysteries, of a plentiful Samoan-British dinner, spread out on the floor on large six feet by two banana-leaves, which invariably form the national table-cloth-washing down the good fare with copious draughts of cool delicious cocoa-nut milk.

Dinner over, chatting was the order of the day, freely joined by the many young ladies dropping in to have a look at the 'papalagi' (foreigners) from Apia.

The literal meaning of the above name for strangers is 'burst through the heavens' - from whence the simple natives thought the first white men had come.

Just before dark all the ladies left with their attendant chaperons, and scattered amongst the neighbouring houses to adorn themselves for a native dance, whilst the house began to fill from all parts to witness the performance, and in a short time the only vacant space was one end of the establishment reserved for a stage. Our position was in the centre, on which the natives most politely avoided any sort of crowding, although behind they were packed as thick as herrings in a barrel. The band, consisting of about thirty performers, men and women, was the first to arrive. The instruments were neither numerous nor complicated, nor were they calculated to discourse much sweet music, but only for the purpose of beating time. They consisted of two rolls of mats tightly pressed together, on which two experts performed wonders in the tattoo line, whilst the remaining twenty-eight or so added to the general harmony by hand-clapping, at the proper time all joining in the chorus with great vigour.

The orchestra satisfactorily tuned, and everything being ready, proceedings began with a performance by a troupe of little girls, averaging in age from about eight down to a tiny little creature of two or three, evidently as proud of her small person as the biggest girl in the village. They were all dressed in exact imitation of their elders when adorned for similar occasions, and decked out in full-grown Samoan finery on a miniature scale. I never saw a more quaint sight than these little mortals, bearing themselves with a gravity far beyond their years, and as comically proud of themselves as they could well be. Even the tiniest of the troupe took up her allotted place with an air so patronizing, confident, and serious, that it was evident she thought in her little mind she was conferring a favour on the spectators by appearing there at all, and was fully aware that she could (and would) sustain the credit of the family, even if left to perform the whole business by herself. The intensely earnest way in which these small people went to work was truly wonderful, as also was the admirable time they kept, both in voice and gesture. Not less surprising was the multitude of most graceful motions they performed, sitting cross-legged on the floor, merely by the gentle swaying of the body and movement of the arms.

After the infants came six grown men fantastically dressed, naked to the waist, shining in the firelight with strongly-scented oil-the aroma of which, not unpleasantly, filled the house. Their heads were crowned with loose green wreaths, permitting stray leaves to hang somewhat over their foreheads, giving them quite a Bacchic appearance. Gummed on to each cheek they wore (hanging pendent) scarlet leaves of the hibiscus flower, by no means ornamental addenda; and some of them even had these not-at-all-desirable appendages gummed on to the points of their noses and chins. Their necks were encircled with necklaces of vivid scarlet chillies, and other bright bush berries, mixed with the scarlet and green fruit of the pandanus, or screw pine. Seated cross-legged on the floor, they immediately set to work with a will, and after about half an hour of boisterous, vivid, and energetic posturing, descriptive of the subject under treatment-generally of a warlike nature, praising their own party, and condemning their enemies-they retired, in a complete state of exhaustion, to the orchestral ranks, making way for eight lovely young maids, the pride of the whole district, who, with the aid of their never-absent chaperons and many friends-to whom their personal appearance is at all times a source of boast and pride-had been busily adorning for the previous two hours; and well had they occupied their time.

On they came, with pride and consciousness of exalted position and importance, in all their native splendour, redolent and glistening with perfumed oil, used with no sparing hand. Most lovely garlands of flowers and leaves-delicately and wonderfully manufactured, bright with all the colours of the rainbow, harmoniously treated with no ordinary skill-crowned their flowing locks of ebon hue, and these, together with long and short 'ulas' (necklaces) of vivid scarlet berries, standing out in strong relief from their bright, 'bronze-coloured, healthy-looking skins as soft as satin, bar the coating of oil, were the only clothing they wore above the waist. Their lower garments consisted of one or more fine mats-their most costly belongings, sometimes of fabulous value-worn round the waist as 'lava-lavas' (waist-cloths), after the fashion of petticoats, reaching to just above the knee, and fastened by girdles of 'siapo,' or native cloth, tastefully entwined with green leafy garlands of some sort of bush creeper. With anklets, and, I suppose, what may be called kneelets, of green leaves, the entire catalogue of dress is completed.

Any stranger to Samoa and its customs, on his first introduction to such a party of girls, seated in front of him so demurely and properly, would require but slight provocation to persuade himself that he saw an eightfold incarnation of all that is modest and good. Alas for such a man's feelings should he unfortunately remain too long, and witness the very extravagant performances of these same damsels, when fairly roused and hounded into delirium by the, approving shouts of the audience! His first impressions will be grievously discounted, and a sense of condemnation will take the place of that of approval, These same quiet-looking and demure damsels are quite capable of becoming so excited over their dancing, as really to lose all command of their actions, distorting their countenances in the most hideous manner, and performing such undesirable antics, that a feeling of disgust soon supervenes, and they appear at last more like a lot of demons let loose from below, than the angels upon earth they at first appeared. Still, with the girls, decency, from a European point of view, is not severely outraged, which is more than can be said with regard to the older women when they get wild.

I was very glad, however, to see them stop on the propriety side of the hedge; but even had they gone on I should not have condemned them as immodest for so doing, not being one of those sojourners in strange parts who insist upon forcing everything they see into comparison with home customs and manners, and blame or approve as their country's standard is attained or exceeded. Anyway, our lovely entertainers delighted us greatly with many songs of rather too nasal an intonation for a very hypercritical musical critic, rendered more enchanting by the innumerable graceful bodily motions that accompanied the vocal portion of the entertainment, and were no doubt illustrative of it. There was not a single inflection of the body or movement of the arm, -and they were infinite-that was not in the highest degree natural and elegant. Even the curving of a single finger or the smallest inclination of the head bore with it that stamp of grace not to be seen anywhere but amongst such primitive people as these, as yet untrammelled with the artificialities of civilization.

The performances over, we had another bowl of Kava whilst the women were adjusting our screens for the night. Others were erected for our boats' crew close to us, and when all was complete our kind friends, with many 'tofas' and 'mo'e leleis' (Anglice, ~ good-night' and 'sleep well'), departed to their own quarters, leaving us in full possession of the guesthouse, when, diving under our respective curtains, we were soon fast asleep.

The next morning we were up at daylight, and after indulging in a plunge in the creek and a light 'breakfast, off we set for Falifa, a town about three or four miles down the coast, where we had promised to pay a visit. Passing Lufi Lufi, the ruling town of the province of Atua, we looked in for a minute or two at a splendid bathing-hole on the shore in a sort of cave. The peculiarity of this hole is that in going beyond a certain line one walks out of fresh water into salt, or vice verse, the two never appearing to mix, but remaining at the point of contact like wall against wall.

Travelling onwards, still inside the reef, with a sea as smooth and as 'bright as a mirror, we soon rounded a rocky point, and entering the bay came suddenly upon a very lovely view. Peeping out every here and there on the westernmost horn of the bay, from amongst the luxuriant groves of cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, and other trees both ornamental and useful, were to 'be seen the brown beehive-like houses composing the town of Falifa, and rising conspicuously amidst the dark green foliage appeared the shining white spire. of the Roman Catholic Church. The easternmost end of the bay is rather high ground densely bushed right down to the water's edge, whilst inland, about four miles of, a high range of mountains rises abruptly, from out of what are termed the Falifa- plains.

Set right in the centre of this beautiful background was a magnificent waterfall, tumbling from a height of quite sixty feet into a lovely little lake, formed in a deep gorge whose steep sides covered with verdure, are most faithfully reflected on the bosom of the. mirror-like water. Brilliant and vivid coloured flowers abound, whilst soaring aloft, with widespread arms, in all their graceful beauty the cocoa-nut palms seem to invite the confidence of all nature slumbering beneath, hushed to sleep by the lullaby of the never-ceasing crash of the falling waters.

The gorge is the outlet of the Falifa river, which, having its source in the distant hills, crosses in deviating course the extensive though sometimes swampy plains named after that river, and ends its journey by joining the sea a short distance below the falls.

Entering the gorge by a narrow entrance almost entirely barred at low water by a small rocky reef, we rowed for about half a mile to the foot of the cataract.

Afterwards we started off for the house of the Samoan teacher, who was the son of a particular friend of mine in Apia, and who had been given notice of our intention of paying him a visit. Arrived at the house, we were made welcome by the good-man and his wife with all the effusive eloquence of Samoan custom, and were at once installed in all dignity in the native-built mansion, made very gay with garlands, flowers, and all kinds of pretty decorations.

Kava discussed, we took a stroll through the town - a remarkably neat and well-kept one. At the westernmost end of it we came to the Roman Catholic Church, whose spire we had noticed on first arriving - a really good building, constructed of blocks of white coral cut from the reef spanning the bay, and boasting stained-glass windows. A peep inside revealed the scene common to all churches of this denomination, the only difference being that there were no chairs, their substitutes appearing in the form of mats strewn all over the floor. It was truly a very creditable building. Many worse are to be seen in Europe any day; and this was built, I am given to understand, without the aid of any professional mechanic, by the good father in charge and his flock.

Strolling back took us a much longer time, on account of the many pressing invitations to Kava and chat from the hospitable townspeople as we passed their houses. Some of these were presented in so charming a manner by the young ladies that to refuse was an impossibility, and although due at our host's for dinner, we succumbed to the temptation once or twice, and in consequence were about an hour late for the banquet-a breach of good manners which, although nothing was said, could plainly be seen resented in. our hostess's face, and her ultraceremonious manner of receiving our complimentary remarks about her town and other matters.

To make things worse, one of our party, perceiving the painful state of affairs, thought he would put things straight by explaining that it was our overstepping the limits of our intended stroll that caused our lamentable want of punctuality. He had much better have left well alone, and he looked very small when the Tamaitai (lady) gave for general information and reproof an exact account of everything that had happened during our stroll, and wound up by saying she wondered very much that men of our rank cared to associate with a sort of people (mentioning the names of some of those whose houses we had visited) who were of no account, and a scandal to the place.

This put a stopper on the general conversation but dinner was strictly attended to, a very good one, served up in accordance with Samoan custom. I could not help again admiring the really pretty decorations. The pillars were entwined with gay garlands of bright scarlet and snow-white flowers, intermixed tastefully with delicate drooping fern-fronds, and the scarlet and bronze-green leaf of the Ti tree; whilst from the roof, almost to its exclusion from sight, hung flowery festoons of interminable length, disposed skilfully in every direction in glorious profusion.

After dinner we made an attempt to reach an inland town said to be 'latomai' - near - as a Samoan will always tell an inquirer, no matter the distance, should he think he particularly wants to go there.

Our new chum having purchased various native curios to take back to New Zealand, we once more got afloat. I was almost forgetting to record that a party of bright and lively girls from the Mission School came in and made themselves most agreeable whilst we were resting previous to our departure, chatting and laughing at a great rate, and piling on question after question at such high pressure as to make it quite impossible to answer one tithe of them. At the same time we had to suffer much good-humoured chaff at their hands.

These mischievous girls live scattered all over the town, and amongst the bevy I recognised two whose saucy faces belonged to a pair who actually made the Kava in one of the first houses we had stopped at. The murder was now out. Belonging to the school which is adjacent to the house we were stopping in, they had got back there before us and given full information of our doings.

This, however, was not the offence resented, and would not have caused the least attention. The crime was that we had in our innocence made friends with a Roman Catholic family, a proceeding by no means correct when sojourning with an opposition missionary.

The girls were quite free with their opinions on the antagonistic church, which were by no means of a favourable nature.

Keeping inside the reef, we rowed on comfortably to Lufi Lufi. After yarning for a short time with some of the inhabitants we embarked, and were soon back at our old quarters at Saluafata.

March 24. - Up early, bathed, and started for Apia about nine o'clock, with a lovely morning and every indication of real fine weather. There was not a breath of wind or promise of one as we lazily rowed out towards the opening in the reef, through which we had to reach the open sea. Even the big swell on which we had arrived two days before had entirely gone down, leaving the whole ocean as calm as any mill-pond, the very personification of a Pacific sea.

Looking over the side of the boat when making the passage, it required but small effort of imagination to realize what I should judge to be the sensation of floating through the air in a balloon. The boat seemed to be balancing on nothing, so bright and clear was the water. How deliciously cool looked the corals far below, the loveliest and most delicate traceries of which, in all colours, were to be seen scattered in the most indescribable confusion, though not one pinnacle or branch could be called out of place, but appeared to fill the exact spot designed for it by nature.

Here again imagination would need but small incentive to picture amongst the darker corals any picturesque ruin of ancient castle or donjon-keep that the mind might direct the eye to trace. Diving to and fro through fairy caverns, or perhaps in and out of the windows of imaginary castles, apparently enjoying the highest spirits, were shoals upon shoals of brilliantly coloured fish; amongst the most noticeable were some of a very bright metallic blue, sparkling and flashing like 'blue diamonds in the limpid water. The light reflected from the gleaming sides of a shoal of these, as they turned in a new direction suddenly, seemed to send a flash of blue lightning from the depths below to the surface, making one shrink back as though it were reality.

Clearing the passage, a very slight breeze was felt, just enough to keep way on the boat, and being in no hurry to reach home before evening, we ceased rowing and ' dreamily drifted along the coast. Our natives, as they will always do on such occasions, and, indeed, on all other suitable ones, applied themselves to sleep, while we three, stretched out on the sternsheets under the awning, took our ease in as happy a state of indolence as can well be imagined. It was not too warm nor too cool; it was simply perfect.

In about an hour, during which time I do not suppose we had made more than a mile, when seriously thinking of dousing the sail and taking to the oars, we noticed a deep black cloud far away on the horizon, a single, solitary one, not another of any sort to be seen anywhere. We remarked to one another how curious this was, but never for one moment gave a serious thought to the matter. However, on taking a second look at it a short time afterwards, it seemed to have travelled towards us at no ordinary pace, and two or three irregular puffs of wind coming up, we did not take in sail as intended. Suddenly, I saw a good way off an unmistakable white line on the water under the shadow of the rapidly advancing cloud, and then I knew what was coming.

The crew were roused up in a moment, and all haste was made to stow the awning, get down the sprit, and scandalize the mainsail. I had no sooner made fast the peak of the sail securely to the mast and made everyone sit right down on the bottom of the boat, when the squall reached us, coming on in a cloud of spray driven up even from the perfectly smooth surface of the water. She jumped like a deer as it caught her right aft, there being no time to face her to it, and having but little or no way on her at the time, the mast was in great danger of being blown right out of her as the sail filled with a jerk in spite of all attempts to take it easily; but the stays stood bravely, and soon we were careering in full tilt for shore, on which the wind directly set, a fact at the time most awkward for us, and one that we fully appreciated, although we said nothing.

I headed her for shore in the first place in order to get way on the boat in the least dangerous manner; and that done, I brought her up to the wind to keep our course and off shore, a dead lee one, not more than a mile off: so soon we were tearing along, heeling over lee-gunwale under water, throwing away from us a regular wall of sea, taking the spray right clean over us at every dip. The sky was now completely overcast, the rain falling in torrents of an icy coldness. It came down so thickly that we could not see fifty yards in any direction.

Things were now beginning to look serious, and the wind increasing we were forced to lower even what sail we had, showing only a small part of the mainsail and foresail to keep way on the craft, and even then we were going too fast to leeward to feel comfortable. With all this blow, in about three quarters of an hour a considerable sea was got up, and soon the big waves began to carry a very ugly and momentarily increasing crest upon them.

All this time we must have been drifting shorewards at least two feet to one along the coast, and already were very much too near the cliffs to be pleasant; but the rain had held up, so at least we could see what we were about. Another half hour brought us almost opposite the very spot we were off a few days before, when indulging in speculation as to our chances of getting through the breakers in any sort of state of repair. We grimly looked at one another, and pointed at the huge caldron seething between us and terra firma with serious apprehension that if things did not improve we should, at no very distant period, have an opportunity of practically trying the experiment under circumstances a thousand times more difficult.

Affairs at last became so serious-we were nearing shore so very rapidly, it being physically impossible to row against such a wind, even if the boys could have been got to try-that our only chance was to set all sail we could, and trust to the boat's standing up under it to claw of shore. What she would have done, under the circumstances, goodness only knows. The only chance we had of keeping off the rocks was undoubtedly this one. We might have upset, or we might have managed to claw off by the skin of our teeth, but I think the chances were very much in favour of the former; whilst to let her go on as she was then doing was only to defer the inevitable moment, for at that rate she must eventually have gone on shore, and then amongst the rocks, with such a heavy sea thundering upon them, not a morsel either of us or our boat would have been left.

We had scarcely got things all ready for our experiment, when, as luck would have it, there was a very perceptible diminution in the force of the wind; and soon, just as quickly as it rose, so it fell, leaving us riding on a heavy swell without a breath to help us farther. It left us all thoroughly miserable and half frozen, but thankful for our narrow escape, for there were the huge black rocks, not three hundred yards off, against which the immense swells were breaking with merciless violence, presaging anything but a comfortable reception on shore to anyone wishing to land in the vicinity. The hackneyed witticism re 'not being born to be drowned' of course was uttered, but did not meet with any response; we were all too wretched and cold to appreciate any joke, however good.- The sun coming out strongly soon dried us, putting us in good heart for rowing, and in about three quarters of an hour we, with some little difficulty, got under the reef at Vailele, dined with S. at the plantation, and then pushed on to Apia, arriving safely about five o'clock p.m., where the party split up, and individually retired early, rather the worse for such an unusual day's work.

March 25. Sunday. - On going to bed, last night, there was no indication of any important change in the weather. The only thing noticeable meteorologically was a breeze springing up towards evening, which, although unusual, was not of sufficient significance for any special notice to be taken of it. It appears, however, that it rose very gradually in strength from about the time we returned until midnight, when it first looked dangerous; and from that time it rose to hurricane-power, attaining its full strength about two a.m. It commenced in the southsouth-east, went round to east, and then to the northwest. My first warning of anything extraordinary taking place was one of my doors, defectively fastened, being blown open some time during the night, which caused me to turn out and secure it. I then thought there was an unusually strong wind blowing, but was little prepared for the sight that met my eyes on rising in the morning. The whole sky was in a marvellously disturbed state; heavy clouds were travelling swiftly from the north-west, the wind was blowing great-guns, hut evidently not so strong as it had been some short time previously.

A tremendous sea was running right across the harbour, rolling in foam completely over the reef on the easternmost side, but looking more terrible than it was in reality, on account of the falling tide baring the rocks, and causing so much white water to be seen. Out of nine ships, large and small, which were lying snugly at anchor yesterday, the only one afloat was a small white coasting schooner, the Fongaloa, of about twenty tons burden. Piled up high, broadside on the outer westernmost reef, was the Venezuela, a large barque, a most miserable wreck, with her spars smashed, rigging blown to atoms, and the greater part of one side torn out of her. On the inner reef, not more than four hundred yards from shore, her stern high up, and bows submerged in the deep water over the edge of the reef, with only a piece of one mast standing, lay the wreck of the Solide, a big German barque. She had but quite lately arrived, and scarcely commenced to discharge a valuable cargo, now irretrievably ruined. Inshore of her, a perfectly undistinguishable, shapeless mass of wreckage represented all that remained of the Sheet Anchor, a large American brig, also with a cargo undischarged. Going down the beach to the westward, the next thing to notice was a little American schooner, blown high and dry into the German Consul's backyard; and about five hundred yards down, perfectly upright, masts standing, but never to go any more, was a smart barque - the Brazileira - only arrived the day before; and sunk alongside of her, in fatal embrace, was a good-sized schooner-the Vau-Vau - one of the German Company's mosquito fleet, carried to destruction by the larger ship falling athwart of her, when breaking away from her own anchors in the height of the hurricane. The Apia, a cutter of about forty tons, had disappeared in toto somewhere in the deep water.

Summing all up, the appearance of the harbour was about the most dismal sight for an insurance office that could well be conceived. The beach from one end to the other was strewn with all descriptions of wreckage and battered cargo thrown up by the waves. As a matter of course everyone was about, some helping to save cargo, and others apparently doing so, but in reality doing the other thing; at all events, one is apt to doubt the integrity of purpose of an individual who secretes tins of kerosene and other such trifles in the bush to keep safely until claimed by the owners.

Turning towards the shore, the sight was by no means a pretty one. Uprooted trees lay all over the place; roofs and verandas had been torn of or otherwise shifted from their proper locations. Here and there were native houses completely overturned, even in some parts open palings had not escaped.

The path of the destroyer was distinctly visible on the side of the mountain, where the dense bush looked quite black and burnt up, as if a hot iron had been passed over it. Its course, however, was very capricious, for at points some fragile building would be standing, not one bit damaged, while ruin was spread broadcast within a few yards all round it. My own house was a specimen of this, for although only a weak framework building, which must have succumbed had but a quarter of the storm burst on it, yet it stood uninjured, whilst orange trees of a large size within twenty yards at the back were torn completely out of the ground, and the outside halves of trees about the same distance in the front were thoroughly denuded of branches and leaves as if by fire passing over them. Immense quantities of native produce-such as bananas, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts could not fail to have been destroyed all over the group, putting the natives to sore straits, as events like this happen so very unfrequently that they do not make provision for them.

We heard afterwards that the island of Savaii to the westward had suffered most severely, the whole force of the storm bursting directly on its west and north coasts. In fact, there a clean sweep had been made of nearly everything, including many European houses.

The loss of life, considering the severity of the storm, was providentially insignificant, consisting of three whites, about seven Samoans, and a boat's crew of black labourers, who started for Apia from the west end of Upolu. and were never more heard of. They must have been blown right out to sea.

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