The South Sea Islands.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 99, 30 December 1904, Page 3

The South Sea Islands.

— _ «. II.— SAMOA. • „ Auckland, August 25. Less than two days' sailing— sailing through an ocean apparently deserted by every living thing except ourselves — brought us from Vavan of happy memory to the Samoan or Navigator Group, due north, the islands^ where we came nearest the. line. We landed in their cold season, or the apology they have for one. One can safely " winter " in Samoa, for the temperature when we were there was 90 degrees in the shade. We dressed accordingly, however, and did not suffer much, for it was a dry heat quite different from what we were destined to experience later on in Fiji. We arrived in Apia in the north coast of Upolu f late at night. We rather regretted this, but in the end I think we all Mecided - that a daylight entrance could not have been prettier. According to the guide book, the Bay of Apia is more beautiful than the Bay of Naples. It certainly greatly resembles it. It is shaped like a half-moon, the distance from horn to horn being about two miles. Right and left from these horns the reef stretches towards the middle, stopping short, however, and leaving a space of deep water enough to harbor the largest vessels. All along the shore the lights twinkled, and up above the stars shone as they shine nowhere but in the tropics, showing up the dark, mysterious- looking mountain where Robert Louis Stevenson rests. Vailinn is quite visible by daylight Irom the ship. Down below in their catamarans the natives chattered arid laughed, while up on deck we gazed fascinated at the beauty of the night scene, from which . we could hardly tear ourselves away!" Here, too, my eyes were refreshed with the sight of the dear familiar plough, though someofthecorners of that implement were hardly distinct. Fond as one becomes of the beautiful Southern Cross, it is good to see Ursa Major again. We soon lost it as went south. We had two whole days to spend here, and though we left— at least I did — bitterly regretting that we hadn't one more, we had no reflections as to the way we filled up our time. We were rowed ashore in boats immediately after breakfast, and devbted the whole of the first day to strolling round — it was too hot to do more than stroll — and getting a general idea of the place. One of the first objects to strike the eye by daylight is the wreck of the Adjer, which j lies high and dry and red with rust, on 1 the reef where the waves left her, a sad memento of the terrible hurricane of 1889, when of seven men-of-war then at anchor in t*e bay six were wrecked, three German and three American. The orre British boat — the Calliope — alone managed to steam out of ihe ' bay in the very teeth of the gale, miraculously avoiding collision with the others. The American flagship Trenton lay in the entrance, disabled and helpless, and as Captain Kane picked his way between the reef and the Trenton, the American Admiral himself raised a ringing cheer, taken up by all the men on the deck of the sinking ship. It must have been a memorable scene. The Samoans behaved nobly, making every effort to save the lives of their enemies, but there was a terrible loss of life. Ashore we everywhere found melancholy evidence that Samoa was no longer ours ; German officials and German uniforms are not to be evaded. What a shame it is that we ever gave it up ! We passed through the little town, saw whatever was to be seen — there wasn't much — and went along a beautiful shady road by the sea-shore till we came to a. native village, which is surely a show one, so beautifully is it kept. The Samoan houses are by far the pret tiest we saw anywhere. Neither the Tongan nor the Fijian are to be compared to them. They are round or | oval, are supported on heavy posts, and ' are open from end to end, though in j cold or wet weather they can be closed j with mats, which roll up and down as desired. Inside the floor is much cleaner than that of a Tongan house. ) Though we did sit on one of the laltev, we didn't feel at all happy about it. The Sainoan floor is formed of a thick layer ol watercourse pebbles on which the mats are spread. There is no furniture to speak of, and as the cooking is practically nil, the houses are all tidy and cool. The view of the village from outside is picturesque in the extreme, the houses looking like a row of overgrown bee-hives, only open below. We were specially attracted by one large, beautifully-constructed hut, and on looking in, instead of being berated for impudence, we were as usual courteously requested to come in— in English this time. We went, and to our amazement found that we were in th» house of King Mataafa, the hero of the late war, and a remarkably finelooking man. His secretary, who had asked us in, and spoke in remarkably good English, presented us to the King, with whom we solemnly shook hands. He intimated to, us through the interpreter that he was pleased to see us, and we assured our go-between

! that the pleasure was mutual and the honor ours. He requested us to sit down, and we all squatted at a respectful distance and had a most enjoyable conversation with the intelligent secretary, who rapidly translated anything of interest to the king. The inevitable kava was soon in evidence, and whether it was that the beverage was already growing on us— we, had partaken of it several times -or that the royal .brew was extra good, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Undoubtedly it is an acquired taste, disagreeable at first apd quite unique, but, as I say, you get to like it. I may here remark that before we left the islands we were all confirmed kava tipplers. After the kava came bananas, and when it seemed to us, inexperienced as we were in royal etiquette, that the utmost limit of time for a forenoon call on a king must be up, he instructed the secretary to take us over to the native Parliament House, where^ the chiefs were assembled to discuss the affairs of the nation. The house' is finely-built, the ceiling especially being a work of art. Hete were the chiefs squatting all round the outer circle. I do not know if they had been settling mo mentous matter? of state, but if so they stopped their business during our visit. Some were making fishing-nets, and I tried to picture our legislators using the golden moments thus while listening to a peroration on fiscal retorm ! Some were smoking ; all were provided with a whisk for the flies; at one end a young girl was preparing kava, and in due course the coco-nut journeyed round. The secretary told us something of their mode ot procedure, after which we bowed our farewells and left them to legislate in peace. Lunch was followed by another walk | through most interesting native scene*. Our " Malalalei " of Tongan use had to be replaced by the " Talofa " (Goodday) ot Samoa. With this well-chosen remark you can go anywhere. We found the post-cards here a little less ruinous, but the stamps commonplace, unlike the beautiful Tongan ones. The ways of the post offices here anno.y and exasperate anyone used to the home postal arrangements. They close during the heat of the day, and for that you can hardly blame them however much it may inconvenience you. But they did not open at the hour they say they will. The postmaster is out for a constitutional, or peradventure he is sleeping, arid an indignant, growing crowd stands in the sun outside and batters in vain at the unresponsive doors till they are opened by an injured-looking individual, who proceeds to his duties in a most leisurely fashion. By this time we are tired — hot we have been all along — and glad I to return to our beloved Manapouri, after being quarrelled over by several natives, who all wanted to take us in their particular boat. The Samoans are a splendid-looking race, tall and well-built, and erect, their bronzed bodies glistening with coco-oil. Their garments are, to put it mildly, not numerous, and in such a climate as theirs this is quite understandable. The ladies wear similar dresses to those of the Tongans, and are quite as fond of bright colors — and of coco-nut oil ! Lots of the children run about in their " birthday suits," as happy as the day is long. With the dear little black-eyed babies we all fell in love. The second day of our stay at Apia we devoted to what is said to be one of the chief lions of the place — Papa'sua, or the Sliding Rock, and as our experiences were rather uncommon and interesting, I shall relate them to finish this article* hoping my readers will find them in some slight degree the same. We made up a party of a dftzen, including our jolly captain and his wife, a host in themselves, and drove to our destination in three traps. Ido not think any of us can ever forget the beauty of that six-mile ,drit T e- through the bush, through one long avenue of banana, orange, mango, coco, bread-iruit, and papaw trees, coco-palms, and others which we did not know ; perhaps the loveliest of all was the flamingoe tree, a blaze of glorious colour. We passed a sugar-cane plantation, and saw the pretty broad-leaved taro growing thickly —it is something like a potato to eat — and also the broad pandanus grass that the natives find so useful for all sorts of purposes. The only drawback to cur enjoyment was that our horses were such wretched ' nags. You can count every rib, and their hide is almost innocent of hair. We hardly expected them to take us all the way, and the miserable hacks did jjb at one hill. However, on the whole, they carried us there and back with eclat. At the end of our drive they were unyoked and given some bananas and- mummyapples, their only feed. The driver was invited to accompany us, and help the gentlemen to carry the provisions, but he excused himself on the score of having to look after the horses. Poor man ! I thought he need not have worried over them. We now climbed up a gradual incline, said to be a mile and a quarter long, but we agreed that the Samoan quarter resembled the Scotch "bittock "in length. We arrived eventually, and encamped at an ideal spot, a sort of little plateau with, at our feet, a great gully stretching away to Stevenson's mountain grave, of which we now 'saw another side.- Wooded up to the veiy top ot its 1800 feet, beautifullyshaped, sacred in its associations, solitary as that jof Moses, this strange tomb, of which all the world has heard, but which has been seen by comparatively few, always drew our eyes back io it

To the left an exquisite blue, the Pacific justified its name. In the bay we saw our ocean home, the Manapouri, riding at anchor, arid also the German warship that makes its home here; We sat and rested, drinking in the beauty of the seene — also long draughts of lem I onade from the bottle, while the cap- i tain sighed for a suap-shot of us, not the scene. Qur table cloths were the ample leaves of the banana, and weate, drank, and were merry, feeling absolutely content with ourselves and our surroundings. We then made our way down a short, steep incline to see the rock down which we were to slide. It is 30 feet high, a mere trickle of water running over its smooth surface into the 24 foot deep pool below. As a waterfall it is a rank failure; as a water-chute it is a success. We had brought some, native girls with us to show us how to shoot the fall, and after a good deal of protesting and "carrying on," over they went. Two of the gentlemen went down after that, bruising their elbows in the procesSi Four of- the females of the party were in improvised bathingsuits ready for the fray. Of this noble quartette I was the first to take my life in my hands and make, this strange transit from land to water. We each went down with a native girl, as they object to your going alone. Having received instructions as to position, we shot down with lightning rapidity. The sensation is strange and eerie in the extreme, but shoft-lived. You dash feet first into fathoms of water, in which you are engulfed breathless and stunned. I was under the disadvantage of being unable to swim, and as my native girl insisted on clutching my foot I had not much of a chance. One of the gentle- ' men promptly swam out to my assistance and towed me to the bank, where I was soon joined by the other mermaids, the camera fiends meanwhile beine busy. It was very funny to watch the JQifferent descents; the terrific splash caused by three people entering the water at once created a tidal wave that nearly covered our partly-sub-merged rock. We laughed enough that day, to last us, under ordinary circutn. stances, for a month at least. I seriously feared a fit in the case of one member of the party.! I could dilate on many amusing incidents, but " space forbids." I was the undeserving recipient of a great amount of praise for going down first, especially being unable to swim. To tell the whole truth, a desire to " get it over " entered in too ; a new sensation like that I could not think of missing. We stayed in the tepid water as long as possible. Then, once more clothed and in our right and minds, we enjoyed another meal and drove home in the cool of the evening,, after .one of the happiest days we had ever spent.