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Description of Group - Savaii - Mountain Streams-Food-trees -Productions-White Traders- Beachcombers - Having a Baby - Savaii Squires-Monkey Jack - Upolu-Daybreak from the Lagoon -Harbours -Tutuila-Leone - Roman Catholic Church-London Mission Premises-Blow-holes - Massacre Bay-Manua-a Group-The King of Manua-a - Manono and Apolima.

THE Samoan or Navigation group consists of an extended chain of islands, eight in number, lofty, and of volcanic formation, varying in area from seven to seven hundred square miles. They are, in fact, a line of extinct volcanoes, of the beauty and fertility of which no one can form a true estimate without a personal visit.

Upolu, the middle of the three principal ones, although smaller in area than its westernmost neighbour, Savaii, is the most important of the entire group, being not only the centre of European and American commerce for Samoa, but also the collecting port for all the adjacent islands, from whence numerous small craft are continually bringing produce for exportation to Europe or the United States.

Upolu is separated from Savaii by a channel about eight miles in width; whilst to the eastward lies the lovely island of Tutuila, about 40 miles away as nearly as possible on the continuation of the imaginary central line.

Extending this line still farther to the east, it would not be very far from hitting off, at a distance of about sixty miles, a small group of three islands, known collectively under the name of Manua-a, from whence, as Samoan tradition has it, springs the Samoan royal family, and also, as some natives aver, the whole Samoan race.

The names of these three islands are Tau, Oloosenga, and Ofu, which, with Manono and Apolima - two small islands situate off the west corner of Upolu, between it and Savaii-make up the eight islands worthy of especial notice. There are other small islands scattered round the larger ones, but of no great significance.

Savaii, the westernmost of the Navigators, is somewhat rhomboid in shape, and measures some forty miles in length by twenty broad.

Approaching from the east, the island appears to be conical in elevation-the land very gradually rising from the shore and converging towards a common centre from both sides, gives it that appearance; but in reality the interior consists of three parallel ranges running east and west, across which history does not record that anyone, white or native, has ever journeyed.

The island, like the others of the group, is in parts encircled by coral reefs, which form convenient boat-harbours and shelter for vessels of small tonnage. There is, however, but one so-called harbour in the whole island, that of Matautu, a haven of very doubtful character, and positively unsafe from November to February, when the north-westerly gales prevail.

The coral reef partly surrounding Savaii breaks off to the south and west, when the coast becomes ironbound both in reality and appearance. The frowning black lava-rocks and cliffs, against which the vast billows are continuously pounding themselves into foam, present anything but an inviting face to the passing sailor seeking shelter from the storm, and enforce long, dreary stretches of dangerous navigation before safety can be found.

The inhabitants of Savaii are supposed to number about one-third of the population of the whole group, and reside mainly on the coast in scattered villages of beehive-shaped houses, only one town, Pala-Pala, existing in the interior, and that only about six miles inland in a straight line.

A native road runs round the edge of the whole island close to the shore, which at certain places has to be made use of, the interior being perfectly. impassable, owing to the immense rough blocks of lava strewn chaotically for miles inland, rendering travelling a matter of impossibility. This occurs more particularly in the region of Asau, where thousands of acres are composed of nothing but rock pitched confusedly from the last volcano in action, and but sparsely covered with coarse vegetation and a few cocoanuts.

In the rainy season the ground apparently cannot absorb a tithe of the water which falls; then the different mountain torrents fill to the brim, and rushing down to thp coast with incredible violence, cut off all communication with the opposite banks for weeks together; but the rains once over they quickly subside into their normal state, which, under ordinary circumstances, is little more than a chain of waterholes, and often not even that.

The traces in the beds of these mountain streams show very plainly what they can do when in a mischievous mood. Trunks of large trees, torn no doubt from the ranges above, about thirty or forty feet long, are to be seen perched aloft on pinnacles of rocks, evidently carried down by the resistless force of the flood, and left stranded on its subsiding. It seems incredible on viewing the thin babbling little brook at one's feet, not deep enough to drown a mouse, that on occasions it could develop energy sufficient to perform such marvels.

The whole island, from the top of the mountains down to the very seashore, is densely covered with bush, in the midst of which, on the mountain-slopes, flourish timber trees of a very large growth, which Must turn out to be of great commercial value when ineans are provided for bringing them to the coast.

Besides timber trees, cocoa-nuts grow most luxuriantly all -along the sea-coast, but decrease in yield the farther they recede from it.

The only article of native production worthy of mention is copra, the dried kernel of the cocoa-nut, sold to the traders at from 1.5 to 2 cents per pound, and conveyed to Apia in small collecting craft, whence it is shipped to Europe or America in bulk. There the oil is pressed out, and the refuse made into cattle-feeding cake, or sold to the manufacturing confectioners, who convert it into that bygone sticky delight of my youth, most gorgeously coloured pink and white, known under the name of cocoa-nut rock, and many other juvenile delicacies.

There are a good many white traders on Savaii, stationed at various points, collecting for the several firms at Apia in Upolu, who supply them with goods of all descriptions to use in payment for native produce, for which every now and again they have to account to their principals, receiving so much for the copra they deliver as is determined by agreement.

All these men are married either 'Faa Samoa' - Anglice according to Samoan custom - which in the eye of the law means nothing at all, or have been properly married at their own consulates, if they possess any; when, as a matter of course, in the latter case their children are recognised as subjects of the nation to which they themselves belong. It is not often that you can get these men to talk much of their antecedents; and if they do, there is every reason to take their statements cunt grano salis. But take them all in all, they are not nearly so bad or such abandoned characters as people make them out to be.

Although in most cases rough, they are in their way kindly inclined towards all men. The greater part of their misdoings is distinctly attributable to the malign influence of square-face, which is to be procured direct from Hamburg at the marvellously cheap price of about eightpence per bottle. This is the vile, poisonous trade gin, one of the principal articles of barter all over the Pacific, and which has caused so much desolation amongst the various native races.

Inquiring once for a certain trader in Savaii, I was told in the most serious manner in the world, 'Oh, you have no chance of seeing him. He is across the bay having a baby!' Seeing my astonishment, it was soon explained to me that such an expression was merely a synonym for going to bed with a case of square-face and not getting up until it was all consumed.

I can from personal experience mention amongst the Savaii Squires - as these British residents in that particular island have been styled from time immemorial - some good men and true who, although occasionally wild, were never really vicious, and in their chequered life could only be accused of doing harm to themselves.

John Stowers, better known as Monkey Jack, was one of the best. He is dead now, but has left behind him full and abundant proof of the fact that a beachcomber can be a worthy man, having well brought up a most -respectable family, the sons to mechanical trades, the daughters being as well educated as the opportunities of the country permit. They are proud of their British descent. Monkey Jack was in fact the patriarch of his neighbourhood, Amoa, and a man of no small influence with the Samoans about him, to whom in one way or another, through his children or wife, he was related. His house, a stone one, built by himself, always was, and is now-in the hands of his widow, a pure Samoan-perfectly at the service of any traveller, especially if British.

Another Squire of note, named Jack Keys, lives some distance farther up the coast, and is reported to be a man of means; and though rough to look at, is a straightforward and plain-dealing man, who probably owes his prosperity to minding his own business, and showing common-sense' in not scattering his hard-earned dollars in too much dissipation.

Another friend of mine, William Crichton, a most respectable man, lives a short distance still farther to the westward. He is legally married to a pure Samoan, and has already brought up one family in great respectability.

Other gentlemen of the same occupation could be mentioned, who, not actually bad, at the same time cannot boast of many virtues beyond the ability of somehow getting out of scrapes with the same facility as they get into them, and whose nicknames, though perhaps appropriate, would not look particularly well in print.

Altogether, I can fairly say that during my four years tenure of office the Savaii Squires gave me little or no trouble. They received me well and hospitably when amongst them; very soon forgot their woes if their fancied wrongs were not redressed exactly as they thought they should be, and were always respectful in their way, although I did represent, to them, that abominable tyrannical High Commission, and had to be, as they termed it, down upon them' every now and then for infractions of its regulations.

Upolu is the middle island, lying to the eastward of Savaii, and separated from it 'by a channel about eight miles in width from reef to reef; and although somewhat less in area than Savaii, boasting only of an acreage of five hundred and eighty square miles, is by far the most important of the whole group. It is about forty-five miles long, having an average breadth of fourteen miles. At the east end, as seen from the sea, prominently stands up in all its solitary glory a flat-topped, conical-shaped volcano, Totua, rising to a height of about two thousand five hundred feet, and forming an unmistakable landmark. On the slopes of this mountain, as also on the crater itself, flourish timber trees of great age.

From end to end of the whole island runs a high Mountain ridge, as it were a backbone, the centre of which lies more to the south than the north coast. In some parts this ridge is flattened out on the top into extensive table-lands, whilst in others it merely rises from the one side to descend immediately on the other.

The sides are plentifully supplied with spurs running in every conceivable angle from the main chain, and forming numberless gullies of great and precipitous depth, scarcely ever penetrated by even the searching rays of a tropical sun, which afford a happy hunting-ground for the fern-hunter, and descend in some places to the sea in a series of table-lands or ledges, some of large extent and susceptible of moderately easy conversion into agricultural land for the growth of any tropical plant. In other cases, after a preliminary short but sharp drop, the land falls away towards the seaboard very gradually, spreading out within a mile or so from shore into almost level land, of which, with the exception of the Falita plains, about twelve miles eastward of Apia, there is little or none in the whole group. The extreme east end of the island of Upolu is very rough and mountainous; nearly all communication, except occasional foot-traffic, has to take place by sea; whilst to the west are to be found large tracts of land capable of being made commercially productive.

The mountains, as in Savaii, are densely bushed from the very summit right down to the water's edge, finishing there in a thick belt of cocoa-nuts.

The soil generally is very rich, that collected on the table-lands especially so, and is of the most productive nature. It is of a deep chocolate-brown in colour, and consists of decomposed lava mixed with a large proportion of decayed vegetable matter, the deposit during ages of the products of perhaps the most rapid-growing bush in existence.

Sailing along the coast inside the reef through the calm amethystine waters, the view of the land is really grand. Stretched out beneath the awning, the boat moving smoothly and steadily, with no more perceptible movement than if she were standing still, the motion of travelling seems to be transferred to the shore, which to the mind appears to be passing by in ever-changing beauty and panoramic procession. It is, indeed, like a scene from fairyland; and if viewed at sunset or daybreak, the picture baffles all true delineation.

After travelling perhaps all night in the boat, a practice very much in vogue to avoid the heat of the sun, some unaccountable and indescribable sensation warns the traveller that day is about to break. Soon, imperceptibly and gradually, the hills to the eastward, until now barely to be distinguished against the sky-line, begin to adopt some defined form and shape, becoming every moment more clearly outlined against the dull gray sky-. If such a term is allowable, there is now a sort of tangible light diffused around - a light to be plainly felt, inducing the same sensation that takes possession of the observer during a solar eclipse.

Soon the clouds hanging above the hills become flecked and spangled with bright gold and pink, all objects on the previously dark hillside grow momentarily more and more visible, whilst the close approach of the ruler of the day is announced by huge, spear-like, fiery-coloured beams of light thrown defiantly high aloft from behind the sombre mountain-ridge, now more sharply cut out

against the rapidly brightening sky, swiftly changing her cold gray mantle for one of azure-blue of wondrous depth, the promise of a lovely day. How dark and dismal about this time appear the deep valleys and gullies formed between the mountainspurs, the whole sides of which are by force of contrast thrown into a profound shade! They convey the idea of black spots on a black ground, indistinguishable, yet to be seen.

Now the illuminated clouds begin to lose their splendid tints, which, slowly fading away, finally leave them altogether in their everyday robes of fleecy white; the radiating bars of fire springing heavenward from the mountain gradually lose their form and colour, and slowly melt away into nothing; and the lofty peaks and ridges having for a short period been gayly adorned with a purple and orange fringe, absorbed by degrees into the general diffusion of light so rapidly in progress, old Sol in all his glory springs into sight with a bound, and as rapidly a grand transformation scene is presented to the beholder.

The whole country wakes into life, as it were, by magic. The inky waters assume at once their lovely amethystine hue, and stretch their placid course shorewards to meet in friendly embrace the bright white coral sand now sparkling joyously in the sun's glancing rays.

Here and there, as it were protesting in sullen and threatening silence, like so many goblins of darkness viciously, though powerlessly, resenting the advance of light, lie scattered numerous jet-black rugged volcanic rocks, serving by their dismal colour only to bring into greater prominence the splendid and joyous awakening of Nature all around.

Behind, again, is the shore proper, deeply fringed with graceful cocoa-nut palms, whose lofty heads, proudly erect, crowned with their elegant lace-like leaves, seem to keep watch and ward over the many beehive-like native houses peeping out here and there from amongst their tall stems.

The brighter green foliage of the bread-fruit and bananas greatly assists, with its varied shades of shimmering green, in proclaiming Nature's great bounty in providing pleasure and rest for the eye, and at the same time support for mankind's bodily requirements in the shape of food. The magnificent colours of the bright bush flowers, scattered indiscriminately about, leave but little to be desired in forming a beautiful picture, worth going to a great distance to behold. The sun is now high enough to disperse all the gloomy shadows of the hillside, and its searching rays have penetrated the deepest gullies-a short time since so forbidding and harsh in the half-light-and the country-side stands forth in all its graceful contour. Elevated plateaux rise, one above the other, to. the very summit of the mountain-range, covered with luxuriant forests bright and smiling in the morning sun, and these no doubt, at no very far-off time, will discover to the people who have the enterprise to provide the means, their at present unworked treasures.

Upolu. is much better off for harbours capable of accommodating vessels of respectable size than her companions, with the exception of the grand harbour of Pango-Pango in Tutuila. Of all the other harbours, Apia is the largest, and can contain twenty or thirty full-rigged vessels without crowding. Saluafata, can accommodate with safety vessels of good size, whilst on the south coast Falealilii and Lefaga, in a minor degree are available for commercial purposes.

We now come to Tutuila, the most eastern and smallest of the principal islands, about forty miles from the nearest point of Upolu, and considered to be the most beautiful of the trio. It is seventeen miles long and about two hundred and thirty in circumference, nearly cut in two in the centre by the great indentation forming the renowned harbour of Pango-Pango.

As in Upolu and Savaii, it has a range of mountains running its whole length, with spurs at all angles right down to the seashore, leaving at any spot but little margin for the Samoans to locate their villages. The whole island is densely bushed down to the water's edge, or to the edge of the perpendicular cliffs that every here and there show a considerable drop to the ocean-level. Every little space available, however, is taken up by the native settlements, which peep out so prettily from all sorts of unexpected points amongst the avenues and groves of cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, and bananas, made gay with the variegated tints of the numerous dracaenae and Ti-tree foliage, and the bright-coloured flowers of the ever-present scarlet and yellow hibiscus, assisted by many more humble bush companions.

The principal town is Leone, situated in a bay of that Italian-sounding name, observable from a great distance by reason of the gleaming white spire of a large Roman Catholic Church in the very centre of the town, built after the European model. There is a small reef there, but only of sufficient size to form-a boat harbour; all vessels wishing to communicate having to anchor outside.

Quite close to the Roman Catholic Church is one of the largest and finest Protestant Chapels in Samoa, built and used by the London Missionary Society, to whom so many thousands of Pacific Islanders owe their rescue from heathendom, and admission to the blessings of civilization. All churches built under the auspices of this society are constructed upon the native model, the only departure from which is in the walls, made usually of stone and lime-mortar, or a sort of concrete, instead of posts and blinds.

To the right, looking into the bay, perched upon the southernmost headland, a black volcanic cliff about forty or fifty feet high is the residence of the London Missionaries, representative in charge of the island, whose hospitable doors have received many a European visitor with a simple and hearty welcome, and where many a Samoan has had the great benefit of good advice for his mental ailments and medicine for his bodily ones.

The coast-line of Tutuila is particularly bold and irregular, and what sheltering reefs there may be are confined to a few insignificant boat harbours in the various coastal indentations.

Elsewhere, the ever-restless billows are day by day and hour by hour with unsparing violence hurling themselves against the jet-black rocks, throwing on high their snow-white foam, rendered all the brighter by the contrast with the sombre colour of their objects of attack.

At many points on the coast where the liquid lava fresh from the crater has irregularly cooled, caves have been formed with openings to seaward, running some little distance inland, and communicating with the upper level of the cliff by a shaft or crack of natural formation.

The advancing wave, rushing headlong into the cave below, forces itself and the confined air into the upright shaft, which resembles a funnel, and expends its full force with a dull roar in throwing a column of snow-white, feathery spray high into the air through the topmost opening, only to fall back on its retirement, and da capo so long as the tide will permit. There are many blow-holes such as these on the south coast of Savaii.

A short distance in a westerly direction is Massacre Bay, unenviably notorious as the scene of the so called massacre of M. de Langle and eleven of the boat's crew of the exploring expedition under the command of La Perouse, in 1787, which gave the Samoans for some time, and until the arrival of the first missionary in 1830, the character of bloodthirsty savages. This, like many other massacres reported, if the truth were known, would be found to have been more of an outrage on the Samoans than one committed by them. Anyhow, it is acknowledged that the quarrel began with the slaughter of a native visiting the ship who had been detected in some slight act of theft by the French; but no statement has ever been made of the lives lost by the natives in return. They only carried out one of the first and best known laws of nature, not to say a scriptural injunction, and, to show that it was merely what they considered to be a just act of retaliation, the bodies, as is not the invariable custom amongst Pacific Islanders, were left unmutilated.

About sixty miles east of Tutuila will be found the nearest island of the Manua-a group, containing an area of about ten square miles; a very rough island covered with the usual Samoan verdure. And separated from it by an inconsiderable channel of about a quarter of a mile wide, lies the second-large one, Oloosenga, rocky in the extreme, about twenty-four square miles in area, some three miles long, with a breadth in parts of not more than five hundred yards, precipitous on every side. On the south-west, close to the water's-edge, a perpendicular precipice rises quite to the height of thirteen hundred feet; and on a narrow strip of land between its foot and the sea stands the town, which in time of war the inhabitants desert for the mountain, some eighteen hundred feet above.

Six miles easterly, again, lies Tau, the principal island of the small group, boasting of about a hundred square miles.

Here, although belonging to the Samoan group, the people have a king of their own, and their own laws, and, keeping pretty much to themselves, neither interfere with politics on the other islands, nor are interfered with from them.

Although the people here are as civilized as those on the other islands of the group, they still retain with regard to their royalty many superstitious pagan customs, such as not permitting the King to drink water, bathe in the sea, or walk anywhere; which, should he do, and many other things necessary in common life, misfortune is supposed to 'be sure to befall the community.

From this island springs the royal family of Samoa.

About three miles off the easternmost end of Upolu lies the small island of Manono, connected with the larger island by the same reef. It is triangular in form, rising very gradually from the sea-level to a height of about three hundred feet.

In consequence of having to support a large population in proportion to its size, some nine square miles, frequently of old left to its own resources in fighting times, every available space is cultivated; in fact, it is one entire garden.

From its position it is, and always was, of the greatest strategic importance in war-time, being handy both to Upolu and Savaii, either for offence or defence.

In troublous times the defenders almost surrounded it with stone walls' loopholed for musketry and carronades, several of the latter being carefully stowed away in the houses.

From their insular position, necessitating more frequent use of canoes and boats, the inhabitants of Manono have attained the character of being the most proficient seamen in Samoa; and in fighting-times the Manono fleet is considered to be of no small advantage to the cause it embraces.

About two miles from Manono, and belonging to it, lies the small island of Apolima - Anglice, the hollow of the hand - a perfect natural fortress in itself. It is the summit of an extinct volcano; a small portion of the crater-wall has fallen down to the sealevel, and forms the only entrance into the interior, which bears the character of being the most prolific piece of ground for its size in the whole group. It is well watered within by a never-failing running spring, which produces without effort everything that its about a hundred regular inhabitants require, together with an abundance to spare for trade purposes.

Its highest point is about four hundred and seventytwo feet above sea-level, and its precipitous side, upon which there is no landing, running sheer down a most perpendicularly into deep water, forms a complete barrier against invasion.

In old times the method of defence was a rope stretched across the narrow opening, which was drawn tight on the enemy's canoe trying to enter, thereby capsizing the occupiers into the water, when they were easily disposed of. Although the Manono men have once or twice been driven out of their island, they have never been ejected from their ironbound fortress, which, like Gibraltar, is always ready to stand a siege.

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