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Utumapu again - Regions Below - Light v. Gloom - Fall-climbing - Razor-edge - Stone-heaving - Nineteen Hundred Feet of the Wrong Height - Terrible Travelling - Tropical Freezing - Eagle Mosquitoes - Enroute to the Silver Thread - Beautiful Bush - Banyan Trees - Head of the Silver Thread - Halfway Down Fix - Stinging Tree - Foot of the Silver Thread - Camp out.

TOWARDS the end of the month, intending with C., the plantation manager, to make a voyage of inspection into the ranges at the back, I went again to Utumapu, stopped the night, and the next morning accompanied by two others, who turned up just as we were starting, and three Solomon islanders for bushclearing and to carry our food, we took to the track right across the ground lately cleared for the extension of the coffee-planting.

All over the new clearing were indications of its having been the site of a large and populous town, house-platforms and stone-heaps being found thickly piled everywhere. The natives themselves had no tradition of any town having been there in days of yore, but the traces were too plainly to be seen to admit of any doubt. It must, however, have been a very long time ago, judging from the enormous size of the timber that had been felled round about.

Plunging into the bush at the head of the clearing, we made straight inland, where the mountain-swells were rising higher and higher above one another, until they reached the 'backbone of Upolu some seven or eight miles of. For some time it was almost flat, but very slow travelling, having to cut our way step by step through a most troublesome vine creeping along the ground just about knee-deep; but soon this ceased, and we travelled along in the forest quite comfortably on a sort of pig-track.

The large trees were beautifully clad with creepers of all sorts, whilst from their branches hung festoons of lovely mosses forming fairy caves amongst the thick green foliage; and every here and there some parasitic fern-growth would suggest the head-dress of an Indian warrior keeping guard over the treasures stored within these sylvan bowers.

In time we came to the edge of a very steep gully densely clothed with stunted bush, quite unlike the ordinary growth on the side-hills, and which at times broke into sheer precipices of about four hundred feet deep, generally finishing with a ledge of rock, below which again the bottom of the ravine was invisible, hid from sight by the tops of the immense trees growing far below.

It being impossible to descend to the regions beneath at the first attempt, we skirted along on quite level ground covered with trees of a much more recent date, and crossing over the head of a lovely little stream-which, throwing itself over a sheer fernclad precipice, dashed itself into myriads of feathery sprays quite three hundred feet below, thence disappearing through the giant tree-tops-we came to a palpably artificial mound of very ancient date with a few cocoa-nuts sprinkled round about, surely the site of some former house of importance.

Just here we found a spur running down in very steep decline to the unknown depth below, no doubt in days of yore trodden by the strange and forgotten denizens of the clearing above. Down this we very cautiously descended, and in about half an hour arrived at the wedge-like bed along which flowed a busy wicked-looking stream, much broken in its course by many opposing rocks, over which at times it showed signs of having dashed in triumph in its dark and troubled journey towards the haunts of man.

A dense gloom pervaded this spot, the sides of the ravine being too steep to permit any direct sun-ray to penetrate its sullen-looking recesses until it reached its most perpendicular height; while in strange and grand contrast, a few yards higher up, where the gully made an abrupt turn eastward, leaving a fair entrance to the early morning sunlight, a glorious bar of liquidly transparent gold shot right across our dismal shade, and bathed the steep hillside in pleasant warmth and shining beauty.

It was indeed a strange sensation to realize our surroundings. Here, right before us, were living light and deadly darkness opposing each other to the very top of the precipitous mountain-slopes, the division between them distinct to the summit as though made in tangible elements, and then disappearing, absorbed into the fathomless blue of the bright sky far above. As wall against wall stood the light and darkness, even by their contrast adding importance to each other - misanthropy and joyous life without one step between - whilst the stream itself, with the sun gilding brightly its snow-white wreaths, changing without a moment's warning from bright careless smiles to horrid and oppressive frowns, furnished an allegory of the possibilities of mundane existence.

There was not a sound to be heard but the monotonous humming of the passing waters, nor a sign of life but that shown by a pretty little red-headed bird on the opposite cliff, which was fearlessly building its nest quite regardless of our presence. Perhaps we were the first men that it had seen, and it had in consequence not learned to fear us. All was so quiet and mysterious in its newness that no one seemed to care to speak, but silently gazed about in wonderment at this new phase of existence, striving to give it some decided form within the mind, with more or less success.

It being long past our usual time for breakfast, the demands of hunger began to assert themselves, and mystic scenery became a secondary consideration. So, leaving the misanthropical side of the impalpable division, we were soon in the bright sun. shine, where, lighting a fire, the billy was mounted and tea soon under way; and at the same time, on the national table-cloth appeared a liberal show of ironclad of all sorts, and biscuits of the toughest naval brand. Tea declared ready, we fell to with a will, and before we finished the troubles of our 'bearers were very considerably lessened.

In about half an hour we continued our voyage of discovery, following up the bed of the stream, determined if possible to trace it to its source. Over hundreds of the prettiest but most hopelessly indescribable little peeps, sometimes in thick gloom, at others in bright sunlight, just as the tortuous winding of the gully would have it, we struggled onwards, having every now and then to perform wonderful feats of climbing in getting round some waterfall. The beautiful points of these when seen from below lessened considerably in our eyes with the difficulty experienced in heading them, and some of them were fairly abused; but then at the time we were hanging over them with every chance of a forty-foot drop, under which circumstances I think one might be excused a revulsion from appreciation of the beautiful sight as seen in safety from below.

Pursuing its course, the stream made interminable bends, both to the right and left, with the greatest abruptness, every new curve appearing to close in the ravine entirely; only to disclose a succeeding reach to be explored, but never the desired ending, or rather beginning, we were in search of. Pounding along in this manner without any sign of nearing our object, it became necessary, if we intended to reach home that night, to turn back, and so we commenced a. retrograde movement, and followed for some time the route we had come by. In a moment of mental aberration we determined upon taking a short cut home, as we thought, and selected a likely-looking spur leading, we fondly hoped, to the line of ridge from which we had originally descended, which it didn't; so carefully by unanimous vote we selected the wrong one, and commenced our toilsome march skywards. From below, the appearance of the sky through the fringing trees gave us strong belief that we should not be long before reaching the top; but our hopes turned out to be very illusive, for each sky-line that we saw was but, the boundary of one level, to be succeeded by many others in the most dishearteningly regular rotation.

As we strained away upwards the path kept continually narrowing, until at last we were travelling along a regular razor-edge with a sheer fall of many hundred feet on either side, and nothing to break it until reaching the tree-tops spread out like a wavering variegated carpet far below. Every now and then the inherently destructive inclination of the Britisher to smash something would cause us to lose much time and strength in halting to loosen huge masses of rock from the edge of the cliff, and hurl them down- the treecovered gully. Lying down flat, we gazed at the resistless mass crushing its way down the steep sides, clearing a wide road in its course, until with repeated and increasing bounds it would make one prodigious spring amongst the tree-tops with a thundering crash as its heavy weight rent the opposing branches and disappeared from sight, leaving the spot where it made its violent entry a dark mark on an evergreen ground. Many were our regrets that we had no dynamite handy for a grander display than our puny personal efforts would command. Perhaps however. it was lucky for us it was not so, as we might have travelled a little farther than our earthly home, with an uncomfortable start on the journey.

Every now and then, as if the track were not narrow enough, a great tree would spring right out of it, its roots depending on each side of the razoredge in a vast network, through which we had to struggle to resume our journey on the other side, and whilst doing so we were hanging immediately over the precipice, resting only on the mazy entanglement. It was very ticklish work at times, but on we struggled, yet still the top appeared to be as far off as ever and to make matters worse, the windings appeared to be leading us once more directly inland, and we soon were conscious of having got into the figurative 'wrong box.' As is usual on such occasions, we bandied the 'blame from one to the other, until we lapsed into sulky silence; only agreeing in one thing, which was to get to the highest point as soon as possible, and find out what chance there was before us of ever reaching anywhere near home that night.

It was of no use whatever to return on our tracks; our only chance was to plod on and trust to luck to hit on a spur that would lead us to our homeward way. The greatest nuisance was that we were not by any means prepared for camping out, and intending to be home before dark, had on nothing but our linen clothes, a very poor protection from the cold sharply felt after sunset in the hills; besides which, we had neither food nor liquor of any description, having provided but sufficient for one meal..

On we went rising higher, until at last we mastered the fearful hill; but although we were at the top, nothing could be seen for the dense bush, so climbing a tall tree I took a sight of the country, our aneroid showing nineteen hundred feet of elevation. One glance was enough to put to flight all hope of ever getting home that night, for between us and our haven of rest, to be seen a long way off, lay an interminable stretch of hills and gullies, not affording one single point to pitch upon as indicating a road more favourable than another. No plan of action could be formed but that of blindly plunging onward in the proper direction; so descending the mountain in the nearest available spot, we took up our weary line, not at all pleased with our trip so far as we had got.

The confusion of the country as seen from above was nothing to what it was in reality down below. From the heights the loose rocks were invisible, but at the bottom we fully appreciated their qualities of obstruction. There was always some new spur to get over; the whole form of the country appeared to be alike, and what idea of direction from landmarks we had cherished from the summit was soon lost: and the sun beginning to get low, I suggested that we should accept the inevitable, and. camp whilst we had light. My sulky mates, however, would not listen to it, but would insist upon going on to the bottom of the gully, where before we could make any attempt at settling down, darkness had overtaken us. They had not been used to bush-travelling, hence the trouble that now they regretted, until the morning, when, with one half frozen and the other half devoured by mosquitoes, we were all in as despondent a condition as any party might well wish to be.

It was pitch-dark in less than ten minutes after halting, when all hope of collecting enough wood for a fire was dismissed. What we had had time to collect would not keep alight without continual blowing, which soon exhausted all the available lungpower of the party; even that of the black boys, who stuck to it bravely for some time, but had finally to give in. We had not a drop to drink or bit to eat, and sleep was entirely out of the question, for the awful mosquitoes, whose terrific buzzing gave one the idea of a sonorous home in the drone-pipe of a cathedral organ, and against whose biting powers I don't imagine a tin of ironclad would have been proof, let alone cotton clothes, so well did the eagle-sized vampires enjoy our society. It was soon bitterly cold, and not being able to move about for the loose rocks and trees, we felt it severely.

The silence of the bush, barring the demoniacal mosquito music, was intense, and how wearily the miserable hours did pass, until the first faint dawn appeared, when we could at least stamp about to restore the circulation of our almost frozen limbs!

It does seem rather odd to chronicle freezing experience in the tropics, but that such experience was ours I shall for ever have the most vivid of uncomfortable recollections.

As soon as it was light enough, conscious of having laid up a good store of rheumatism for the future, we got our stiffened limbs in motion, working hard in the supposed direction of home and breakfast.

In about four hours we struck a stream which we determined upon following in its downward course, as, no matter where it went, it must at some time or another bring us to the coast, and, as luck would have it, we had hit on the very one which ran beneath the Utumapu plantation. Soon we cleared the bush, and arrived at the house, bathed, and set to work to devour everything eatable within reach, and then stretched ourselves comfortably on the veranda, enjoying the pleasant breeze blowing straight from off the glorious bright blue sea, ruffled with tiny white fine weather wavelets.

Returning to Apia the same evening, I found the Judge, who had obtained a day's leave from his judicial duties, anxious to make a trip we had long contemplated, to find the waterfall so conspicuous in the ranges at the back of Apia; finding that I had nothing particular to do for a couple of days, I agreed to start with him on this new voyage of discovery, and accordingly early the next morning saw us, with two bearers to carry our things, on the Moutuatua road, en route to our destination.

As is usual in Samoa, when the least thing is to be done, there is always some sort of dodgery brought into play, and our boys declared that the only road lay through the bush town of Magiagi, instead of going straight on. It was of no use disputing, if we wished to start that day, so each mounting one of them pick-a-back we crossed the river Vaisigagio, and were soon at the town in question.

We soon got on the tramp again, following a bushtrack running parallel with the river, which could be heard roaring through a rocky gully on our right hand. By-and-by we came to a decent tract, still following the course of the river. The bush was very beautiful with all the glories of Samoan forest colouring. Fern trees, like so many huge feathery umbrellas, were picturesquely scattered in groves along the path, or gracefully leaning over some quiet crystal pool away from the river's troubled course, made a retreat from the sun and heat worthy of the Naiads' Queen in her most fastidious frame of mind. Such peeps were so wondrously beautiful, that in truth I should not have been at all surprised to have seen one of these mythological personages at any point of the river.

Beautiful trees of all sorts bordered in profusion the banks, amongst which stood out in all its remarkable uprightness the 'musu-oe,' with its glorious darkgreen crest; and every now and then, but at long intervals, would appear a banyan, covering with its aerial roots an immense amount of ground. Amid the branches, some eighty or ninety feet in the air, grew in wild luxuriance great lance-shaped ferns, whilst pennons of delicate lace-like hanging mosses fluttered and waved amongst them, with the slightest breath of air, giving the otherwise immovable whole a sense of life and being. The curious ' ivi,' with its immense flat buttresses supporting as it were the ragged trunk above them, was seen in great numbers; whilst the wild orange, with its dark olive-green foliage and golden fruit, was scattered promiscuously throughout the entire forest.

About four miles from our starting-point we came to a dry branch of the river, which we followed for some time on the rough loose boulders in its bed; but we left this soon, and cutting our way through a troublesome network of ground-vines, arrived at the foot of a steep slope, the side of one of the spurs running down from the mountain; and here began our rough work. It was very steep, but we managed at last to make the ascent by clinging to the roots of the trees, and passing ourselves from one to another in our course upwards, until we came to a bald headland standing boldly right out from the bush, with a beautiful view of the Vaisigago valley, with Apia and the sea a long way off.

After a short spell we again plunged into the bush on an unused track, and in about half an hour, ascending gradually the whole time, came across an old native shelter under the shade of the largest 'Talia' tree I have ever seen, covering with its gnarled and twisted branches quite an extensive camping-ground, and affording a grateful shelter from the blazing sun.

After two hours' more tramp on an easy track I began to think that we had gone back quite far enough for the fall, which we had plainly heard all along on our right, but to which we could see no approach as yet. I questioned our guide, who naively informed me that never having been here before he did not quite know where he was, but would go and look for a road, when we could follow. Letting this useful man go, after waiting for some time without his returning, we voted the fellow a humbug, and determined to cut a way of our own down to some river or other, which we knew must eventually lead to the fall.

In spite of the protestations of our remaining boys, down we went, and an awfully rough time we had of it. The descent was almost perpendicular, but what the depth was we could not judge, for the bush was so thick as to prevent our seeing more than a yard or two below us. Time after time we were swinging on to tree-roots or vines, kicking out vigorously for a foothold below, and when that was obtained, transferring our grasp to the next tree. Striking out a path for myself, and going on for a time, I slipped from my hold, but landed, after a short astonished drop, up to my middle in the mud of a bamboo swamp. I knew then that I must be close to the river, so wriggling myself clear through the entanglement I came out on some river or other, but whether it was the one I wanted I had no means of ascertaining. Just above me was a beautiful waterfall, about fifty feet high, the rocks rising in single columns perpendicularly on either side, with a cool and refreshing pool at the foot.

In about half an hour I could hear my lost companions shouting above the falls, and on returning the 'cooey' soon had the satisfaction of seeing them peering at me over the edge of the tumbling water; but although we were only a few yards apart in a straight line, there was no possibility of their reaching me without taking to the bush again. I signalled to them to come round and down to me, which, after some consultation for choice of route, they did, and in a good quarter of an hour, cutting their way through, they arrived at my landing-place.

We then followed the stream down, being convinced that the fall must be below us, and that if we were not on the river itself we must be on one of its feeders.

In about half an hour we came to our long-looked for cascade, tumbling over the edge of a precipice which closed in the entire valley like a wall, impassable at any point but by the lofty heights on either side. The place where the fall itself occurs is a water-worn reft in the solid rock, through which the river takes its desperate leap of quite four hundred feet, and flashes so brightly in the sunshine to the observer at Apia. From thence is to be seen the whole course of the Vaisigago valley, with the sea brightly blue beyond. When gazing into the giddy depths below, where the largest trees appeared like small shrubs, the thick body of water continually passing by us appeared in falling to get thinner and thinner, until, dwindling to a silver thread, it ended in snowy-white fleecy mist-the spray dashed up by the heavy falling flood.

Having sufficiently inspected this beautiful fall from the top, we determined to push on, find some way down to the foot, and camp there for the night; but this was easier said than done. For quite an hour we kept persistently working our way along the mountain-side without a chance of turning off to our left, where we could find no break in the precipitous decline. Eventually the country improved so much as to permit of our commencing the descent, clinging on to the gully-side like so many ants; but after a short spell of this sort of travelling, finding it not to improve, we turned up again until we got right to the top of the spur.

It was now imperative that we should get to some place to camp for the night, so after going a little farther on we determined to make another attempt to reach the water, and down the side of the hill we plunged again. Our boys objected strongly, and wanted to know what was the use of going down where no reasonable creature had ever been, and to a .place which no doubt was full of devils; but that did not stop us, and before long we were at our old work, swinging, clinging, and tumbling about from tree to tree and root to root.

About half-way down our journey was, to all appearance, brought to an end, for we had come right on the top of a great precipice, the steep spur having slipped clear away, leaving a drop of quite two hundred feet. This was a regular fix, and just as I thought we were getting on so well; but on casting round for a way, down, I spied a small ledge to the right which I thought might be made passable, and by crossing over one small corner of it to head the precipice. It was dangerous, but we determined to try it rather than go back beaten. The Judge suggested sending the boys over first to test its safety, 'but all three declined the honour; and being in no position to enforce our orders, one of us had to go, and as the nearest, off I started and got a real benefit. The first plunge landed me in the middle of a copse of stinging tree all but over the ledge, which gave my bare arms such a poisoning as I did not get rid of for four days. However, I managed to make the passage in safety, and was soon followed by my companions. Working slowly along, we at last burst through a lovely patch of fern trees on to the stunted black lava cliffs, between which foamed and boiled the continuation of the stream that we had left above.

We now set off to find the foot of the fall we could hear thundering down close at hand, and shortly we stood in its wonderful presence. The fleecy-white mist, as seen from above, now appeared in all its reality in the form of an immense ever-rising fountain shower of feathery spray dashed up by the everlasting crashing of the superior waters from their giddy height into the pool below. Immediately over this lovely sight hung suspended a glittering border of prismatic hues, changing every moment, and dancing and quivering in the sunlight.

The sun was now falling fast, so, retracing our unwilling steps, we fixed upon a spot for camping about a mile down the stream, where we soon constructed a banana-leaf shelter, and after a bath and change of clothes, a fire was lighted, tea made, and duly discussed with ironclad concomitants. We then fought the day's doings over until dark, when, wrapping ourselves in our rugs, we retired to our lairs, and were, in spite of the somewhat rough rocky mattress, soon fast asleep.

At daylight we were all up, and after a grand 'breakfast of 'bulli-ma-cou' and hard tack, resolved ourselves into a committee of ways and means, how to get out of this newly discovered country. It had been our intention over-night to follow the stream down - into civilized parts, but we did not go far before we were convinced of the total impracticability of that scheme, for the river followed a most tortuous course with cliff-sided falls at every step.

There was nothing left but for us to face the mountain-side again, and to take our chance of any sort of country we might meet. About two hundred feet up, hearing. a shout from the Judge, I turned round to see what was the matter, and found that his Worship had got himself very cleverly mixed up in a root, and could move neither one way nor the other without help; and to stop the very unjudicial flow of rhetoric that he was indulging in I sent my boy to give a hand in extricating him. He put his load on the ground to obey orders, and that was the last I saw of all my kit, frying-pan, kettle, and all, for the bagful merrily bounded down towards the foaming river, and no doubt some of it reached Apia in spite of falls and precipices.

The Judge extricated, once more we set off on our toilsome upward journey with a goodwill, and the country improving, in about an hour's time we got to the top.

Somewhat recruited by a longish rest, as luck would have it we struck the path we had come up by, on which we comfortably travelled, descending lower and lower until the main body of the Vaisigago was met with, where, having no hats or clothes to make anything like a creditable reappearance in Apia, we halted until dusk could let us go in unobserved, and thus we wound up a very interesting two days' trip of discovery.

One of our boys on this trip was a very amusing and devil-may-care sort of fellow, who could speak a little English. He was originally brought up as a teacher in the London Mission College at Malua, but for some reason or another became a Roman Catholic, and began training with them. He said, in answer to a question as to which he preferred, that he thought the Roman Catholics were a jollier lot; but after all, the only difference he could see was that when a Protestant he had to row the missionaries about, but now he was a Catholic it was one of the Fathers; and wound up by saying that he would soon try the Lotu Tonga (Wesleyans), as he was getting tired of his wife, and his bishop preached against divorce.

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